Month: January 2014

Categories
Food and Beverage

Wine condom stops bottles, enables mirth control

The Premise. Ever had to transport a bottle of wine that was already open even though that’s against the law in a lot of places? Or have a problem with your wine stopper making your wine bottle too tall for the fridge?

The Product. Wine condoms are small, black, rubber instruments  designed to be rolled over the top of an open wine bottle and keep the wine fresh and from spilling in transport. To anyone in the restaurant industry, they look just like one of the finger cots they give you when you cut your digits and slap on a Band-Aid. But, sure, wine condom.

The Pitch. Hmm, where to start? Well, the video starts off with handsome young inventor Mitchell Strahan explaining why wine condoms only work for wine and not champagne. See, when you apply the wine condom to champagne, the carbonated gasses (with a little help from a vigorous shake or two) will cause the wine condom to blow off. Okay dude — we get it. The video then cuts to a closeup of Strahan and his girlfriend, where he flutters his light blue eyes and tells the story of his mother bringing over an open bottle wrapped in cling film and rubber bands and then spends about a minute on a blooper reel where he goes off on a tangent, giggles, and talks to someone off-camera. It’s all very cute if you go in for that kind of pitch.

The Perks. The young man seems to be aware of how much people would be willing to pay for his product — donors get a pack of ten for $7, 25 for $14. After that, he’s got a fair amount of swag — sunglasses, shirts, hats, and even signed photos of himself (yes, really — he’s pretty, sure, but goodness!). Each level-up includes all of the previous, so donors can potentially end up with a good bit of Mitch-merch.

The Potential. The wine condom serves a useful purpose and is easily stored but, much to the chagrin of double entendre fans, faces an uphill battle against default capping measures. Most people who open wine can either pop the cork back in, screw on the screw cap, or use a wine stopper. On the other hand, we could see a lot of jokes being made while applying the Wine Condom, especially after a few glasses have been refilled.

Categories
Connected Objects

Game of Drones quadricopter survives fire, shotgun blasts, your ex’s scorn

GameofDronesThe robots destined to rule Earth as our indifferent masters will one day chuckle at how we primitive humans enabled them to resist our weapons.  Two guys in Northern California have developed a prototype indestructible drone with a four-pronged body that can survive multiple falls, flying through glass plates and fire, landing in water, and being shot. For $125, you can get the unassembled parts of the product and put it together yourself. Or for $600. you can get one fully assembled. Perhaps the only thing it can’t resist, though, is a ticket. If you’re flying unmanned aircrafts, make sure you abide by your local drone laws. Happy piloting!

Categories
Cooking

Herbie grinds greens across edibles from your high place

The Premise. For the fancy chef, self-proclaimed foodie or anyone with taste buds, fresh herbs are a must. Chopping herbs can be difficult and doesn’t always produce even, reliable results. Finely chopped herbs can also make a mess, spreading out and sticking to the cutting board, knife and countertop.

The Product. Bearing no resemblance to the Volkswagen Beetle that co-starred with Lindsay Lohan, Herbie is an electronic herb grinder that is rechargeable and plugs into the wall or laptop using a USB cord. It  can run for up to two hours (good for at least one Phish jam) on a full charge. Herbie is made out of aluminum and stainless steel and comes with a wall charger, USB cable and spout. Herbie has a cheaper little brother, Herbie Lite, that’s made out of plastic and polycarbonate and comes with a wall charger and USB cable.

The Pitch. Herbie’s Indiegogo campaign shows that its creators, Conlin Monaco and Will Lawler, really wanted to craft a well-made product.  In the video, they talk about how they designed Herbie to avoid the problems that other dry herb grinders face, such as clogging up and metal shavings that come off of the mechanism. Their campaign explicitly shows the difference between the Herbie and Herbie Lite, which was extremely helpful. Monaco and Lawler are trying to raise the unrounded sum of $76,875. They have three stretch goals: $120,000 for a spout attachment, $160,000 for a storage compartment that attaches directly to Herbie and $200,000 to manufacture Herbie with Teflon to avoid gunk build-up. They’ve been confident enough to launch a Herbie Web site though it doesn’t contain much information yet.

The Perks. There are two early bird specials, one for an Herbie Lite at $39 and one for a regular Herbie at $69. A regular Herbie for the not-so-early bird requires a contribution of $79. The reward tiers climb all the way up to $2,250, each including generous discounts for the grinder and its accessories.  More than 30 Herbies might sound like a minyan, but the option is there if desired. Estimated delivery is May 2014.

The Potential. Overengineered aluminum USB grinders seem to be a crowdfunding thing; the iDraw pencil sharpener failed to meet its funding goal on Kickstarter. The idea of being able to sprinkle some reasonably fresh rosemary onto one’s meal instead of salt could have great health benefits for many. Herbie, while a convenient solution for the kitchen, though, is incredibly expensive at a retail price of $90 for the Lite version and $100 for the not-so-Lite. Mechanical grinders are much cheaper and can chop up herbs just as well as Herbie seems to be able to. There are also electronic grinders already on the market such as the Compact Electric Herb Grinder at about a tenth of the price and choppers that can get the job done as well. Ultimately, most foodies may opt out of purchasing this expensive luxury item. However, Herbie may find success with other demographics, such as certain residents of Washington and Colorado.

Categories
Music

Zipi lets your earbuds dangle, avoid pocket tangle

The Premise. As we rely on our smartphones ever more for streaming audio content, earbuds are increasingly tucked in and around our ears. However, figuring out what to do with them when you need both your ears and hands free be a challenge.

The Product. Frank Cho conceived Zipi as he walked from his parked car into his work building with only two minutes of a podcast left, three minutes until start time, and highly keen to finish listening. No worries. The magnetic earbud strap would keep the earbuds in place and free up his hands to pause the podcast, gather his things, open and shut the car door, unpause, and proceed to sneak past the boss. Bonus: because Zipi uses neodymium magnets, the strongest magnets on the market, he also managed to avoid hearing or speaking to his least favorite coworker who is directly along the route to his cubicle. Zipi is also easy to attach to earbuds and grips onto itself for easy transport. And if the florescent yellow color in the video seems too painful to look at, there’s always the option of stylish translucent white, teen girl hot pink, computer geek black, and pop culture aqua.

The Pitch. The video for the $6,000 dollar campaign is presented professionally with a nice, feminine, empathetic voiceover actress and demonstrations of the product by Frank Cho that just might have Emmy award winning potential—ok, slight exaggeration. The video also highlights that Zipi is easy to wear and take off, isn’t bulky, and like a good neighbor, is always there when needed. In addition, the magnetic connectors keep it from snagging on clothes and help prevent the risk of breaking a nail. The Perks. For $10, backers get a Zipi strap in the color of their choice, which is really pretty reasonable. One should note, though, that Zipi is compatible with the original Apple earbuds and EarPods. It has not been tested with other types of earbuds. The earbud accessory is anticipated to be available for delivery by September 2014.

The Potential. Zipi is an item that has a large addressable market — from student to homemaker to blue collar worker and even hip grandparents. That it comes in multiple colors means backers can color coordinate with any outfit, which adds potential cosmetic appeal. The most similar item to Zipi presently on the market would be neck strap earbuds, but these don’t have the advantage of the magnetic connectors and easy self-grip transport of Zipi.

Categories
Toys

CubeCraft brings Minecraft-style blocks to the real third dimension

The Premise. Plenty of kids love to play with Legos and blocks. But toys in that realm are meeting their match, because, until now, we were bound by the lockable structures on the bottom or, quite frankly, by physics.

The Product. Inspired by the wildly popular game Minecraft (for which kids show a special fondness), CubeCraft seeks to push the bounds of limitation by giving you small blocks that can be arranged in any way. Each cube has magnets sealed inside that allow you to build structures that wouldn’t be possible with non-magnetic blocks. You can combine the individual blocks into one larger block, use that to build a base, and then continue on using the smaller blocks. CubeCraft cubes can also be further customized with stickers, LEDs or other geekery.

The Pitch. The CubeCraft campaign itself builds primarily off two videos — a still-heavy unnarrated one that shows many configurations of the progress and a secondary one that introduces the creators and provides a lot of information. The partners tell how they came together, what they’re asking for, how their designs are safe for children over the age of 5, what your funding will go toward, and how these blocks could be used to ease stress or in the classroom. Sure, the developers may be a little camera shy, but they know a lot about their products and showcase them as well as they can.

The Perks. For $27, you receive the “stress” set (the name of which proves they’re marketing these toys to adults as well). It consists of eight cubes and would be great for people who need something to do with their hands while they’re working. The prices and set sizes go up from there, $121 for the “inventor set” with 64 cubes and $299 for the classroom set with 216 pieces. These toys would definitely spark imagination in children and adults alike.

The Potential. New toys that aren’t digital are in high demand. Many parents don’t want their kids on computer games all the time, but kids are bored by regular blocks. CubeCraft would definitely keep the kids interested and the parents happy.

Categories
Food and Beverage

The Smart Lid gives you a red alert for your hot date with drinks

HeatSensitiveLidYou may think you’re hot stuff, but you’re nothing compared to your morning coffee. The Smart Lid turn bright red when the liquid inside the cup is over 118 degrees, and gradually fade as the temperature cools down. This ingenious, simple idea will save many people from the horrible experience of having a burnt tongue. A simple but clever idea imported from Australis, the lids would be most useful for the likes of coffee shops and restaurants, but could see far greater distribution. After reaching some portion of the $8,000 flexible funding campaign, they’ll be available to backers in March 2014

Categories
Food and Beverage

TRIMR agitates protein shake and water bottles

TRIMRshakerReal bottles have curves. Applying the classic “best of both worlds” marketing pitch to a crowded category, TRIMR is an attractive, dishwasher-safe, concave BPA-free plastic bottle that includes a springy agitator to shake up protein shakes. It can also simply function as a water bottle with the agitator removed and a flip-up lid for when you’d rather gulp than sip. While TIMR might wish to cause its competitors to tremor, it is designed to stay stable in a cup holder. Bottles should be available to backers in April 2014 for $25 or available with a daily protein intake slide calculator for five bucks more.

Categories
Cell Phone Accessories

wobL lets your iPhone rock your wakeup

WoBLThe turnover of successive iPhone generations has led to many of us having a surplus of old devices. You could sell them or give them away, but why not put them to work around the house? wobL is a nightstand cradle for your iPhone that positions it at an optimal viewing angle for your horizontal head and allows you to “snooze” an alarm via a companion app. Rocking is a clever way to snooze the device given that the iPhone has no side-mounted snooze button, and the approach avoids having to pair with something via Bluetooth. Of course, it also works with Apple’s iPhone 5 series, providing a place for you to charge up overnight. On the other hand, even a dimmed LCD isn’t everyone’s favorite bedside companion. wobL comes to Kickstarter after a campaign on its hometown crowdfunding site Crowd Supply. It’s available to backers for $25, but isn’t expected to be available until October 2014. That seems like a long time for a relatively simple device, even including potential app development time.

Categories
Toys

Chess on the Dot makes you king of the globe

ChessDotThe world is not flat so why should your chess game be? So goes the reasoning of Joshua Chan, creator of Chess on the Dot. This is actually the designer’s third gogo at Indiegogo trying to raise funds for his pricey ($1,199, a 20 percent discount of retail) chess globe that uses magnets in place of gravity for keeping the pieces affixed to the board. Previous attempts to pawn the art piece have been checked. Despite the unusual shape, the game plays as it does on a standard chess board albeit with a lot more rotation. Beautiful if impractical, the chess-in-the-round set can transport to your sphere of influence in June 2014.

Categories
Automotive Smart Home

WataSensor WA1 detects dirty deeds in home or car

The Premise. In 2012 alone, there were 8,975,438 property crimes in the U.S. according to the FBI. Collectively, those crimes (which include burglaries, larceny thefts, and car thefts) resulted in a loss of $15.1 billion dollars for the victims, and the rate that agencies made arrests on these crimes is 528.1 arrests for every 100,000 crimes.

The Product. WataSensor aims to improve the security market, and improve the alarming number of property thefts in the U.S. Their product, the WA1, can sense a window breaking, a door opening, or a fire burning and will then send an alert to your smartphone so you can always monitor your property safely. The WA1 is completely portable, and works in any car or house up to 2000 square meters, plus it doesn’t rely on line-of-sight or motion-sensing technology like its competitors. Simply pair it with your smartphone, and you’re protected with the WA1 — no wires or additional set up required.

The Pitch. WataSensor’s video explains just what its product is capable of, and how the company hopes their product can protect property in both the home and automotive markets. According to WataSensor, 90% of homes are unprotected and they hope to change that number for the better. By raising $100,000 the company plans to invest in manufacture tooling for the WA1 and complete their development of the smartphone app.

The Perks. Early adopters, for the price of $249, can be among the first to be protected by the WA1 when it ships in July 2014. That package will also include regular updates from the team and a special edition t-shirt as well. For those more enthusiastic about the product, $400 will include the aforementioned items plus the current generation device which will ship in February.

The Potential. The WA1 will go head-to-head with a huge crowdfunding success story, the Canary, as well as the crowdfunded iSmartAlarm. These products disrupt the security market by creating a device that allows protection without the monthly payments or costly setup procedures, although those who want a professionally monitored option will need to look at options such as the SimpliSafe2. These options also have the advantage of letting you move houses without having to start over and work in just about any setting. Indeed, if the WA1 be even used in a car as the company states, it may be poised to advance home security into apartments where penetration is even lower than in houses.