GET CREATIVE
Using fashion and crafts to teach tech skills
Enthusing kids, and girls in particular, about electronics can be tough, but creative technologists Nicole Messier and Joselyn McDonald think they have the answer. Tapping into the zeitgeist for wearable tech, they’ve launched a Kickstarter campaign to create kits and workshops that teach electronic design through fashion, art and craft projects. Their “blink blink creative circuit kits”, which will ship in December if the funding goal is reached, include tools, materials, online video tutorials and a booklet of project ideas, most of which seem to involve putting LEDs into things. Pledging $35 (£23) will get you started with light-up origami.
GAMING
Stick-on stick offers a handle on the action
The imprecise virtual gaming controls used on smartphones and tablets are fine for your typical button-masher, but are pretty irksome for flight simulators and other antics where accuracy is paramount. Screenstick is a gadget that clings to the screen of your device using suction cups while a soft, conductive pad – linked to an aluminium joystick – presses on areas of the touchscreen resulting in a highly sensitive controller. It has two different stick types and costs $24.90 (£16.25).
PHOTOGRAPHY
Get hipster-tastic shots with camera obscura
If you’re looking to add an artsy flair to your photographs without resorting to Instagram, try out the Lumigraphe camera obscura – an updated take on a centuries-old concept. Light passes through the box’s front lens and is projected upside-down on to the inside-back of the chamber. To capture the image, the Lumigraphe simply uses your smartphone. A nifty companion app can then be used to fix the orientation of the image, and also offers a glut of other video-tweaking tools. The results are hazy, dream-like photographic shots befitting any hardcore hipster. Currently up for crowdfunding on Kickstarter, backers can get a Lumigraphe of their very own for €90 (£65) with shipping expected to be launched in December.
FRAGRANT ALARM
Wake to the scent of croissants and coffee
Though Smell-O-Vision didn’t catch on, French inventor Guillaume Rolland is scenting success with his “olfactory alarm clock”: the SensorWake Kickstarter campaign smashed through its €50,000 (£36,500) goal in just four days. Choose from a selection of odour capsules, including espresso, hot croissant and peppermint, and when the morning hour cometh a tempting waft will be pumped out by the clock which, allegedly, is enough to rouse you from your slumbers. Still open for funding, backers pledging €80 (£52) or more will get their hands on a SensorWake when it ships in November.
GREEN LIFE
Eggsterrestrial living in the Ecocapsule
When aliens land, chances are they’ll arrive in something that looks like the Ecocapsule: an environmentally friendly portable house from Bratislava-based company Nice Architects. An energy independent pod powered by a wind turbine and solar panels, the capsule is shaped to optimise rainwater collection, while filters ensure the water can be put to good use. The pod can apparently be “shipped, airlifted, towed or even pulled by a pack animal” making it portable whatever your horsepower. A prototype was unveiled at Pioneers Festival in Vienna last month, and the first consumer Ecocapsule is expected to go on sale in 2016, with pricing yet to be released.
