Podcast #784: Invention roundup

Invention roundup From time to time we talk about new ideas we've come across on some of the crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter or Indiegogo. Some we happen upon ourselves, some we get alerted to by listener emails, tweets, etc. But these sites are literal treasure troves of inventions and predictions of what our homes, our home theaters and our lives may look like in a few years. Instead of just waiting for one of these ideas to come across our desks, we decided to do some digging to find out what the inventors of today are working on to provide a better future for the rest of us. In some cases a future that's starting to resemble Science Fiction or the Jetsons. For those who aren't familiar with crowdfunding, it's pretty simple. Someone has an idea, maybe even a prototype, but they can't afford to finish development, go to manufacturing and bring the idea to life on their own. So they look for help. Instead of getting a big check from a Venture Capital firm and giving up a large percentage of their company, they ask for your help. For a small donation you usually get early access to the product or other perks associated with it. If there's a product you think could really improve your life, you can help fund it and make it a reality. Indiegogo has a comparison of the two sites on their site. Obviously slanted, but a good description of how they work and how the two platforms differ. Moodo - The Smart Home Fragrance Box (Indiegogo) Moodo is the first smart device that gives you complete control over the way your environment smells and feels. Made for the home or office, Moodo enables you to change the ambiance instantly using a simple smartphone app. Smell is the strongest of our senses. It's arguably the sense most influential on your mood. It's also the next logical step in an increasingly personalized world. Your environment is what you make it- your ideal lighting, favorite decor and your music - now you can control the elusive dimension of fragrance. "OK Google, make it smell like Summer Rain in here" Moodo is the world's smartest fragrance diffusion machine. Play with the app's dials to control the intensity of each of the four capsules and explore the possibilities. Set it so you wake up to a citrus filled kitchen on weekend mornings, or take over as scent-DJ and switch up the mood in seconds. Then save your custom scents to the app. Or share them with your friends. And don't forget to set it to get romantic when the kids go to sleep. It's all up to you. And your nose. Moodo Starter Pack - $149  USD + Shipping Get your Moodo with a starter scent-family of your choice (4 capsules) at our special crowdfunding pricing for a limited time. Good for 2 months of normal daily use. We'll contact you when the campaign is over to get your choice of scents. See our scent families on the campaign page below. Retail value $249 Items included: Moodo Box, 4 fragrance capsules (1 set) Hayo: Create Virtual Remote Controls for Your Home (Indiegogo) Hayo connects to your favorite smart home platforms and products (like IFTTT, Wink, Sonos, Nest) and gives you the ability to control them with simple hand motions. The system starts by 3D-scanning your room and lets you create virtual remote controls on top of objects (like furniture) or right in mid air. Want to make your coffee table a play button for Sonos? Or place an on/off button for your HUE lights right above your bed? Hayo can do that. It's like using the force for your home. One Room : One Hayo - $219 USD + Shipping Get ONE Hayo at 27% off, before everyone else. **For the next 200 backers. **Hayo will retail for $299 Superscreen – Supercharge your phone with a 10.1" HD display (Kickstarter) The features of a $600 iPad in a $99 device. Superscreen gives you the benefits of a tablet with the power & convenience of your phone. Superscreen is a new way to experience the digital world you have set-up on your phone. It does everything a tablet can do, everything a casting product can do, PLUS everything in your phone in one affordable great looking device. Never stretched or zoomed: Your smartphone 4x bigger and better. Superscreen perfectly scales your content in full HD so nothing gets blurry or chopped. A familiar touch: Full multi-touch and orientation control, plus support for a stylus. Faster than Wi-Fi: Superscreen's patent pending technology transfers data between your phone at industry leading speeds as far as 100 feet away regardless of obstructions. SUPER PAIR - TWO SUPERSCREENS - For a pledge of $198 or more. Free US & EU shipping included. (The $99 package has sold out) Support us now and receive an exclusive Kickstarter price of 67% off (expected retail $598). Color: Midnight Black or Ivory White. Choose your color(s) after the campaign ends. INCLUDES: 2× Superscreen, 2× USB A to USB C Cord, 2× Type A to USB A Wall Charger ESTIMATED DELIVERY: Dec 2017 SHIPS TO: Anywhere in the world Eye - The Smart iPhone Case (Kickstarter) Add to your phone a: 5 inch display, battery power, up to 256GB storage, SIM slots, an IR blaster & wireless charging! Eye - an iPhone case that is an Android phone. With Eye, you finally get expandable storage on your device! Just pop a microSD card and back up your iPhone pictures and videos to it with our app. Access the file with any Android file explorer. Eye connects to the iPhone via Lightning so file transfer speed is phenomenal—up to 130MB (yes, bytes!) per second. Eye improves your battery life in two ways. 1) Inside the Eye and next to the motherboard is a 2800mAh battery. This battery will serve the Eye while charging the iPhone. 2) When you're using Eye, the iPhone is not really used, leaving it in standby mode much more than usual (than without having Eye). The iPhone's battery will never lose power to Eye. Eye includes 2 extra SIM card slots supporting LTE cellular speeds up to 300 Mbps. That means you can have up to 3 numbers—one inside your iPhone and two inside Eye. Since Eye doesn't have a mic or speaker, it'll use the iPhone's own mic and ear speaker. For those of us who would like to use wired headphones, Eye has your back! Eye connects to the iPhone through its Lightning port and takes the sound signal through it, just like any other Lightning headphones. When music plays or a call starts on the iPhone, you'll enjoy these features with your wired headphones connected to Eye. :) In case there is no sound on the iPhone, the headphone jack will play sounds from the Eye's Android OS. Early birds - For a pledge of $119 or more X1 Eye Retail $189 ESTIMATED DELIVERY: Aug 2017 SHIPS TO: Anywhere in the world