Tag: fly

Categories
Sports

Wingboard lets you capture air in a wild new way

Thrill seekers can’t get enough of skydiving, bungee jumping and wingsuit flying. Now, they can up the ante with the WingBoard. This product combines wake boarding with sky diving. The user stands atop the WingBoard which is attached to a plane. YES, a plane. Okay, one of those little planes, but still. It has wheels on the bottom for take off and, in the sky, the rider holds onto a rope much like when water skiing. One will cost extreme backers basically $600 for only the kit and manual to create a 1/16 scale version of the product. WingBoard hopes to raise $32,000 on Kickstarter to continue developing their product.

Thus far, the creators of WingBoard are still in the very early stages of development. They’re slowly scaling their product up to ensure safety. Speaking of which, it’s unclear what happens to the rider if they let go of the rope or lose their balance. Those water skiing can just float around in the water, but do WingBoarders just fall to the ground? Or do they perhaps wear a parachute? Either way this sport seems like it could require exceptional safety controls with wind and cold altitudes making it downright unpleasant. It will be interesting to see if this product ever fully develops with the approval of all the necessary acronymed organizations.

Categories
Home

Bee-Kind boots bugs out, without using the boot

The Premise. Bugs in the house can be a real nuisance. It’s never fun to have to kill a bug and it looks a little crazy to be running around the house with a shoe in hand ready to strike. Without actually killing them, it’s hard to get bugs out of the house unharmed.

The Product. Bee-Kind is a wand of sorts that uses suction and air to treat bugs humanely. It has a long clear tube and sucks bugs in. When they’re trapped, simply walk outside and use the button to release them again. The wand looks like a big yellow gun with a long tube on the end.

The Pitch. Bee-Kind’s creator discusses his product in slow words during the campaign video. He demonstrates Bee-Kind’s effectiveness with several different types of bugs. The rest of the campaign uses drawings to show how the wand works. It also discusses the advantages of letting bugs live, rather than just squashing them. Bee-Kind, a product from the Netherlands, hopes to raise €165,000 on Kickstarter.

The Perks. Bee-Kind only offers three reward tiers. The first at €5 gets the backer a thanks. The other two offer the Bee-Kind itself for backers inside and outside of the Netherlands for €38. 

The Potential. It’s always a great idea to find ways to be nicer to animals. Bees and bugs generally get a bad rap because they can sting us and it’s harder to remove them from rooms and houses without getting stung. Bee-Kind is a great solution for those looking to remove bugs from their homes without having to kill them and without getting stung. It may be scary to release an angry bee so close to yourself, but at least it’s a way to get the bee back to where it came from. All in all, Bee-Kind uses innovation to kick bugs out of the house without killing them.

Categories
Connected Objects Imaging Video

Test tube-like Pocketcopter captures aerial video, hearts

The Premise. Aerial video footage can be expensive and inconvenient to capture. Sometimes, however, to get the perfect shot, you’ll have to travel up to videotape the world below. This requires either a helicopter or ridiculously priced cameras that have the ability to fly.

The Product. A simplified drone, Pocketcopter is a small, portable camera that flies. Using two blades that rotate in opposite directions, this product can capture video from high heights. The way it flies allows the blades to be quiet so their noise doesn’t detract from the footage. With connection to your smartphone, you can operate the app with iOS or Android. A touch screen allows you to control the Pocketcopter along with the video it’s capturing. If the product should become disconnected with the phone, it simply floats down to the ground slowly.

The Pitch. Upon a second viewing of the video, it’s clear that the footage of landscape shown in the beginning few seconds are shot with the Pocketcopter. There’s no clear demonstration of the use of the product and the video is only 25 seconds long. The rest of the campaign explains the product more thoroughly and goes into its various features.This Spanish product hopes to raise €15,000 in a month-long campaign on Indiegogo.

The Perks. For €59, backers will receive the Pocketcopter at an early price or at a regular price of €99. Tiers go up to €260 with estimated delivery in May 2015.

The Potential. The market has several flying camera options to offer. The Phantom 2 Vision is a much bulkier camera and looks like something out of Star Wars. Similarly, the Parrot features four blades and comes with different camouflage options, causing one to wonder why you’d want the camera to be invisible. Pocketcopter is by far the smallest and most portable of these options, not to mention the cheapest. It’s minimal design and affordability make flying footage accessible to amateur cameramen. Pocketcopter is perfect for students or hobby filmmakers alike.