Month: April 2015

Categories
Podcasts

The Backerjack Podcast, Episode 12: Remixed tablets, light hydras, and motivation in a jar

In Episode 12 of The Backerjack Podcast, Steve and Ross check out four of the latest products seeking funds and preorders.

  • Remix, a tablet/laptop hybrid that stuffs the soul of Android into the body of a Microsoft Surface
  • kSafe, a pre-commitment jar in which you can place rewards that are unlocked only if certain activity or time goals are met
  • Adaptalux, a cool set of camera-mounted colored light arms that mount to the top of a camera for intense macro photography effects
  • Zhor, a chunky integrated dashboard touchscreen that integrates many different features.

Download  the episode or listen below, subscribe via iTunes or RSS, and follow Backerjack on Twitter and Facebook.

Categories
Announcements

New wearables innovation report now available

It’s no surprise that the record for most-funded Kickstarter project was set — twice — by Pebble, a pioneer in smartwatches. After all, wearables require a level of imagination, attention to personal style and leading-edge tech that have been the hallmark of crowdfunded projects.

Part of the Product Innovation Pipeline Report series produced by Reticle Research, the latest Wearables report includes complete campaign data and profiles for all wearables featured on Backerjack in the fourth quarter of 2014. Those 45 curated projects, which include smartwatches, child locators, video glasses, pet finders, and stress management products, are essential to understanding innovation happening in the red-hot field of wearables.

Continue reading “New wearables innovation report now available”
Categories
Automotive Connected Objects

Mighty Zhor conquers dashboards with a 7″ touchscreen

Once, portable GPS units were the hot items to have affixed to one’s windshield. That functionality was largely built into smartphones, but many cars still feature a center console embedded into the dashboard that can display a range of information.

Moving that console up to the dash and opening it up is a goal of Zhor, a chunky 7″ touchscreen that can handle a range of in-vehicle tasks. These include projecting your smartphone screen to its bigger display, receiving text messages, video chatting,, streaming audio, telematics (where supported by the vehicle) , showing feeds of rear0view and dash cameras, and, of course, GPS.  Zhor must be installed in the vehicle. The makers of Zhor hope to raise an ambitious $880,000 by April 27th. Its non-early bird price is $490 with expected delivery in August.

Zhor offers a lot of functionality in a functional interface, but it faces tremendous competition. Much of its functionality can be handled by mounting increasingly large phones being propped up on a windshield or is built into midrange or more expensive vehicles. Plus, bridges from smartphone ecosystem providers such as Apple (CarPlay) and Google (Android Auto) are beginning to address the need to bridge the smartphone and center console. Zhor also takes up a fair amount of dashboard space; it would be nice to be able to fold it down when not in use.

Categories
Wearables

Reserve Strap charges Apple Watch while you wear it

The Apple Watch isn’t even out yet, but many people are already viewing the device’s 18 hour battery life as a point of concern.

Coming to the rescue is the Reserve Strap, a charging band for Apple’s new smartwatch that charges the device while its user is wearing it. Photos at the strap’s website, where pre-orders are being taken, show a design that features a silicon band with embedded lithium polymer cells and an inductive charging cradle located between the user’s wrist and the Apple Watch itself. The strap is similar in concept to the smartstraps recently announced by Pebble for its new line of smartwatches, including the Pebble Time.

Through prototyping, the Reserve Strap’s maker has refined the product’s design and has come up with a few other ways to charge the watch that remain undisclosed for the time being. Interested buyers should note that there is no ship date yet for the band. Nor is there a final price, for that matter, but the site lays out an estimated selling price of $249.99.

The Reserve Strap, featured in a Backerjack podcast, seems to solve an issue many Apple Watch users will likely face. As a result, this product has all the makings of a slam dunk — so long as the Apple Watch catches on, that is.

Categories
Imaging

Adaptalux offers a hydra of color to light up macro photography

editors-choiceMacro photography can produce some startling images. However, unlike, say, portraiture that is often done in a studio, it’s difficult to have fin control over the kind of lighting and color in an image.

Adaptalux is a lighting add-on that attaches to the hot shoe of a digital SLR camera. The main unit hosts up to five flexible hose-like LED lights in five different hues that can be used with diffusers or gels to produce striking lighting effects for pictures of small objects such as leaves or bugs. The company also offers a miniature platform for staging such spectacles. Adaptalux Ltd. seeks £100,000 (about $150,000) by May 2nd. Prices range from about £100 (about $150) for a starter pack that includes two lighting arms) to £300 (about $445) for the complete set of lighting arms, diffusers and filters. All rewards are expected to ship in November.

Adaptalux dramatically expands the color options available to macro photographers in the studio or the field and the flexibility of the lights allow for a great deal of creative control. While the product has a companion app, it would be great to see it control the brightness of the various lights directly rather than merely offering advice, a feature that’s likely on the roadmap.

Categories
Input Virtual Reality

Impression Pi virtual reality headset tries to make an impression, gets a meh instead

Everyone is searching for the holy grail of virtual reality. In the meantime, companies from all over the world are busy throwing everything at the wall in an effort to see what sticks. Currently, Oculus Rift is the obvious leader, but with upstarts from companies like HTC and Valve,  Samsung, Microsoft, and all the other little guys vying for attention through crowdfunding platforms, the landscape is bursting at the seams.

Impression Pi is another combination virtual reality, augmented reality mobile headset that works with iOS and Android smartphones, provided they have 5 inch displays or larger. By combining accurate head tracking capabilities, gesture control, and both VR and AR environmental overlays, users can transform their real world surroundings into virtual environments capable of being traversed with the Impression Pi’s ability to track positioning. The Impression Pi’s interface also allows for social media engagement, not to mention movie viewing and gaming as well. Even better, all of this is possible with just a flick of the finger and the wave of a hand. $279 gets backers the smartphone version while $359 will get backers the Master edition which can be used sans smartphone. If the $78,000 goal sees success by May 5, 2015, backers can expect their own Impression Pi in December 2015.

Impression Pi treads on familiar ground. The ShareVR is another mobile VR solution, although it has to be tethered to a PC — ultimately limiting the “mobile” aspect of the design. Another gesture-enabled VR product is the Pinć VR, a headset which can be folded into a smartphone case. The Impression Pi may be powerful enough to create environments, but it isn’t as portable as the Pinć VR. The latter proves its usefulness in more real-world situations, while the Impression Pi is stuck at home. With no compelling use cases in the pipeline, the Impression Pi will likely have a tough time garnering support.

Categories
Personal Transportation

Monolith electric longboard updates your grandpappy’s ride, fits all kinds of modern tech

Browse any technology website and it’s easy to see how commonplace alternative modes of transportation are becoming. Most products in this vein marry eco-friendly power with sleek design, a combination which resonates with both urban city dwellers and extreme sports enthusiasts.

The Monolith is one such example. Within the Monolith’s deceptive veneer are electronic components transforming it into a fully functional and electric longboard capable of reaching speeds of 24mph. While there are other electric longboards on the market, most aren’t anywhere close to being as sleek as the Monolith. This is due to the product’s proprietary Manta Drive technology which incorporates the motors right into the wheels themselves. In addition, the product’s water resistant and unibody design weighs only 12lbs. What’s more, there’s enough room to fit in swappable batteries — each with a range of 10 miles. Lights on both the nose and tail round out the board’s design.

Riders can retain control over the Monolith through the RLFX remote, designed with a small joystick which allows riders to control both acceleration and regenerative braking. This also gives riders the ability to open their hands without the control falling out. And when those hands are free, a companion iOS or Android app allows riders to customize Monolith’s speed and acceleration, connect with other riders, and even generate reports on riding sessions. The app also offers different modes of operation which can be specifically tailored to new or experienced riders. There’s also an Eco Mode so that users can get more mileage out of every charge. Each Monolith is currently going for $1,199, with an expected ship date of September 2015. Inboard Sports, the brains behind the product, is looking for $100,000 in funding by April 4.

Products in the same space as Monolith include the Onewheel and the Movpak, but they ultimately end up looking more like gimmicks than serious contenders capable of transforming a user’s everyday transportation experience. The Impossible e-bike offers a similar, compact experience, but the Monolith is ultimately so much more feature rich. Urbanites, commuters of all types, and sports enthusiasts should be on the lookout.

Categories
Technology

Remix tablet offers a cure to Android users with Surface envy

When it comes to traditional laptop-style computing, Google has pushed Chromebooks for the world of keyboards and mice. Nonetheless, some companies such as HP have taken a few stabs at putting Android in a 2-in-1 laptop-style device.

Now, Beijing-based Jide Tech is looking to infuse Android into a device that’s a dead ringer for the Microsoft Surface with Remix. Like Microsoft’s spin on a tablet-laptop hybrid, the 11,.6″ Remix has a kickstand and a removable cloth-textured keyboard/trackpad cover that attaches via magnets. And the similarity doesn’t end there. The company has added the ability to run apps in windows as well as a Windows-like file manager and taskbar.

Jide Tech seeks $100,000 by April 24 and the Remix is available in limited quantities at prices up to $349. A ridiculous $39 early bird sold out quickly. Units are expected to be delivered by May 2015 and the company assures that the product is already in production in China and it simply needs to bring it to the U.S. and other markets.  What appeared to be a simultaneous campaign on Indiegogo turned out to be fraudulent and has been removed.

As noted, Android-based keyboard devices have not seen the level of success that Chromebooks have despite having so many apps available. It’s also somewhat surprising that the new device wlll not have the latest version of Android — Lollipop — that is rolling out to new devices. While the Remix  was a clear value-based alternative to the Surface Pro, the recent introduction of the Surface 3 at $499 makes the original far more competitive although that price doesn’t include the Type Cover.

Categories
Features

Out There: Watburn turns salt water into energetic flame

Out There is a feature where we highlight wildly ambitious or dubious projects that have little chance of coming to fruition in the foreseeable future.

The quest for renewable energy sources that can replace oil and gas is underway, albeit with little luck. But wouldn’t it be nice if the world ran on a resource that’s so abundant that it makes up 2/3 of the Earth?

Now introducing Watburn. This world-changing product takes saltwater and converts it into a 5,000°C flame that can be used for welding and cutting. According to the product’s campaign, cathodes, magnets, generators and salt water all work together to turn the water into usable energy. The creator claims that this product will be the source of a new kind of clean energy. In the future, it has the potential to work with other objects and eliminate the need for fossil fuels altogether.

For a donation of $250, backers can have their own Watburn by August 2015. This Bulgarian product is looking for $25,000 on Indiegogo. While the Bulgarian product’s creator’s claims aren’t as egregious as other Out There features, his reasoning still leaves something to be desired. It’s apparent that backers who purchase this product will likely receive a clunky thing that either won’t work or will burn their hands off.

Categories
Cell Phone Accessories

Peacetong interprets foreign languages so you don’t have to

The inability to understand foreign languages is often a major problem while traveling abroad. While this can be alleviated if a traveller learns a new language before arriving, not everyone has the time to do so.

The makers of Peacetong are out to change that with separate devices that will allow users to quickly interpret both live voices and other audio emanating from a TV. The Personal Interpreter portion works in combination with a planned app designed to work on both Android and iOS devices, two Bluetooth headsets, and one Bluetooth microphone to interpret conversations. The Video Interpreter, which is used to interpret any audio coming from a TV, is a separate device which resembles a portable radio. It operates by keeping the original sound intact and adding an interpreter’s voice over it. Users can connect the device to their TV via an HDMI port. The anticipated retail price of the Personal Interpreter is $400 while the anticipated retail price for the Video Interpreter is $465. A Personal Package which includes one of each is expected to cost $800. Both products will ship in September if Peacetong’s makers canraise $100,000 by April 23.

Peacetong’s concept is promising as there is undoubtedly a market for such a product. But the need for separate devices to achieve what one device could probably do seems to be a major drawback. Another negative is that the Personal Interpreter is unable to interpret audio from a phone call, even though it was designed to be used with smartphones. That said, its creators say that such functionality will be an option added later on via a free app update in the future.