Sennheiser HD 450SE Bluetooth Wireless Headphones

Listen to your favorite tunes in style with these wireless headphones from Sennheiser. Boasting Bluetooth connectivity, noise cancellation features, and an impressive 30-hour battery life, you can snatch these up for 53 percent off this Cyber Monday for just $94.95.

Shark IQ Robot Vacuum with XL Self-Empty Base

Why waste your precious downtime cleaning when you could have a handy robot helper do it for you? This robo-vacuum from Shark cleans up dirt and debris from all kinds of surfaces, can be controlled from your phone or through voice commands, and even maps out your home’s layout so you can choose which rooms you want it to clean first. Grab it now for just $299, 50 percent off the original price.

Tineco Pure ONE S11 Cordless Vacuum Cleaner

If you’re not totally sold on the idea of a robot doing all your cleaning for you, here’s a super-smart manual alternative. The cordless Pure ONE S11 is super lightweight and easily converts to a handheld vacuum with versatile attachments to clean stairs, furniture, the inside of your car, and pretty much anything else you can think of. Grab one today at 39 percent off for just $244.99.

ASUS Chromebook CX1

When else can you get a great laptop for less than $100? This notebook from ASUS features 32 GB eMMC (embedded MultiMediaCard) memory, 4 GB of RAM, and an 11.6-inch NanoEdge display. Grab one now for $84.99 before they’re all gone!

Amazon Fire TV 65″ Omni Series 4K UHD Smart TV with Dolby Vision

Amazon’s newest TV series offers 4K Ultra HD like you’ve never seen it before. This particular model offers 3 HDMI inputs, built-in microphones for voice command capabilities, and uses smart tech skills to constantly integrate new Alexa skills, features, smart home capabilities, and voice functionality. Talk about a “fire” deal! Save 28 percent off the original $829.99 by ordering today.

Percussion Massage Gun Deep Tissue Massager

After a long day sitting slouched in an office chair – or after a long, intense gym session – nothing beats a good massage. Darkiron’s Percussion Massage Gun boasts four adjustable speeds to give you exactly the rubdown you’re looking for each and every time. Grab one for just $79.98 (20 percent off the original price) this Cyber Monday.

Outdoor Bluetooth Speaker with Flame Torch Lights

Looking to turn your yard into a super-chill gathering place for your friends and family? These outdoor Bluetooth speakers from ANERIMST double as retro stake torches, hanging lanterns, camping accessories, night lights, and any other LED fixture you’re looking for! And don’t worry about them getting wet, because these bad boys are totally waterproof. For today only, Amazon’s offering them for just $29.99 each.

FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer Machine System

Make your leftovers last longer with Foodsaver’s Vacuum Sealer and start saving some serious money on groceries. You’ll save even more if you grab one on Amazon today for $76.99 (31 percent off the original price!).

SAMSUNG Q Series Soundbar

Nothing says “Merry Christmas” like a state-of-the-art sound system, but this Dolby Atmos-equipped model from Samsung is going for such a great price today, you’ll need to act fast to get one under your tree. It offers an immersive audio experience complete with 3 channels, 1 subwoofer, and 2 up-firing channels, and it can even be controlled with your voice via Alexa. Best of all, it’s available for just $397.99 this Cyber Monday – a whopping 43 percent off the original $799 price tag.

Instant 2-in-1 Multi-Function Coffee Maker

Are you team Keurig or team Nespresso? With this ingenious 2-in-1 coffee maker from Instant, you can be both! Brew coffee and espresso in one machine (compatible with K-Cup pods + Nespresso capsules) and give yourself the gift of a café-quality beverage each and every morning. If you’re more into sustainable coffee brewing, you’ll be pleased to hear that this coffee maker also comes with a reusable pod for you to fill with your own grounds.

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The post Take Advantage of These Amazon Tech Deals This Cyber Monday first appeared on Dornob.

But those are just a couple surprising functions of this new invention. It’s also a powerful speaker you’ll never want to hide away in a drawer or case. Made from natural sand, the bowl-shaped Teno is equipped with a 54-mm full-range driver delivering “deep bass and crystal-clear treble.” Measuring about five inches in diameter, it’s designed to fit perfectly in the palm of your hand.

“The world doesn’t need any more sleek plastic surfaces,” says Lumio, the maker of this curious gadget. “Far from being another distracting piece of technology, Teno is for connecting with yourself and with your environment. Hold it in your hands and its vibrations impart a meditative feel — we like to think of it as modern interpretation of a sound bowl. Its radiant light creates the kind of calming atmosphere we could all use a little more of.”

The company adds that “Teno responds to different finger movements across its surface. No instructions needed. Simply break open the shell to turn on the light and separate it fully to activate the speaker. Piece the shell back together to turn it off. We’ve thoughtfully designed each sound indicator to evoke a sense of calm and tranquility. Crack the shell fully open to turn on the speaker and stream your favorite music directly from your phone. Tap the center to activate the dimmer. There are four levels of brightness to choose from.”

If you’re familiar with the Japanese art of kintsugi, which pieces together broken parts and highlights the cracks with gold, the inspiration for the look of the Teno is readily apparent. The creators call it “a celebration of the perfection in the imperfect.” The unique way in which the speaker’s functionality is revealed is meant to evoke a bit of mystery and magic. It definitely looks like the sort of mystical object you’d seek in a video game quest, with a surreal sense of timelessness about it.

These qualities are exactly what Lumio is after. Founded by Max Gunawan in San Francisco, the company is best known for the Lumio+, a multifunctional lamp and USB charger disguised as a tiny hardcover book. The company delights in the element of surprise and wants to produce electronics that “defy obsolescence.” With aesthetics wholly their own, Lumio’s creations certainly won’t come to be associated with any particular passing micro-era of technology.

The Teno is just completing a round of crowdfunding on Kickstarter, offering the speakers as backer rewards for as little as $240, a savings of $60 from the retail price of $300. If you missed out on the pre-orders, keep an eye on Lumio’s website for updates, and check out their other offerings while you’re at it.

The post Bowl-Shaped “Teno” Speaker Cracks Open to Reveal Glowing Light first appeared on Dornob.

Fictional Map Wall Art

Green-screen Zoom backdrops are so passé, so why not add a personalized touch to your meetings with a poster or map from your favorite movie or book in the background? Many come in various pre-cut sizes, are available custom-cut, and include materials and tools for easy framing.

Logitech C270 Webcam

For the most professional presentations anywhere, you’ll find that this reasonably-priced webcam from Logitech is ideal. The high-definition 30-fps camera self-adjusts to lighting conditions and boasts a noise-reducing mic that cuts out background sounds.

Logitech H390 USB Computer Headset

This comfortable headset not only enhances sound and speaking quality, but it also lets you easily mute the mic or adjust the volume with a handy in-line audio control button. No outside noises are audible with this bad boy on, even if you’re munching on snacks during your meeting.

Logitech C920 Pro HD Webcam

Avid Zoomers love this webcam model, which includes a 78-degree field of view and a 1080p HD picture, so your images are always crisp and clear. Combine that with mics on either side and a frame rate of 60fps, and you’ve practically got yourself a professional camera.

Memory-Foam Lumbar Support Pillow

Sitting for hours at a time can have devastating effects on your body. Zoom in comfort by lining your work chair with a memory-foam lumbar support pillow. Ergonomically constructed, it improves your posture and decreases pressure on your tailbone. For extra comfort, add an extra seat cushion to your chair, too.

Saicoo LED Lamp

If want to look your best for your Zoom meetings every time, it’s important to understand that lighting is everything. This LED lamp makes you look great in a flash: simply adjust its touch-receptive panel to control brightness and color temperature. No need to worry about a low laptop battery, either, since this lamp features a built-in charging port.

Shure MVS Digital Condenser Mic

This digital condenser microphone guarantees flawless sound, and its versatile USB and iOS connectivity let you link it to all kinds of electronic devices. Best of all, an accompanying app makes sharing, recording, and editing a total breeze.

TIJN Blue Light Glasses

Hours of Zooming will inevitably take its toll on your eyes before long. These blue light glasses keep them looking fresh and reduce stress, redness, and irritation by blocking 100 percent of harmful UV rays. Plus, the lightweight frames ensure hours of comfort.

UBeesize Phone Tripod

Nothing works better to keep your Zoom presentation focused like a sturdy tripod with rubber-coated bendable legs and non-stick feet. Even better, this stand comes with a handy remote control for your phone that works as far away as 30 feet.

UBeesize Ring Light With Tripod Stand

If you really feel like optimizing your images, consider splurging on the UBeesize combination ring light and tripod. It includes warm light, daylight, and cool light rings, each of which includes a whopping 11 levels of brightness. An added perk is a remote control that lets you turn on your camera from a distance with your smartphone.

Classic Travel Posters

Add a touch of esteem and cultural savvy to your Zoom profile with vintage travel posters. Choose a favorite vacation spot, a great shot of your hometown, or a dream destination from your bucket list. Keep people wondering by changing them every few months.

The post 11 Items Sure to Make Your Zoom Meetings Better first appeared on Dornob.

FluSense is welcomed as a useful health surveillance tool. In a UMass-Amherst press release, co-author Tauhidur Rahman explained that “this may allow us to predict flu trends in a much more accurate manner.” Rahman is a UMass-Amherst Assistant Professor of Computer and Information Sciences. He also advises Forsad Al Hossain, the PhD student and lead author of the FluSense study that has been recently published through the Association for Computing Machinery.

Why is this invention important now? In recent months, signs of coughing have taken on a new significance as the COVID-19 pandemic rages across the globe. With this UMass-Amherst detector, coughs and other symptoms associated with the flu or flu-like ailments can be monitored much more closely.

How does FluSense work? The published study describes the device as employing an analytic array that consists of a microphone, thermal camera, Raspberry Pi, and “neural computing engine.” This neural computing engine gathers information on speech and cough sounds, then analyzes the data together with “changes in crowd density” in real-time.

Most unique about FluSense is the way it takes advantage of edge computing technology, which has continued to gain popularity as millions of devices connect through the Internet of Things, or IoT. Hewlett Packard describes edge computing as “a distributed, open IT architecture that features decentralized processing power, enabling mobile computing and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. In edge computing, data is processed by the device itself or by a local computer or server, rather than being transmitted to a data center.”

In other words, FluSense computes, analyzes, and stores its data in real-time, right where it is collected instead of thousands of miles of away at some central database. And as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) notes, there are a number of benefits to that. For one, edge computing minimizes the risks of latency, data loss, or redundancy, which translates to improved information security and reliability. It also helps with computational efficiency, acceleration, and optimization of data processing. Finally, with no need for costly bandwidth, decentralized tech optimizes data flow and maximizes operational costs.

When speaking on FluSense’s internal components, Al Hossain further revealed that his team was “trying to bring machine-learning systems to the edge. All of the processing happens right here. These systems are becoming cheaper and more powerful.”

According to Healthcare IT News, several FluSense detectors were tested from December 2018 to July 2019. They “were encased in a rectangular box about the size of a large dictionary,” then placed in a number of clinic waiting rooms at UMass University Health Services. From data compiled that included “more than 350,000 thermal images and 21 million non-speech audio samples,” FluSense “accurately predict[ed] daily illness rates at the university clinic.”

“I’ve been interested in non-speech body sounds for a long time,” Rahman explained. “I thought if we could capture coughing or sneezing sounds from public spaces where a lot of people naturally congregate, we could utilize this information as a new source of data for predicting epidemiologic trends.”

Because the device is portable, FluSense’s data can be collected in many different settings, not just the healthcare environments of physician offices’ waiting rooms, clinics, and hospitals, but also in large public spaces. In this way, FluSense can be leveraged to “expand the arsenal of health surveillance tools used to forecast seasonal flu” and other outbreaks or pandemics, cites Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News.

Andrew Lover, a UMass-Amherst Infectious Disease Epidemiologist and Assistant Professor, added that the team “[has] the initial validation that the coughing indeed has a correlation with influenza-related illness. Now we want to validate it beyond this specific hospital setting and show that we can generalize across locations.”

The UMass-Amherst press release shared that future studies with FluSense will likely be seeing how it performs in other public arenas and even more challenging geographic locations.

The post New Portable AI Device Tracks Flu and Pandemic Data from Coughing Sounds first appeared on Dornob.

Now, innovations from researchers at MIT’s Dream Lab are making it possible to “hack” your own dreams using an open source wearable device that can track and interact with them, including a glove called “Dormio.”

Adam Horowitz, a PhD student at MIT Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces Group and fellow Dream Lab researcher, says he hopes the project will help answer questions about whether interfering with dreams could help people change or better themselves through augmentation of memory and creativity.

The Dormio glove features sensors that wrap around the wearer’s wrist and fingers, tracking muscle tone, heart rate, and skin conductance to identify various stages of sleep. When the user slips into a stage called “hypnagogia,” the device plays a prerecorded audio cue. For instance, one experiment with 50 participants played the word “tiger,” and the users reported dreaming about tigers.

“During sleep onset, a window of opportunity arises in the form of hypnagogia, a semi-lucid sleep state where we all begin dreaming before we fall fully unconscious,” the researchers explain. “Hypnagogia is characterized by phenomenological unpredictability, distorted perception of space and time, and spontaneous, fluid idea association. Edison, Tesla, Poe, and Dalí each accessed this state by napping with a steel ball in hand to capture creative ideas generated in hypnagogic microdreams when it dropped to the floor below.”

“With Dormio we modernize this technique, using a hand worn sleep-stage tracking system, social robots’ unique interactive and embodied capabilities, and auditory feedback on sleep stage transitions. Using Dormio, we are able to influence, extract information from, and extend hypnagogic microdreams for the first time: we found all of our subjects indeed dreamed about themes chosen by experimenters prior to subject sleep, and that active use of hypnagogia with the Dormio system can augment human creativity as measured by flexibility, fluency, elaboration, and originality of thought.”

Another Dream Lab project called “BioEssence” by PhD candidate and researcher Judith Amores features a wearable scent diffuser that monitors heart rate and brain waves, releasing a specific scent the user associates with a certain memory or behavior when they’ve reached the N3 stage of sleep, which is the state most associated with memory consolidation. Scent is less likely to wake you up than a spoken word, and it’s directly connected to the memory and emotional parts of the brain.

All of these innovations might either sound exciting or foreboding to you, depending on how you feel about increasingly invasive technology. Dream Lab released a video called “Cocoon” featuring both devices in hopes of soothing fears about the potential ramifications of allowing technology to alter dream states, along with an FAQ addressing potential ethical issues. Their stance is that since users are in a state of semi-conscious hypnagogia, they’re aware of the intrusion.

“Most, but not all, remember what they said throughout the experiment. But critically, we have had people forcibly wake themselves up when they had a weird enough dream that they did not want us experimenters to hear about it. People are monitoring their environment and aware of their descent into sleep, limiting the capacity for inserting any ideas people don’t want inserted, or extracting ideas they don’t want extracted.”

The post Hack Your Dreams With MIT’s New Wearable Tech first appeared on Dornob.

Miracle TimeCube Timer

There’s probably a lot of things competing for your attention right now. After all, it’s hard not to constantly check the news, Facebook, and Twitter for updates, all of which tend to only get in the way of completing your tasks. One simple way to maintain your productivity while working from home is the TimeCube, a simplified desktop timer with sides that display the time period of your choice, from five to 60 minutes.

Use this device to divide your work tasks, lunches, and other breaks into set periods with tangible start and end times. For example, you can flip the TimeCube so that “25 minutes” displays on the top, close out all your distracting tabs, and focus on a single activity until it beeps. Then you can flip it to another number for your next activity.

Zoom

If you consider regular face-to-face meetings an essential part of keeping your team on track, you’re going to need software that can keep everyone connected. Right now, there’s simply nothing better than Zoom, a free app that’s both reliable and easy to use.

Unlike FaceTime, Zoom can be used on both Macs and PCs. It’s easy to start video calls from, too, and they don’t cost anything as long as they’re under 40 minutes with 100 participants or fewer. It’s also a great way to stay in touch with friends and family by holding virtual dinner parties or karaoke sessions.

Adjustable Standing Desk

Sitting all day long is bad for your health, especially if you’re already stressed out. An adjustable standing desk will let you stretch your legs and keep your posture in check throughout the day. This one by Avantree is ultra budget-friendly, folds and unfolds with ease, and can be tilted, raised, or lowered to match your preferred angle. You can even use it to work from your bed by having it straddle your lap.

External Monitor

When you’re used to having multiple monitors at the office, it can be hard to downgrade to a small laptop screen. That’s why an affordable external monitor can really change the game when it comes to working from home, making it easier to multi-task and stay focused. The 27-inch Dell FreeSync Monitor is one great option, complete with a full HD IPS LED screen and Dell’s ComfortView technology to reduce blue light and glare. Get it for $199.99 at Best Buy and other retailers.

Slack

Commonly used to connect offices and employees in different locations, Slack is a great way to work together remotely, and it can make the shift to working from home a lot easier on everyone. Use it to create separate channels for various teams, deliver important announcements, and just casually chat with your friends. The app also enables direct messaging and built-in voice and video calling, which is a great alternative to Zoom when you only need to talk to a couple people.

Google Docs and Sheets

Google’s suite of free web-based documents, spreadsheet, and presentation apps won’t necessarily replace all the functions you’re used to having on, say, the Microsoft Office platform — but there are a couple big reasons to consider using it instead, for now. For starters, they make it easy to share documents and keep track of all the changes made by various people, which is invaluable when you can’t get together in person.

But above all else, these apps’ offline sync feature might just be their biggest pro, especially if you’re dealing with unpredictable Wi-Fi. It’ll make sure whatever changes you make while the internet is out are synced automatically when it reconnects. The catch is that it only works on Google’s Chrome browser.

Sony WH-1000XM3 Wireless Noise Canceling Headphones

Working from home is hard when you’ve got kids running around. If you need to block out the background noise, there’s nothing better than Sony’s noise-cancelling headphones, which are also very comfortable to wear. The stellar sound quality, soft padded ear cups, and 30-hour battery life make them a worthwhile investment.

Bose SoundLink Mini II

If you’d rather not wear headphones but still need ultra-crisp sound and a built-in microphone for taking calls, check out the Bose SoundLink Mini II: a powerful speaker that fits in the palm of your hand. Roughly the size of a smartphone and weighing just 1.5 pounds, this lightweight speaker easily connects to virtually any Bluetooth-equipped device and can interface with Siri or Google Assistant.

Apple Magic Keyboard

Tiny laptop keyboards just don’t cut it for people who usually type on large external ones. The Apple Magic keyboard falls somewhere in between, but it’s ultra-portable, pairs automatically with Macs and features an incredibly long-lasting battery that can stay juiced up for a month or more.

BackBlaze Backup Software

For just six dollars a month, you can have peace of mind that your work won’t be lost, even if your toddler spills your coffee directly onto your laptop keyboard. BackBlaze’s “Personal Backup” plan will automatically back up all your files, including documents, photos, music, and movies, so it’s great for graphic designers and other professionals whose work from home isn’t necessarily text-based.

All data is stored at a secure data center with 24-hour staff, biometric security, and redundant power, and there’s also an option for businesses that expands coverage to multiple computers and servers.

With all this handy gear in tow, you’ll be more than ready to hunker down for the next few weeks of social distancing.

The post 10 Tech Essentials You’ll Need to Work from Home During Quarantine first appeared on Dornob.

More than 1,000 New Yorkers came together to be photographed by the French artist for “The Chronicles of New York City,” a collaboration with architecture firm LOT-EK, who designed the stack of shipping containers hosting the mural in Williamsburg’s Domino Park. The mural is a compilation of images collaged together into an urban scene and reproduced on a tremendous scale. Overlooking the East River, it draws people into the newly completed park to engage with it via a smartphone app.

The Brooklyn Museum’s description of the artwork reads: “This soaring multimedia installation traces JR’s career from his early documentation of graffiti artists as a teenager in Paris to his large-scale architectural interventions in cities worldwide to his more recent digitally collaged murals that create collective portraits of diverse publics. The centerpiece of the exhibition is ‘The Chronicles of New York City,’ a new epic mural of more than 1,000 New Yorkers that is accompanied by audio recordings of each person’s story.”

“All of the projects on view honor the voices of everyday people and demonstrate JR’s ongoing commitment to community, collaboration, and civic discourse. Working at the intersections of photography, social engagement, and street art, JR collaborates with communities by taking individual portraits, reproducing them at a monumental scale, and wheat pasting them — sometimes illegally — in nearby public spaces.”

“The Chronicles of New York City” is the final work crowning the exhibition “JR: Chronicles,” the first major North American exhibition the artist’s works, which officially opened in October 2019. Set at the Brooklyn Museum, the show features murals, photographs, videos, films, dioramas, and archival materials spanning JR’s entire two-decade career.

You can also view close-ups of the Williamsburg mural itself, getting a better look at both the individuals featured in it and how the imagery was assembled. Some of the portraits are tucked into windows, or peeking out from the basement level of the brick building. Other subjects are dancing, performing stunts, or playing music. And it’s loads of fun to pick out humorous little details, like a group of people using extra-long straws to drink from soda bottles on a lower floor.

“JR: Chronicles” will be on view until May 3rd, 2020. Other murals can be seen at the Kings Theater in Flatbush and the Brooklyn Academy of Global Finance in Bedford-Stuyvesant, with even more set to appear through the run of the exhibition.

Check out more of JR’s work, including a giant optical illusion mural outside the Louvre Museum in Paris and a poignant US-Mexico border art installation featuring a Latino child peering over the wall. The latter was created as a response to President Trump’s attacks on DACA (the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program), which protects people who were brought illegally to the United States as minors from deportation.

The post 1,000 New Yorkers Featured in JR’s Massive New Williamsburg Mural first appeared on Dornob.

Appropriately named “FocusBuds,” these earbuds actually study your brain and work with your natural biorhythms to improve your focus and productivity. This process, known as EEG Neurofeedback, isn’t new. In fact, it’s been around for decades now, helping NASA astronauts, athletes, and corporate CEOs perform their best. But FocusBuds is still the first product to bring this technology to the average consumer.

Here’s how it works. The user wears the brain-scanning product like a pair of regular earbuds. When turned on, EEG biosensors scan the activity of your brain, gathering and calculating data along the way. With this information, the program is able to evaluate your focus levels based on 400 unique metrics. In the end, this means it knows when you work best, how long you can maintain focus, and during which activities you are most distractible. FocusBuds uses this data to then provide you with audio cues that redirect you when you become distracted, keeping you on track and improving efficiency.

The inspiration for FocusBuds came when Sahin Ozsoy, co-founder of Potential X, ran across data showing that the average person reportedly takes 23 minutes to focus, but is interrupted roughly every 11 minutes. Feeling this lack of focus himself when working in public places, he decided to use his background in EEG and signal processing to come up with a solution.

Ozsoy and his team have since found that EEG Neurofeedback increases the brain’s ability to get into a flow or highly focused state quickly, even when the earbuds are removed later on. Essentially, the device teaches the brain to remain focused even when surrounded by potential distractions.

In addition to providing instant feedback regarding your level of focus, FocusBuds also monitors your activity for a bigger overall picture of your concentration prowess, and will provide reports with information showing peak focus periods and top distractions. This allows you to avoid certain environments and inefficient habits. With this information at your disposal, you can reorganize your schedule to complete difficult tasks during your most natural productive times and rest during unfocused times.

FocusBuds are much more than a mind trainer. They also offer a superior earbud product with a proprietary noise-isolation sound seal technology that blocks out highly distracting noises while providing a low-level background murmur. Think of it as white noise rather than complete silence. Of course, if you prefer to listen to music, FocusBuds not only provides premium audio, but the EEG Neurofeedback actually tracks what type of music makes you most productive. There’s also an embedded microphone for one-touch call connect, and Bluetooth 5.0 so you can wirelessly connect to all your devices.

FocusBuds are currently trending on Indiegogo, with a campaign that was fully funded within the first hour of being launched. Now nearly 1000 percent funded, the campaign ends the last week of November, with shipments of the final product set for Spring 2020.

The post Smart Earbuds Train Your Brain to Stay Focused first appeared on Dornob.

Winner of a 2019 Red Dot Design Award, the Somnox aims to be your “little spoon.” Hold it against your body at night, and you’ll feel it “breathe” in a soothing rhythm, causing you to automatically synchronize your own breathing with that of the robot. The bot also features a CO2 sensor in its “head” that slows down the pace of its breathing motion to match yours as you fall asleep.

The Somnox’ designers explain: “By synchronizing your breathing rhythm to that of the Sleep Robot, you will reach a steady and slower breathing rhythm. This deep breathing is one of the best ways to lower stress in your body, because it will send a message to your brain with the command to relax your body. This will result in a good and long night’s sleep.”

The team came up with the idea for the bot after suffering from stress-related sleep deprivation themselves, saying: “Rather than reaching for addictive medication, we found breathing, audio, and affection to be effective and proven methods to naturally induce sleep. Being personally exposed to the effects of sleep deprivation, we made it our mission to bring the world better sleep with the ultimate sleep companion: the Somnox sleep robot. Our mission is to help 100,000 people achieve a good night’s rest with the world’s best natural step solution by 2025.”

Just having something soft to cuddle at night can help you relax, but the Somnox offers some things your pillow (or cat, or partner) probably can’t: built-in audio with guided meditations, lullabies, heartbeats, or whatever sounds of your own that you might want to upload. Even better, these sounds automatically adjust in volume and eventually turn off after a set period of time. The Somnox even boasts a built-in “wake-up breathing program” and alarm that will wake you up with your music of choice and a soft glowing light.

Users say the pillow has a “belly” that rises and falls as the Somnox breathes, and the effect sort of feels like a purring cat. It’s about the size and weight of an infant, and covered in a soft heavy-duty fabric. A companion app lets you input factors like gender, age, and body mass index to determine the ideal breathing tempo and allows you to fine-tune it until it’s right for you. You can also set the duration of the breathing period anywhere from five to 90 minutes each night, and choose from three settings: nap, sleep, or relax.

At nearly $600, the Somnox isn’t exactly cheap, and its features may simply not be enough for people who suffer from insomnia and other serious sleep conditions. But if you could use just a little more comfort and companionship to lull you off to sleep, the sleep robot might feel like a better option than the many more invasive sleep augmentation gadgets on the market, like wearables that track your biorhythms.

The post Cuddle with the Soft Somnox Robot to Track Your Sleep Quality first appeared on Dornob.

Some sounds are so good, they make you want to do more than just hear them — you need to feel them. Unfortunately, the closest we’ve been able to come to that absorptive zen experience so far is to back up into the giant bass speakers at a concert and let the deep vibrations flow through your body. But thanks to a new invention from the innovators over at Woojer, you’ll soon be able to transcend the barriers of normal hearing and actually feel the audio of music, video games, TV shows, and movies pulsing through your body from head to toe.

What is Woojer Edge?

The Woojer team utilized haptic technology to create Woojer Edge. Simply put, haptic means relating to the sense of touch. It’s also called kinesthetic communication, in which your tactile perception is triggered by mid-air vibrations, emulating the impression of contact without physically touching anything. The Woojer Edge lets you go beyond the barriers of mere sound and physically sense the sounds as they vibrate through your body, increasing in intensity until you feel totally immersed and transported to a level of euphoria never before possible.

A gadget called the Oscillating Frame precisely replicates frequencies up to 500Hz, including subsonic frequencies typically not audible to the human ear between 1 and 20Hz, as bodily vibrations. Sounds implausible, if not impossible, but the company assures us: “The frictionless motion guarantees precise harmonic reproduction and reduces distortion. It’s the perfect combination of tactile sensation, size, weight, and power consumption.”

Vibration Options

To make sure you can enjoy their technology everywhere you go, Woojer offers two Edge options. Both versions utilize a Texas Instruments built-in analog headphone amplifier and CSR APTX low-latency Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity.

Designed for active people who find themselves in several different locations throughout each day, the Strap Edge easily fits around your chest, crosswise across your upper body, or around your waist. It can also be worn underneath clothes, so you can keep your sonic experience private if you choose.

For more of a full-body experience, the Vest Edge covers your entire torso, immersing half your body in 360 degrees of perfect, comprehensive sensations sure to make your pulse pound. Intended for die-hard home gaming and VR fans, Woojer says the Vest Edge has “…out-of-the-box stereo haptics… If you’re a music pro, this’ll pump the low-frequencies through your body as it engages you in a unique and mesmerizing audio experience.”

An Overwhelming Vote Of Confidence

Woojer’s enthusiasm for the Woojer Edge has never waned, but the company does admit they initially didn’t know how the product would be received by the public. When they launched the Edge on Kickstarter with the goal of raising $20,050, however, they were overcome with support. When the campaign still had a full week left before ending, nearly 10,000 supporters had pledged around $1.1 million to help get their vision to market. This massive show of confidence by contributors around the world means Woojer Edge could be available for purchase a lot sooner than we think. Be sure to check back for updates!

The post Good Vibrations: Woojer Edge Makes Sound a Multisensory Experience first appeared on Dornob.

Fujifilm just unveiled the Instax Mini LiPlay, a spin on its compact instant camera offering the ability to capture and play audio. You might imagine that involving some kind of button you press to hear the sounds of the scene as you look at the photo, but it’s actually a little less high-tech than that. Instead, the recorded audio is converted into a QR code printed directly on the Instax print, which you can then scan with your phone to listen.

Presented as the smallest and most lightweight camera in the history of the Instax series, the Mini LiPlay takes film that’s the size of a credit card and features a 2.7-inch color LCD screen, allowing users to view and select individual photos for printing. Its minimum focus distance is just 3.9 inches away from a subject, and you can choose from six filters and 30 frames to add a little something extra to the final shot. It takes just 12 seconds for the camera to process and print each photo, and the battery life lasts up to 100 prints on a single charge.

The audio function allows users to capture up to 10 seconds of audio along with any photo, with the resulting QR code taking the form of either a speech bubble or a simple square. Users may or may not like the fact that it takes up quite a bit of real estate on the tiny printed image, but the idea is that you can look at the photo while listening to the original audio or a special message/greeting.

Fujifilm describes the camera as a “hybrid” of digital and film, explaining: “the camera also features the ‘Direct Print’ function, which transfers a photo taken with your smartphone to the LiPlay for printing. You can [then] print your favorite picture in your smartphone easily on instax film and share it with your friends. To make it easy to take a group photo, the camera also offers the ‘Remote Shooting’ function so that you can use a smartphone operation to release the shutter while standing away from the camera itself.”

“The camera body boasts a streamlined and stylish design. Its compact and lightweight form factor makes it easy to carry. Buttons and dials for basic operations such as shutter release and “Sound” function are laid out for advanced operability. Extra attention has been paid to perfect the camera’s texture. The camera comes in three colors, each of which has different surface processing, such as embossed or smooth finish.”

The Instax Mini LiPlay is now available at major retailers in three colors — elegant black, blush gold, and stone white — for $160.

The post New Fujifilm Instant Camera Prints Audio Onto Your Photos first appeared on Dornob.

Perhaps it’s time for home speakers to shrug off the confines of their ugly black plastic boxes and pick up a bit of style. A new design called the Gomi takes steps toward that aim with a colorful exterior — not to mention a pretty cool method of sourcing its materials.

Roughly the size and shape of a brick, the Gomi is a portable Bluetooth speaker made of 100-percent non-recyclable plastic waste, or plastic that would normally end up in landfills, toxic piles of electronic waste, and even the ocean. The mix of different plastics that go into each Gomi produce a one-of-a-kind swirl of colors, which means the aesthetic is never boring. It’s offered in three marbled colorways: “city,” a beige-gray, “jungle,” a bright mix of greens, yellows, and oranges, and a deep blue-hued “ocean” blend.

The project is inspired by the massive amounts of plastic trash that currently make up at least 85 percent of the pollution on beaches around the world. Created by a sustainable design studio of the same name based in Brighton, England, the Gomi is currently only available as a limited edition of 500. Each speaker is hand-marbled using three modular plastic components and made using a combination of digital fabrication and traditional crafting techniques.

“We were inspired by the cradle-to-cradle design process, thinking about our product’s full lifecycle right from the beginning,” says Gomi co-founder Tom Meades. “With our Bluetooth speakers, we want to intercept a waste stream that would otherwise be landfilled or incinerated. Flexible plastics / LDPE [are] widely regarded as non-recyclable by UK councils, and so we thought this would be the perfect material to harness and show that through innovative design this can be valuable and does not have to end up as waste polluting our environment. Instead, we can craft this material into desirable objects.”

Meades and his team began by collecting these “flexible plastics,” most of which took the form of plastic bags, bubble wrap, and pallet wrap. When all was said and done, over one pound of plastic (or about 100 plastic bags) went into each speaker, which themselves measure 5.4” x 10.2” x 3.1” once pressed into shape. And since the team only heated the plastics up enough to melt them and make them malleable, the manufacturing process itself was also pollution-free.

By this point, you’ve probably still got one big question on your mind. How’s the sound? Gomi says its “exceptional sound quality” was developed with the help of two award-winning sound engineers, with each speaker boasting both a dome tweeter and a base midranger. It plays for 18 hours on a single charge, features just one button, and connects via Bluetooth 4.0. You can also purchase a matching high-speed charger for your Gomi, equipped with a range of ports so as to make it compatible with more devices.

Even better is the fact that the company takes some responsibility for the speaker after it’s served its use — a crucial aspect of a truly sustainable product. More specifically, Gomi repairs used speakers free within two years of purchase, taking them back at the end of their lives so they can be re-melted into new units.

Be sure to follow Gomi on Instagram for all the latest updates on availability.

The post Gomi: The Portable Speaker Made from Recycled Plastic first appeared on Dornob.

Austrian design firm KMKG decided to bring a natural element to an otherwise sterile product line with the iTree: a one-of-a-kind docking station built directly into a tree trunk. The studio uses specialized tools to hollow out each tree and help the system achieve the optimal vibrations and sound quality. Once carved, the log is fitted with the necessary electrical components.

The idea for the iTree began as a submission to a 2009 art show in Graz, Austria. There, the sculptural docking station drew the attention of both business partners and potential customers. After a year of research and prototyping, the product became a reality on the consumer market.

Each piece is custom-made and every bit as unique as the tree it’s sourced from. Customers get to select exactly the wood they want, taking a ride through the forest to pick out a specific tree if they so choose. The iTree is typically made from spruce or white spruce, but the company welcomes the opportunity to work with other woods like cherry, poplar, stone pine, and nut. Once selected, the trees take a short trip to the carpenter’s studio, where the customer can decide how long they want theirs to be and which components they want it to contain. Lengths vary from 250 centimeters up to approximately 400 centimeters (98-147 inches).

The studio uses speaker systems developed by Trenner & Friedl, each one of which includes a docking port for iPhones and (for all you “old-school” audiophiles out there) iPods. They also rely on a few other partners for the project, including artisan Tischlerei Lenz, who shapes each trunk from its raw form into an iTree by hand. The process begins by scraping the bark from the surface. Several steps are then taken to properly hollow out the trunk, with careful consideration given to where each component will sit.

When it comes to selecting the electrical components themselves, customers have the option to equip their iTree with either a built-in or external amplifier. The former intensifies the sound for private rooms, while the latter provides a solid commercial option for businesses, restaurants, lounges, and lobbies so hundreds of people can enjoy the experience.

To suit all needs, the iTree can be installed a number of different ways. It’s most commonly placed on a self-containing stand, where it can either remain in one location or be moved to different areas. It can also be mounted to a wall or placed on a flat surface, such as a TV stand or long dresser. However the customer decides to mount their iTree, they should always remember to consider its weight, which registers at a whopping 175 pounds for even the smallest models.

Ready to swap out your run-of-the-mill docking station yet?

The post iTree: The High-End Docking Station Made from Logs first appeared on Dornob.

The innovative folks at Honda were well aware of this soothing automotive trick but recognized that it’s not always so convenient to schlep your kid around in a car — especially if you live in a big city. After consulting with experts at Japan’s Sound Healing Association, they decided to carry out a fun little experiment that combined children’s toys with carefully chosen audio components.

The resulting “Sound Sitter” is a cute red car-shaped stuffed toy that emits the sounds of three different engines to help lull babies to sleep. The Japanese automaker reportedly tested recordings of thirty-seven engines from its own models (dating back to 1962) until they came across the most effective ones, including those of Civics, Accords, and Integras. The three winning sounds came from the engines of the 2018 NSX, 2001 Integra Type R, and 1999 S2000.

“Baby’s job is to cry a lot,” reads the Sound Sitter’s official website. “I think that it should not be denied that. However, it is also true that there is a mother / father who is getting bored with going out from the feeling that ‘whatever you do…please don’t cry in a bus or shop.’ We, Honda, wanted to manage that trouble as a company that supports mobility.”

Researchers found that 11 out of 12 newborns between the ages of six months and 1.5 years seemed to be comforted by the remote-controlled Sound Sitter, with seven babies also showing reduced heart rates. Honda then distributed the stuffed toy to families in Tokyo, holding a public event there to demonstrate its sleep-inducing abilities. Parents report that it worked like a charm, especially when toted around in a stroller. The results are clear enough just in the first few seconds of the video above (which is only available in Japanese, but you get the idea).

Keiichiro Kida, president of the Sound Healing Association, explains that car engines sound remarkably similar to many of the sounds heard within the uterus, including low frequencies like the mother’s blood flow and heartbeat. Honda’s Sound Sitter toy incorporates low frequencies of 250 Hz or less for a calming, sedative effect.

For all we know, the Sound Sitter might even work on adults. While Honda isn’t releasing the stuffed toy to the public just yet, they have made the audio files available online, which means you’re more than welcome to listen and find out for yourself. If you wanted to, you could probably even DIY something similar by loading those recordings onto a remote-activated audio player and putting it inside the toy of your choosing.

The post Lull Your Baby to Sleep with Honda’s Sound Sitter Stuffed Toy first appeared on Dornob.

Cue the xFyro xS2 wireless earbuds, which are both waterproof and snug-fitting. The company says you can use them in the rain and in the shower, allowing you to take your music anywhere. And of course, there won’t be any problems when you’re exercising, playing sports, or working up a sweat in general.

The xS2 is being billed as the world’s first fully waterproof earbud set, and since it’s so well sealed, it should stay relatively dust free over time, too.

The Bluetooth chip inside the earbuds lets you connect from up to 33 feet away from the source. The company has incorporated AAC audio into the design for a great listening experience that offers “an incredibly balanced sound, crisp and crystal-clear. Gone are the days when bass and treble overpowered your music.”

Like any good set of headphones, the xFyros take full advantage of noise suppression and isolation technologies, leaving you free to follow your podcast or soak in your meditation app’s soothing background music. These features also make it easier to answer phone calls and concentrate on your conversations when there’s outside chatter and chaos around. The xS2’s integrated microphone makes hands-free chatting even more of a breeze.

The earbuds also have touch controls on them, so you can adjust the volume and pause/play your music without any fuss. When you’re using them with your phone, you can accept a call with just a single tap of what’s designated as your “primary” earbud. You end your call the same way, and if you need to call back, all you’ll have to do is double click to redial.

If you want to contact your virtual assistant, fear not: the xFyros earbuds are compatible with both Apple and Android operating systems, and they can connect to both Siri and Google Home.

You may be wondering how you power up the earbuds. Each set comes with its own high-speed charging case, and as soon as you put it inside, it automatically starts charging. The earbuds run on a lithium polymer battery that gives you up to five hours of continuous audio on a full charge — perfect for a long flight or road trip. If you need a quick boost, you’ll find that a 30-minute charge will buy you an extra three hours (it takes two hours to fully charge the earbuds, though).

We also love the fact that you can use the charging case as a power bank and charge your phone via a built-in USB port if you run out of juice while you’re out and about. The charging case itself can give you enough power to play music for 20 to 30 hours before it has to be recharged.

As if all of these features weren’t enough, it has to be said that these waterproof wireless earbuds look great, too. They’re made from premium aluminum, adorned with a classy brushed finish, and designed for extreme durability.

The post xFyro: The World’s First Wireless Waterproof Earbuds first appeared on Dornob.

Apple has just entered the smart home fray with its HomePod. It’s a stylish, compact device that’s equipped with cutting-edge audio technology. “HomePod uses advanced software for real-time acoustic modeling, audio beam-forming, echo cancellation, and more, powered by Apple’s A8 chip, delivering a wide, spacious soundstage,” the company explained when unveiling the product. “Using spatial awareness to sense its location in the room, it automatically adjusts the audio to sound great wherever it is placed.”

This, of course, means that it’s the perfect smart speaker, and when you pair it with your smartphone or computer, you get instant access to your entire iTunes music collection, as well as the Apple Music subscription service, which the company says boasts one of the largest libraries in the world. Too many options to choose from? Don’t panic: Siri can help you by suggesting tracks that match your musical preferences. Over time, the program learns more about what you like to listen to and refines its recommendations accordingly.

And music is just one aspect of the HomePod, which has plenty of other tricks up its virtual sleeve. Want to listen to your favorite podcast? No problem. Wat to send a message? Done. You can even use it as a hub to control a wide range of HomeKit smart home accessories. We personally love the fact that you can use simple, intuitive voice commands to tell the device to make your living room cooler, dim the lights, or whatever else you want. No more futzing with buttons to adjust the thermostat. As if all that wasn’t enough, you can also use the HomePod as a speakerphone for important phone calls.

The seven-inch-tall device is stylish in Apple’s usual minimalist way. It’s available in both white and “space gray” and covered in a seamless mesh fabric for a classy aesthetic. Getting connected is simple: “It’s as easy and intuitive as setting up AirPods — simply hold an iPhone next to HomePod, and it’s ready to start playing music in seconds,” the company explains. “The Siri waveform appears on the top to indicate when Siri is engaged, and integrated touch controls also allow easy navigation.”

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