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Ampy and Juse

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Since man first learned to harness and use the electron, there has been a constant struggle to find new and more efficient ways to generate electric power.  The Greeks rubbed animal hides against amber (as they called it  ἤλεκτρον or ēlektron) while much later, European scientists devised the electrostatic generator and Leyden jar.  While these discoveries and technologies are elegant exploitations of the laws of physics (and great for entry-level electrical science courses), they were ultimately too inefficient to provide any real benefit to society.

As a result, we typically generate electricity by spinning the wheel of an electromagnetic generator whether it be by burning coal, damming a river, or digging a very deep hole in the ground.  We have also made major efficiency gains in our use of this power.  LED bulbs use less power than incandescents, and today’s smartphones can perform calculations millions of times faster than yesterday’s vacuum tubes using a fraction of the energy.

Some recent efforts have tried to combine these two themes by taking what was once a wasteful byproduct and turning it into an energy source making an entire process more efficient.  Hybrid and electric vehicles use regenerative braking where a car’s kinetic energy is captured and converted back into electric energy during stops, and in some gasoline cars, a turbocharger will use exhaust to compress the air going to the engine causing it to deliver more power more efficiently.

There are always a trade-offs though.  The methods used to capture waste energy are usually highly inefficient, so you need to seek out a large source of waste to make it worthwhile.  Sure, your breathing could be used to spin a turbine and a bodybuilder could be hooked to a generator instead of a weight machine, but the amount of energy created these ways compared to the cost and complexity associated with capturing that energy make them ultimately useless.

So let’s talk about Ampy and Juse.

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Unable to produce a better video, Scribble ditches Kickstarter entirely for Crowdtilt

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After a bizarre decision to completely shut down their Kickstarter campaign rather than simply produce a better product video, the team behind the Scribble Pen went virtually radio silent for over a week despite repeatedly broken promises to relaunch their campaign.  They finally broke that silence today revealing some unsettling changes to their project.

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Color changing pen raises doubts, Kickstarter actually steps in

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The long anticipated Scribble Pen finally launched this week to immense if very short-lived success.  The project became wildly popular back in June when they first announced their product to the tech media, but several delays prevented them from launching their fundraising campaign until Monday this week.

The team’s marketing efforts paid off though as the pen, which allows users to scan colors off objects and then reproduce them in ink, reached its $100,000 goal in just a few hours.

Unfortunately, this magical ink/pigment mixing pen raised a few concerns among backers (this author included), and the comments section of the project quickly became filled with requests for a better demonstration of the pen’s capabilities.  The project’s video contained just two short clips of the pen drawing which many believed didn’t demonstrate the main feature of the pen which is the ability to change colors quickly.  Concerns were largely over how long it took the pen to change color and how much ink was wasted in the process. Continue reading →

iFind RF energy harvesting bluetooth beacon

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A few weeks ago a new device entered the ever-widening bluetooth beacon market on Kickstarter. Unlike the competition, the new iFind from WeTag Inc. promises that it can offer all of the features of a standard bluetooth beacon without ever needing a battery charge or replacement.  This bold feature is relatively unexplained leading to a large amount of online skepticism.  In an attempt to cut through the controversy, we were lucky enough to conduct a short interview with WeTag’s CTO Paul McArthur.  While his response did help us to attach more concrete numbers to the company’s claims, we are still unconvinced that iFind is a viable product.
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Neptune Pine Smartwatch cancels NFC, CDMA; waterproofs device with commercial NeverWet spray

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Though we only covered the Neptune Pine in passing when discussing how some campaigns like to quote publications that summarize their own words, some of their recent project updates have created quite a stir that deserves brief discussion.

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Carbon solar wristwatch doesn’t ask for enough money

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“Energy harvesting” is a very attractive buzzphrase.  The market for devices that can soak up unused energy and put it to work has been steadily growing over the past few years. Many wristwatches available today don’t need batteries or winding. They can glean energy from the motion of the user’s wrist or the light of the Sun.

A wristwatch is a fairly low-power device that lends itself to this kind of technology, but the Carbon wristwatch plans to do much more than just keep time.  While the technology isn’t too farfetched, it’s the business decisions of the team that draw the potential success of this product into question.
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Response from The Dash

Just received this email from Nikolaj Hviid, founder of The Dash headphones project in response to our write up:

Hi,
Just saw your teardown of The Dash. I’m impressed with the analysis.
I’d like to provide some additional content that you are allowed to share.
If you approve, I’d like to link from our campaign, unless you think that will make your site less trusted.
We haven’t disclosed much about us, but a bit about our credentials:
  • Nikolaj, ex CEO of Designit Munich (www.designit.com), ex head of design at Harman (last 2 generations of products from JBL & harman/kardon was concepted and designed by the team I built), the design teams I created, have won more than 100 innovation and design awards 2011-2013.
  • Josef Scheider, ex AKG (www.akg.com) Head of Mech engineering 20+ years
  • Toby Martin, de.linkedin.com/pub/toby-martin/6/a75/4b4
The rest of the team has similar level of experience. As you say, we have made a few products in our time.
Regards,
Nikolaj

The email included these exclusive high-resolution images which provide some more detail on the 3D construction of the ‘phones:
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We are very impressed with the team’s openness, and the level of polish on their campaign and PR alike.  We will be following this campaign closely as it nears its November 2014 deadline.

The Dash headphones: surprisingly possible

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The Dash wireless earbuds cropped up earlier this week on Kickstarter, and you guys have been blowing up our inbox requesting a review.  We can see why you’re interested; they’re offering a pair of wireless earbuds with integrated heart rate monitor, bone microphone, touch-sensitive controls, voice feedback, 4GB MP3 player, and more. While a cursory glance might bring up memories of the Smarty Ring, a device with a similarly extreme sizing and technology requirements, there are a few details present in the Dash campaign that make it not so far fetched.

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A quick message from the founder of Hydrobee

Last week, I got a message from Burt Hamner, founder of Hydrobee which we reviewed recently.  Here’s what he had to say (edited to remove personal information):

Your DropKicker review was fair, glad you know we can make the power claimed, and yes, there is a lot more work to do to make this a commercial product!  And yes, I have not done it before, so I got smart.  Find help!

We have now figured out how to charge our USB dynamo/battery with faucets and hoses, streams and rivers, wind, bikes, pulleys and open wood fires.  Design in process.  Found a great prototyping and batch manufacturing team in Tijuana who makes power tools etc.

Also we have a little coalition of local Seattle people forming “McStarter” consulting team to help others do crowd funding.  Maybe we can enlist you guys as product reviewers  pre-Kickstarter, for those entrepreneurs smart enough to know that’s a good idea!

Burt Hamner, President, Hydrobee SPC

The Ark wireless portable charger

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As the portable backup battery market is flooded with a number of hand-held battery solutions, the Ark from Bezalel hopes to float above the rest by offering a wireless charging feature uncommon in portable devices.  With forty days and forty nights left to go on their campaign, it looks like they’re well on their way to reaching their $35,000 goal, but when their efficiency claims are scrutinized, one wonders why anyone should bother waiting.

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