Categories
Connected Objects

Weighitz smart scales let you weigh it — whatever it is

The only scale that a lot of consumers own is the one they keep in their bathroom to weigh themselves. However, the clunky design of such scales pretty much makes them useless for weighing anything else –- like food, a pet, mail or a piece of luggage to avoid paying a fee at the airport.

Weighitz are small, modular smart scales designed to accurately weigh pretty much anything in the home, or even certain things outside the home like letters and luggage. It’s water resistant, and its low power consumption and high capacity batteries combine so users rarely have to recharge. When required, the scale can be plugged into the included micro USB charging cable and attached to a computer or wall socket. An indicator will light up when it’s charged.

Weighitz ships in December at future pricing of $25 each or $70 for three. But Indiegogo backers have been able to get Weighitz for pledges starting at $18 for one and $50 for $50. Its makers seek about $32,000 by August 22nd.

This is a handy product, but obviously there are many similar products, including GeniScale, that have come first. The modular design and smart functionality of Weighitz, however, gives it an edge over at least some rival devices. When combined, a set of Weighitz can weigh heavier or more oddly shaped objects. The scale outputs info to the companion smartphone app for unspecified operating systems. When using more than one Weighitz, the app will combine the readings from all the scales into one reading.

 

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.