Almond+ - Your Touchscreen Router And Smart Home Hub

KickSarter Friday - An innovation in the home router.

If you have been desiring a wireless router which does not cost you an arm and a leg to purchase, you need to read on. If you are looking for a wireless router that does not make you jump through connections to a PC to configure, you need to read further. As there are many products out in the market, but few which can provide you an easy to use interface and a very reasonable price. On top of that, how would you like to have a centralized place to control items in your home.

Enter the Almond+ from Securifi and is this weeks KickStarter project. With a goal of $250,00, this project has already passed $216,000 with over a month to go and shows just how successful this one is going to be. And you only have to look at some of the specifics about this to get an understanding why most people are going to want to get their hands on one of these. And you are going to be paying $99 for this when it is available.

To start with, the Almond+ is a 2.8 inch touch screen router. No more having to connect a PC to set it up, making it a delight to work with. If that is not enough, they are supporting 802.11ac along with 802.11n and is backward compatible. You will get access to both the 2.4 Ghz and the 5 Ghz bandwidth from this small unit. There are 4 + 1 Gigabit ports on the Almond+ which at this price is not something you see. And a range of 5000 ft from the Almond+ is going to make this a great home wireless router.

But that is only the router part of the product. This can provide you with home automation as well, supporting Zigbee and Z-Wave. You can use the Almond+ to control your heating and lighting if it is so enabled and deal with security alerts from the interface. Even better, you can control these from an iOS or Android app on your smart phone. And not just within range of the router, but over the Internet. That makes this a great item to control your home while you are away. If you have sensors on your front or back door, alerts for them being opened can be received by Almond+ and if you want, sent to your smart phone alerting you of that event. There are lots more items that can applied to this if they are enabled for home automation control and monitoring.

The Almond+ is planned to be released to those who pledge at least $99 or more toward the project. Those individuals should see their very own Almond+ in September this year. If this sounds like something that you are truly interested in, head on over to the KickStarter page for the Almond+.

PadPivot Holds Your Tablet For Easy Use

If you are the owner of a tablet or eReader, you know how tough it is to always have to be holding one so that the screen is at the right angle to work with. After a while, you want to let go of it and relax your hand from holding it so long. This is especially true when reading an eBook and relaxing. There are a number of solutions out there which are available, but they seem to be too large or not as workable as one would like. It would be nice to have a small and convenient holder so that you could enjoy your time without having to hold on to your tablet.

Enter the PadPivot which is available for purchase from their website store for $39.99. This small and multipurpose device can hold your tablet in a number of ways so that you do not have to. And while this looks like it will work great when sitting down, the same stand can be reversed and placed on a table or counter for your continuing enjoyment of your tablet. The PadPivot is very small and can be folded up so that it will fit into your pocket to take with you.

The PadPivot has been redesigned since it was introduced in 2011 to now be the PadPivot NST. It uses a little different method of attaching to your tablet and by pressing down creates a suction point to hold your tablet or eReader. While this may not be as strong a suction or attachment method as some others, it does the job for sitting down and propping your tablet up on your leg as shown in the video. Others create a suction point that cannot be shaken off and come in a much larger size which makes them less usable as a result. With its curved surface to easily fit your leg, the PadPivot provides for a unique and simple product for you to enjoy your tablet.

If you are looking for a tablet stand that you can use just about anywhere, the PadPivot is the solution for your. You can spin your table to portrait or landscape while attached giving you full enjoyment while relaxing. And this small device will even work with your smart phone as well. With the growing size of smart phone screens, the PadPivot is going to be a popular device in that area as well. Take a look at this one to fit your needs.

WeMo Has You Moving To Home Automation

We have come a long ways in the last 10 years for being able to control devices in the home from a computer. Unfortunately, the ability to control heating, air conditioning and lights from a computer required lots of wiring in the home to accomplish. But recently, the ability to manage some electrical items in your home can now be done in combination with an iOS device. All you will need is a small device to plug into an electrical outlet and then plug what you want to manage into that. Pretty simple and you are then involved in home automation.

And the WeMo Switch from Belkin provides you with everything that you need in order to control a single item. You will need to download the iOS app from the Apple App Store and connect to the WeMo switch and you are then able to control that single item from your iOS device. You then can operate something like a lamp from your iOS device, turning it on and off. Turn on a coffee pot from your bedroom to have that morning cup ready when you go to the kitchen. All that you need is a WiFi connection from your iOS device to the WeMo device and you are ready to go.

The iOS version that you must be running is iOS version 5 or this will not work. Controlling multiple WeMo devices is a snap using the WeMo app. There are onscreen instructions for setting up each WeMo switch that you add to your WiFi network. And the app lets you schedule things to turn on or off for you.


There is one more part to this which is the use of ifttt. What is IFTTT you ask.

It is "IFTTT is a service that lets you create powerful connections with one simple statement: If this then that

Basically, you are setting up a rule that when something happens, then something else will be done. You can get more information at IFTTT.com. The WeMo app comes with a code you can use to connect to IFTTT to simplify the setup for you.

If you have wanted to get into home automation, but not spend the thousands of dollars to make that happen, this is absolutely the best alternative for you to consider. Belkin is working on new devices, such as the Belkin WeMo Light switch which should be out by this summer. And with that, they are working to include an Android app to control their WeMo devices and rapidly expand their market. For all you Android IOS owners, you can expect to be able to your your Android devices with the Belkin WeMo products this summer.

Orobis Transform - Lightning And MicroUSB Connector

With all the changing technology, it is often difficult for the accessory markets to keep up with it. And that challenge continues to happen. As a recent example, Apple changed its 30 pin connector for charging to the new and more efficient Lightning connector and caught so many off guard. In doing so, there is a mix of the old and new connectors on the market. For the accessory markets, this made for a mad scramble to catch up. But there is a new need to provide a connector for people which can provide for both the Lightning and microUSB connections in a single unit. And there is one current on Indiegogo to meet that need which you need to take a look at.

The Orobis Transform is an Indiegogo project which was recently added to provide for exactly what people need. A standard male USB connector to plug into your computer and the Lightning connector to plug into your iPhone 5 or the latest iPad and iPad Mini. Or you can plug this into your computer and plug the microUSB into your smart phone or tablet. You get the best of both worlds here. You can charge up your Apple devices with the Lightning connector or your microUSB devices. Either way, you get the Orobis Connector which can charge up either to meet your needs. No need to have two separate cables.

And this is also a connector to sync up your device, making it just that much more valuable to you. As you can see by the example showing the Orobis Transform in action, they are showing just how simple it is to change from one connector to the other. So, you get the best of both with a sync cable and a charge cable which is set to handle your needs for the Lightning and microUSB connector.

You should really take a look at the Orobis Transform and consider participating in the funding. For a $25 contribution, you will get a while Orobis Transform connector cable. For $40, you can pick between a white or black Orobis Transform cable and receive 2 cables. Delivery for contributors is scheduled for May. This is a fantastic crowd sourced funding project.

Kill A Watt Can Help Understand Your Power Bill

Given rising costs in the world, we need to make sure we are watching where our money goes on the monthly bills. And one that may seem a mystery is the monthly electricity bills that come every month. With so many things requiring power today, it is hard to know what things are actually costing us in electricity usage. Fortunately, there are tools out there which can help you in determining just exactly where you monthly costs are. And some of those may actually surprise you. The Kill A Watt is one of the most popular devices in the market today to answer the unknown questions.

The Kill A Watt from P3 International provides the tool to figure out how much electricity is being consumed. And there are a variety of different models to chose from, but the EZ model appears to be popular at many stores. Installation is a breeze as you unplug what you want to measure, plug the Kill A Watt into the wall plug and then plug the item to measure into the Kill A Watt.

You are know ready to do. You will need your last months electric bill so that you can get the kilowatt per hour cost to plug into the unit. Once you put in the value, you can start to monitor what is being consumed from the power company. It is best to let things run for a few days before you look at how much usage there is and a few days will give you a much better picture. You can also let it measure for a month to figure out how much an individual item is costing you for the month. You can quickly see how much a refrigerator or TV is costing you. As you measure varies electrical items in your home, you will start to understand where all the items fit into the overall bill.

You can find the Kill A Watt in many different locations, such as Home Depot. This unit monitors a single plugged in item, such as a TV. If you want to monitor the usage of a number of computer components, then you want to look at the Kill A Watt Power Strip which will monitor up to 10 plugs at a time. If you have a home computer, router, monitor and other items, this will give you the necessary information to understand the cost of operating those devices in terms of electricity usage. This can be purchased at (a href="http://www.amazon.com/P3-International-P4320-Kill-A-Watt-Power/dp/B000UKSESK">Amazon or other locations.

There are a number of YouTube videos on Kill A Watt for you to review and understand exactly what this can do for you. The Kill A Watt will only work on 110 volt measuring and will not handle any 220 volt measurements that you want to do.

If you are interested in understanding your electricity costs, this is the tool that you need to accomplish that.

Pivot Power - Unique Power Strips

Power strips have been a bland category in the market. Everything out there is a straight line device which many try and improve on by adding features to them, such as cable control. But it is that sameness which makes them standard, but not unique. But, there is a growing group of power strips which provide power protection from surges which are not your run of the mill devices. Having something which is far different is what many are looking for in providing additional power outlets for our devices. And there are various types which are showing up in the market.

The power strips created by from Quirky such as the Pivot Power Mini pictured above. It is listed on the site at $24.99, but you may be able to find it for less on other sites. This one provides 2 electrical plugs and 2 USB ports for charging up your devices. And it sure looks unique.

Or you can take a look at the Pivot Power which is a flexible power strip which can pivot the electrical plugs in various shapes as shown here. This allows you to get all the power blocks you need into the strip as shown in the picture here. This is a great idea and it is something far different from all the other ones which are in the market today. The Pivot Power is listed on the Qurky site for $29.99.

Both of these items are rather interesting and there is even a Pivot Power Junior, which has a only 4 electrical connections at a listed price of $19.99. All of these are very interesting and make a statement that you want to be different than everybody else.

Flatlight Is A Truly Portable Flashlight

KickStarter Friday - An Innovation For A Flashlight

Everyone has had to use and carry a flashlight at one time or another. The problem is that carrying one is not always the easiest things to do. Those round devices which run on various size batteries are generally uncomfortable to slide into a pocket and carry around. On ones that attach to a key chain, they add bulk in your pocket. I am into lightweight and very easy to carry in everything that I do. So, for a flashlight to be really portable and usable, it needs to fit those categories to be something that I carry with me all the time. I have too many flashlights that sit in drawers until they are ready to be used and as generally happens, they need batteries.

Enter the Flatlight which is an active KickStarter project. They are well on their way of exceeding the project goal of $15,000 of a new and thin flashlight. The Flatlight is 3.57 inches long and 1.99 inches wide, which is close to the size of a credit card. And it is only 0.11 inches thick where your normal credit card is 0.03 inches thick. So they have really gotten this down to a great size.

What makes the Flatlight innovative is that it contains a circuit board which holds 2 of the small flat round batteries (CR2016) for power. And they are claiming that it will run for 10 or more hours of continuous use. That is quite a claim and is accomplished by the circuit board which is an on board processor to handle functions and control the light being emitted.

One thing which is going to make this a popular light is the logo which appears on the back of the Flatlight which has light behind it. This is going to be a popular item for companies to put their logo on the back to give away or promote their products.

The Flatlight is not the flashlight that you want to be using for normal outdoor activities, but in a pinch, it is right there to pull out to help. Putting your key in a lock when it is dark is a perfect example of a usage for this. For a pledge of $20 or more, you will get one Flatlight which is scheduled to be shipped in May. The Flatlight KickStarter project ends on February 13, 2013.

USB And A Swiss Army Knife Together

If you are like most people, you remember the first time that you saw a Swiss Army Knife and all the things that it could do. It was amazing how they got everything into such a small unit that you could carry around. A lot has changed over the past 10 years (or more) and the Swiss Army Knife has tried to keep up with what is going on in the world. With all the technology that is out there, it is a natural fit to have them incorporate some form of technology into their famous knife and name.

And with that, they are now providing the Swiss Army Knife included with a USB stick as a single unit. As you can see, the USB folds inside the knife for safe keeping. A great idea and one that many would love to have. In the configuration you see here, there are two sizes. One contains an 8 GB USB for a price of $49.00 and another contains a 4 GB USB at a price of $39.00. And these come with the expected scissors, small knife and nail file. These would probably be stopped by TSA as a security risk, so do not try and take on an airline.

If you want to keep things simple and just get one that contains a USB which can be folded into the handle, they have a large variety to chose from. They have a variety of colors to chose from along with a variety of USB storage sizes to pick from. The storage capabilities range from 4 GB up to 64 GB of storage. Or you can double the highest amount to get a dual 64 GB at a total capacity of 128 GB. As these go up in storage size the price goes up with that. There are higher capacity ones available including one announced at CES 2013 containing 1 TB of storage coming at a price of $3,000.00. Pretty steep price.

Last year, Victorinox, the makers of the Swiss Army Knife, discontinued the security software that was included with some of the USB knifes. They continue to sell their USB Swiss Army Knifes and they are worth taking a look at. These are great conversation starters and a great way to transport important information with you.

ParkMe Provides Great Parking List In Large Cities

We are always looking for a great app to help in finding a parking place. And there are a growing number out there, especially as cities start to raise the rates for metered parking, such as in San Francisco. I have to travel to San Francisco several times a month and trying to find a parking space or parking garage is always a challenge. We have reviewed a few other apps for finding parking which work in a variety of cities in the US. An this one provides better information combining parking garages and parking meters.

The latest one is ParkMe which has value is trying to find a parking location outside of the financial district of San Francisco. The iOS app and web site gather information from what cities are providing to show open spaces on the street and parking garages the city owns. They also gather information about private lots if those private lots are providing information electronically. And this is not just for a few US cities, but 300 cities in the US and growing. And they are also in other countries as well.

The great things about these parking apps is that they are close to real time as for available parking. They all provide information which reflects parking in the last minute making them a great tool to have with you. The ParkMe app also shows me the rates on parking meters which is a great idea as more cities begin to vary the rates based on the time of day or other reasons.

Given that so many just keep circling the block looking for a parking place, you will know where there is a garage and the price that parking garage charges you to park there. And it will show you were available street parking is which is metered. The metered information is provided by the local city and not all cities have added sensors to show when a parking spot is open. But they are growing.

The ParkMe app is unfortunately only available for iOS devices, so it is not available for Android smart phones. But they are in the process of developing the ParkMe Android app and it should be available soon. If you travel to large US cities and are always looking for parking, this is one you should take a look at.

Limb.al - USB Cable And Stand For Your Smart Phone

New ideas come out all the time and it takes a while for them to come to market for sale. If you could get a USB cable to charge up your smart phone and the same cable could be used as a stand for your smart phone while charging, would you be interested? I know that I was interested when I came across this one today and it is supposed to be shipping this month. Given we are towards the end of the month, the release is imminent.

The Limb.al is the combination of a phone stand and a USB charger. Pretty simple concept and yet this is just now coming to market. You plug the MicroUSB or iOS 30 pin connector to your smart phone and the other plugs into a USB connection. For most monitors, they come with USB ports on the side where you can plug the Limb.al in as you see it above. There are so many different ways you can place it and bend the flexible cable to hold the phone.

With the Limb.al cable, no longer will your smart phone have to lay on your desk while you are working. You can have it at eye level so that you can look at it to see other things that are going on in your life, like Facebook or Twitter. The cable is solid enough that you can have your phone in the stand while in your car. While not recommended to be used while driving, it does provide get information when using a GPS app on your smart phone.

Pre-orders for the Limb.al in black are still be accepted at a price of $19. The flexible cable is 7 inches long. The Limb.al was a Kickstarter project in the middle of 2012 and it is great to see the flexible USB cables coming to market.

Conserve Insight Helps You Measure Energy Costs

If you are like most of us, you do not know how much electricity you are using on various devices in your home. And it is that unknown which can cause a big surprise when the bill comes charging us for the usage of electricity from the power company. When you get that surprise, it cause one to wonder exactly how much electricity is being consumed by various devices. Such as the power required for the computer I am working on right now. Or the lamp that is left on most of the day. Well, there is a device which can help you figure out which item in your home is consuming how much electricity.

The Belkin Conserve Insight can determine just how much energy is being consumed by anything in your home which plugs into an outlet. This is exactly the tool you can use to figure the electricity consumption. And by understanding which items in your home consume more than they should, you can make adjustments which will lower your energy costs. So, you might be wondering just how good the Conserve Insight might be for helping you to reduce your electricity usage.

The Conserve Insight goes between the wall outlet and the unit that you are measuring. It is at that point, it begins tracking the electricity that flows to the item you are looking at, such as a refrigerator. You can plug in what your kilowatts per hour rate is from your bill and it will tell you the running cost for the refrigerator. It gives you the cost and watts consumed and makes this a great item for your home to try and figure out which things are costing you the most. And the Conserve Insight can also calculate the carbon emissions as well.

The Conserve Insight comes in what looks like 2 pieces, though they are connected together. There is the part that goes between the outlet and the item that you want to measure the power usage. And there is the screen which will display what is going on with the power consumption. The part that plugs into the power outlet is larger than the width of an outlet, so it you are plugging it into a power strip, it will take up more than the one plug.

Once the item you are using consumes more than 0.5 watts, it will start to register how much power is being consumed. Anything less than that and nothing shows up. One of the great things you can do with this is to measure the cost of using a lamp using the convention light bulbs and then measuring the cost using a Compact Fluorescent Bulb (CFL) to determine the difference. Or even measure the cost difference in using some of the new LED light bulbs which are out.

You can pick up the Belkin Conserve Insight from Amazon which is currently priced at $29.99. This is a great idea to determine your energy costs and show your family what it costs to power the home.

PowerDock 5 Coming To Charge Up To 5 Devices

There were quite a few new products shown off at CES 2013 and one that caught my eye is one which will allow me to charge up to 5 different devices via USB. I have had to charge multiple devices at the same time and there are wires running all over the place plugged into multiple computers. That is not exactly the way that I want to do that task. Well, there is a solution to this problem coming in the Spring which will handle this problem.

The PowerDock 5 from Griffin Technology is going to answer the too many wires connected for charging your mobile devices. While this was promoted for iOS devices, it will work with any device which recharges the battery via a USB connector. Allowing for up to 5 mobile devices, this is going to satisfy everyone's need to charge multiple devices. By having all the devices standing up, it minimizes space all the while looking like it belongs on your desk in its design. You might wonder how it can charge all 5 devices at the same time and making sure that all the mobile devices get equal power.

That is accomplished by Griffin's own ChargeSensor technology which makes sure that each mobile device is getting the correct amount of power being sent to it for recharging the battery. All of this is handled from one electrical outlet. Griffin is supposed to be releasing the PowerDock 5 in the Spring at a price of $99.99.

The only drawback to the PowerDock 5 is that you use your own USB connectors. If you are like most people, those connectors are 3 feet long or longer. And with those longer cables for 5 devices, you are going to have wires hanging out around the unit. If you want to clean up wires mess, you will have to purchase new cables which are much shorter.

While this looks like a great way to hold and charge your mobile devices, some have pointed out that it is rather pricey just to get something to stand up your devices. And while some may feel that way, the bigger issue is the built in technology to make sure that all the devices are getting charged appropriately. Cheaper solutions are not going to offer that. We will have to wait and see just how well the PowerDock 5 will sell.

Looj 330 Gutter Cleaning Robot Makes The Job Easier

This weekend, I have to clean out the gutters from the leaves and dirt that has built up. If I don't, the gutter drains get clogged and the gutters become full of leaves resulting in an overflow of water when it rains. It is a a slow job to clean them out and having some one else do it is preferred. Short of that, having some tool that would accomplish the task would be desirable as the next alternative to doing the work.

From the same company that provides robot vacuum cleaners, comes the Looj 330, a robot gutter cleaner at a price of $299.99. While the price is a little steep, this is a fantastic tool for getting your gutter cleaned without a lot of ladder moving as you move around the outside of your home. With this tool, you can put it at one end of a straight run of gutter and it will work its way down the gutter throwing out leaves and dirt to get your gutter cleaned out. No more having to go up and down a ladder and move it a few feet down each time you clean a section of gutter.

With multiple attachments and various speeds, this is going to do the job of cleaning your gutters. There are a few drawbacks to this, such as when it runs out of juice in the 7.2 volt lithium-ion battery. Someone had a solution to that by attached fishing line to the end of it so that you can pull it back down the gutter. That is a great idea so that you do not have to move your ladder trying to find the correct location in the gutter to retrieve it. You can control it solely by the handset unit or you can turn on "autonomous mode" where it will go down the gutter to the end of a straight line and then return back to the starting location. That makes it pretty simple to own and operate.

If you want to avoid the process of cleaning your gutters by manually doing it, this is a someone automated process you should look into.

Monkey Tail Holder Lets You Position Your Tablet Just About Anywhere

KickStarter Friday - Great product to prop up your tablet just about anywhere.
Every now and then a great new product is designed and created to fill a great need for the masses. Since the number of tablets continues to grow, there comes a need to find a way to stand up your tablet when you are in different locations. Most of the current stands are like standing a book up and are not flexible at all. This weeks KickStarter Friday project is one that has a lot of imagination and some fantastic usability for your tablet.

The Monkey Tail Kit gives you the flexibility to use your tablet hands free and in a number of settings. The tail is flexible and can be bent into many different shapes and attached to things to hold your tablet in place and at the appropriate angle for you to use. This is a great idea and product. When this product is available, it will consist of two parts. One is vacuum dock and when you attach it to your tablet, you squeeze the pump 5 times, it creates a seal that keeps your tablet from coming off. The other part is the tail, which is a length of 3 feet and can be bent and shaped to fit your needs in using your tablet.

This is a very simple idea and is going to generate a lot of interest when it is released. It has 34 days still to go on the KickStarter project and has been pledged at almost double the goal of $20,000. The estimated delivery date for those who have pledged $80 or more is April of 2013. If you do pledge $80 or more, you will be one of those lucky souls who receive the Monkey Tail Kit before it comes to market. The expected price for this when it becomes available is $99.99, so early backers get a discount as well.

The company is saying that the vacuum seal on your tablet will last for days, but just how many days will have to be determined. With the investment in a tablet, you may want to release the seal and re-establish it daily so that your tablet does not fall off and get damaged. We believe this will be the best tablet holder for 2013 because of its great flexibility.

Here is the video from the Octa group and clearly demonstrates just how great this coming product actually is. Stay with the video until the very end as they show a use for your tablet in a location where most of us deny using it.

BeeWi Toys Controlled With Your Smart Phone

Being able to take some time out of your busy day and play a game is something many of us would like to do. The key is being able to do that without taking too long to arrive at a destination to have some competition. But, what if you could do that from a desktop or table with a group of people. And be able to play the game with your smart phone. That is the premise behind the mini robots which you control.

The BeeWi Bluetooth Mini Robot will provide you with exactly what you need. BeeWi is calling these KickBee. And if others have a KickBee Mini Robot as well, you can play a game together or against each other all via you smart phone. This is great way to reduce some of the stress from the work day. Or even increase your stress because of the competition. Each KickBee is to be priced at $54.99. These are not currently available in the US, but we can expect to see them here in about a month.

These small little KickBee robots can play soccer with a group of your friends as shown below. With each KickBee you receive the BeeWi mini robot, a goal and a ball. They even throw in a number sheet so that you can put numbers on your KickBee. This is a complete set to start practicing for the next competition with your fiends. All you have to provide is 2 AAA batteries and a surface to play on. And the smart phone apps to control these are free to download at the iTunes store or Google Play store.

This uses Bluetooth 3.0, so your smart phone needs to have the 3.0 version to be able to play. BeeWi has many other robot toys which you can control with your smart phone, including bluetooth helicopters and bluetooth cars. This is a great way to have some fun. There is also a new StingBee tank that shoots infrared bullets.

Netatmo - Your Own Personal Weather Station

Monitoring the weather is a fun thing to do and if you live in an area where it can vary greatly within a few miles and having localized weather is very desirable. There are a large number of devices which can monitor the weather and display them on a wall display. But the number which can work with mobile devices is somewhat limited. But that is changing and is for your benefit.

The Netatmo Urban Weather Station is your own personal weather station and provides indoor and outdoor information to you. When you purchase one, you get 2 monitoring stations. One for indoors and another for outdoors. And these are not your standard monitoring stations. At a price of $179 from the company web site, these are high end products which can provide far more than one might expect if you are concerned about the environment. And the information is viewed on your iOS or Android (4.0 and above) smart phone or tablets via WiFi. Why it is not Bluetooth utilizing less power is an unknown.

The indoor cylinder requires an electrical connection and will require that you place it near the power connection. The outdoor cylinder runs on 4 AAA batteries, so it can be placed anywhere outside that you like. Both of these must be within range of your WiFi device to be utilized. So, with your personal weather station, what can you do. After your download the app to your iOS or Android mobile deice, you just need to set up the connection to the indoor modules. The outdoor modules will know about the indoor module for setting things up. The Netatmo then collects the information which you can then monitor on your mobile device.

The Netatmo weather station determines your location based on the GPS from your mobile device via the app. Once set up, it begins monitoring various things. The outdoor monitor will measure the temperature and humidity. The indoor monitor will monitor temperature, humidity, pressure, CO2 and sound levels. Given that CO2 levels has become a big issue in recent years, this is a great thing to include. This does not replace CO2 monitors which you should have in your home.

While this is not for everyone, it you are interested in the weather conditions, this is for you. And the added benefit of indoor conditions make this a must have. One of the big potentials for this will be to provide more accurate weather readings in neighborhoods where there are a number of these installed. That collected information could be shared with weather agencies and even between stations. The potential value for the Netatmo this is huge.

iLumi LED Bulbs Controlled Via Bluetooth

Coming Technology - Wireless Control of LED Lights

Sometimes a coming technology is so revolutionary, that you want to be on the look out for it in the future. And that is the situation with the iLumi LED lights which are coming. These are just a simple LED light bulb which can let you control them wirelessly. You do not have to rewire your home to accomplish this feat. You only need to purchase one of these when they arrive in the 2nd quarter, put an app on your smart phone and control the bulb. It is that simple.

iLumi LED light bulbs is the future in how we use lights by allowing us to control the lighting without having to make massive changes to the wiring to accommodate remote control. Instead, the Ilumi lights can be controlled via your iOS or Android devices simply by enabling the Bluetooth settings and installing the associated app. Once that is installed, you can control the light from as far away as 100 feet. That is impressive and is not using what other methods are using with WiFi. Just by that simple difference, you are using far less battery life.

The future for providing light to our homes is LED. This will provide for brighter lights which consume far less energy. They have two sizes in the works right now and will be available when they are released. From the Indiegogo site"

Size: There are two size iLumis, Large and Small.

• Large iLumi - The powerful Large iLumi bulbs are best for recessed, can, or track lighting. Large iLumis are 100 watt replacements that produce 1100 lumens while only using 15 watts.


• Small iLumi - The Small iLumi bulbs are great for lamps, fixtures, and most anywhere else in the home. Small iLumis are 60 watt replacements that produce 650 lumens while only using 8 watts.

The iLumi light bulb is an extend Indiegogo project as they continue to raise funding for this new technology. You still have the opportunity to contribute to the project and receive a iLumi light bulb for a contribution of $69 or more. These are scheduled to be shipped in April 2013 and we would expect to see the iLumi lights available for purchase in the 2nd quarter.

The increases in technology continue to improve our lives and this is just the latest example of that fact.

Pebble Watch - Interaction With Your Smart Phone

Watches have lost favor among the tech crowd because they just don't do much other than tell you the time. If you look around, few people wear them as their smart phones have the time readily available. I stopped wearing a watch 5 years ago and have not missed having one. When I drive, there is a clock on the dash. When I am walking, I only have to pull out my Galaxy S3 to see the time. My friends do the same. But now, that may all be changing because of the Pebble Watch.

The Pebble Watch is nothing that you have ever seen before. It is not all that stylish, but its functionality makes it a must have for the tech crowd. This watch has the ability to interact with your smart phone via bluetooth and it is that interaction which is the strength of the Pebble Watch. As an example, it can tell you who is calling on your smart phone with caller ID or emails that you have just received. That is a fantastic feature and one that I would take advantage of.

Another of the great things about the Pebble is that it is uses an e-ink display making it much lighter than others in the category. And weight is everything with a watch. Obviously, Pebble runs on a battery and the current claim is that a single charge will last about a week. Charging it is done by snapping on a magnetic charger into the side and USB to your computer and a few hours later, it is fully charged.

The Pebble watch has custom watch faces and it is expected that developers will provide apps for Android and iOS to extend beyond what it can currently do. And the current abilities are very good, leveraging your smart phone via bluetooth and GPS. This is going to be very popular and while it starts shipping in a few weeks, there is already a Pebble Forum set up and increasing the number of users. A centralized place to get answers and share information is already in place for you to learn about what the Pebble watch can do.

The Pebble watch will start to ship to those who have contributed money to the company when it was on Kickstarter and that should take about a month to complete. Once they get that completed, they will begin to fill orders from those who have order one since the KickStarter project ended. You can pre-order your own Pebble watch at a cost of $150. And it comes in five different colors. They are white, red, black, orange and grey. All of these pre-order Pebble watches should be delivered by the end of March.

The Pebble Watch does not have any capabilities to work with Blackberry or Windows Phone now.

Transporter - For Off-Cloud Private File Sharing

KickerStart Friday - Sharing your files with others.

We have all heard about the Cloud and how you can move things up to the Cloud for sharing with others. But with the Cloud, the cost for sharing those files is an unknown month to month. And then there are the problems with down time in the Cloud as has been seen as an example with Amazon. The security concerns may also be something that you are concerned about. But you really want to be able to share files with people while having things at your location and not in the Cloud. An Off Cloud solution is what you are looking for where you have a Dropbox like functionality but you are in control of the storage area. There is a new product coming very soon which will provide you with that ability.

Transporter is a new product idea which has risen from several issues found with sharing of your files in the Cloud. One of the big issues in the cloud is the unknown costs with being in the Cloud. As you can see, the device is relatively small and the only costs you are going to have for file sharing is the cost of the device. You only need to have an always connected internet connection. And it is something that is very simple to use. Setting up your own private network is as easy as sending an email to those you want to allow access to your Transporter.

The way that this works is it connects between Transporter devices, so the security is contained within the device. That is the only down side to this Off Cloud file sharing solution making it 100% private. The up front costs may seem high, but you will not have any monthly fees and you are in control of the storage location. It is not in some far off location. But, if you need to access information stored on your own Transporter device, you only need a computer to make that connection.

The Transporter campaign at KickStarter closed yesterday and raised over $260,000 of the $100,000 goal they were seeking. With the funds provided by the campaign, they are moving very quickly to bring this product to market. You can pre-order one of these great little devices now at the Transporter online store with deliveries expected to begin at the end of January. They are currently showing 3 products:

• Transporter (no drive) - $199.00


• Transporter with 1TB Drive - $299.00


• Transporter with 2TB drive - $399.00

The no drive option allows you to provide your own SATA II drive (2.5 inches) with a minimum size of 160 GB. These are the small laptop size hard drives keeping the size down. This looks like it is going to be one of the great products for 2013 in the technology world. If you have needs to pick up files from home when you are at work, this is the best solution you are going to see in the market. Take a serious look at what this great idea can do for you.

Halo Pocket Charger - Charge Your Phone On The Go

If you have ever been out at a game or event and realized that your smart phone had a very low battery, you wonder what you can do about that problem. Finding some place to plug in is not reasonable, so you need to have something else with you which can charge your phone. And it needs to be small enough to find in your pocket.

This is where the Halo Pocket Charger 2800 comes in and can literally save the day for you. This tiny little device is only 4 inches long and 3/4 of an inch in diameter. And yet it has enough power to charge up an iPhone 5. They claim that it can charge an iPhone 4 1 and half times, but that is a manufacturers claim. We can assume that it will be able to provide one full charge to any smart phone with a low battery. And that is all that you may need when your out.

This small device has a USB plug at the top which will connect to a USB port on your computer which will charge it up. This takes about 6 hours to fully charge the 2800mAh battery to full strength. This will hold a charge for 4 months or longer.

They include three different connectors with your purchase which are a micro USB, mini USB, or 30-pin so that it will handle the vast majority of smart phone owners. They are not supplying the new Lightning connector for the iPhone 5 and that is a draw back for those owners. But, given the package they have created, this is a great idea. The connections may not fit all smart phones, so make sure that it will work with your phone.

You can purchase the Halo Pocket Charger 2800 at their online store for $49.95 or from other locations. When this has been featured on QVC.com, it has sold out quickly in the past showing just how desired a product of this type actually is. It is now available on QVC at a price of $33.00 starting tomorrow and will be available through April 30, 2013 at that price. For today only, it is their deal of the day at $27.42 until 9:00 PM PST.

This is a great idea and one that many of us should take advantage of.

HAPIFork Can Help With Your Diet Planning

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this year, there has been a single item which appears to be generating far more interest than many of the technology marvels which are being presented. This is a very simple item and looks very much like a fork. And it is in fact a fork and ever so much more. While you might not expect a fork to make such a big splash at a technology show, the news is buzzing about this new device. And ABC News has done a report on it which you can see at the bottom.

The HAPIfork has been designed by HAPILab and makes a number of claims which I know apply to me because of how I eat. This fork will keep track of how often you move the fork from your plate to your mouth. They call this movement a "fork serving" and there is a set interval to this activity. This smart fork will tell you if you are eating too fast. This is done by having the HAPIfork vibrate when it detects "fork servings" happening too frequently. It seems that if you eat your food too fast, it will create indigestion problems. And just slowing down how fast you are eating is enough relieve some of those issues.

The HAPIfork will not measure the amount of food you take in on each "fork serving", but by slowing down your eating speed, you will better digest your food and thereby help your weight. At least that is what they are saying for this. The idea of slowing down your eating speed will let your body realize far better when you have had enough food. But that assumes that you pay attention to that. This also does not deal with food items which are not consumed with a fork, such as bread which so many of us truly enjoy.

There are setting for how often you should be taking a fork serving, so if you take this seriously, it may well make a difference in how you eat and how your body handles the food that you eat. The HAPIfork collects information while you eat and will have the ability to transfer that information via bluetooth to your mobile device. Since this is a coming product, we will have to wait and see what the apps are for this.

The HAPIfork is expect to reach the market here in the US some time in the second quarter at an expected price of $99.99. They are also going to be selling the HAPISpoon as well in the future. Start saving your money for this one as it will make a difference in your life.

It has been so popular that ABC News created a video of it

Your Smartphone May Be the Best Weight Loss Tool You Own

That’s what we set out to prove with our latest guide, “Top Diet & Fitness Mobile Apps.” With the help of fitness expert Wesley Virgin, we highlight the most popular and cutting-edge apps for getting in shape.

In this era of tablets, smartphones and 24/7 online connectivity, we now have a new class of fitness tools not available to us just a few years ago. Many people don’t realize that iPhones and Android devices are powerful tools in the battle to stay fit and healthy.

Like most people, you probably have your phone with you at all times, every day. This “always-on” connectivity presents a huge opportunity for health and fitness information wherever and whenever you need it. You can make informed, healthy choices at a restaurant or when shopping at the grocery store.

You can download workout routines for the gym or your home designed by fitness professionals. You can learn how to properly perform exercises if you’re a beginner, or improve the efficiency of your workouts if you’re a fitness veteran. Try new exercises by watching video demos, design and schedule your own custom workout plan, analyze your progress and make adjustments, all from your phone. Today’s apps provide everything you need to reach your fitness goals.

Nutrition and diet apps can be your best friend when you’re alone. At the office wondering what you should eat for lunch, when out running errands and getting hungry, on business trips away from home; these are times when you’re most vulnerable. When trying to keep your diet on track, apps can keep you focused on what you should be eating.

Many of the apps also have social features that plug you into a community of like-minded fitness peers for support, inspiration and to challenge each other.

Aside from the great apps in featured in our guide, your phone can be part of your own support team, keeping you connected to family, friends or personal trainers so you stay motivated and progressing when away from home. Mobile devices can also keep you energized with your workout music and inspired with motivational messages and stories.

Too busy to workout? Can’t afford a gym membership or personal trainer? No support? Lack of information to make healthy food choices? Not anymore. There really are no excuses to getting in shape these days!

The guide will be on sale on Amazon.com next week, but our subscribers can get a copy for free by visiting this page: Top Diet & Fitness Apps

HAL 9000 Replica For Your Own

If you are like most geeks, 2001: A Space Odyssey was a really great movie and one that is still watched today by many when ever it comes on. The HAL 9000 on board computer played a central part of the movie. For those who are die hard fans of the movie, you may have an opportunity to purchase an exact replica based on the movie for your very own home. And is based on the 1967 blueprints from the model. What more could you ask for?

The HAL 9000 Life-Size Replica from Think Geek is more than just an exact replica. It has the ability to talk to you, though it will not be an interactive conversation. They have collected 15 different quotes from the movie where the HAL 9000 is talking. These come up randomly, so you are not sure which one will come up when. It will respond when spoken to, but do not expect the responses to match up to what you are asking of HAL. If you have an IR remote, you can use that and by pressing a button, you will also get the HAL 9000 to respond.

Each HAL 9000 is hand assembled and comes with a rather steep price of $499.99. But for those die hard fans, price is no object to get an exact replica of the HAL 9000. This runs on a single 9 volt battery. The reality may be that the price is just too high except for only a select few who are willing to spend that kind of money on a replica from the movie.

Here is a video of the HAL 9000 replica in action.

GoalZero Can Provide You With USB Power

This is the time of year when we occasionally experience a power outage and having something other than just candles to light your area is preferred. And that is because so much of what we now do involves technology which runs off of a battery. If the power outage is long enough you could run the batteries down and not have a way to recharge things until power gets restored. That is what we saw with Hurricane Sandy with pictures of people charging cell phones and laptops in a local drug store.

Having the ability to recharge is very import and that is where products from GoalZero provide portable recharging for your devices comes in. Each of their products can be recharged from an outlet or via the included solar panel. They offer multiple models, such as the GoalZero Guide 10 Plus Mobile ($129.95) or Adventure ($R159.95) Kit. This will fit the needs of an individual and you can hang the included solar panel on the back of your backpack as you are out and about to charge the batteries up. These will recharge your cell phone fairly quickly.

If you need to have more battery to charge up or run devices, the medium sizes will provide 15 or 30 watts of power to meet your needs. Then there are the models that are the size of a car battery and can provide 30 or 60 watts of power depending on the model that you are looking at. All of these come with a solar panel which connects to recharge the batteries for you so that you are not without power to charge up your mobile devices.

And GoalZero has just announced a new model called the Yeti 150 which is set to sell for under $400. This model will give you 150 watts of battery power and includes a 12 volt plug along with the normal USB outlets for charging mobile devices. And it only weighs 12 pounds and comes with a solar panel which can be attached. This 12 volt outlet will let you plug in a laptop. This particular model should be available this spring.

Some of their products are available at Amazon as well, but not all of them. With the wide variety of products, you are sure to find one that will fit your needs.

BestParking - Find The Best Prices At Parking Garages

Many of us have had to park our cars in a parking garage when in a large city or at an airport. The big unknown is what we are going to have to pay for that parking. And prices can vary widely making it difficult to determine where you can park without paying more than you really should. But there is a solution which you can use to figure out where you want to park and save some money in the process.

There are a number of different mobile apps that you can install on your smart phone which will let you plan your parking before you get there. One that we like is BestParking which can be installed on the iPhone, Android phones and Blackberry phones. With Best Parking, you have the ability to know what you will be paying before you arrive. In the picture here, it shows parking locations at the Oakland Airport and the associated prices for a 3 day stay for your car. And these included the high and low prices. The highest we found at the Oakland Airport is $108 dollars for a 3 day stay which is valet parking at the airport.

While this is also available on the web, the results are the same in both places. The locations highlighted in color represent those where you can make online reservations, which is a great idea. And they sometimes provide discounts when you pay in advance to reserve a spot. There is a long list of US Cities along with 3 in Canada as well. And there is an even longer list of airports where you can look for the best places to park your vehicle.

This is one of many apps which you can download to make your parking selections much easier and save you money in the process.

GameStick Is A Portable TV Game Console

KickStart Friday - Android game console meets goal in 30 hours.

Gaming has become a huge area of the market as everything moves to being portable. And our KickStarter product this week is GameStick. This particular one has the distinction of surpassing their goal for funding in 30 hours. The goal was $100,000 and the numbers continue to rise with 27 days left for people to pledge money to this project. They are currently over $171,000 as I write this. And that number is continuing to grow.

The GameStick project will create an Android OS gaming device in the form of a game controller which will connect via Bluetooth to the TV. The connection to the TV is an HDMI drive which looks very much like a standard USB drive. This will plug into the HDMI slot on the TV. But, this is not something which provides all the games on what will be delivered.

This whole design is to allow you to purchase games at a low cost and play them on your TV. And with the portability of the GameStick, you can take them with you to other locations. The whole design is wide open for developers who are creating Android games. And with an included game controller, you have everything that you need for playing great Android games.

The current plans for the project are to begin delivery in March this year to all those who backed the project. By April, they expect to be selling the GameStick to the general public and with the growing interest in games, this one will be immensely popular.

Technical Specifications

• Processor - Amlogic 8726-MX


• Memory - 1GB DDR3 / 8GB FLASH


• Content Download Manager w/ cloud storage for games.


• WiFi - 802.11 b/g/n


• Bluetooth - LE 4.0


• O/S - Android Jelly Bean


• Controller - Bluetooth, 3 mode controller: gamepad, mouse and keyboard with support for up to 4 controllers.


• Full 1080p HD video decoding

Top Weight Loss and Fitness Apps for 2013

Getting 2013 off to a healthy and fit start, we’re delighted to announce our compelling new mobile app guide, “Top Diet & Fitness Apps Guide: For Android & Apple Mobile Devices.” Our latest publication provides a unique take on diet and fitness in the smartphone and tablet era, perhaps revealing that technology may hold the key to overcoming weight loss struggles.

For most of us, getting in shape requires all the help and assistance we can get our hands on. In today’s day and age of mobile devices and 24/7 online connectivity, we now have a new breed of fitness tools not available to us just a few years ago. Our new guide features ten of the most effective health and fitness apps currently on the market for Apple iOS and Android devices.

However, a geek’s advice on weight loss may not go very far for some. That is why we teamed up with fitness guru Wesley Virgin to produce a guide that literally puts the power of better health in the palm of our hands.

Due to his highly acclaimed ‘7DayFitness’ weight loss program, Wesley Virgin has shot to fame as one of the most in-demand fitness celebrities in the U.S.

We’re thrilled to be partnering with Wesley for this guide. It teaches people that, with the right apps, you can download workouts for the gym or home designed by fitness professionals. You can learn how to properly perform exercises if you’re a beginner, or improve the efficiency of your workouts if you’re a fitness veteran. Try new exercises by watching video demos, design and schedule your own custom workout plan, analyze your progress and make adjustments, all from your phone.

The new guide will go on sale in the coming days on Amazon.com, however, for a short time readers of TechieDIY.com can get a copy of the guide for free by visiting this page:

Top Diet & Fitness Apps Guide

 

 

Finding A Parking Space In SF App

When you are in a large city, finding a parking place can be a real problem for many. You get to drive around looking for an open parking space, wasting time and gas in the process. There are a number of apps being developed to meet the needs to find an open parking space and one is being offered in San Francisco by the City of San Francisco.

This is being provided by SF Park which is part of the SF Municipal Transportation Agency. They have spent the past year embedding detectors in parking spaces which they can then monitor and report a space as being available to those with their app. On street parking for over 8200 spaces has been done thus far along with parking garages to better handle the parking needs. Of course they can also use this to adjust pricing based on demand.

The app can be downloaded from either the iTunes Store for iOS devices or the Google Play store for Android devices. The app is free to all and has benefit to those who download it and to the city. By being able to monitor parking usage throughout the city, they can better plan for rates and where to build future parking structures to meet the demand. For you, it can help you find a parking space, which is what it is all about.

There are 2 drawbacks to this type of application. The first is that you have to be looking at your phone to see where there are available parking spaces. If you are alone in the car, you are taking your eyes off the road. Probably not a good thing. The other is that you may find a parking space, but by the time you get there, it could be gone. This is especially true in residential neighborhoods. But, if you are looking for a parking garage that has lots of spaces, this is the way to go.

There are other similar apps being offered and will be a growing area to meet the needs of those searching for parking in large cities. This is especially true if you are traveling to a large city and do not know your way around.