The action camera category keeps growing as new players attempt to compete against the popular GoPro.
Shockwave is a wearable action cam that can stream live video on the Internet via Wi-Fi or 4G service, meaning it will transmit data whether the user is indoors or outdoors. It can easily be installed on the surface of any object through solutions including a tripod, unmanned aerial vehicle suspension or its sport camera wearable mounting design, according to the Indiegogo campaign.
In the United Kingdom and many points beyond, cameras are everywhere. With smartphones, security cameras and the increasing presence of the Internet of Things, they’re being crammed into everywhere else at a fraction of the cost they previously were.
Cue Amaryllo International and their Koova, the device it’s claiming to be the world’s smallest auto-tracking camera. The company sees its low-cost Koova being used in home, garage, office and small business situations. The sleek looking cylindrically shaped device is Wi-Fi connected, boasting HD quality and 8GB of onboard memory.
There are many action cameras competing for consumer dollars now, although none of have been able to eclipse sales of the GoPro product line yet.
The third-generation ViDi is billed in its Kickstarter campaign as a quality waterproof action camera that was created “for the people” thanks to its design, multiple features and relatively low price in comparison to rival products. The 1080p HD LCD camera can shoot video and still images. It has fully waterproof housing and is waterproof up to 40 feet, according to the campaign.
It would be great to have a device on hand that could tell a consumer what their correct clothing size is – especially when ordering products online and there’s no tailor around to take measurements.
SizeGenie is a low-cost 3D body scanner that does exactly that and aims to put an end to buying ill-fitting clothes that must be returned. The device uses patent-pending scanning technology that combines infrared sensors and cameras to obtain a 3D form of the person using it. That form is then further refined to arrive at a series of precise measurements that are shown in inches and centimeters.
The intercom of yesteryear is a patently outdated fixture in most homes.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.
The power of high-quality photography has never been in the hands of so many. But for all the incredible progress that smartphone cameras have made, there’s still a wide gulf between the tools pros use and those in most people’s pockets. Indeed, even if DSLRs were cheap and simple, their size would make carrying around most places prohibitive.
Light is seeking to take on some of those issues with its first camera dubbed the L16. It is so-named for the 16 smartphone-class imaging modules in its Swiss cheese-like frame. When the Android device’s shutter is pressed, the camera uses 10 of those lenses to capture images up to an amazing 52 megapixels at a range of zoom levels. By taking photos at different exposures, The L16 takes exceptional low light photos according to the company. It can also perform some of the same tricks at the Lytro cameras, notably adjusting the focus after the photo is taken.
Today’s smartphones put incredible photo taking capabilities in a device that’s always at home in a pocket. Their front-facing cameras have spawned millions of selfies. But the sad secret about these narcissistic snapshots is that the front cameras of almost all smartphones lag significantly behind their rear cameras in terms of resolution even as smartphone companies are steadily improving selfie features.
ScopeCam is a simple phone device that clips on to a smartphone, allowing you to use its rear camera to take forward-facing shots. This gives you the best of both selfie worlds, being able to use the big screen of the phone to frame the photo and the full power of the camera to take the photo — well, almost the full power as there’s no way to turn the flash to the front of the phone.
There’s been an explosion of home security cameras in the past few years, but whether they are attached to some kind of monitoring service or rely on their own apps, they are less convenient to install than they could be. While many of them happily hop on to a Wi-Fi network, they can’t stray too far from an outlet.
Butterfleye combines a wide-angle lens with a big battery to keep it going up to a week without charging. It employs sophisticated sensors that go beyond simple motion detection to include sound detection; it can also differentiate between humans and pets. The company claims it has more improvements in the queue in terms of accurate identification that it plans to deliver via regular firmware updates. Going along with the prevailing model these days, the company offers some limited cloud storage of video the Butterfleye captures with more available for a monthly fee.
In Episode 22 of the Backerjack Podcast, Steve and Ross check out some of the latest products seeking funds and preorders, including:
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!
The company Lomography ran a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2013 for a modern, 85mm version of the old Petzval camera lens that was known for its swirly blur effect known as bokeh. Lomography reinvented the lens as the New Petzval 85 Portrait Lens for Nikon F and Canon EF Mount analog and DSLR cameras.
Lomography has now created the New Petzval 58 Bokeh Control Art Lens that it says offers more control over the bokeh effect and a more standard, 58mm focal length. The lens features a new bokeh control ring that allows the user to determine how pronounced the bokeh effect will be in each photo. The lens will start shipping to early bird backers in December and will cost non-early-bird backers $750 for a brass lens and $850 for a black lens when they ship in early 2016. Lomography set a Kickstarter goal of raising $100,000 by June 26.
The lens should appeal to the very niche photographer audience it’s aimed at. Minor drawbacks include the fact that the lens can’t be used with both Canon EF and Nikon F cameras because each lens is equipped with either a Canon or Nikon mount and will only work directly with one.