ASUS VivoWatch BP is a Fitness Tracker that Measures Blood Pressure

If you need to monitor your blood pressure regularly, you may have used one of those blood pressure monitors that you wraps around your upper arm, and display results on an LCD display, and in some cases, synchronize the data with your smartphone Bluetooth. Those devices do the job, but they may be inconvenient to use daily, and some people just forgo measurements. Omron first introduced a more user-friendly solution with their Project Zero BP6000 blood pressure monitor-in-a-watch in 2016, further refined with Project Zero 2.0 watch in 2017. That’s all good, except for the same details that neither versions of the watch – to be called Heartvue – are for sale, as the company is still working on FDA approval… ASUS has filled the void with VivoWatch BP watch, and IMHO has taken a more clever approach to launching their product, since the watch will be available in Asia […]

Sonoff S26 WiFi Smart Plug Works in All/Most Countries, Sells for under $10

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One recurring issue with smart plugs / sockets is that they are often designed with a specific prong type, so if you want to use them in our country you may have to add an adapter, which may not be ideal, since the socket may fall off or have bad contact. Sonoff S26 WiFi smart plug solves that issue as ITEAD Studio made it available in six different versions for China, Australia, United Kingdom,  Europe type F, Europe type E, and the United States. Sonoff S26 specifications: Standard – US/ UK/ CN/AU/ EU(type F/E) Power supply – 90V~250V AC @ 50/60Hz Max. Current – 10A Max power – 2200W Connectivity – 802.11.b/g/n 2.4G WiFi with WEP/TKIP/AES encyprtion, WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK security Dimensions – 104 x 55 x 73 mm (Fire Retardant ABS enclosure) Weight –  130 grams Temperature Range – 0ºC-40ºC Humidity-  5%-90%RH, Non-condensing Certification – CE Just like other Sonoff devices, […]

Droplet Computing Aims to Run Apps on any Device (Regardless of the Operating System)

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The most popular apps are normally ported to all commonly used operating systems such Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Android and iOS, but apps will a lower user base or older apps may not to ported to all operating systems due to the development time / costs involved. In order to solve this issue, UK based Droplet Computing has introduced Droplet Universal, a patent-pending application container solution that decouples applications from the operating system, and enables applications to run on any device, on- or offline. The solution relies on WebAssembly, and allows you to run the app – placed in a low footprint universal container – from a web browser with Chrome v60 (v62 for Android), Firefox v52, Safari v11, and Edge v16 or greater currently supported. Arm and x86 platform are supported, although it’s not yet possible to run Arm apps on x86 with Droplet Universal. It’s hard to know […]

GameSir X1 BattleDock is a Bluetooth Smartphone Dock with USB Ports for Keyboard and Mouse

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If you’ve ever wanted to easily connect a USB keyboard and/or mouse to your smartphone, GameSir X1 BattleDock may be for you. The dock holds your phone at an angle, and offers two USB ports for USB input  devices,  with the phone and dock communicating over Bluetooth. As the name implies, the system is apparently designed for gamers, but others might find it useful too.Some basic specifications for the dock: USB – 2x USB host ports Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.0 Misc – Mode switch button, status LEDs, foldable phone holder Battery – 3,000 mAh battery good for about 5 hours Power Supply – 5V via micro USB port Dimensions – approximately 13.5 x 10.2 x 3.1 cm when folded Weight – 272 grams The manufacturer claims the dock supports the most common FPS and battle royale games such as PUBG mobile, Rules of Survival, Knives Out, Dead trigger2, Modern Combat […]

Sonoff Pow R2 is a Power Monitoring WiFi Smart Switch with Better Accuracy, Safety and Extra Features

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ITEAD Studio released several wireless switches / sockets with power monitoring capability over the years. Recently they company launched Sonoff S31 smart socket that plugs directly into your AC socket and does not require any wiring, but earlier they introduced Sonoff Pow that is meant to be connected directly into your circuit via terminals. ITEAD has now launched an upgrade to the latter  – Sonoff Pow R2 – with many of the same features, including support for eWelink, but offering 99% measurement accuracy, overload protection defined by the user, and various other features like the ability to export data. Sonoff Pow R2 (Revision 2) specifications: WiSoC – Espressif ESP8266 (TBC) Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi with WPA/WPA2 support Voltage Range – 90 to 250 VAC input Max Current – Up to 16A Max Power – 3,500 Watts Terminals – 6 terminal for mains and load’s ground, live and neutral signals. […]

Wibeee Power Monitoring Device Plugs right into Your Home’s Circuit Breaker Box

We’ve covered several smart plugs or switches capable of monitoring electricity consumption and displaying results right in a smarphone app, or computer’s web browser with products such as Sonoff S31 or Broadlink SP2 WiFi smart sockets, or Sonoff POW switch. Those work for individual plugs, but if you want to cover your full house, you’d need several of those, and in some case it may not be so convenient as no plugs may be available for example for lights or air conditioner. Smilics Technologies has come up with an easier method, although less granular, thanks to their WIBEEE device that clips to your fuse / circuit breaker box using DINZERO “clip-on” technology, and available in single and  three phase models. Main features: Voltage Range – 85 to 265 V AC @ 50 ~ 60 Hz with 2% accuracy + variation in range of use depending on temperature, humidity, etc… Current […]

Open Source Software Releases – VLC 3.0 and Android-x86 7.1-r1

Two completely unrelated open source projects have released a stable version of their software this week, but instead of writing a post for each I’ll write about them in a single post. VLC 3.0 Vetinari VLC developers have just released version 3.0 – codenamed Vetinari – of the popular media player with new features such as ChromeCast support, and 8K video playback. Other highlights from the release include: Hardware decoding enabled by default to get 4K and 8K playback 10-bit and HDR support (only on Windows 10 Fall Creators Update for now) 360 video and 3D audio, up to Ambisoncics 3rd order Allows audio passthrough for HD audio codecs Can play Blu-Ray Java menus: BD-J Browsing of local network drives and NAS VLC 3.0 is also the first major version to be released for all platforms at the same time, and you can download VLC 3.0 for Windows, Mac OS […]

Bolt IoT Platform Combines ESP8266, Mobile Apps, Cloud, and Machine Learning (Crowdfunding)

There are plenty of hardware to implemented IoT projects now, but in many cases a full integration to get data from sensors to the cloud requires going though a long list of instructions. Bolt IoT, an Indian and US based startup, has taken up the task to simplify IoT projects with their IoT platform comprised of ESP8266 Bolt WiFi module, a cloud service with machine learning capabilities, and mobile apps for Android and iOS. Bolt IoT module hardware specifications: Wireless Module – A.I Thinker ESP12 module based on ESP8266 WiSoC Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n WiFi secured by WPA2 USB – 1x micro USB for power and programming Expansion – 4-pin female header and 7-pin female header with 5 digital I/Os, 1x analog I/O, and UART Misc – Cloud connection LED The hardware is not the most interesting part of Bolt IoT, since it offers similar functionalities as other ESP8266 boards. […]