Month: April 2015

Categories
Kids/Babies

Lullafi bably sleep aid is the next best thing to creating a cribmobile

Lots of new parents know that sometimes, when their baby won’t go to sleep, they have to try the car. For whatever reason, babies love sleeping in the car. Parents have been known to embark on trips to nowhere in the wee hours in the hopes of quiet slumber.

patent-claimedLullafi has figured out why the car works for getting babies to go to sleep. In order to save parents the hassle of late night driving, Lullafi mimics the soothing effects of the car for babies. This small device clips onto cribs and produces soft vibrations and soothing sounds to get baby to fall asleep. In addition, it has Bluetooth integration which lets parents stream whatever they want to the device, whether it’s ambient noise or their child’s favorite lullaby.

Most parents welcome any solution to restless babies. If Lullafi really performs as promised, it’ll make a welcome addition to the baby product market. Parents interested in this product will need to donate $55 for estimated delivery in September 2015. Lullafi is hoping to raise an ambitious $190,000 with the help of Kickstarter.

Categories
Tech Accessories

Tye mobile security device protects your stuff, saves the day when they stray

There are many products on the market track a lost pet or stolen smartphone. There are also many devices on the market that can be used to lock up a bicycle or other object so that it can’t be easily stolen.

patent-claimedTye is a new three-in-one, patent-pending device that can do both of those things, and also serves as an alarm system for electronic devices in much the same way that a car alarm system is used for vehicles. The device’s hub gets attached to any device that its user wants to protect. The hub communicates constantly with a small remote that the user hangs onto. If somebody attempts to take the protected device, Tye will sound an alarm.

An app for smartphones and the Apple Watch alerts others that there’s been an attempt to steal a protected device along with the exact transgression spot . Tye can operate up to 90 feet from the device via Bluetooth or up to 400 feet away using ZigBee wireless technology. It is expected to cost about $59-$64 once its Kickstarter campaign ends and will ship in September. Its maker is hoping to raise $60,000 by May 19.

The nice thing about Tye is that it can be used to prevent valued property from straying and find it if it does. Its use of Zigbee helps extend its local range but a cellular option would make the offering even more powerful.

 

Categories
Connected Objects Pets

Where’s Nellie? This GPS locator mixes radios to pinpoint your pooch

It’s a common nightmare for dog owners: their beloved pet has run out of the house and they can’t find the pooch anywhere.

Where’s Nellie is a GPS tracking device designed to ease a dog owner’s mind if their pet runs off and can’t be found. The Nellie Beacon attaches securely to a dog’s collar and works in conjunction with an iOS and Android app. The beacon communicates up to six miles away with the included Nellie Base unit. If a dog is missing, the owner just has to press the locate button on the app and, in a few minutes, Where’s Nellie will pinpoint the location of the dog on the smartphone. It costs $179 and will ship in January. Its maker is hoping to raise $100,000 by May 16.

The device has promise despite coming along after several similar products, including Lucky Tag and WUF. However, Nellie seems to be superior to several rivals in a few ways. First, it makes use of several radio technologies. If the base unit is near the beacon, it uses Bluetooth LE technology. But if the dog is out of range, Semtech’s LoRa long-range wireless solution is used instead. If the pet owner wants to pinpoint exactly where the dog is, GPS is used.

Second, there are no monthly fees involved. Third, its batteries will last more than 365 days because the Beacon’s patent-pending technology uses low-power components and software, according to its Kickstarter campaign. That’s far more battery life than most rival products.

Categories
Connected Objects Sleep

Chrona slips in your pillow to size up your sleep

A good night of sleep is one of the most important things to maintain a healthy life. But all too often people have issues when trying to sleep, sometimes without even knowing it.

Chrona is a thin foam insert that transforms any pillow into a smart pillow. Combined with an app for iOS, Android and Windows Phone mobile devices, Chrona serves as a sleep optimization system that tracks and optimizes sleep using sound. The Bluetooth Low Enery device not only tracks users’ sleep by movement, but it also improves their sleep through the use of acoustics. Depending on where users are in their sleep cycles, Chrona uses low-frequency sounds to help them sleep more deeply or high-frequency sounds to prepare them to wake up. Chrona costs $169 and ships in December. Its maker has set a Kickstarter goal of raising $50,000 by May 18.

One of the product’s advantages is that it doesn’t require an uncomfortable wearable. But it faces competition from a growing number of products that promise pretty much the same thing, including Proper Pillow Plus and SliiP.

Categories
Connected Objects Home

Mouse-Minder lets your smartphone know when it humanely captures rodents

When there’s a mouse scurrying around an apartment or a house, many people are simply content with getting rid of it as quickly as possible no matter how it’s done. For others, there a variety of reasons why getting rid of a mouse lethally go against their ethical or moral beliefs. Well, someone has built a better mousetrap.

The Mouse-Minder is a humane, non-lethal mouse trap designed to never hurt a mouse in the process of its capture. What sets it apart is its use of Wi-Fi to send an owner an email when a mouse is caught for timely retrieval and relocation. Its round design ensures for easy cleaning afterward so as to be used again if necessary. The Mouse-Minder campaign is looking for $119,200 in funding in order to ship the $65 product out by December 2015.

The Mouse-Minder lasts about a week with a set of 6 AA batteries, which are easy to find and recharge. However, this trap catches only one mouse while others can catch up to 30. Although there may be a demand for this product from big-hearted home and even business owners, most people just want the little critters gone.

Categories
Sensors/IoT

Air Mentor shows the lighted sides of contaminated environs

The carbon monoxide detector is a must-have device. But there are many potential toxins in the air other than carbon monoxide that can be dangerous to people also — especially the very young and elderly and those with compromised immune systems and respiratory ailments.

Air Mentor is a Bluetooth Smart device with built-in industrial grade sensors that measure home air quality and can detect pollutants including carbon dioxide, particulate matters and volatile organic compounds such as carbon monoxide, aromatic hydrocarbons and organic acids. The triangular device can be placed on any flat surface in the home or office, and is used in conjunction with an Android or iOS app. Cloud computing software automatically analyzes indoor air patterns.

One of five colors lights up on the device to signal the air’s quality: green for good air quality, yellow for moderate, orange meaning the air is unhealthy for sensitive people such as those with asthma, red meaning the air is unhealthy for everybody, and purple signaling very unhealthy air. The device costs $249 and ships in May. Its maker is hoping to raise $15,500 by May 8.

Air Mentor holds promise, especially for consumers with compromised immune systems and those with chronic respiratory conditions including asthma. But consumers looking for a more portable device that performs some of the same functions might opt for something like the Scarab wearable air pollutant detector.

 

Categories
Kids/Babies Maker/Development

Fun with Circuits promises a storybook beginning for engineers in training

Kids are drawn naturally to technology, but oftentimes understand little of how those pixels light up. One way to change that is by stirring the first steps to understanding electronics into a familiar learning took for young ones: the storybook

The Fun With Circuits storybook and basic block-like interactive electronics kit that introduces children to electrical circuit concepts that are fundamental to STEM education. By using storytelling complemented by inviting illustrations, children more easily understand the electrical concepts that underly all types of technology through meaningful context. Kids have to use the colorful circuit components to solve simple puzzles to advance the story. .The developers recommend the product for kids aged 6 through 10 and seek $35,000 by May 9. For $75, one can be shipped by December.

We’ve seen a number of kids’ introductions to electronics and robotics lately. Similar products to Fun With Circuits include the Codie, but there’s something unique about pairing the learning experience with a traditional book that reinforces the idea of being hands-on.

Categories
Connected Objects Interviews Music

The Backerjack Interview: Mass Fidelity’s Ben Webster on packing big sound into a travel-friendly speaker

Mass Fidelity’s Core is a paradox — a portable speaker that’s designed to produce a convincing stereo effect from virtually anywhere in the room. Actually, that’s true of multiple rooms as the system can be networked throughout the house like a Sonos system. Backers responded and the Indiegogo campaign was one of the most successful ever for a Canadian campaign. We caught up with Mass Fidelity co-founder Ben Webster to learn more bout the physics and functionality of the powerful desktop speaker due this summer.

Backerjack: Tell us a bit about Mass Fidelity and the Core.

Webster: Mass Fidelity was founded as an audio technology company with the intent on redefining the audio space. The name has a dual meaning that encapsulates our goals of bringing high-fidelity audio products to the masses and making products of substance. I started by looking at how many of my friends and family didn’t have high-quality sound systems and how much the technology scared them away. There ceased to be a middle ground at somewhere in the late 70’s, early 80’s — that’s when the divide became extreme, to the point where you were either buying junk or extremely high end stuff. What I wanted to do was build something that was attainable for the normal person that would give them a real, engaging musical experience.

This prototype of the Core has been traveling with me for the last six months and it’s changed my life. As the founder of an audio company, I have a big beefy system at home and I barely use it anymore. This thing is so convenient and it actually sounds like a stereo. You’re not gonna get around physics when considering my living room system with nine drivers, but it’s also thousands and thousands of dollars worth of components whereas this thing we’re selling for $595 gets 80-90% there. I really feel like there’s a combination of technologies about to completely flip the audio game on its head.

Continue reading “The Backerjack Interview: Mass Fidelity’s Ben Webster on packing big sound into a travel-friendly speaker”

Categories
Smartwatches/Bands Wearables

Swimmo smartwatch tracks pool performance, encourages strokes of genius

Perhaps the advent of the Apple Watch isn’t the be-all and end-all of smartwatches after all. At least until its app library fills out, there’s still room for specialized wristwear to make a splash.

patent-claimedEnter Swimmo, a smartwatch focused solely on the swimmer looking to increase strength and improve form. The OLED-equipped wearable is designed to be fully waterproof so as to work perfectly while tracking the length and intensity of each session. To do so, it captures everything from speed, distance, lap times, and heart rate, vibrating to alert users when to speed up or slow down in order to maintain a beneficial level of intensity to achieve set goals — all without having to interrupt the swim to take a look. The multilingual device uses  a patent-pending Rotate&Tap maneuver to keep things as streamlined as its users wish to be.

Continue reading “Swimmo smartwatch tracks pool performance, encourages strokes of genius”
Categories
Cycling Kids/Babies

Swedish Påhoj offers a stroller and bike seat in one for the young on the run

Travelling with a toddler or small child can be quite the chore. Especially when you consider carseats, strollers, and other safety measures that must be taken.

The Swedish-made Påhoj hopes to make transporting kids a bit easier. This combination child bike seat and stroller clips onto bikes, but also has wheels for ground travel. The black seat looks like a much sleeker bike seat with holes in the back for ventilation. It comes equipped with foot rests and a retractable handle that stays out of the way on a bike, but comes in handy for the stroller. Påhoj is lightweight and has an adjustable harness for kids of different sizes.

The only thing missing from Påhoj’s campaign is specification of which ages the product is appropriate for. Other than that, this product will definitely come in handy for parents, especially those in bike-friendly cities and countries. One will cost kr2,260 (~$249) with estimated delivery in December 2015. Påhoj is looking for kr500,000 (~$57,800) in funding on Kickstarter.