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Tag Archives: indiegogo

Combimouse is a Keyboard and a Mouse, Combined into One

By Hazel Chua on 05/02/13 • Leave a comment!

Combimouse

There have been a number of modded keyboards and computer mouses released in the market in the last few years, but none are quite like the Combimouse. As its name suggests, this gizmo is basically a hybrid keyboard and mouse that have been combined into one. There are essentially two parts that make up the keyboard-slash-mouse: the left, which contains the keys on the left part of the keyboard; and the right, which contains the rest of the keys and doubles as the mouse at the same time.

The Combimouse is an invention that has been a long time coming. It was invented and patented by Ari Zagnoev in 1999, and has been in development since 2003. Now, a decade later, they’re finally ready to start manufacturing the Combimouse.

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Photon 3D Scanner Unleashes the Power of 3D Printing

By Hazel Chua on 04/03/13 • Leave a comment!

Photon 3D Scanner

So you’ve got a 3D printer. Now what?

A number of projects have revolved around producing 3D printers that are affordable and portable so that anyone who wants one can own one. This is in addition to the printers that are already available on the market. Let’s see. There’s the MakerBot, the Gigabot, the RigitBot, the Form 1, the Cube… I think it’s safe to say we now have a rich selection to choose from when it comes to 3D printers. The problem now is getting templates for the stuff you want to print.

Not everyone has the technical skill or know-how to create CAD drawings or 3D models, and there’s only so much that you can download off the Internet. It’s precisely for these reasons why the Photon 3D Scanner is a godsend.

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ChargeBite Dongle Invites You To Share Battery Power Among iPhones

By David Ponce on 04/02/13 • 2 Comments

In-a-word-chargebite

Running out of battery from the nonstop texting, but don’t feel like being tethered to a wall plug? Just borrow some juice from your friend’s iPhone or iPad. The ChargeBite keychain dongle works with any 30-pin iDevice and allows you to transfer electrons from one juiced up smartphone to a nearly dead one. Plug up to three devices at once and the charging begins automatically, presumably until an equilibrium is reached among them. There’s no setup, no pre-charging, no fuss involved. The ChargeBite is small enough to be easily carried in your pocket and will be very useful to the urban dweller who just can’t keep it in his pants (the iPhone, guys…). It’s currently on pre-order on IndieGogo for $25.

[ Project Page ]

Breathometer Integrates With Smartphone: Why?

By David Ponce on 03/18/13 • Leave a comment!

breathometer

We think that carrying around a breathalyzer is a great idea. You go to a bar, have just a couple drinks and are ready to go home, but you want to make sure you’re legally allowed to drive? Bust it out, and test! The Breathometer is one such device, although unlike the myriad of cheap Chinese versions out there, this one integrates with a smartphone. Plug it into the audio jack on your phone, launch the app, and blow. Now the thing is, we’re not sure why the smartphone is necessary for this. If all it does is use the handset to display the figure… what’s the point? You can get the same functionality from a cheap old LCD! Granted, the Breathometer is small and fits in your pocket easily. But so are many other equally breathalyzers out there! What’s more, it likely uses a semiconductor-based sensor, which is much less accurate than the professional-grade fuel-cell sensors. Why do we think it’s a semiconductor sensor? The $20 price tag, for one.

So we’re not sure where to stand on this product. On the one hand, there’s nothing wrong with it (aside from potentially questionable accuracy, a problem shared by all non-professional grade breathalyzers): it’s inexpensive, small and, gee-whiz, it works with your smartphone! On the other hand, why is that an advantage? Maybe there’s some finer point we’re missing here. Whatever the case, feel free to head over to the IndieGogo campaign to make a pledge if you want one for yourself.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Werd ]

For Wannabe Felines: Robotic Tail Wags or Swings, Depending on Your Mood

By Hazel Chua on 03/08/13 • 1 Comment

Fox Tail

Animals can’t talk, but they have other ways to express themselves. For example, when a dog is excited, he wags his tail. When he’s waiting for you to do something (like walk him), he’ll sit patiently and swing his tail back and forth while looking at you. At least, that’s what my Shih Tzu does when he’s asking for a walk.

Humans don’t have tails because we can communicate perfectly without them, and besides, we don’t really need them. You can buy them and wear them, but you can’t control them… Until now, that is.

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Teddy Sitter Keeps One Eye On Your Kids, and Another On Your Sitter

By Hazel Chua on 02/26/13 • Leave a comment!

Teddy Sitter

Even the most hands-on parents leave their kids with the sitter sometimes, and that’s where gadgets like the Teddy Sitter comes in. It looks like a regular brown teddy bear that you can find in most toy stores, except that it’s got a large and shiny beacon-like nose where I assume the camera and sensors are located. Because while the Teddy Sitter looks like a toy, it most definitely is much more than just that.

It’s meant to double as a babysitter for your kids, but I think it’s always safest to get a human to do that job. But for your peace of mind, the Teddy Sitter lets on-the-go or absentee parents monitor what’s happening at home in a truly novel way.

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Use Sonar And Your Smartphone To Catch Fish

By David Ponce on 01/29/13 • Leave a comment!

Assuming that going fishing isn’t just an excuse for you to go get drunk on a canoe, the Realsonar system pictured above might interest you. It’s an ultrasound device mounted on a buoy, which then communicates with your smartphone through Bluetooth. In this fashion, you get to see where the fish are up to a depth of 150ft. It works at about 4 frames per second, which should be plenty for you to cast your line in the direction and depth required.

But that’s not all the Realsonar does. There’s a Bite Alarm that lets you know when a fish is nearby, so you don’t even have to look at the screen (or even put your line in the water) while you wait. There’s also a mapping feature that lets you get an idea of the underwater topography, which is welcome to any boat owner that doesn’t want to run aground. Salinity and temperature sensors give you an idea of water conditions. And should you lose your buoy in the dark, you just press a button on the phone and it’ll light right up.

The Realsonar system is in the funding phase on IndieGogo. It’s $79 if you get in early, though there’s plenty of room right now.

[ Project Page ] VIA [ DVice ]

UpperCup: Because Phones Are Like Cars, And You Can Never Have Too Many Cup-holders

By David Ponce on 01/28/13 • 1 Comment

Really, how much commentary is necessary here? You’re looking at an iPhone case that doubles as a cup holder. Just insert your Starbucks liquid crack in there, and text away without having to find another place to put your drink down on. Is it necessary? No. Is it useful? Marginally. Is it cool? No comment. Will you even be able to hold your phone properly, with the weight of the coffee pulling it forward? The physics department is still in discussions.

We’ll tell you this: it’s $25 for the iPhone 4/4S and $5 more for the iPhone 5. And it might not even come to market, unless the IndieGogo campaign reaches $25,000, which it’s very, very far from at the moment.

Will people buy this in droves just because of the novelty, and the ability to walk around looking like a tool? Or will we just snicker a little, tell our roommates “hey, check this out!” and move on?

[ Product Page ] VIA [ BitRebels ]

MeterPlug Helps You Keep Tabs On What’s Consuming How Much Power

By David Ponce on 01/03/13 • 1 Comment

The economy may not be in the tank as it was a couple years ago, but let’s face it, it’s not booming either. Every penny counts and one area where you can make a big difference is in energy efficiency. The appliances and electronic devices that are in your home all consume power, sometimes even when they’re not on. MeterPlug is a simple box that sits between your device and the AC outlet, and monitors the power flowing through. It then communicates information this to a smartphone through its Bluetooth chip. To take things further, it uses GPS data to figure out how much power costs in your particular neighborhood, and is able to give you a running cost as opposed to raw power data. This makes it dead simple to know who’s the worst culprit in those outrageous power bills. But that’s not all. Not only does MeterPlug inform you, it helps you solve the issue as well by cutting off power to any appliance you want, either manually through the press of a button on your smartphone, or automatically after setting up a few rules. It’s smart, but at $50 per plug ($85 for 2 as an early bird price) it is a bit costly. Granted, it could end up paying for itself after a while, so it might still be worth a look. The IndieGogo campaign is almost fully funded, with potential delivery slated for April 2013.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Engadget ]

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