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Connected Objects

Oombrella senses the weather, won’t let umbrella loss rain on your parade

Umbrellas are handy to have when it’s raining, but many consumers wind up needing to replace them after leaving them behind in a taxi, on a train, in a restaurant or many other places.

Oombrella is a smart umbrella that alerts users about impending rain and also lets them know if they are about to leave it behind. The device collects real-time data including temperature, pressure, humidity and light. The electronic capsule at the end of it includes sensors that communicate with smartphones via Bluetooth Low Energy technology, allowing users to know if there is an incoming call or other notification.

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Cell Phone Accessories

Connex provides a cable as its calling card

Conventional data cables are often either too long or too short to reach the devices they are being connected to. Another frequent issue with cables is that they tend to get tangled up –- especially when there is more than one of them.

Connex is a flat universal data cable that’s been pressed into the shape of a credit card. It’s made of durable synthetic silicone that allows it to stretch up to 18 inches and then collapse again when needed. Connex ships in June at $15 for a Micro USB version and $19 for an Apple Lightning connection version. But early bird Kickstarter backers can get them for pledges starting at $9 or $13, respectively. Its makers hope to raise $5,000 by April 18.

This is an enormously handy accessory to have for a wide range of devices. But a version that can stretch more than 18 inches would be even handier for some consumers. Users of devices that don’t use Lightning and Micro USB, including older Apple devices, are out of luck, so more compatibility options would be nice also.

 

Categories
Augmented Reality

Telepathy Walker eyewear lets you follow walking directions, possibly dreams

Navigation on smartphones provides enormous convenience to consumers. But the navigation on those devices -– just like on standalone GPS devices — tends to be designed specifically for driving rather than getting somewhere on foot. The screens on those devices can also be very hard to see while walking when it’s sunny out.

patent-claimedTelepathy Walker is small, Google Glass-like eyewear that’s been specifically designed to provide walking directions. It features a bright screen with patented display technology that enables it to be seen even in bright sunlight. It’s also been designed, unlike other smartglasses, so that the user can see both the screen and the world around them clearly at the same time.

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Music Technology

Loopa looping microphone lets you beatbox or harmonize with yourself

While beatboxing is an amazing skill, it takes years to really perfect due to the difficulty involved in creating complex rhythms. Likewise, singing a capella is beautiful expression of vocal skill but performing harmonies on your own is impossible (unless you have some particular skills, that is). The Loopa gives amateurs in both the chance to practice while letting already talented performers shine.

Questionably labelled the world’s first, the Loopa is a high-quality microphone with integrated looping technology. It sports the options to record, playback and overdub existing sounds along with undoing and redoing sounds, with an ARM Cortex M4 processing handling all the technical work inside. With it, beatboxers, singers, and musicians can use single button recording to build up layers of sound until a catchy beat is made. About $172 gets interested backers a chance to spittle the illest beats until their hearts are content. Loopa is slated to ship July 2016 should its Kickstarter campaign raise about $52,000 by April 23rd, 2016.

Put plainly, Loopa looks like A lot of fun. Putting everything together in one familiar interface, it makes beatboxing or singing much more approachable for newbies while giving already talented performers another tool to express themselves as opposed to a product like the Ditto Mic Looper.

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Cycling

ME n’ E makes e-bike conversions more affordable

While products like the bimoz, add-e, and Dillenger dangle the tantalizing prospect of retrofitting our precious bicycles with lightweight packages of electric mobility for a more powerful ride, they do so at a less-than-lightweight price point. In the crowdfunding world, these price points are to be expected but do nothing to make it possible for more people to actually back confidently.

ME n’ E is offering an alternative, more accessibly priced e-bike conversion kit on Indiegogo that works similarly to previous kits. It takes just two minutes to install the lightweight, two-pound kit, giving users about 10-15 miles per charge at a top speed of 32mph.

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Categories
Fitness Imaging Wearables

R2D3 records your workout in data and video, but not at the same time

Sorry, Star Wars fans. The R2D3 combination fitness band and sports camera won’t bleep and bloop its way into a user’s heart, but it will edit the most intense moments of their workout routines or adventures into social media-ready chunks based on algorithmically-backed presets. In a crowded field of increasingly uninspiring smart bands, the R2D3 succeeds in at least offering something different.

This hybrid sports all the expected features of a useful fitness band: step, distance, and calories counters along with a heart rate monitor. These sensors join a 1080p HD camera that shoots 30fps and an 8MP camera sensor with 120° field of view to do its best GoPro impression. And like the GoPro, the R2D3 can be attached to many parts of the body or equipment like the wrist, ankle, a book bag, or even a drone. It boasts a 72-hour battery life, with just 1.5 of those hours capable of taking video.

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Cell Phone Accessories Music

Cobble cobbles together improved audio for iPhones

Smartphones have become the main portable device that many people rely on to listen to music on the go. However, just like most smartphone cameras lack the high-end functionality of good standalone cameras, smartphones also tend to not offer the best audio quality either.

Cobble is a battery-free, plug-and-play device for iPhones that combines a headphone amplifier with a digital-to-analog (DAC) converter to significantly improve smartphone music quality. It also works with iPods and iPads, although its compatibility is limited to only those iOS devices with Lightning connectors, from which it draws power.

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Connected Objects Lighting Music

Riflo connected LED lights up your abode with glorified notifications

We’re not quite at the point of questioning’s someone’s grasp of reality if their lights aren’t connected to the Internet. But while most would immediately point to the Philips Hue as the de facto connected light bulb for the technologically savvy dweller, the Riflo’s Indiegogo campaign presents an alternative.

While the Hue’s array of color options and scenes are all the rage, the Riflo programmable smart color LED expands on these features by adding a Wi-Fi connected speaker to the mix. This speaker can do things like audibly communicate information pertinent to the user (e.g. “You have a meeting in an hour,” “You have a new email.”) or stream music with or without a companion streaming app. Or, it’s Wink feature uses the colorful LED to silently communicate what needs to be known without a possibly annoying robo-voice droning on about it.

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Music

Plugfones Liberate blocks out noise, lets in favorite tunes

Noisy environments are usually a temporary nuisance — unless, of course, one has to work in them all day. In that case, noise cancelling ear plugs are necessary to properly protect one’s hearing. Unfortunately, that means no music or audiobooks to get through the workday with. Shaun Knudsen couldn’t deal with that limitation and created a set of noise-cancelling headphones called Plugfones. After a few years of success with his initial wired version, the product is on Kickstarter in its new, wireless iteration: Plugfones Liberate.

The noise-blocking headphones shed its 3.5mm port to make it easier for anyone to work without the hassle or potential danger of tangled wires. Beyond that, it’s pretty familiar territory as far as earbuds go. The Plugfones Liberate feature a noise-reducing mic for phone calls and controls for things like playback and volume. It’s recommended that the Plugfone Liberates’ variety of user-replaceable silicon and foam tips are replaced every few weeks to ensure a snug fit and maintain the benefits of its s Noise Reduction Rating of 26. Plugfones sells them direct from its Web site for $7.99.

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Categories
Connected Objects Nutrition/Hydration

The WaterO purifies H2O at the touch of a button

Clean water is a luxury many people in the world don’t have. As time goes on and the world’s clean water supply becomes increasingly precious, more people join that statistic. This makes developing technologies that pursue the purification of water one of the biggest endeavours of the 21st century. But to move a mountain, one has to start with a few rocks: One of those rocks is WaterO.

The WaterO purifier uses the principle of reverse osmosis, a water treatment method that forces untreated water through a semi-permeable membrane to remove contaminants and impurities, to purify 99.9% of the water run through it. Its four filter system captures everything from nitrates, cyanide, and copper, resulting in a crisp glass of water everytime. Its sleek construction sits well on a kitchen countertop and requires no installation, plugging in for power instead.

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