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Grind, cook, weigh, and more: With 21 functions, the Omni Cook really is the Swiss Army knife of kitchen appliances
This article is sponsored by TOKIT
Although the world has begun to open up following the pandemic, many of us have grown accustomed to spending more time at home. And the more time we spend at home, the more likely we are to eat at home. Now you can easily make all kinds of tasty meals with the Omni Cook, now backable on Kickstarter for 9 (3 off).
UGREEN’s new ergonomic laptop hub stand supports good posture and has all the ports you'll need (Sponsored)
Back the X-Kit through Indiegogo for as low as $44 using our exclusive link
Whether you're working at the kitchen table, your home office, or anywhere else you can find a flat surface, you're likely spending a lot of time hunched over a laptop these days, trying to be as productive as possible. But if you and your computer aren't at an optimal angle, you could walk away every evening with a stiff neck, back pain, and achy wrists. Over time, these can really take a toll on your health and work productivity, but it doesn't have to be that way. Introducing X-Kit, the "world's first '5+4' foldable ergonomic hub-stand" by UGREEN.
PayPal has launched a new crowdfunding-type service called Money Pools, which enables users to set a fundraising goal, and share a page describing the nature of the fundraiser with friends. PayPal suggests using money pools for group gifts, planning trips, special events like baby showers, or collecting money for someone in need. Chances are it will be used predominately for the latter, as almost half of the billion raised on GoFundMe has been for medical expense fundraisers. Pages can be shared through email, social media, or messaging apps.
At this point asking people to support your crowd-funded concept device is kind of like asking them to support your "sure-fire multi-level marketing system." Sure, it could be legitimate, but it's better to just treat that money as if it's gone forever. That said, smartwatches might be the one exception. Pebble, arguably the legitimate dark horse in that small market and one of the first to successfully market itself, got started on Kickstarter. So maybe it wouldn't be fair to dismiss the CoWatch, a new smartwatch that features interoperability with Amazon's Alexa voice control system, out of hand.
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Building a smartphone is not easy even for established companies like LG and Samsung. So you have to maintain healthy skepticism when a company like Saygus rolls into town and says it's going to beat the big guys at their own game. The dual-SD card Saygus V-Squared was announced back at CES, but the ship date has slipped a few times already. Now the company has hit another major snag and decided to start a shady Indiegogo campaign. Yikes.
There was a time, a few months ago, when I would check Kickstarter and Indiegogo every couple of days for new projects. I was fascinated by the ingenuity of entrepreneurs and creators and I wanted to keep an eye on all the new ideas that were just ripe for production. I haven't lost that interest, but after investing in dozens of crowd-funded projects — most of which resulted in really great products that I use and love, thankfully — I'm a bit less obsessed and more selective in my choices. The problem that I used to face, right until today, was the lack of native applications for both sites. Well, I have one less website to worry about since Indiegogo just launched its official Android app.
Sometimes crowd funding campaigns get a little carried away making promises in an effort to attract contributors. As problematic as these projects are, they aren't usually complete nonsense. The Dragonfly Futurefön, on the other hand, looks impossible. For $400 you get a phone that docks to a computer running Windows for a dual-screen mobile computing experience. Sound crazy? Well it already has over half a million dollars on Indiegogo. Yeah, I'm worried for humanity too.
As a frequent swimmer and a gadget lover, I have spent a lot of time researching activity trackers geared towards those of us who spend more than a couple of hours per week in the pool. The problem is that I never found anything priced acceptably, capable of monitoring the factors that are important for swimmers, and that would sync this data with my Android devices. The Garmin Fenix 2 might be the closest thing to what I want, but it costs at least 4 times as much as a Fitbit One. That's why I'm excited to read about this Xmetrics project on Indiegogo.
Have you had your fill of Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns? Well, too bad—Reddit has launched its own crowd funding tool called Redditmade. It's a way for Redditors to fund their idea "with no upfront costs or risk." Technically, there is risk, but it's all on the backers.
Update: Portal has been removed from IndieGoGo after a patent troll issued a DMCA takedown notice. Organizer and creator Arubixs is fighting back. This should be entertaining.
Google's Photosphere feature is really cool, but all that spinning in circles and pressing buttons – yuck. Panono is a nifty little gadget that promises to capture a super high-resolution 360-degree image when it's thrown in the air. Sounds fanciful, doesn't it? Well, it's going to be a real product now that the Indiegogo campaign has reached its lofty $900,000 funding goal.
If you buy a Fitbit, Jawbone Up, or one of the other fitness sensors out there, you're committing to a single software ecosystem. That can be a problem if you want to use your hardware with third-party apps. Plenty of Android users know the pain of being unable to wirelessly sync a Fitbit with most Android devices. The Angel fitness and health sensor is an attempt to build a completely open device that app developers can plug into and create new experiences for users. After launching and Indiegogo campaign on September 16th, Angel has now passed the $100,000 fixed funding goal with almost 2 weeks to spare.
There have been products like the Fitbit and Nike Fuelband for a number of years, but these devices are mainly interested in how far you're walking, running, or biking. Strength training is harder to track, but the new Push band on Indiegogo promises to deliver the same quality stats direct to your phone that professional athletes get with high price laboratory equipment.
Kickstarter backers have pushed the Nix Color Sensor past its $35,000 (Canadian) goal in hopes of finally figuring out what color stuff is. Well, it's more complicated than that. Nix tells you more than red or blue – it finds the exact RGB value for any surface you press it to, then sends the data to your phone over Bluetooth. Sound cool? Apparently you are not alone.
Relying on crowd funding is inherently risky. Regardless of whether a project's on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, some never get a fraction of the funding they aim for. Others fall slightly short or, if they're lucky, barely manage to crawl over the finish line. Still, a select few completely blow the doors off. The Canary, pitched as the first smart home security device for everyone, has now successfully acquired just shy of two million dollars in funding, far exceeding its goal of 0,000.
Amiigo Fitness Bracelet For Android Tracks Your Workout Automatically, Lets You Tell Your Friends How Much You Lift
Amiigo Fitness Bracelet For Android Tracks Your Workout Automatically, Lets You Tell Your Friends How Much You Lift
One of the neatest things that the mobile revolution has brought about is an increase in intelligent fitness apps and accessories. Everything from belt clips that can tell how far you've run to zombie-augmented 5K training. The Amiigo bracelet and shoe clip combo may be one of the coolest projects, though. The company behind it promises that, between the two pieces, the system can track any workout you do. If it performs as advertised, this could be amazing.