Hasta La Gadget!

Clickdrive wants to be the first open platform device that connects all driving apps and aftermarket monitors. The small black box, which plugs into an adapter under your steering wheel, lets you run several apps simultaneously from your smartphone, directly on the device itself, or on Clickdrive’s cloud platform.

“There are a bunch of driving apps coming out of various natures, but what we don’t have is the ability to use more than one at a time,” says Mark Sutheran, co-founder of Clickdrive, which is based in Singapore, but works with international car models.

He compares on-board devices currently on the market to computers where you had to load tape software one program at a time.

“You can have an iPhone app and connect it with a specific OBD. Then when you want to switch to another app, you have to pull out the adapter and plug another one in. It’s not scalable.”

Clickdrive is now raising funds on Indiegogo to start production and has hit about $10,000 of its $100,000 campaign goal, which has a March 15 end date. The device will ship in November, but to give people a chance to test out Clickdrive’s SDK before the final hardware is available, the startup is sending crowdfunding supporters a free lite version in April. (Since there’s been some confusion, Sutheran emphasizes that the Clickdrive lite, which works only with Android and is made with an off-the-shelf adapter, is definitely not the final device).

In addition to offering the convenience of letting drivers run several iOS, Android, or Windows apps at once, Clickdrive’s creators also claim that it is faster and more secure than most existing OBDs.

The device will come with a bundle of apps that other developers can add to using Clickdrive’s SDK or open API. (Check out demonstrations of its analytics for cars in Europe, the Americas, or Asia here).

Driving apps already on the market include Automatic, a Y Combinator alum and Techstars-backed Dash, both of which offer their own hardware to connect with smartphones. Apps like Dash also work with other Bluetooth-enabled OBD, including some that cost as little as $10 on Amazon.

But Sutheran says Clickdrive will appeal to car enthusiasts who are eager to run more than one app at a time, as well as people who don’t want to pick and chose between apps that monitor their fuel usage, carbon emissions, engine performance, or driving performance.

Clickdrive can download and run third-party apps on the device itself, which means it will continue to analyze and store data even if your smartphone is out of power. The Clickdrive is also upgradable, so you can add more storage or new connectivity options, like GSM, 4G or Zigbee.

Sutheran, a self-described “petrol head,” first became interested in car computers when the engine of his Fiat Coupe blew up after he bolted on a turbo. This was back in 2004 and connected diagnostic tools for vehicles were too expensive for Sutheran to afford after shelling out for repairs. So he built a device to connect his car engine with his laptop.

At that time, Sutheran was working as a software developer and consultant, creating trading systems for investment banks such as Lehman Brothers. Then in 2012, Sutheran decided to leave the financial industry and see what he could do with the advancements in mobile tech and cloud computing in the eight years since his Fiat Coupe’s engine met its fiery demise.

Sutheran and co-founder Rishi Saraswat say they built Clickdrive with the same engineering principles they applied to low-latency, high-performance trading systems. They expect the device’s first adopters to be other petrol heads, as well as tech enthusiasts and people who want to reduce carbon emissions.

But Sutheran expects the apps and devices that connect to Clickdrive to quickly become ubiquitous.

“In a few years, there may be many thousands of driving apps out there,” Sutheran says. “Insurance companies will offer premiums if you install their apps, and there will be ones for ridesharing, tracking your family members’ driving, parking. There are many, many different ways you can go with this.”

The lack of wearable technology created just for teenagers is surprising, especially when you consider how tech-obsessed kids are: the average American teen spends 7.5 hours consuming media, while 70% of 13 to 17 year olds now own a smartphone. A new startup called Ringblingz wants to tap into this potentially lucrative market.

Ringblingz, which will start taking pre-orders in March, is currently part of the connected devices accelerator program launched in December by digital agency R/GA and Techstars.

Its first product, a smart ring that will make its public debut tomorrow at New York Fashion Week, focuses on what’s most important to teens—their social lives—by sending them alerts from favorite contacts on different social media channels so they don’t have to constantly check their phones. Photos won’t be available until the ring is unveiled, but head of marketing Jeanniey Mullen gave me a sneak peek. It looks like a signet ring and has an O-shaped diffused light on top that flashes different colors.

The first Ringblingz is aimed at teen girls and the most avid consumers will probably be high schoolers aged 15 to 17, says Mullen. The device taps into two lucrative markets: teens in the U.S. spend a total of about $208 billion each year on things for themselves, while the wearable tech market hit $8 billion last year.

From Jibbitz to Ringblingz

The startup boasts a team with an interesting pedigree. Co-founder Rich Schmelzer launched Jibbitz, a line of decorative charms for Crocs footwear, with his wife Sheri from their Colorado basement in 2005. 

If you don’t like Crocs and were mystified by their phenomenal success in the early 2000s, you are probably wondering why anybody would want to start a business dedicated to making the foam clogs look even more outrageous. But Jibbitz proved to be extremely popular and was acquired by Crocs for $10 million in 2006. Since then, the Schmelzers have also launched GeoPalz, which makes activity trackers for kids.

Mullen says Schmelzer’s background in kids’ accessories and wearable tech has been key to Ringblingz’s development. The founding team’s collective experience also includes Mullen’s stint as CMO of Zinio, one of the first newsstand apps; Alexandra O’Leary’s position as COO of GeoPalz; and Bill Phelps’ time as a product manager at EB Brands, which develops and licenses wearable tech to companies like Reebok.

RingBlingz has a good chance of grabbing the attention of teenagers for several reasons. First, a ring is more affordable (Ringblingz will retail for about $40 to $60) and less obtrusive than a wristband. Its alerts lets users watch for social media updates, texts, and calls from their best friends, crushes, parents, and other important people without having to keep their smartphone out.

This may seem frivolous, but less time spent fiddling with their mobiles every single time they get a push notification means teens can turn their attention to friends, studying, or not accidentally walking into things.

Ringblingz is also customizable, which Mullen says was a key point in focus groups because teens want to coordinate all their accessories with their outfits instead of wearing the same black band every day. The first ring is targeted at girls, but Mullen says there are styles planned especially for boys.

How it works

Ringblingz, which uses Bluetooth LE and connects to an iOS or Android app (a Windows Phone version is in the works), has to be within 100 feet of its paired smartphone to work and alerts teens when they move too far away. This will probably be a major selling point for parents who fret about kids losing expensive devices (maybe Ringblingz will also figure out a way to pair retainers).

Notifications on wearable devices are especially tricky. For example, when the Pebble smartwatch first launched, its constant stream of vibrating alerts for emails, texts, and calls was dubbed “a great way to be constantly irritated by technology.”

Since teens send a median of 60 texts each day, the Ringblingz team knew they had to make sure its app offers plenty of room for customization, with different light colors and patterns for each contact and social channel. Alerts can also be set for group conversations and the ring can be put into vibrate mode for class.

The ring’s non-rechargeable battery lasts three to six months and free replacements will be provided by the company. Mullen says the startup is looking at other sources of power, such as inductive charging, that will work with the device’s small size.

Ringblingz can serve as an introduction to wearable tech for kids–a novelty that is useful for them, but doesn’t have so many functions or such a high price tag that it puts off parents. The startup, which is currently looking for seed investment, plans to develop new devices for Ringblingz’s users as they enter their early twenties, as well as different consumer demographics.

“Ringblingz is meant to be a full line of products that will expand over time. We have considered a number of factors, like the engagement level of kids who have the ring, as they move into adulthood, and adding features like two-way communication,” says Mullen. “The potential is endless.”

Oculus isn’t just supporting CCP Games from a distance in its creation of EVE: Valkyrie – the maker of the Oculus Rift VR gaming headset announced today that it will co-publish the game with CCP, making it an exclusive launch title when the Rift launches to consumers later this year.

Valkyrie originally debuted under the codename EVE-VR, and features space fighter gameplay with an in-cockpit viewpoint. Oculus has used Valkyrie as a showcase piece of software for its virtual reality gaming headset, both at E3 last year and again at CES in January, where it was used to demo the new, more user-friendly ‘Crystal Cove’ production prototype Rift hardware.

Getting in bed with CCP as a co-publisher guarantees Eve: Valkyrie prime placement for the Rift’s eventual consumer launch, but it also means that Oculus will have the equivalent of a top-flight ‘console exclusive’, so to speak, complete with established brand recognition. The EVE Online MMO still entertains a massive audience, even a decade after its launch, as evidenced by the scope of a recent in-game space battle.

Total video game immersion might not be as far away as you think: The Oculus Rift is a huge step in the right direction, and it may have an optimal bedfellow in Thalmic’s Myo armband, the gesture control wearable that picks up on electrical impulses from your arm to deliver fine-tuned control over connected devices. While the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset can track head movements, and even now sense when you move forward or pull back, it still requires that you use a physical controller in most cases, which tends to dampen the realism to a degree. You’re not actually going to reach for that ladder run when climbing in-game, for instance, or grip that stock when you’re taking aim with your assault rifle. Oculus Rift and Myo are such a natural fit that it hasn’t escaped the notice of its investors. Spark Capital has a stake in both companies, and that’s no coincidence: A source close to the firm tells me that they considered the possible cross-device potential when they made their investment in each company, both of which were announced in June last year. Myo is marketing its devices as a much more broadly focused input mechanism, but the gaming segment is the fatted pig ready for market for investors, we’re told. The Oculus/Myo team-up isn’t just speculative, either. An email from Myo founder and CEO Stephen Lake confirms that indeed, development efforts are underway to link up the two pieces of hardware. “There are projects using both Myo + Rift,” he explained via email. “For example, there are developers in our Alpha program integrating both with Unity for various games. I think it’s a badass use case.”

For Oculus Rift, the key to success appears to depend at least in part on the headset’s ability to provide a convincing simulation of reality. Disconnects between what users are seeing in-game what they think they should be able to do in terms of character control and in-world interaction. For Myo, the big hurdle will be demonstrating a focused consumer use case that appeals to a big enough segment of the consumer market. In other words, Myo hooking up with the Rift is like chocolate meeting peanut butter, and it’ll be interesting to see how deep that relationship eventually goes.

Toronto-based wearable startup Bionym’s Nymi band uses your ECG to securely identify you to various devices and services, and as of today there’s another trick up its sleeve – acting as a secure, easy to use Bitcoin wallet. The company revealed today that one of the launch applications that will ship with the Nymi will be a Bitcoin wallet, and that said wallet will provide a more secure method of storing your account’s private key.

All Bitcoin transactions consist of a key exchange: when someone is depositing funds into your account, they use the public key (it’s public since people don’t often get that cheesed about getting free money); when they want to send or withdraw the cryptocurrency, they use the private key. Recently, some evidence has suggested that it’s actually frighteningly easy to get at that private key if it’s stored on a hard drive or shared via QR code.

What Nymi brings to the table is a way to keep the private key securely stored independent of any computer, and tied to your unique ECG biometric signature. This makes it not only secure, but also more convenient than existing Bitcoin wallet solutions, Bionym President Andrew D’Souza explained in an interview.

“People just don’t understand how [Bitcoin] works, and how they gain access to it without putting themselves at risk,” “We see Nymi as essentially being that enabling technology that brings it to market. Everyone who buys a Nymi will get a Bitcoin wallet and be able to securely transact, and understand that their wallet is encrypted, and tied to their biometrics so that even if you lose your Nymi or it’s stolen they won’t be able to access your bitcoins.”

D’Souza says that while Bitcoin has a lot of potential, there’s a risk that it will either fade away into obscurity because of its perceived complexity, or that it’ll get legislated away and receive such a negative connotation that it doesn’t ever hit the mainstream. By making Bitcoin more accessible, and more secure, Bionym hopes to help it avoid those pitfalls. Their vision is of a world where you maintain a Bitcoin savings wallet on a computer, but then use your Nymi like a walkaround checking account for daily transactions.

“With Nymi, when you walk away from your computer your Bitcoin wallet will lock automatically,” explained Bionym Chief Cryptographer Yevgeniy Vahlis. “But it won’t just lock in terms of the interface; there’s nothing there to steal. Everything that’s important about your Bitcoin account is stored physically on the Nymi, so hacking into your computer won’t allow anyone to steal or misuse your Bitcoin, even if they hack into your computer while you’re using your Nymi.”

The Bitcoin Wallet will be shipping with the first Nymi armbands when they eventually ship. Bionym is keeping mum on when exactly that will be, but the company still states an “early 2014″ ship date on its pre-order page for the first batch of units. As with any hardware startup, demonstrating utility to early customers will be key, so Bitcoin integration, if it really can democratize the concept of the cryptocurrency, could indeed be a killer app.