Semi-Solid State Batteries

The SuperBase V claims to be the first home energy storage system using semi-solid state batteries. Offering 228 Watt hours per kilogram (Wh/kg), they provide up to 42 percent more energy per pound than a traditional lithium-iron phosphate battery. Zendure says that customers who use their battery management software can expect the SuperBase V internal battery to last for at least 10 years.

“Semi-solid state batteries also pose less of a safety risk if damaged, which is critical for home energy management,” the company says. “The extra capacity is ideal for long-term outages.”

Stackable Power

The SuperBase V can be scaled for several different power needs. A single unit can provide up to 3,800 watts (W) of power, while two connected units can supply up to 7,600 W. That amount is enough to power a typical washer, dryer, heater, and refrigerator at one time. For maximum wattage, two SuperBase V units can be stacked with four Satellite Batteries each for a total capacity of 64 kilowatts (kWH).

Power Your Home for a Week

With the maximum battery configuration, the SuperBase V has enough juice to power a typical household for a week or more. This means you never need to fear a power outage, since the SuperBase V will automatically kick on in the event of a power grid failure. You can also use Zendure’s “Time of Use” app to monitor, manage, and customize your energy usage and save money on normal energy bills.

If a natural disaster ever strikes your area, you’ll still have enough power to get you through the worst of it. Alternatively, if you’re simply ready to go off-grid, you can hook up the SuperBase V to a solar panel system and figuratively cut the cord to your power company.

Untethered RV Life

The Zendure Satellite Battery also boasts an Anderson port to meet any RV and camper electrical needs. Through the XT90 port, the modules can also glean up to 600W of solar power. For those looking to truly get some peace and quiet in remote areas, the SuperBase V TT-30 port can provide up to 30 amps to 120V camper or RV appliances.

Charge EVs on the Go

With its 2 EV outlets and up to 12,000W of power distribution, the SuperBase V can charge two electric vehicles quickly and at the same time, so you’ll never have a dead car battery in the event of emergencies. In addition to powering up your cars at home, Zendure’s plug-and-play system can recharge your EV on the go and in between charging stations, extending your driving range indefinitely.

Smart Virtual Assistance Interface

For added ease of use, the SuperBase V can interface with smart home assistants like Alexa and Google, allowing customers to turn it on or perform other functions with voice commands.

Zendure’s Kickstarter campaign blew way past its initial goal of $10,000, attracting over a thousand backers and over $5.3 million in pledges. The basic SuperBase V model is currently going for $2,699 and is expected to start shipping in December 2022.

The post Kickstarter Campaign for First Plug-and-Play Home Energy Storage System Garners Over $5 Million first appeared on Dornob.

Currently wrapping up a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, the Shelfy sort of looks like a misplaced Apple device. It’s a minimalist white pod that you tuck onto one of your refrigerator shelves to let it do its magic. Taking up less space than a gallon of milk, the Shelfy extends shelf life up to 12 days, reduces bad odors by 80 percent, and results in up to 10 times less bacterial load inside the refrigerator.

To use it, you just select the mode you want (eco, standard, or boost); place it in the fridge wherever it fits best, including in a drawer or door; and reap the benefits. Shelfy’s makers claim the device can keep some vegetables like zucchini good for as long as 22 days, and extend the lives of fast-rotting foods like strawberries by up to a week.

Food waste is a major contributor to environmental crises like climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, requiring tons of resources and land to grow food that people don’t end up eating (and emitting methane gases when it rots). A single family spends an average of almost $2,000 a year on food that they end up throwing away. Shelfy cites studies that show one out of every two refrigerators has an above-average proliferation of mold and bacteria, contributing to the problem.

The Shelfy uses an advanced ceramic filter, a silent fan, and a battery to take in air inside the refrigerator through mechanical ventilation, passing it through a photocatalytic filter that destroys pollutants. After a while, it’ll notify you that it’s time to remove the filter and wash it under running water, or charge it via a USB-C plug. You can control it with the Vitesy Hub app and connect it to Amazon Alexa and Google Home via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. The Shelfy also monitors your refrigerator’s energy consumption based on how many times you open the door.

The designers explain that they “conducted research at CSI SpA – FPM Laboratory (Food Packaging Materials), an Italian and European technological hub with a team of about 400 experts including engineers, physicists, chemists,and microbiologists who have made quality, safety, and sustainability the backbone of their professional role. They’re recognized as a center of excellence, especially for companies in the food, packaging, construction, and automotive sectors, in which every day, for more than 25 years, they have been working to enhance quality companies and protect the market.”

“Shelfy uses an innovative and sustainable nanomaterial-based photocatalytic technology since the filter doesn’t need to be replaced, just washed under running water. Photocatalysis is a safe chemical reaction that absorbs air pollutants and turns them into harmless elements. The use of this technology guarantees safety, better performance, and less consumption. In this way, we make Vitesy technology sustainable and effective.”

If you missed the Shelfy’s Kickstarter campaign, you’ll be able to pick one up soon for the retail price of €169 (about $175).

The post Fight Food Waste in Your Fridge with the Shelfy Smart Purifier first appeared on Dornob.

The Orphosis’ ergonomic shape is created by strong folds and an angled bottom that balances the distribution of weight. The folds remain in place while you walk, hike, bend over, or toss the bag into the backseat of your car. The double-layer fabric is durable and water resistant, and the backpack features both padded shoulder and chest straps for the most comfortable carrying experience possible, even when you’re packing it to its maximum capacity.

When folded, the Orphosis origami backpack measures 19.3 inches tall, 12.2 inches wide, and 4.7 inches deep. When expanded, the depth increases to 9.4 inches. Changing the capacity is as simple as folding in the sides and snapping them together.

The Orphosis doesn’t sacrifice functionality for its minimalist looks. You can’t tell from the outside, but it actually has all the special pockets you could ask for in a backpack. The security pocket on the side is the perfect place to tuck your wallet and phone, since you can reach in without taking the backpack off. The chest strap also tucks into its own pocket in one of the main backpack straps when you don’t need it.

A deep side pocket with magnetic closure is capable of holding various water bottle sizes up to 32 ounces, or an umbrella. Inside, you’ll find a pocket that fits laptops up to 16 inches long, a tablet pocket, pockets for other tech like charging cables and ear buds, and even an anti-RFID pocket for the security of your personal data. The whole backpack unzips like a clam shell for easy access to everything you carry.

The backpack’s Kickstarter page explains that the design is “based on research and good understanding of the way people use backpacks. Orphosis was designed and prototyped in California by James Piatt, a well-rounded industrial designer in innovative product design solutions, materials, product engineering, and architecture. ‘We like to think of Orphosis Backpack a piece of functional art, and we hope our designs inspire our users to also think creatively,’ says Piatt.”

The design team adds that the backpack is “socially responsible…and sustainable by design. Longer product lifetime is better for the environment. We have a top-notch and responsible supplier who has supported some successful global brands and well-known crowdfunding brands. Their high-quality testing and quality control system can meet our high function and quality requirements.”

Want to snatch up an Orphosis minimalist backpack of your own? Check out the Kickstarter campaign to back the project. A pledge of $79 or more will get you a backpack at 40 percent off the expected retail price of $129.99.

The post Orphosis: Origami-Like Backpack Expands and Contracts on Demand first appeared on Dornob.

The only way to prevent package theft is to make sure your deliveries are secured from the moment they arrive. If you’re fed up with porch pirates and have some cash to spare, the new Aristos Home Smart Dropbox is well worth considering. Currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter, the device is about the size of a trash can, securely mounts to the ground or the wall, and comes with extra features that make it more secure than the average drop box.

Aristos’ creators explain that over 210 million packages were stolen between 2020 and 2021, and that 64% of Americans reported being victims of package theft during this time. The problem is that most residential package drop boxes and lockers only deter the most casual of thieves — they either rely on keeping deliveries out of sight as thieves are cruising by, or they use simple padlocks that are all too easy to cut. Like most drop boxes, the Aristos keeps packages dry and protected, and it offers an anti-theft delivery slot that stops hands from going in the unit. But it also goes a lot further than that.

Made of strong metal and weighing nearly 40 pounds, the Aristos has an internal capacity of 75 liters and offers four methods of unlocking: by key, by fixed numeric pass code, by a one-time-use passcode texted to the carrier, or by remote unlock. Most people would likely use the fixed passcode to retrieve their packages, with the key as a backup option in case the unit lost power for some reason. But the remote unlock and one-time-passcode features allow you to leave returns on your porch for pickup, or enable the delivery of packages that are slightly too big to fit in the delivery slot.

The Aristos Home Smart Dropbox records every “event” and notifies you via an app, so you know if packages have been delivered, if someone has accessed the contents, if the batteries are low, and if there are any attempts to tamper with the box. If the door isn’t properly closed after retrieval or the wrong password is input, the box sounds an alarm and notifies all family members using the app. Each device can share up to 50 accounts. The Aristos uses the Tuya Smart platform, which also connects to a variety of smart cameras, doorbells, and locks (sold separately by other manufacturers).

If you’re concerned about any viruses or bacteria your package may have come into contact with on its journey, the Aristos also has a solution for that. An atomizer at the top of the unit disinfects packages with hypochlorous acid water in tiny particles that won’t harm the packaging or contents. The unit itself is made of shock-resistant commercial quality cold-rolled steel and ABS plastic that’s one-millimeter thick to protect contents from extreme weather conditions, from -13 degrees to 130 degrees Fahrenheit. It fixes to the ground or wall with M8 screws.

With an MSRP of $478, the Aristos costs about the same as the Delivery Safe ($449), another popular lockable delivery box option with similar features that’s specially designed for food deliveries. It’s significantly less than the Box Sentinel, which is considered the gold standard drop box but costs a whopping $1,895 for a through-the-wall model and $2,995 for a standalone cabinet model.

Obviously, if you’re on a budget, none of these options are going to be particularly appealing unless you’re regularly ordering high-value packages and risking a lot of theft. For many people, the combination of a security camera and something like the Durabox Package Drop Box will have to do. But if you catch the Kickstarter, you can get the Aristos for up to 67 percent off at just $159 with an Early Bird pledge.

The post Aristos Home Smart Dropbox Protects Your Packages from Porch Pirates first appeared on Dornob.

The iSwift M is an improvement upon its creators’ earlier product, the iSwift Pi. Both are designed for digital nomads who prefer to work in less than conventional locations — like a lounge chair on the beach. The original weighs 2.5 pounds, is made of a sturdy plastic material, and can be used in a variety of positions. It was a big hit, with nearly $1 million in sales since it debuted in 2021. The designers gathered feedback and have since made some alterations to their design, resulting in the release of the iSwift M. The new version weighs just over a pound, is a mere six millimeters thick, transforms in one second, and comes in additional sizes.

While most portable laptop desks have folding legs, the iSwift has a unique origami-like shape with built-in legs shaped like triangles. It can be used flat as a pad under your computer, with both legs up as a conventional laptop desk, or turned upside-down with a single leg extended for use as a tablet stand. Magnets hidden within the material hold the legs in position as you work. With the Pi, you unfold the legs one at a time. The M makes that process even faster. The legs are connected in the center, so the whole desk pops up into place with a simple flick of your wrist.

When folded, the iSwift M laptop desk is so thin, it easily slots into your laptop bag alongside your computer. The weight and amount of space it takes up is so minimal, you might as well take it everywhere you go. The designers even go so far as to claim that you could slide it under your pillow, sleep on it, and still not notice. Despite all that, it’s able to hold over 11 pounds (5 kg), well over the weight of most people’s computer, phone, and coffee combined.

The designers explain: “Inspired by the Copenhagen trend, we’ve selected wool felt as the material. The material is also eco-friendly and non-toxic. And with unique high-temperature pressing technology, the iSwift M becomes a piece of art. iSwift M’s material, design, and structure make it a must-have for your working life. The slim profile makes it look like a second skin for your office devices.”

This portable workstation comes in three sizes: Mini (about the size of a sheet of paper), Standard (9.4 inches by 17.3 inches), and Max (9.6 inches by 21 inches). You can also choose from gray, black, bright green, and “Barbie pink” colors. Currently raising funds on Kickstarter, the campaign is offering backers early bird discounts up to 40 percent off retail prices. Grab the Mini for $35, the Standard for $69, or the Max for $79.

The post Paper-Thin Laptop Desk Practically Disappears When You Store It first appeared on Dornob.

For starters, most tents are designed for outdoor adventures, but they could have many more uses with just a few tweaks. The “Crucoon,” a cocoon-style tent by Crua, adds one major feature to a standard tent: the ability to block out the world around you. Instead of thin nylon, it’s topped with an insulated cover that reduces the transmission of both light and sound while still keeping out the elements. On top of that, it’s inflatable, so you don’t even have to assemble tent poles.

The design sort of looks like somebody tossed their down sleeping bag over their tent to darken the interior — but the reality is much better than that. The air beam construction means you can set up the Crucoon in less than 60 seconds with a manual air pump. It has two doors for versatility and ventilation holes covered in insect mesh for fresh air. The insulation is covered in rip-stop nylon, treated with durable water repellent, and infused with graphene, a lightweight, durable, breathable, and antibacterial thermo-regulator.

Crua is best known for previously designing an insulated tent, which itself can be surprisingly hard to find. The company envisions Crucoon being used for all kinds of different purposes: as a nap pod, a play space for kids, a study room, or a tent for camping in super cold conditions (though they recommend covering it with a tarp or another tent in rainy weather, since it’s not completely waterproof). You could set it up on top of a bed in a shared hostel room for darkness and privacy, or use it as a warm and cozy emergency shelter inside your home if the power goes out in a winter storm. There’s also another potential use for the Crucoon that Crua doesn’t specifically call out: as a dark, quiet place for people with autism to self-soothe.

“When I designed the first Crua tent in 2014 it was simply out of necessity,” says Derek O’Sullivan, founder and CEO of Crua. “I couldn’t find a tent that offered me any reasonable level of insulation. I wanted a correctly insulated tent so that my family’s camping experience could be a memorable one. From that first tent, spawned several new insulated tents in all shapes and sizes. From a 5 to 6 person ‘Family’ tent to the ‘Solo’ individual insulated tent. Now, we are moving beyond just the tent. We would like to introduce you to the Crucoon… this is not just a tent, it’s so much more. It’s your private space when you are on the go. There is practically no end to where the Crucoon can go. We can’t wait to get these into your hands and see all the places you’ll go with the Crucoon!”

The Crucoon can be purchased alone or with the Full Kit, which includes one customized self-inflating mattress and two graphene-infused sleeping bags. The mattress can either be zipped together into one extra-plush sleeping pad, laid out flat as a double mattress, or unzipped as two separate single mattresses. When it’s in double mode, it can be inserted into a zippered compartment in the Crucoon’s base. The sleeping bags can also be zipped together, and feature hoods and hidden pockets. In the near future, Crua plans to offer other add-ons like a rain fly, tarp, and inflatable pillow.

The Crucoon recently raised over $170,000 in crowdfunding on Kickstarter, with backers getting special early bird pricing and access, but it’ll also be available at a retail price of $499 later this year.

The post Crucoon: Insulated Tent Blocks Light and Sound to Provide a Safe Space Anywhere You Go first appeared on Dornob.

All-in-One Vertical Wall Planter

Mars Green is made of clay to emulate soil, making it easy to grow vertically. That clay is also capable of absorbing a lot of water — up to 1800 milliliters (60 ounces) at a time. And the LED light ring isn’t just decorative. It actually provides your plants with the light they need to thrive. The grow light has virtually endless programmable configurations, not just in a rainbow of hues, but also strobing, shifting, and flickering patterns (the creators claim there are 16 million options).The idea is to create a miniature self-contained habitat similar to what we might need to turn the real Mars green.

“We discovered that unglazed clay has great water absorption properties, which is how we came up with the idea to make a 3D planter as opposed to a regular pot,” the creators explain. “Many versions and a lot of trial and error led us to the perfect process to create clay that’s as fertile as soil. What makes Mars Green easy to set up and maintain is the special clay mixture and the many pores created during the baking process.”

How It Works

The red ore used as the base is rich in trace elements like iron, manganese, and potassium, which are essential to most plants’ growth. Its porosity also makes it extremely water-permeable. It’s capable of supporting many types of plants, including ferns, lichen, mosses, ivy, creeping Jenny, tillandsia, peperomia, creeping fig, and more.

Exactly how do you plant into a hard surface? There are a few different methods depending on which plants you choose. Gather ferns and spread their spores on the surface, apply powdered moss, or stick bits of lichen and seeds into the tiny cracks. Add water, and they’ll spring to life. If your plants need support growing from the vertical surface, strands of elastic cord are included.

Kickstarter backers get early-bird pricing on the Mars Green vertical wall-hanging planter, just $59 each. You can also snag two planters for $98. Orders will ship this September. When this round of crowdfunding is over, the price of each unit will rise to $99, and the designers will make the product available to the public later this year.

About the Designers

In their own words, “YAT is a team of technology enthusiasts and designers. We specialize in the development and design of highly innovative products. We love to create our space with greenery, and we’re also loyal RGB players, and we love the tech-savvy home atmosphere. In 2019, our studio moved to Dehua, where ceramic products are famous all over the world, and we learned a lot about the possibilities of clay creation. After two years of polishing, Mars Green is finally on the market, hoping that it will bring more fun to your life.”

The post Mars Reimagined: Glowing Wall Planter Turns the Red Planet Green first appeared on Dornob.

That means there’s no extra setup for outdoor parties — the speakers are always ready to go with a full 15 hours of battery life. They connect to a music source via Bluetooth with up a 100-foot range.

Setup only takes a few seconds. Each speaker comes with a magnetic stand that can be staked into grass, dirt, and other landscaping materials. The box can be easily pulled off the stand and transferred to another stand in a different part of the yard, brought inside, or taken on the road for mobile parties. If there’s ever a need for wired charging, the speaker also includes a USB-C port that can be used to power up other USB devices, too.

The sound quality is powerful, thanks to a four-inch passive subwoofer for bass, a ¾-inch tuned dome tweeter for high notes, a four-inch calibrated driver for clear and consistent audio, and a 50-Watt amplifier for volume. Two or more speakers can also be connected to create an even fuller, more immersive sound.

Because outdoor speakers have to be able to stand up to intense weather conditions, the Lodge solar speakers were designed to handle everything from “the hot summers of the Arizona desert to the icy winters in Vermont.” To protect against damage from water, dust, and debris, the speakers are equipped with both UV-safe plastics for the housing and chip-proof industrial strength solar panels. Each one comes with a waterproof IP66 rating.

The speakers have been extensively tested and reviewed to ensure their quality is top notch. “We’ve been working on Lodge since late 2020 and have gone through hundreds of rounds of testing, user feedback, and iteration,” the company says on their Kickstarter page. “We’ve worked with audiophiles and designers from all over of the world to validate our design decisions and component selection, and we’ve completed countless hours of testing both in and outside of the lab. With the community’s help, we brought Lodge to where it is today and built a sound system the Lodge community is proud to support.”

The company also tried to keep sustainability in mind when designing the speakers, allowing them to be disassembled and recycled so that parts could be repurposed in the future.

The Kickstarter campaign generated plenty more interest than expected. The company started with a $10,000 goal and raised over $250,000 by the time it ended. There was so much demand, in fact, that Lodge created a second crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo that raised another $270,000 in a month. The company hopes to start shipping their product to the first Kickstarter customers sometime this summer.

The post These Outdoor Speakers are Waterproof, Wireless, and Solar-Powered first appeared on Dornob.

A company called Invisibility Shield Co. is currently crowdfunding a real working invisibility shield on Kickstarter, and over 2,000 backers have already secured shields of their own. The company has produced 25 fully functional invisibility shields so far, and the campaign will allow them to scale up their production so the shields can be available to all. Pledge at least $65 and you can receive a small roughly 8-by-12-inch invisibility shield as a reward. The full-size version measures 37.4 inches tall by 25.59 inches wide and is available with pledges of $389 or more.

The shields offer high-resolution invisibility with no power source required, and the full size is large enough to hide multiple people. It’s portable, too, weighing less than nine pounds and packing down to a thickness of 2.3 inches.

Photos and videos of the shields in action are really quite remarkable. The people standing or crouching behind the shields are completely blurred out of the picture while a hazy view of the background remains. Sounds kind of like magic, right? But the shield makes use of a low-tech phenomenon that’s been around for a long time: lenticular lensing.

The shield’s creators explain: “Each shield uses a precision engineered lens array to direct much of the light reflected from the subject away from the observer, sending it sideways across the face of the shield to the left and right. Because the lenses in this array are vertically oriented, the vertically oriented strip of light reflected by the standing/crouching subject quickly becomes very diffuse when spread out horizontally on passing through the back of the shield.”

“In contrast, the light reflected from the background is much brighter and wider, so when it passes through the back of the shield, far more of it is refracted both across the shield and towards the observer. From the observer’s perspective, this background light is effectively smeared horizontally across the front face of the shield, over the area where the subject would ordinarily be seen.”

The shield is made up of lots of these vertical lenses so that light gets reflected internally between them instead of refracted out. That light is then diffused, reflected, and refracted around and out of the lens to interact with the lenses on either side. These long convex lenses running in parallel are made of an extruded and embossed polymer derived from recycled plastics. Achieving the invisibility effect all comes down to a very precise way of shaping and finishing the lenses. The shields work best against uniform backgrounds like foliage, grass, walls, sand, sky, and asphalt. They work even better when they have defined horizontal lines, which really help the invisibility effect pop.

The fact that these actual working invisibility shields are so low-tech is what makes them fun. If you miss out on the Kickstarter campaign, keep an eye on the project’s update page for future retail availability.

The post You Can Actually Order This Real Invisibility Shield Right Now first appeared on Dornob.

As you can see, the Pontos looks a lot like a tent in the shape of a kayak. It has a similar lightweight frame sheathed in waterproof nylon and an inflatable seat that closely resembles a sleeping pad. That was part of the inspiration behind this unique design. The creators wanted performance on the water and packability on land, perfect for traveling or impulsive paddles after work. And it doesn’t just fit inside your car – it fits in your closet, suitcase, and even your backpack, just one-third the size and weight of the next-smallest portable kayak when packed down.

“We believe that the benefits of outdoor recreation and a connection with nature should be available to everyone, and we’re here to help knock down some traditional barriers,” the creators write on Indiegogo. “For paddle sports, those barriers are often storing, transporting, and deploying your vessel. We’ve simplified all of these by combining the concept of a skin on frame boat with new durable lightweight materials. At just seven pounds, Pontos kayaks are far lighter than existing folding and inflatable kayak options, which weigh anywhere from 20 to 45+ pounds, and [they’re] more affordable, too! With a pack down size similar to a two person tent, Pontos is the first truly packable kayak.”

Naturally, a kayak this lightweight is designed for calm waters, not whitewater conditions. Those who prefer the latter will have to stick to their more conventional kits for now. But a good deal of thought has gone into the design to make it just as reliable and easy to use as a standard kayak. The lightweight carbon fiber frame, which consists of 18-inch sections connected with shock cord, gives the boat its structure. Once on the water, the “keel pole” presses the TPU-bonded nylon shell just enough into the water to provide excellent tracking. Other portable kayaks are often flat on the bottom, which causes fishtailing as you paddle.

The Pontos’ shell easily pulls over the assembled frame and zips along the top, so it takes just a few minutes to put it together. The 210 denier nylon used for the shell also has some advantages over the heavy plastic usually used for inflatable kayaks. Inflatables are generally hard to pack down to a small size and even harder to get completely dry after use, which makes them prone to developing mold. On top of that, inflatable packrafts also require an additional device for inflation – or a serious test of your lung capacity after a hike.

Currently, the Pontos is available for pre-order via Indiegogo for $497, a 13 percent discount off the expected retail price of $575. It comes in five shell styles in shades of beige, green, blue, and yellow. The crowdfunding campaign will raise funds to order the components and hire a team to finish production, and the boats are expected to ship by June.

The post At 7 Pounds, This Might Be the Lightest, Most Portable Kayak Ever first appeared on Dornob.

Designed to be used in the home, Kara Pure is an air-to-water filtration system that also happens to dehumidify and filter the air while it’s producing clean water. If you’ve ever owned a dehumidifier, you’re probably familiar with the way these machines produce large quantities of water that has to be drained away. The water usually isn’t drinkable or reusable due to the way the machines process it, which seems like a waste. It was just a matter of time before somebody came up with a way to change that. Kara Pure operates much like a conventional home dehumidifier, but it puts the water through a filtration process that not only cleans the water, but makes it healthier to drink, too.

How the Kara Pure Works

The Kara Pure water machine draws air through a four-level filtration system to remove impurities, heavy metals, and particles while extracting water. The purified air is released back into the room, and the contaminants are trapped by the filters. Smart sensors turn off when the humidity in the room drops below a comfortable 25 percent. The water then goes through a multistage filtration and purification process, including a UV-C sterilizer in the water reservoir to keep the water fresh and clean. The water is automatically sterilized every four hours.

A built-in ionizer separates water into its acidic and alkaline parts, which improves the taste. The machine also adds seven essential natural minerals to the water: calcium magnesium, lithium, zinc, selenium, strontium, and metasilicic acid. This mimics the natural components of spring water. Alkaline water is believed to have health benefits like neutralizing acid in the bloodstream and slowing bone loss, though scientists are still divided on these claims.

“Only by bringing together a team of professional engineers and advisors from different industries was it possible to develop a technology that can produce up to 2.5 gallons of safe drinking water from the air,” the startup explains. “We want to decrease dependence on groundwater by fully tapping into air-water with Kara Pure to provide everyone access to premium quality local alkaline drinking water.”

Always Have Clean Water on Hand

If you already have access to good quality drinking water from a tap, a machine like the Kara Pure might not be necessary, though it’s a great alternative to having bottled water delivered for a drink cooler. Since it only produces 2.5 gallons a day, it’s not ideal for community spaces like offices, but it can augment fresh water supply in the average home. If more people relied on machines like these instead of bottled water, we could eliminate a lot of plastic waste.

The stainless steel machine is about the size of a standard water cooler. During a recent round of crowdfunding on Indiegogo, the Kara Pure raised over $1 million USD, unlocking some handy new features like hot and cold water taps. Backers scored their own units for as little as $599, but it looks like the retail price will ultimately be quite high at $3,499. That’s probably the biggest drawback of the machine: it would be most useful for people who can’t afford those prices.

For those who can afford to spring for the machine, the Kara Pure offers an environmentally friendly way to dehumidify and purify the air while producing clean drinking water, essentially replacing three separate household appliances. That’s definitely not a bad deal, and though it requires power and thus wouldn’t work in a power outage, it would also offer the security of access to clean water in the event of a water outage.

Like similar machines in production all over the world, the Kara Pure offers additional proof that this kind of technology works. It would be great to see more companies using it to produce larger machines for communities dealing with issues like contaminated water or too little water to go around.

The post This Home Appliance Makes Fresh Drinking Water Out of Thin Air first appeared on Dornob.

The Ainu village of about 120 people consists of many artists and artisans, who still practice ancient techniques like hand-carving traditional motifs into wooden plates. To translate the project to ceramic, the artisans carved wood blocks that press the patterns into the plates before they’re fired. The result is a beautiful twist on “Arita ware,” the name for porcelain produced in Arita, which has a history of ceramics dating back to the early 1600s, when porcelain stone was discovered in the area. This porcelain became a well-known luxury product within Japan and around the world, where it was often called “Imari.”

The project was initiated by Akan Ainu Consuln, an organization founded in a small Ainu settlement. The Ainu are the indigenous people of Japan, who now mostly live on the northernmost island of Hokkaido. “We have an accent culture, born from a lifestyle of harmony with nature,” they explain. “Among traditional Ainu culture lives a rich tradition of crafts, including wood carving, textiles, embroidery, and more featuring unique patterns and designs. Akan Ainu Consuln works to disseminate Ainu culture and protect Ainu intellectual property related to Ainu performance arts, the Ainu language, Ainu cooking, and traditional Ainu designs.”

The group works directly with artists and creators in Ainu to facilitate collaborations with other creative traditions of Japan. In this case, it’s two potteries in Arita called Kyuemon and Yamaheigama. They hope to draw attention to the Akanko Ainu Kotan village and its unique culture, bringing in tourism revenue that can help keep its traditions alive.

“Since the pandemic hit, tourism to Akanko Ainu Kotan has dropped dramatically, especially among foreign tourists who aren’t allowed in the country right now,” says Akan Ainu Consuln. “This project serves as a chance to bring in some much-needed revenue to our artists, as well as deliver a piece of Ankanko Ainu Kotan to people who can’t visit in person right now.”

The plates include designs by five Ainu artisans: Fukiko Goukon, Erika Katsuya, Masaki Saito, Kiyosho Hikawa, and Hideharu Taira. “I came up with my designs while hoping that Ainu culture will become better known throughout the world,” says Goukon. “I made designs that incorporate traditional lucky Japanese patterns in order to reflect the collaboration with Arita ware, while still staying true to classic Ainu patterns.”

A Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign raised over $25,000 to bring the project to life, offering backers the choice between each artist’s collections as rewards. Once the campaign is fulfilled, the creators hope to offer the plates to the wider public. If you missed it, keep an eye on the page for future updates.

The post Ainu Meets Arita: Beautiful Plates Made in Japan with Designs by Indigenous Artists first appeared on Dornob.

Obviously, you aren’t exactly getting the same experience with this mini ultra-wide monitor as you would with full-size models like Samsung’s brand new Odyssey Ark, a curved 55-inch wide gaming monitor that’s expected to come with an appropriately massive price tag. But the point is you can take the Lukos with you wherever you go, and it’s a heck of a lot cheaper.

The monitor is built around an advanced IPS panel that purports to offer higher display quality, better color contrast, higher color accuracy, and better screen uniformity than typical displays, delivering iMax-style 4K cinematic viewing for movies. Its 60Hz refresh rate and 2ms response offer smooth playback for gaming, and it’s powered by an ultra-high bandwidth processor that can display four 4K split-screen signals at once.

The split-screen feature is what makes the Lukos an especially enticing option for productivity. The screen can be tilted or rotated into vertical position while you view several different things at once: books, social media, YouTube, multiple browsers, or whatever else strikes your fancy. In that sense, it’s a dream for multitaskers and those of us with ADHD, who are accustomed to flipping back and forth between dozens of open tabs and programs. Still, the small screen has its limitations. For instance, it won’t be much use for tasks like detail-oriented photo editing or spreadsheets, regardless of what the marketing images might envision.

The Lukos comes with a host of ports, including three HDMI, two DP 1.4, one DP 1.2, and one USB-C, and can connect to PCs, Macs, laptops, smartphones, Nintendo Switch, Playstation, and Xbox, among other devices. A remote control makes it easy to switch back and forth between inputs, adjust the brightness, and more. It’s easy to imagine using this screen on the go for gaming or watching movies, though the aspect ratio will likely result in some letterboxing for most media. But it could be useful as a secondary screen below your primary display, too.

The portable Lukos 4K ultra-wide monitor just completed a round of crowdfunding on Kickstarter and was offered to supporters for as little as $419. Hundreds of backers pledged over $167,000 USD to get the project off the ground. If you’re itching to get one, the creators estimate that it’ll be available later this year at a retail price of $619. Curiously, it does appear to already be available on AliExpress for less than that, with the same name and seemingly all the same stats. That listing claims nearly 1,000 are in stock and ready to ship for just over $500 each.

The post The Lukos is an Ultra-Wide 4K Monitor You Can Take Anywhere first appeared on Dornob.

This sleek table is packed full of helpful lifestyle hacks. Not only is its main drawer a refrigerator with an adjustable temperature range from 37 to 54 degrees Fahrenheit and lots space for ice-cold beverages, but it also has dual Bluetooth speakers on each side that can connect to your TV or smartphone. LED lights mounted underneath allow users to set the mood in a variety of flashy colors. It also has two USB charging ports and four standard electrical outlets on the side for charging laptops or other devices.

All of these cool features are controlled by a touchscreen panel on the table’s righthand corner. The panel can also change the volume and playback of music or show and customize the array of LED colors.

The Sobro coffee table has two additional drawers for remotes and other handy entertainment items. Its top is a tempered glass plate that allows light to reflect from all around the room, while the minimalist-style base comes in white, black, or wood finishes.

Setup is designed to be plug-and-play. Users simply have to screw in the table’s feet and connect the cold-drawer cord.

This coffee table revolution all started with an Indigogo campaign back in 2017 that raised over $1.6 million. Following that success, the New York-based company launched a second campaign for a Sobro Smart Side Table that garnered over $2 million and “broke crowdfunding records.”

The inspiration for the design came from observing today’s rapid pace of technological transformation. “Technology has changed over the past 20 years. These days we’re looking for quick solutions to solve our problems and ways to simplify our lives. This got us thinking, while everything around us has advanced, why hasn’t furniture? This is why we designed the Sobro coffee table: furniture reinvented for your modern lifestyle,” explains an official promo video.

“The Sobro team works from the ground up to develop innovative solutions for contemporary home life,” the company website says. “Every Sobro design starts by asking how we can improve and streamline the connected home. From there, we spend months tuning and refining the features of each product so it’s perfect.”

The tricked-out party table went viral on TikTok last December during the height of the pandemic when @ritzypabla posted a video showing off her ultramodern drink and snack space, racking up an impressive 2.1 million views. it makes sense that consumers in lockdown would be enthralled with a piece of furniture that promised to make life at home a little more fun.

The Sobro Coffee Table and Side Table are available in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In the U.S., fans can find them from retailers like Amazon, Target, and Wayfair. The MSRP is $1,499 for the coffee table and $899.99 for the side table, but most sites offer frequent deals for a few hundred less.

The post Chill Out with Sobro’s Smart Coffee Table first appeared on Dornob.

Today’s social and economic climate make this device especially attractive. According to a study from the American Psychological Association, Americans are more stressed out than ever, with 47 percent of adults reporting feelings of anxiety, 44 percent feeling sad, and 39 percent feeling extreme anger. No wonder a mind-trainer that pledges inner tranquility and relief from brain fog is in high demand.

And lots of people are apparently excited and ready to supercharge their brains, as the project met its crowdfunding goal within three hours of its campaign posting on Indiegogo. With 24 days left to go at the time of writing, backers have already raised over $655,000, 2,184 percent of the original $30,000 goal.

“We believe that through Sens.ai, anyone can finally have access to world-class neuro-optimization technology in the comfort of their own home and at an approachable cost,” says Paola Telfer, CEO and founder of Sens.ai. “One of the many benefits of Sens.ai is the ability to reduce stress and increase happiness. Many people struggle to reduce stress levels quickly and long term. This is where Sens.ai comes into play, utilizing personalized HRV and neurofeedback training technology, it empowers people to quickly summon calm when they feel stress and more importantly, train calm as a long-term, substance-free habit.”

The headset features sensors that can take in data from the brain and body and use it to provide audiovisual feedback. Its Gamma-grade sensors can read the fastest brainwaves, while the Pulse Oximeter sensor monitors heart signals thousands of times per second, measuring heart rate variability and allowing the Sens.ai to tailor a training program to increase heart coherence, an indicator of a balanced nervous system.

Sens.ai also incorporates photobiomodulation, a type of infrared light therapy used to stimulate the gray matter. LEDs strategically placed in the headset send out light energy that is absorbed by photoreceptors in the brain, initiating metabolic processes that improve circulation and oxygen utilization. The company says the result is an “energy lift” and an “accelerated ability to learn.”

Pairing with a phone app, users will be able to access 20 different brain-enhancing courses, each lasting eight to 12 weeks. Some are aimed at cognitive speed, others include mindful meditations, and others still endeavor to increase things like memory retention and concentration. Users can also access programs to help with better sleep, resilience, creativity, or clarity.

During the training programs, the user’s brainwaves are converted into lights and sounds on the phone app. The lights get higher and the sounds get louder and more frequent when the user is doing well and in “the training zone.” The headset sensors will also sense when the wearer needs a neuro boost and activate the LED lights for an immediately felt state change. The results can be tracked on the app afterwards and monitored for progress.

The Sens.ai team of cognitive experts says it built the device on decades of neurotechnology research. With several patents pending, they claim that their headset is the most comprehensive brain training solution offered at home. It can produce results with just 20 minutes of use, three times a week.

“The most exciting technology revolution is not outer space, it’s the exploration of inner space,” the company says on its Indiegogo campaign page.

The base-model Sens.ai is currently on offer for $999 on Indiegogo, with the brain-training devices expected to ship out in the second quarter of 2022.

The post The Sens.ai Headset Promises a Sharper, Faster, Better Brain first appeared on Dornob.

Released on an Indiegogo campaign earlier this year, the “Dusk” shades are different from the decades-old Transitions lenses that change tint based on the surrounding light conditions. The new product from Ampere uses electrochromic technology (the same tech available in luxury cars to control windshield tint) to electrically manipulate the lens darkness specifically to the user’s preferences. And it works fast, with the lenses taking just 0.1 seconds to adapt to the preferred hue.

The tint level can be customized between 3 and 35 percent, and preferred settings can be saved on the company app. When users are far from their phones, the glasses have manual touch controls on the left-hand side that can adjust between three tint levels. Another option includes setting the controls to have the lenses alter automatically with changes in ambient light readings.

Being smart glasses, Dusk also includes an open-ear audio system that lets users receive phone calls or listen to music on the go. The speakers are discreetly hidden in the frame earpieces and allow for a crystal-clear audio experience even while keeping the noise inaudible to those around you.

Compatible with iPhones running iOS 14 and Android 12 models, the embedded microphone and button on the right side of the Dusk frame makes it possible to quiz Siri or Google Assistant with voice commands and gives users the hands-free ability to answer calls or skip songs on their playlist.

Even better, these glasses have the bonus of actually looking good. Designed after the classic Ray-Ban wayfarer style, the matte black frames are sleek and unisex. Dusk is also lightweight (measuring just under one ounce), making each pair comfortable enough for all-day use.

For eye safety, the sunglasses are polarized and block 100 percent of harmful UVA and UVB rays. Additionally, with all the included smart tech, Ampere took care to make their product waterproof (IP65 waterproof rating) to be wearable around the pool or on the lake.

Dusk glasses also feature some helpful accessories. For an extra $50, users can purchase a protective case that also acts a charger when out and about. When fully charged, the shades will provide seven days of paired tint adjustment time and four hours of active listening time. The carrying case also incorporates a space for an Apple Air Tag to track the glasses via Bluetooth if and when they get misplaced.

The sunglasses went on presale at a discounted price of $189 and are currently scheduled to ship in October 2021. The company’s smart changing lenses concept was very popular on Indiegogo, raising over $430,000 from almost 1,600 backers. The campaign was so successful, in fact, that two other options were unlocked: a pair with mirrored lenses, and an indoor Dusk frame to block that pesky blue light from phones and other screens.

Delaware-based Ampere specializes in making “fun, one-of-a-kind award-winning gadgets” to improve life for their customers. Their other offerings include a foldable charging cube, a hydropower shower speaker, and a UV sanitizing wireless cell phone charger.

The post Dusk: Smart Sunglasses Let You Adjust the Tint with Your Phone first appeared on Dornob.