Enflux

Fitness and workout metrics are among the prime areas where smart technology can deliver something new and truly useful to lots of people. From FitBit to Nike+, there are a variety of sensors and monitors out there for the fitness enthusiast — but Enflux Smart Clothing wraps all sorts of stuff into one form-fitting full-body package. The Enflux suit has two major sensor modules and 10 motion sensors in total, allowing it to not only track and store a huge amount of workout data, but to actually build a full 3D avatar so you can watch your own workout. This enables you to do things like watch your form and motion with an overlay of the ideal form and motion, or even have the app call out tips and cues during the workout like a human trainer would.

BRAIN One

What Enflux does for exercisers, the BRAIN One does for motorcyclists. Just as the best athletes in the world have trainers and technology at their back, so do the world’s motorsports champions, because nobody gets to be the best without metrics that help them understand their own failings and improve. BRAIN One is a standalone telemetry device that attaches easily to any motorcycle and starts collecting key performance data with a bunch of sensors, most notably a 9-axis inertia sensor that watches your handling of turns and bends. It communicates with your smartphone, and even integrates with GoPro and other action cameras for additional capabilities, like challenging your friends to asynchronous races and creating videos of your results overlaid with performance data. It also has an open API and is designed to be extendable to other types of vehicles with a little configuration and coding — and it does all this at a fraction of what professional telemetry devices cost.

WebEye VR

Just in case you’re not a fitness buff or an avid motorcyclist, here’s a device for everyone (or at least, everyone with access to Google Cardboard or, better still, a headset like the Oculus Rift). The WebEye VR claims to be the first virtual reality webcam, and while I can’t entirely confirm this, it’s clearly an early entrant in the field. Its biggest application is obviously video chatting, which could be bumped to a whole new immersive level with VR technology, but I suspect it’ll also find use for things from home monitoring to VR content creation. It’s got some solid specs: two full-HD cameras delivering a 160-degree field of view in full stereoscopic 3D, at a price that’s pretty much on par with a pair of high-end normal HD webcams. There are demo videos and live broadcasts for those who want to see how it performs, and one of the creators has even made himself available for live one-on-one demo calls with potential backers.

Sweep

For vehicles and robots of all sorts, autonomy is the biggest and most exciting innovative trend these days, and autonomous vehicles are generally powered by one core technology: scanning LiDAR. This is the laser-based sensory system that can map environments, detect objects, and let a computer “see” its surroundings — and while it’s not entirely beyond the grasp of smaller-scale projects, until now getting a decent system was not cheap, and the LiDAR sensor was often the single most expensive component in a robot. That’s what these two creators discovered when they were trying to build their own autonomous robots, so instead they set out to build Sweep: a high-quality LiDAR sensor that clocks in at a mere $250 but attempts to match the performance of systems that cost several thousands. If it works, the ultimate effect could be an explosion of autonomous devices for the average consumer, as makers and engineers everywhere can start having a bit more fun with this critical technology and keeping down the price of products they end up creating.

Bela

This one isn’t especially fancy or revolutionary, it’s just good. The Bela is a low-latency audio processor that does what it says on the tin, and aims to do it really well. One of the liveliest maker frontiers is music: digital technology enables an essentially infinite list of possibilities for modding instruments, building entirely new ones, and connecting instruments to other systems. But music is also still a precision art for many, and any fun or fancy new instrument needs one thing if it’s going to be seriously usable: low latency. Any noticeable delay between hitting a key (or whatnot) and hearing the sound is infuriating and often intolerable. Bela is a tiny, embeddable, programmable audio processing board that boasts a response latency of less than 1ms — a fraction of that achieved even by MIDI on a powerful computer, or one of the iPhone’s many high-end audio apps. If it can consistently deliver on that, it could end up in a whole lot of experimental synthesizers, circuit-bent keyboards and creative audio installations very soon.

Tio

Two weeks ago, I highlighted another tech toy that lets kids build robots. That one took the form of a single unit, with the focus primarily on the programming. The Tio is a neat twist, taking the form of two (or more!) controllable “blocks” that are designed to be mashed together with all sorts of other stuff — Lego pieces, paper and craft materials, old toys, 3D-printed components, and some custom accessories like wheels and pulleys. The focus is more on building (though programming with the app is possible) which opens them up to kids who might still be too young to dive headlong into code — but that’s just a guess, because I’m not a parent. Truth is I just think I’d have fun playing with them myself.

Mighty

In retrospect, the convergence of mobile phones and portable music players was inevitable — but that doesn’t mean the standalone player is entirely dead. iPod sales have been dropping and Apple has been moving away from the product, but not everyone is thrilled with that, as some still prefer a separate device (anecdotally: my girlfriend still uses her Shuffle for most listening, and just this week a friend of mine was pleased as punch to have tracked down a decently-priced iPod Classic on Craigslist). Now, the rise of streaming music has even further reduced your non-phone options for music listening, and that’s where the Mighty steps in. Physically, it’s more or less a clone of an iPod Shuffle, but it works by first pairing with your smartphone via Bluetooth or WiFi and storing 4GB of offline music from Spotify. That’s a first as far as I know, and while I’m sure lots of people will opt to simply stick with their phones, there are at least 1500 people (so far) who would very much like this option.

OSSIC X

Of course, in many ways, a music player is only as good as the headphones you plug into it — and this is one of the nicest pairs of headphones around. Admittedly though, the appeal of the OSSIC X headphones is more for gamers, VR users and surround-sound movie watchers, because that’s what makes them special: 3D sound more customized and advanced than any solution to date. There are lots of 3D sound headphones out there, but getting a truly good pair can be tough — not only is there a vast range of quality requiring a lot of pre-purchase research, there’s the fact that everyone’s ears are a little different and the experience won’t be consistent for all listeners. That’s where OSSIC X steps in: these headphones use head tracking and “anatomy calibration” to customize their output to an individual user. They adjust the 3D sound delivery based on the size of your head and torso and the unique shape of your ear, then use the built-in movement tracking to keep sounds fixed at a specific point in space even as you make minor movements with your head. The result is 3D audio with a greater degree of accuracy and immersion than any standard set of Dolby cans.

Lumir C

Candles are a fine source of light, but what about all that wasted heat? It’s a stroke of small genius to invent a device that captures it and turns it into more light — and that’s exactly what this candle-powered LED lamp does. Admittedly, I’m not sure how practical or useful a device this is for most people, especially given the somewhat steep price — but there’s something elegant and brilliant about the idea, as though it came from a basic frustration with entropy more than a pragmatic desire to make a consumer product — but maybe I’m giving it too much credit. Either way, it’s pretty cool.

Rocketbook Wave

There are really two aspects to this notebook. The first is kind of cool: an associated app that scans and enhances the pages based on photos taken with your smartphone, and organizes them to various cloud apps based on little sorting boxes you tick with your pen. That’s nothing too remarkable though. The real magic comes when it’s time to empty the notebook: you put it in the microwave and all the pages come out blank. Is that a good system? How well does it work? Those are questions that are hard to answer without holding one in my hands — but it’s certainly not an idea I’ve ever heard before, and it’s nothing if not inventive.

MAGNETIPS

Okay, so this one isn’t radical or mindblowing — it’s just handy. I for one love fine-tipped markers, and as I look into my drawer full of a completely disorganized tangle of them, each with different colors and in different stages of life, I can’t help but think that stackable, refillable, magnetically-connected markers is a pretty good idea. The markers themselves aren’t much pricier than any other good quality options, and at $17 for a complete 20-color set of refills (not to mention the decreased likelihood of losing them one by one if you’re like me) they could easily pay for themselves.

Microscape Models

There’s no shortage of souvenirs in the name of New York City, but this project offers an incredible new way to celebrate Manhattan: 1:5000 scale 3D-printed replicas of the cityscape itself, made with unbelievable levels of accuracy from recent aerial scans. Eventually they plan to do a huge array of cities, but for now it’s the big one, rendered in all its gridlocked glory. The designs are hand-tweaked to optionally include buildings under construction or still in planning. The models come as individual 6″ squares which can (for a hefty total price tag of $25k) even be assembled into a complete replica city — but, just one or two are pretty damn impressive all by themselves. There are also special landmark tiles available to Kickstarter backers, focusing on spots like the Chrysler Building, One World Trade Center, and Washington Square Park.

Every Road Custom Maps

Late last year, you might have seen a map making the rounds that purported to show how every road does indeed lead to Rome. Of course, as most people noticed (including the creators), you could create the same kind of visual for any spot on the road network of any location — and that’s exactly what Every Road offers. They are custom map posters generated with an address of your choice in any given city, showing all the thousands of street routes from every point of the city to your chosen spot. The results are wispy, fractal-esque versions of recognizable city maps, and no two will be identical (unless two people choose the same address). The pricing is a little odd, with high-res digital copies costing slightly more than the smallest available print size — but for those who want to save cash, there’s also a $5 desktop wallpaper option.

JS Shoes

This project comes from a designer with a pretty hefty portfolio, and claims to be a world’s first: not 3D-printed but rather 3D-knitted shoes, made on demand using the latest automated knitting machines. The result of this process is an extremely lightweight shoe that is manufactured with zero wasted material, and it unlocks some interesting design options: not only can a pair of shoes be customized, each shoe can be designed separately. Will people want to experiment with asymmetrical footwear?

Nixie Tube Clocks

This project comes from another experienced designer with a specific vision, but this time it’s one of retro-futurism and handcrafted art. Two Nixie Tube Clocks have already been funded on Kickstarter, and now there’s a third design in the works alongside reissues of the others. Though they aren’t cheap, they certainly are works of art, and they aren’t assembled from cheap parts or even inauthentic ones: the clocks use genuine Soviet-era vacuum tubes sourced from Russia and Ukraine, and are hand-built from a selection of premium hardwoods then finished with custom etch-work in brass and steel.

The Boy And The Computer

Finally, we’ve got a veteran programmer offering up something a little different: an educational graphic novel based around real-world coding, hacking and hardware. The pages shown so far look great, seamlessly bringing actual information about technology (and refreshingly accurate depictions of it) into the comic book format. Born of the challenges the artist faced trying to teach his own kids about computer science, it looks like a labor of love that should be worth checking out.

Luma Dice

Usually, when it comes to things like dice and playing cards, I’m an advocate of keeping it simple. The fetishization of “lucky” dice is just superstition and magical thinking. But maybe I should lighten up, because some of the specialty dice showing up on Kickstarter are admittedly pretty cool, with the most noteworthy being the Luma. It’s a solid aluminum die with powered LEDs embedded as pips, and contains an accelerometer to activate them automatically when it’s picked up or rolled. You’d think that with the accelerometer already present, they’d have a mode to light up only the up-facing side when a roll is complete — but sadly they don’t. Though, that may be part of why the price is surprisingly reasonable at only $21 (approximately, as the original prices are in Australian dollars) for a pair.

The Sound Reactive Mask

While we’re on the subject of lighting up things that don’t normally light up, this product might emerge from the Montreal electronic music scene but it’s tech-geeky through and through. Sound-reactive clothing and costuming is nothing new, but this might be the first time I’ve seen anyone with a good design sense use it in a way that’s actually fun to look at, unlike the terrible t-shirts marketed to “ravers”. The stylized jaguar design on the foam mask appears to respond quickly and accurately to music by deconstructing and reconstructing itself piece by piece, to pretty impressive and mesmerizing effect. And once again, the price is lower than you might expect for this kind of Kickstarter project: again about $21, thanks this time in part to the exchange rate with Canadian dollars.

The Key Armory

Several years ago, for reasons I still don’t fully understand, a friend bought me a gag birthday gift in the form of a giant sword — one of those ridiculous fantasy ones with all sorts of curlicues that I assume would render any real sword useless. It’s neat, but it’s weird, and I have no idea what to do with it — so it’s lived in its box under my bed ever since. Somehow I doubt I’m the only person with a display sword in that situation. Well, the Key Armory offers a slightly more workable alternative: lovingly crafted key blanks with handles hilts inspired by various famous fictional swords. They are available in two common key types, though if you don’t use one of those, you’re out of luck for now. And in keeping with this week’s low-price theme, they are only $10 a pop with discounts if you buy more than one.