Month: March 2016

Categories
Imaging Virtual Reality

WebEye VR webcam adds depth to your shallow Skype conversations

With the constant hype surrounding the idea of virtual reality, it was only inevitable before a company thought up the idea of creating a virtual reality webcam. Now, Slovenia-based VRFavs went ahead and did just that, recently unveiling its Kickstarter campaign for the WebEye VR.

The WebEye VR is a small, compact webcam that would look like any other webcam were it not for its two lenses. It uses these two lenses to produce a stereoscopic, 160° image that another person can receive through a VR headset, like the upcoming Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. The WebEye VR is capable of producing full HD quality video at 30 frames per second to ensure that the other person’s immersion isn’t compromised.

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Categories
Food and Beverage

With the Edible Spoon Maker, you can have your spoon and eat it, too

It’s a sad fact that the United States single-handedly wastes up to 40% of its food production, coming out to 20 pounds of food per person per month. This includes the plastics utensils, plates, and other packaging used to either eat or transport the food that’s eventually thrown out.

When it came to plastic utensils, inventor Anatoliy Omelchenko thought there had to be a way to solve the issue. As a result, he invented the Edible Spoon Maker. The device is essentially a waffle maker with molds of small spoons within.

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Categories
Connected Objects Imaging

SnapCam360 captures immersive images while lying down on the job

The ability to shoot still photos and video in 360 degrees is a feature that’s become increasingly popular with people beyond professionals. That only increased after Facebook and YouTube started supporting 360-degree video at their websites last year.

SnapCam360 is a 360-degree camera resembling the HTC Re that can shoot in a circle and dome style just while resting with its back on any table or other surface. It can also be used to take panoramic stills and video with a single click and without any need for stitching software to combine images.

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Categories
Kids/Babies

Cubetto programming skips electronics in a Montessori-inspired quest

Learning about programming concepts at a young age should simple, fun, and more like a game because, at those ages, children are able to soak up far more information compared to when they’re older.

This idea motivated the English-based Primo Toys to create Primo, a physical toy used to teach young children foundational concepts of coding. Now, three years later after a successful Kickstarter, Primo Toys is back again with an updated version of Primo: the Cubetto.

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Categories
Connected Objects Pets

RollyCat prevents roly-poly cats by keeping them active

Lack of stimulation is the main reason behind the physical and mental issues that arise in household cats, leaving many owners seeking solutions to keep their little furry friends out while they’re out for the day.

Appearing like the head of an old WowWee robot, the RollyCat is a smart toy robot that automatically plays with a cat when its owner is not around, tracking its fitness levels while it does. Three modes define the RollyCat’s operation: its automatic mode reverts the home into a primal space where the cat can spend hours chasing around it an ever-escaping RollyCat, a manual mode facilitated by its iOS or Android app lets owners get in on the phone, and its fitness tracking capabilities saves the length and quality of playtime for later so owners are better informed.

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Categories
Connected Objects

Vaulteq remembers your passwords better than you do

Remembering passwords continues to be one of the most irritating requirements of modern technology. Several password management systems already address this issue, but they tend to be cloud-based, which at least some consumers don’t trust.

Vaulteq is a password managing device that functions as a digital vault that the user has total control over. It is stored in the home or office, but can be accessed from anywhere the user goes with a digital device. It is compatible with Android, iOS and Windows mobile devices, and uses two-factor authentication, a technology that provides identification of users via two different components. To log into Vaulteq, the user needs a password and a virtual token that is sent to the user’s mobile app when registering. An unlimited number of accounts can use one device.

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Categories
Connected Objects Displays

JmGO View smart projector is a personal you-tube for video

editors-choiceThe portable LED projector market continues to grow, with smart functionality among the features becoming especially popular.

JmGO View is a tube-like portable projector that offers that and several other high-end features, including stereoscopic 3D, Texas Instruments DLP, full metal casing made of aluminum alloy, and surround sound audio with built-in Dolby Digital Plus speakers. It works in conjunction with an Android app, and can be used anywhere to project movies, videogames and other video content in widescreen 1280 x 720 pixel HD resolution onto any white, flat surface.

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Categories
Connected Objects Music

Iiothinks does the talking for a better smart home

By this point, it’s pretty much understood most smart home products don’t do the best job talking to each other. Slowly, the issue is being rectified with the creation of more and more hardware and software platforms attempting to serve as a centerpiece to a connected home.

The is the iothinks mission, but the team behind it goes about it a little differently: by using sound. The actual iothinks device is a small, attractively designed device sporting the usual play/pause button and status lights along with a few custom buttons. But the magic happens when it connects to a user’s smartphone and to any Bluetooth or Wi-Fi-enabled speakers. Then, it acts as an Amazon Echo, doling out social media message updates and weather notification, auto-launching playlists when a user is detected back home, linking up with sleep trackers for smart alarms — iothinks boasts a wide range of features.

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Categories
Connected Objects Music

MoodBox speaker senses your mood to play blues, show hues

editors-choiceMany people select music that’s based on their mood at any given time. MoodBox is a device designed to take full advantage of that.

It’s a 360-degree omnidirectional speaker with LEDs that responds to mood-matching music requests via voice command. MoodBox uses artificial intelligence and predictive modeling to help it learn different genres and moods of music and ambient lighting that the user likes. Music can be streamed from services including iTunes and Spotify via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

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Categories
Cooking

Turn your home into a mini-Benihana with Partyaki

One of the nice things about Teppanyaki-style Japanese restaurants is that they allow diners to watch their food being cooked together as a group, whether it’s with friends or family.

patent-claimedPartyaki is a patent-pending, teppanyaki-style grill that allows consumers to duplicate the experience of a hibachi grill in their own homes. It’s modeled after the same professional grills typically seen in Japanese steakhouses, and is designed to help the user prepare the same kind of meals associated with such restaurants.

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