Author: Nicholas Echevarria

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
Connected Objects

With Tootz, your digital life has never been more colorful

The one thing the world so desperately needs isn’t electric cars, robotic servants/eventual overlords, or even to get to Mars. What the world really needs are unicorns. The more, the better. The critical lack of unicorns prancing around the grasslands of the world has always been a troubling sign of things gone awry. Luckily, Tootz the Unicorn is here to shower our reality with the rainbows disturbingly absent from everyday life.

As is common knowledge, unicorn rainbows don’t just appear out of thin air but rather the magical backsides of these wondrous creatures. Tootz the Unicorn is no exception: every time a Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, or Gmail notification comes through to a smartphone or web browser, multicolored joy billows out from the enchanted deity’s rear end.

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Categories
Connected Objects Displays

The Lighty laser LED projector displays whatever wherever

editors-choiceEverybody loves heading to the movie theaters. The experience of watching a thrilling drama or pulse-pounding action flick is enhanced by the big screen, so much so that people will go as far as buying a projector for their own home to always have the big screen option. The problem lies in how expensive and bulky the projector usually can be, putting a damper on installation along with any ideas of portability.

In creating Lighty, inventor Ovidiu Sandru set out to combine robotic design with an HD laser projector. The result is a mechanical projector with integrated Android tablet that features a self-orientating, self-leveling 360° panoramic projector head that can display media on walls as well as ceilings. A double tap, touchless gesture or voice recognition can all wake Lighty up when ready to be used, and it can even work with products like the Leap Motion to extend control options.

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Categories
Connected Objects Fitness

Get moving anywhere with the Move It connected exercise system

For most, one of the biggest roadblocks to developing a consistent exercise routine is simply finding a place to get sweaty. While a gym is an obvious answer, they can be crowded and/or expensive. Some choose to go at it at home instead, but that can quickly become limiting due to a lack of space.

The Move It portable, modular exercise system is designed to be a connected gym anywhere it is. It’s portable because it weighs a little under seven pounds and modular because its sturdy, sensor-equipped handles fit into each of the Move It’s four exercise tools: an ab wheel, a jump rope, push-up stand and resistance band. No matter the exercise, the product’s capacitive touch handles feature a six-axis gyroscope, an accelerometer and infrared elements for proper alignment along with pressure and tension sensors, all to accurately distinguish different exercises and coach users through their routine and ensure proper form.

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Categories
Imaging Robots/Drones

Appbot Riley patrols, keeps its eye on your abode

The promise of the future is one built on the idea that robots will help humans progress against the challenges of tomorrow. Making this idea a reality will require huge leaps in technology, the types of which are around the proverbial corner but still a while off. Until then, there are products like the Appbot Riley that afford a glimpse at these possibilities.

Riley is a charming little robot designed to be a set of eyes and ears in the home when work or play calls. This roving robot is equipped with a microphone, speaker and 5MP camera with night vision capabilities, all of which can be controlled from its companion smartphone app over Wi-Fi to take snapshots, record video, check around the house, or communicate with those who may be at home.

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Categories
Connected Objects Health and Wellness

The Sprimo purifier uses clean design to clean air

Dealing with contaminants in the air can be a daily struggle for people ranging from those with asthma to to those allergic to pets. While people think they can head inside to escape hazardous air, that’s not the case at all: the EPA previously stated that indoor air has the potential to be 100 times worse than outdoor air.

That’s why it’s important to have devices like the Sprimo to help clean that air. Most air purifiers are big, bulky, and take time to properly filter out the air in question. The team behind Sprimo claims its small, sleekly design fan is able to filter air 50 times better than other purifiers due to its design. Its Personal Mode immediately creates a bubble of fresh air around a user, while its Turbo Mode — activated when the device is pointed upward so that the air generated is split by its brushed aluminum halo — filters out an entire room’s air quickly. A small Nest-like touchscreen on Sprimo’s face lets users instantly check the contents of their air, displaying the PM 2.5, volatile organic compound (VOC), and CO2 content along temperature and humidity scores.

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Categories
Music Smartwatches/Bands

AirJamz turns air guitar wizards into rockers with a flick of the wrist

editors-choiceTom Cruise may have brought the risky business of air guitar playing in tightey-whiteys into the limelight back in the early ’80s. But today, the usually frivolous activity has a governing body and an annual championship in the U.S.

Now, the one activity that didn’t need a device to go with it finally has one: the AirJamz wearable. The strap works by combining a gyroscope to help translate pantomime shredding from movement to sound using its companion app. Two modes offer differing experiences: Music mode is a four player sandbox that allows the entire family to join in on the fun, while Guitar mode offers a more robust range of motion and tighter controls for a somewhat (and that’s used loosely) more realistic strumming experience.

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Categories
Health and Wellness

Your eyes feel alright with the Aurai massaging system

As more and more hobbies and work become digitized, more people spend an increasing number of hours in front of screens daily. As a result, eyes are strained, resulting in dry, irritated eyes and blurry vision along with back and neck pain. To help, cool compresses are generally used to alleviate inflammation while warm compresses stimulate blood circulation instead. The Aurai incorporates both ideas and combines it with its unique Wave Massage System to offer an all-in-one solution perfect at the end of the day.

The Aurai might look like a pair of googles. but instead of a virtual reality experience, users experience a very real, very relaxing experience instead. Its water bag construction envelops the eyes in a soft bag that warms, cools, and massages the eyes with water circulation.

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Categories
Connected Objects Input Video Games

Cinch Tech smart gaming controller learns your moves, makes you better

The world of professional gaming is a behemoth, with games of League of Legends and Starcraft II routinely ponying up ever increasing prize pools and attendance rates in its biggest annual tournaments. Its growth is a testament to the widespread appeal these games and the act of watching them have, and pushes more and more to try their luck in competing. As in any sport, though, any edge is a benefit to be taken advantage of and as a result, professionals are always looking for another.

While it has a small but loyal following now, Cinch Gaming has taken its flagship product — the Cinch Tech intelligent gaming controller — to Kickstarter in hopes of garnering an entire new audience. On the outside, it may look like a standard Xbox One controller, but that’s where the similarities end.

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Categories
Camping Furniture

The Lepaq air bag realizes inflated claims of relaxation

When spring and summer finally hits and the parks, rivers, and beaches call, there’s nothing better than spending the day hanging around with friends and family to best take it all in. What doesn’t help is the idea of lugging around different types of foldable, sometimes heavy chairs for comfort. People could sit on blankets and towels, but that’s never as comfortable.

Inspired to create a better alternative, the team behind the Lepaq set out to create a solution — and they have. To the untrained eye, the Lepaq almost looks like a laundry bag but after a simple wave in the air, it immediately fills out to. Close it up, and it becomes a large airbag that three adults can comfortably rest on for six hours at a time — no inflation necessary.

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