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Connected Objects

OrbMi uses a voice messaging app to reinvent the answering machine

As smartphones have continued to eat into the sales of landlines, voice mail has become the main way that voice messages are retrieved from phones. But once upon a time, the answering machine was a physical device, one that used cassettes just as the tape-based Walkman laid the foundation for the flash memory-based iPod nano.

The team behind OrbMi wants to recreate the experience of listening to voice messages that arrive without remote notification on one’s own schedule with a glowing half-sphere. Like the answering machines of yore, it must be plugged in. But unlike those devices, it doesn’t have to be anywhere near a phone or phone line. That’s because messages are sent to the Wi-Fi device over the Internet using a companion app.

Categories
Input

Passfort is a tiny touchscreen that tackles password headaches

Passwords are one of the banes of modern technology. They’re hard to create and harder to remember, particularly given it’s wise to use a different inscrutable random combination of letters, numbers and symbols for every online account.

Passfort is a portable device with a tiny screen that resembles those awful little digital picture gadgets that populated drug stores years ago.  However, it is even more appropriately at home on a keychain. The device can store up to 100 accounts and associated passwords and enter them via USB or Bluetooth. That makes it broadly compatible with Macs and PCs, as well as Android and iOS phones and tablets. Passfort itself is, of course, password protected and its content encrypted. One can choose either a PIN or a from a series of images on its small square touchscreen From there, the device acts a bit like a Bluetooth keyboard, sending the characters for the account and password for whatever Web site or app you swipe to on its display.

Categories
Connected Objects Sleep

Bedjet 2 cools, heats beds to the rhythm of the night

As anyone who’s tried to get comfortable during a sticky summer heat wave or gelid winter frost knows, temperature is an important component of nighttime comfort. Indeed, we’ve already seen sleep monitoring projects that include monitoring temperature along with other factors such as noise and ambient light. But while these products can help you understand if the temperature is keeping you awake, they can’t do anything about it.

patent-claimedThat’s no obstacle for Bedjet v2, earlier versions of which have already seen Kickstarter success and Shark Tank failure. Designed by a former NASA engineer, Bedjet uses a noise-dampened blower to adjust the temperature during the nightly horizontal excursion. The result is, to quote the campaign, a “magical event in your bedding.” Stealing a page from the Select Comfort air mattress (the Sleep Number guys), it can service each side of a bed independently to match personal preference.

Categories
Smart Home

The Grail sniffs out carbon monoxide, shuts down furnaces

Carbon monoxide (CO) detectors are among the most important devices that consumers can buy for their homes.

patent-claimedThe Grail is a new patent-pending CO and gas detector that allows users to shut down their furnaces from outside their homes if CO or gas leaks are detected. It can also be used to activate lights and sirens, and shut down an electrical breaker. The plan is for the Grail to ship in March and for it to cost $129-$149 at retail, although the first 100 Kickstarter backers can get one for $75. Its maker is looking to raise $200,000 by Aug. 28.

There will probably always be consumers looking to buy a CO detector. The Grail’s maker says that what sets it apart from rival devices is that it’s the first one offering the same capabilities with UL certification at an affordable price. There have, of course, been many CO detectors before this, including the Air Mentor, and it’s not clear if The Grail’s features and pricing combination will be enough to hook many consumers.

Categories
Connected Objects Cycling

LIVALL connected bike helmet blings out your ride

For far too long, bike helmets have been left in the closets and basements of homes all across the United States despite how effective they are stopping at preventing all types of injuries. The reason? Most would mention how bike helmets much besides make them look silly, a sorry excuse now that the LIVALL Bling Helmet is here.

The LIVALL Bling Helmet is a bicycle helmet that features Bluetooth connectivity alongside a two sets of LEDs and a three-axis gyroscope, all in an effort to improve communication and safety for cyclists everywhere. Bluetooth connectivity in conjunction with a built-in mic gives riders the option to to walkie-talkie other members of the group, take calls from others, or just ride along to music from the smartphones.

A dual set of LEDs, up top and on the back, ensure other members of the riding group, pedestrians, and motorists all have a good idea of where the cyclist is, while the three-axis gyroscope sets off an SOS alert and contacts help when the cyclist is thrown off due to an accident. All of these features are facilitated with the Bling Jet handlebar controller working in tandem with the LIVALL app on iOS or Android.

Categories
Music Networking

Back to the Backers: mBox multi-room music system

After failing to reach its Kickstarter goal of raising $40,000 AUD last year, the Australia-based maker of the mBox multi-room music system is now giving Indiegogo a try with a new campaign for the product. But he’s opted for an even more ambitious goal of raising $50,000 by Aug. 27 this time.

MBox can send music wirelessly throughout a home to any Bluetooth, Airplay or Universal Plug and Play/Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA)-compatible speaker. The chief selling point remains that users aren’t locked into a proprietary technology and can create a multi-room audio system with speakers they already own. Included with each mBox system are two devices: an mBox hub that can be used to connect any wireless speakers and an mBox mini that will connect any wired speakers to the wireless mBox network.

Categories
Connected Objects Health and Wellness

Nicotrax connected cigarette case helps you to kick the stick

Even though smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the world, millions still do it every single day. Most of these people know how to quit, too, but it’s been proven that simply knowing how to doesn’t make it any easier. In any case, most solutions deal with the chemical dependency created by a smoking habit while ignoring the social and mental aspects that also contribute, making it very difficult to truly quit.

Nicotrax is aiming to give smokers a lot more support with its Bluetooth-connected cigarette case. Its Bluetooth-connected cigarette case tracks cigarette use over time with the accompanying iOS or Android app. Each time one is taken from the case, it relays information about the time and location taken along the people the user was with, all in an effort to identify unknown triggers.

Categories
Health and Wellness Wearables

YONO lets you know core body temperature for pregnancy planning

Many omen seeking to optimize their chances of conceiving are well-acquainted with the idea of monitoring their core body temperature.Some of those solutions can be very costly. Underarm sensors can also be affected by ambient temperature and other external factors, say the makers of YONO, an in-ear thermometer that calculates core body temperature for pregnancy planning.

patent-claimedThe patent-pending YONO measures and records core body temperature while sleeping –- particularly basal body temperature, the body’s lowest temperature, which usually happens while sleeping in the early morning hours. Because YONO’s sensor gets placed inside either ear, it’s not impacted by external factors that could affect the temperature, its makers say. The data synchs with the user’s Android or iOS mobile device in the morning.

Categories
Fishing Imaging

GoFish Cam captures undersea exploits with sharks and trout

Fishing is one of the few sports where the person participating in it can’t even see most of what’s happening right before and during the most crucial part of the action.

patent-claimedGoFish Cam is a patent-pending underwater action camera that was designed to solve that issue. The wireless, 1080p HD color video camera gets attached to the user’s fishing line and captures the action in conjunction with an app for Android and iOS mobile devices. If the line snaps, the camera was designed to slowly float to the top of the water because it has almost neutral buoyancy underwater,. The camera is also equipped with infrared lights for night vision, a 170-degree wide-angle lens and built-in microphone. GoFish Cam will ship in February 2016 at $169.99, but early Kickstarter backers can buy one at reduced pricing that starts at $115. Its makers set a Kickstarter goal of raising $55,000 by Sept. 1.

Fishermen have ever been shy about sharing their big catches That could drive significant interest for GoFish Cam for those who don’t want to jury rig their own solution. But capturing underwater video can require a fair amount of light, which could make it challenging for those adventures to compete with pristine GoPro video.

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Podcasts

Backerjack Podcast #22: Cameras That Think and See in 3D

In Episode 22 of the Backerjack Podcast, Steve and Ross check out some of the latest products seeking funds and preorders, including:

  • Graava, a small smooth action cam that can pick out the most interesting parts of raw footage to create a mini-movie.
  • Bevel, an inexpensive smartphone add-on that allows the capture of 3D objects that can be rotated and viewed from different angles.

We also mentioned a few other products we wished we had time for: the TrekAce forearm navigation device and the Nourish nutrition drink countertop device. Also, check out Backerjack’s first hands-on reviews of the Pebble Time smartwatch, Remix Ultratablet and Jorno folding keyboard.

Download the episode or listen below, subscribe via iTunes or RSS, and subscribe to the Backerjack Daily Digest to make sure you catch all the gadgets we’re covering. Also check out Steve’s great work on Apple World Today!