Tag: smartphone app

Categories
Connected Objects Imaging

CamBuddy Pro controls your camera from smartphones, tablets

Smart controllers that allow photographers to operate their cameras via smartphone have become much in-demand, especially for interchangeable lens cameras (ILCs). That’s largely because they allow people to control the main features of those typically bulky cameras right from the palm of the user’s hand.

CamBuddy Pro is a Wi-Fi-enabled smart controller for ILCs that offers live-view, time-lapse and four built-in triggering sensors. It works in conjunction with a free Joopic app for Android and iOS smartphones and tablets, and works up to 100 feet away from the camera. CamBuddy Pro starts shipping in December. Future pricing is $149. But Kickstarter backers have been able to order one for a pledge starting at $89 for early birds. Its makers are out to raise $30,000 by Nov. 13.

Continue reading “CamBuddy Pro controls your camera from smartphones, tablets”
Categories
Connected Objects Imaging

Miops Mobile offers new ways to operate your camera from your phone

editors-choice-300x96Accessories that allow a photographer to access all the controls of their interchangeable lens camera from the palm of their hand have become increasingly popular.

Miops Mobile is a wireless camera remote that uses a smartphone’s capabilities to offer creative trigger modes including vibration, sound, motion, distance, and time-lapse. It connects to the shutter release port of the camera and communicates with a smartphone over Bluetooth. The app works with unspecified mobile operating systems.

Continue reading “Miops Mobile offers new ways to operate your camera from your phone”
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
Automotive Connected Objects

SafFone was designed to keep drivers safe while making phone calls

Distracted driving remains one of the largest causes of car accidents in the U.S. The makers of SafFone are out to provide a solution to that problem.

SafFone (pronounced Safe Phone) is a small black device that easily clips onto a vehicle’s driver-side sun visor and allows the user to select any preset phone number at the touch of a button. The device uses Bluetooth low energy technology for RF communication using 2.4 GHz radio frequencies.

Continue reading “SafFone was designed to keep drivers safe while making phone calls”
Categories
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.

Categories
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.

Categories
Sensors/IoT

Air Mentor shows the lighted sides of contaminated environs

The carbon monoxide detector is a must-have device. But there are many potential toxins in the air other than carbon monoxide that can be dangerous to people also — especially the very young and elderly and those with compromised immune systems and respiratory ailments.

Air Mentor is a Bluetooth Smart device with built-in industrial grade sensors that measure home air quality and can detect pollutants including carbon dioxide, particulate matters and volatile organic compounds such as carbon monoxide, aromatic hydrocarbons and organic acids. The triangular device can be placed on any flat surface in the home or office, and is used in conjunction with an Android or iOS app. Cloud computing software automatically analyzes indoor air patterns.

One of five colors lights up on the device to signal the air’s quality: green for good air quality, yellow for moderate, orange meaning the air is unhealthy for sensitive people such as those with asthma, red meaning the air is unhealthy for everybody, and purple signaling very unhealthy air. The device costs $249 and ships in May. Its maker is hoping to raise $15,500 by May 8.

Air Mentor holds promise, especially for consumers with compromised immune systems and those with chronic respiratory conditions including asthma. But consumers looking for a more portable device that performs some of the same functions might opt for something like the Scarab wearable air pollutant detector.

 

Categories
Food and Beverage Technology

SalivaScanner scans salads, sandwiches, soup for spit

If an order placed at a restaurant isn’t to one’s liking, there’s always the recourse of complaining or sending it back. Letting the food out of sight, however, leaves it open for all kinds of potential revenge if one has been something less than a gracious guest.

Tpatent-claimedhe SalivaScanner from San Diego-based Klein Electronics is a handheld device that scans food and can detect certain enzymes that are only found in human saliva. The company’s CEO notes that detecting saliva in one’s food has become more important than ever because Ebola can be transmitted through the exchange of bodily fluids. The scanner’s LCD will indicate if there is saliva in food and, if so, how much. An accompanying Android and iOS app will display more details and track data including the location of the incident and potentially report it to social media sites. No pricing for the device is listed at the Kickstarter campaign and none of the three rewards for pledges that are listed include the device itself. But Klein says the target price is $199. He is looking to raise $85,000 in order to finish developing the product.

The device might have some appeal as a novelty. But using the Ebola outbreak to help sell the device borders on fear mongering. And consumers who are so paranoid that they need to scan their food for saliva would likely be better off not eating out at all, or at least consider complaining to restaurant staff in a more civil way.

Categories
Sensors/IoT Wearables

Scarab air pollutant detector warns you about invisible threats

Air pollution continues to be a major problem, especially in urban areas of the United States. Therefore, it would be nice to be informed if there are invisible toxins in the air. The Scarab from Dallas startup Amulet Corp is a multi-sensor, wearable sensor device that does exactly that.

The small, oval device can detect more than 16 invisible threats in the air, including ozone, magnetic fields and nitrogen dioxide. It comes in a choice of white or black, and can be easily clipped to everyday items such as backpacks, baby strollers, belts and purses.

Scarab’s 16 on-board sensors continuously monitor the environment and communicate local conditions and hidden dangers to the user’s smartphone via Bluetooth LE. An accompanying app can be downloaded for Android and iOS devices. Backers who pledge $129 will get a “benchmark” version of Scarab in matte black or glossy white when it ships in August. Backers who pledge $175 will get a “premium” SKU of the device styled as a Scarab amulet etched with an Egyptian-style Scarab beetle logo. Its maker is hoping to raise $100,000 on Kickstarter.

The device holds promise. But its application stands to appeal to a much narrower consumer base than wearables that track fitness. Yet Scarab still faces potential competition from wearable environmental trackers like the TZOA. If consumers don’t already have a carbon monoxide detector in their homes, the device could become a life saver. Also potentially useful are its noise level detection circuit (especially if the user lives in an urban area) and UV index sensor (especially if the user is planning to spend a few hours at the beach).

Categories
Imaging

Axsy T-Set leaves photographers all set for camera motion control

Camera motion control accessories are often costly and clunky, relying on knobs and buttons to work. The Axsy T-Set from London-based Axsy is an affordable alternative that combines three devices in one and works in conjunction with a mobile app that lets users control their cameras via touch input on their smartphones.

The product will work with nearly any digital camera on the market. Axsy enables the user to control video, time lapse and stop motion effects. The Triaxis-set is made up of the Centric, Slide and three Spin smart motors. The Centric device, along with the Android and iOS app, serves as the brains of the product and uses a radio mesh network. It gets connected to a camera via USB or a standard shutter release cable. The T-Set’s Spin smart motor accessory and Slide work hand-in-hand to enable sliding, panning and tilting motions. The standard length of the Slide’s rails are 1 meter, but it’s extendable to any length with Axsy’s 50-cm extension rails.

Backers who pledge $230 will get one when it ships in July. Axsy is hoping to raise £35,000 (~$53,000) on Kickstarter.

The product seems promising and should prove appealing to many photographers. It compares favorably to more traditional camera accessories such as the Axis360 from Cinetics and costs much less.