Geek News Central Special Media Feed

Riding a bicycle or motorcycle can be fun, but it isn’t always ideal if you are in an area with lots of pollution. R-PUR found a fun and effective solution to this problem. They created the R-PUR anti-pollution mask that can filter out the harmful particles that are in the air. Todd visited the R-PUR booth at CES 2018 and spoke with Matthieu. R-PUR has created an anti-pollution mask for people who ride motorcycles or bicycles. The mask is efficient, comfortable, and fashionable. The R-PUR mask is the result of a year and a half of research and development. It is the only one that can filter out nano sized particles. You will, at times, have to change the filter in the R-PUR anti-pollution mask. The filters last between four and six weeks. R-PUR created an app that takes into consideration your location, the weather, and the amount of pollution, and lets you know when you need to change the filter. R-PUR launched their first collection of winter filter covers for the mask at CES 2018. They want to release new collections every six months. Doing so will keep their filter covers fun, fashionable, and something that people want to wear. The R-PUR anti-pollution mask will be on the market in the United States in June of 2018 at $150 USD. Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today!

Lexip is the world’s first gaming mouse designed to be an all-in-one solution for your gaming needs across all types of games. It is a high-performance gaming mouse which is intuitive, precise, and fast in all your favorite games. Todd spoke with Hugo at the Lexip booth at CES 2018. Hugo pointed out that the Lexip Gaming Mouse has won three innovation awards. The mouse has two fully mechanical joysticks. One is on the side of the mouse and can be moved with your thumb. The other is in the core of the mouse itself, which you move by tilting the shell of the mouse. Everything on the Lexip mouse is fully programmable. Lexip has a Kickstarter for the mouse. You can get the Lexip Gaming Mouse via Kickstarter for $109 USD. Retail marketing for the Lexip Gaming Mouse starts in July of 2018 at $149 USD. Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today!

Smell is one of the last human senses to be conquered by machines, with human noses still assessing and testing a wide range of products such as tea, perfume and body odour. French firm Aryballe Technologies are smell specialists with their new NeOse Pro, which aims to bring consistency to the market. Todd sees the end for Q Graders…. Aryballe’s NeOse Pro brings objective analysis to the identification and measurement of odours and smells. The NeOse Pro isn’t designed to suggest what’s a good smell or a bad one, but rather that a standard for a smell has been met. This could be for quality control purposes in a fragrance or to detect fruit ripeness. There’s a wide range of opportunities in food, beauty, medical and manufacturing. New car smell anyone? The NeOse Pro is intended for commercial uses so the hand-held unit won’t be on the shelves of stores anytime soon. Businesses will need around US$10,000 to get their hands on the device. Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today!

The smart home is where-it’s-at, and while there are all kinds of automated lights, plugs and switches for people, there’s a growing market for the “internet of pets” – activity trackers, smart beds, smartphone apps. Jenna throws Todd a bone and shows him the latest kit for the connected canine. The Wagz team have range of products which work round a connected collar. As expected, the collar tracks steps and activity, building up data on the pooch’s fitness and lifestyle. There’s LED lighting to avoid road accidents and the smart dog collar has an OLED display for name and owner info. Amazingly the collar has built-in GPS with 3G/LTE mobile connectivity, meaning it’ll phone home tell you where your mutt is when it gets lost. There’s even an option for a camera to get a dog’s eye view of the world that streams in real-time. Now you can watch Lassie come home as it happens. Here girl! Mind you, this isn’t cheap – the basic collar will cost US$295 – and for the camera version, it’ll set you back a cool US$495. Pre-orders are open for expected deliveries in Q2 2018. The Wagz collar will also be available in stores as it was recently picked up by Black and Decker. Integrating with the collar are a pet feeder (US$250) and a pet door (US$250) which will be available later in the year too. Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today!

For relatively small devices, handheld hairdryers use large amounts of power for anything up to ten minutes at a time. As a result, it’s one of the last things you’d think to be successfully battery-powered. Nevertheless, the team at Volo Beauty have taken on the challenge to develop the world’s first cordless hairdryer, the Volo Go. Todd discusses the problem with Ryan and Jonathan. Their approach for the Volo Go has been to re-engineer the hair dryer, changing from heating the air to heating the hair via infrared. This reduces the power demand to only 600 W – that’s about a third of a traditional hairdryer – without increasing drying time. At this level, battery-power is feasible, and the Volo Go lasts 14 minutes on a charge. As the average drying time for a woman’s hair is 7.5 minutes, this is ample. Extra batteries will be available for extended use. The Volo Go will launch in summer 2018 priced at US$388, with a Kickstarter campaign in the spring. Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today!  

Flic‘s smart Bluetooth buttons will be familiar to GNC readers as I reviewed them back in 2017. To be honest, the buttons aren’t that smart but it’s the clever smartphone software that does all the cool stuff. Consequently, if the Flic button is out of range of the owner’s smartphone, it’s somewhat useless. Fortunately Flic recognised this and announced an Indiegogo campaign for a Flic Hub that would take away the reliance on a nearby smartphone. Todd clicks with Elin to find out what’s new at Flic. The new Flic Hub removes the need for a nearby smartphone in a home or office environment and lets Flic smart buttons integrate more closely with other automation and process management systems. Flic is looking to grow in the enterprise with customers focusing in the safety and hospitality industries. The Hub can communicate with more Flic buttons so in theory, there could be hundreds of buttons in a location, and the integrity of the overall system is improved without dependence on the smartphone vendors. This creates a more reliable and dependable platform that enterprise customers are looking for, taking Flic beyond smart buttons. The Flic Hub is expected to go on-sale shortly. Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today!

With the advances in medical sciences and technology, there’s often no longer the need to “Send it to the lab, stat!” to get up-to-date info on blood chemistry. Soon, readings will be given at point of care in a few minutes, if not seconds. Todd consults with Brian on their latest blood diagnostic device. Apollo Medical Devices has been working with Case Western Reserve University in Ohio to develop a point of care blood diagnostic unit that uses a drop of blood to give information in seconds on eight key indicators such as sodium, potassium, pH and blood oxygen. The new devices should be in production with 12-18 months and cost will be in line with industry norms for the test. Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today!

The leaky faucet in your home could be costing you money! Water is expensive, and 13% of the water that goes into a home is lost due to leaks. A drop of water every two seconds works out to a thousand gallons of water in a year. Flo has a solution that not only will detect water leaks, but also can help you save money on your water bill. Todd stopped by the Flo booth at CES 2018 and spoke with Gabe. Flo is trying to prevent loss, one drip at a time. They proactively monitor the integrity of your home’s entire water system from a pressure, flow, and temperature standpoint. This enables Flo to detect vulnerabilities before you even get a leak. It also allows Flo to alert homeowners when a leak has been detected. The Flo app has a dashboard that shows you how much water you’ve used every day, and what times of the day you are using water. It has a control panel where you can see in real time what the pressure is in the water system, what the flow is, and what the temperature is. Push a button on the app to remotely turn on and turn off the water. The Flo device has a useful life of between five and ten years. You do need professional installation to install the Flo device on your plumbing. You only need one device for the house. Flo has a list price of $499. Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today!

Voice-activated digital assistant devices have become somewhat commonplace in recent years, with the most well-known being developed by Amazon, Google, and Apple. These assistants can be good for getting help with basic tasks. But we’ve all had disappointing experiences with these platforms where it just felt like they weren’t “smart” enough to do what we wanted. Todd met with Frank of Titan AI. Frank talked about his company’s up-and-coming “AI companion” device that can do much more than just turn on the lights or order a pizza. Titan’s device uses both voice recognition and visual cues (courtesy of its built-in camera) to determine a user’s mood. Come home from a rough day at the office? Titan might suggest entertainment options that’ll put you in a better place of mind. Pricing is not yet available for Titan’s AI device. It is expected to go on sale between the third and fourth quarters of 2018. Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today!

One of the problems people face when they travel is the security of their bags or backpacks. There is potential that a thief will open your backpack and steal your items while you are sleeping on the plane. Or, a thief might steal your entire backpack. Lumzag has a solution that can prevent both of these problems. Lumzag introduced the world’s most secure backpack at CES 2018. Todd stopped by the Lumzag booth to speak with Natalie. She pointed out the many wonderful features of the Lumzag backpack. It has mobile tracking so you will always know where your backpack is. A remote anti-theft alarm will be activated if your backpack is stolen. The Lumzag backpack has embedded cameras that can take a photo of the person who opens your backpack without your permission. The backpack has its own power bank that is charged with solar power. The Lumzag backpack also functions as a Wi-Fi hotspot. The price of the Lumzag backpack has not yet been determined. They are going to launch a crowdfunding effort. Those who want to be the first to know when the Lumzag backpack is ready can sign up on the Lumzag website and be put on a waitlist. Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today!

3D printing holds a lot of promise for many different aspects of human activity. However it’s been only in recent years that small-scale 3D printers have become widely available. While these smaller machines are impressive with what they can do, they’re often limited by their smaller-scale sizes. Creative 3D Technology is working to expand 3D printing to the industrial scale. Todd met with the company’s founder, Ethan, a 17-year old who began refurbishing 3D printers at the age of 12. Ethan noted that his price points for these industrial-sized printers are much lower than what similar sized printers typically go for. He also covered some of the warranty and service plans available to Creative 3D Technology’s customers. Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today!

You parked your car and went on with your day. Later, you might have an unsettling moment as you worry about whether or not your car is ok. Checking on it usually requires a person to stop what they are doing and go back to the parking lot. Raven makes any car a smart car, and enables you to quickly check on your car from wherever you are. Todd stopped by the Raven booth to talk with Russell. Raven is an all-in-one connected car solution. It has built-in cellular LTE, cameras, sensors, displays and a high performance six core processor that gives you and your vehicle new capabilities. Features include a rear facing camera, a front facing camera, real time displays, LTE module that is always connected to the internet, and a security system. Raven transfers video of your trip onto your phone so you don’t have to transfer those files yourself. Raven will start shipping in March of 2018 and is priced at $299 US. There is streaming subscription fee of $8 a month. Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today!

Human behavior in public environments is usually difficult to track. Proprietors of retail spaces and trade shows are always trying to gain deeper insights into what their customers are doing. Todd stopped by the Aura Vision Labs booth to speak with Daniel. Aura Vision Labs has developed a system for tracking people in public that looks at whole bodies instead of just faces. That means Aura Vision’s product can gather demographic data on people even if they’re wearing hoodies or otherwise have their faces obscured. The system also works with any camera, so it can be easily integrated into any existing CCTV infrastructure. Daniel noted that the Aura Vision system can’t automatically identify individual people. But it could potentially do that if it were paired with a loyalty card scanner or other means of individual customer identification. Become a GNC Insider today!

A lot of news has been made in recent years about athletes getting concussions as a result of their athletic careers. The tricky thing about concussions is, they’re hard to detect. That means a player could start on the road to real concussion-related problems long before there’s an actual concussion diagnosis. Reflexion is working to change that with The Reflexion Edge. This innovative health product provides a 30-second on-site test that players can take if they’ve received a hard hit during a game. Reflexion Edge is foldable, so it can be used anywhere, and since the test it provides doesn’t take long, it can be done during a standard game break. If a coach or manager suspects a player might be injured, they can have that player immediately screened for a concussion to determine if the player should be removed from the game. Become a GNC Insider today!

Self-assembly robots and smart toys are great for introducing and teaching children the basics of coding. It’s a hot area at the moment, especially with Nintendo Labo coming soon, but here we have British outfit BinaryBots and their animal-themed programmable robots. Todd and Chris play with the smart pets. The team at BinaryBots have a range of robotic toys starting with straightforward cardboard-based models through to more complex creations using the Totem construction kits. There are crabs, spiders and tortoises, each will unique actions. The robots can be connected up to a BBC micro:bit computer for coding and programming. Children can code their robot and to see how it responds to light and other stimuli. The cardboard-based robots are available now with the new Totem-based ones arriving in April. They’re priced at GB£40 / US$55 for the cardboard models and GB£60 / US$80 for the Totem, though you’ll need to buy your own micro:bit for the latter. Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today!