Categories
Luggage and Bags

GoBag gives clothes a squeeze to dodge luggage fees

Check or carry-on? With added charges and overages, more passengers are squeezing everything they can into those overhead bins.

The GoBag is a versatile bag designed with the journey in mind. The “Works” package includes the Max Pack Bag to pack clothes and other soft items. Then, by hand or vacuum, the bag compresses down for more carry-on space. There’s also an adaptable harness for a laptop, so it’s protected and easy to grab at security. The GoBag also features a clear “washbag” that detaches and slides right into the airport bins. The creators of the product ask $180 for “The Works”, and they are hoping to raise $70,392 by June 24th, 2015, with expected delivery in Oct 2015.

The GoBag brings the concept behind the long-available Space Bag to luggage. This rugged carry-on features zippers all around, so everything is easy to access on the go. Of course, if you need to pack things other than clothes that are easily compressible, it may have limited value.

Categories
Smart Home

The flick of a switch turns on all the lights with LampLink

To create the perfect ambiance in any room, the right amount of lighting is necessary. Most of the time, though, a room’s outlet placement can limit the kinds of lighting arrangements possible, forcing people to place a lamp somewhere they don’t want it to be.

LampLink is a transmitter/receiver system that allows a user to control all the lights in a room at once without the use of a smartphone. The transmitter is plugged in to a wall switch connected outlet, while the transmitters are plugged into lamps. When the wall switch is flicked on, all other lamps connected are turned on as well.

Continue reading “The flick of a switch turns on all the lights with LampLink”

Categories
Imaging

Valo could have value for photographers needing flexible lighting

Getting the right amount of light is a frequent challenge for digital photographers, whether they are shooting still images or video.

The makers of Valo set out to solve that challenge by developing a programmable, modular LED flash for photography and video lighting. Photographers can use it as a flash or as a constant light source. It can be used as a main light, a hair light, a fill light or a background light. The open-source device is ready to use out of the box and features a micro-controller, and upgradeable firmware. Valo costs $189 and will ship in December. Its makers are hoping to raise $55,000 via Indiegogo by June 28.

Valo offers multiple lighting solutions in one affordable device, so it should come in handy for many photographers. One of the things that sets it apart is that the photographer can combine multiple units together to create a larger unit without wires, using the product’s internal magnets. Its wire-free nature extends to charging as each unit comes with its own internal battery and charges by USB. That may result in having to charge multiple units , but could take less time than charging a larger unit.

Categories
Cycling Music Technology

BikeMic keeps cyclists in tune with their playlist and environment

Riding a bike through any environment is already somewhat dangerous depending on the amount of pedestrian traffic and cars present. What makes it even more dangerous is the use of headphones while riding, something many people do that significantly increases the risk of serious, or even fatal, injury.

People love their music, though, and aren’t so easily persuaded away from it. BikeMic makes the choice easy by providing a mic that connects headphones with its music device to funnel in ambient noises. This way, those noises are mixed in with the music to give riders the best of both worlds. With BikeMic, riders can still hear the cars, people, and conversations around them, all without having to take their headphones off.

Continue reading “BikeMic keeps cyclists in tune with their playlist and environment”
Categories
Maker/Development

Musio robot may be music to the ears of AI fans, kids

The most widely-used personal assistant application remains Apple’s Siri. But, as many iPhone and iPad users know, it is pretty difficult to engage in a true conversation with Siri because its software can only do what it’s been programmed to do by Apple.

Musio is a cross between a robotic toy along the lines of Sony’s long-discontined AIBO and a personal assistant. The Android-based device features artificial intelligence and was designed to engage and grow with its user, while its Arduino-compatible board enables the device to do whatever the user asks, its maker says. It is being fielded in three separate versions, each featuring a different brain.

Continue reading “Musio robot may be music to the ears of AI fans, kids”
Categories
Podcasts

Backerjack Podcast #19: Peers for your Ears and Cooking with Brains

In Episode 19 of the Backerjack Podcast, Steve and Ross check out some of the latest products seeking funds and preorders:’

  • June, a smart oven that can recognize food and cook it for you.
  • Aumeo, an adapter for headphones that checks how you optimally hear audio and tunes music for each ear.

Download the episode or listen below, subscribe via iTunes or RSS, and follow Backerjack on Twitter and Facebook. Also check out Steve’s great work on Apple World Today!

 

Categories
Connected Objects Cooking

June smart oven cooks for you all months of the year

Cooking at home can be the ticket to lower dining costs and better health metrics, but many people have a limited culinary repertoire and sometimes even less skill. Indeed, cooling remains one of the few arts that can help sustain us or at least allow us to better enjoy  a critical component of life.

June is a countertop convection oven that can cook a wide range of foods via a number of techniques. including roasting, toasting and broiling.Among the tech components that differentiate it from similar looking devices are a 5″ touchscreen on its front and a n HD camera that can relay video to a smartphone, providing easy answers to the perennial question, “What’s cooking?” Its smartphone app can also show the progress of a cooking task graphically.

Continue reading “June smart oven cooks for you all months of the year”
Categories
Connected Objects Music

Aumeo headphone adapter lets everyone make personalized sound decisions

What makes for great audio? Readers of different headphone reviews may often find that experts disagree because what one person considers great audio quality may differ from another.

patent-claimedThat is due in part because everyone’s ears are different, in fact, as unique as fingerprints according to the team behind Aumeo, a small slim square device that takes Bluetooth audio from any device and sends it to the wearer’s choice of wired headphone. Six years in development, the Aumeo adapter works with an app to figure out the optimal hearing profile of each ear via a one-time use app and then from there processes all subsequent sound to the user’s benefit.

Continue reading “Aumeo headphone adapter lets everyone make personalized sound decisions”
Categories
Sleep Technology

SensorWake alarm clock helps you arise with aroma

It’s pretty hard to make a unique alarm clock. After all, no matter how many bells and whistles a manufacturer adds to such a device, it’s still going to wake people up using sounds –- be it the radio or more traditional annoying alarm sounds.

patent-claimedSensorWake, however, is an original twist on the alarm clock, using the sense of smell to wake users up. It uses patented technology that enables a scent to be released from fragrance capsules at a specified time. One capsule can be reused up to 60 times and the device will wake users up in less than two minutes each time, according to consumer tests that were conducted on more than 100 people, its developer says.

Continue reading “SensorWake alarm clock helps you arise with aroma”
Categories
Smart Home

Presence home security system keeps the sensors, skips the fees

Everyone wants to keep their home safe. Not everyone wants to pay the sometimes steep monitoring fees associated with doing so. The result? Houses everywhere essentially are left unprotected.

The Presence home security system gives both renters and homeowners peace of mind without taking a piece of their wallet with it.  It uses the cameras and Wi-Fi connectivity of the spare smartphones and tablets most people already have, and puts them to use alongside a variety of sensors, like motion and temperature, to keep any household safe from intruders, flooding, and a variety of other problems.

Continue reading “Presence home security system keeps the sensors, skips the fees”