Fidget spinners, 3D printers, smart wallets and more – Notable crowdfunding campaigns

Today I have a selection of five Kickstarter crowdfunding campaigns that I think are interesting enough that you’ll want to check them out. Click through to see my list of this week’s notable crowdfunding campaigns.

Liberty+: The First Zero-Compromise Total-Wireless Earphones

What is it?
The Liberty+ wireless earphones are totally wireless earbuds that offer better features than other wireless earbuds currently on the market.

Why do I like it?
I like the Liberty+ earbuds because they have a battery charging case capable of providing up to 48 hrs of play time, they are water resistant, have graphene-coated drivers for improved sound quality, have Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple Siri integration, and they are affordable.

Where can I find more info?
With 18 days left in the campaign, The Liberty+ campaign has already blasted past their funding goal of $50,000. You can pre-order a pair of Liberty+ earphones starting at $99. After the Baggizmo Liberty+ campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in October 2017. Visit their Kickstarter page for all the details.

SPƐDGET – An advanced, all-in-one Fidget & Spinner that grows along side your motor skills!

What is it?
The SPƐDGET is a two in one fidget toy and spinner toy.

Why do I like it?
I like the SPƐDGET because it’s not the same as all of the other tri-tip style spinners crowding the market right now. The SPƐDGET is different because it combines a fidget toy with a spinner toy into one folding toy.

Where can I find more info?
With 28 days left in the campaign, The SPƐDGET campaign is still working their funding goal of $1,024. You can pre-order a SPƐDGET starting at $5 (shipping not included). After the SPƐDGET campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in December 2017. Visit their Kickstarter page for all the details.

FLEXY PAW, Selfies & Portraits of your Dogs and Cats

What is it?
The FLEXY PAW is a small clip for your phone that can hold treats or other items to capture your pet’s attention when you’re trying to photograph them.

Why do I like it?
I like the FLEXY PAW because whenever I try to take a picture my cat Max, I can never get him to look at me for more than a second or two. I bet if I put a piece of chicken in the FLEX PAW clip that he’d be easier to photograph.

Where can I find more info?
With 29 days left in the campaign, The FLEXY PAW campaign is still working their funding goal of $39,000. You can pre-order a FLEXY PAW starting at $16. After the FLEXY PAW campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in November 2017. Visit their Kickstarter page for all the details.

Obsidian 3D Printer: High Quality, Sleek, and Affordable.

What is it?
The Obsidian is a small 3D Printer that has a fantastic price point of only $99 for their base version.

Why do I like it?
I like the Obsidian 3D Printer because it’s small and crazy inexpensive at only $99. It comes fully assembled so that you can unbox, plug in and print. This printer seems like a great choice for someone wanting to get into 3D printing without spending a lot of cash.

Where can I find more info?
With 23 days left in the campaign, The Obsidian 3D Printer campaign has already reached their funding goal of $100,000. You can pre-order an Obsidian 3D Printer starting at $99. After the Obsidian 3D Printer campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in December 2017. Visit their Kickstarter page for all the details.

Baggizmo Wiseward – wallet meets gadget

What is it?
The Baggizmo Wiseward is a wallet with all the features you want in a connected wallet including Bluetooth tracking, RFID protection and more.

Why do I like it?
I like the Baggizmo Wiseward wallet because it has so many features that other “smart” wallets lack. Some of these features include Qi wireless charging, built-in LED lights inside the wallet so you can see your bills if you’re in a dark location, double tap the wallet to find your phone, notifaction if you drop the wallet and even if the wallet is opened.

Where can I find more info?
With 7 days left in the campaign, The Baggizmo Wiseward campaign still has some work to do before they can reach their funding goal of $35,000. You can pre-order a Baggizmo Wiseward starting at $79. After the Baggizmo Wiseward campaign ends, rewards are estimated to start shipping in December 2017. Visit their Kickstarter page for all the details.

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Fidget spinners, 3D printers, smart wallets and more – Notable crowdfunding campaigns originally appeared on on July 5, 2017 at 1:54 pm.

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Why you should join Amazon Prime today


Online shoppers need to be ready on July 10th at 9 PM EST which is when the 3rd annual Prime Day starts. Prime Day is a special day set aside just for Amazon Prime Members that could just as easily be called Christmas in July because of all the Black Friday type deals that will be offered for 30 hours.

If you aren’t already an Amazon Prime member, there’s no better day to join than today. First of all, you can get a 30-day free trial and if you have an Amazon Echo, you can save $20 off of the normal $99 yearly membership fee just by saying “Alexa, sign me up for Prime.”

Another good reason to sign up today is that Amazon is giving Prime members a special deal on Amazon’s Music Unlimited streaming service. This service normally costs $7.99 a month, but now through July 11th, you can get 4 months of service for only .99 cents. I signed up for myself just this morning.

Sign up for a 30-day Free Trial of Prime.

Get 4 months of Amazon Music Unlimited for $0.99.

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Why you should join Amazon Prime today originally appeared on on July 5, 2017 at 11:56 am.

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Saddleback Leather Company just got game


Saddleback Leather Company is very well known for their “they’ll fight over it when you’re dead” leather bags and gear. But you probably would not have guessed that one of their newest products is a set of dominoes. Unexpected? Yes. But not unexpected is that the dominoes are made of leather. 

This full set of 28 dominoes is made from thick vegetable tanned carbon black bull leather that has been cut so the dominoes can stand on end in either orientation.

Pounded into the center of each domino is a metal spinner. I’m not a domino aficionado, so I don’t know if there is a significance to the center spinner, but it sounds cool.

The set of leather dominoes is housed in a box made from one piece of thick leather that is stitched with boot cord.

Like most of Saddleback Leather’s products, the price will make you catch your breath, but also like Saddleback Leather products, you’ll need need to replace this set because it will last longer than you will.

Head over to Saddleback to check out their leather domino set which is priced at $189.

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Saddleback Leather Company just got game originally appeared on on July 5, 2017 at 10:07 am.

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Wemo Wi-Fi Smart Dimmer Light Switch review


As I slowly add parts to automate my home, I’m always interested in the gadgets that are being released to make life easier or… just cooler.  The WemMo Dimmer is one of those devices that just makes sense. 

The dimmer arrived in, okay, I’m man enough to admit, sexy packaging. Outside, the box is your run-of-the-mill cardboard color with some white graphics showing the WeMo logo, a line drawing of the dimmer, and a diagram of “suggested†dimmer settings with such settings as “3 am  bathroom run.†  It made me smile. Inside, the box is an almost shocking shade of green. A green that could wake up a sleepy Gadgeteer! Lots more with graphics adorn the tri-fold enclosure.  Opening the package reveals the elegantly designed dimmer switch and a slot marked “get set.â€

Wemo’s “Let’s go†manual is a comprehensive instruction manual for installing the dimmer. Graphics and text are easy to understand, waking an installer, even a novice, through the sometimes frightening aspects of home wiring this installation requires. The kit even includes the wire nuts and labels to make sure (no pun intended) wired don’t get crossed.

I had no trouble identifying the wiring and what needed to be done to replace a hallway ceiling lamp switch, probably the most often used switch in my home. Turning off the circuit breaker, I removed the old-style switch and wired the WeMo. One note of caution: the Wemo Dimmer is considerably more bulky that the switch it’s replacing. If there are additional wires in the back of your electrical switch box, you might have a challenge fitting everything back in. Tucking the wires back as far as they will go helps. Make sure you don’t pop the wire nuts off when you do this or you will likely get a surprise when you turn the breaker back on. Of course, if you’re uncomfortable doing this wiring yourself, ask a handy friend or hire a professional. Above all, please be careful.

Once the switch was in and the juice turned back on, the Dimmer flashes some funky disco lights and settles into a flashing blue. I downloaded the app and followed the instructions from the manual. Similar to many typical smart devices, my phone connected to the Wemo Dimmer’s Wi-Fi and walked me through setting my bulb type, pairing with Alexa and connecting to my home network. At no point did I feel lost and the entire process progressed very smoothly.

Now the fun part… Now that the dimmer was paired with Alexa, I could issue voice commands to turn on, off or even set a brightness percentage. Pretty slick! I fiddled around with the app and found I could access any lamp function I desired on my home network and through cellular 4G with very little lag. I even connected through a VPN in Thailand and found the same, fast, results.

Moving on, I was able to set timers, set the app to turn off the light after a specific time, and put the dimmer into “Away†mode to randomize turning the light on and off for home security. The app also connects to IFTTT, but I have yet to see what goodies I can find. It seems Wemo really thought things out. Well done.

So far, I am thrilled with the ease of use, functionality, and reliability of the Wemo Wi-Fi Smart Dimmer Light Switch. Given the opportunity, I would gladly replace every switch I have with them.

Source: The sample for this review was provided by Wemo. Please visit their site for more info and Amazon to order.

 

Product Information

Price: $79.99
Manufacturer: Wemo
Retailer: Amazon
Pros:
  • Well written directions
  • Simple setup
  • Great connectivity
  • Lots of functionality options
Cons:
  • Expensive

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Wemo Wi-Fi Smart Dimmer Light Switch review originally appeared on on July 5, 2017 at 8:46 am.

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Julie’s gadget diary – I returned the LG G6 and even I’m surprised by the phone I’m using now


Are you confused by the title of this post because you remember that I just purchased an LG G6 a few weeks ago? It’s true, I did buy one and I enjoyed using it… for awhile. Then a few bugs crawled in that annoyed me enough that I decided to return the phone while I was still within my 30-day return window with B&H Photo. The problem is that I had already sold my Nexus 6P. So I didn’t have another phone to use while I figured out what to get next. 

I tried putting my Verizon SIM into my ancient LG G3 and it complained that I had no service. So I tried an even older iPhone 4S and had the same result. I came to find out later that older phones like the LG G3 and iPhone 4S will not work with the newer SIM cards due to not being able to work with 4G LTE.

Not having a working smartphone would normally not have caused me to panic had it been a few weeks prior, but I had also recently disconnected my landline phone at home meaning that without a smartphone, no one could contact me.

First I thought about the higher end Android phones currently on the market that I might want to buy. The main ones I considered were the Samsung Galaxy 8, and the Pixel XL. Since I’m not a fan of the S8’s curved screen, I put an X through that choice. Then I gave some thought to the Pixel XL and although that would be the best choice for an Android fan like myself, I just couldn’t get excited about buying one.

So what did I do? I bought an iPhone 7 Plus and I’m as surprised by that as you probably are considering my last attempt to switch from Android to iOS failed 9 months ago with an iPhone 7. But this time is different for two reasons.

First of all, I don’t have any other Android phones to fall back on right now. So that means that I am forced to give the switch a better effort than I did the last time.

Secondly, I am ready for something different. Even though I always harp on the fact that Apple won’t let you customize your home screens like Android does, and that they lock down certain features like NFC, and their phones don’t have Qi wireless charging, I have to be honest with myself that I’ve been living without Qi charging for the past year with the Nexus 6P and I don’t use NFC at all these days. I do like to customize my home screens by moving around icons and adding widgets, but I rarely pay attention to the widgets I use. So my arguments for not liking iOS limited customization features are weak.

This past Saturday, I walked into my local Verizon store and walked out a few minutes later with a black 128GB iPhone 7 Plus. I’ve been using the phone for 3 days now and I have almost zero buyer’s regret. I say almost zero because the price of the iPhone is stupidly expensive, which makes me feel guilty for buying something so pricey for myself.

After 3 days do I miss Android? So far the only thing I miss is being able to arrange the icons exactly the way I want on the screen with black spaces here and there. But other than that one thing, I’m actually really enjoying the iPhone which surprises the heck out of me.

I’m especially impressed by how well all my other devices like my Kevo lock are working with the iPhone. With Android, it would take minutes to lock or unlock the door using the app on the phone, but with the iPhone, it only takes about 15 seconds. I also noticed that my Flic wireless smart buttons react faster with the iPhone than with my past Android phones.

Am I going to stick with the iPhone this time? It’s still really early in the switch, but so far it’s looking good!

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Julie’s gadget diary – I returned the LG G6 and even I’m surprised by the phone I’m using now originally appeared on on July 4, 2017 at 5:21 pm.

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