Categories
Imaging Wearables

TimeCap helps you capture once-in-a-lifetime moments

One problem with cameras — no matter how good they are — is that it often takes too long to take a photo or start shooting video with one. The result is that many people often miss unexpected, but highly memorable moments that they would have loved to capture and share with others.

TimeCap is a wearable camera that attaches to one’s shirt or other garment and continuously records video. The device then streams the video footage through the user’s smartphone and stores it in the cloud. It also takes 5-megapixel still images. TimeCap turns on and off by holding the power button for three seconds. Other features include Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi support, as well as 32 GB of internal NAND flash memory, good for 24,000 photos or 4 hours of HD video.

The device works in conjunction with an Android and iOS app that lets users control recording, as well as various other features including social media sharing.

Categories
Connected Objects Writing

Cronzy is a pen that lets you write with a rainbow

Several years ago, at least some of us thought it was a major achievement when manufacturers introduced pens that could write in more than just blue or black ink. They were a dream come true especially for kids, artists and teachers who no longer needed to carry around separate pens for writing and correcting mistakes on their students’ tests, term papers and homework.

Cronzy is a pen that goes many steps further than most multi-color pens because it can write in pretty much any color that any user would want and can even match scanned colors also. The pen is capable of writing in more than 16 million colors, its makers say. Its main mechanism is based on solenoid valves like those used in various other devices and the pen features a special algorithm for mixing colors.

Categories
Automotive Connected Objects

YAB Bluetooth dongle helps find your car in a crowded parking lot

Two of the most frustrating parts of parking a car are not getting back to it before a parking meter has expired and not being able to remember where the vehicle was parked. The latter is especially the case when it’s a huge, crowded parking lot.

YAB is a small USB dongle that reminds users when their parking meters are going to expire and keeps track of where they’ve parked their cars. It automatically saves the car’s location on the user’s Android smartphone or iPhone when the engine shuts off. YAB communicates using Bluetooth Low Energy. YAB ships in December. Future pricing isn’t provided. But Indiegogo backers can order one for a $29 pledge. Its makers reached their targeted funding of $11,916 July 30.

This is a device that may appeal to any consumer who has ever received a parking ticket because they didn’t get back to their car before the meter expired, or who has been unable to find their car in a crowded lot late at night after seeing a movie or concert.

Categories
Automotive Connected Objects

FenSens sensor protects your fender

Many accidents occur when parking a vehicle, often because it is hard to see exactly how much space one has when backing up into a spot. Parking sensors significantly cut down on such accidents, but the vast majority of cars don’t have them and they can be too costly for many consumers to afford.

patent-claimedFenSens is an affordable wireless, connected and sensor-based parking assistance system that works in conjunction with an app for Android and iOS mobile devices. The patent-pending device gets attached to a vehicle’s front or rear license plate frame and is easy to install in less than five minutes. FenSens enables uses to see (through a visual display), hear (through beeps), and feel (via vibration) any near-by objects in a driver’s blind spots from the convenience of a mobile phone screen. An alarm buzzer sounds if FenSens is tampered with and the device will allow users to register it with specific phones, making it useless for unverified mobile devices.

Categories
Automotive Connected Objects

Frizon HUD guides your car with a transparent screen, responds to gestures and speech

Heads-up displays (HUDs) tend to be better than traditional GPS devices because HUDs allow users to keep their eyes straight on the road in front of them while getting navigation and other useful information. A HUD display pops up directly in front of the driver, over the windshield, but doesn’t block the driver’s ability to see the road.

Frizon is a HUD with a transparent, Active Matrix OLED (AMOLED) screen. It auto starts with the car engine and responds to hand gestures and through speech recognition to control the radio, answer the phone and perform other car functions. Users can see all the car’s gauges on the screen without having to look away to the dashboard.

Categories
Connected Objects Pets

PlayDate lets you play with your pets even when you’re apart

Cats and dogs love to play, but pet owners can’t always be home to do that with them because of other commitments, including work and travel.

PlayDate is a remote-controlled ball toy that engages dogs and cats, and records HD video of them playing with it. The pet owner controls the interactive camera remotely from anywhere, via an app on Android and iOS mobile devices. Pet owners can hear their pets through a microphone in the ball and also speak to the pets through a speaker in the ball.

Categories
Health and Wellness Robots/Drones

Pillo lets you rest easy about taking your pills

Forgetting to take one’s pills can lead to major health problems, especially when those medications are for life-threatening health issues including heart disease.

patent-claimedPillo is a connected pill-dispensing robot that recognizes individuals in the family and helps people of all ages to better manage their health. In addition to dispensing medication, it can answer users’ health and wellness questions and connect a person directly with healthcare professionals. Because Pillo has been designed to be intelligent, its functionalities grow as it learns about the user and his or her family.

Categories
Connected Objects Health and Wellness

IBaby Air helps little ones avoid cute little coughs

Air pollution inside and outside the home is a common problem that many people confront each day –- often coming from places it’s least expected, including common household items. Small children are especially vulnerable to volatile organic compounds because they can’t process the chemicals as effectively as adults.

IBaby Air is a smart Wi-Fi air monitor and ionic purifier that allows its users to monitor their homes’ air quality. The purifier turns on automatically when air quality is low. It detects several common pollutants that are found all over the U.S., many of which are invisible and/or odorless, including carbon monoxide, methane and ammonia. It works in conjunction with a companion app for Android and iOS mobile devices. iBaby Air sends alerts and daily room reports to the user’s mobile device.

Categories
Connected Objects Health and Wellness

OneCare Dori helps the elderly remember to take their pills

Dory is the famous fish who suffers from memory loss in two funny Disney Pixar movies. But, in real life, there’s nothing funny about memory loss –- especially when it comes to the elderly forgetting to take their medications to keep them healthy.

OneCare Dori is a device that works in conjunction with an Android and iOS app to remind elderly people when it’s time to take their pills and do other important things. It also provides real-time alerts to their families and other caregivers. The basic service allows caregivers to use the app to schedule reminders in an interactive voice call format that the elderly person can either receive via a landline or mobile phone call. Caregivers can also monitor in real time the status of each reminder, as well as the answers given by the elderly person to each reminder.

 

Categories
Sensors/IoT Smart Home

Knocki lets you turn surfaces into a remote for anything

editors-choiceIt’s 3 a.m. and it would be nice to turn the TV and lights off without getting out of bed.

patent-claimedKnocki is a short, cylindrical device that attaches to any surface and transforms that surface into a touch interface that can control other devices. Users set Knocki to perform specific actions through a set number of taps. It uses non-acoustic sensor technology to detect gentle surface gestures that are even a short distance away, but Knocki also has the ability to filter out random vibrations. The device works anywhere there is Wi-Fi, and there is a companion Android and iOS app for it.