High-tech watches are, arguably, a dime-a-dozen. But the Division Furtive electro-mechanical watch is something special. Built using a series of Swiss micro-motors (or LEDs), the face displays the time by moving little indicators along a sliding scale. You can see the day, date, time, day of week, time zone, phase of the moon, and a chronometer (along with a battery indicator) on a face that looks like it should be used to deflect Blofeld’s cat.

You can also set the watch by flashing it with a smartphone screen. Using a light sensor, the watch will “read” the flashes on the screen and synchronize itself with your phone. The company is making two models: the 40, which uses LED lights in place of motors, and the 46, which will include the motors.

Designed by Gabriel Menard, the entire project is currently ratcheting up in expectation of a December launch although the mechanical version will come later. “Over the last 18 months, I’ve designed, prototyped and built a novel wrist watch that has linear cursors instead of rotating hands,” said Menard. “I know only two other watches that do this…they’re selling for 250k$ while mine is priced at $3,600.”

$3,600 a little rich for your blood? The Kickstarter project is for the LED models only and pledges start at $190 and includes an etched serial number on the side of the case. You can reserve a 46 for a mere $73 and pay for and receive it when Menard completes them. He’s looking for £20,000 and is at about £2,000 right now.

My watch blogger buddy Patrick has been following these guys for a while and he’s come away impressed. At 50mm it’s wildly huge and the markings may be a little busy but definitely offer a sense of mystery and mayhem. At less than $200 for a custom, limited-edition watch, the 40 won’t steer you wrong and the mechanical sounds amazing once it’s complete. It’s no Golden Gun, but it’s still pretty cool.

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Article courtesy of TechCrunch

The 3D printer craze shows no signs of stopping and Kickstarter is full of exciting examples of new printing hardware. Today’s entrant in the 3D race? The devilishly cute PandaBot, a “fur white” 3D printer with a an 11x11x11-inch build area and a smooth, seamless design.

The bot prints in ABS plastic and has one enclosed print head. All of the major machinery is hidden behind white metal panels and the aforementioned “Panda” styling means this doesn’t look like a junk yard mated with the thing E.T. built in the woods.

Founded by Torontoans Kelly John Rose and Felix Tang, the project is looking for $50,000 and PandaBots cost $800 for the basic model, which is quite reasonable. Like flowers in the meadow, 3D printers are beautiful and manifold, and this one is more attractive than most.

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Article courtesy of TechCrunch

The Velo is still a bit of a pie-in-the-sky project but I’d totally be down with it if they made a few in real life. Designed to reduce the “problems” associated with biking – namely collisions and mapping – the bike/microprocessor system is fully electric and connects with your smartphone to perform some very interesting tricks.

First, there’s collision avoidance that offers haptic feedback when you’re about to slam into something. The bike also works with your smartphone for built-in mapping and “drive by wire” control of your brakes and transmission. The creators hope to offer ubiquitous computing built-in for “data sensing, real-time intelligent tracking systems, dynamic routing, and social integration.”

The founder, Jack Al-Kahwati is an former Sikorsky and BAE engineer, which I suspect means that soon he’ll be able to add carbon fiber wings to this thing and make it fly you over traffic.

I saw these guys at the NYC Maker Faire and was really excited to see a svelte electric bike. Little did I know that these things were going to be far cooler than I imagined. The plan is to launch a Kickstarter in the next few months but a prototype is working now and the team is building out more features.

Again, it’s still early to call it, but it’s definitely an ambitious and cool hardware project.

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Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Another day, another iOS-based telepresence rig. The Helios is a tiny little two-wheeled car that drives around with your iPhone or Touch in the passenger seat, allowing you to move around a scene and interact with remote subjects through the magic of telepresence.

They are raising money through Kickstarter.

Telepresence is a hard nut to crack. People just aren’t that comfortable having a robotic intermediary. But as this generation grows up with video calling and home robotics, I suspect it will be much easier to — as the above image suggests — roll out into the park with your SO.

From the creator, Tian Long Wang:

The robot will cost $120 when it ships, but early buyers can get it for $99. The project is at $3,000 of a $50,000 pledge request so this might end up in the dustbin of telepresence robot history, but perhaps someone out there will buy 5,000 of them and send entire robot drone armies through the streets of major American cities. A guy can dream…

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Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Just when you thought it was safe to ignore the app economy we have the LIFX, a Kickstarter-funded lightbulb you control from your iOS or Android device? Why, you ask? Because it’s a lightbulb controlled via smartphone, that’s why.

The product is just one day old on Kickstarter and it already hit the $283,394 mark which means it’s definitely getting funded. The bulb itself costs $69.

What does it do and why do you need a smartphone? Well, first you can change the brightness and color of the bulb right from your phone. You can also set it to go on and off at a certain time and come on when you get home.

Because it’s a self-contained unit you don’t need to change your wiring. Just twist the old fellow in and fire up the app to enjoy endless color combinations and feel like you’re in a disco.

Here’s what it does:

Sadly the product isn’t shipping until March 2013 but it’s pretty cool, especially the music dance party part. I’m getting one so we can turn our bedroom into an adventure under the sea by twisting the knob over to blue then to white an then to dark red. The dark red is when the sharks come.

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Article courtesy of TechCrunch

As if human interaction in the post-Internet age wasn’t weird enough, here’s RISR. It’s a web of sensors that connects to a cellphone and scans your “target” for body language. RISR then vibrates on your body telling you how to move in order to ensure maximum engagement.

The simplest way to understand this thing is to watch the above video but it’s basically a way to “mirror” social targets in various situations. Mirroring is the process of copying what your target is doing in order to encourage interaction. For example, RISR will buzz to remind you to face your target when he or she is facing you and to move your shoulders if your target is moving theirs.

The tool helps folks with social anxiety feel a bit more comfortable in social situations as well as postural cues to improve your general well-being. The company will also offer consultations for folks who need special tweaks to improve their body language.

RISR is coming soon and hopefully it will help some folks meet, fall in love, and eventually have kids with RISR-enchanced postures. It is the circle of life.

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Article courtesy of TechCrunch

If you’re working on an iOS app and would like to demonstrate key features to users, Appetize.co makes things a little bit easier. Rather than hacking together in-app videos, Appetize allows programmers to add one line to their code that can simulate button presses and swipes. You can then play these movies back in the app itself during demonstrations.

I picked this project out of the scrum because the team not only built the project but also built a handsome website and offered the SDK on launch. The team hopes to potentially commercialize the project and is working on Android and web-based versions of the platform. While these sorts of things aren’t new, this essentially takes out the problem of pre-rendering the video and allows programmers to initiate interactions on the fly.

The team, Matt Van Veenendal, Glen Tregoning and Matthias Link. They met at the hackathon and worked through the night to build their project. It’s a great example of what a few dedicated programmers and a crack UX guy can build in a day.

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Article courtesy of TechCrunch

OMGERD! RBRTS! Another day, another robotic Kickstarter project. This sassy little fellow is called Multiplo and it’s a cute robotics kit for DIYers and students. It will include servos, plates, arms, and a little Arduino controller to keep things rolling.

The creators are aiming for $15,000 and they’re selling the robotics kit for $85. They’re not describing the exact kit yet but you’ll get platforms for the brain, servos, and other easy-to-connect pieces so you can build any number of robots including a crane, car, and Johnny-5-esque scream bot.

The drive ends in 32 days and kits should ship shortly thereafter.

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Article courtesy of TechCrunch

If there’s one problem with 3D modeling and printing its that you never really know what you’re going to get. That’s where Augment comes in. It’s a new program for phones and tablets that allows you to see 3D printed objects in an augmented reality display, thereby allowing you to see what an object will look like before you start the print process. It works with most major 3D modeling formats and you can download and view items from Thingiverse with one tap of a button.

The founders are all engineers and CS majors. CEO Jean-François Chianetta has been programming since he was 8 and the CTO Cyril Champier has a background in cognitive sciences. The CMO, Mickaël Jordan, is an open data guru.

The project is self-funded and they currently have 20,000 active users. They’re offering a paid version of the service to certain customers who can then add a “See This On Your Wall” or “See This In Your Room” feature to their websites. For example, users can click a button on PrintedArt.com and see the painting or print they’re about to buy right on their wall.

The service also supports STL, Collada, OBJ, 3DS and Blend files and can open them on any iOS or Android device. This allows 3D hackers to offer a one-step process to visualize objects on the fly. In short, it adds real augmented reality to the already vibrant 3D modeling services out there.

“I started Augment as a side project 1 year and a half ago. I wanted to do photo printing in poster size. Since smartphones were around, I had the idea to create an augmented reality app to visualize the posters directly on my wall to see what size was the best fit,” said Chianetta.

“It’s a simple way to add an iteration before building the first physical prototype,” he said.

You can download for iOS or Android and all you need is to print out a special pattern on a normal sheet of paper to add a little augmented reality to your drab, soulless existence.

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Article courtesy of TechCrunch

Modern parents will recognize the dilemma: we want our children to learn about hardware engineering and design at birth but we don’t want them using soldering irons until they can keep their heads upright and/or develop gross motor skills. What’s a parent to do?

Enter Tinkermite, a Kickstarter project aimed at offering the wee ones the opportunity to understand the rudiments of mobile phone design without an advanced degree in telecommunications technology. The toy consists of a small puzzle featuring phone parts like the battery, CPU, and memory chips as well as a front draw-and-wipe screen so the little ones can pretend they’re using Dad’s iPad.

Creator Jacob Sullivan designed the toy after realizing kids could learn basic electronics concepts alongside the traditional educational toys.

The Tinkermite will cost $50 and they’re $3,000 into a $15,000 pledge so there’s a small chance this might not make it. After all, parents know all too well that kids don’t want fake phones. My kids have been sliding to unlock since before they were born, I’d be curious to see what they make of this wooden tablet. However, if your little Alexandra Graham Bell is interested in sucking on some non-toxic wooden memory chips, this may be just the treat.

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Article courtesy of TechCrunch