Everyone knows that heat rises, which can be annoying to deal with in the winter. The top of your living room is nice and toasty while the bottom where everyone sits is frigid. Tibio is a small product about the size of a roll of paper towels that hangs on your wall above the heater. A built-in fan helps to circulate warm air down to where the people hang out. Tibio is decorative with several options for its design and blends right into your home. It seems like a simple, but effective way to save money on one’s heating bill and much less bulky than the Hot Tube. One costs backers £55 with a campaign goal of £48,000 on Kickstarter.
Category: Home
Just in time for the cold winter months comes an idea for intercepting the tracks of the iceman who cometh to steal the warmth out of humble homes. Okay, maybe that’s a bit dramatic. However, Hot Tubes seems to have a seriously good idea for helping people save on heating costs. The tubular fan system works to bring heat that collects near the ceiling down to living space level so that, take note gentlemen, there can finally be a little peace in connection to the battle of the thermostat. And much to most ladies’ delight, no tools are required for instillation. Backers get one 11” tube for $35, with an expected delivery of December 2014.
The Premise. Bugs in the house can be a real nuisance. It’s never fun to have to kill a bug and it looks a little crazy to be running around the house with a shoe in hand ready to strike. Without actually killing them, it’s hard to get bugs out of the house unharmed.
The Product. Bee-Kind is a wand of sorts that uses suction and air to treat bugs humanely. It has a long clear tube and sucks bugs in. When they’re trapped, simply walk outside and use the button to release them again. The wand looks like a big yellow gun with a long tube on the end.
The Pitch. Bee-Kind’s creator discusses his product in slow words during the campaign video. He demonstrates Bee-Kind’s effectiveness with several different types of bugs. The rest of the campaign uses drawings to show how the wand works. It also discusses the advantages of letting bugs live, rather than just squashing them. Bee-Kind, a product from the Netherlands, hopes to raise €165,000 on Kickstarter.
The Perks. Bee-Kind only offers three reward tiers. The first at €5 gets the backer a thanks. The other two offer the Bee-Kind itself for backers inside and outside of the Netherlands for €38.
The Potential. It’s always a great idea to find ways to be nicer to animals. Bees and bugs generally get a bad rap because they can sting us and it’s harder to remove them from rooms and houses without getting stung. Bee-Kind is a great solution for those looking to remove bugs from their homes without having to kill them and without getting stung. It may be scary to release an angry bee so close to yourself, but at least it’s a way to get the bee back to where it came from. All in all, Bee-Kind uses innovation to kick bugs out of the house without killing them.
Whether it’s in the car, on a camping trip or taking the kids to the park, paper towels are one of those items that makes life-on-the-go just a little easier. The EZ-Roll Holder is supposed to add to that by providing a place to mount them that doesn’t require any tools for instillation, so that paper towels can be mounted and available whenever and wherever life happens to roll. Unfortunately, the detail on just how one goes about mounting the product is not particularly clear, but for $12, backers get one product with an expected delivery of November 2014.
The Premise. Nobody can be home all the time to protect their belongings and house from potential burglars or other threats, but the new wave of smart home monitors can record video and keep an eye out for intruders, alerting owners of any break-ins through their smartphones.
The Product. ISense is one such system that offers this level of home protection in a way that offers peace of mind so long as a smartphone is kept handy. The cable-free system equipped with high definition camera can be set up anywhere and can offer a live feed at any time through the app or start recording video and send a notification any time that motion is detected. Each unit has over a year’s worth of battery life and communicate over Wi-Fi, 3G, or 4G. Each system also includes a Sync Module that allows the cameras to communicate with connected phones, as well as including onboard storage for recorded video in addition to cloud storage.
The Pitch. kaan tas put together a simple pitch for ISense highlighting the ease of setting up or customizing an ISense system and the level of monitoring the devices can provide on-demand from any location. For ISense to become a viable product, kaan tas wants to raise $40,000 AUD to fund production and fulfillment.
The Perks. Getting an ISense takes a pledge of $59 AUD, which includes the system with Sync Module and 16GB of video storage. The onboard storage can be doubled at the $66 AUD level, but both include cloud storage as well. Those that want to be among the first to use the product can get into the Beta program for $139 AUD, and getting multiple rooms set up with ISense is possible with plenty of tiers offering multiple cameras. All perks are shipping out in February 2015.
The Potential. The wireless setup, long battery life, and notification of any detected motion make ISense a great choice for any consumer looking to add a simple, effective home monitoring system. What ISense offers in simplicity, it lacks in subtlety. The bright LED on the front that is used when the camera is on makes it so that if set up in a place that can be stepped around or crawled under, the system could be moved by any intruders, still detecting motion as it’s set down, but not offering any identifying information. Take that big light off of the front, and there could be something that belongs in any home here. At the same time, the feature set is pretty much identical to existing options like Blink, albeit with a larger focus on video quality. The combination of the glaring light and the lack of distinction might make ISense a forgettable chapter in home security video.
When families get together, it seems that most everyone ends up in the kitchen. Maybe it’s because that’s where the food is, but CorkNet will give people another reason to gather there — especially if table tennis is the family passion. The cork wedges work as a heat absorption item for hot pots and pans, and when the meal is over, doubles as the net for table tennis right at the kitchen table. While a person can choose to easily store it or transport it anywhere, a cork net may mean more effort to retrieve those “net balls.” But then that’s what kids are for, right? Backers can get theirs for £20, with an expected delivery of October 2014.
For those who haven’t taken advantage of the modern conveniences of a dishwasher and garbage disposal, Sink Pro aims to add convenience to kitchen clean-up after meals. The sink strainer takes an age old idea and attempts to remake it into something new and improved with a peaked center that seems to come up higher than the average sink strainer. But at $25, many will want to purchase off-peak. Sink Pro’s expected delivery is November 2015.
The Premise. When even executives of globally popular antivirus software companies are saying that antivirus technology is at a dead end, there’s a serious problem. Internet security is no less important, however, and while businesses have protection designed for their networks, home consumers ought to have a line of defense as well.
The Product. iGuardian is a device only slightly larger than a pack of gum that connects to the network before any other device and monitors the data going in and out from connected devices. Using the most recent security protocols and with the ability to be updated as necessary, iGuardian serves as an Internet doorman of sorts, keeping an eye out for threats and denying them any kind of access whatsoever. iGuardian is easier to set up than any kind of software firewall, just needing to be plugged into the same network that others are plugged into. From there, iGuardian can protect not only computers, but smart home appliances, smartphones, and any other products connected to the network.
The Pitch. Itus Networks, creator of the iGuardian, lament in their video the lack of home network security on the level of effectiveness that businesses utilize regularly. With the attitude of any engineer, Itus set out to bridge that gap and give individuals reliable digital security that doesn’t get in the way, explaining how the iGuardian works along the way. Itus needs $125,000 for software development, beta testing, and manufacturing.
The Perks. A single iGuardian can protect a home network for $129 and will be out in February 2015. Sets of 2 and 4 can be grabbed at the $280 and $500 tier levels respectively, while eager backers can get theirs as early as September 2014 thanks to a beta/prototype kit for $750.
The Potential. Network security can be a headache for a lot of reasons, especially without a computer strong enough to handle defending against attacks and running applications at the same time. Because iGuardian is a physical device that monitors data being sent and received at the point of entry, it allows for strong security, peace of mind, and simple setup without sacrificing processor power or access to favorite social media sites. The presentation is very basic and no-frills, but the freedom that iGuardian opens up is enough to brag about once the home network is free from threats of malware and data theft.
The Premise. Smart home systems are cropping up everywhere, but tend to specialize in one particular concept or feature, whether it’s energy-saving, security, or climate control. These devices give the illusion of a smart home while leaving several components woefully unconnected.
The Product. Qhome is a smart home hub that offers a greater degree of functionality than the partial smart home devices that have shown up to swell the market. Operating through a series of distinct modes as well as individual customization, Qhome can open curtains, close windows, keep a running grocery list as things are removed from the fridge, and send cleaning robots out as needed to keep things tidy, all from a smartphone or through its own programming.
The Pitch. Developer Quatanium introduces viewers to Qhome by showing a young professional who can only focus so well on his job because his home monitors and operates itself. From getting him up in the morning all the way to notifying him that there’s no more jam in the fridge, Qhome steers the video’s hero through all the aspects of his home life right up to his date that night. Unfortunately, as viewers ask how all of this might be possible, the campaign page itself has no follow-through, focusing more on general discussion of the history of smart home technology and how it functions rather than explaining how the product itself works. Backers might be interested in helping Quatanium reach its huge $500,000, but will have to do so with several questions still in their minds.
The Perks. Getting started with a Qhome system costs as little as $99, to get the app and control components for two devices. A more complete system with a hub, 5 components, and a wireless music player costs $249. Those who are more concerned with security can add an extra 5 control components and a wireless security camera to their system at the $599, while anyone who wants their system designed to maximize effectiveness in their home can get a personalized system built for $1,999. All tiers except the personalized system will ship by March 2015, with the latter shipping in July 2015.
The Potential. When it comes to potential, the idea behind Qhome has an awful lot of it. However, without more details and more explanation, it’s easy to get the impression that nothing may ever come of all that potential. Qhome makes a lot of bold claims and is fairly cost-effective. Now, all that remains to be seen is if it can back up all of its talk.
Roombas are great, but what if they could climb walls and ceilings, leading to unexpected and horrifying jump scares like those found in any good horror movie? The Multi-Surface Cleaning Robot is a robotic cleaner that can cling to any window or mirror and clean thanks to a vacuum motor that keeps the device from falling, even if it runs out of battery life. A safety rope also assures owners they won’t have to risk their necks trying to attach and detach it. While Multi-Surface Cleaning Robot sounds useful, the amount of time saved compared to manual washing probably isn’t enough to say “Multi-Surface Cleaning Robot.” Die-hard robot enthusiasts can clean one less thing by hand by picking one up for $199 in August 2015.