Roominate Kickstarter project techs up dollhouses

Little girls normally love playing make believe, waiting for their prince to turn up one fine day to sweep them off their feet, while loving all and everything pink in between. Dollhouses too, are also a mandatory toy for your little princess, and if you want to tech things up a little bit, here we are with the Roominate – currently a Kickstarter project that is being funded, where it holds the promise of offering young girls who possess a genuine curiosity to explore a tech-laden playground in order for them to tinker around and learn from.

The Roominate project page claims that this dollhouse is the sweat and blood of three Stanford graduate students, who had this wish of seeing “more women in their upper level math and science classes.” Hence, they decided to start real young, where Roominate is all about building your own furniture as well as a making sure the home is wired, delivering proper working lights and the ilk. How the Roominate dollhouse works out eventually depends on you, but it all begins with a “kit of wooden building pieces and circuit components”.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: GameDock gives you old school feeling for iPhone, iPad and iPods, SoloMatrix Spike gives your iPhone a unique physical keyboard,

Insert Coin: GameDock lets your iPhone interface with a TV and controllers, game it old school

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.

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With its GameDock, Cascadia Games has a new twist on iOS arcade play — it lets you use your TV and two classic controllers. While retro games are popular on iPhones right now, an intense session can go haywire if your digits start slippping around on the screen, and head-to-head play is literally that if you’re sharing a small device with a foe. That aforementioned situation inspired the GameDock, which turns into a full-blown console when you plug in and pair your iPhone, iPad or iPod using Bluetooth, then connect your TV, along with a couple of USB game controllers. Just like that, you and a buddy are playing big-screen Asteroids, Centipede and 100 or so other iOS games that work with iCade. With 43 days remaining, just shy of 10 grand has been offered toward the $50K goal, so check the source if you want to revel in the gaming days of yore — eye or thumb strain-free.

Continue reading Insert Coin: GameDock lets your iPhone interface with a TV and controllers, game it old school

Insert Coin: GameDock lets your iPhone interface with a TV and controllers, game it old school originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Jul 2012 16:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SoloMatrix Spike gives your iPhone a unique physical keyboard

SpikeWhile we all know that Apple is probably never going to release an iPhone that features a physical keyboard, there are plenty of solutions available on the market to rectify this issue. It looks like we might have one more to add to the mix. Created by SoloMatrix, the Spike is a unique iPhone case that protects your phone as well as provides it with a physical keyboard. However, it isn’t like any other keyboard case available right now.
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By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Lunatik’s TakTik rugged iPhone case looks pretty awesome, MagSkin iPhone sticker will let your iPhone stick onto the fridge,

Ministry of Supply Apollo shirts keep your body at perfect skin temperature

Apollo shirtNobody likes wearing shirts to work, especially on hot days. While it’s usually a company dress code and there’s not much you can do about it, the folks over at Ministry of Supply have come up with a solution to help make it better. Called Apollo shirts, these clothes are made from Phase-change Materials that pull heat from your body, keeping you cool when you’re in hot weather.
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By Ubergizmo. Related articles: The L8 SmartLight is an interesting and bright notification system, Lunatik’s TakTik rugged iPhone case looks pretty awesome,

Kinkajou Cuts Bottles in a Jiffy, Still has a Funny Name

Ever wanted to create your own glassware? Well, you could learn glassblowing and start from scratch, or you could just grab some old beer and soda bottles and create your own upcycled glasses that way. A recent Kickstarter project aims to make this easy for everyone – and it’s called the Kinkajou.

kinkajou bottle cutter

Named for a tiny South American mammal with big teeth, the Kinkajou is an easy-to-use, compact device which will allow you to make quick work of cutting through bottles of many sizes – turning them into drinking glasses, vases and other vessels.

kinkajou bottles

Designed by Patrick Lehoux, the Kinkajou actually is designed to score bottles in a perfectly straight line, and then you can separate the two sections by pouring alternating hot and cold water over the freshly scored line. Then hit the rough edge that remains with a bit of silicon carbide or aluminum oxide sandpaper, and you have yourself a shiny new drinking glass.

The standard Kinkajou kit is available for ordering over on Kickstarter now, and includes the bottle cutter and a basic finishing kit for $50(USD). For a bit more, you can get into kits which include additional finishing materials or stencils and etching cream for customizing your glasses.


LifeLog Lets You Keep Track Of Your Life, So You Won’t Miss Anything

Life’s too short to spend it thinking about the stuff you did or didn’t do in the past (or last night), because regretting won’t change anything. What you can do, on the other hand, is learn from your mistakes so you can live a fuller life in the future.

One way to do that is by keeping a diary. But if that sounds tedious, then maybe LifeLog might just be the thing for you.

LifeLogIt’s basically an app that centralizes most apps you use on a daily basis, to keep a log of your life and help you do the things you need to do, when you need to: photos, videos, contacts, calendar,  entries, notes, and Facebook and Twitter integration.

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The app promises to help you keep “more complete memories” and provide “stronger memory tools” while you go about your daily life.

It sounds like a pretty interesting concept, not to mention useful. You can head on over to their Kickstarter page to find out more about the app or back the project. A minimum pledge of $5 will get you one-month of exclusive beta access to the iOS app.


Pebble smartwatch outs SDK preview at Google I/O, gives developers a kickstart on apps

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If you invested in the Pebble e-paper smartwatch — and who didn’t? — you’ll be happy to hear that the firm has unleashed a preview of the Kickstarter darling’s SDK at Google I/O this week. That’ll give developers a head start on creating apps for the ARM-powered e-paper device, allowing them to learn exactly how it receives data from Mountain View’s robot OS. The company said the new kit supports multiple program languages to boot, allowing developers of all skill levels to create Pebble-enabled apps. The document is still a work in progress, of course, but advances like this should help keep it from getting trampled by the cavalcade of smart wrist devices now coming out. Check the source link if you want to grab it.

Pebble smartwatch outs SDK preview at Google I/O, gives developers a kickstart on apps originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Jun 2012 15:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Snooze’s Big Snooze Bar Lets You Shut Your Alarm Off with Satisfaction

You might not be a morning person, but you can’t escape the fact that your job begins at seven-thirty in the morning. Rather than be a grouch about it, why not take out your frustrations on your alarm clock instead? If you’re thinking about doing that, then I’ve got just the alarm for you.

SnoozeAppropriately called the Snooze, this alarm clock has probably got the largest snooze button I’ve ever seen. It works with your iPhone 4 or 4S, so this is only for grouches who own either one of these devices. It also doubles as a dock for your phone, so you can charge it overnight while using it as an alarm clock.

Snooze Kickstarter

No worries about slamming the snooze button on this thing, because it’s made of rubber so it just flexes when you hit it.

For updates on the Snooze or to buy one, check it out over on Kickstarter. A minimum pledge of $40 will get you a basic wooden Snooze (use your own cable), $55 gets you one with a red dock cable, and the fancy aluminum versions are available for $99.


Mio’s Alpha Kickstarter Project Is A Very Cool, Touch-Free Heart-Rate Monitor Watch

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Mio made some fairly cool heart-rate watches a few years ago but they required you to place a finger on two little pads while running in order to take the measurements. It was interesting, and when you consider that most other heart-rate watches require a chest strap, fairly unique. However, nobody wanted to touch a little thinger just to get their heart rate.


Enter the Mio Alpha. This new product uses a precise light sensor to sense your heart rate on the go. No straps, no muss, no fuss. It’s pretty ingenious.

I got a chance to sit down with the watch a few days ago and I was really impressed. They’re tooling up right now to start manufacturing them and they will cost $99 when you pre-order through Kickstarter. The watches work by sensing changes in blood volume moving through the skin. It takes a moment to begin sensing but once it’s figured out your heart rate it’s ready to go. A small LED on the top tells you if you’re in the proper heart-rate zone and you can program it for various activity levels.

They’re looking for $100,000 and they’ve already hit $30K so things look good for an on-time arrival. Given that this watch does away with annoying straps and futzing, I’m pretty excited.

Project Page


Sensordrone Gives Your Smartphone the Sixth Sense to Do Amazing Stuff

Imagine how much easier life would be if we had sensors on all of our stuff. You could just raise your hand and the lights would go off, clap your hands to turn the TV on and off, and snap your fingers to run a bath.

But let’s start small, get real, and focus on smartphones instead, because a new technology is coming that will equip it with a sensor of its own: the Sensordrone.

Sensordrone

It’s basically a teensy-sized sensor that fits on your keychain so you can use it to add a wealth of uses for your smartphone. There are a lot of apps out there that need a decent sensor to function, and if you’ve been looking for one–then you’ve just hit the motherload.

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With Sensordrone, you can run apps that detect gas leaks, measure light intensity, carbon monoxide levels, humidity levels, temperatures, capacitance, and so much more.

It’s currently up for backing on Kickstarter, where a minimum pledge of $175(USD) will get you your very own Sensordrone.