The downside to acquiring expensive, cutting-edge technology is that it creates a need for increased security. A burglar in the home can be an extremely costly and emotionally damaging experience. Dropcam Tabs aims to fix this by recording any situation that may be related to unauthorized entry. These small sensors can be attached to any object and if any motion is detected, it can send an alert to a smartphone and begin recording whatever the networked Dropcam Pro can see. The fact that these devices are roughly standalone is a great sell, but only to those willing to invest in a Dropcam Pro. Dropcam Tabs will launch this summer and can be preordered for $29 each.
The Premise. Many fitness-centric devices allow people to track their progress as they exercise. Most are worn on the wrist or arm and give information about time elapsed as well as distance travelled. For feedback on actual technique, most athletes resort to a coach.
The Product. Arcus is a motion analyzer that you wear as a ring. It provides feedback to you via its app about the activity or sport you are engaging in down to information on your tennis stroke or golf swing, for example. Other information provided by Arcus include stroke strength, speed, average accuracy, average time, distances travelled, impact, and the list goes on. There are no real limitations to the kinds of feedback or sport that Arcus is compatible with. This ring charges wirelessly and also comes with a magnetic sphere. The ring-wearer can roll this sphere around, allowing it to properly calibrate and gather information about the environment, making its data more reliable. In addition, wearing it on one’s finger instead of wrist provides more accurate motion information. As an added bonus, this smart little ring also allows lets the wearer control any Bluetooth Smart Ready device in the vicinity. The ring comes in many different colors, patterns and finishes and is also completely waterproof.
The Pitch. The Arcus video cuts right to the chase and explains how the ring works along with how many uses it has. For the remainder of the campaign, the Hungarian creators show examples of Arcus at work along with screenshots of the app. It also goes through the huge number of color options for the ring, testimonials, tech information, product comparisons and the prototyping process. The Kickstarter campaign has a huge $320,000 goal in its 35-day run.
The Perks. Donation levels for one Arcus plus charger and app range from $149 – $230 based on color and finish. Higher tiers offer multi-packs at heavily discounted rates. Reward tiers climb up to $2,500 and all rings are expected to ship by February 2015.
The Potential. We’ve seen a slew of smart jewelry on the market recently. The Ringly alerts wearers to calls and texts coming through to their phone. For fitness, the ever-popular FitBit tracks fitness performance with an app, similar to Arcus, along with sleep activity and food intake. The WonderRing tracks heart rate, temperature and sports performance and also allows the wearer to control surrounding electronics. While all of these wearables are certainly very cool, Arcus is the only one that actually provides feedback on technique. The fact that it can help an athlete improve upon their game is invaluable. In addition, its capabilities in working with Bluetooth Smart Ready devices make it especially unique. All in all, for the price and wide range of uses, it is clear that Arcus is the next big thing in smart wearable jewelry.
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Ecopad is a smart, affordable housing unit
Every year, Americans buy homes that they cannot afford. These homes tend to be larger than they need and not all of them are environmentally friendly. Ecopad is a small home of 384 sq. ft that is built to be eco-friendly. It comes with all of the traditional amenities of a typical home and uses solar and wind power for energy. Ecopad’s creators will help Ecopad buyers build the house. Best of all, the Ecopad is extremely affordable, costing only around $45,000. The Indiegogo campaign offers no reward tier featuring the actual Ecopad, but hopes to raise $45,000 with a stretch goal of $100,000.
People use Q-Tips and cotton swabs to clean their ears not realizing that they’re actually risking their health by doing so. These conventional ear-cleaning methods can push wax further into the ear or even puncture the eardrum. The Oto-Tip offers a safe and environmentally-friendly way to clean your ears out. It has a soft, flexible tip that goes into the ear canal. Using a carefully placed attachment, the Oto-Tip prevents the user from traveling too deep into the ear. It charges much like a conventional electric toothbrush and only costs backers $30 with other reward tier options to help clean the ears of less fortunate children in India. Oto-Tip is looking to raise $30,000 on Indiegogo.
Social video is king these days, whether it’s livestreaming an event, sending quick videos through Instagram or Vine, or even just playing video games to an audience. Lightbox is a device designed to make social video that much easier, streaming video and photos through a smartphone and to the cloud for instant access. Lightbox is small but packs some serious picture quality, and comes with a magnetic clip to make mounting the camera on an object or article of clothing incredibly easy. We’ve seen other “smart cameras” before, such as the MADICE, but Lightbox looks powerful enough to hold its own. Lightbox is due out in November 2014 to backers who pledge $149 or more.
For those who understand that overnight success generally takes several years and have the bank account to prove it, BAT D-1 offers a distortion peddle built to compete with the big names in every way – except price. Through the use of two double triode valves, the makers of the distortion pedal boast of not only 100 percent valve distortion, but also harmonics that have an unusually rich quality combined with high gain for a great rock sound. For wireless control and fourth wall freedom, Soul Pedal may be another option that holds appeal with rockers. As for BAT D-1, backers get one pedal for £150 with an expected delivery of September 2014.
Even though audio technology has taken leaps and bounds over the past half-century, it seems to move more towards convenience and away from the pure listening experience. Audiophiles are all too commonly putting on their boxy retro headphones and dropping the needle on a vinyl record to get the sound they want. Sprout is a simply designed, intuitive stereo amplifier that features all the necessary inputs in the back, but just two dials and a headphone jack in the front. Working with both home audio systems or simple headphones, Sprout is designed to bring back powerful audio fidelity into homes around the world. Sprout takes the stage in October 2014 for $499.
For those crazy days (or nights) when even microwaving pasta is too much of a hassle, OneBowl offers the solution of cooking, straining and even eating all in one bowl. The dishwasher-safe kitchen helper has a built in strainer, so when the nuking process is done, all that’s necessary is to twist, let it drain, top with one’s choice of seasonings, and eat. Although, a built-in cooling mechanism might be nice so that tongues don’t get burned. And perhaps also some type of built in auto-feed so that utensils and self-feeding aren’t necessary. For $16, early bird backers get one product, with an expected delivery of August 2014.
For parents, keeping an eye on their kids at all times is a must. With the HERA wrist watch, it’s always possible to keep tabs on your child to maintain their safety. This product features GPS, a speaker and microphone so that kids can call pre-programmed numbers or be reached by the same numbers. We’ve seen many of these products recently, like the Safelet bracelet and Tinitell watch. One HERA costs backers a donation of $160 for delivery in December 2014. HERA hopes to raise a huge $500,000 in its month and a half-long Indiegogo campaign.
Smartphones and smartwatches keep everyone in the know on important things like emails, stock prices, and breaking news. Still, the data is often private and requires interrupting what’s going on to take a look at notifications. LaMetric is a portable or desktop ticker that can be programmed using its app to show various kinds of data and can filter out the things that are less important. The device uses bright pixels to display text, logos, charts, and more. The device appears to be extremely flexible, giving users the ability to get all the information they want without having to dig out their phones. LaMetric is available for $119 and will be available in January 2015.