Hasta La Gadget!

Texting and messaging has evolved quite a bit ever since it was launched on the mobile phone scene, but this smart collar is the first time I’ve seen a way for your dog to send you text messages. While your pup won’t be able to thumb-type LOLOMGWTFBBQ, you will get a message in the event that he’s in trouble from heat exhaustion.

Rethink Toronto collaborated with the Toronto Humane Society to design the Dog Caller, and it could help your four-legged friend from peril, whether he’s at home or in your car (not that you should ever leave your dog in the car.) Thanks to the collar, a SIM card, thermistor, and LEDs, you can monitor the temperatures around your pooch remotely. The collar will send you an instant text message when the heat gets dangerous, so you can quickly get your dog out of the heat.

That’s something pretty useful, especially for breeds like bulldogs, who can easily die from heat exhaustion. The device will be available starting Spring 2013 for $20. Now somebody needs to combine the Dog Caller with this.

[via Hi Consumption]

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.

Sometimes you just can’t remember if you turned off the toaster oven before leaving the house. Sitting at work, you might wonder, “is my house burning down?” or “should I go home and check?” You could run home, of course, or you could just link that croissant cooker up to the internet and switch it off from your phone. SmartThings promises to let you do just that, offering a system that connects everyday physical objects to a cloud-based control center. The project aims to provide users with a bevy of end-devices — automatic door locks, thermostats, humidity sensors, presence sensors, power outlet switches and more — that connect to a router-like SmartThings hub. From here the user can easily see and control these devices on the SmartThings mobile app.

That alone would be pretty handy — but the SmartThings team decided to take it a step further by building SmartApps, that is, applications for further customizing how SmartThings devices (and the user) interact with the every day objects they’re attached to. The platform is going to remain open, too, allowing owners and developers to build custom applications to fit their needs. Better still, the project is on a tight time line, and aims to put its product in backer hands by December — of course, it’ll have to reach its $250,000 Kickstarter goal first. Check out the team’s pitch after the break, or hit up the source link below for more details.

Continue reading Insert Coin: SmartThings wants to connect your dog, mailbox and kitchen cabinets to the internet

Filed under: Misc

Insert Coin: SmartThings wants to connect your dog, mailbox and kitchen cabinets to the internet originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Aug 2012 12:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure it’s not as catchy as “Boot to Gecko,” but Mozilla’s newly-christened Firefox OS has already gained favor with a number of carriers, including Deutsche Telekom, Smart, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica and Telenor — as previously reported, Telefonica-owned Vivo is set to introduce the earliest handsets early next year in Brazil. On the manufacturing side of things, ZTE and TCL Communication Technology (Alcatel One Touch) have signed on to make phones based on the HTML5-powered mobile operating system. Firefox OS will be positioned as a low-priced, entry-level alternative to leading mobile operating systems.

Continue reading Mozilla says a slew of carriers and handset makers set to support Firefox OS

Mozilla says a slew of carriers and handset makers set to support Firefox OS originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Jul 2012 09:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While it didn’t merit a spot in either keynote, the Google TV platform is also getting an updated version of the Google Play store. Along with a new UI that looks a lot like the one on other Android devices it will have support for purchasing movies, music and TV shows as mentioned yesterday, and also subscription billing. The “Bring Your App to the Big Screen” presentation is still going on, we’ll let you know if any other new elements are revealed. There’s a new post on the Google TV blog mentioning apps like the one announced by Sirius XM, and the new hardware from partners LG, Sony and Vizio. Finally, the team is also focusing on its updated APIs for developers building not only apps for the TV (like the Google I/O app itself, which has been working smoothly this week streaming video), but also second screen applications just as we pointed out earlier. The last update and potentially most curious? Mentioned during the presentation, later this year Google TV will no longer require hardware manufacturers to provide a physical keyboard on their input device.

Google TV will get subscription billing, support for movie and TV purchases in Google Play originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jun 2012 15:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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