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Kickstarter's first sex toy has arrived
Crowdfunded sex toys aren't new to the scene, but until now, the most well-known crowdfunding site has steered clear of the category. Now, Kickstarter is hosting a campaign for Dame Products' Fin vibrator. Cofounder Alexandra Fine tells Motherboard that proximity helped it break in, since "Kickstarter is literally around the block from us." The company is familiar with the process, after launching its Eva vibrator for couples with an $835k campaign on Indiegogo.
ICYMI: Finally, cars can morph into robots!
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: A Turkish company says that for millions of dollars, it'll make you your very own Autobot (called a LeTrons) and while whether the car is actually driveable may be in question the video is still fairly incredible. No less an advancement for conductive thread, a $34 million grant from the National Science Foundation is letting a group of doctors, scientists and fashion designers create clothing that at-risk pregnant women can wear to track their health. If you're into augmented reality, this Pong game should get you going. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Gene editing helps spot evolutionary link between fins and hands
Gene editing technology isn't just useful for curing the world's ills, it seems. University of Chicago scientists have used the CRISPR technique to discover a key evolutionary connection between fins and hands. Researchers edited fin-related zebrafish genes to make the appropriate cells glow as they develop, and discovered that there's a similar glow in a mouse's digits. In other words, there's a strong similarity in the genes governing fins and digits -- they're both telling embryonic cells to show up at the end of an appendage.
Crowdfunded Project News: The best of Kickstarter, Indiegogo and the rest
Every week, TUAW provides readers with an update on what new or significant crowdfunded Apple-related projects are in the news. While our policy is to not go into detail on items that haven't reached at least 80 percent of their funding goal, this update is designed to give readers a heads-up on projects they might find interesting enough to back. Note that we're not covering those "projects" on Indiegogo where people are trying to get someone else to cough up money for a new computer or tablet... From Kickstarter: Everydisk from Avatron is at 63 percent of its funding goal with only three days to go -- so close, but yet so far! If you'd like a nice, encrypted personal cloud storage solution from a trusted name in the app world, get behind this project. MaxStone is a wireless remote for your DSLR that's controlled by an app on your iPhone. This one took off like a rocket and is now at a whopping 219 percent funded with 29 days to go in the campaign. Kloqe is quite a classy iPhone case made entirely of aluminum. If you're concerned about it affecting the reception of your iPhone, don't be -- the company has tested the case throughout development and figured out how to combat that problem. It comes in all of the colors you'd love -- champagne, space gray, white and aluminum. All this beauty can only be yours if the project reaches its funding goal. At this point, it's 31 percent funded with 32 days to go. wobL answers the question "Where's the (#&(#$) snooze button on my iPhone screen?" by pairing a rocking (or wobbling) iPhone stand with an iOS 7 alarm app. When the alarm goes off and you need that extra 10 minutes of snooze, just reach out blindly and hit the wobL to make it... wobble... and you're set for dreamland. The Portland-based 3P Studio design firm needs your help to make it happen, as it's at 13 percent funding with 37 days to go. AboutFacePad is an interesting project -- an inexpensive iPad wall mount and stand made out of recycled cardboard. Oddly enough, it's not as bizarre as it sounds. But with 10 days to go, it's only received US$646 of its $10,000 goal. Sad face... On the other hand, the VERSI Docker Stand is well over its modest funding goal and still has 23 days left to go. It's an adjustable universal dock that works with tablets and smartphones, with or without cases. It personally looks a bit industrial to me, but hey, some people like industrial chic. From Indiegogo: Keepod Unite isn't an Apple-oriented project, but it is a fascinating idea. A $7 "bootable PC in a flash drive" that is affordable to almost anyone on the planet. Plug it into a recycled PC at a community center or a shared PC at a school, boot it up and your own private environment is there. Pull it out, and your PC goes with you. Only about 24 percent funded with 24 days left to go. Fin is a thumb-ring with a purpose -- to turn your entire palm and fingers into a touch interface for your smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer. Apparently not too many people are enthralled with the idea, as it's reached just over 6 percent funding with 32 days to go. QardioArm is a take on the "connected self," providing an easily pocketable wireless blood pressure-measurement device that talks to your smartphone. The idea is that you're more likely to monitor your blood pressure when you can take your device with you everywhere. It's over 55 percent funded with 14 days left. Otto Petcare Systems has an idea -- a way to let you keep an eye on your dog's or cat's activity levels, view it on a smartphone via a webcam, feed your pet remotely through an app and compare your animal's nutritional and activity levels to others of the same type and breed. This project's getting close, at 84 percent funding with just 10 days left. If you're aware of any other crowdfunded Apple-related projects, be sure to let us know about them through the Tip Us button at the upper right of the TUAW home page for future listing on the site.
Get addon updates via Twitter or RSS
I am pretty notorious for not updating my addons often enough (I think some of the versions I have must be years old by now), but maybe with this, I'll be better: Reader Fin runs a website that tracks RSS updates of addons from most of the database sites, so all you need to do is hook that feed up to your reader of choice, and then whenever a new addon drops (either one that you're waiting for, or all of them, if you just want to watch them go by), you'll see it pop up in your reader, ready for inspection or a download or whatever you like.He's also hooked it right up to a Twitter feed, so you can also tune in on Twitter and watch the new addons go past. I thought there might be too many going out, and that all those addons might spam up your Twitter feed, but actually if you've got a full slate of follows already (I've got about 200 talkative folks), it's not bad at all -- enough to keep you interested, but not so many that you feel flooded.Of course, this probably still won't help me get my addons updated -- only putting an extra hour or two of free time in the day will help me accomplish that one. But it'll nice, at least, to know they're out there.
Researchers creating flexible fin to make AUVs more agile
If a wave of déjà vu just hit you like a ton of bricks, fret not, as this most certainly isn't the first (or second) time we've heard of researchers looking to the seas to create more intelligent / nimble submersibles. Apparently, a few more folks have gotten involved, as gurus from Drexel, MIT, Harvard and George Washington are now collaborating to develop a "fish-like fin to make autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) more agile." Apparently, the current iteration has improved on prior versions by eliminating drag during part of the "cut and sweep" motion. The general idea is to combine several of the fins in order to "allow robotic submarines to hover and turn on a dime as natural swimmers can," but it'll still be quite some time before devices such as this one can overcome ocean currents and ill-willed sea creatures.
The Helio Fin
Helio today has announced the Fin, the first flip phone in the carrier's lineup. For an MVNO making its name with unique powerhouses like the Ocean, the Fin seems downright ordinary -- but that's not quite the case. For one thing, the Fin bests its A717 and m610 lookalikes (all three of which are manufactured by Samsung, coincidentally) in the thickness game, coming in at a svelte 11.4 millimeters to take the crown as the thinnest flip launched in the US. The Fin also totes a rather potent 3 megapixel sensor in its cam, 100MB of internal storage with microSD expansion up to 4GB, and stereo Bluetooth support. As with all of Helio's more recently launched devices, the Fin includes GPS on board; concurrently with the phone's release, Helio is announcing Garmin Mobile navigation for the Fin and the Ocean -- available for $2.99 per day -- for those times when the integrated Google Maps-based nav just doesn't cut it. Grab Fin starting today for $175.
