Monthly Archives: January 2014

All Eyes On Me

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The action cam is the oldest wearable tech that isn’t clothing. The incredible point of view videos shot from the perspective of skiers, surfers, bikers, and skydivers all come from these durable high-def little cams. Looking to add even more to the experience, Sony is upping the ante by multiplying the cameras.

The Sony HDR-AS100V is the tech giant’s next offering from CES. Up to five separate cameras can be networked together through an optional  RM-LVR1 wrist controller, giving the user a dynamic experience with cameras mounted either on different points of the body (ie. head, arms, torso, etc.) or on multiple people. Splash-proof, high definition, slow motion, and the ability to capture multiple angles at once will create an incredibly vivid and immersive experience. When combined with the PlayMemories software, the multiple viewpoints can be merged, creating a seamless video.

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The whole package will be available in March, to the tune of about $1,600.

What Sparks Our Fire: We love what we’ve seen from CES, and wearable tech definitely seems to be the thing of the future, even for extreme sports.

Would you want to document your adventures with this kind of camera?

This Is So Last Decade

So apparently Facebook isn’t cool any more. While the numbers for the website remain high, it simply does not engage adolescents as much anymore. More and more, middle and high school age kids are preferring apps like Snapchat and Instagram to the older social network. We at Canopy theorize this is because their parents are on it, which drives them away and negates the cool-factor of Facebook.

Imagine your parents started hanging out at your favorite spot while you were in high school. It would quickly get uncomfortable and you’d leave to find somewhere new to uphold your sense of privacy.

Personally, my parents and even my grandparents have friend-requested me and I won’t accept, but even then I don’t want them to see my public profile, even though there’s nothing inappropriate. I prefer to have my own space, but my personal network is so tied to Facebook I simply can’t make the switch easily. Teens who are just starting out on the internet can make the choice more easily.

Here’s a chart from Mashable that approximates the breakdown of demographics in both 2011 and 2014. Note, it doesn’t take into account users who aged out of being a teenager during those years, so the “millions of teens” may or may not be significantly less than it appears.

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What Sparks Our Fire:  Watching trends, especially on social networks, is incredibly important to the work we do at Canopy.

Do you find Facebook uncool?

Blinded By The Light

In 2011, Plumen created a CFL light bulb that was both daring in design and easy on the energy bill. The Plumen 001 is a large inter-looping florescent piece that managed to be both an aesthetically pleasing MOMA addition and a boundary-breaker that got attention from the general public for the ostentatious design and it’s ability to “shock and cause a stir.” It’s pretty cool looking.

However, the thing is brighter than an SUV behind a coupe at night. Almost offensively blinding. There’s a time and a place for that, and it’s not in the living room or a bedside table. For the moment, old school incandescent bulbs reign supreme in the mood-lighting category, and that’s the problem all new-tech bulbs face. Sure, their energy efficient, but you can’t seem to live with the things.

Plumen has attempted to solve that issue with their Plumen 002, a bulb that offers softer light in a shape more familiar to buyers. Granted, it has a hole in the middle, but that somehow makes it cooler. The bulb is made of blown glass and diffuses light in a similar way to older bulbs, so you don’t need an extra dimmer or the like, you just screw it in and go. It goes a long way towards filling the gap between energy-efficient and aesthetically pleasing.

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What Sparks Our Fire: An energy efficient, but not super odd-looking lightbulb.

Would you replace your old standard bulbs with one of these if they became commercially available?

Do You Hear Me Now?

Not gonna lie, we love Chrome.

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Google Chrome is, at least in our opinion, the best web browser available. The insanely quick operating speed, the minimalist design, and the intuitive inner workings all suit a multi-tasking digital occupation. Above all, it just looks better and works better than anything else we have used on both a Mac and a PC.

As well, Google has spent their time solving problems we didn’t know we had, but now realize were bugging the heck out of us. For instance, if we accidentally close a tab – as we all often do – we can simply go into the menu and click recent tabs and open the same page up again. I’m sure Mozilla Firefox and Safari have similar options, but they simply aren’t as intuitive. Recently, a beta version of Chrome which was slowly rolled out in November has gone live. Now,  the sliders are all minimalist and sleek. Please try to keep from swooning.

Actually, the best part of the update is now you can see where that irritating autoplay commercial is coming from. Thanks to a little icon in the folder bar, you can tell which page among your myriad of open ones is playing a swiffer ad full blast. Beats searching for it or having to mute your entire computer. It can also tell you if a window is using your webcam or if a certain webpage is being broadcast to your TV, which we feel like is something you’d want to know.

What Sparks Our Fire: Solving problems we didn’t know we had…digital edition.

What other improvements would you like to see on Chrome?

A Few Legs Up

You’d think something like this had already been invented.

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The Floyd Leg is quite simply a super-portable table system designed to work with any flat surface to create a regular-use table for those of us who find themselves often moving, and in need of replacement furniture. The legs are simple rolled steel with a clamp on the end, serviceable to any flat surface. The Kickstarter campaign states that the legs come in 16″ or 30″ lengths, suitable to a coffee table or a desk, respectively. They also recommend that they only be for “light to medium” use, so not a work bench or a sawhorse.

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What’s interesting about this piece is it’s meant to be used with reclaimed or secondhand surfaces. It’s not a permanent fixture but rather a module in a semi-disposable table, which is an elegant solution to a common, yet generally untouched problem.

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The Kickstarter Campaign is currently $100,000 over the goal amount, and for a pledge of $189, you can have a four-pack of the legs, shipping in April.

What Sparks Our Fire: Simple solutions to problems we didn’t know existed.

Do you think these will be useful?