Insert Coin: New Challengers voting is now open -- help us pick ten semi-finalists!
Our first-ever Insert Coin: New Challengers competition was unquestionably one of the highlights of March's Expand San Francisco conference. And now we're excited to introduce this year's contenders. We've boiled down the entries and now it's time for you to help us pick the semi-finalists. The top ten choices will win a trip to Expand New York, happening November 9th and 10th at the Javits Center, for a chance to win up to $25,000 in funding for their project. Check out the full list after the break and cast your vote right here. Voting closes October 10th.
The Candidates:
Affordable Home Automation (AHA)
The past several years have seen no lack of plays at the home automation market, but few have offered the sort of affordable, malleable solution required to truly appeal to a mainstream audience. AHA seeks to provide components that will allow users to automate their home their way, on the cheap.
A toolkit comprised of hardware and software blocks that let students, app developers and hardware tinkerers build projects based around electromyography, electrocardiography, electrodermal activity and accelerometry physiological sensors.
Scan several individual images in an instant. BlinkScan can snap up to 64 items in a single go, cropping each and saving them as separate files without ever opening photo-editing software.
We've seen desktop 3D printing explode over the past few years and milling doesn't seem all that far behind. Wire-bending, on the other hand, is another story -- albeit one with some pretty cool visuals. Connect the DIWire to your computer and you'll be bending wire-based art in minutes.
How to grow healthy produce when you live in the big city? These stackable appliances adjust lighting and utilize aeroponic nutrient sprays to help you grow fruits and vegetables in the relative comfort of your urban dwelling.
We've all wanted a heads-up display for our car ever since we first saw Top Gun, right? HeadsUP pulls together a windshield display, voice recognition, gestures and a number of other technologies to help reduce driver distraction.
A smartphone-powered oximeter that relies on a headphone jack for charging. This iOS and Android compatible device helps you keep track of your pulse rate and blood oxygen levels.
Who says mail is dead? Well, most people, these days, but what if there were a device that could bring the lost art of sending letters to the 21st century? Mr. Postman is a smart mailbox that you can monitor with your handset.
A modern rethink of the ubiquitous metal bike bell, MyBell lets you customize electronic sounds and lights, to make sure the rest of the world gets out of your way.
A Bluetooth food scale designed to monitor the nutritional intake of food for athletes, dieters and those with conditions like diabetes.
Built on Arduino, Optic Flow features suspended LEDs that shift along to programmable software, letting you create mobile, glowing works of art based on a number of factors.
A powerstrip-based take on home automation. Plug your appliances in and you can remotely control them via smartphone. The included app alerts you to power consumption and a built-in module allows other smart devices to interact with your automated home.
A network piggy bank that'll let you know how much more money you need to buy tech stocks from companies like Google, Apple and Facebook.
A waterproof, portable device charger that charges itself with the power of the sun. A tool for those survivalists who'd never be caught dead without a smartphone.
Are you a water hog? The Uji Showerhead has a built-in light that changes from green to red to let you know when cleaning has turned to wasting water.
Visual Impairment Aid for the Blind
The explanation's in the name for this one. The device vibrates in the hand of the user to let them know when there's a potential obstacle in their path. The more it vibrates, the closer the object is.
