Tag: Bluetooth LE

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Automotive Connected Objects

Loxet locks up the car based on your proximity to it

When drivers mistakenly think they’ve locked their car, or perhaps forget about doing so altogether, the result can be costly. While having one’s car towed can be frustrating, having it stolen is an entirely different and more aggravating experience.

Because preventing a car from being stolen is much easier than recovering a stolen car, the Loxet is a device worth checking out. Loxet is a smartphone-controlled proximity lock and anti-theft device for cars that should help drivers breath a bit more easily. Loxet works with Android 4.3+ smartphones and iPhones equipped with Bluetooth 4.0. Once installed, the device automatically unlocks a car as its owner approaches and locks the door right as the owner begins leaving the vicinity. The device prevents anybody from driving the car who isn’t either a) the owner or b) an individual who has been granted access via a setting on the accompanying app. Loxet costs $69 and is scheduled to ship in August. Its maker is looking to raise $25,000 by May 15.

Loxet certainly has potential. One potential barrier towards widespread adoption, however, is the setup process. While the device itself can be mounted in any car equipped with central locking, it will take a mechanic 45-90 minutes to install it, this according to the company’s Kickstarter campaign. Loxet can also be installed by the purchaser via an instruction manual, but if it takes more than an hour for a mechanic to install it, it’s likely too complicated for the average consumer to set up in the first place. Turning to a mechanic will, of course, add some cost to the device.

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Connected Objects Health and Wellness

VIP sleeves monitor calves, keep the blood pumping to avoid clots

Between sitting for most of the day and sleeping for upwards of nine hours a night, the heart can have a rough time making sure the circulatory system is in tip top shape. What most people don’t know are that the calves play a crucial role in pumping the blood back up to the heart, which is why more and more articles and news reports reaffirm the danger in leading an inactive lifestyle.

The VIP pneumatic sleeve is engineered to allow wearers to be proactive even when they are forced to be sedentary. Designed to be worn on the calves, the device contracts and expands with air to assist with circulation, softening the impact of long periods of inactivity and ultimately decreasing the likelihood of blood clots. The VIP also uses Bluetooth LE in order to connect with a companion iOS or Android app, allowing users to set goals, set alerts, customize the rate of air flow, and track usage over time.

A backing of $199 will net backers their own sleeve and charger in November of 2015. VSS, the company behind VIP, is looking for $200,000 in funding by May 1. It should appeal to those concerned about conditions such as Deep Vein Thrombosis for situations such as long flights.

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Connected Objects Music

Aivvy Q streaming headphones provides the soundtrack to your life even if you lose signal

Streaming services like Spotify helped lay groundwork for the recent influx of new streaming services, including Apple’s upcoming Beats service and Jay Z’s Tidal venture. While on-demand music streaming is great and can conveniently work across a host of devices, most streaming services require an Internet connection to work, sometimes resulting in a subpar listening experience.

Aivvy Q is a wireless Bluetooth headphone set which can provide up to 40 hours of continuous music playback, all without needing an Internet connection. Touted as headphones capable of tapping into the “Internet of Things”, Aivvy Q is essentially a self-learning music player: a user can swipe its side to skip a track, tap to favorite a track, or rotate the channel ring in order to change the genre or playlist. Sensors within the product learn which tracks are preferred, thereby making sure the music being played is always relevant and enjoyable.

Continue reading “Aivvy Q streaming headphones provides the soundtrack to your life even if you lose signal”
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Cycling Virtual Reality

WideRun VR lets you bike through any world while staying put

There’s nothing like a long, challenging bike ride on a crisp day surrounded by the hustle and bustle of city life or the lush landscapes of nature. Granted, this is only true so long as there’s no rain, sleet, snow or extremely cold temperatures. Put simply, inclement weather is a cyclist’s biggest enemy, often leading to missed opportunities for both pleasure and fitness.

WideRun’s marriage of both cycling and virtual reality eliminates the tedium of stationary biking, offering eager cyclists a chance to ride in diverse environments when they’re forced to stay indoors. Of course, the biggest challenge with all VR experiences is achieving a suitable level of immersion. WideRun’s system accomplishes this by employing a bike trainer engineered to apply pedal resistance and let cyclists turn their handlebars; these two variables are essential in convincing riders that they’re riding the Great Wall of China or through an abandoned, zombie-infested city.

While WideRun is compatible with any bike, it is currently only compatible with the Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR, and smart TVs (for those who don’t have access to a VR headset). No matter which route a cyclist chooses to take, WideRun must be connected to a smartphone or PC. In exchange, the software lets users check their performance, ride with community members, and challenge other riders as a means to keep things interesting.

The full system can be had for $446 with an expected ship date of April 2016. The campaign is looking for $44,475 in funding by May 2, 2015.

While WideRun claims its pedal resistance can successfully mirror the feeling of riding uphill, it may not do enough. Because the system lacks the means to transmit other types of feedback — like bumps in the road or uneven paths — the fullness of the experience might be compromised. Still, the product is very well thought out, sporting similarities to the VirtuixOmni.

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Connected Objects Sleep

Proper Pillow Plus will help give you an amazing night of sleep

A comfortable pillow is just as important as a good mattress to provide a good night of sleep. Most pillows, even the best orthopedic ones, however, can’t quantify just how well the user is sleeping.

The Proper Pillow Plus is a smarter version of the existing Proper Pillow, created by the same inventor. The Proper Pillow was designed to support optimal alignment with both back and side sleeping positions. Proper Pillow Plus builds on that and adds the quantification of sleep patterns with the assistance of a mobile app. A sensor network of pressure receptors built into the pillow tracks the user’s sleep experience and relays that data directly to the Proper Pillow Plus app via Bluetooth Low Energy. Among other things, Proper Pillow Plus can gauge what sleeping position and head orientation generate optimal sleep conditions. Proper Pillow Plus costs $60 and ships in April. Its maker is hoping to raise $375,000 via an Indiegogo campaign by April 18.

The product holds promise if it can truly and accurately measure sleep patterns and, more importantly, if it’s comfortable. That said, these two variables are impossible to gauge from a campaign video. Those are two of the same issues faced by similar products that have sought crowdfunding, including ThinkPillow.

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Health and Wellness Wearables

Kanega Watch provides emergency connections for seniors on the go

Many traditional personal emergency response devices are limited in that they they traditionally keep seniors tethered to their homes. That’s an outmoded way in the era of powerful wearables.

Kanega Watch was designed to replace traditional emergency alert devices for seniors and doesn’t require a smartphone to operate. As an added plus, it’s more fashionable than many standard watches on the market. The company claims that focus groups have called Kanega a wearable version of OnStar for seniors because it provides discreet support for falls, medication reminders, and a guard against wandering, according to its Kickstarter campaign.

Kanega uses an easy speech interface rather than buttons and also features Bluetooth Smart technology and patent-pending quick-swap batteries that peel away from the watch for charging. The product costs $299 and will ship in February 2016. A separate charging cradle with two additional batteries is included. Replacement batteries are provided free with a  monitoring service that costs $35 to $85 a month depending on the service level chosen.

Kanega mostly relies on emergency notification but there have been other products that focus more on passive monitoring. Lively focuses on monitoring independent seniors in their homes although the company has come out with a wearable.

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Connected Objects Food and Beverage

Neo Smart Jar puts a lid on foods, whips up recipes for whatever’s around

If the crowdfunding world has taught us anything, it’s that everything deserves Bluetooth. The Neo Smart Jar demonstrates how even an everyday object can be completely transformed with Bluetooth connectivity.

Pantries everywhere are filled with foods and ingredients whose quantity and freshness are easily and quickly forgotten. The Neo Smart Jar steps in to help by using Bluetooth to communicate pertinent food information to a companion iOS or Android app. The Neo Smart Jar not only keeps track of food quantity and nutrition in real time, but it can also sync that information with paired fitness devices. Additionally the Neo Smart Jar can send out freshness alerts and create consumption trends of foods and ingredients over time.

What’s more, Neo can even make cooking easier: the app suggests recipes based on what’s available, and adjusts both the quantities needed and portion size depending on the number of guests at the table. Lastly ,the jar’s companion app can dynamically update shopping lists, even going so far as to automatically place orders for required items via Amazon (additional partner stores are in the works).

Each jar charges wirelessly and can runs for several months off a single charge, thus making the Neo Smart Jar a truly modern update to the humble glass jar of yore. A single Neo goes for $54, two can be had for $99, and a set of six can be picked up for $299. The $50,000 campaign is looking to ship the connected piece of kitchenware by November 2015.

Given the sheer variety of available helpful crowdfunded products for the kitchen, including the Pantelligent, ChefBot and the CookStarta, it seems like the cooking process itself may now be the hardest part of the cooking equation. While other products may tack on Bluetooth as an afterthought, the Neo Smart Jar implements it intelligently, and it shows.

Categories
Smart Home

Sesame smart lock lets you open doors as you knock it from your pocket

Smart locks were quite possibly the smart home movement’s first attempt at a truly wireless home. Unfortunately, initial efforts resulted in oversized locks with impractical installation requirements and questionable security.

patent-claimedThe simple looking Sesame smart lock provides a modern day solution in this regard. The lock is manufactured with a five-patented design capable of being installed over a large variety of single-cylinder deadbolts, all without the need of any tools.

The lock uses Bluetooth LE in conjunction with military-grade encryption in order to enable home entry in a number of creative ways. For instance, users can utilize a companion iOS or Android app to remotely open a door or enable proximity entry by way of a nearby smartphone. Voice controlled based entry is also a feature of the device. Notably, users can be informed when doors are opened and closed, an important feature given that Sesame provides wireless and shareable access.

$149 gets backers both a Sesame lock and a Wi-Fi Access Point that lessens drain on the device’s battery. Its makers are seeking $100,000 and are aiming to get the product delivered by May 2015.

With its incredibly easy install and wealth of entry options, the Sesame smart lock is poised to find itself on more doors than competing products. This is well-tread territory, after all, previously occupied by the likes of August and Goji.

The Sesame lock, though, has some competition in Haven, whose all-business construction is the polar opposite of the fun, light-hearted tone Sesame takes — which may not sit well for those a bit more serious about their home protection needs. Still, its impressively easy installation process will undoubtedly attract many.

 

 

Categories
Connected Objects Wallets

Self-charging Woolet prevents you from losing your wallet

While misplacing a wallet at home is a major inconvenience, losing a wallet in a public place can be a major cause for alarm, especially if it houses credit cards and lots of cash.

The Bluetooth-enabled Woolet is a smart wallet which aims to prevent this type of problem. Woolet notifies its owner when a wallet is misplaced or lost. Woolet is currently Android and iOS compatible, and its makers have plans to perhaps support Windows Phone devices later on down the line.

When in use, Woolet is able to show users where their wallet is within 1.3 feet. Like the similarly designed Where’s Wallet, Woolet can also notify users when they’re separated from their wallet beyond a pre-specified distance. Woolet costs $99 and is slated to ship in May provided its goal of $15,000 can be met by April 2.

Despite an increasingly crowded market for similar products, Woolet holds a lot of promise. One feature that gives it an edge over rival products is that it’s self-charging, which is to say that no battery replacement is needed. Woolet charges itself through a process called electricity harvesting, meaning that when the beacon senses movement, kinetic energy is activated, subsequently building an electrical charge. Notably, its maker is also testing recharging by movement and body heat. Woolet’s makers plan to update Kickstarter backers once a final implementation method is chosen.

Categories
Fashion

Like the celebrity you’re stalking, the Davek Alert Umbrella never leaves your sight

Umbrellas have the unique distinction of being incredibly useful while simultaneously instilling a sense of dread that hangs around its users. After all, once an umbrella is bought, it’s only a matter of time before it gets lost or stolen.

The Davek Alert Umbrella focuses on making sure your umbrella doesn’t get lost at all. By employing an embedded Bluetooth LE beacon at its base, synced to an iOS or Android device of course, the Davek Alert Umbrella alerts users when it finds itself more than 30ft away. The companion mobile app also makes it possible to disable proximity awareness for a specified length of time while also providing usage recommendations depending on the weather.

The umbrella design itself is nothing to scoff at, either. It boasts a zinc alloy handle, a core made of aircraft-grade aluminum and flexible fiberglass, and a water-repellent outer coating. This makes it rigid enough for high winds yet flexible enough to open and close on a dime with its automatic push button system. All of the above pretty much makes this the best umbrella one could ever buy. Backers can grab their own for $99, and expect it in September 2015 provided the campaign hits its target of $50,000 by April 12, 2015.