Categories
Tools

WildCard wallet pocket knife has a removable blade for TSA approval

Pocket knives are extremely useful yet prohibitively bulky compared to the slim wallets and smartphones used on a daily basis. As such, they can feel a bit uncomfortable to carry around or easily get lost.

Nate Barr, the inventor of the PocketMonkey multi-tool, has created its spiritual successor: the WildCard. Its main draw is the serrated-edge pocket knife built around proprietary FlyOff Technology. This technology replaces the commonplace pin most knives pivot on, saving the space necessary to make the WildCard just 2mm thick — as thick as an average credit card. Blade guards and the single-angled side ensure users won’t accidentally cut themselves while they use it.

Categories
Wearables

Eyecatcher E-Ink wearable blends jewelry and tech with fashionable results

editors-choiceThe intersection of technology and fashion has long been a wave bound to crash, and crash it has. Wrist-worn wearables are by far the most popular, with Android smartwatches, the Apple Watch, and a bevy of bands worn for the well-being of various facets of the body all vying for dominance.

Looksee Labs has a different conception of what a wearable should be, and its Eyecatcher is the example. The five-inch e-ink display wraps completely around the wrist, displaying everything from images to patterns to text messages to Twitter feeds. Unfortunately, that display isn’t a touch interface, so a companion iOS app is required to control the bangle. Through it, users can upload photos, specify what types of notifications are desired, and generally tinker with the wearable’s settings.

Categories
Lighting

Luminoodle sees the lights, strings them up

After a slow ramp, LEDs have been taking over more and more lighting needs. They’ve shown up in light bulbs, flashlights, lanterns, desk lamps and even the running lights on cars. On addition to their low energy consumption, their small size allows them to be shaped in many granular configurations.

Luminoodle takes advantage of this by stringing together LEDs in a waterproof rope-like enclosure that includes a number of ways to connect to various surfaces, including loops and magnets. In addition, the whole thing can be coiled up in a bag and used as a lantern. The standard product measures five feet long, but also comes in an XL version twice that length.

Categories
Automotive

Elevo window shades lets your car keep its cool

Car sun shades come printed with many different and amusing designs. There are the sunglasses, the cucumbers (for the car at the spa) the aluminum foil look to optimize reflection and a host of them that have been offered as promotions. But they’re all rather bulky to manage, which results in many car owners skipping on their benefits and enduring an overheated car during sunny weather.

Elevo does for the sun shade what automated blinds do for the home. The self-extending shades are affixed to the windshield, removing the hassle of  having to prop up and take down shades. In keeping with a history of car shade promotions, the company is pursuing custom logos for its product.

Categories
Podcasts

Backerjack Podcast #24: Security, Safety and Screens That Show It All

In Episode 24 of the Backerjack Podcast, Steve and Ross check out some of the latest products seeking funds and preorders, including:

  • Angee, a hybrid home monitoring system that can capture video in any direction.
  • Skreens, a small TV add-on that lets multiple vide sources go up on the TV at the same time..

We also mentioned a few other products we wished we had more time for, including the Holapex hologram visualizer.

Download the episode or listen below, subscribe via iTunes or RSS, and subscribe to the Backerjack Daily Digest to make sure you catch all the gadgets we’re covering. Also check out Steve’s great work on Apple World Today!

Categories
Sensors/IoT Smart Home

Koto trio of sensor cubes monitor your home’s environent

One of the keys to a healthier lifestyle is as basic as the air we breathe, but that can easily be forgotten because of hard it can be to know exactly what to do to make it better even in our own homes.

To help, the Koto family of smart sensors has been designed to make sure you have all the information needed to make the proper health decisions. The system actually consists of three products. The Koto Blink is a tiny box filled with sensors measuring temperature, humidity, light, and noise, all in an effort to make your living space more comfortable.

The Koto Air is an upgraded Blink, combining its sensors with an air pollution and dust sensor to create a fuller picture of the home and a more robust set of data with which to make the subtle adjustments to the home necessary to stave off mold in older homes, for example.

Categories
Cell Phone Accessories Imaging Tablet Accessories

Holaplex is a tiny 3D stage for visualizations on mobile devices

Displays continue to get brighter and sharper, but most of them have a significant limitation. They can only display images in two dimensions. Even “3D” displays only provide an illusion of depth. You can’t, for example, see what objects look like from the side or rear.

Holapex is a small, pyramid-like device designed to sit on top of a smartphone or tablet and display holograms. It comes in two sizes optimized for a smartphone or tablet and of course uses a companion app to display them. Things seem pretty early for the project as creator Isaias J. Perez is still working out what the source of the holograms will be. However, the device is only $25 and is due to be delivered in November. Perez seeks only $600 by October 28th.

The Holapex is an inexpensive and possibly useful amusement but of course it’s a far cry from the degree of interaction one can experience with something as sophisticated as Microsoft’s Hololens. Still, it can provide exposure to holograms for a very broad audience in the way Google Cardboard provides affordable exposure to virtual reality.

Categories
Television

Skreens puts multiple video sources on the screen at once

Hulu, Nerflix, Twitter, Xbox One. There’s so much worth watching and so few big screens in the living room. Unfortunately, TVs can normally display only one.

The makers of Skreens seek to change that limitation. The device looks like any number of devices that let you switch between different HDMI sources, but can display those sourced on the TV at the same time. So, for example, one family member can play a videogame with the sound off while someone else catches up on a DVR recording. Or a sports fan can keep tabs on a game while catching the Twitter buzz about it.

Categories
Networking

Strone Roam keeps your number home, calling fees low

Even with certain carriers getting more aggressive about attacking roaming fees, it’s possible to rack up big cellular bills when traveling if you’re not willing to hop from hotspot to hotspot.

The Strone Roam may be an alternative. To use it, users connect the cylindrical, Amazon Echo-like device to Wi-Fi and leave it at home with their SIM card inserted. Doing this routes all incoming and outgoing calls through their own number at local rates using the Strone iOS, Android, or Web app — no matter where they are in the world.

For this functionality, users will still need to buy Strone credit with which to make these calls or browse the internet, but that’s still far less expensive than alternatives such as Skype or aninternational packages direct from a carrier. Calls between Strone app customers are free.

Categories
Smart Home

Angee’s all-seeing eye protects your home from nefarious ne’er-do-wells

Typical home security systems require a lot of input from users every time they leave and enter the home. And while they might alert authorities to sinister plots on your valuable goods, by the time they arrive it’ll have been too late anyway. A smarter type of security system is needed to serve as the best deterrent possible.

Angee has a good shot at making waves in a segment rife with connected security solutions that pretty much all do the same thing. The portable, lightweight device is outfitted with a 360° camera, allowing Angee to track all motion directly around it, record one hour of HD video, and stream video to an iOS or Android tablet from which it can be shared. Angie’s portability makes it so that users can move it to any room but to truly get the most out of her, security tags mounted at entry points throughout the home can expand Angee’s monitoring range. This offers users more peace of mind through more comprehensive security benefits, at-the-door identification, and pinpointed zone detection in the case of a curious toddler, for example.