Tag: Bluetooth

Categories
Lighting

LIVING room lamp moves around at will, boasts presets and dimming power

Lighting can make a huge difference in any household. Great furniture and fixtures are lost when there’s not enough light to illuminate them.

Most households use lamps to provide that bit of extra light, but don’t move them once they’re in place. As we move around and use our rooms in different ways, light may have to move as well. That’s why the LIVING room lamp is a pivot lamp with integrated Bluetooth technology. It syncs up with any Android smartphone for complete control over the light’s position. Either move the light around at will or take advantage of the preset timed options available.

The light looks like a typical silver pivot light and reach up to six feet and ten inches. In addition to its height, it also boast a rotation of up to 120 degrees. There’s little information on how bright the light gets or what kind of lightbulb it calls for, but it is able to be dimmed. The creators hope that they’ll soon integrate iOS into the lamp as well.

As an added bonus, the LIVING room lamp is made up of modular parts which can be replaced easily if necessary. The creators of this product may want to consider adding some kind of detector that will prevent the light from smashing into walls if its preset demands it. This light is going for a donation of $850 (!) for delivery in November 2015. The LIVING room lamp is looking to raise $80,000 with the help of Kickstarter.

Categories
Automotive Input

App Your Car wireless lets you keep your hands at ten and two

For the most part, a lot of the powerful smartphone and tablet features used on a daily basis become impossible the moment people hop into a car. Solutions exist that try to connect the phone to the car but they end up providing minimal interaction, usually focusing on music and calls at the most. With or without these solutions, though, it’s always pretty dangerous to use a smart device that requires drivers to take their view off the road. Voice-controlled options have offered a hands-free approach, but even those can be limited.

To maintain a driver’s tactile connection to their smart device and keep their eyes on the road, App Your Car was created. The in-car smart device input system is compatible with both iOS and Android, and features a wireless controller and a dashboard mount. The wireless controller features buttons on its front and back that can be used to access categories of apps and maneuver through them, all the while still keeping a driver’s hands on the wheel. The dashboard mount is meant to be placed within a driver’s field of view, providing strong magnets that keep a device in place, wirelessly charging devices, and facilitating the use of Bluetooth to stream music and audio. Its companion app makes selecting apps easier. For $99, backers can obtain their own App Your Car system with an expected ship date of June 2015. The campaign is looking for $40,000.

The company behind App Your Car claim they had safety on their mind while designing the product, but it seems a bit haphazard to focus on a physical device while driving to access and move through apps. Granted, it has its uses in music playing apps and navigating through calendars, but such small type on a smart device will make it more of a hassle. The real star of the show is the dashboard mount that wirelessly charges devices, something that can be combined with the more powerful voice features of a, say, Moto X. A focus on voice rather than physical control would’ve made the product reach much farther than it does.

Categories
Connected Objects Cooking

ChefBot helps you whip up your next delight; prevents burning

Generally, there are two ways a kitchen can be thought of. It can be the soothing, relaxing part of the home where delicious, homemade meals are prepared. Or it can be the part of the home where the refrigerator, toaster oven, and microwave are located. Unfortunately, the latter rings true for most. As easy as any cooking show makes it seem, the process of creating a meal from scratch is loaded with subtlety essential to the recipe itself. However, most people don’t have the magic touch, making cooking difficult and arduous.

The ChefBot may look like a regular kitchen scale, but hiding within is a Bluetooth-enabled kitchen assistant. This device weighs ingredients, provides a running calorie count of them, and leads users through any recipe uploaded into the device with the ChefBot companion app for iOS or Android, all while streaming music through Bluetooth. The device’s stainless steel construction houses multiple voices or a TFT display that communicates this information a user, and everything is built to be water-resistant to avoid unseemly accidents from seriously damaging the unit. The Bluetooth version of the ChefBot is $99, while the Wi-Fi unit is $149. ChefBot is expected to ship April 2015 provided the campaign raises $50,000.

The glut of connected kitchen objects makes it seem like no one in America can cook. Whether that’s true or not remains to be seen, but there is certainly a variety of them. The ChefBot’s design is underwhelming, but the actual product is priced well, offering just enough functionality to be valuable. Its choice of material makes it superior to Drop, another scale that seeks to lend a helping hand but it does so while connected to an iPad, a device people might not want in the kitchen at all.

Categories
Connected Objects Technology Wearables

Multifunction dog tag boosts luck of finding lost pooch

Dog owners dread the idea of losing their pooch. So, the idea of a smart, wearable device is a no-brainer for many pet owners.

The new Lucky Tag, developed by Los Angeles-based Beaconpliance, is a dog wearable device that combines three main features into one. The on-collar tag can be used as a tracking device to find a missing dog, but also offers location-based service social functionality among nearby dog owners, along with pet healthcare functions. The tag uses beacon technology to help users find their dogs. Each device has a unique ID configured for each dog and constantly sends out a Bluetooth signal as far as 250 feet for Android and iOS smartphones nearby to detect and locate the ID.

The “Find My Dog’ feature helps users locate their missing pooches with the collaborative efforts of Lucky Tag devices nearby. Lucky Tag owners can also exchange contact info with each other, enhancing the device’s social functionality. The device, meanwhile, tracks and logs each dog’s activity level and ambient temperature, and syncs the data with the user’s smartphone. Early bird backers can get a Lucky Tag by pledging as little as $29 and are expected to get the device in February. Beaconpliance is looking to raise $40,000.

Lucky Tag supposedly consumes less power than similar devices like Pawda and Tagg that use GPS technology. But GPS devices cover a much larger area. As Beaconpliance concedes on its Kickstarter campaign, the biggest challenge with beacon technology is that it relies on the collaborative support and power of a mass community. That means unless many consumers buy the device for their dogs, a key part of its functionality will not work well. That is a major downside of the device. But the relatively low pricing may be enough of an incentive for some consumers to buy one.

Categories
Connected Objects

Carbon Flyer rugged drone can dive-bomb into anything and live to tell the tale

Everyone enjoys some good old-fashioned drone action, until the drone in question is located in about three different spots on the ground. Although most people fly their drones in open areas, the danger of having it succumb to the environment is ever present due to unknown geography, user error, or just plain bad luck.

Renowned crowdfunding star Trident Design, LLC bills the Carbon Flyer as the “ultimate tech toy”, perhaps rightfully so. The paper plane look-alike is anything but: its 100% carbon fiber construction down to its carbon fiber infused bonds affords it a level of strength and resistance others drones dream of. Long range Bluetooth connects it to an iOS or Android smartphone at distances of up to 240 feet and allows users to control speed, altitude, and steer it, documenting it all with the onboard 640×480 camera.

A rugged plastic nose cone does double duty by both protecting and balancing the unit out, although it won’t have much time to with the Carbon Flyer’s embarrassingly useless three minute run time. The camera also doesn’t support streaming, but may be able to with future upgrades. Instead, the Game of Drones offers Go Pro possibilities along with indestructibility, but is nowhere near as sleek or affordable as the $99 Flyer. Expected ship date for the unit is August 2015 provided a fully-funded campaign of $50,00o before then.

Categories
Connected Objects Imaging Video

ZANO drone zigs and zags, zooms upward from the palm of your hand

The drones we all know and love are usually large, intimidating machines that seem to be more a part of a Terminator movie than anything else. That’s why the recent trend of their miniaturization is a welcome thing.

Torquing Group’s ZANO continues that trend with its 6.5cm x 6.5cm, fits-in-the-palm-of-the-hand construction. The nano drone offers everything a larger drone can, from HD picture and video capture to a follow me mode, to ensure any high-action events can be captured. Its image stabilization ensures the moments are captured without the presence of blurring or anything else unsightly.

Smartphone tethering allows for gesture control, a back-to-user feature, and a free fly mode when users want full reign over the drone’s operation. Black and white options go for £149 (~$232), while a limited camouflage or glow-in-the-dark option are all available to interested backers, and currently go for £215 (~$335). The £125,000 (~$194,625) campaign is looking to have more ZANOs in the air by June 2015.

As previously mentioned, the ZANO is a reflection of the miniaturization of drones. Other products like the Anura or the Pocketcopter offer similar functionality, but with it are also burdened by a drone’s chief problem: battery life. The ZANO itself only lasts for 10-15 minutes before needing a battery swap, an impractical amount of time for anything other than short bursts of use, rendering something like a follow me mode pretty useless. Its size may be impressive, but users won’t be able to marvel for too long.

Categories
Connected Objects

Duo Bluetooth speaker splits apart to produce true stereo output

This is truly the age of the Bluetooth speaker. They come in every shape, size, color, and price point, from the extremely small and portable to the huge formidable types intended to replace your actual stereo. One of their most glaring problems, though, especially in the larger ones, is their lack of true stereo sound. With the vast majority of Bluetooth speakers comprised of just a single speaker, the ability to create that room-filling sound is compromised for convenience.

The team behind the Duo Speakers gives you the best of both worlds. The product’s looks are deceiving: although it is packaged as a single Bluetooth speaker, its magnetic connection can be loosened to free both halves. This results in two Bluetooth speakers connected to a single device such as a smartphone that provide a more mature sound. Bluetooth 4.0 allows the speakers t0 be placed up to 32 feet apart and can work for up to seven hours on a single charge, making them mighty versatile. The campaign is looking for $17,500 to get the $75 speakers delivered by March 2015.

The Duo Speakers seem to be a well-crafted device, and pretty attractive to boot. Being that it boasts 3W Hi-Fi speakers, it should pump out some quality sound as well. It’s small form factor makes it multi-functional too, as opposed to other solutions that use existing speakers to spread sound around or a single speaker to omni-directionally fill the room and, as a result, are stuck in the home.

Categories
Cooking Sensors/IoT

Nexkos Bluetooth Smart Thermometer probes meat to prepare delectable meals, worry-free

For the lucky ones among us, cooking is second nature. For everyone else, cooking anything seems like an badly performed improv class. Without an experienced cook by one’s side, finding the guidance to whip up something edible can be an overwhelming challenge. When it comes to meats, that anxiety can be felt ten fold: working with herbs and spices is delicate business, and cooking it just right is tricky.

Nexkos wants to take the guesswork out of getting grilled goods just right with their Bluetooth Smart Thermometer. The spherical device sports an LED display with the temperature of whatever the four attached probes are inserted into. This information is also relayed to the iOS or Android companion app with which temperature alerts can be set, create custom templates for recipes, and save and share the information to replicate recipes in the future. The $55 AUD (~$45 USD) Nexkos Smart Thermometer is expected to ship May 2015 provided the campaign reaches its $20,000 AUD (~$16,300 USD) goal.

The Nexkos Smart Thermometer is exceedingly similar to the already released iGrill, but the former’s four probes are better than the latter’s single probe. The Nexkos version lacks the iGrill’s proximity sensor, but that isn’t a deal breaker as they’re similarly price in either case, great for those ill-equipped to cook and affordable, too.

Categories
Sensors/IoT Sleep

Smartphone-adjustable ThinkPillow measures sleep, wakes you up

Sleep is one of the most important ways to stay healthy. Sleeping resets mind, body, and soul, giving the chance for healing. However, most have trouble with their sleep patterns, either waking up in the middle of a REM cycle or sleeping for too short of a time.

ThinkPillow is a smart pillow that is fully adjustable in height and firmness. It is designed with special technology aimed at fixing any kind of spinal pain. Not only does it come with comfort, however, but it also tracks your sleep patterns. With this data, the accompanying smartphone app can choose when to wake you so that you’ll feel alert and refreshed instead of bedraggled and exhausted.

ThinkPillow’s smartphone app charts sleep patterns over time and, as such, can be useful to physicians if something goes wrong. In addition, it lets the user track what they’re doing three hours before bedtime and can make suggestions based on those habits. For instance, if the user isn’t getting enough sleep, but drinks coffee every night, the app will tell them to cut it out. ThinkPillow also spies on family members and lets users see the sleep patterns of mom, grandma, dad or whoever else uses the device.

Getting the right amount of sleep can be truly difficult. They say you should get out of bed when you initially wake up in the morning, but if that’s too early for some, they’d rather get another half an hour of sleep. It’s great that ThinkPillow can tell when the person is actually asleep, not just when they intend to be asleep, and uses that to wake them up in the morning. While well-intentioned, the family sharing feature may get a little annoying to some. Though it is good for elderly family members who are too far away to check up on. One ThinkPillow can be had for $102 NZD (~$79 USD) for estimated delivery in April 2015. This product hopes to raise $50,000 NZD (~$38,800 USD) on Kickstarter.

Categories
Home Sensors/IoT

Ramos uses a Bluetooth beacon to coax your butt from the bed

Getting up in the morning for some is a delight and for others means terror. Getting up on the wrong side of the bed means a day full of disappointment. Sometimes the way we get up can determine the course of the day.

Ramos is an alarm clock that not only gets you out of bed, but does so the right way. The alarm consists of three parts, first the clock by the side of the bed, a Bluetooth sensor, and your smartphone. Upon waking up, the user must get out of bed and bring their smartphone close to the sensor. Distances can be customized, but most choose to put the sensor in the bathroom or kitchen next to the coffeepot. For heavy sleepers, Ramos requires a four digit code to really make them think.

The accompanying smartphone app allows for multiple alarms, snooze limits, multiple users, and more. A courtesy mode makes one initial beep, but then shuts up to consider letting others sleep. The user can also play their own music with or without a gradual loudness mode to make waking up a little more smooth. With a USB port, you can charge your smartphone so it can stay attached to the alarm and the alarm runs on battery when unplugged, so it can never be tricked.

Ramos has really thought of everything in terms of waking up. The movable sensor makes it easy to prepare for different kinds of days. Its various modes consider the comfort of bedfellows and family members. Best of all, it doesn’t wake you up with a greased pig-like chase around the room like some unconventional alarms do. For backers who want to get up in the morning without feeling like committing murders, try Ramos for a donation of $99 in either white or black for estimated delivery in May 2015. Ramos is hoping to raise $100,000 on Kickstarter.