Tag: connected

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Connected Objects Health and Wellness

Wing helps those with asthma soar by catching early warning signs

Asthma inhalers are necessary items for those who suffer from that lung disease. But those medications can’t help users detect the early warning signs of an asthma attack.

Wing is a pocket-sized sensor that enables those who suffer from asthma and other lung ailments to monitor and manage their conditions, and also lets them know when an attack is coming, according to its Indiegogo campaign. The device can also be used by those suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary fibrosis and other respiratory conditions, its maker says. Wing is made up of a small white device that the user breathes into.

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Connected Objects Music

Back to the Backers: Mikme wireless recording microphone

After failing to reach its Kickstarter goal of raising $217,000 for the Mikme wireless recording microphone early this year, Mikme Audio is giving Indiegogo a try with a new campaign for the device. The company has, however, opted for a much more modest goal of raising $25,000 by July 26 this time.

patent-claimedMikme allows users to record quality audio with just the single touch of a button. The company has done some work above and beyond its Bluetooth connection to stream audio reliably to its iOS and Android companion app. Users can use the app to simply save, mix, edit and share their recordings and can mix up to eight tracks. The device comes with 8 GB of onboard memory, enabling up to 180 hours of recording. Other features include a gold-plated condenser capsule. Mikme will ship in November and cost $299 at retail.

With its single button devoted to recording, the device remains a good option for consumers looking for a simple, high-quaity microphone that offloads all the user interface to an app for easy editing and sharing.

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Automotive Connected Objects

Vinli brings apps, cellular connections to your ride

There have been several onboard diagnostics (OBD) devices for cars introduced already. Some have focused on a single main function. In the case of GoFar, for example, it was fuel efficiency.

Vinli seems a bit more ambitious, coming with a wide range of apps. It’s an OBD-II device that’s been designed to quickly transform any older vehicle into a smart car. The device adds Wi-Fi to a vehicle using T-Mobile’s 4G LTE network, allowing the car to always be connected. Like other OBD-II devices, its maker is stressing how easy it is to set up, saying it takes only seconds to connect it to a car’s data port located under the dashboard. Drivers can then use the connection to stream media and send data.

 

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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.

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Connected Objects Pets

Where’s Nellie? This GPS locator mixes radios to pinpoint your pooch

It’s a common nightmare for dog owners: their beloved pet has run out of the house and they can’t find the pooch anywhere.

Where’s Nellie is a GPS tracking device designed to ease a dog owner’s mind if their pet runs off and can’t be found. The Nellie Beacon attaches securely to a dog’s collar and works in conjunction with an iOS and Android app. The beacon communicates up to six miles away with the included Nellie Base unit. If a dog is missing, the owner just has to press the locate button on the app and, in a few minutes, Where’s Nellie will pinpoint the location of the dog on the smartphone. It costs $179 and will ship in January. Its maker is hoping to raise $100,000 by May 16.

The device has promise despite coming along after several similar products, including Lucky Tag and WUF. However, Nellie seems to be superior to several rivals in a few ways. First, it makes use of several radio technologies. If the base unit is near the beacon, it uses Bluetooth LE technology. But if the dog is out of range, Semtech’s LoRa long-range wireless solution is used instead. If the pet owner wants to pinpoint exactly where the dog is, GPS is used.

Second, there are no monthly fees involved. Third, its batteries will last more than 365 days because the Beacon’s patent-pending technology uses low-power components and software, according to its Kickstarter campaign. That’s far more battery life than most rival products.

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Connected Objects Sleep

Chrona slips in your pillow to size up your sleep

A good night of sleep is one of the most important things to maintain a healthy life. But all too often people have issues when trying to sleep, sometimes without even knowing it.

Chrona is a thin foam insert that transforms any pillow into a smart pillow. Combined with an app for iOS, Android and Windows Phone mobile devices, Chrona serves as a sleep optimization system that tracks and optimizes sleep using sound. The Bluetooth Low Enery device not only tracks users’ sleep by movement, but it also improves their sleep through the use of acoustics. Depending on where users are in their sleep cycles, Chrona uses low-frequency sounds to help them sleep more deeply or high-frequency sounds to prepare them to wake up. Chrona costs $169 and ships in December. Its maker has set a Kickstarter goal of raising $50,000 by May 18.

One of the product’s advantages is that it doesn’t require an uncomfortable wearable. But it faces competition from a growing number of products that promise pretty much the same thing, including Proper Pillow Plus and SliiP.

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Connected Objects Kids/Babies Video Games

Playbrush uses interactive gaming to get kids to brush their teeth

Many parents with small kids know how hard it can be to convince some children to brush their teeth regularly, and to do it well.

Playbrush is a device that attaches to the end of any conventional toothbrush, transforming the brush into an interactive game controller that can be used in conjunction with iOS (and later Android) mobile devices. When the user starts the app on their smartphone or tablet, the gadget will automatically connect to it via Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth Smart) technology. Playbrush costs $72 and will ship in December. Its maker is hoping to raise $51,887 by May 9.

Playbursh is a device with potential, especially for parents of young kids who either try and avoid brushing altogether or race through the process in just a few seconds. Turning brushing into a fun activity might very well be the trick to get at least some of them to change their ways. That said, it’s impossible to tell from the Kickstarter campaign video just how strong the initial game itself is. If it’s just one weak repetitive game, those kids may very well get bored after a week or two and parents will be left with the same problem they started with. To address this potential problem, the device’s maker plans to add multiple worlds, levels and characters.

 

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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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Connected Objects Fitness

Smart Rope skips the gym, provides fitness and feedback in one sleek jumprope

Many people who work out require fancy gadgets, large equipment, or complicated machines to get the job done. They forget that fitness doesn’t have to be so complex and that a good workout can be had with one or two simple tools.

The Smart Rope takes one such humble tool, the jumprope, and ushers it into the 21st century. Smart Rope works with an accompanying smartphone app that tracks the number of jumps, calories burned, and the duration of each workout. It also lets users input their height, weight, and BMI so that the app can come up with the best training regimen for each individual user. Best of all, the rope itself comes equipped with LED lights that, when the rope is in use, displays to the user either the number of jumps made or calories burned.

While Smart Rope’s app isn’t the most sophisticated workout app on the market, it’s a great start for a product that plans to add many more features as funding comes in. Smart Rope doesn’t have the same portability as the very similar Sophia, but it does boast a much sleeker look. For their own, backers can donate $60 for delivery in September 2015. Smart Rope is hoping to raise $60,000 in funding on Kickstarter by April 6.

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Apparel Connected Objects Sports

Turning Shoe helps athletes avoid injury and perfect their form

When playing baseball, golf or other similar sports, stress is often placed on the body when swinging a bat or club, throwing a baseball, or making other unnatural motions that the body is unaccustomed to.

patent-claimedThe Turning Shoe is a smart shoe designed to reduce this type of stress and impact to the body by promoting a more natural swinging motion for baseball and golf players. The Turning Shoe eDrive Plus adds a sensor that sends information about users’ movements to their smartphones via a mobile smartphone app. Its maker plans to ship the shoes in six color designs. Turning Shoes for baseball and golf will cost $299 each, while Turning Shoe eDrive Plus for the same two sports will cost $395 each. All will ship in October provided that a campaign goal of $50,000 is met by April 16.