Author: Nicholas Echevarria

Categories
Cycling

Helmetor lets your bike hold your helmet when you’re not using your head

What the heck do we do with our helmets when we aren’t on our bikes anymore? This is an issue many cyclists have faced, only to avoid even taking the helmet at all to avoid making the decision. While usually we applaud pragmatism here at Backerjack, pragmatism that puts you in danger is out of the question. This is why the Helmetor is answering the question themselves with their bike or wall-mounted helmet holder.

When attached to a wall, it’s a place to store to easily store your helmet, but the product shines when attached to the handlebars of your ride. The Helmetor is lightweight, resistant to weather, extremely durable, and most importantly out of the way while riding. Riders can even lock the helmet in place, making the option of leaving outside along with your bike a more attractive one. As much as the Helmetor promotes helmet use, this still won’t be the elixir to convince the majority of riders who don’t use a helmet now otherwise, unfortunately. In any case, the Helmetor is just £12 (~$19), and is estimated to be delivered by February 2015. The campaign is looking for £17,250 (~$27,200) for production costs.

Categories
Health and Wellness

UVIO skin scanner seeks out precancerous conditions

Unfortunately, the rate of skin cancer worldwide increases year after year, which is why getting a routine screening is highly recommended. Oddly enough, though, the jury is still out on how effective screenings are. Although they consist of a visual inspection by a trained physician, even trained physicians sometimes have difficulty telling the difference between benign skin irregularities and early forms of skin cancer.

One of the main reasons why it can be so difficult to positively detect skin cancers is because the signs that need to be found can exist underneath the skin, below what can be seen. Monarch Med is looking to ease the difficulties of skin cancer screening with their precancerous dermis scanner called UVIO. The product is a tube-shaped device outfitted with a camera that can take ultraviolet, infrared, and electro-optical images, a combination of imagery the company claims can greatly increase the success physicians can achieve in detecting cancerous cells. A Bluetooth, memory card, and a cabled USB version are being created in order to make the scanning technology available to a wider range of people at varying price points. The campaign is looking for $118,000 to begin production but there aren’t actual products to purchase as of yet.

 

Categories
Smart Home

Aquanta smart water heater controller quantifies savings

Many Americans are quick to turn off the lights or the air conditioner in an effort to save money on energy bills, but not many think about their water heaters as a culprit. As the second leading consumer of energy in most homes, the water tank is oddly left out of advice found on morning news segments and in About.com articles. With the rising trend in home automation pretty much everywhere, Sunnovations has taken the water heater to task with Aquanta.

The Aquanta is a smart water heater controller that works over Wi-Fi and instantly raises the IQ of the water heater in most people’s basements. The product is able to learn the usage patterns of the tank in question and use the resulting information to automatically control its heating element to best use energy. The option for users to do it themselves is also available as well, an attractive route considering the level of information its companion app provides about every aspect of a home’s energy usage along with the suggestions it offers too. The app also alerts users to malfunctions and leaks to prevent them from getting out of hand. The $99 Aquanta will be on backer’s doorsteps by July 2015 provided Sunnovations meets their $75,000 goal.

The Aquanta is a very polished smart water heater controller when compared to another, more low-tech option in the Jul Bujh. However, its installation is somewhat involved and the product doesn’t work with older, mechanical models of water heaters that may be in the minority but are still owned by many. In that way, the Aquanta is a little too smart, but ultimately a solid option for those with whom this is a good fit.

Categories
Smart Home

Tiny NUZii smart device micro-manages so you don’t have to

By no fault of their own, most of our homes are dumb. As a result, hoards of companies offer all-in-one solutions to take advantage of the opportunities that technology has to offer. Over the years, these smart home hubs have evolved from merely being control points for other connected objects to adding utility themselves. With all those additional features, though, their cost has gone up as well. The NUZii flips this idea on its head by offering a tiny smart device that not only helps automate the home, but also helps make the rest of a user’s life easier.

NUZii is small, really small. At four inches tall, the product is impressively packed with all sorts of functionality that will make most wonder how it’s all possible. The 2MP camera, air and humidity sensors, and Bluetooth connectivity all complement the device’s home automation functions, syncing up to other connected objects, learning the user’s habits, and setting custom profiles depending on the time of day. Apple TVs, Roku streaming boxes, VUE light bulbs, Jawbone activity trackers, and many other popular connected devices are all fair game.

NUZii can also connect to external storage with its two USB ports and, with the help of a Wi-Fi network, users will always have the ability to use that storage however they want from wherever they are with the help of an integrated download manager. NUZii is a triple threat in that it can also connect to your modem and offer VPN and Tor support to provide users with complete anonymity on the Internet, something that is becoming increasingly valuable as time goes on. The device clocks in at just $99, and provided the campaign reaches its $65,000 goal, backers will receive NUZii in June 2015.

NUZii isn’t the first of its kind nor is it the last, but it certainly makes a good impression. Similar products like the pēq, SherloQ, and the Neoji may execute some aspects of the NUZii much more successfully, but none offer its level of versatility, especially for its price or even size. The product’s app store stokes excitement as well, serving up the potential for vastly different uses than what the inventors have intended. Look for the NUZii to make a dent if properly funded.

Categories
Safety Sports

Rockochet makes sure debris doesn’t rock your skateboard’s world

A skateboarder’s biggest nemeses are the many rocks and random other debris that litter the floors of our cities. Unlike when we ride bikes and other modes of transports, rocks can be possible death knells for skateboarders. It completely and suddenly stops transportation, and the rider more than likely violently flies forward, sometimes into greater danger like a busy street.

The Rockochet is a small, lightweight attachment that connects to the trucks of a skateboard and acts as a miniature plow that deflects those dastardly, unforeseen rocks out of the way. The Rockochet is perfect for beginners and for those who simply cruise along rather than busting out hardcore tricks. The company stresses how out of the way its subtle design is, but pros probably wouldn’t want to add something like this on their board. For everyone else, the Rockochet deflector can be had for $15 to be delivered by March 2015. The campaign is looking for an infusion of $20,000 for production costs.

 

Categories
Smartwatches/Bands

Wear both your heart and digital life on your sleeve with youWare QR accessories

]The youPass app by ThinkYou, Inc. has taken steps to incorporate social media accounts and other pertinent information associated with someone’s digital life, and compiled them for easy sharing. While it’s much easier to have everything centralized, it still requires a smartphone to be taken out and fiddled with just to share. As a result, the company has come up with a solution: a line of accessories dubbed youWare.

Each youWare accessory features a QR code that can be synchronized with a youPass account, so the code only needs to be scanned. Afterward, users can set what exactly another connection gets to see, so different connections can get different information. A wide variety of options, from silicone to leather to paracord to stainless steel bands, start at $5 and work their way up to $89. If the campaign reaches their $50,000 goal, backers should expect their own in May 2015.

The youPass/youWare combo is an admirable attempt at eliminating the many unnecessary steps at simply connecting with each other, but still requires a proprietary app to do so, not to mention accessing the phone to get all the info in the first place. Their stretch goal of incorporating NFC support would really transform this approach from a novelty to something truly useful, but then the company would run into the problem of lacking some smartphone compatibility. As polished as this approach may be, there are definite holes: making something like this truly accessible to all means the creation of a mobile standard, not just an app.

Categories
Safety Sensors/IoT Tech Accessories

FLASHNUB sensor tells you when the door’s ajar with a light show

The steady creep of wireless technology into homes has made the ability to stay informed less of a luxury, with home automation and sensor options becoming more commonplace as their design and price reflect the simplicity of their utility. The biggest danger with this approach is running the risk of being too simple.

Many  years ago, a device like the FLASHNUB door activity monitor would possibly turn some heads, but now can only be a lackluster idea at most. The device works by attaching a battery-powered sensor to a door that contains a contact point. Once that contact point is broken by an opening door, the device sends an alert through Wi-Fi to the connected USB-dongle that emits a three flash light.

The product itself is incredibly simple and is more of a DIY project than something to be considered a serious product, so its $60 price tag is a bit of a mystery. As such, there are other far more mature solutions for situations that require staying informed. The FLASHNUB campaign is looking for $50,000 to get the product out to backers by September 2015.

Categories
Cell Phone Accessories Imaging

Shake your Polaroid picture with the SnapJet instant smartphone printer

No matter what kinds of digital advances are made in photography, instant film will always have its place in our collective hearts. Its immediate nature along with the iconic shaking necessary to dry off a fresh picture will always see people trying to incorporate it alongside new technology rather than letting technology render it obsolete. In no other product is this more true than SnapJet.

SnapJet is a high-quality, open source printer that produces Polaroid images with the help of any smartphone. It’s extremely slim and therefore portable, and above all easy to use. Simply navigate to the desired picture on the smartphone, place it screen down onto the printer, and SnapJet will do the rest — no app, wires, or connection of any kind necessary. The only thing a user will need is widely available Polaroid 300 or Fuji Instax film. When the analog nature of a Polaroid won’t cut it, send high-quality prints using LifePrint instead. In any case, the $129 SnapJet is expected to ship in November 2015 if the campaign behind it reaches $155,000.

Categories
Lighting Smart Home

BeON deterrent lighting system allows you to be on alert 24/7

Home security has seen a resurgence in the past few years thanks to how easy it has become to install and use smartphone and tablet-based systems. As such, the ubiquity of low-cost hardware and Bluetooth connectivity along with smart devices have made home monitoring a largely automated experience that relies on video and motion sensing to set off alarms. As effective as these approaches are, most companies have forgotten that deterrence is the first line of defense in protecting the home, an idea the BeON burglary deterrent system is based on.

The one thing common to every household is the humble lightbulb, maybe a little bit too humble. The BeON system takes lightbulbs to task injecting them with smarts that allow a combination of Bluetooth LE, microphone, sound processor, and rechargeable battery to protect your home. The BeON bulbs installs like standard bulbs and simulate a full home when users are gone by learning lighting habits over time. Constantly shifting lights give off the impression of an occupied, so burglars will think twice before trying to break in. Doorbells also activate the lights when users aren’t in, making it seem like someone is stirring within.

Its four-hour backup battery inside allow its lighting and security features to work through a power outage and that, along with its 20 year battery life, ensures a user’s peace of mind. The companion iOS and Android app will also let users enable Away mode, set lighting patterns, or teach BeON to hear their doorbell, all while still softly lighting a home with 60W of power. A three pack of BeON lightbulbs goes for $229 and is expected to ship in April 2015. The campaign is looking for $100,000 to make it happen.

A connected lightbulb isn’t anything new, but the BeON does far more than others like the AirBulb or even Philips Hue. Its modular nature will eventually allow users to add on functionality, which extends its utility. That said, it is pretty wasteful to randomly turn on lights but that won’t be a convincing point for those who treasure their security.

 

Categories
Smart Home

The Room Central Bluetooth controller keeps the temperature just right

The more ubiquitous Bluetooth technology becomes, the more the disparate elements in people’s lives are united so as to be easily controlled. Things all around and outside the home used to be governed by mechanisms needing physical action, but now can be adjusted with simple taps of a button. This technology, along with the sensors that work in tandem with it, allow users a level of control previously unfamiliar.

A good example of that is the Room Central Bluetooth controller. It connects to heaters, coolers, or anything with a mechanical heating or cooling controls (like greenhouses or rice cookers) and relays temperature information to an iOS or Android smartphone. Its companion app allows for scheduling and remote control from up to 25 feet and imparts lots of smarts on previously dumb items in the home. An LED display on the unit itself ensures users won’t need to unlock your phone every time they need to check on temperature, too. The Room Central controller goes for $100 and is expected in March 2015 provided the campaign reaches its $64,900 goal.