Categories
Personal Transportation

Onewheel rolls through the middle of an electric skateboard

The Premise. Lots of folks love to use their skateboards but are tired of having to kick their way through town. Maybe the shock inflicted by every little crack or pebble they roll over with their existing board is too much or they want a more enjoyable means of transport. Or maybe they just love to surf or snowboard and still itch for the slopes and the surf even with no powder or waves to shred.

The Product. Meant to satisfy that itch while being super-intuitive and easy to use, the Onewheel is the latest in electric skateboards. It looks like a skateboard with a go-cart wheel sticking up through the middle of it, allowing you to put your feet on either side of, kind of like those pogo-balls from the ’80s.

The Pitch. The campaign video artistically and professionally depicts Onewheel riders rolling and carving through city streets, turning the heads of the hip, urban youth as they do. A comprehensive chart of components leads into a by a detailed breakdown of their attributes/technical specs. An extremely comprehensive shipping production chart is provided, and all pics are pertinent and professional. The campaign highlights Onewheel’s construction attributes, like its 6061 billet aluminum frame, its brushless, direct-drive hub motor, and Canadian maple deck, as well as its inventor’s and technician’s well-established qualifications. A little more explanation of how a motorized wheel’s only moving part can be the wheel seems warranted, however. Pictures of high-tech production equipment that looks like something you’d find on a nuclear sub, and terms like algorithms, gyroscopes and accelerometers, even when duly explained, can still fly well over the layman’s head.

The Perks. The Onewheel is not a toy, unless your kid is Richie Rich. One (blue) Onewheel can be had for a backing of no less than $1,299. Be prepared to shell out another c-note for the 20-min charger, and another three on top of that if you want to choose from the black or pink options. The Potential. The Onewheel provides only 20 minutes of ride time per one-hour charge (20-minute with a high-speed charger). Despite that, it still seems like it would be that must-have plaything of the cool people if it didn’t cost those cool people a few months’ worth of not-so-cool rent.

Categories
Winter Sports

Glo-Blades put the glow in the glide

The Premise. On the sidewalk or especially on ice, skating can be a spectacle, with professionals donning elaborate costumes that draw attention to nearly every part of them except the usually land skates themselves. Well, imagine ice skating with a light show on your feet.

The Product. Glo-Blades are strings of high-power LED lights that attach to the bottom of ice skates or inline road skates. The lights provide a greater depth to ice skating because of the refraction of the light on the ice, and they are an added safety feature for road skaters. The skates attach to the blade using a chain and hooks (for the inlines), and then they are attached to the controller, which is a Velcro strap that attaches to the boot portion of the skate. The product developers plan to add wireless gloves that can control the lights and change the colors while skating, and to eventually connect the Glo-Blade to wireless devices so that the lights can be programmed and timed to music.

The Pitch. The Glo-Blades video won’t break any Olympic speed skating records as it shine on for eight minutes. It does feature a lot of information about the product, its development and the recognition its received. The video and text do seem to name-drop quite a bit, saying that professional skaters have loved the product. Its creators clearly have put a lot of passion, heart, and hard work into it and have have been thinking about its roadmap. However, the rest of the arrowtastic campaign page content seems like PowerPoint slides that weren’t worth repurposing.

The Perks. The product seems to be pretty pricey right now. Backers must contribute $75 for a set of the lights — a supposed 25% off target retail value. They are offering limited quantities of their first production run to their early bird backers, and one tier offers a ride in a non-underlit but nonetheless fun Zamboni.

The Potential. While this product could be fun to play around with, and will probably be pretty sophisticated later down the line, there may be a problem getting it into rinks and shows around the world. If the Glo-Blades come off, they could be a danger to skates, and many rink owners might ban them.

Official competitions want to see how well the skater can perform the move, not squint at light patches on the ice. And among recreational skaters, rinks are pretty well lit, which could reduce the impact of the glow. However, we could see Glo-Blades showing up on the skates of ice show performers, kids (an extension of the light-up sneaker craze) and skate rental shops.

Categories
Tools

Laundreez gets clothes clean without the machine

The Premise. Washing clothes while away from home can be a chore. Sometimes machines aren’t accessible. When when they are, the cost usually renders the effort pointless, and most times you just don’t have the downtime to spend a few hours inside waiting for the spin cycle to loosen its grip on your unmentionables.

The Product. Designed for travel, Laundreez is a waterproof laundry bag that allows you to clean clothes as effectively as a washing machine. Featuring an outer PVC wash bag, an inner nylon mesh bag, and a screw-on filler cap, you simply fill the mesh bag with dirty clothes, insert into the outer bag and secure by folding and clipping the outer bag closed. Add water by unscrewing the filler cap, then screw back on and agitate Laundreez for a few minutes to hand wash your clothes without actually getting wet.

The Pitch. An anonymous British man presents the main pitch for Laundreez in a concise and pretty humorous video. Explaining that in addition to being able to wash clothes while on-the-go, Laundreez also allows travelers to pack less clothing. This makes travel lighter and possibly even cheaper after factoring in weight-related baggage fees popular when traveling by air. Other applications for Laundreez include use as a dry-bag when at the beach or boating, and even a convenient way to store and chill your favorite beverages during transport. The page continues past the video to explain the initial design, adjustments made and the process of getting a second prototype, which will likely not be the last prototype before initial production begins. Project goal over 35 days is £18,000, equivalent to about $30,000.

The Perks. Material rewards start at £14 which secures you one of the first 2,500 Laundreez (which one must assume is the plural). All backers will receive Laundreez for a discount, as the final product is expected to retail in May 2014 for £20.

The Potential. Laundreez looks handy, but may be used more commonly as a tote for after-swimming items — especially for vacationing families with small children. Still, it’s a practical option, especially for longer trips involving air travel where luggage restrictions seem to increase daily. The Scrubba is a similar concept wash bag developed by an Australian company, which retails today for $65 with free shipping to the U.S., netting out at a little less than double the cost of Laundreez.

Categories
Fashion Health and Wellness

FreeUp keeps your specs from giving you the slip

FreeUpThose who wear spectacles often have to deal with the annoyance of  having them slip down the bridge of one’s nose, declining along with their eyesight as their ages advance. For those for whom contacts are an undesirable option. FreeUp addresses your spectacle lowered friction with a temporary, transparent strip that bespectacled creator Joseph Chang vows is unmatched by alternatives and you can judge for yourself in May 2014 by offering $10 for a one-week supply. The video is worth a quick watch for the phrase “nose profile” and watching Chang going cross-eyed for a moment as he affixes the product. FreeUp doesn’t seem like a product most would need every day, but one can see it coming in handy for exercises that generate a lot of nose perspiration.

Categories
Kids/Babies

Lullaby Light Up turns throw pillow into kid’s glow pillow

Light-up pillows have become a popular novelty item. The makers of the Lullaby Light Up Pillow recognize the gift value of their offering for the little ones up to age six. There’s no need to worry about the light keeping the little ones up  as the light turns off by itself after about 17 minutes. Offering a bit of background on how the children’s companion came to be, the testimonial-laden video features a background track with videos that compete somewhat with what the people are saying, but you get the gist. The project creators offer to send one of their glowing pillows to your door by May 2014 for $40 or bundled with a blankie for $50.

Categories
Camping Cooking

Vertex stove brings the heat, keeps it light

The Premise.  So you plan on spending some time in the great outdoors.  Most of the essentials are small and readily portable: water, compass, map, maybe a multitool.  But what about cooking?  How do you go about fitting something that can contain your fire, shield it from the wind, and prop up your pot/pan into your backpack?

The Product. The Vertex Ultralight Backpacking Stove addresses this problem. With no moving parts, it is literally nothing more than three stamped-out sheets of metal that assemble into a base for your pot, a support for your fuel, and a wind shroud for your fire. These sheets have holes and tabs stamped out to accommodate the Vertex’s interlocking assembly, and arc along their long ends, which form its base and the stand for your pot.  It can burn solid fuel tablets, or also be used in conjunction with the Trangia Spirit Burner to burn denatured alcohol. It then disassembles into a flat, 3×5-inch package that fits easily into its rip-stop nylon storage sleeve (fancy name for pouch), and almost any pocket.

The Pitch. While clear and demonstrative, most of the product video consists of a slide show There’s little more than a couple clips of the creator in the woods and some panning shots of the product in action, with “action” meaning “sitting there on fire,” in this case. About a third of the video focuses on the fuel the Vertex uses rather than the product itself which, let’s face it, consists of little more than a few thoughtfully configured sheets of tempered stainless steel.

The Perks. Backing the project for with $50 will get you a Vertex of your own ($45 if you get in early enough).

The Potential. The Vertex is a clever and elegant product, but with such a small foot print, and nuanced design, it might not work on a rough or slanted surface.  Conventional burners and emergency stove kits cost as little as $4, folding aluminum wind shrouds as little as $8, and other folding stove kits as little as $9.  That being the case, 50 bucks doesn’t seem like much of a deal for a device whose purpose can be outsourced to a bunch of tactically arranged rocks.

Categories
Fitness

BeamBlock poses an opportunity for improving balance

BeamBlock

With its primary color motif, you might think BeamBlock is a trade show prop from Google, Microsoft, eBay or some other company that has adopted four colors in their logo.Or maybe it’s a a new version of Simon that you play with your feet? Alas, it’s neither electronic nor noisy. True to its name, the simple device is a cross between a (short) balance beam and a step block. Yoga teacher, personal trainer and all-around fit Londoner Thierry Giunta abstains from actually demonstrating use of the device in the campaign video, but makes up for it with some pose photos. Alas the reward tiers are as difficult to understand as the choppy audio in the campaign video. It seems, though, that one can pick up a BeamBlock for £120, an insane amount for what appears to be a plastic block. But it may arrive on your block in March 2014.

Categories
Apparel

Cartesian scarf stays rigid in the frigid

The Premise. Classic neck scarves are versatile and attractive fashion accessories that help keep us warm in the chill. There are a few classic ways to wear them, but they can have a tendency to loosen up.

The Product. The Cartesian Scarf serves as a neck scarf and/or head wrap that can bend and hold its shape. It uses various knit tensions instead of wires in order to be malleable. The scarf is made of 100% Italian merino wool and currently comes in charcoal gray and classic red. Optimally wearing the accessory is facilitated by propping it up vertically against the back of the neck and then guiding it into the desired contortion. The project creators assure that, while the scarf may retain its shape, it’s soft.

The Pitch. Cartesian’s Indiegogo campaign opens with a woman named Marja introducing the scarf and transitions to a number of scenes showing us the various ways it can be worn. Some may wrap their heads around the idea that a shape-retaining scarf that looks a bit futuristic yet otherworldly resting around the neck and chest might be a good idea to copy. But the campaign page isn’t shy about reminding that the product is covered by two U.S. patents and is unusual in that it was an article of clothing designed by an architect. This is the second crowdfunding go-round for Cartesian, which already had a successful 40-day campaign that ran on Kickstarter where the creators beat their $6,500 goal. For all the creators’ talk of the scarf staying put, there’s no video or other evidence of it doing so outside where it would be subject to the same wind and jostling as other scarves.

The Perks. Cartesian’s reward tiers feature a $65 early bird special that will ship by Valentine’s Day (assuming that people would want to give this as a Valentine’s gift). In addition, a donation of $78 will get you a scarf and a donation of $125 or more will get you two scarves, but currently you can only choose from charcoal gray or classic red.

The Potential. The Cartesian scarf is certainly cleverly designed, although may not revolutionize the scarf market as is promised by its creators. The real question becomes how well the scarf’s tenacity holds up to others in the real world; the fold-and-through-the-loop method works pretty well. For nearly $80, it will be tough for the Cartesian to beat more malleable apparel from better-known designers.

Categories
Cell Phone Accessories Music Tablet Accessories

Drytunes delivers the sound waves while in water waves

DrytunesThere is a veritable ocean of Bluetooth speakers out there, but how many can be used in the ocean? If the creator of Drytunes has its way, you’ll be able to pack up your troubles, or at least a few of your valuables, in music-spewing suitcase enclosure and toss it straight into the water without worry about damage. Project creator Michael Applebaum uses his radio-friendly voice to tell the story for the submersible speaker system. This includes having people express surprise at how good it sounds, although such demonstrations are of course hard to appreciate through whatever speakers you may be using. Drytunes is being made offered to backers for $315, or $299 if you catch the early bird and should be available in March 2014.

Categories
Tools

Morph Ladder brings its A game to the A-Frame

The Premise. Contractors or home improvement specialists typically own a combination of smaller A-frame ladders as well as a few extension ladders. However, certain situations crop up where it is necessary to rent an a-frame ladder that can reach 16ft or higher. To purchase such a ladder costs about $650 and to rent it can cost $65 per day. Most contractors don’t bother buying these ladders because they are expensive as well as heavy and difficult to move around. In addition, the situations in which they are needed are too few and far between to justify the cost.

The Product. Ladder Morph consists of two metal brackets that attach two extension ladders at their peaks to create one high-reaching A-frame ladder.

The Pitch. Ladder Morph’s creator, Dino Vassilakos, works in the home improvement business and his Kickstarter campaign largely consists of how he came up with the idea for Ladder Morph and the different phases of production Ladder Morph has gone through so far. The video is as straightforward as the product itself and features Vassilakos showing the audience the different types of ladders out there and how Ladder Morph works, skipping over the actual assembly involved in attaching two ladders together using Ladder Morph. As an added bonus, he only goes into the ancient Egyptian history of ladders for the exact number of seconds (four) that most people would be able to tolerate.

The Perks. You’d think a ladder campaign would grasp a bit about proper escalation, but it is in the reward tiers that campaign flounders a bit. Supporters giving $250 or more will receive a Ladder Morph whereas supporters giving $500 or more will also receive only one. The campaign pegs February 2014 as the estimated delivery date.

The Potential. Ladder Morph does seem to have a place in construction and home improvement markets. It is a simple, but clever product that works with the materials people already have in order to create something new. There really isn’t anything else out there quite like it. It’s probably a bit pricey for most consumers, but should provide a cost-effective alternative to construction pros who need to reach new heights.