Month: May 2016

Categories
Chargers/Batteries Music

The Ripcord USB cable powers all your musical gadgets anywhere

For the roving musician, inspiration can strike anywhere. The good news is that there’s never been a better for this to happen, with a plethora of options — both digital and analog — for playing and recording music. The bad news is that all of this equipment, from guitar pedals, amps, synths and keyboards to mixers, MIDI recorders, and tuners, all need to be powered by batteries that are too expensive or power outlets that may not be compatible or not there at all.

The team behind the Ripcord believe that due to its ubiquity, USB power is the future. To take advantage of the fact that most people carry already carry with the USB chargers, power banks, laptops, and smartphones all with USB ports, the Ripcord was developed to be a plug-and-play power cord that allows the standard 5V output of USB ports to charge musical equipment requiring 9V.

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Categories
Health and Wellness Wearables

Fitti Guard smartwatch helps keep you fit and safe

There are many fitness trackers on the market, but they tend to offer limited functions, have a short battery life and lack a display. Smartwatches tend to offer more features, but don’t necessarily do a great job with any specific feature. The number of environment trackers is also growing, but those devices tend to offer no additional features.

Fitti Guard is a health-focused smartwatch that monitors fitness and environmental factors including UV exposure. It features a total of 10 sensors, including UV, noise, air quality, humidity and radioactivity. Users get immediate alerts and helpful advice if their individual levels or dose rates for polluted air, noise nuisance, sunlight or even radioactivity are exceeded.

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Categories
Connected Objects Imaging

Kiba interactive camera captures fleeting memories, spontaneous selfies

editors-choiceMany people like to capture special moments, but often miss them because some of life’s greatest moments -– like a child’s first steps –- happen unexpectedly. Nowadays, we have a pretty good camera on us at nearly all times. However, even if we happen to be around for moments worth capturing, they can be over before we can fumble with our smartphones.

patent-claimedKiba is a voice-controlled, self-editing, interactive camera that captures joyful memories and unattended selfies. It captures 1080p HD video and 13-megapixel still images. Users can schedule the capture of recurring daily events like playtime activity or one-time events including a birthday party. They can then download the full recording or only 20-second “Smart Memories” that are automatically curated for them by the device. Kiba automatically cuts 90 percent of unwanted footage using patented Joy Ranking technology. The camera sifts through hundreds of interactions and picks the most interesting moments.

Users can interact and control Kiba hands free, using five simple voice commands for all the main functions: “Kiba Selfie” for high-resolution photos; “Kiba Record” for 30-second videos, “Kiba Remember” to capture the last 30 seconds, “Kiba Off” to put the device to sleep, and “Kiba On” to wake it up. Kiba uses Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy to automatically sync with the user’s connected devices.

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Categories
Connected Objects Health and Wellness Sensors/IoT

uHoo version 2. Smart air quality sensor returns with a new look

Unbeknownst to many, indoor air is usually two to five times worse than outdoor air. And as a whole, air quality is the single largest environmental hazard in the world today. Not many people do much about the air inside, though, because they simply don’t know. The lightweight, portable uHoo smart air quality sensor empowers people to act using exact readings of the surrounding air quality.

The uHoo’s soda can-like form belies the eight dedicated sensors it uses to compile accurate air quality readings for a completely open space of 400 square feet. Not only is temperature, humidity, air pressure and dust accounted for, but uHoo keeps an eye on some of the nastier stuff like PM 2.5, carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds (VOC) as well.

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Categories
Sponsored

Wi-Fi sucks. (But it doesn’t have to.)

The following is a sponsored post from Ignition Design Labs and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Backerjack’s editorial staff. 

One thing all tech users can agree on is their frustration with Wi-Fi. But, considering consumer Wi-Fi technology hasn’t changed much in the last 10 years, this should come as no surprise. What has happened during the last decade, however, is a rapid influx of tens of millions of Wi-Fi-enabled devices. All of these devices are now operating on a network that carries more than 100 times the amount of data it was designed to carry.

Consumers want faster, more reliable connections that allow them to use all of their devices more easily. But with applications such as HD video streaming, real-time gaming, video chat and more competing for bandwidth, it’s no wonder Wi-Fi sucks.

That is, until today. Portal is now available on Kickstarter.

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Categories
Aquatics

GoBoat floats your body in nearly any body of water

Fishing: one of the many great American past times. Still, even if actually being out on the lake has the potential to be a soothing, meditative experience, all the set up to transport both the boat and the equipment necessary can be a hassle.

Inventor Dave Yonce wants to help with the boat part of the problem with his GoBoat, an untraportable inflatable boat that can be stored in the back of pretty much any car, quickly assembled, and rapidly inflated on the spot with the included high-velocity hand pump. Its construction — a foldable center portion surrounded by a thick rubber inflatable tube — allows it still be a durable vessel and retain portability and a light weight at just 15 lbs.

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Categories
Cell Phone Accessories Imaging

Pictar helps iPhone users take better pictures

Smartphones continue to be the most popular devices for consumers to take photos with. But, despite the ongoing improvements that have been made to smartphone cameras’ megapixels and other features, dedicated cameras -– especially ILC (Interchangeable Lens Camera) models –- still offer several technical advantages.

patent-claimedPictar is an iPhone camera grip that enhances the camera functionality of Apple’s product in several ways beyond just the ability to grip the iPhone better while taking a photograph or shooting video. Pictar also adds full external control of all camera shooting functions. For example, its shutter button offers a half press mode to lock focus and exposure for easy tracking of a moving object or to create a desired composition, as well as full press for immediate shutter release.

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Categories
Smart Home

FlipFlic won’t leave you blinded by the light

It can be a major drag to face interruptions every time the window blinds need to be adjusted due to glare.

FlipFlic is a solar-powered, energy-saving device that adjusts window blinds based on sunlight, temperature or any schedule that is set via the accompanying app. An iOS app is already available and an Android version will follow soon. The automation device is easy to install. With one click, FlipFlic, which is about the size of a roll of quarters, attaches to window blinds magnetically.

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Categories
Connected Objects Music

Harsaa multi-function earbuds offer NFC, sleep monitoring and more

There are many earbuds on the market, but few of them aspire to offer many features beyond good quality audio.

Harsaa are noise-cancelling Bluetooth earbuds that include NFC and emergency messaging, and also track activity and monitor sleep. As part of its NFC tap-and-go sharing feature, users just have to swipe the earbuds over their smartphones to transfer any information they choose.

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Categories
Technology

Kphob tracks door locking on the cheap with a turn of the key

It’s a common problem. After leaving the house, it’s often hard to remember if the door was locked and it’s just too time-consuming a lot of the time to return home and check.

patent-claimedKphob is a key fob that records whenever the user locks a door with an attached key. It uses several sensors, including a magnetometer and accelerometer, to track every motion of the key. The device also tracks the time and date of each entry and exit. It features a small display that shows the date and time.

Kphob ships in December. Future pricing is expected to be about $18. Early bird Kickstarter backers can get one first with a pledge starting at about $21. Its makers hope to raise $18,242 by May 5.

Alas, the fob only works only with physical keys, so consumers who have only a remote-controlled lock need not apply. Users must physically rotate the key inside the keyhole for at least one full rotation/revolution. But its makers are working on the algorithm to make it possible for 180-degree rotation detection.