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In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you’d like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with “Insert Coin” as the subject line.

Light-up clothing is all the rage, and a company called Erogear is upping the ante with Fos, a Bluetooth-enabled solution for style-conscious athletes. The brainchild of engineer Anders Nelson, Fos is a lightweight, Velcro-lined fabric strip of lights with a nifty customizable display. What sets it apart from Erogear’s other wearable options is the fact that it’s controlled by your mobile phone. The LED grid can be programmed to double as your very own turn signal (useful for nocturnal bike-riding), advertise sponsors or even brag about how many calories you’ve burned while running. Coming it at around 32 grams (roughly the weight of a golf ball), this illuminated patch packs an LED matrix driver, 32-bit microprocessor, flash memory and a power supply in its 2mm profile. The Kickstarter campaign is offering a choice of three designs to backers: an 11 x 3 inch strip, an 11 x 5 inch version and a black leather belt for those times you feel like literally shining at the club. Though the demo package is currently Android-only, iOS and desktop versions are potentially on the horizon. A pledge of $125 will net you your very own Fos kit, and units are scheduled to start shipping in February of 2014, provided the campaign hits its $200,000 goal. To learn more, check out the video after the break or follow the source link to Kickstarter.

Filed under: Peripherals, Wearables

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Source: Erogear, Kickstarter

There are plenty of Bluetooth boom boxes available, but I have to say that this one from Bēm looks quite interesting. The overall shape is reminiscent of a traditional boom box, and the handle will let you lug it around quite easily from place to place.

The Bēm Wireless Boom Box looks like it belongs in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and it delivers quite a bit of punch for your mobile devices, with a top output of 105dB. It will last 10 hours on a charge, and comes with a 3.5mm audio port to directly connect your devices as well. There are only three buttons on the speaker, play/pause, volume up and volume down.

The Bēm Wireless Boom Box retails for $249.99(USD), and it’s available in black or white.

[via Wired]

Some purists will definitely argue with this, but skiing (or snowboarding) isn’t really complete without music. Not to mention the necessity of making and receiving phone calls with your comrades. Thus, most of us spend each lift ride fumbling with gloves, wires, and buttons in sub-freezing temperatures. No longer.

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The Swiss company Hyetis has unveiled a smartwatch unlike any other you’ll find under that category, the Crossbow. Eschewing conventional techy-styled designs and digital displays, the Crossbow instead looks like any other sophisticated, stylish watch, with one exception: a lens on one edge accompanying a 41-megapixel image sensor. The Crossbow hasn’t been completely finalized yet, […]

It seems there are a squillion different Bluetooth speakers on the market these days, so how do you choose which one to buy? You could pick one because of its size or sound quality, or you could just pick one because it looks cute. Fortunately, these speakers from bēm and The Public Zoo satisfy all of the above criteria.

These loveable little speaker cubes measure just 2.35″ x 2.35″ x 2.5″, and are embellished on three sides by the whimsical art of illustrator Han L. Lee. I can’t decide which of the three designs is my favorite, but I think I have to go with the panda bear with the eyepatch. Yes, the eyepatch has eyes of its own. How goofy is that?

The little bēm speaker connects with any Bluetooth device, and in my testing I found it easy to set up and provided very good sound quality for its size. I had to crank it up to its highest volume level before I experienced distortion, and at reasonable volume levels, the little speaker can fill a small room or office with its omnidirectional sound. It’s even got pretty decent bass thanks to a sound-conductive rubber pad on the bottom. You can recharge the speaker via its Mini USB port, and it also has a aux 3.5mm input for wired gadgets.

So put on your eyepatch and red bowtie and head over to bēm, where you can get The Public Zoo Bluetooth Speaker for $69.99(USD).