Turn Your House into a Smart Home with Your iPhone: SmartThings

Imagine being able to control things in your house remotely, right from an app on your iPhone, such as turning on or off the lights or air conditioner. Imagine being able to be notified immediately if your pipes burst and your house is flooding, or if your dog escapes from the backyard.

If this Kickstarter project gets funded (and it looks like it’s well on its way), in the future we could monitor, automate, and control a variety of different things in our house with just a couple of taps on our phone’s screen.

The EyeRing Personal Assistant: Augmented Reality at Your Fingertips

Augmented reality devices and applications are starting to come into actual reality, and the latest idea is for a device worn on the finger, capable of conveying information about the world around us with both visual and audio clues. First came Google Glasses, then a hint that Apple is developing video glasses, and now a project from MIT promises to bring augmented reality to the visually impaired with a virtual assistant in a ring.

Time Scale Transit Maps, Fish-Like Robots and More From TreeHugger

Paths to the Future
This week, TreeHugger showcased some amazing transit maps that used ride time as a scale. The result is an unusual twist on the usual branching maps.

Turn an iPhone Into a Macro Camera

When they’re not busting myths on the Discovery Channel, Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage are busy cooking up great DIY projects and keeping up to date on the latest achievements of the world’s best makers.

Build Your Own DIY Electric Bike and Extend Your Range

Souping up your old steel frame to add a little extra speed and power in the form of an eBike isn’t as difficult as you might think. Search Google and you’ll quickly find at least 15 kits that come with the essentials: a motor, a motor controller, a throttle, and an e-brake, which start at roughly $400. It’s smart to buy the battery and charger separately so you can find exactly the voltage you need.

Geeky Jeans Let You Tweet from Your Pocket

Have you ever had your better half, friends or family members get on your case about your smartphone usage. If you have, you are a lot like me and we both need these jeans!

Anti-Cheating Ring Leaves an Impression

Your cheatin’ heart may not tell on you, but this wedding ring might. Perfect for today’s promiscuous lifestyles, the Anti-Cheating wedding ring makes sure to display your marital status, even when you take it off.

“With Arnold, Tiger and two timing IMF guy in mind, we have created this wedding ring for people intent on cheating. The negative engraving on the inside means that when you are in the ‘Club’ and an attractive woman… or man comes along to chat, slipping your wedding ring off is not an option. The mark left on your skin says…’I’m Married’.”
-Discovery.com-

Helios Watch Shuns Batteries and Winding, Gets Perpetual Power From the Sun

Batteries die. Winding is a pain. But as far as the guys with telescopes tell us, the sun is going to be around for a while. A long, long while. That’s why, when it comes to keeping time, we’ve been turning to the sun for centuries. So don’t stop now…

Sensor Dry Pocket Keeps Water Off Your Touchscreen While Keeping It Touchable

While you’re kayaking or fishing, you can stash your phone in a dry bag for safe keeping. But  if you need to use it while out on the water, you risk damage from wet hands, or drops into the drink.

You could have your entire phone waterproofed, or you can stow it in a Sensor Dry Pocket.

Designed to protect smartphones, tablets and other electronic touchscreen devices in wet environments, the waterproof, submersible Dry Pocket has a clear window that’s sensitive to touch, allowing you to make calls, access music, text and more, all while it’s protected.

How protected? It’s got a redundant zip-lock and roll-top dry closure to keep water and moisture out, a waterproof headphone jack so you can take calls and listen to music while it’s inside, and radio-frequency welding so there are no seams to come loose. And they come with a clip to hang it from your pack, or use the velcro loops to secure your Pocketed device to your belt or equipment straps.

I tested the smartphone-sized Pocket, and my iPhone fit in perfectly, even though I had it in a case. The touchscreen worked just like there was no plastic between screen and finger, and while I didn’t take it in the pool with me, I did test its waterproofing ability, and thankfully, it passed.

Two sizes are available, one for smartphone-size devices and another for tablets (should you want to catch a video while you wait for the fish to bite), and run $25 and $35 respectively. So whether you’re paddling or protecting a phone in your pocket from sweat on a trail run, think of the Sensor Dry Pocket as an inexpensive insurance for high-tech gadgets.
-Discovery.com-

BladeLight Cuts Through Darkness… And Just About Everything Else

Nothing is more awkward at night when you’re camping than trying to cut something with your knife in one hand, while juggling a flashlight in the other.

The new BladeLight from knife specialists SOG, solves that problem. Besides featuring a top-quality, 5.7-inch stainless steel, clip point blade perfect for hunting and camping. It’s got 6 LEDs molded into the GRN handle, 3 on each side. Not only does this give you shadowless light when cutting, but it can also be used as a flashlight, providing 25 lumens of bright white light, even while in its molded sheath.

It features a 5.7-inch long, stainless steel, clip point blade

The sheath itself also comes with a belt clip, slots for securing to a leg or pack, and a pouch to carry extra batteries. One press of the quick release, push button retention, and the knife slides free, ready for use.

Powered by a single standard alkaline battery (two are included), the push button switch on the bottom of the handle seals with an O-ring, giving the BladeLight an IPX-7 rating for water resistance to full immersion up to one meter. Unfortunately you can’t use it as a dive knife (that’s a hint SOG), but for fishing in the shallows, and any other outdoor adventures, it’ll excel.It can be used as a flashlight while still in it
-Discovery.com-

Finally, a Surfboard You Can Comfortably Sit In

Ever wish you had a stylish place to sit after a catching a few waves out in the surf? Sure you could bring beach chairs — but why do that when you can sit in the world’s first fold-to-flat surfboard chair, designed and patented by Surf Life Designs.

Intoxicase Protects Your Phone, Opens Your Bottle, Counts Your Beers

At a tailgate and no one brought a bottle opener? Maybe you can use one of the tricks you learned in college: Use a lighter, bang it on a table… but if you’ve got your phone wrapped in an Intoxicase Plus, you’ll always have an opener at hand.

Cuts Like a Knife: The Knork is the Better Fork

Forget about building a better mousetrap. Let’s talk about building a better fork. That’s the idea behind the Knork, the flatware with the funny name.

We’ve all been there, using the edge of our fork instead of a knife to cut our food, either because it’s more convenient or because using a knife might mean having to put down our iPhone while eating. If you resemble that remark, then the Knork is the right tool for you – a fork that integrates a cutting edge and a comfortable place for your fingers on either side, so that you can easily cut your food and feed your face with just one hand.

Mike Miller, the guy behind the Knork, explains the ins and outs of his innovative utensil, and shares some of the background behind it:

Knorks are available as single items, a set of four, or as a full 20-piece flatware set in either glossy, matte, or “Duo Finish”.
What do you think, would you store these in the same silverware slot as your sporks, or would that be too confusing?
-Discovery.com-

The 6 Very Best DIY Projects from Maker Faire

If you like to do it yourself then you’ve probably heard of MAKE Magazine by now and their ever-interesting offshoot, Maker Faire. If not, Maker Faire is this crafty combination of DIY meets Burning Man. Hacked bicycles, solar-powered robots, pollution sensing clothing, spoil-detecting milk jugs and fire breathing metal sculptures are just a few of the things you’ll find at the event.

While “official” Maker events only occur in a handful of cities across the country, community-based and smaller scale faires are sprouting up all over the country, if not the world. If you are looking for a reason to attend, or even better, host your own Maker Faire, check out these hand-picked videos from events past.

6 DIY Projects for Under $5

Doing it yourself is all the rage these days but it seems that, and a lot of the time, people build out really expensive and elaborate items. But you don’t need to spend a lot of money to do it yourself, that is kinda the point. So here are a few fun (and cheap) projects to get you started.

$3 Emergency Solar-Powered Radio Made with Altoids Tin

This emergency radio pictured above is one of my favorite projects. It combines all of my favorite things: tech, green tech and food! I mean, I probably have enough empty Altoids tins to build 20 of these.

Smogbuster: A Superhero Jacket that Fights Pollution

Windproof, waterproof, and breathable used to be the gold standard triumvirate for the toughest active outerwear. But Nieuwe Heren (“New Gents”) a design company in Holland, recently upped the ante for urban active apparel with their new Aegis, a prototype jacket built to counter the effects of growing pollution and diminishing lifespans due to airborne pollutants.

“Awhile ago I read an article about pollution in bigger cities and the effect on your body,” says company cofounder Tim Smit. “We were shocked by this and felt we had to make a statement.”

View-Master Turns Your iPhone into a 3D Video Player

Luckily, a picture is worth a thousand words because I cannot read Japanese. But apparently this modern View-Master takes any ordinary YouTube video on your iPhone and plays it in 3D. Does it work? I have no idea. So, buy at your own risk.

But it’s only $23 so maybe it is worth checking out? Let me know if you get one.

-Discovery.com-

La-Z-Boy’s Latest Makes Relaxing a High-Tech Pursuit

The long-reigning king (since 1927) of all things living room and comfortable, La-Z-Boy has taken things to the next level with the PowerReclineXR, its newest rocker recliner. So long to the days of the wooden rocking chair and a cushion: La-Z-Boy has outfitted the new addition to its line with all the high-tech bells and whistles to make your television watching more idyllic (and idling) than ever before.

iXoost iPod Dock is Perfect for Car Lovers

iXoost has created the perfect iPod dock for any car enthusiast. The iXoost is the first hand crafted iPod dock to come from Modena, Italy, a city that has been given the nickname, the “Land of Engines.” According to its creators, the “iXoost is a pleasure machine, coupling fine mechanical workmanship with the high-tuned nerves of a throbbing Formula One tailpipe.”

Bicyclists already have low-carbon footprints, but designer Izhar Gafni decided to go one step further: build a bicycle out of cardboard.