While running around from place to place each day, it’s common to forget to shut the lights or other electronic devices off at home. It would also be nice to shut those same devices off while one is just too tired to get out of bed.
Switch Bot is a small robotic device that attaches to other devices throughout the home or office and can wirelessly control all their switches and buttons. Control can be done while at the location or remotely using a smartphone or smartwatch.
It would be really convenient if one’s universal remote control could not only control the TV, but also every other electric appliance in the room.
ZaZaRemote is a hybrid touchscreen/button remote control that uses infrared (IR), 2.4G-radio frequency (RF), Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. It can remotely control all IR electric appliances, including TVs, set-top boxes, projectors, DVD players, audio devices and air conditioners. The programmable remote also serves as a home security assistant, reporting its sensor’s data to the user’s mobile phone.
Trying to find a Wi-Fi hotspot while away from home or the office can be hard enough. Trying to find a hotspot while traveling internationally can be an even bigger pain in the neck.
GeeFi is a hotspot that promises unlimited 4G Wi-Fi service from just about anywhere. The patented, pocket-sized device houses an advanced chipset that delivers fast, reliable 4G/LTE Wi-Fi with unlimited data. Users can wirelessly connect up to 10 devices to GeeFi, which touts speeds of 150 megabits per second for downloading and 50 megabits per second for uploading. GeeFi doubles as a charger for any USB chargeable device.
It ships in December. Future pricing isn’t provided. But Kickstarter backers have been able to order one for a pledge starting at $100 for super early birds. Its makers hope to raise $20,000 by Oct. 24.
Many people rely on Wi-Fi for their everyday work and leisure needs. But the significant increase in Wi-Fi usage in recent years has created a traffic and congestion issue so bad that Wi-Fi service often slows to a crawl, making it unreliable.
Portal is a router that taps into unused spectrum to create faster, more resilient Wi-Fi that’s much faster than typical Wi-Fi service today. It also provides greater coverage throughout a user’s home. Portal’s proprietary spectrum turbocharger technology provides access to 300 percent more of the radio airwaves than other routers, improving performance by as much as 300 times, and range and coverage by as much as two times in crowded settings including city homes and multi-unit apartments.
It’s 3 a.m. and it would be nice to turn the TV and lights off without getting out of bed.
Knocki 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.
Even the smallest of consumer video cameras can’t fit into small spaces like under a sink to find a leak or into a mouth to spot a cavity. ScopeAround, however, is a smart Wi-Fi video camera designed to fit in tight spaces and view small objects.
The 1080p HD camera features interchangeable camera heads and smart device connectivity for devices including Android and iOS mobile devices, as well as PCs. The three camera heads include The Flexible endoscope, Focus microscope and Fit side view camera head. Flexible has a camera only 5.5 mm in diameter. Focus features a 150:1 zoom and includes two clips on the device’s stationary tray to hold subjects for viewing.
Rain and snow: the city slicker’s most hated enemies. Everything becomes just a little bit harder when either enters the picture, which is why getting caught unprepared is the epitome of a bad day. Designer Nick Jonas’ (not that one) Raincheck is an umbrella stand with a touch of smarts to ensure that never happens.
The product is comprised of beautifully lacquered, dark walnut wood sculpted into a tall, rectangular stand perfect for a few umbrellas. What makes Raincheck special are the eight dots of light installed within that are connected to Wi-Fi that are constantly updated on the weather.
The biggest issue with the sea of smart locks on the market is their design. As they can only really be used by homeowners, a large population of apartment dwellers miss out on the convenience having a smart lock provides because they still need a physical key for the front door of the building.
Locumi Labs thought it was time for a solution, creating the Monkey keyless entry system. Instead of being a typical smart lock, the monkey takes the form of an extremely compact, Wi-Fi enabled chip that is easily installed in the intercom in an apartment or home. From that point, a companion iOS or Android app is able to open the building’s main entrance using an app command, time-restricted access, or smartphone proximity for hands-free access.
The intercom of yesteryear is a patently outdated fixture in most homes. So much so, in fact, that most homeowners probably don’t even use it. Considering the increasingly connected direction homes are going in, intercoms are wildly limited in scope and unpleasant to look at to boot.
Taking a product name page out of Gavin Belson’s playbook, Nucleus hopes to become the modern intercom system for the connected home. The Wi-Fi enabled, slimly-shaped slab can either be mounted on a wall or propped up on a table to facilitate instant communication with any other Nucleus device around the world with a tap or voice command. The company boasts connection speeds of less than 200 milliseconds, or about the time it takes someone to blink, through tight integration of all components and software.
One of the keys to a healthier lifestyle is as basic as the air we breathe, but that can easily be forgotten because of hard it can be to know exactly what to do to make it better even in our own homes.
To help, the Koto family of smart sensors has been designed to make sure you have all the information needed to make the proper health decisions. The system actually consists of three products. The Koto Blink is a tiny box filled with sensors measuring temperature, humidity, light, and noise, all in an effort to make your living space more comfortable.
The Koto Air is an upgraded Blink, combining its sensors with an air pollution and dust sensor to create a fuller picture of the home and a more robust set of data with which to make the subtle adjustments to the home necessary to stave off mold in older homes, for example.