Author: Nicholas Echevarria

Categories
Cell Phone Accessories Cycling

Bikelops iPhone mount for the bike shows you the way, brightens up your night ride

The bicycle is one of the best ways to travel, but without any kind of light at night it can be pretty dangerous to get home safely. Although bike lights do exist, they may stop working because of a dead battery, leaving riders stuck or in potential danger.

Luckily, most people carry around a light with them at all times in the form of their smartphones. However, the weak LED usually found is great for photos, but not so great for brightening up the road. The Bikelops iPhone mount makes it so that any an iPhone can be securely fasted to the handlebars of the ride while offering an aluminum reflector that focuses the usually wide, diffused light from the LED into a more focused beam. Riders will never be out of juice with something like this. The $20 product is expected to ship in February 2015 provided it raises the required $10,000 through its campaign.

The Bikelops is a promising mount for iPhones that allows not only lights, but all the rest of the features of the phone to be easily accessible as well. It’s doubtful many would want their iPhone subject to possible damage, though, when sleek products like the smart Augur Wolf Lights can be far more superior in the long run.

Categories
Connected Objects Cooking

ChefBot helps you whip up your next delight; prevents burning

Generally, there are two ways a kitchen can be thought of. It can be the soothing, relaxing part of the home where delicious, homemade meals are prepared. Or it can be the part of the home where the refrigerator, toaster oven, and microwave are located. Unfortunately, the latter rings true for most. As easy as any cooking show makes it seem, the process of creating a meal from scratch is loaded with subtlety essential to the recipe itself. However, most people don’t have the magic touch, making cooking difficult and arduous.

The ChefBot may look like a regular kitchen scale, but hiding within is a Bluetooth-enabled kitchen assistant. This device weighs ingredients, provides a running calorie count of them, and leads users through any recipe uploaded into the device with the ChefBot companion app for iOS or Android, all while streaming music through Bluetooth. The device’s stainless steel construction houses multiple voices or a TFT display that communicates this information a user, and everything is built to be water-resistant to avoid unseemly accidents from seriously damaging the unit. The Bluetooth version of the ChefBot is $99, while the Wi-Fi unit is $149. ChefBot is expected to ship April 2015 provided the campaign raises $50,000.

The glut of connected kitchen objects makes it seem like no one in America can cook. Whether that’s true or not remains to be seen, but there is certainly a variety of them. The ChefBot’s design is underwhelming, but the actual product is priced well, offering just enough functionality to be valuable. Its choice of material makes it superior to Drop, another scale that seeks to lend a helping hand but it does so while connected to an iPad, a device people might not want in the kitchen at all.

Categories
Connected Objects

Carbon Flyer rugged drone can dive-bomb into anything and live to tell the tale

Everyone enjoys some good old-fashioned drone action, until the drone in question is located in about three different spots on the ground. Although most people fly their drones in open areas, the danger of having it succumb to the environment is ever present due to unknown geography, user error, or just plain bad luck.

Renowned crowdfunding star Trident Design, LLC bills the Carbon Flyer as the “ultimate tech toy”, perhaps rightfully so. The paper plane look-alike is anything but: its 100% carbon fiber construction down to its carbon fiber infused bonds affords it a level of strength and resistance others drones dream of. Long range Bluetooth connects it to an iOS or Android smartphone at distances of up to 240 feet and allows users to control speed, altitude, and steer it, documenting it all with the onboard 640×480 camera.

A rugged plastic nose cone does double duty by both protecting and balancing the unit out, although it won’t have much time to with the Carbon Flyer’s embarrassingly useless three minute run time. The camera also doesn’t support streaming, but may be able to with future upgrades. Instead, the Game of Drones offers Go Pro possibilities along with indestructibility, but is nowhere near as sleek or affordable as the $99 Flyer. Expected ship date for the unit is August 2015 provided a fully-funded campaign of $50,00o before then.

Categories
Cell Phone Accessories Virtual Reality

Get comfy with the Viewbox neoprene virtual reality headset

If it wasn’t already apparent, virtual reality, or VR, is here to stay. Events like Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus Rift prove exactly that. As such, the future is one where both augmented and virtual reality will be as commonplace as the smartphones and tablets are in our lives now. For now, though, the industry is still in its infancy.

Currently, the most inexpensive and popular route to a full VR experience is with the use of smartphones alongside headsets designed to facilitate a user’s experience, with Google Cardboard being the most popular example. Company evomade has taken up a notch by creating the Viewbox, a product remarkably similar to Cardboard but with minor differences that end up making all the difference.

Instead of being made from cardboard, the Viewbox is made of soft neoprene which allows it to fold up and be easily transported from one location to the next. In addition, the material makes wearing the product comfortable even with glasses on, and ventilation holes prevent moisture and fog to build up within the viewing area. The kr350 (~$45) product is expected to ship in April of 2015 with a successful campaign goal of kr80,000 (~$10,197).

Although users can easily create their own VR headset, the Viewbox is a very streamlined and low-key way to enjoy a wide variety of VR apps already available now, and the fact that it works with smartphones with screens as big as 5.7″ ensures many can use it. The AirVR looks kind of wacky to wear practically, while the Samsung Gear VR offers a similar experience to the Viewbox, but with a steep premium and bulkier design.

Categories
Tablet Accessories

Proud To Play covers iPad for the young and elderly

IPad covers that increase the usability of the tablet are valued accessories. Most are sleek and work mainly on flat surface, everything the Proud To Play iPad cover isn’t. Instead, the cover offers a sturdy and bulky EVA foam construction. The Proud To Play is no looker, but it makes up for its appearance by being usable in the lap along with on any flat surface thanks to the sphere on its back.

The device was originally designed for elderly people suffering from dementia so the iPad’s physical buttons are shielded by the cover to cut down on mistaken button presses and physically limit the device to a single app. The company envisions the cover’s use in child and work environments, but the cover’s bulkiness makes it hard to believe anyone would want to transport it around. The attempt is admirable, but the Proud To Play ultimately doesn’t do anything a Sevastone, or many other alternatives, couldn’t. Backers can buy one cover for €35 (~$43), or buy one and give one for €65 (~$80). A donation of €20,000 (~$24,693) will get the product out and shipped by February 2015.

Categories
Connected Objects Imaging Video

ZANO drone zigs and zags, zooms upward from the palm of your hand

The drones we all know and love are usually large, intimidating machines that seem to be more a part of a Terminator movie than anything else. That’s why the recent trend of their miniaturization is a welcome thing.

Torquing Group’s ZANO continues that trend with its 6.5cm x 6.5cm, fits-in-the-palm-of-the-hand construction. The nano drone offers everything a larger drone can, from HD picture and video capture to a follow me mode, to ensure any high-action events can be captured. Its image stabilization ensures the moments are captured without the presence of blurring or anything else unsightly.

Smartphone tethering allows for gesture control, a back-to-user feature, and a free fly mode when users want full reign over the drone’s operation. Black and white options go for £149 (~$232), while a limited camouflage or glow-in-the-dark option are all available to interested backers, and currently go for £215 (~$335). The £125,000 (~$194,625) campaign is looking to have more ZANOs in the air by June 2015.

As previously mentioned, the ZANO is a reflection of the miniaturization of drones. Other products like the Anura or the Pocketcopter offer similar functionality, but with it are also burdened by a drone’s chief problem: battery life. The ZANO itself only lasts for 10-15 minutes before needing a battery swap, an impractical amount of time for anything other than short bursts of use, rendering something like a follow me mode pretty useless. Its size may be impressive, but users won’t be able to marvel for too long.

Categories
Smartwatches/Bands

SafeBand connected bracelet keeps notifications close, valuables closer

As much as people love their stuff, it’s strange to note just how easily people lose smartphones and other valuables. With everything so close to us all the time, one would think it difficult to do so, but the statistics show it happens more often than not. As a result, more and more products have entered the market promising peace of mind when it comes to valuables.

The SafeBand smart band should satiate those who demand more utility out of the devices they own. The product works in tandem with small, connected pendants called MiniTags that attach to any object. Bluetooth 4.1 allows the SafeBand to always keep users up-to-date with the location of anything they choose with notifications or a loud buzzer if something is seriously out of range—all without a smartphone.

When a user isn’t trying to protect their things, the SafeBand can operate as a two-factor authentication method for smartphones, tablets, and computers, a notification center for smart devices that receives email and call updates, a sleep tracker to help users rest deeply and wake easily, and a fitness tracker that covers all the essentials like heart rate and distance traveled. All of this functionality is packed in a waterproof stainless steel casing that comes with a variety of leather or silicone strap colors. A set of one SafeBand and three MiniTags goes for $149, and is expected to ship March 2015 should the campaign reach its $100,000 goal.

SafeBand is sleek and extremely functional. They advertise and million and one different uses for the MiniTags, so anyone should be able to find many uses for it. Bands like the Hicon have offered notification trays directly on your wrist, but there isn’t band out there quite like the SafeBand.

Categories
Health and Wellness Wearables

ECHO H2 smart patch accurately monitors body with Bluetooth

It’s now a well-known fact that the wrist isn’t the best place for fitness tracking. Between most devices unable to know the difference between walking and typing and the inaccurate relationship between steps taken and calories burned most rely on, this isn’t entirely surprising.

Instead of relying on the limited information supplied by the wrist, Kenzen’s ECHO H2 uses a person’s own sweat to more accurately glean all sorts of information from the body, from heart rate to calorie intake and burn. Since the measurements are based on biochemical processes, the results are way more accurate; it’s like having a lab nearby at all times.

The ECHO H2 is notable because it takes the form of a wireless smart patch that uses medical grade adhesive to comfortably stick to a person’s calf or abdomen for up to a week straight. Over this time, it continuously monitors aspects of the body’s functions, alerting users with buzzes and sounds when they should ease up to avoid overtraining.

Although it uses Bluetooth LE to connect with a smartphone, it fortunately isn’t necessary to bring one along, a death knell to a lot of other fitness trackers. The ECHO H2 itself stores data that later can be synced with the robust mobile app, which offers capabilities like custom notifications, reporting, and team tracking. For $89, backers will receive 20 reusable and disposable patches along with a fully unlocked mobile app, expected to ship on July 2015. The campaign is looking for $75,000.

The ECHO H2 is extremely similar to the LEO in that they both keep an eye on user’s activity through sweat, but the LEO is a lot bigger than the tiny ECHO H2. With the LEO being reusable, though, it bodes much better for the environment when compared to the ECHO H2’s disposable nature. Both are technologically impressive, and gym rats and fitness freaks will be interested.

Categories
Technology

Sonim XP7 Android smartphone takes punishment in stride

The newest smartphones are absolutely gorgeous, but unashamedly weak. No matter what kind of materials smartphone makers claim will last, cracked screens continue being prevalent and yet conveniently ignored by flimsy warranties. After plunking down so much money on one of these beauties, isn’t it only right it outlasts a New Year’s resolution?

There’s a segment of the population that needs a phone stronger than a bad nail job. The Sonim XP7 LTE Android smartphone boasts an Otter Box-like appearance with an anti-glare screen, a 103dB loudspeaker, and drop/impact resistance to up to six feet. Its three year warranty protects against accidental damage, a difficult thing to imagine given it is 100% waterproof and able to withstand one ton of pressure. The Sonim XP7 does all of this while still being a fully unlocked world phone offering 40 hours of talk time or 1,000 hours of standby. The device is currently $579 and expected in March 2015 with a campaign goal of $150,000.

The Sonim XP7 is in good company with the Kyocera Bridgadier, but the latter’s build quality seems to falter compared to the former’s ability to withstand extreme temperatures and even oils and chemicals. Despite its cost, the Sonim XP7 is a solid choice for more intrepid users, especially considering the support and benefits of not being tied to a single carrier.

Categories
Wearables

Fineck Bluetooth wearable strangles stubborn neck pain

One take away from the wearable craze is that people are willing to put some sort of sensor or module pretty much anywhere on their body, provided it relays important information. There’s a wearable for almost every part of the body: earrings, bracelets, ankle bracelets and rings are some of the most popular options that track a variety of vitals like heart rate and sleep. One part of the body hasn’t gotten any love, and that’s the neck: the source of some of the most common, persistent occupational pain most experience day in and day out.

In this modern age, the team behind the Fineck doesn’t believe anyone has to go through their day suffering at all. Their titanium wearable is one of the first neck-focused devices, and comes in the form of a sleek rubber band outfitted with a Bluetooth LE sensor that recognizes neck posture over time. The companion app then relays the analyzed data back to an iOS device to gently remind users of their posture, suggest mini-exercises, or prompt users to play interactive games with the neck as the controller, all in the name of alleviating stubborn neck pain. Early birds can grab a Fineck necklace for $69 before it shoots up to $89, with an expected ship date of April 2015. The campaign is looking for $20,000 in funding.

The Fineck’s choice of placement is certainly novel, but the rest of it isn’t. The neck doesn’t require as much special attention as the product will lead most to believe. Maintaining proper posture is key, and giving it a nice stretch or two over the span of the day will be more than enough. A completely separate device isn’t necessary, and replicates features the more subdued Lumo Lift already boast. Should the Fineck evolve in its capabilities, it may merit a second look.