Hasta La Gadget!

LUMOback wants to show all those DIY posture dilitantes what’s what with its Smart Posture Sensor, an app and hardware combo that tracks your carriage and vibrates when you hunch. The thinnish 8.5mm sensor is worn like a belt, and on top of the tactile nagging, it provides detailed iPhone or iPad charting of the sitting, running and even sleeping you did, complete with an xkcd-like stickman video replaying all your crooked moves. So far the team is about a third of the way to its $100K mark, and a minimum $99 pledge will get you a jet-black model if it’s built, with a $125 chip-in letting you vote on a a second shipping color, to boot. If some of your activities consist of, say, blogging in front of a computer screen all day, check the video after the break for relief.

Continue reading Insert Coin: LUMOback Smart Posture Sensor thrums when you slouch, charts your laziness (video)

Insert Coin: LUMOback Smart Posture Sensor thrums when you slouch, charts your laziness (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jun 2012 04:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Kickstarter  | Email this | Comments

At certain point in every geek’s life, their mother gives up and stops yelling at them to sit up straight. If the lack of constant reminders to maintain good posture has you slouching and hunching, there are countless technological substitutes. Even a few nice DIY ones. But we’ve got to give Ellen Sundh props for the simplicity of her solution. While similar projects rely on accelerometers, which can be difficult for the budding hobbyist to work with, to monitor the angle of your body, Bad Posture sticks with a simple bend sensor to keep tabs on your spinal cord. The flexible plastic is arranged vertically in a fabric belt that also houses an Arduino, a Wave Shield from Adafruit and a push button for calibration. Sit at your optimal angle, press the button and you’re ready to go. Bend too much and the Wave Shield plays a warning — “bad posture!” Check out the video after the break to see it in action.

Continue reading Bad Posture tells you to sit up straight, replaces your mom with an Arduino

Bad Posture tells you to sit up straight, replaces your mom with an Arduino originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jun 2012 14:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Adafruit  |  Sundh.com  | Email this | Comments

Can those cans and battle the bottles! Japan’s ongoing “eco” movement for environmental friendliness and sustainable living seems to have even influenced the appearance of plastic water bottles… these ones look like cans.

On a diet and looking for a light meal? Try a light blue meal instead: Tokyo’s Tea Room 2525 has brought back a turquoise temptation from last summer, disingenuously dubbed "Blue Curry Loss of Appetite". It’s a great way to get the blues while losing weight.

The puzzlingly named “Waffle Handle” stops evil doers, er, evil doors, from inflicting pain, injury and subdural hematoma’s on your precious snowflake’s pristine forehead. If you don’t have them, shame on you: you’re a bad parent who’s bad and should feel bad.