Category: Connected Objects

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Connected Objects

Vaulteq remembers your passwords better than you do

Remembering passwords continues to be one of the most irritating requirements of modern technology. Several password management systems already address this issue, but they tend to be cloud-based, which at least some consumers don’t trust.

Vaulteq is a password managing device that functions as a digital vault that the user has total control over. It is stored in the home or office, but can be accessed from anywhere the user goes with a digital device. It is compatible with Android, iOS and Windows mobile devices, and uses two-factor authentication, a technology that provides identification of users via two different components. To log into Vaulteq, the user needs a password and a virtual token that is sent to the user’s mobile app when registering. An unlimited number of accounts can use one device.

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Connected Objects Displays

JmGO View smart projector is a personal you-tube for video

editors-choiceThe portable LED projector market continues to grow, with smart functionality among the features becoming especially popular.

JmGO View is a tube-like portable projector that offers that and several other high-end features, including stereoscopic 3D, Texas Instruments DLP, full metal casing made of aluminum alloy, and surround sound audio with built-in Dolby Digital Plus speakers. It works in conjunction with an Android app, and can be used anywhere to project movies, videogames and other video content in widescreen 1280 x 720 pixel HD resolution onto any white, flat surface.

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Connected Objects Music

Iiothinks does the talking for a better smart home

By this point, it’s pretty much understood most smart home products don’t do the best job talking to each other. Slowly, the issue is being rectified with the creation of more and more hardware and software platforms attempting to serve as a centerpiece to a connected home.

The is the iothinks mission, but the team behind it goes about it a little differently: by using sound. The actual iothinks device is a small, attractively designed device sporting the usual play/pause button and status lights along with a few custom buttons. But the magic happens when it connects to a user’s smartphone and to any Bluetooth or Wi-Fi-enabled speakers. Then, it acts as an Amazon Echo, doling out social media message updates and weather notification, auto-launching playlists when a user is detected back home, linking up with sleep trackers for smart alarms — iothinks boasts a wide range of features.

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Connected Objects Music

MoodBox speaker senses your mood to play blues, show hues

editors-choiceMany people select music that’s based on their mood at any given time. MoodBox is a device designed to take full advantage of that.

It’s a 360-degree omnidirectional speaker with LEDs that responds to mood-matching music requests via voice command. MoodBox uses artificial intelligence and predictive modeling to help it learn different genres and moods of music and ambient lighting that the user likes. Music can be streamed from services including iTunes and Spotify via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

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Connected Objects Food and Beverage

The connected Teplo bottle does away with tepid tasting teas

Despite what most may think, properly brewing tea is an involved process requiring exact times and temperatures — and these figures change with every single type of tea. Any more or any less of any one variable and the tea in question won’t be as potent, losing the benefits that make it a healthy choice in the first place.

The Teplo smart bottle takes the guesswork out of brewing that perfect cup of tea. By combining an extremely simple design — a glass bottle with top and bottom bamboo caps — with a bit of smarts, company Load&Road LLC has designed a tea companion that guides drinkers through the brewing process using a companion smartphone app. With it, users can input the kind of tea being brewed and from there,

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Connected Objects Sleep

Sleep Shepherd Blue turns the beat around to sleep

Avoiding caffeine after dinner and drinking a warm glass of milk before bedtime are the usual tips for those suffering from lack of or low-quality sleep. But in the day and age of self-driving cars and neural computing capable of conquering Go masters, these methods seem slightly out of date.

The Sleep Shepherd Blue is a billing itself as a truly modern solution to an ancient problem.
The lightweight, adjustable headband contains thin speakers and EEG sensors to facilitate a patent-pending biofeedback system using binaural beats, or pairs of tones at different frequencies, to get users into and out of sleep more quickly and easily.

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Cell Phone Accessories Connected Objects Displays

The popSLATE 2’s E-Ink screen displays iPhone notifications and content with less power

The original popSLATE promised to ween smartphone users off the compulsion of checking their home screen for updates. To do so, the popSLATE’s E-Ink screen was built into an iPhone case, connecting via Bluetooth to act as a lower power second screen. In the end, the case proved to be less than useful and its 115 dpi screen managed to be an eyesore that got in the way of it truly being practical.

This year, the popSLATE team is back with the popSLATE 2, the sequel to the original second screen E-Ink case. This time, the case uses a Lightning connector to interface with an iPhone 6, 6S, 6+, and 6S+. This not only allows the popSLATE 2 to charge more easily (the last one used a micro-USB cable) but talk directly with the apps on the phone for greater functionality. Through its upgraded 200 dpi E-Ink screen, the popSLATE 2 facilitates everything from news updates and weather notifications to social feeds and loyalty cards, all of which are easily visible on customizable dashboards no matter how bright it is outside due to E-Ink’s naturally anti-glare properties.

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Connected Objects Pets

Flipaw makes you and your pooch Facebook friends

Many would unequivocally agree: dogs should speak. Unfortunately they don’t, but that doesn’t stop people from trying to help them do so. While truly useful versions of this technology is are still a long way off (even the NoMoreWoof is only a working prototype), it doesn’t mean there isn’t some fun to be had.

Give your dog a digital voice and keep up with their daily movements with the Flipaw smart collar, an accessory that sends SMS messages, posts Facebook statuses, and tweets all about a dog’s daily activities in a fun way. During setup, owners complete a short personality profile for their pooch that determine the kind of messages generated when the Flipaw triggers sensors placed around the home. Combined with variables like the location of the sensor, weather, dates, and crowdsourced data, some pretty snarky and genuinely funny messages can be generated. 2000 stories have already been drafted with many more on the way when doggy data is dished out.

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Connected Objects Music

Create raucous riffs anywhere with the Remidi T8 wearable instrument

Imagine the process of making dope beats, and an array of MIDI controllers and computers with complex user interfaces immediately spring to mind. All that choice and functionality is certainly but make no mistake: all that stuff takes years to really master, ultimately turning many newbies off to the experience.

At its core, the Remidi T8 wearable instrument is a MIDI controller made to get folks jamming instantly. Designed as a thin but durable glove made of Ultra Spandex, the Remidi T8 sports eight pressure sensitive sensors in the fingers and palms. Each sensor’s sound is completely customizable, so aspiring producers can create brand new sounds or remix existing ones. Gesture controls are also present so that different movements up and down or wrist twists will further distort programmed sounds.

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Connected Objects Displays

Z4 Aurora punches above its weight for portable projectors

The typical portable LED projector offers consumers a pretty good way to display video and other content on any flat surface wherever they are. But most aren’t designed to offer a complete entertainment experience including good-quality sound.

Z4 Aurora, however, is a smart, portable LED projector that features integrated Android functionality and stereo sound from audio company Harmon/Kardon. The projector can turn any surface into a 300-inch screen. Apps and games can be wirelessly streamed onto the projector, which also supports active-shutter, stereoscopic 3D video, as well as MP4, 4K and Blu-ray video. It uses an energy-conserving bulb and has a projected lifetime of 30,000 hours, more than the average expected lifetime of several rival projectors.

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