Hasta La Gadget!

I’ve taught my daughter the same thing we all learned as kids, NEVER open the door, unless you’re absolutely sure who it is on the other side. Yes, we have little peepholes on our hotel room doors and at our homes… but now even they are a risk. Reverse peephole viewers allow those so inclined, to look right into your private space, and even photograph you without your knowledge. I’m not liking that.

Check out the Brinno Digital PeepHole Viewer, using a cool LCD display, you can check out just who it is at your door, without even alerting them to your presence. The PeepHole Viewer turns what used to be a squinty, one-eye-closed experience, into a crisp clear picture, that can even be enhanced for more detail. Let’s say there’s a knock at the door, you simply push the button in order to see a full color, enhanced image of the person lurking outside your door. The image is easy to see, and the viewer even compensates for low light situations. Best of all, there’s no chance someone is peeping back at you at the same time.

Another press of the Digital Peephle Veiwer’s button gives you a zoomed-in image, in case you’re looking for greater detail. (like whether or not your favorite Girl Scout has your cookies or not!) The unit also turns off automatically after 10 seconds, so you don’t need to manually turn it off, and a low battery indicator light is built right into the viewer. The Brinno Digital Peephole Viewer replaces most existing peep holes in doors from 1-3/8-Inch to 2-1/4-Inch thick. It’s quite simple to install and runs on 2 AA batteries. If you’d like to add some high tech security to your front door, you can get one at amazon.com for under 70 bucks.
[ Brinno Digital Peephole Viewer – Knock, Knock? copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

I used to laugh at the commercials for the emergency alert necklaces for seniors. Remember them? “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” But now, I realize those devices, serve a purpose, especially for older people that live alone. I also am starting to see that caring for a parent, or any loved one that lives alone, can be very stressful. Did they take their medicine? Did they eat? Is there a device that can answer questions like that, without me having to call on the phone, nagging all the time?

There is now. Check out Live!y, an unobtrusive sensor system, that gives you a way to monitor an older loved one’s living patterns, and get valuable insight about whether or not help may be needed. Live!y can tell you if mom is taking her medication on time? Eating regularly? or even getting out and taking her daily walk. When something is not right, Live!y will make sure you know it. All this, while allowing mom, or dad, their independence.

The small Live!y sensors are place on objects in the home: like a pillbox, the fridge, and the keys, and the Live!y Hub captures activity signals from these sensors via a built-in cellular connection (no internet required) it then sends you an easy to read activity report to your smartphone or computer, all without you having to call mom for the 50th time, making her feel like you’re checking up on her, yet again.

To round out the family loop, Live!y let’s you provide this info to anyone you want, and let’s users upload special messages and pictures to a unique website that will then print out, and snail mail, a bi-weekly Live!yGram mailer, so mom knows what everyone else has been up to, no Facebook required. Live!y is only 149 bucks, and come with 2 months of free service, after that it’s 19.95 a month. A small price to pay for piece of mind. Available at amazon.com.
[ Live!y – High Tech, for Independent Seniors copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

There are a few things in this world we don’t even notice anymore. Take, for instance, the peephole. Almost every hotel room door has one. Your front door is likely to have one, and while we may sometimes use them in order to determine who has come a-knocking on our doors, we never really think too much about who could actually be looking right back in at us.

Case in point, let me introduce you to the the Peephole Reverser. That’s right, all the while you were prancing around your last hotel room in your under-roos, anyone with a Peephole Reverser could have been peeking back inside your private space, ogling your nether regions and making ready for you-tube movies of you, let’s say, jumping on the bed. (not that any of this has happened to me personally)

This, um, intrusive Peephole Reverser was originally developed in order to enable police officers to assess potential threats and view real-time activity behind a closed door when that door contained a peephole. However, now, this unique product allows anyone the ability to have a clear view directly into someones home, hotel room, or apartment. Hmmm…

The Reverse Peephole viewer is effective on all major brands of standard door peepholes and is sure to make you the hit of the party, or at least of the holding cell you wind up in. So if you’d actually like to be able to have a ± 15°  viewing angle through doors , and a depth of view of approx 10 feet… get yourself a Peephole Reverser, for around 75 bucks at amazon.com, and if you don’t actually want one… please always remember that someone out there already has one!
[ The Peephole Reverser – Who’s in There? copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

My daughter’s only 10, but already I imagine the day she starts to hang out alone with friends, or worse… starts to drive . Who among us doesn’t have a horror story that involves a teen driver? Unfortunately, I remember being a teen (keep your snickering to yourself) and I couldn’t imagine anything bad ever happening to me. I took chances I shouldn’t have, and while I’m still around, I know kids who weren’t so lucky. Is there a way to keep kids safe, when driving, or even just shopping around the local mall?

Well, in order to make an impression, I believe parents need to know whats going on, and iTrail may be the gadget that can keep them informed. iTrail is a small, lightweight, and waterproof multi-use GPS tracker. Designed to be carried in a pocket, dangled from a pet, keychain, or attched to a car, bike or motorcycle via an optional magnetic case, the iTrail can keep track of almost anything worth keeping track of. iTrail can provide concerned parents (or pet owners) with real-time tracking, location history and speed monitoring. iTrail logs this information and then displays it on an easy-to-use PC interface powered by Google Maps and Google Earth.

I know that some applications for the iTrail feel dangerously like spying, and folks may feel that some of these new technologies really infringe on privacy, but I’m not sure where I weigh in on this debate. I do know that there are certainly some parents, that in hindsight, would have done anything to keep their child safe. iTrail can record for about 120 hours, requires no subscription, and is available for under 190 bucks (with the magnetic case) from amazon.com. So please tell me, just how far, is too far when keeping tabs on your kids? and what if it were an employee or a spouse?
[ iTrail – Keeping Tabs on your Car, Kids, or Keys. copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

I remember being a, shall we say, a young adult? Some extra make-up and a newly purchased fake I.D, getting a six pack of little green bottles of beer and drinking them with my best friends up near the lake. Those memories used to be so much fun, now I have a daughter of my own and she’s highly likely to create the same horrors for me, that I did for my mom… but for her, pulling the same nonsense is getting tougher every day.

Check out the barZapp ID Scanning App, this useful tool allows you to simply aim a smartphone at the barcode or the magnetic stripe located on a genuine driver’s license and within seconds, you can instantly verify the age and ID validity of the license, and the person handing it to you.

Meant for certain types of merchants including bar owners, this nifty little app can greatly reduce the chances of receiving fines and penalties when selling all kinds of age-restricted products like alcohol, cigarettes or chewing tobacco, access or movies, or any other products or activities that might require age verification.

A quick and simple barZapp scan of the encoded license information will actually display the bearer’s name, gender, ID number, date of birth and their computed age alongside sample photos of  IDs from the appropriate states so you know exactly what that Idaho drivers license is supposed to look like, and soon the app will also be able to maintain VIP lists and banned patrons.

The barZapp app is available at the Apple App Store for $1.99, and annual and monthly licenses are available on Intellicheck Mobilisa’s website for $19.95 per month. BarZapp requires iOS 6.1 or greater, and a version for Android will be available soon. So much for the little green bottles up at the lake, huh kid? Now if we can just come up with an app to scan her dates with…
[ barZapp – Can I Scan your I.D. Please? copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]