MotorMood is looking to make the road a happier and more social place

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Now you can say thanks to other drivers at night using a remote-controlled, light-up happy face.

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Living in places like Los Angeles and the Bay Area certainly have their perks, however they’re also notorious for extremely long and congested commutes. Born out of their own frustration with hostile traffic jams and miscommunication that often occurs between drivers, one Southern California-based startup has developed a way to make rush hour a bit friendlier. After all, if our roads and their potholes are becoming increasingly more social, shouldn’t our cars as well?

And so, MotorMood was born. By affixing the accessory to a rear window, users can easily say thanks to other drivers at night through a remote-controlled, light-up happy face. Sure that may not seem like much, but how often have you tried waving to a fellow driver to express your gratitude for letting you pass or make your way into the morning gridlock, only to wonder if they ever saw it? Fortunately, this can take out the guesswork.

The emoticon illuminates for six seconds through a remote control button that clips onto a sun visor, just like a garage door opener, and requires very little, if any, concentration to operate. What’s more, drivers can select from one of three colors to start: blue, pink, or green. There is also a red face overlay certain jurisdictions which require all rear-facing lights to be red.

The device, which measures 4.8″ in diameter, has been optimized for nighttime use, meaning that it’s vibrant enough to be seen from afar without distracting others. The face calls for a set of four AA batteries while the remote uses one coin cell, with a life of around six months.

“MotorMood uses a proprietary light guide display to create a beautiful, high quality image on the road. Three specifically placed LEDs fire light into a substrate with tiny divots, which distribute the light across the product’s surface for an evenly lit appearance. The brightness has been carefully optimized for nighttime use so that it’s bright and vibrant, but does not interfere with visibility or safety,” its creators explain.

So why a smiley face, you may ask? Research has proven that simply staring at the happy emoticon for five seconds can actually make someone feel happier than they were before.

However, as rudimentary as a light-up ‘thank you’ may sound, MotorMood is hoping to expand upon its array of emojis with themed collections and even licensed characters. Despite requests, the company says that it will never produce middle fingers or angry faces. (Sorry, New Yorkers!)

Yet, what really excites its team is the possibility of Bluetooth connectivity that would pair with a “Kindle-like display that could serve as a status bar for your car.” Looking ahead, the team tells Entrepreneur that future iterations may be configured to track the number of smiles given or received per day via an accompanying mobile app, as well as do things like recognize the kind of music playing on the radio that will then show that information like a real-time bumper sticker.

Sound like something you’d love to have in your car window? Apparently you’re not alone, as its Kickstarter campaign is well on its way to garnering its pledge goal of $150,000.

Conrod is a dev board for the automotive world

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Conrod is the world’s first fully-programmable, connected app platform for your car.

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Ideal for auto enthusiasts looking to personalize their ride, Conrod is a small device that plugs into the CAN bus of a VW brand car and lets users customize its features. More than just a data logger or diagnostic tool, the dev board provides developers with the ability to create their own apps and run them right in the vehicle. In other words, the days of having to write programs on a smartphone and then connect them via a dongle are over!

Conrod interfaces with any VW car — including Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini and Bentley — through its CAN bus, enabling a user to decode and manipulate messages to change the way that the vehicle operates. The fully-programmable unit can function as a standalone device, or can be paired with a 3G SIM to take advantage of its on-board cellular modem for Internet connectivity. For situations where 3G may not be an option, Conrod can sync to a smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth 4.0 as well.

The standard Conrod installation is designed to remain out of sight, with all of the configurations performed on a mobile device. To really let the platform shine, however, Conrod includes an add-on 3.2″ full color touchscreen for output vehicle information, which eliminates the need for a smartphone. This display comes in a self-contained case with GoPro mounting points, allowing a user to secure it in their car with any GoPro compatible mount.

Conrod ships with several pre-installed apps for both Android and iOS gadgets, including a GPS data logger that keeps tabs on a vehicle’s location, a fuel economy tracker that monitors and records gas consumption, smart speed alerts that trigger emails and push notifications, as well as IFTTT-like logic blocks that can be defined to fit the needs and preferences of its user. For example, drivers can set it to roll up all the windows whenever the doors lock or sound the horn in the event of a sudden stop. Aside from displaying things such as oil and transmission temperatures, users can devise their own apps to view weather forecasts, tweets and just about anything else that comes to mind, all pulled down via Conrod’s cellular data connection.

In terms of hardware, the board boasts an Atmel | SMART SAM3X8E Cortex-M3 MCU, 8MB of memory, GPS, a SIM socket, Bluetooth 4.0 radio, an accelerometer and gyroscope, three temperature sensors, five CAN network transceivers, OBD-II diagnostic circuitry, and an external serial expansion jack. What’s more, Conrod is completely Arduino compatible.

While a number of startups have recently launched innovative products that can turn any older set of wheels into a smart car, Conrod taps into the CAN instead of the OBD-II port.

“Unlike OBD2, which is an open standard that anyone can read about, the CAN protocols used by specific vehicle manufacturers is not public information, and each manufacturer uses a different CAN language. We’ve spent thousands of hours decoding the CAN protocols in recent VW Group vehicles to enable Conrod to communicate with the CAN networks as if it was installed by the factory itself,” its creators add.

So, are you ready to pimp your ride? Then hurry over to its Kickstarter page, where the Conrod team is currently seeking $77,786. Delivery is expected to begin in December 2015.

Plug ’N’ IoT lets you create a smart device in just four clicks

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Just plug any sensor into the board, download the necessary libraries and you have yourself an IoT device.

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Created by Dutch startup Avionics Control Systems, Plug ‘N’ IoT is an extremely easy way for Makers of all levels to design connected gizmos and gadgets. Whether it’s a securing a home with motion sensors or tracking a cat through GPS, anything is possible with four clicks of the mouse on a PC.

Plug ’N’ IoT comes in two versions: basic and premium. Both models are comprised of an Atmel | SMART SAM3X8E processor, a GSM module and connectors, with the latter also including a shield. The Cortex-M3-based MCU boasts 512 KB of memory, operates at 84Mhz and features a maximum of 103 I/O pins. What’s more, the unit is compatible with just about every sensor and Arduino shield available today.

How it works is pretty straightforward: A user plugs a sensor into the unit, drags and drops the suitable libraries, and uploads the code to the board. That’s it. What’s nice is that Plug ’N’ IoT is designed for everyone — no programing experience required. However, well-seasoned Makers have the option of devising and adding their own sketches. This opens the door to a countless applications, which range from monitoring air quality inside a home to keeping tabs on the temperature of an aquarium, maintaining optimal soil moisture or protecting an entryway. In any case, the sensor can detect a change in the environment and send a real-time reminder by way of text message to its user.

Have an idea for an IoT project that you’d like to bring to life? Head over to Plug ’N’ IoT’s official Kickstarter page, where the Avionics Control Systems crew is currently seeking $39,733. Delivery is set for March 2016.

This enchanted lamp can make money on its own

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The Aspirational Lamp collects solar energy, sells it back to the power grid and then invests in the stock market itself. 

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“We are now standing at the precipice of the next transformative development: the Internet of Things. Soon, connected technology will be embedded in hundreds of everyday objects we already use: our cars, wallets, watches, umbrellas, even our trash cans. These objects will respond to our needs, come to know us, and learn to think on our behalf,” researcher David Rose once said when defining ‘enchanted objects.’

Whether it’s homeowners hitting an Amazon Dash Button when in need of groceries or smart trash cans that reorder bags themselves, the world around us is becoming increasingly more connected and autonomous. With this is mind, students from the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design were challenged to explore a future in which the so-called dumb objects around them were able to look after their owners’ unspoken wants and desires.

One of the latest projects to emerge from the course was The Aspirational Lamp, a solar-powered accessory that can actually make money of its own during the day. Yes, you read that correctly. The lamp accomplishes this by soaking up the sun’s rays to generate electricity that it can then sell back to the power grid, and with the profits made from that, automatically invest in stocks. The enchanted item browses the market for good-looking investment opportunities while determining the optimal times to both buy and sell.

The brainchild of students Feild Craddock, Akshay Verma and Michael-Owen Liston, the AI-controlled desk lamp doesn’t just use electricity, but as its name would imply, rotates toward the sun to collect its own through a built-in solar panel. Aside from checking stock prices, it even appears to be self-diagnostic. Meaning, it can detect when a part like its servo motor begins to malfunction, then immediately order and pay for a replacement without any human intervention.

What the owners can control, however, is when to cash out. In this case, a check for the lamp’s remaining funds are automatically mailed to the owner. As far fetched as goals of selling power back to the grid may be, the basis of the project is to demonstrate that everyday objects will continue to become increasingly more connected and self-sufficient.

Intrigued? Watch it in action below!

Billions of chips, unlimited possibilities

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Vegard Wollan reveals that there are now more AVR chips in the wild as there are people in the world. (Note: A loose translation from Adressa’s recent article.)

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Though the slogan “Enabling Unlimited Possibilities” may not be the most modest as they come, why should it have to be? Especially when your company, whose heritage has ties to Trondheim, is at the forefront of the incredibly popular and ever-evolving IoT innovation battle.

Vegard Wollan, AVR co-founder and VP of Atmel’s Touch Business Unit, had the chance to catch up with local Trondheim newspaper Adressa to discuss some of his team’s latest developments. One in particular, the maXTouch family of touchscreen controllers provides unprecedented hover and proximity capabilities, where a user no longer is required to touch the display, but instead triggers different functions by simply holding their finger right above it.

Just the other night, several Atmel employees in Trondheim came together to celebrate not only their commitment to the local community but an impressive milestone, namely 7,338,088,583 AVR chips. To put that figure into perspective, that is at least one MCU for each person on Earth.

“It’s insane! We have the increasing ability to top what we’ve done previously,” Wollan says. “We have been doing this for 20 years and have never had such high production as we do now. In 1999, we thought it was giant milestone to pass 10 million. Now, we have produced 7.3 billion and create about one billion units a year.”

The figure is almost as impressive as the customer list of “little” Atmel Norway, and its tight-knit team of just under 200 employees. Wollan highlights a few of the top tier brands powered by the stalwart microcontrollers, which include some of the largest and most recognizable names out there today. Among those are Google, Microsoft, Bosch, Sony, Samsung, LG, General Motors, Ford, Jaguar and Tesla.

“And this is just an excerpt. When we started the company in 1995, we dreamed about getting some big customers such as LG or Sony or Mercedes or what not. And now we have this list! So it’s really what we are celebrating and we are madly proud of,” Wollan adds.

Another focus as of late has been on China, and the next generation of gizmos and gadgets coming out the country where Atmel has played an integral role in their development, most notably ZTE and Xiaomi. While both of these manufacturers may not be the most globally known brands (yet), they have contributed millions of smartphones to the consumer market — many of which based on Atmel solutions.

“Our customers in China have now launching new phones with new technology from us. We have developed a whole new edge-free design for smartphones, so you get the larger screen without the phone being bigger. The screen goes absolutely to the edge with virtual edge buttons without the buttons here. You hold such phone as a camera and phone camera turns on. And pressing your index finger on the top right hand side on, and you take a picture,” Wollan explains.

One of the coolest projects worth mentioning is a recent collaboration with global music sensation, Coldplay, who commissioned the help of the Trondheim team. Wollan goes on to laughingly reveal, “It’s a little funny that one of our engineers have been in the practice room with Coldplay to test our technology.”

Through wireless connectivity, Coldplay has been able to transform its sold-out crowds into brilliant canvas of colorful LEDs, all while providing greater engagement amongst its fans. As concertgoers enter the arena, they are given a flashing bracelet that can be remotely controlled from any PC and pulse to the rhythm of the band’s music.

“You had to see the whole place light up in flashing, multi-colored bracelets. When we saw it from the stage, we could not believe we had managed to achieve this. It is about everyone, not just about the band and the fanatical folks at the stage, but all of us become part of the show by having a small armband.”

Wollan shares that Atmel is continuing to develop its initiative with Coldplay, but cannot go into more detail at this time. During the celebration of the company’s achievement the other night, employees were even given a chance to experience the wireless wearable devices as they waved their arms to the beat of some tunes.

Intrigued? You can tune-in to the entire segment here!

Trago is a connected water bottle for athletes

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After all, smart training calls for smarter water bottles. 

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If there was ever a question as to whether smart bottles would come to fruition, the recent slew of successful crowdfunding campaigns will have surely put any doubts to rest. Looking to separate itself from the pack is the latest innovation from Maker duo Jac and Davis Saltzgiver, who have developed a connected water bottle geared specifically toward athletes.

When it comes to gaining a competitive edge, athletes will typically do everything in their power to enhance performance. From training and stretching to proper nutrition and sleeping habits, one area that is often overlooked is hydration. Maintaining an adequate H2O level, in many respects, is just as important as any of the techniques mentioned above. Fortunately, the creators of Trago are on a mission to help make water consumption awareness much easier and more accessible than ever before.

Currently live on Kickstarter, Trago is a patent-pending water bottle that, by connecting with a smartphone and other wearable devices via Bluetooth, accurately measures how much an athlete drinks and adjusts the optimal levels along the way. Through its accompanying app, users can set, monitor and meet their hydration goals based on input data like gender, age and activity. Aside from that, Trago will also automatically update water intake on some of today’s most popular fitness platforms such as Myfitnesspal, Apple Health and Under Armour Record.

Not only does Trago come with a sleek 24-ounce bottle of its own, it has been designed to fit on a majority of standard wide-mouth vessels. Simply remove the cap and throw it on any Nalgene, Camelbak and Hydro Flask, among many others.

“Trago uses patent-pending ultrasonic technology to measure precise water consumption data. You can think of it as similar to SONAR or ‘echo-location,” its creators write. “It knows when you’re drinking, when you refill, and even when the bottle is in a backpack/gym-bag (understanding when not to measure). As a result, Trago can take accurate measurements and conserve battery power accordingly.”

What’s nice is that Trago allows users to organize teams and private groups inside its app. This gives folks like coaches, trainers or even parents the ability to monitor an athlete’s hydration. In other words, guidance that only professionals would have access to back in the day.

Made out of stainless steel, the intelligent cap houses a Bluetooth Low Energy module for connectivity, a set of ultrasonic sensors for measuring liquids, motion sensors to detect how much the bottle moves, as well as a replaceable battery with a life of around six months.

Have you always wanted a smart bottle? Apparently you’re not alone. Trago has already garnered well over its $50,000 Kickstarter goal from more than 670 backers. Shipment is expected to kick off in March 2016 — just in time for the spring sports season!

Report: Wearable device shipments predicted to grow 173% this year

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“Growth in the smart wearables market points to an emerging battleground among competing platforms.”

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An estimated 72.1 million wearable devices are expected to ship this year, IDC researchers have revealed in their latest report. If that’s the case, the number would surge 173% from the 26.4 million wearables delivered back in 2014. Moving ahead, the firm forecasts a CAGR of 42.6% over the course of the next five years, bringing the total shipped in 2019 to 155.7 million.

According to the report, nearly four in 10 wearables are now priced under $100. However, IDC expects devices classified as “smart wearables,” which refers to those capable of running third-party apps, to take the lead in 2016. These include gadgets like the Apple Watch and Micosoft’s Hololens that are believed to open up endless opportunities for vendors, app developers and accessory makers.

“The demand for basic wearables, those that do not run third party apps, has been absolutely astounding,” said Jitesh Ubrani, IDC senior research analyst. “Vendors like Fitbit and Xiaomi have helped propel the market with their sub-$100 bands, and IDC expects this momentum will continue throughout 2015.”

While the demand for more basic wearable devices, such as watches, fitness bands and eyewear, may have gotten off to a slower start, the market has certainly matured over the past couple of months with a wider range of products and improved consumer adoption.

Though shipments for the so-called basic wearables came in at 22.1 million in 2014, this segment will also continue to grow with 39 million projected for this year and 66.3 million by 2019. Meanwhile, smart wearables — which only stood at 4.2 million in 2014 — will rise to an incredible 89.4 million throughout the five year period.

“Growth in the smart wearables market points to an emerging battleground among competing platforms,” added Ramon Llamas, IDC research manager. “Android Wear, Tizen, and WatchOS are moving ahead with improved user interfaces, user experiences, and applications. These will raise the expectations of what a smart wearable can do, and each platform is vying for best-in-class status. We’re not there yet, but we’re seeing the building blocks of what is to come.”

The Autonomo lets you easily connect your IoT devices outdoors

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SODAQ is bringing the Internet of Things outdoors with its new matchbox-sized, solar-powered board. 

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It’s safe to say that a vast majority of Kickstarter projects focused around the M2M and IoT space are seemingly designed with indoor connectivity in mind. As a result, Makers are often challenged with finding a decent solution to power their smart devices that can be easily and reliability implemented outdoors. Cognizant of this, SODAQ has developed a next-generation, Arduino-comaptible board that is capable of recording data and triggering actions in any environment — whether it’s in a rural area, on the beach or throughout the house.

If the name of the Dutch startup sounds familiar, that’s because the team had launched an incredibly successful crowdfunding campaign back in 2013 for their LEGO-like, plug and play prototyping board. With an ATmega328P as its brain, the multi-feature microprocessor enabled both Makers and engineers to easily connect a wide variety of sensors and devices to the Internet.

Back again with a new matchbox-sized board, Autonomo is built around an Atmel | SMART SAM D21 MCU and is equipped with a Bee Socket that can host up to 10 different communication modules, including Wi-Fi, GPRS, 3G, LoRa, SIGFOX and Bluetooth to name a few. Given its Cortex M0+ 32-bit core, the unit can do just about as much as a Raspberry Pi while consuming 100 times less energy. Impressively, the board can be powered by a solar panel no larger than a smartphone, thereby allowing it to become self-sufficient and autonomous, hence its name.

“The new M0+ processor packs computing power which is comparable to the first Mac. It will make you wonder why you ever used anything else. We also have created a Grove shield for you to use with all of your favorite Grove modules (sensors and actuators),” the team writes.

With all of the data services available online today, the Autonomo comes with a simple set of visual programming tools that will help Makers easily upload their codes to any gadget. What’s more is that the focus lies on outdoor applications that run efficiently and on extremely low power. Meaning, if a user wants to devise their own application, such as a solar radiation alert, SODAQ has made a plethora of open source example code readily accessible. Next to that there is a complete library to let FIWARE developers upload data to the Orion context broker.

Looking forward to tinkering around and bringing your hacks to the most remote corners of the planet? Neither can the crew at SODAQ. In order to bring their technology to the masses, its creators have launched Autonomo on Kickstarter with aspirations of garnering $11,380. Delivery is slated for October 2015.

Thingsquare is putting the IoT at your fingertips

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This IoT platform enables users to build their connected product in a matter of days.

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Thingsquare, an IoT startup who has emerged as one of the pioneers in connected product development, has launched an open prototyping tier enabling engineers, designers and Makers to envision and prototype their smart devices in a matter of minutes.

For those unfamiliar wtih Thingsquare, the all-in-one software platform provides Makers with all of the necessary tools to quickly add Internet connectivity to their product via smartphone. Ultimately, this easy-to-use solution reduces the time typically required to bring an idea to mass market from months to just days.

The platform works by connecting smart devices, such as lights and thermostats, which have a programmable wireless chip running the Thingsquare firmware. The wireless MCU and the firmware securely sync the gadget to the cloud backend server that handles the API for the app. From there, Thingsquare builds a resilient wireless mesh network where one router offers seamless Internet access for all mesh nodes, also allowing users to upgrade their firmware over the air.

“Devices form a wireless mesh network and connect to the Internet. Devices use their Internet connection to authenticate with the Thingsquare cloud and begin announcing their presence. The smartphone app discovers devices and authenticates with the Thingsquare cloud. Users can login and control devices either locally or remotely. The app can notify the user if something important happens,” the team explains.

Thingsquare has even made it possible to try a minimalist version of app without any hardware by providing a built-in virtual hardware mechanism that lets a user run the platform from their phone.

“A virtual device acts as a real wireless hardware device, but runs as software on your smartphone. To the Thingsquare platform, the virtual device looks just like a normal hardware device. Virtual devices send and receive data in the same way as wireless hardware devices do.”

As for the hardware, the solution will support a wide range of SoCs — most notably the Atmel | SMART SAM R21. This calls for at least a pair of SAM R21 Xplained PRO evaluation boards, two microUSB cables (one for each device), an Atmel Ethernet1 Xplained PRO extension board, an Ethernet cable, a Wi-Fi router with an Ethernet port, as well as a PC for uploading the firmware to the chips.

What’s nice is that the Cortex-M0+ processor supports external devices on GPIO pins that can be controlled from the smartphone. The SAM R21 creates a self-healing wireless mesh with one MCU acting as an Ethernet gateway with the Xplained PRO Ethernet extension board. This process, including all of the necessary code, has been made available on Github.

What’s more, the newly-revealed open prototyping tier will help resolve a number of problems often encountered throughout development. This is accomplished by providing wireless connectivity by way of a self-healing and self-forming mesh network, a simple app that users can build themselves, and if necessary, secure remote access.

“The cool thing with connected product is how many different markets it touches. Anything that benefits from being connected is rapidly becoming connected,” the startup adds. “Further, the Thingsquare platform lets you put your next product’s app in the hands of your potential customers right from the start, and provide remote support.”

Evident by the sheer number of malicious hacks in recent months, smart gadgets require protection, something of which the company has embedded into its platform from the start through secure authentication. Beyond that, other features of the app include discovering, interacting, positioning and sensing nearby devices as well as collecting data from the wireless mesh. At the moment, the app runs on iOS (version 8.0) and Android (version 4.3) smartphones.

“Our customers are demanding complete, easy-to-use IoT solutions that can quickly bring a full system to market,” explains Magnus Pedersen, Atmel Product Marketing Director. “Our cooperation with Thingsquare is an example of that, with a web-based toolchain and open source firmware to offer our customers a fully integrated hardware and software solution for various IoT applications.”

Ready to get started designing your first IoT gizmo? If so, check out Thingsquare’s open prototyping tier. Meanwhile, those wishing to learn more about how the platform works can do so here.

Cube is an intuitive, tangible interface for the smart home

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By touching, lifting, tilting and turning, Cube allows users to control their smart home appliances.

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The clicker, the switcher, the flipper or whatever people are calling it these days, the remote has always been the universal command hub of the household. As more homes become connected, a growing number of our appliances will become intelligent as well. While there are already countless ways to adjust on the smart lights, TV, media player and blinds beyond a mere switch or button, one German design firm has set out to simplify the basic function of controlling these gadgets in the form of a tangible 3D square.

The brainchild of Family of the Arts, the aptly named Cube is an intuitive interface that allows users to adjust the gizmos by simply touching, lifting, tilting and turning the small black box. Given its compact size, the unit can be moved just about anywhere within the house — whether that’s the kitchen, the living room or even a bedroom. And at night, it fits into the wall to dock and recharge.

The interface itself works through a combination of gestures: Tap to turn it on, flip it until the intended function appears on top, and then turn it right or left to change the controls. For instance, after selecting the thermometer, rotating it clockwise will raise the temperature, while counter-clockwise cools it down. Upon choosing the media player, swiping over the box can skip a song and shaking it can trigger a random track. Meanwhile, sensor hubs are installed in wall sockets to allow Cube to locate and communicate with the nearby appliances via Bluetooth.

“Cube improves on the existing system in several ways. It retains the practicality of a mobile device such as a smartphone, while eliminating the distracting, anti-social element they often create,” its team writes.

More importantly, Cube addresses the problem often times presented by the complexities of remote controls. The Family of the Arts team explains that their design is meant to complement the way people will live in the home of the future rather than distract them from the experience. That’s because, with just a flip, it can go seamless transition from commanding the lights to the music to the temperature. Heck, it can be quite the mood setter!

With its tactile functionality and non-technical aesthetics, the gadget provides a simple yet fully-integrated solution that enables anyone to engage with their digital surroundings in a more human-like, tactile manner. At the moment, however, the total number of functions Cube can handle is inherently limited to the six sides of a cube. Intrigued? Watch the mysterious black object in action below.