Sonoff & Slampher are $5 RF and WiFi Smart Switches and Lightbulb Adapters (Crowdfunding)

ITEAD Studio has launched two new low cost home automation products with Sonoff smart switch, and Slampher smart E27 light bulb adapter both supporting control via WiFi and your Android smartphone, or 433MHz with a simple remote control, while still retaining the capability to control your electrical appliances and lights with a manual switch. Installation is pretty easy, and safer than some other products like Semlamp. Sonoff – You simply need to cut the cable to your appliance, and insert two wires into the IN part, and the other two wires into the OUT part. Turn if on, and add it to the app if you are going to use a smartphone Slampher – Remove your light bulb from its current socket, screws the bulb to Slampher, and put it back into your socket. Register the light in to the app and your done. Both devices will send data to […]

Omate Rise is a $199 3G and WiFi Smartwatch Powered by Mediatek MT2601 SoC (Crowdfunding)

Most smartwatches sold on the western markets are designed to be smartphone’s companions, and only come with Bluetooth LE connectivity, while we’ve seen many smartwatches (aka watchphones) with SIM card slot originating from China in the past, including the lower end No.1 D3 smartwatch which I reviewed recently. But this may be changing, as Omate is going to launch a new smartwatch called Omate Rise that will include 3G connectivity via a micro SIM card slot, as well as WiFi, Bluetooth Smart, and GPS. Omate Rise specifications: SoC – Mediatek MT2601 dual core ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.2GHz with ARM Mali-400 MP GPU System Memory –  512MB RAM Storage – 4GB flash Display – 1.3″ round muti-touch color display with 360×360 resolution (Innolux) Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.1 LE (A2DP profile), WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS Cellular Connectivity – 3.5G HSDPA (2100/1900 MHz), GPRS / EDGE /GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz); micro SIM card […]

One Education’s Infinity is a Rugged Modular Laptop for Kids (Crowdfunding)

Could 2016 be the year where modular / DIY laptops take off? Several projects has now in progress for modular laptops with Olimex’ OLinuXino DIY laptop project,  Rhombus Tech’s MIPS based laptop with EOMA-68 module, and now  One Education, has taken the footsteps of the OLPC (One Laptop Project per Child) project, by launching Infinity modular laptop on Indiegogo (flexible campaign) with delivery scheduled for September 2016. Infinity laptop / tablet hybrid specifications (subject to change): SoC – Quad core processor @ 1.4 GHz System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 8GB + micro SD slot Display – 8.9″ capacitive touchscreen display with 2560×1600 resolution Audio – Dual mode audio In/Out Connectivity – WiFi and Bluetooth USB – USB type C connector Misc – Dock with keyboard and touchpad Battery – 7,000 mAh The laptop prototype currently runs Android Lollipop with a Linux distributions (Ubuntu) in development. The laptops will […]

MeegoPad T07 Cherry Trail TV Stick with 4GB RAM Costs $109 (Crowdfunding)

There was some confused when MeegoPad T05, T06 and T07 Cherry Trail TV dongles details surfaced with specifications changing from sites to sites.  One forum post on x86pad.com, clarified MeegoPad products line up, including a new MeegoPad T08 Cherry Trail projector with battery. MeegoPad T07 was confirmed to be actively cooled with a small fan, and come with 2GB as seen on GeekBuying and GearBest, but the company also just launched a flexible funding Indiegogo campaign for the 4GB RAM version. MeegoPad T07 specifications: SoC – Intel Atom x5-Z8300 “Cherry Trail” quad core processor @ 1.44 GHz (Turbo frequency: 1.84 GHz) with Intel Gen8 HD graphics (2W SDP) System Memory –  4GB LPDDR3-1600 Storage – 32GB eMMC 5.0 flash + micro SD slot up to 128GB Video Output – HDMI 1.4 male connector Audio I/O – HDMI, 3.5mm audio jack Connectivity – Dual band 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.0 […]

$99 pi-topCEED Raspberry Pi 2 Based Desktop Computer Includes a 13.3″ Display (Crowdfunding)

Pi-Top, a laptop kit based on Raspberry Pi 2 board and a 13.3″ display, and which cost about $299.99 with the board, and had a successful crowdfunding campaign despite the price nearly matching equivalent laptops on the market. CEED is now back on Indiegogo with pi-topCEED desktop computer also based on a Raspberry Pi 2 board and a 13.3″ display, but which much more aggressive pricing, as the kit could be yours for $99 with the board, or $70 without, and shipping was included to the few countries I checked out. pi-topCEED Specifications: SoC – Broadcom BCM2836 quad core Cortex A7 processor @ 900MHz with VideoCore IV GPU System Memory – 1GB LPDDR2 Storage – micro SD card slot Display – 13.3″ HD LCD screen screen with eDP 1.2 interface; 1366×768 resolution;  262K colors; 60Hz refresh rate; 3W power consumption. Video & Audio Output – HDMI (connected to display board […]

Turris Omnia Open Source Hardware Router’s Crowdfunding Campaign is Up

CZ.NIC is a non-profit organization running the .cz domain of the Czech Republic, and as part of their activities they are also making open source hardware routers such as Turris 1.1 based on Freescale QorIQ P2020 communication processor. I’ve previously written about Turris Omnia router based on Marvell ARMADA 385 dual core processor, and the organization has now launched an Indiegogo campaign where you can get the bare board for $99, and a complete router with WiFi modules, power supply, cables, and enclosure for $189, shipping not included. Turris Omnia router specifications: Processor – Marvell ARMADA 385 (88F6820) dual core ARMv7 processor @ 1.6 GHz with 1MB L2 cache System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4GB flash, mSATA slot Connectivity 5x Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports 1x Gigabit Ethernet WAN port 1x SFP cage 3×3 MIMO 802.11ac, 2×2 MIMO 802.11 b/g/n (Included in router perk, not with bare board) SIM […]

Orbbec Persee Android & Ubuntu Mini PC Comes with a 3D Camera and SDK (Crowdfunding)

Orbbec is a startup working on 3D cameras which can be used for gesture recognition, 3D scanning, research purpose, and more. The company has now embedded their Astra 3D sensor into an ARM based mini PC running Android and/or Ubuntu which they call Orbbec Persee. Persee hardware specifications: SoC – Quad core Cortex A17 processor up to 1.8GHz with a Mali-T7xx GPU @ 600 MHz (They did not name it, but it must be Rockchip RK3288) System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, 1x micro SD card slot up to 64GB Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0 Audio Input – 2x microphones Camera – Built-in Astra Pro 3D camera RGB image size – 1280×720 @ 30 fps (UVC support) Depth image size – 640×480 @ 30 fps (16-bit) Range – 0.4 to 8 meters Depth accuracy – 0.5 centimeters at 2 meters Field of view – […]

MagicStick TV Sticks Powered by Intel Atom x5 or x7 Processors Feature up to 8GB RAM, HDMI 2.0, 802.11ac… (Crowdfunding)

Several Cherry Trail Atom x5 MegooPad TV sticks are on the way, but they mostly have similar specs to the previous generation Bay Trail sticks, except with a slightly faster processor, and in some models, USB 3.0 support. An Indian company is currently developing some Cherry Trail TV sticks with impressive specifications including processors such as Intel Atom x7-Z8700, up to 8GB RAM, up to 64GB storage, 802.11ac connections, HDMI 2.0, and USB 3.1 type-C connector. These products are called MagicSticks, and three models will soon be available. [Update 30/9/2015: The indiegogo campaign is up, but the Wave is not shown, and instead MagicStick Power has been renamed to Wave, changes are reflected in the table below] MagicStick One MagicStick Wave MagicStick Power Wave Processor Intel Atom x5-Z8300 processor up to 1.83 GHz, with 12 core Gen8 GPU Intel Atom x5-Z8500 processor up to 2.24 GHz, with 12 core Gen8 […]