Tag: notifications

Categories
Wearables

Stone Tether will help you find your stuff, even at your neighbor’s house

Technology has reached a point where networked items can find each other when lost. Locator tags are the bridge between older analog items and the digital age of today.

StoneTether is the next entry into the crowdfunded locator tag market. With a minimal, stylish design, waterproofing up to 30 feet, and the ability to be attached or clipped to any kind of item, StoneTether is meant to keep prized possessions from going missing, including kids or pets. When the registered phone goes out of range of a StoneTether tag, it pushes a notification to the phone and reports the location up to 500 feet. Additionally, if anyone else has a StoneTether tag and app combination and passes by a lost item beyond that radius, the item will daisy chain itself to the other tag and push a notification reporting the location, meaning more tags make items easier to find. StoneTether is raising $15,000 as they complete the software and start production. A StoneTether tag is just $20 and will be available in April 2015.

While this is not the first device like this, StoneTether offers a sense of simple style and strong functionality to create a worthy competitor in the field of locators.

Categories
Smartwatches/Bands

STAR blends fitness, safety tracking

At this point, a wearable activity tracker is hardly the way to make a splash in the tech marketplace. It takes more than just calorie counting to make wearable tech worth purchasing.

The STAR by SenseGiz handles activity tracking just fine, but serves a more utilitarian purpose by enhancing the functionality of a phone as well. Offering gesture control, call notifications, sleep monitoring, workout reminders, and more, wearing a STAR either by strap or clip keeps information easier to access than by fishing a phone out of a pocket. Additionally, STAR offers a number of safety features including crash monitoring, panic buttons, and emergency notifications to local response services or friends and family. SenseGiz needs $30,000 to release the STAR, while buyers can clip one on for as little as $89, shipping out at the end of this year.

STAR is essentially trying to take the best features of several wearable devices and combine them into one easy to use package. The screen is well designed, but doesn’t have the technical punch of a smartwatch or high-end dedicated activity tracker. For those looking for just one device to handle as much as possible, STAR is worth a look.

Categories
Kids/Babies Wearables

Pomb is a wireless panic button for kids

Whether parents want to admit it or not, the world is a different place now. While older generations could play and go on adventures on their own, now a child’s safety is at risk of injury or predators.

The P.O.M.B. (Peace of Mind Bracelet) is a comfortable rubber bracelet that can be worn by a child as a safety measure or panic button. With just a tap, a notification will go to the registered parent’s phone and alert them that their child is having a problem. The fingerprint scanning technology will lock and unlock the device as well as disable the alerts for programmed friendly users. With $10,000, inventor Tasha Ann Dunlap can have her team of engineers finish production on the P.O.M.B. for parents and kids everywhere. At this time, no reward tiers include the finished product.

It may seem like a big responsibility for a child, but kids will quickly feel safer knowing that they can call their parents whenever there’s an emergency. It would be great if backers could get their hands on the first batch, but on a conceptual level it’s hard to argue with the P.O.M.B.’s mission statement.

Categories
Home Video

ISense offers a live look into your home on demand

The Premise. Nobody can be home all the time to protect their belongings and house from potential burglars or other threats, but the new wave of smart home monitors can record video and keep an eye out for intruders, alerting owners of any break-ins through their smartphones.

The Product. ISense is one such system that offers this level of home protection in a way that offers peace of mind so long as a smartphone is kept handy. The cable-free system equipped with high definition camera can be set up anywhere and can offer a live feed at any time through the app or start recording video and send a notification any time that motion is detected. Each unit has over a year’s worth of battery life and communicate over Wi-Fi, 3G, or 4G. Each system also includes a Sync Module that allows the cameras to communicate with connected phones, as well as including onboard storage for recorded video in addition to cloud storage.

The Pitch. kaan tas put together a simple pitch for ISense highlighting the ease of setting up or customizing an ISense system and the level of monitoring the devices can provide on-demand from any location. For ISense to become a viable product, kaan tas wants to raise $40,000 AUD to fund production and fulfillment.

The Perks. Getting an ISense takes a pledge of $59 AUD, which includes the system with Sync Module and 16GB of video storage. The onboard storage can be doubled at the $66 AUD level, but both include cloud storage as well. Those that want to be among the first to use the product can get into the Beta program for $139 AUD, and getting multiple rooms set up with ISense is possible with plenty of tiers offering multiple cameras. All perks are shipping out in February 2015.

The Potential. The wireless setup, long battery life, and notification of any detected motion make ISense a great choice for any consumer looking to add a simple, effective home monitoring system. What ISense offers in simplicity, it lacks in subtlety. The bright LED on the front that is used when the camera is on makes it so that if set up in a place that can be stepped around or crawled under, the system could be moved by any intruders, still detecting motion as it’s set down, but not offering any identifying information. Take that big light off of the front, and there could be something that belongs in any home here. At the same time, the feature set is pretty much identical to existing options like Blink, albeit with a larger focus on video quality. The combination of the glaring light and the lack of distinction might make ISense a forgettable chapter in home security video.

Categories
Cell Phone Accessories Connected Objects

Qblinks is a glowing button to control your phone

qblinksEven though most people are often mere inches or even millimeters away from their phones at all times, it would be nice to be able to control said phones without having to fish them out all the time. Qblinks is a little remote that can alert owners to notifications or be used to find phones, play files, or control the camera. The simple one-button interface is friendly and easy to learn, making it a snap to get used to quickly. Ultimately, the problem with devices like Qblinks is this: If the phone is close enough to use, why bother adding an extra device just to control it? For those less skeptical, Qblinks is available for $29 to ship out in October.

Categories
Cell Phone Accessories Connected Objects

Relive the days of pagers with Smart Keychain

smartkeychainThe great thing about all-in-one devices is the way that they reduce both clutter and the bulky, pants-sagging weight caused by having a gadget for each function. Smart Keychain is one such device that combines a key-finder, a flash drive, and an email reader into a keyring display with a USB port. At the same time, the low-tech look and feel of the product and the bulky addition it makes to any keyring detracts from features mostly offered by the phone that isn’t being ousted from the pocket. There are some really good tools here, but this feels like an unnecessary reinvention of the beeper. Smart Keychain is available for $59.

 

Categories
Smart Home

JIBO robot puts pets to shame by taking pictures, ordering food, and more

The Premise. The dream of a household robot is so alluring because it falls somewhere between faithful pet dog and trusty, capable butler. Now that homes are more readily equipped with Wi-fi and several connected smart home devices, the perfect environment exists in which to bring in a truly sophisticated but accessible home robot.

The Product. JIBO, a robot that looks like a cross between a desktop fan and EVE from the Pixar movie Wall-E, seems to be the first step in blending functionality with companionship. Sitting cheerfully wherever he is placed, JIBO will learn faces and voices as he interacts with people around the house. As he continues to learn and develop, JIBO will be able to interact with household devices and services like lighting, voicemail, and email. JIBO also functions as a digital camera capable of taking photos and video and even as a telepresence robot during video calls. JIBO developers can create for him like any other platform, offering a variety of apps and features in the future.

The Pitch. JIBO’s pitch video shows the friendly robot blending in and being a part of the family, helping set up steamy dates over Chinese takeout and playing with kids inside blanket forts. Movie buffs might be a little unsettled by the simulated “first-person” JIBO scenes, which seem oddly similar to scenes from Terminator, but the device seems functional and friendly enough for now. The development team behind JIBO needs to raise $100,000 to finish the internal design and testing of JIBO.

The Perks. A JIBO Robot along with the developer’s JIBOAlive Toolkit will cost backers $499, although the device won’t ship until February 2016. If that sounds like too long to wait, some charity will get one sent a little sooner. Those who pledge $799 will get a JIBO in December 2015 along with donating an identical unit to the Boston Children’s Hospital. Likewise, a $899 donation will offer the same perk albeit with the Developer Edition.

The Potential. JIBO seems like a great digital assistant and communication device at its base, with the promise of more to come. JIBO’s disposition seems to be bright and cheerful enough to dissuade any fears of the robot uprising, and the lack of mobility emphasizes this although limits something that would make JIBO a huge leap forward for personal robotics. Those looking for a friendly face in the home that doesn’t need to be walked or cleaned up after will be excited to rush out and make friends with a JIBO as soon as possible.

Categories
Cell Phone Accessories Connected Objects

Noteu puts smartphone notifications on your desk to avoid pocket-pulling peeks

NoteuOne of the main reasons people are so obsessed with checking their phones is because of the litany of notifications that one can receive through the course of a day. Noteu is a small desktop screen that can connect to devices on the same network and display email, weather, and other notifications on a simple LED display that can be dismissed with a tap of the device. Devices like LEDmeKnow are certainly more aesthetically pleasing than this simple box, but Noteu does offer readable text. Either way, most people would probably be content to keep glancing at their phones and responding just as fast. Noteu can be picked up for £25 and will be out in October.

Categories
Connected Objects

Hicon keeps notifications for every network as close as your wrist

hiconNobody should be surprised that the average person checks their smartphone over 100 times per day. Many people know all too well the “phantom vibration” of a notification that isn’t really there. Hicon is a smart, modular bracelet that can be outfitted with icons representing top apps and social networks, that will light up and alert users when notifications come in. Additionally, Hicon can also share contacts with others with a handshake, or find people close by with similar interests. This kind of social bracelet has been tried before, but Hicon hopes to be the one that people enjoy using. Hicon can be purchased for $49 and should be out in November.

Categories
Connected Objects

LaMetric is the personalized ticker worth sharing and showing off

lametricSmartphones and smartwatches keep everyone in the know on important things like emails, stock prices, and breaking news. Still, the data is often private and requires interrupting what’s going on to take a look at notifications. LaMetric is a portable or desktop ticker that can be programmed using its app to show various kinds of data and can filter out the things that are less important. The device uses bright pixels to display text, logos, charts, and more. The device appears to be extremely flexible, giving users the ability to get all the information they want without having to dig out their phones. LaMetric is available for $119 and will be available in January 2015.