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Let us fund your hardware dreams: Submit your project for the 2014 Insert Coin competition
It's May 16, and you know what that means? You only have 133 days to submit your Insert Coin entries and get the chance to win some serious cash to fund that childhood dream or that brilliant idea you just know will be huge. We want to hear about that innovative creation -- and we'd love if you can send it in before the submission deadline on September 26th. Just like last year, the Judge's Choice will get a $10,000 prize, while the Reader's Choice will get $15,000. This time, though, we don't only accept pre-crowdfunded projects: those currently being crowdfunded or in their post-crowdfunding stages are very much welcome, as well. Engadget editors will also review the winning products to drum up interest and hopefully help you reach your funding goal like DiWire Bender and Ziphius (our first ever Insert Coin winner!) did in 2013. Before we crown those two projects that embody the innovation we're looking for, however, we're first choosing 10 that stand out the most among the crowd. If you end up as one of the 10 semi-finalists, we're giving you Expand New York tickets, a $1,000 travel stipend, a space on the show floor and a chance to demo your invention in front of live and online audiences. Hopefully, you've got your stage fright under control by November to win both readers and judges over. Now that we've got you pumped to share your brainchild with everyone, get that project ready for victory and head over to our submission page.
Compact 'Stubilizer' could smooth out your GoPro footage
Though GoPro cameras excel at capturing your insane escapades, the resulting shaky footage is not what we'd call production-ready. Now an inventor named Stuart Smith is looking to smooth things out with his self-named Stubilizer, a kind of mini-Steadicam designed for the GoPro's mount. Thanks to the small size, you can attach it almost anywhere you'd normally put a GoPro -- like on a helmet or vehicle, for instance. Despite the size, it seems to excel at drastically improving shaky video (shown after the break) even when you're running. Smith has launched three versions on Kickstarter, the Solo, Duo and Pro, which run £149, £199 and £299 (about $250, $340 and $500), respectively. All three use gyroscopes and motors to steady footage, with the Solo helping roll only, the Duo adding the pitch axis and the Pro stabilizing all three: pitch, roll and yaw. If you're interested in pledging, you can hit the source -- just keep in mind the extra risk to your neck with such helmet-attached devices.
Insert Coin: 2013's top 10 crowdfunding projects
An underwater drone that you can control with your tablet or smartphone from up to 300 feet away. Reckon that's worth a pledge of around $200? Plenty of you did, because Ziphius is now a very real thing, thanks to its passionate everyman backers. Galvanized by some very successful projects last year, 2013 saw plenty of crowdfunding projects angling for your dollar. We also crowned three Insert Coin: New Challengers winners at our Expand San Francisco and Expand New York events, hopefully doing our bit to cheer on the next Eric Migicovsky. Aside from said competitors, this year saw 29 Insert Coin subjects manage to hit their goals, with some utterly smashing them. Indiegogo's CEO Slava Rubin tells us that compared to 2012, there was "more than a 1,000 percent increase in funds raised" in its technology category. "We've seen everyone from big brands to small startups embracing crowdfunding as an alternative to traditional finance. We can't wait to see what exciting new products 2014 will bring," he said. With the likes of Oculus Rift and the Pebble smartwatch still making news more than a year since their crowdfunding debuts, how will the class of 2013 fare? Here's a closer look of some of the projects that you just had to make a reality.
The Engadget Show 47: Insert Coin - New Challengers
We got to hang with Spike Lee, LeVar Burton, Reggie Watts, Ayah Bdeir, David Gerrold, Bens Heck and Huh and Rachel Haot. We played around with Occulus Rift, some electric skateboards, a surgical robot and a few 3D scanners. Once again, however, our Insert Coin competition was arguably the highlight of the whole Expand event. Ten products competing for two big prizes, to help jumpstart their crowdfunding campaigns. Once again, the diversity of the projects was staggering -- a fact that no doubt made it all the more difficult for our panel of illustrious judges to pick just one winner. In this second of two Engadget Show Expand specials, we follow the journey of our top five finalists, MyBell, GrowCubes, Smart Power Strip, DiWire and Blink Scan. Huge congrats as always to all the semi-finalists and a big ole thanks to co-host Mark Frauenfelder and our four-judge panel.
And your Insert Coin winners are: DIWire and GrowCubes!
The votes have been tallied, the judges have conferred and we have a pair of winners in our Insert Coin competition. First up, our panel of experts have settled on a victor after much debate, and Pensa Labs will be taking home the $10,000 judge's prize for its DIWire. The automated wire-bending machine is sure to find a home in many a maker's workshop. The readers though, chose something different. Attendees and viewers at home cast their support for GrowCubes. The idea of stackable greenhouses small enough for a New York City apartment really captured the imagination of the public. And for that they'll be taking home the $15,000 reader's prize. So congratulations to our winners! Of course, the story doesn't end here for any of our Insert Coin competitors. We're sure some successful crowdfunding campaigns lie in their futures.
Here are your five Insert Coin finalists, cast your vote now!
It's been a long day of demos, tough questions and talking to potential consumers for our Insert Coin competitors. But the judges and readers have spoken, and we have our five finalists. MyBell, DIWire, GrowCubes, Smart Power Strip and BlinkScan will be moving on to the next round where they'll be competing for two prizes: one awarded by our panel of judges, and the other chosen by you the readers. Your vote here will select the winner of the $15,000 Reader's Choice Award from the slate of the five finalists. Read more about each project, along with the finalist projects, before casting your vote very carefully. Voting starts at 6:30 PM EST on Saturday, November 9 and closes at 4:30 PM EST on Sunday, November 10!
GrowCube promises to grow food with ease indoors (hands-on)
Food. It's a bit of a big issue. After all, half the world doesn't have enough, and the other half has so much it doesn't really know where it comes from. Chris Beauvois, a software developer turned inventor, has created a device that could potentially solve both of these problems in a single swoop. GrowCube is a gadget that's designed to grow plants with aeroponics -- think, hydroponics, but with mists instead of trays of water. It uses just two square meters of space and 95 percent less water than traditional farming methods. Now the company is here at Engadget Expand as an Insert Coin semi-finalist in the hope of earning a big stack of cash to help bring this product to the wider world.
Hands-on with BITalino, a microcontroller board for quirky and serious projects alike (video)
It's safe to say that BITalino isn't your average DIY electronics board. For starters, the sensors that spring from the main unit (which comprises the microcontroller, Bluetooth module and power unit) are more at home in a hospital than they are scattered over a tinkerer's workstation. Jutting off the main board are a light meter, accelerometer, heart-rate sensor (ECG), muscle activity sensor (EMG) and a sensor to measure sympathetic nervous system activity (EDG). There's also a standard LED, and while all the above forms a single structure, each module can be snapped off to mix and match for specific projects. BITalino is a semi-finalist in our Insert Coin competition being held at Expand NY this weekend, but before that kicks off, we caught up with its creator Hugo Silva to talk about the board's inception, applications and what lies in its future.
The NutriSurface is an intelligent food scale with Obamacare beginnings
Obamacare is probably the last (loaded) term you'd expect to read about on a tech site -- no less in conjunction with a nutrition-focused gadget. But Andy Tsai, creator of the NutriSurface, actually credits the controversial healthcare program for redirecting his company ReFlex Wireless away from a focus on nanotech and towards a technological solution for the food and beverage industry. Pulling inspiration from a CNN segment documenting the new challenges and nutrition label requirements for major food chains, Tsai devised an intelligent scale/chopping board that would be able to streamline the information-gathering process for restaurants and grocery chains. The resulting NutriSurface, now its third iteration, has broken away from its modest incarnation as a one-way communication device into two separate models: a coaster and waterproof chopping block that not only transmit nutritional info, but can also be programmed remotely. Neither device is yet on the market and both are still undergoing testing, but Tsai plans to launch an Indiegogo campaign for the product and, if its current market success is any indication, crowdsourcing could help to expand its uses even further. As Tsai put it, the NutriSurface was "built to be a hardware platform where developers can [create] their own applications," thus leaving the modest device open to myriad uses.
BlinkScan is a flexible, fast and high-fidelity scanning solution
Your scanner is stupid. You might not know that, but it is. Thankfully, Expand NY Insert Coin semi-finalist BlinkScan is here to give you what you never knew you needed. It's a device that scans images, documents or even objects like many other scanners out there, but unlike those dumb machines, BlinkScan tailors its output. Instead of producing a single image with everything lumped together, it crops out the individual items scanned (so that the background is completely eliminated), straightens the resulting images and exports them as separate files to your photo editing software of choice -- all in about three seconds. BlinkScan also delivers super-high-quality pictures thanks to its unique image-capture method, which the company calls "perfect color capture." To get such fidelity, the device takes three separate 10-megapixel monochromatic images (red, blue and green) and combines them into a 36-bit, 30-megapixel image.
iOximeter monitors your heart-rate, is powered by your phone's headphone socket
Connecting health-monitoring hardware to smartphones is a no-brainer. The phone does the heavy processing, offers up power and screen, and thus makes the hardware cheaper and more importantly , smaller. However, you still need to power the thing, which can be tough when you're trying to gauge vitals overnight or longer. Insert Coin competitor iOximeter, a pulse oximeter, reckons it's solved that issue by taking what it needs, power-wise, from your headphone socket. Using a special pulse sensor (that it already owns the intellectual property rights for), iOximeter drops the power requirements down to under 8mA, which means it frees up the typical smartphone battery port (micro-USB or Lightning; it's iOS- and Android-compatible) to continue charging. "Because we can add more features through the smartphone app, unlike some relationships, it's going to get even better over time." The sensor we toyed with at Expand was accurate to within 2 BPM at resting heart rates (it gets even better when you're riled), while it can also count the level of blood oxidation -- thus the name. That isn't where the capabilities stop however, and future development focuses on both respiration rate (intake per minute) and heart-rate deviation, which sounds like a scary metric that would deserve some monitoring. "Because we can add more features through the smartphone app, unlike some relationships it's going to get even better over time", said iOximeter's Yale Zhang, with a sigh. Aside from health business applications, where a cheap long-term monitor could make remote care a whole lot more feasible, the team has already seen interest from, oddly, yoga and meditation groups. These people are apparently looking to log and monitor exactly how relaxed (precisely!) they're getting during their mantras. No price has been set yet, although the team is promising it'd be an accessible one. We'll update when we get a price tag. Edgar Alvarez contributed to this report.
Peripheral Vision 011: Ayah Bdeir on the importance of knowing how your electronics work
"I didn't set out originally to start a company," explains Ayah Bdeir. "I was trying to solve a problem." She's seated in the solution, a sunny office space in downtown Manhattan. A portable dividing screen provides some semblance of privacy, separating us from a space packed to the gills with makers and engineers tinkering with LittleBits' newest products. The company is in the pre-holiday push, bringing 20 new modules to market, additions that bring the total number of available Bits to 60. In amongst the explosion of microcontrollers like Arduino and RaspberryPi, Bdeir's company offers something different: utter simplicity. LittleBits are targeted firmly as those with the desire to create, but largely lacking the technical expertise to do so - people curious about how their smartphones work, but with no idea where to begin looking. "I realized that electronics govern our lives and people don't understand them," Bdeir continues. "There are all of these tools available to hobbyists and tech enthusiasts, but what if you don't want to go through the step learning curve? We have to speak to the wider crowd, people who are not necessarily sold on the idea that they have to know how to wire a circuit or make something move." Bdeir will be appearing this weekend at Engadget Expand in New York City.
Smart Power Strip set to bring simple, cheap automation to the home (video)
Listen, we'd all like an automated home -- we've got the appliances and we've got the smart devices. What we really need is a bridge between the two, something that allows our little pocket computers to turn our home devices on and off at will. There has been no shortage of attempts by some of the most prominent names in the industry to become a catch-all solution, but none have really managed to make a major impact on our day-to-day lives. It's hard to point to a single explanation for the lack of mainstream adoption -- though if we had to choose one, we'd probably point to pricing. After all, automation's a convenience, to be sure, but for the vast majority of us, thousands of dollars is an awful lot to pay for convenience. You could wait a decade or so for the cost to come down on some standardized solution, or you could bite the bullet and pick up something easier and considerably cheaper in the near future. It's not the most elegant solution we've seen, but Smart Power Strip is clever, intuitive and requires pretty much nothing in the way of installation to get started. Simply put, it's a power strip with a little extra. There's a WiFi module built in and controls that let you turn the individual outlets on and off using a smartphone and the company's proprietary app. That means you can turn the lights on the minute you get home without flicking a switch.
MYBELL keeps cyclists safe by blasting their MP3s of choice (hands-on)
Biking in heavily trafficked areas can be dangerous -- and few know this better than NYC cyclists. Peter Pottier is one of many in the Big Apple to survive a near miss while on two wheels, and that experience led him to develop a digital noise-maker to help keep bikers safe. The handlebar-mountable MYBELL, created by Pottier and his two colleagues, pumps out sound at up to 96dB -- the average mechanical bell tops out at about 70dB -- and features LEDs to improve nighttime visibility. Safety is clearly the focus here, but Pottier says he wants to improve the relationship between bikers and drivers as well. "I looked at what was currently on the market, such as air horns, but I didn't want to ostracize bikers." (Who wants to be accosted with that honking sound, after all?) To that end, the MYBELL is customizable; you can upload any MP3 file to the device via micro-USB, and you can choose different LED patterns in night mode. On top of the novelty value, hearing screaming techno instead of a standard bell ring will theoretically be safer, thanks to the wider pitch and range which make it easier to detect. And, if you're lucky, your taste in music might even earn the respect of that otherwise-hostile SUV.
Hands-on with Mr. Postman, a smart mailbox that links your inbox to your letterbox
Sometimes, even the oldest cliches can serve as inspiration. Take the dog and the letter carrier, for instance: when Manuel Masri first moved to the United States, he was surprised to find his canine companion obsessed with the mailman. Every delivery became an event, anticipation for a 4pm delivery and an excited pooch -- but the K-9 notification system only worked when he was at home. His solution? Mr. Postman, a mailbox that knows when to expect your mail, notifies you when it arrives and locks after delivery. Masri's smart mailbox falls into that growing category of the "internet of things," something that links typically disconnected physical objects with each other and your digital world. It also happens to be one of Engadget Expand's Insert Coin semi-finalists. We dropped by the company's show booth to see the project's take on the future of mail delivery.
Insert Coin semifinalist: BITalino is a self-contained physiological tinker lab
You might be asking yourself, do we really need another electronics tinkertoy / microcontroller kit? And we say, you can never have too much of a good thing. BITalino takes the standard setup, and includes all the sensors you could want to get started building your next DIY project. There's a light sensor, an accelerometer, as well as sensors for electromyography, electrocardiography and electrodermal activity. All that data can then be fed to a host machine over Bluetooth. It even comes in a variety of forms: one where the sensors can be unplugged and rearranged, one where the components sit on perforated boards that can be snapped off should you want to position the sensors away from the main board and one where the company has already disassembled the various components for you. You can see all of the Insert Coin semifinalists here.
Insert Coin semifinalist: HeadsUP is a smartphone-powered HUD for your car
HeadsUP is in the extremely early prototype stage, but that hasn't stopped us from falling in love with the concept. Unlike many other heads up displays for cars, this one can be added to any vehicle and relies on your phone to power it. So there's no worry about the technology becoming hopelessly outdated. It displays the UI from your Android phone (or tablet, we suppose) on a transparent overlay on your windshield, allowing you to check your notifications or get directions while keeping your eyes glued to the road. And, rather than have to worry about taking your hands off the wheel to tap tiny navigation icons, you can simply wave your fingers at it to control the UI through gestures. Or, you can just talk to it the way you normally would using Google Now or S Voice. You can see all of the Insert Coin semifinalists here.
Insert Coin semifinalist: iOximeter is a simple, cross-platform wellness tool
Pulse oximeters that connect to your smartphone aren't exactly new. In fact, a super-hackable Bluetooth model called smARtPULSE wound up as a finalist in our Insert Coin competition early this year out in San Francisco. What sets the iOximeter apart is its cross-platform compatibility and extremely low power requirements. In fact, it's able to draw all the juice it needs from the headphone jack on your phone. The appropriate data is also transferred over a standard issue audio cable and presented in an app on your iOS or Android device. That leaves you free to charge your phone while watching your the oxygen saturation levels in you blood climb. Data is not only presented in real time, but recorded for later analysis. You can see all of the Insert Coin semifinalists here.
Insert Coin semifinalist: MYBELL is an extremely loud and customizable electronic bike bell
Say what you will about the cavalier bike messengers that give cyclists a bad name, but it doesn't change the fact that pedaling your way to work is better for both your health and the environment. Unfortunately, biking (especially in New York City) can feel a little, well, dangerous at times. MYBELL isn't magically going to keep you from getting doored while flying down Broadway, but the extremely loud electronic bicycle bell should make you a little harder to miss. Inside this little box is a powerful audio amplifier that plays custom sounds at up to 96dB -- your average mechanical bell tops out at 70dB. It also includes LEDs that can be programmed to flash in a pattern unique to you. Of course, none of that is going to keep careless motorists out of the bike lane, so you'll still your wits and quick reflexes, in addition to MYBELL. You can see all of the Insert Coin semifinalists here.
Insert Coin semifinalist: Mr. Postman brings snail mail to your smartphone
As a general rule, we're in favor of any gadgets named for one of our favorite girl group jams. We've also got a soft spot for those projects looking to send a little love in the postal service's direction -- lord knows it can use it. Mr. Postman, naturally, fulfills both of those quotas. The smart mailbox communicates with your handset to let you know when mail has arrived. You can also use the app to lock and unlock your mailbox, to ward off those pesky neighborhood mail thieves. Now if only there were a high-tech way to tell them to get off your lawn. You can see all of the Insert Coin semifinalists here.
