Author: Arthur Tufeau

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Connected Objects Uncategorized

Calou drags the wall calendar into the digital age with e-ink

In an era before Outlook and Google Calendar, people tended to keep their personal schedules in a pocket planner and group or family calendars on a wall calendar. Smartphones have replaced the former but their larger siblings — tablets — haven’t really replaced the latter. Part of the reason for that is because these calendars should be viewable at a glance, which mean a constant display.

Calou is the closest a digital product has come to recreating the classic wall paper. Like an e-reader such as the Amazon Kindle, t uses e-paper technology to maximize battery life. Calou’s developer, Hamburg-based TECHNIKmanufaktur, says that the iPad-sized product can last two week without being charged. The tablet is encased inside a wooden dish-like enclosure that has a magnetic front for small notes and photographs.

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Categories
Networking

Neobase lets you create your own Facebook for private social sharing

The world has never seen a Web site like Facebook, where a sizable chunk of its population — 1.3 billion people — share details and media about their lives to their circle of friends. On its login screen, Facebook notes that it’s free to use and always will be. But it makes money via targeted ads. That’s why there is always close scrutiny, and a lot of concern bordering on paranoia, about its privacy policies, particularly when they change.

For those who like the idea of sharing status updates of their lives with a circle of friends without the intrusion of ads or fear of privacy breaches that many Facebook users have, there is Neobase. Billed as the world’s first private network device, the small cylindrical home server has a 1 terabyte hard drive. As opposed to just being used for sharing files like previous products, Neobase runs Neone, a social network that doesn’t have any central hub but runs on different people’s Neobases.

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Uncategorized

Prana wearable tells you how to breathe easy, take a stand

Today, most wearable are focused on measuring the number of steps one takes per day. It’s a useful measure of daily activity, but there is far more to understanding one’s well-being.

Prana looks like many fitness trackers that clip to a waistband, but it takes a different approach, measuring things that many other product are not – breathing and posture. Prana calculates a score for both and allows a number of ways to actively improve, including a videogame controlled by your breathing and respiration exercises associated with practices such as tai chi and yoga. San Franciso-based Prana Tech seeks $100,000 by April 30th. The price for a Prana is $129, a $20 discount from its expected retail price. The device is expected to ship in July.

Prana competes with Spire, which measures activity in addition to breathing. Spire is ahead of the curve when it comes to interpreting the meaning of certain breathing patterns, but Prana’s measurement of posture is a nice bonus as that has previously been the domain of other wearables; its active training is also more interactive than Spire’s.

 

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Cell Phone Accessories Input

Octodon seeks a come-from-behind victory in smartphone typing

The iPhone pioneered the idea that  a bigger screen was worth giving up the tiny thumb keyboard that had been the hallmark of the BlackBerry. That idea won in the marketplace. However, it hasn’t stopped people from giving up the idea that a portable device could restore the tactile response of a phycial keyboard.

Octodon may be the most unusual handheld keyboard ever created. After being unfolded from its pocket-friendly flat form factor and placed behind the smartphone magnetically, it appears ti give the smartphone a pair of wings. The user’s fingers cradle the Occtodon, which includes a number of discs to navigate among letters in its keyboard app. Once someone masters the controls needed to input certain keys, the custom keyboard can be hidden for full-screen typing.  The developers seek $150,000 in their Kickstarter campaign by May 15. The device, which costs $145 (with a $20 early bird discount aavailable) is due to ship in October.

The Octodon isn’t the first project that facilitates text input while standing with a rear-facing keyboard. In late 2013, the TrewGrip failed to meet its funding goal but nonetheless made it to market. The Octodon is far smaller than that device, but seems to have an even steeper learning curve. That and its price will loom large as barriers to adoption.

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Kids/Babies Maker/Development

Codie steers its way to teaching kids simple programming concepts

There are many apps and Web sites that help teach young minds how to program. In addition to being a worthwhile pursuit in and of itself, it helps students learn lessons in logic and problem-solving. However, in this era of connected devices, it’s helpful to see the ways in which coding can affect objects in the real world.

Codie is a small robotic set tank tread that has various sensors in it. Unlike many kits that combine development and robot-building, it is ready to go right out of the box. A companion app allows beginning programmers to implement very simple instructions and logic to control the bot via Bluetooth. Codie includes a microphone, proximity sensor, light sensor, ultrasound sensor, accelerometer and gyroscope. Not everything Codie does depends on its wheels. It can even be used as an alarm clock.

Codie includes a rechargeable lithium ion battery that allows it to run for about four hours of continuous play.. Codie’s use of Bluetooth and simple companion app are part of what set it apart from Romo, another crowdfunded kid-friendly programmable tread-based robot.

The makers of Codie compare it to Lego Mindstorms, a far more expensive and elaborate — albeit expandable — early robotics kit that is used in introductory robotics. Codie is certainly better geared toward younger kids and has a lower price. The Budapest-based team seels $70,000 by May 15;  Codie costs $169 and should be delivered by November.

Categories
Podcasts

The Backerjack Podcast, Episode 12: Remixed tablets, light hydras, and motivation in a jar

In Episode 12 of The Backerjack Podcast, Steve and Ross check out four of the latest products seeking funds and preorders.

  • Remix, a tablet/laptop hybrid that stuffs the soul of Android into the body of a Microsoft Surface
  • kSafe, a pre-commitment jar in which you can place rewards that are unlocked only if certain activity or time goals are met
  • Adaptalux, a cool set of camera-mounted colored light arms that mount to the top of a camera for intense macro photography effects
  • Zhor, a chunky integrated dashboard touchscreen that integrates many different features.

Download  the episode or listen below, subscribe via iTunes or RSS, and follow Backerjack on Twitter and Facebook.

Categories
Automotive Connected Objects

Mighty Zhor conquers dashboards with a 7″ touchscreen

Once, portable GPS units were the hot items to have affixed to one’s windshield. That functionality was largely built into smartphones, but many cars still feature a center console embedded into the dashboard that can display a range of information.

Moving that console up to the dash and opening it up is a goal of Zhor, a chunky 7″ touchscreen that can handle a range of in-vehicle tasks. These include projecting your smartphone screen to its bigger display, receiving text messages, video chatting,, streaming audio, telematics (where supported by the vehicle) , showing feeds of rear0view and dash cameras, and, of course, GPS.  Zhor must be installed in the vehicle. The makers of Zhor hope to raise an ambitious $880,000 by April 27th. Its non-early bird price is $490 with expected delivery in August.

Zhor offers a lot of functionality in a functional interface, but it faces tremendous competition. Much of its functionality can be handled by mounting increasingly large phones being propped up on a windshield or is built into midrange or more expensive vehicles. Plus, bridges from smartphone ecosystem providers such as Apple (CarPlay) and Google (Android Auto) are beginning to address the need to bridge the smartphone and center console. Zhor also takes up a fair amount of dashboard space; it would be nice to be able to fold it down when not in use.

Categories
Imaging

Adaptalux offers a hydra of color to light up macro photography

editors-choiceMacro photography can produce some startling images. However, unlike, say, portraiture that is often done in a studio, it’s difficult to have fin control over the kind of lighting and color in an image.

Adaptalux is a lighting add-on that attaches to the hot shoe of a digital SLR camera. The main unit hosts up to five flexible hose-like LED lights in five different hues that can be used with diffusers or gels to produce striking lighting effects for pictures of small objects such as leaves or bugs. The company also offers a miniature platform for staging such spectacles. Adaptalux Ltd. seeks £100,000 (about $150,000) by May 2nd. Prices range from about £100 (about $150) for a starter pack that includes two lighting arms) to £300 (about $445) for the complete set of lighting arms, diffusers and filters. All rewards are expected to ship in November.

Adaptalux dramatically expands the color options available to macro photographers in the studio or the field and the flexibility of the lights allow for a great deal of creative control. While the product has a companion app, it would be great to see it control the brightness of the various lights directly rather than merely offering advice, a feature that’s likely on the roadmap.

Categories
Technology

Remix tablet offers a cure to Android users with Surface envy

When it comes to traditional laptop-style computing, Google has pushed Chromebooks for the world of keyboards and mice. Nonetheless, some companies such as HP have taken a few stabs at putting Android in a 2-in-1 laptop-style device.

Now, Beijing-based Jide Tech is looking to infuse Android into a device that’s a dead ringer for the Microsoft Surface with Remix. Like Microsoft’s spin on a tablet-laptop hybrid, the 11,.6″ Remix has a kickstand and a removable cloth-textured keyboard/trackpad cover that attaches via magnets. And the similarity doesn’t end there. The company has added the ability to run apps in windows as well as a Windows-like file manager and taskbar.

Jide Tech seeks $100,000 by April 24 and the Remix is available in limited quantities at prices up to $349. A ridiculous $39 early bird sold out quickly. Units are expected to be delivered by May 2015 and the company assures that the product is already in production in China and it simply needs to bring it to the U.S. and other markets.  What appeared to be a simultaneous campaign on Indiegogo turned out to be fraudulent and has been removed.

As noted, Android-based keyboard devices have not seen the level of success that Chromebooks have despite having so many apps available. It’s also somewhat surprising that the new device wlll not have the latest version of Android — Lollipop — that is rolling out to new devices. While the Remix  was a clear value-based alternative to the Surface Pro, the recent introduction of the Surface 3 at $499 makes the original far more competitive although that price doesn’t include the Type Cover.

Categories
Connected Objects

kSafe serves up treats, motivation to meet your goals

In the Greek classic The Odyssey, the hero Odysseus ties himself to the staff to prevent himself from succumbing to the temptation of the Sirens. Most temptations we modern folks face are not quite so tempting, but it would be great if there were a way to use a similar level of what’s called pre-commitment n order to motivate us to achieve our goals.

That’s the premise behind kSafe, a smartphone-lockable jar that can hold a variety of treats until such time as one completes a predetermined goal. An example might be walking a certain number of steps per day or checking in at a gym, or waiting a certain amount of time. A ring of colored light on the top of the jar lights progress toward the goal. Its colors include an opaque black and white as well as a translucent option to maximize motivation/torture.

The product, based on psychology research from MIT and other sources, is an evolution of Kitchen Safe, an unconnected version that garnered an appearance on Shark Tank. The company seeks $50,000 by April 24 and expects to offer backers their own kSafe for $89 by October. The campaign also includes a number of stretch goals, the mot interesting of which kicks in at $350,000: the ability to have a friend unlock the container.

While the kinds of tasks that kSafe caters to are limited, the kinds of rewards it can provide are less so. Overall, the system is more versatile than other projects such as box&rox. More real-world exposure will test the positive results that the creators claim it has provided up to now.