Monthly Archives: October 2014

Rediscover The Joy Of Smartphone Photography

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With Foldable Studio aka Foldio you can become a pro photographer no matter where you are without having to rent a professional lighting sets. Foldio is an intuitive light box for photographers of all  levels, made possible by OrangeMonkie of South Korea and Los Angeles. The project was Kickstarter funded and received nearly 20 times its goal!

In a nutshell, Foldio is a one-of-a-kind mini photo studio for smartphones that allows anyone to take high quality pictures with a smartphone, anywhere, quickly, easily and at anytime. It eliminates issues of bad lighting, shadows, and gives you a seamless background. The perfect box for snapping awesome photos of your food, crafts, and much more, especially if you are going to sell online.

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Foldio comes with a white wall and 1 or 2  built-in LED lights to give you just the right amount of light under any condition. The box unfolds to a 10.2” and works with a 9 Volt battery. When you are done, it folds like an envelope and can be easily stored into your backpack or a briefcase. Foldio comes with different color washable backdrops: black, white, and gray for impeccable pics. What is fun is you can even make your own backdrops with any paper or fabric.

What Sparks Our Fire: A portable tool allows us to share our creativity on-the-go.

Are you ready to rediscover the joy of smartphone photography with Foldio?

Not Your Traditional Earpiece

Fitbit, Atlas, Pulse O2, and the list goes on. Wearable technology is already playing an important role in our health and fitness. But, Lumafit is a new concept which tracks your body and mind. The device is a super soft ear sensor and has a secure fit to stay on during vigorous exercises. It works with a three-axis accelerometer that measures the intensity of your movements and head motion in real-time and can identify moves like push-ups, and changes with your heart rate to assess your stress level as well as arrhythmia.

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Lumafit also provides the ability to sync with MapMyFitness and MyFitnessPal apps. And, when combined with an app called Bootcamp, it will help you create workouts and schedule meditation stations.

What Sparks Our Fire: A device that goes beyond step counting and monitors not only our exercise but also our well-being

Are you willing to give up your wrist-worn fitness band for a ear sensor?

Turn Your Home Into A Smart Home

Imagine you enter your home, and your apartment turns on the lights or, you wake up in the morning and your favorite music starts playing. And while you are getting ready, your coffee machine makes your favorite cup to grab before you leave home. With Airfy Beacon, you can do just that: transform your home into a smart home. The device works in conjunction with an app and is connected via Bluetooth Low Energy communication and IFTTT.

So, with Airfy Beacon, you can turn on your music, the lights, the thermostat, the TV based on your proximity, the number of people in your home, and time. One of the perks is the battery life of an Airfy Beacon is approximately 1.5 years. Watch the video to get familiar with the product.

What Sparks Our Fire: An app and gadget that cater to you and help you save energy

Are you ready to turn your home into a smart spot?

Turn Your Bed Into A Smart Bed

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We spend around one-third of our life sleeping. Sleep plays a crucial role in good health and well-being. Getting enough quality sleep helps protect our mental health, physical health, and quality of life. The damage from sleep deficiency can harm you over time. For example, ongoing bad sleep can raise your risk for some chronic health problems. It also can affect how well you think, react, learn, and get along with others.  But, as our lives become faster and our stress levels increase, it is becoming increasingly difficult to sleep peacefully at night. There’s a new product which could change all that. It’s called the Beddit, and you sleep on it.

Beddit is an innovative ultra-thin film sensor that measures how you sleep. The device uses ‘ballistocardiography’, with a sensor that is sensitive enough to measure the mechanical forces that come from your heart beat, your pattern of breathing, and the way you move in bed. Simply place Beddit  under the sheet and it will connect wirelessly to your smartphone. In the morning, the accompanying app will draw a full report on your personal sleep habits and will and suggest how to improve the quality of your sleep.

Learn more about Beddit here.

What Sparks Our Fire: An innovative monitor that can help us reach good health and general well-being.

Would you try Beddit?

This Is How You Can Change The World With An App

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Mobile apps have proven to be popular for solving numerous modern-day problems. Here is an app that can help you make a better impact on the environment. But before we get started:

Did you know that the average person generates four pounds of trash every single day and that only 30% of that gets recycled? And, did you also know that recycling one aluminum can save enough energy to listen to a full album on your iPod? Or that, recycling 100 cans could light your bedroom for two whole weeks. So, why are we recycling so little? Well, simply because it is so much easier to dump our trash into a single bin and get it over with. But, 26 year-old Blake Rupe, is trying to change our bad habits by making recycling fun, with her recently launched app Re-APP.

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Re-App is designed to help people track and share their recycling habits. The app turns recycling into a competitive game that encourages players to measure and track their daily recycling efforts and get the highest amount of waste. Within the app, users can document what they recycle into a virtual bin, share their progress on social media, and see what other friends who have the app have recycled on a virtual leaderboard. Each material recycled brings someone closer to the glory of being deemed the “winner.” You can download Re-APP here

What Sparks our Fire: A mobile app that helps us visualize our impact on the world.

Are you ready to join the movement?