Open flames, piping hot pots and pans, and never enough room — kitchens can certainly be a taxing environment, and cooking in one can be a bit of a puzzle. With so many moving pieces floating around, you’re bound to get tied up with hands full while a pressing matter is vying for your attention. In an attempt to free up hands stuck in indecision, Trivae is a heat-resistant, cast iron lid holder and dual trivet that always gives you a place to put down random lids, plates, or pans. It makes the transition from kitchen assistant pretty well when you expand it out to serve as a presentation stand as well. Some smart design decisions were implemented into the design of the product, including a spine that curves away from whatever is on top in its flat layout, and non-slip rubber pads to avoid slippage. When you’re done, the product’s single trivet option also doubles as a way to conveniently store the product, addressing storage issues just like the Armadillo Colander does. A donation of $50 gets interested backers their very own Trivae in May of 2015. A $50,000 campaign goal is the only thing stopping Trivae from beginning production.
Author: Nicholas Echevarria
Football is a game in which a variety of skills are not only required, but players are trained to a level where they’re practically second nature. In particular, there are a few aspects of pass receiving that are absolutely vital to get down. One of the most important skills is to avoid catching the ball with the body by extending the arms as far as possible. Although it sounds simple, the level of efficacy expected requires a lot time, discipline, and occasionally something to help nudge you down the right path. Alligator Arms aims to help budding pass receivers nurture solid fundamentals, compelling them to always extend their arms when engaging in the process of catching the pass. The product comes in the form of a belt worn around the waist that attaches to a user’s wrists with cords. It’s a simple, low-tech aid similar to the Shoot Natural Glove that, with enough use, seems like it can breed positive habits. Since the product was conceived at a fitness seminar, there must be some truth to the claim, although more analysis use would be necessary to see if it actually works over the long run. In the meantime, one Alligator Arms is going for $100 with an estimated delivery date of December 2014. The campaign is looking for $10,000 to help players everywhere.
There’s always a caveat to the type of transportation you choose to reduce the length of your commute. With a car, there’s inevitably traffic. Most people opt for public transport to avoid this, but the problem lies in most stops not being close to home. You could cut down walk time by riding an electric scooter there, but then you’re forced to leave it. Likewise, bicycles make you the target of combined commuter hatred at the height of rush hour. Push scooters offer a great balance between the two, but can weigh a lot. PIGEON is a foldable push scooter designed to improve your commute. Consisting of just three parts made from aluminum and wood, the PIGEON can be folded into a thin profile with a single foot press and slung over the shoulder. Even if the price is bit bloated considering the materials, the portability of this product separates it from others like the ion Smartscooter or the Me-Mover that may offer the same, but still weigh a ton while doing so. Backers can expect their own in May 2015 for £135 (~$216). PIGEON hopes to raise a modest £2,000 (~$3,200) on Kickstarter.
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Icealot gives you balls of ice
Most people don’t know that the cloudy, white ice we pull out of our freezers to serve to guests on a hot summer day or to enjoy in our drink of choice isn’t really the best. Since the experience of having ice melt so quickly is such a normal one, most of us never really think twice about it. This leaves our beverages diluted and pretty much ruined by the time you reach mid-cup. iceälot is a system of ice molds designed to be used within a compact freezer box that creates beautifully clear ice free. The molds feature holes that allow impurities to be pushed down through into the water it floats atop, leaving users with smooth, clear ice in a variety of shapes: there are spherical molds, cubes, and sticks, amongst many others. An iceälot freezer box alongside four spherical molds goes for $75, with the option to get additional add-on molds as well, for delivery in March 2015. The campaign is looking for $25,000 to bring iceälot to production.
An overflowing bathtub or sink can be disastrous, requiring costly repairs by the time you realize what’s happening. Many have experienced it, from the elderly to the physically impaired to those who are just plain forgetful or distracted, making a solution to the issue an important one.
Level Minder is a small, compact sensor that attaches to the edge of a bathtub or sink with a suction cup. Once there, sensors at the bottom of the unit alert you with a loud alarm once water reaches them, with planned Wi-Fi capability to send a text message or even wirelessly turn off the water supply when you’re not in. The unit comes in three colors to match a wide variety of bathroom layouts and currently goes for $100, with an estimated delivery date of March 2015. The campaign needs a staggering $500,000 to make it all happen.
The Level Minder is a fine solution to a real issue, but the product is way too narrow in what it does. The inventor talks about how big the issue of water damage is, but ultimately doesn’t convince. Add its bloated cost and the Level Minder ends up being a lot less sensible than it initially seems.
On any given day, there are a myriad of things that can and will stress you out, but what’s most important is how you deal with it. Drinking a calming tea, yoga, breathing exercises — there are a variety of ways to decompress when you need to. For inventor Frank Cohen, the colors, lights, and rhythms of a lava lamp helped him after particularly draining days. After so many years, he now feels the humble lava lamp deserves an appropriately modern upgrade.
Waves is the modern lava lamp that comes in the form of a Bluetooth speaker within a slim box that can sit desk-side or be mounted onto a wall. Thin diffusion filters stand atop the unit, allowing pre-programmed light shows to do everything from brightening up a space to soothing someone who may be feeling weary after a long day. The inexpensive diffusion filters are also easily cuttable, giving more artistic types the room to explore whatever designs might interest them.
The product is also incredibly social. Along with being able to sync up to most popular social networks and act as a push notification hub instead your buzzing phone, each Waves unit can talk to each other. This communication between five, ten, or even fifty units can facilitate light shows with all of them participating and gives the product the versatility to be used in ways that haven’t even been thought of yet. Fortunately, new ideas will be in abundance as Waves is supporting a strong communal aspect where members can create sell their own filter designs and share light shows, with the option of earning royalties on our show. Control everything with a Web app or your iOS or Android device. Two Waves are going for $149 and are to be delivered by December 2014. To do that, the campaign is looking for $10,000 in funding.
For now, Waves must be hard-wired which severely limits its aesthetic appeal. But, all in all, Waves is an imaginative product that will make a great conversation piece in any environment. Its open-nature also stands out as a great entryway to technology and its use of the Processing language will ensure it more converts. A product like this is only limited by how much interest there is in it, so only time will tell if this can be what Frank Cohen wants it to be.
Traffic signals are a cyclist’s worse enemy. An ill-timed red light can be an unnecessary obstacle on an otherwise smooth bike ride. This wouldn’t push a responsible cyclist to skirt safety in the name of convenience, but it does get under the skin waiting at a red light at an empty intersection with no traffic to speak of. Since bicycles are so small, the systems responsible for triggering traffic signals never really see them, leaving you stuck for what feels like an eternity.
The Veloloop is small, electrically charged antenna that lets your bike cast a car-sized shadow onto the loop sensors that govern signals on the road. It attaches to the rear wheel and works by detecting when there is a sensor below the bicycle, reacting by returning the frequency that particular sensor is looking for, thereby changing the light. And since it does this with so little energy, even a pair of AAA batteries will last for a year or more. Combine this with the Commuter x4 to make sure other motorists see you at night and increase both your convenience and safety all at once. The product will ship in January of 2015 for $99, and the campaign need $84,000 to be successful.
In this day and age of charging wonders, with everything from fast to wireless charging capabilities available, it’s a shame most smartphones need to be recharged every day or so if we’re lucky. It’s a practice that seems extremely antiquated, especially with the demands placed on us by our every day lives requiring us to move as much as we do. More and more people have opted for portable battery packs to keep their devices topped up in the time between outlets, but most of the time they themselves take forever to charge and charge devices too slowly even when they are.
Power Practical is looking to alleviate some of that difficulty with their fast-charging Pronto battery pack. It comes in two flavors: the Pronto 5 has a 4500mAh capacity, while the Pronto 12 boasts a 13,500mAh capacity — enough to charge an iPhone 5 nine times. An integrated “smart chip” tells any device to receive charge at its maximum amount, and a hard-anodized aluminum enclosure makes certain nothing can happen to your precious power while you wait. The Pronto 5 can charge using both USB and a wall outlet while the Pronto 12 can only be charged by the latter, but at least both aren’t tethered to the wall like the Tiny TravelBuddy is. The products will launch in June of 2015; the Pronto 5 can be had for $79 while the 12 can be had for $119.
Typing on the MacBook’s keyboard is surely a joy. The steps Apple has taken in order to produce a keyboard that is comfortable, clicky, and just plain fun to use have always hid a darker side to it — a side your wrists all about. It may be something that isn’t talked about, but those sharp edges on MacBooks can be a little uncomfortable. While it obviously isn’t a deal breaker, it can still be annoying to feel its edge pushing into you simply because you’re typing. The folks at Applied felt the same way and what started out as a personal solution quickly became something they decided to make for everyone.
Their product, Ledge, is an aircraft-grade aluminum attachment for MacBooks of all sizes that adds a round corner to the laptop’s edge. It’s an extremely simple solution that maintains the MacBook’s form factor and weight while adding a marked change in comfort. Its $39 price point places Ledge firmly in impulse purchase territory for now before it jumps back up to $60 on release; expectant backers will wait until April 2015 for this one. Until then, Applied hopes enough people make the jump to fund their $12,000 campaign.
Although wearable technology is on the up and up, you still need to wear a a few different bands along with a watch of some sort to get a mostly full picture of the way your body works across disparate variables. Even if you were fully equipped with all this technology, they wouldn’t necessarily talk to each other — leaving you to figure out what it all means.
SensoTRACK was born out of the desire to give a user as much connected data as possible to not only benefit their daily lives, but their exercise regimens as well. Sensogram Technologies, Inc. sets out to make a device that could withstand the rigors of physical activity, and so constructed it from a weather-resistant, sweat-proof shell that fits around the ear. The SensoTRACK houses a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and a proprietary “optical biosensor” that measures heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen saturation with a high degree of accuracy. It also includes a speaker that gives users real-time feedback on what exactly to do in order to increase the efficiency of their workout, based on goals that can be entered into the web portal or the mobile app. SensoTRACK can be had for $199, and the company hopes for enough backers to fulfill their $250,000 goal.
The crowdfunded world is full of the types of wearables that make the criticisms of the market seem justified. Some, like Arcus or Olive, are focused on one type of user benefit. On the other hand there are a few, like Zoi or LEO, are aiming to use the data in real-time to benefit the user. SensoTRACK falls into the later camp but shrinks the device down and places it on the ear where it’s out of the way. Add this to the claimed sensitivity of the proprietary sensor and it may be something to look out for, only if the seemingly unending number of features don’t end up hampering it as a result.