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Connected Objects Toys

Leka smart toy appeals to parents of developmentally-challenged kids

Not every toy can meet the unique needs of autistic and other special needs children.

Leka is a ball-like, robotic smart toy with a display that has been designed for kids with developmental challenges. The customizable toy is equipped with sensors that enable users to play fun and educational games that motivate social interactions, increase motor, cognitive, and emotional skills, and also stimulate autonomy. Leka can detect and respond to a child’s interaction through autonomous behavior.

For example, if Leka is mistreated and thrown on the ground, it appears to become sad and turns red. An interactive response like this aims to help users better understand social cues and improve their social skills.

Categories
Connected Objects Health and Wellness Smart Home

Fixo is a well-rounded smart home disc

Those who’ve made the leap to outfitting their apartments or homes with smart home devices can quickly recall the horrors of trying to figure out how make everything work together. The tired Internet of Things trope of disparate standards is anything but, still making things difficult years into the IoT craze. And to add insult to injury, each of these products can look so wildly different that choosing to put them all in a single space can result in a serious decorative crisis.

Some smart home systems, like the Oomi and Kasia, present potential backers with an all-in-one system that avoids these issues. Fixo, however, takes it up a notch with a stylish design that looks great presented on a table or on the wall anywhere in the home. The HD-camera equipped multi-face smart clock features a dedicated suite of apps along with a wide variety of integrations so that users can do everything from check weather forecasts, remind themselves of their next Google Calendar appointment, consult recipes in the kitchen, refer to the bountiful knowledge of Wikipedia, or just snap some selfies or video call loved ones and friends.

Categories
Aquatics

AirBuddy makes diving experience a tankless job

The wonders below the surface of the sea are incredible sights, a glimpse to a world that is as unknown and alien as the galaxies that surround the planet. With so much to discover underneath the waves, the last thing anyone wants to do is spend time lugging around heavy scuba tanks and other equipment. Ultimately, more time is spent preparing for a dive than actually diving in most cases.

The team behind AirBuddy wants to make the entire diving experience more lightweight. To do this, its portable diving system ditches bulky tanks in favor of a surface-supplied diving approach (SSBA) reminiscent of old diving suit that used tubes to connect to boats that supplied oxygen. The AirBuddy concept is the same, but rather than deliver oxygen from a boat, it does so from an small air compressor that floats on the water’s surface.

Categories
Connected Objects Health and Wellness Home

EcoQube Air desktop greenhouse clears the air while growing your plants

Growing plants in a home or office can be challenging due to several factors, including the need for adequate light and the messiness involved in using soil and water.

patent-claimedEcoQube Air is a desktop greenhouse that makes growing plants indoors much easier. As a bonus, it also has been designed to improve the user’s quality of life by purifying the air and providing smart light therapy to combat seasonal affective disorder.

The device uses hydroponics, which provides benefits that include low maintenance, a reduction of water usage by a whopping 90 percent, faster plant growth, and a drain spout for easy water change. Hydroponics is a method of agriculture that grows plants without the use of soil. Using this technique, plants can be grown with a fraction of the amount of resources (water, energy and space) required to grow plants the traditional way, in soil. Plants thrive by absorbing only as much nutrients and water they need.

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Connected Objects

Askey helps you remember if you locked the door

While a number of of sophisticated smart locks that one can control from around the world have made their debut, many folks just want a little help remembering whether they locked the door.

patent-claimedAskey is a device that easily attaches to a key and tracks when the key has been used via a motion sensor that accurately registers the key’s movement. The accessory is activated and starts to record the key’s movement when the user moves the key from its resting position. It comes in a choice of five colors and works in conjunction with a mobile device app, available now for Android only, but a port for iOS is coming also.

Askey uses Bluetooth 4.0 LE and ships in March at future pricing of about $60. But Kickstarter backers can get one at the early bird price of about $36. Its makers hope to raise $51,493 by May 30.

Categories
Chargers/Batteries

PompAdapter brings faster charging to existing devices

It’s a common problem. A phone call must be made, but there is no power left on one’s smartphone. Attaching a charging cable is easy, but typically results in a long wait until there is enough juice to make a call.

patent-claimedPompAdapter is a universal power adapter that doubles the charging speed of any mobile device charging cable that a user already owns. The patent-pending (in China) accessory can be used with any laptop or notebook computer, and any Android or iOS smartphone or tablet. PompAdapter just needs to be plugged into any device charger. PompAdapter ships in August at future pricing of $39.99. But Indiegogo backers can get one for a pledge starting at $19 for early birds. Its makers are looking to raise $3,500 by June 2.

This device is a handy one for just about any consumers who own mobile devices –- especially when traveling. An additional plus is that PompAdapter won’t drain a device’s battery even if it remains connected all night long, its makers say.

Categories
Robots/Drones

WowWee’s simple Lumi drone aims to wow wee and large alike

The advent of drones over the past few years and their steady decline price has led to more and more people enjoying the fun of piloting one. So many, in fact, that even the FCC is more strictly regulating their use. Nevertheless, for all the attention paid to them and the progress they’ve made on ease of use, they can still be complicated to set up, pilot, and maintain over time — hardly a consumer-friendly device.

Developed by the company that produced one of the earliest robot toys, WowWee’s Lumi is an easy-to-use drone designed as a more palatable approach to the sometimes dizzying world of drones. It’s ready to go out of the box, with a simple setup consisting of the loading in of its battery, placement of its beacon, and activation of its app. Once done, its BeaconSense technology allows Lumi to interface with its companion beacon to always know where it is in space.

Categories
Smartwatches/Bands

The Henlen modular smartwatch switches things up

Making the jump to becoming a smartwatch owner is a tricky decision. On the one hand, the added utility of a smartwatch can make one’s day more organized and efficient. On the other, smartwatches are continually criticized over being more a nuisance than anything, ultimately taking space away from other dumb, but far more stylish, watches.

The team at Henlen Watches felt the same and is now trying to fund its Origin Series of interchangeable smartwatches. A Henlen watch is comprised of three parts: its strap, its body, and its Cell, where all the technology is stored. Each part, including the Cell, is interchangeable between the two models available: the Commdander and the Covert. The former is a more rugged watch (with black or silver body options along with black or tan leather straps), while the latter is a more casual version (with the option of a rose gold or black body along with a chocolate leather or red leather strap). In this way, wearers of the Origin Series needn’t sacrifice the flexibility of multiple styles for a more connected experience.

Categories
Connected Objects Wallets

The Cashew Smart Wallet drives would-be thieves nuts

One of the worst feelings in the world is misplacing a wallet. Not only is money lost, but time too since all of the cards within need to be reported lost or stolen before waiting a week or two for replacements. In this day and age of connected goodie, Revol Inc. didn’t think all this hassle was necessary, creating the Cashew Smart Wallet as an answer.

The Cashew is a clamshell-like smart wallet made of a scratch and water-resistant polycarbonate that can hold up to eight cards and 30 types of currency. What make it special is that it sports a biometric fingerprint reader and smartphone connectivity, working together to keep its contents secure both from thieves and users themselves. To set it up, a user need simply to open up the companion iOS/Android app, sync the wallet via Bluetooth, and register their fingerprint on the app.

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Connected Objects

The Flcikerstip connected LED strip lets your imagination shine bright

Everyone could use more bright, colorful lights in their lives and, contrary to popular opinion, Christmas needn’t be the only time during the year for them. Julian Hartline, founder of HOhmBody, thought the same and created the Flickerstrip so that anyone could brighten up any environment however they’d like.

The Flickerstip is a strip of Wi-Fi connected, decorative LED lights that can be arranged in a variety of ways at home, at parties, or even for art installations. Its companion desktop or smartphone app gives users the option to either downloaded pre-made light configurations that run the gamut from simple, repeating patterns to complex, dazzling arrangements or just make their own.