Categories
Cooking

GrillOven is a dome on the range

One of the best time-saving techniques in the kitchen is when a meal can be cooked all in one pan or baking dish. GrillOven allows for it to be cooked all in one multipurpose gadget. It’s made of industrial quality stainless steel, and the dome shape helps to keep the heat in and reduces the time of cooking. This kitchen tool can be used for baking pot pies, quiches, and pizza; smoking, baking or grilling meats; steaming vegetables and more. It’s portable, but a small chicken or nine inch pizza can still fit in it.

Those who cook know that some dishes require browning on the stove and then cooking in the oven. GrillOven combines these two processes in one in a cool and unique way. It may, however, be a bit awkward to store in over-crowded cupboards. This campaign seeks to raise $35,000 by December 27, 2014. For $13, backers get one product with an expected delivery of March 2015.

Categories
Smart Home

SandboxHome packs in multiple components for a smart security system

Finding a home security system that’s both effective and affordable tends to be a somewhat impossible task. Starter kits are always available, but lack necessary features or only offer enough equipment to target a specific area of the home.

SandboxHome is designed to take all of the advancements in smart home security, bundle them together, and provide enough equipment to cover all the important parts of the home with adequate security. The SandboxHome kit starts with five intrusion tags that can be placed on any door or window to send an alert when these apertures are opened or entered without permission. Next, two HD video cameras are included to allow photo and video recording of any intruders or live feeds of the home’s activity.

Add to this a smart doorbell that has a built in intercom and HD camera so any visitor can be greeted or screened appropriately. For those that prefer a more traditional security system, an optional service of 24/7 live monitoring by security operators can be added in to make sure someone is responding to any break-ins as quickly as possible. SandboxHome has set its goal at $50,000 to assemble the prototypes and build relationships with manufacturers and assemblers. Everything in the SandboxHome system can be purchased for $400, with delivery in March 2015.

Single devices have popped up recently to offer the smart doorbell/doorman system, or the live feeds from security cameras placed in the home, but SandboxHome is offering all of that functionality at a price that’s actually pretty reasonable. The app looks fully featured and easy to use, and for homeowners or renters looking to just make one purchase to encapsulate their entire security needs, this may be the product for them.

 

Categories
Safety Smartwatches/Bands

Bluetooth iChild tracker monitors skin temperature to detect a snatching

With the ubiquity of smartphone use, child tracking solutions continue to surface. Some are hit or miss, but all are better than walking around with your child on a leash. The iChild is another product that promises to make keeping track of your little one easier. It comes in the form of a red or blue watch that pairs with a companion smartphone app and does exactly one thing only: every 10 seconds, the watch sends a ping to the smartphone with your child’s temperature.

How does that help? This ping of information does two things: receiving the information at all lets you know your child is within 50 feet of you, and also alerts you to abnormal temperatures as well so that you can head off that cold or fever. While the iChild is a novel idea, its premise is a little flimsy and does more to fuel worry than actually help you solve the problem of a lost child. With no GPS, it can hardly compete with the scores of other child safety wearables. In addition, even if you were to receive abnormal temperature readings, wouldn’t it be too late to do much of anything? The iChild’s one saving grace is its $40 price point, but even that is too much for a product that isn’t really useful in the long run. The campaign is aiming for a ridiculously high $1,000,000 funding goal.

Categories
Television

MaxMyTV puts everything on your TV that isn’t TV

Even with smart TVs, the use of applications often requires navigating menus, creating tiny picture-in-picture windows, or navigating away from programming completely. Not only do smart TVs need to become smarter to adapt with the change in technology, they need to become more intuitive.

MaxMyTV is a simple smart hub that does both of these things by using overlays and a remote designed for calling up functions without interrupting TV watching. Connecting via HDMI as a bridge between the existing cable or satellite set-top box and the TV and communicating with other devices through open source ZigBee, MaxMyTV then functions with a host of accessories including a sensor, an IP camera, a smart outlet, and more.

This allows MaxMyTV to function as a social media hub for live-tweeting popular shows, a front door camera, and much more. The included remote offers buttons that directly pull up sidebars offering email accounts, sports scores, social networks, and smart home sensors for temperature, lights, or security. The basic system includes a MaxMyTV Smart Hub and the remote control, and goes out to backers who pledge $149 in March 2015. MaxMyTV is hoping to generate $250,000 worth of support to improve the product, get certified, and also pay for tooling, production, and shipment.

Adding more features and a better interface to smart TV functions is a great idea that is easy to get behind. As to whether MaxMyTV offers the best features, the sharpest interface, and the best way to go about expanding the smart TV/home experience, that’s a bit harder to call. The overlays look like they still take up a good deal of screen space, and, since it’s an additional device, it doesn’t appear to shrink down the display to account for this. Ultimately, MaxMyTV just looks like a stopgap to tide consumers over until something better comes along.

Categories
Aquatics Cell Phone Accessories

TOUCHBAG offers play-through water protection

Water is the natural enemy of the smartphone. Underwater phones do exist, but leave something to be desired. TOUCHBAG protects your phone in water, but still allows you to use the touchscreen. This product resembles a Ziploc bag. The air in the bag is what makes the touchscreen usable. As the campaign says, this is great to use in the shower, pool, or while snorkeling.

If we need to use our phones in the shower, it’s clear that we’re doomed as a society. Perhaps the only reason one would need a phone in the shower is for an emergency call, but it looks like the phone doesn’t work for calls in the TOUCHBAG, only the touchscreen works. Also, the video doesn’t do a good job of convincing us that alternative options are lacking. Still for the almost inapporpriately named product, backers can shell out a $30 CAD (~$27 USD) donation for estimated delivery in March 2015, if the creator can raise $12,000 CAD (~$10,600 USD).

Categories
Smart Home

Showering with Eva helps you save water

The topic of water in today’s world is an incredibly important one, yet doesn’t receive the kind of attention it deserves. Many parts of the world are experiencing the most debilitating water crises in recent history, slowly increasing the demand for water as time goes on. Perhaps most people don’t talk about it because they don’t feel like much can be done. For this reason, the creators giving you the chance to play your part with the Eva Smart Shower.

Eva connects to most standard shower heads and facilitates your showering experience, cutting down on water waste. An onboard temperature sensor cuts water flow when it’s reached your desired temperature, starting up again when you enter, and a motion sensor throttles water according to your distance from the shower head itself. A companion app interacts with the Eva, allowing you to set your desired temperature, manage shower length goals, and tracks overall water usage so that you can adjust your habits.

Becoming just a bit more eco-friendly requires information to make decisions and Eva provides. It’s a promising use of technology that should become widespread, even if its own manufacturing might negatively affect its positive effects. Eva is $149 and the Indiegogo campaign has a $50,000 goal.

Categories
Tech Accessories

Mous Musicase docks earbuds in an iPhone case

We all spend tons of time try to detangle our earbuds. What may feel like half a lifetime of wasted time is being tackled by Mous Musicase. The plastic mobile phone case has a built in system that allows earbud wires to be unrolled when ready for use, and then retracted when it’s time to put them away. The wires stay consistently attached to the phone until the user disconnects them.

Currently, this product is only compatible with iPhone 5, but if the campaign does well, iPhone 6 will be included. It looks like the case is only compatible with one type of earbuds, which may be difficult for backers who go through a lot of earbuds with little brand loyalty. Backers who don’t have iPhone 5 and are looking for a potential way to keep their earbud wires from tangling might want to check out the MagClip campaign. This campaign seeks to raise £10,000 (~$15,700) by December 8, 2014. For £17 (~$27), backers get one product with an expected delivery of December 2014.

Categories
Sensors/IoT

A tiny motion sensor, CoinGuard alerts you to mysterious movements

We all have those things that we want to keep protected from the sticky fingers and greedy curious hands of burglars, children, or even just friends and family. Aside from setting up bullet-proof cases with laser trip alarms, how can these items be protected? CoinGuard is a simple and small security system that can be laid atop any item and serve as a watchdog. If the CoinGuard is moved, it triggers the motion sensor and sends a notifcation to the user’s phone, letting them know that their item is being tampered with.

CoinGuard does this through a nearby hub that syncs up to sensors and connects to the Internet through ethernet. The system allows for some peace of mind if items are being tampered with, but this comes with one key drawback. The CoinGuard has no way of reporting who is touching the protected items, and lacks the visual recognition to deter someone who doesn’t know what CoinGuard is. So if one is away from home and their valuables are being taken, the best they can do is try and call someone to respond in time when an alert has been sent. Pilot Labs is raising $100,000 through Kickstarter, and will set backers back $45 in December.

Categories
Automotive Connected Objects

DRIVE drives smartphone interaction with your hands on the wheel

It may be the case that more recent models of cars have integrated smartphone connectivity, but usually they’ve done it in uninspired ways that don’t take in account the unique issues driving brings to the table. It isn’t like the only thing to do is stick a touchscreen and a dock in the middle of everything and call the job done. There are very particular design challenges that stem from the fact that we’re in two ton metal boxes with wheels. Because of this, safety is of upmost concern even if it doesn’t quite seem like it is.

Luckily for RISE Devices, their new DRIVE shows that they have safety on the mind. Along with deftly handling phone calls with its three mics, DRIVE reads out notifications and messages and allows the user to respond utilizing their own voice when it’s convenient. Two infrared beams shoot out of the device and a flick with both hands interrupts them, giving you an easy and unobtrusive way to activate DRIVE. Because of how it works, there aren’t buttons not any janky voice recognition or commands to get in the way. Its companion app facilitates the use of most messaging services and platforms like iOS, Android, and Windows, and since it connects via Bluetooth LE, other uses like music control are possible.

This device is both elegant and simple, but for that you’ll have to pay. As much as it gets done, it could use a few more bells and whistles as it has lots of potential. The product has an estimated delivery date of July 2015 and is currently going for $149, shooting up to more than $199 after the campaign’s end. For DRVINE, $88,000 is the goal to launch it into production.

Categories
Smartwatches/Bands

What the hex? Comb720 neatly organizes your smartwatch notifications

All these new fancy smartwatches have forgotten one little thing: their ease of use! Sure, us techies will be able to grasp all the different taps and gestures to get the most out of our new devices but watches are not just technology. Watches are much more widespread than that, and if companies want to capture the average watch user, they’ll need to do more to simplify the interactions with our wearable technology. The Comb720 is trying to do that by being a smartwatch that utilizes seven tessellated, hexagonal tiles that include e-mail, fitness, and messages.

This 7th grade inventor, Davis Barrow, hopes that since these tiles never move, users will quickly become accustomed to where they are, therefore more quickly able to obtain information compared to most other competing smartwatches. The Comb720 comes in a leather-banded, bronze-bodies version, while the active version sports a carbon fiber construction and a durable paracord band, both compatible with iOS and Android. The Comb720 currently costs $250 with a delivery date of February 2015. Its campaign goal is $5,000.