Month: November 2015

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Connected Objects Health and Wellness

Wing helps those with asthma soar by catching early warning signs

Asthma inhalers are necessary items for those who suffer from that lung disease. But those medications can’t help users detect the early warning signs of an asthma attack.

Wing is a pocket-sized sensor that enables those who suffer from asthma and other lung ailments to monitor and manage their conditions, and also lets them know when an attack is coming, according to its Indiegogo campaign. The device can also be used by those suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary fibrosis and other respiratory conditions, its maker says. Wing is made up of a small white device that the user breathes into.

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Categories
Food and Beverage

Ember cools off hot beverages as much as you’d like

There have been several mugs for keeping coffee hot touted on crowdsourcing sites in recent months. But Ember goes a couple of steps further than a device like the Nano Heated Wireless Mug, which promises to keep coffee hot for 45 minutes.

patent-claimedEmber is a temperature-controlled travel mug that quickly cools off coffee or tea that’s too hot. It then keeps the liquid at the temperature its user chooses for two hours when on the go or all day when used with the included, cordless charging coaster, according to its Indiegogo campaign. Its patented microprocessor-controlled heating system works with a network of sensors to accomplish that.

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Categories
Maker/Development

$99 pi-topCEED desktop combines STEM learning with radical affordability

The STEM dreams of children around the world are being awoken and nurtured by the stream of educational devices aimed at teaching these children how to code. The team behind their self-titled runaway Indiegogo hit Pi-Top laptop is back with a second product that looks to lower the barrier of entry even further while dealing with its chunkiness a bit more effectively.

The pi-topCEED is the first $99 Raspberry Pi desktop featuring a 13.3″ HD screen, a 180° degree hinge for greater viewing angels, and a front-facing slide-away panel that allows access to the circuitry within. The unit comes with a Raspberry Pi 2 pre-installed with pi-top OS, an OS built by makers for maker that includes key functionality like brightness control along with gaming in the form of Minecraft and educational programs like Scratch and CEEDUniverse, a MMORPG that teaches circuit and programming basics.

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Categories
Apparel Kids/Babies Sensors/IoT

Hoko smart comfort monitor keeps your toddler temperate

It would be helpful if parents could be quickly informed if their small child is too hot or cold, especially when engaged in outdoor activities for an extended period of time.

Hoko is a smart, portable comfort monitor that should enable exactly that. One side of Hoko is a small, circular device containing a microprocessor, along with temperature and humidity sensors, that gets placed inside a child’s clothing. That side of the product is attached to a piece of soft fabric with a cute doll on the other side that serves as Hoko’s interface.

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Categories
Connected Objects Cycling

Revolights illuminates a more connected vision of bike lights with its Eclipse+

A complete lighting system that properly illuminates all types of bicycles no matter its make or model has been a thorny problem for a long time. At least that’s what most people commonly think. After two Kickstarters, the army of backers that have made both successes seem to think it has figured it out. Now, they’ve made their way back to the crowdfunding world—this time, on Indiegogo—to introduce their Eclipse+ connected bike lighting system.

The Eclipse+ is a refinement of the original Eclipse model. While it still provides 360º illumination, the lack of cables and addition of snap-in rechargeable batteries for power makes the entire unit easier to install. But the biggest improvement comes in its Bluetooth connectivity, adding a wide-array of features facilitated by the companion Revolights iOS/Android smartphone or smartwatch app.

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Categories
Cell Phone Accessories Imaging Maker/Development

PIXELIO uses a smartphone or GoPro for an all-in-one 3D scanner

With 3D printers inching their way towards ubiquity, 3D scanners will rise in popularity alongside them. As of right now, though, there aren’t very many solutions for scanning, outside of the occasional Pouff3D every now and then. Smart3D Ltd. is hoping it’s PIXELIO all-in-one 3D scanner will catch people’s attention due to its usefulness and versatility.

The PIXELIO’s main draw is a universal cradle that can hold onto a smartphone or GoPro camera while it slowly pans around an object placed in its center to create high-quality, 360° scans or timelapses. PIXELIO employs Virtual Finger technology in the universal holder to replicate the feel of a skin with a bit of graphene to release the virtual shutter on smartphones, a clever invention for what could’ve been a huge issue.

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Categories
Cell Phone Accessories Imaging

ProShot waterproof iPhone 6 case sets its sights on GoPro competition

The enhanced cameras on Apple’s iPhone 6 and 6s smartphones offer some of the same functionality as action cameras. But consumers who spend hundreds of dollars on a new iPhone are likely not going to want to risk damaging it during extreme sports activities. The iPhone is also not waterproof.

patent-claimedProShot is a waterproof case for the iPhone 6 and 6s whose makers are positioning as a rival to GoPro action cams. The case comes with two interchangeable lids that can handle extreme environments, including a Deep Dive lid that is waterproof down to 90 feet, according to its Kickstarter campaign. The case is also shockproof and can be mounted on nearly any surface, it says. An app for iOS enables the user to switch between slow motion, photo and video using buttons on the ProShot.

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Categories
Smart Home

Sentri’s large touchscreen keeps an eye on your connected home

The explosion of connected devices in the home, while incredible, would be an even better development if they all worked more seamlessly with each other. Since most don’t, it forces IoT fans to put up with separate apps for each device, diluting the experience as a result.

The Sentri is effectively a 10.1 touchscreen that serves as the center of a person’s connected world. It combines security, an impressive array of built-in functionality along and the ability to connect to wide-range of third-party devices to truly bring together what can be a disparate experience.

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Categories
Smart Home

For connected home alarms, HEVO gives others the heave-ho

Legacy alarm systems often require the use of landlines to function, making them quite the dinosaurs in the age of connected products. By forcing homeowners to keep a landline and offering no flexibility when it comes to all the other devices in most people’s lives, the time is long overdue for something to give.

A portmanteau of Home EVOloution, HEVO is a hub that connects to the BUS of a current alarm system backed by the PATROL proprietary OS. In using PATROL to secure the home, HEVO operates by a tiered system of alarm. When an intruder is detected — even with an unarmed legacy alarm system — HEVO sends an alarm signal through the Internet. Failing that, HEVO’s included GSM subscription service kicks in and sends the alarm that way. If that ends up not working for some reason, real-time monitoring of each HEVO will see the company send the alarm signal themselves. Users are informed of each of these steps with real-time SMS alerts, keeping them up to date no matter what.

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Categories
Input

Aerion mouse lets your fingers stick together through air travel

Gesture control continues to find its way into a wide variety of consumer electronics devices including TVs and videogame consoles.

Aerion Mouse is a gesture-driven computer mouse that’s somewhat smaller than traditional mice. It gets placed between the top of any two of the user’s fingers. The user then points the mouse at the display to operate it and, instead of clicking on any buttons, just leans to the left to achieve what a typical left click on a mouse would and leans to the right for a right click.

One main benefits to Aerion is that it allows one to keep fingers close to a typing position without having to grab a separate device when moving between the keyboard and pointing device. It also works even when there’s no convenient focus on which to set a mouse.

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