At first glance CleverWraps is the kind of product that seems completely unnecessary. I mean who wants to spend money on a disposable plastic bag for your phone or tablet when you can pick up a reusable case instead for just a few bucks more? But being disposable is the CleverWraps biggest strength.
A run-of-the-mill case might protect it from daily wear and tear, but with something like the iPad that’s become a handy kitchen accessory, you’ll be paying quite a bit of money for a high-end case that’s able to stop liquids from getting to your $500+ cookbook in the event of a spill. But the CleverWraps sleeves, for the iPad at least, cost around $5 a pop, and pretty much guarantee a toppled bottle of olive oil isn’t going to incapacitate your toy thanks to an interlocking Ziploc-like seal and a fold-over adhesive flap. And if that does happen, cleanup is as easy as removing your iPad from the plastic sleeve and tossing it. (The sleeve that is.)
The CleverWraps are also available in custom sizes for cellphones (5 for $9.99) whether it’s a bar, sliding or flip model, as well ebook readers (3 for $14.99) for keeping them sand, pina colada and suntan lotion-free while on vacation.
The thought of even having to dial a public payphone sends shivers down my spine, let along picking up the receiver and holding it against my face. But it’s not always safe to assume your smartphone is clean just because you’re the only one using it. Most of you will diligently wash your hands before a meal, but don’t forget you probably spend all day swiping those same fingers across your phone’s screen. So what makes you think it’s any cleaner than a payphone? Because you clean it with your sleeve every once in a while?
I’m not implying everyone needs to be paranoid about germs or anything, but every once in a while giving your phone a good cleaning is probably not a bad idea, and these UV-based sanitizers seem like the easiest and least messy approach. The CellBlaster looks like a miniature tanning bed for your phone, but it blasts it with short-wave ultraviolet light which “kills or eliminates 99.9% of germs, viruses and bacteria…” And while the CellBlaster does its thing in just 30 seconds, it also features a small gap for multi-taskers who want to sanitize their phone while it’s being charged. ‘Coming Soon!’ for a yet to be disclosed price.
Anytime you read a headline that involves a product from Taser you probably get all excited that someone, somewhere is getting shocked. I know I definitely was, but it turns out their in-car Protector System is a lot less exciting than I’d hoped. It’s designed to prevent drivers from being distracted by their smartphones by locking down all but the simplest of functions while a vehicle is running. And it’s facilitated by a special app that’s unfortunately only available on the Blackberry and Android platforms at the moment since it relies on Bluetooth which is one of the iPhone’s weaknesses when it comes to third-party apps.
The app communicates over Bluetooth with a small dongle that attaches to your vehicle’s diagnostic port, and completely locks down the phone except for said app which provides basic functionality including voice dialing and of course 911 access. By itself it’s not a bad idea if you just can’t seem to tear your eyes away from your phone’s screen while behind the wheel, but it actually does a bit more. The dongle includes GPS and cellular functionality, complete with its own SIM card, and will keep track of a vehicle’s location as well as reporting back unsafe driving behavior (for monitoring teens) and even accidents. The downside though is that the kit runs $249.95 plus a recurring fee starting at $14.95/month if you don’t want to sign a contract. AND it can’t be used to shock anyone…
The Anti Sleep Pilot, which we originally wrote about back in November, was a small puck-sized device designed to sit on your vehicle’s dashboard and help you stay awake during long drives. It used a combination of motion sensors to detect recurring erratic driving movements that could indicate a driver is nodding off, along with random tests to determine the driver’s alertness. When the ASP decided it was time for them to take a break, it would alert the driver with a set of easy-to-understand colored lights. It was a simple idea that had the potential to actually save lives, but the $250+ price tag was a bit hard to swallow.
So I think it’s pretty great that the Anti Sleep Pilot is now available as a software-only product in the iTunes App Store for just $19.99. As iPhone apps go that’s not exactly cheap, but it’s a far cry from what the hardware version of the product will set you back. And it makes sense given that the motion sensor hardware used in the Anti Sleep Pilot puck already exists in the iPhone. But because the iPhone also has that lovely touchscreen, the app version of the Anti Sleep Pilot adds a bit more including real-time stats of your trip, a GPS powered map function that shows how far you can safely drive before getting fatigued and even control over your music so you don’t need to jump between apps while driving.
Those court-ordered breathalyzers that prevent a car from starting until you blow an acceptable blood alcohol level are effective, but they’re not exactly quick. And they have to be installed as an after-market component. But a new system, being developed by the North American division of a research company called QinetiQ and funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety, could already be built-in to vehicles as they roll off the assembly line, invisible to the driver.
Instead of having to blow into a tube, the vehicle’s steering wheel or door handles would be equipped with new touch-based sensor technology that can read a driver’s blood alcohol level through their skin. And the results would be calculated almost instantaneously, taking less than a second. So far functioning prototypes have been demonstrated so the technology is definitely enroute, however the head of the NHTSA, David Strickland, says that it won’t be employed until it’s “seamless, unobtrusive and unfailingly accurate…” Yeah, probably a good idea.
When you’re a kid learning to ride, bike safety is the last thing on your mind. But when you grow up and take your first ride around the big city, all those lectures from your parents start to make sense. When you’re sharing the road with motorists there’s no such thing as being too safe, so you might want to consider these Bicygnals which give your bike a bonafide set of easy-to-install turn signals and high-visibility lighting.
Powered by a set of 4xAA and 4xAAA batteries the Bicygnals come in a pair for mounting on both the front and rear of your bicycle. The turn signal buttons are mounted within easy reach of where you normally grip the handlebars, and the lights are connected via a 2.4GHz wireless signal so the rear turning indicators stay synced to the front without you having to run any wires across your frame. They’re also designed to cleverly stick together, back-to-back, when not in use, and include a handy storage case so you can take them with you when you lock up your bike. In the U.K. you can get them from the Bicygnals online store for £44.95, and in the U.S. and Canada from the Cycle Force Group online store for $69.95.
Speed cameras typically rely on negative reinforcement to discourage people from driving too fast where they’ve been set up. If the radar clocks you driving faster than you should be, your license plate is photographed and a speeding ticket is mailed off to you. The Speed Camera Lottery however, which was Kevin Richardson’s winning entry in Volkswagen’s ‘The Fun Theory‘ contest, adds a bit of positive reinforcement to the mix.
From what I can tell Volkswagen’s contest actually ended last year, but Kevin Richardson’s idea was so good that it has already been tested and implemented by the The Swedish National Society for Road Safety in Stockholm. Instead of only photographing drivers who are caught speeding, this camera also photographs those driving within the speed limit and automatically enters them in a lottery that’s funded by the money generated by the speeding tickets. It’s brilliantly simple and clever, but also very effective in practice since a 3-day test with around 25,000 vehicles passing the camera resulted in an average speed reduction of 22%.
The idea seems pretty far out there, but Chris Mullin has designed a pair of sunglasses that use an LCD display to selectively darken the area in your field of view where there’s a glare, like from oncoming headlights or mankind’s greatest foe, the sun. Wearing them is akin to holding your hand up to block a bright light, except that it all happens automatically, faster than the blink of an eye. And even if you turn your head, or if the source of the glare is moving, the darkened spot on the glasses also moves to ensure the bright light hitting your eyes is darkened to the point where it’s not irritating, or causing serious damage.
The technology seems like something that wouldn’t be feasible until the not-too-distant future, but when you think about the size of digital cameras or modern display technologies, the pieces to this puzzle are already out there. In fact there’s a video of a prototype doing its thing on the Dynamic Eye website, which admittedly looks pretty slick. What’s particularly cool is that you don’t actually end up seeing black blobs while wearing the glasses. Light still passes through the darkened area allowing you to see what’s behind it, and since the glasses are so close to your face your eyes will always be focused beyond the spots, so they’ll look more like darkened smudges when they’re activated.
Now unfortunately the glasses aren’t ready for primetime just yet, and Chris currently has a Kickstarter page set up hoping to raise $20,000 by the middle of January to proceed with development.
While it’s already available for sale in Denmark, the Anti Sleep Pilot, which is a device that takes a more pro-active approach when monitoring for driver fatigue, is coming soon to the U.S. where drivers are typically in their cars for longer periods of time. Instead of being something you wear that detects the bobbing motion of your head, meaning you’re already falling asleep, the ASP attaches to the dashboard of your car and constantly records its motion, looking for erratic movements that may indicate you’re more tired than you think you are. It also performs simple random tests requiring you to touch the device, and based on how long it takes you to comply it can determine your alertness. (The tests also serve to break up the monotony of driving.)
Based on all the data it collects the Anti Sleep Pilot will then let you know, via a set of colored lights, whether you’re in a good condition to keep driving (green of course) or when you better pull over and take a break (red) before you fall asleep at the wheel. The English version of the ASP website doesn’t list a price for the device just yet, but the Danish version has it listed for $1,499kr or ~$270.
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