Monday, April 3, 2017

GADGET SPECIAL...... 8 gadgets begging for your attention, and your money

8 gadgets begging for your attention, and your money


From a toothbrush with a camera to a sex wearable -these gadgets tend to go past the point of utility into the realm of the absurd. But there's no denying they're fun


Every day, there's a new connected home gadget claiming to make life eas ier. Some of these gadgets are easy sources of scepticism, but others can be worth buying. To illustrate just how far the tech world is willing to go to make anything and everything connected, let's look at a few of the more out-there smart gadgets we've seen recently:

Belty Good Vibes
The Belty Good Vibes is the second `smart belt' from French startup Emiota, and serves as a sort of leather, waist-worn fitness tracker.It pairs with a companion app and vibrates when it senses you sitting too long, not standing up straight, drinking too little water, and so on.Emiota planned to launch it by last December for $395, but it isn't yet available for purchase.

Onvi Prophix
The Onvi Prophix connects to your phone, but it uses its app to show you photos and a live video of the inside of your mouth. It can do that because there's a 10-mega pixel camera built into the brush itself. If you have serious dental concerns, maybe you could get something out of this $400 device.For most others, a bathroom mirror should do the trick.

Chip Smart Cookie Oven
The Chip is a little WiFi-connected oven for cookies. You buy a set of propriet a r y `cookie pod s', pop them in, and let the oven do the work. There's an app, of course, that notifies you when you r b at ch i s done a nd let s you order new pods as you wish.The oven will cost $ 249 when it becomes available by the end of this year.

June Intelligent Oven
The June is a smart countertop oven that uses internal cameras, a chipset, and artificial intelligence to recog nise dif ferent foods you place within it, then cooks them automatically. It was made by former Apple engineers, a nd it 's avai l able for $ 1, 5 0 0.Various reviews suggest that it works well, but it still lacks the nuances to recognise anything you throw at it.

Hidrate Spark
The Hidrate Spark is one of a few `smart water bottles' that've popped up in recent years, most of which do the same thing: pair with a companion app over Bluetooth, then walk you through staying properly hydrated. The Spark looks nice, and the fact that it glows when you hit your thirst-quenching goals is cute. But paying $55 to be reminded to drink water might can be a bit much.

i.Con Smart Condom Ring
The iCon is a sex wearable currently up for pre-registration by British Condoms for about $74. It's not exactly a `smart condom'. Instead, it's an adjustable, waterproof ring that goes around a guy's base and tracks his `thrust velocity', skin temperature, calories burned, and other stats during intimacy.You'll then be able to share those stats with other iCon users. (You can keep everything anonymous if desired.)

Flosstime
Flosstime is a $30 smart floss dispenser that mounts to a bathroom mirror and churns out 18 inches of tooth rope when tapped. The idea is to get you in the habit of flossing regularly, which seems feasible given that you'll have a white floss shooting machine staring you in the face whenever you go the bathroom.

Juicero
The Juicero is a $ 399 connected `juicing system' that won't make juice if your WiFi is down. While that slice of modernity may sound frightening, it's not the most expensive a juicer has been (the Juicero itself debuted at $700), and the whole thing does appear to be a simple, effective way of making healthy drinks.


AGENCIES

No comments: