Tag Archives: iPhone

Did You Find My Message?

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Over the past few years there have been countless messaging apps that enable users to reach out to friends over new mediums in fun and useful ways. Facebook Messenger and Snapchat are the most successful, but they aren’t even relatively fun compared to this new app.

Traces is an app where you send messages that can only be retrieved by your friends when they get to a specific location. So, when you are sending a message you pick a place where the receiver has to go within a time limit that you set in order to open it. It’s like a scavenger hunt, but with messages. Traces lets you share messages, videos, and even songs. The only downside is that the app is currently only available in the UK where it is in beta – but they are planning on bringing it to the US soon, so for now we just have to hang in there.

What Sparks our Fire: A fun new way to message our friends

Where would you place a Trace?

Upgrade Your Contacts

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It’s no secret that most of Apple’s native apps are lacking in features and there are third party apps that function much better. The one app that I previously saw no need to improve was my Contacts app. It simply does a great job of saving my contact’s phone numbers and email addresses in a simple format. Well, after downloading Humin I now can see how much I’ve been missing out on.

Humin does much more than keep track of how to contact the people you know, it reminds you how you know people, helps you remember them, and can even help you contact them. When adding a new contact into the app, by just entering a phone number or email address, it will automatically add a photo, where and when you added the contact, and where they work. While these features may appear intrusive, Humin guarantees that they are only taking the minimum amount of data onto their servers, so majority of it they will never have access to. Swiping over a contacts picture allows you to call them right from the app, or it can take you to your text message conversation with them, allowing you to use this app to fully replace the green phone app.

This app redefines what a contacts app can do by bringing your contacts into the 21st century, far away from the days of keeping a rolodex on your desk.

What Sparks our Fire: Apps that help us out.

Are you ready to improve your contacts app?

The Future of Charging

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Just last week we shared a post on a new portable phone charger that can charge your device quickly and easily. The Ultra-X is a great look into where we are today with charging. Meredith Perry and her company, uBeam, are looking past today and into the future of charing technology.

uBeam will allow you to charge any device completely wirelessly – no plug, no pad, just a receiver attached to your laptop or phone. The device is capable of transforming electricity into sound waves, that are then distributed and turned back into electricity by the receiver. The only catch, the technology is not capable of charging through walls. But, the ease and accessibility of being able to fully interact with a laptop or phone while in the same room as the wireless charging station is a huge improvement. No more holding your head down towards the outlet in order to be able to talk on a dying phone. uBeam announced today their prototype is fully functionally and plans to be ready to hit the market in 2016.

What Sparks our Fire: An entrepreneur pushing the limits of wireless technology.

Do you think uBeam is the future of charging devices?

Drive Into the Future

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It’s important for us to be able to interact with our phones while driving in a safe and non-disruptive manner. Apple’s CarPlay is their attempt to fully integrate the iPhone into cars to make a seamless transition. But, what about an option for those of us who aren’t in the market for a new car right now?

Navdy is here with their device, “Google Glass for your car, but without the glasses”. Navdy is mounted on your windshield and connects to your phone to provide notifications in a safe manner. The device also comes with it’s own software, providing navigation and voice and motion control capabilities. This device might not let your car drive itself, but it sure does make staying connected while driving both easier and safer. Navdy is available for preorder now at $299.

What Sparks our Fire: Innovation everywhere.

Will Navdy bring your car into the future?

 

A Quick Boost

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We use our phones all day long and the truth of the matter is the battery doesn’t last as long as we need it to. With each iPhone, or other smartphone release, the makers tout better battery life, but this still isn’t cutting it. Charging cases are heavy and bulky and while sometimes helpful, can be cumbersome.

UNU is here with the ULTRA-X, which claims to be the world’s fastest charging technology and can provide a full charge in just 15 minutes. The device can also be charged ahead of time and carried with you to power on-the-go. Now this isn’t as fast as StoreDot’s 30-second charger, we wrote about in April, but that device isn’t reaching markets until late 2016. ULTRA-X on the other hand is ready to ship August 24, 2014. There are two models, the larger one goes for $99.99 and comes with two ports so it can charge multiple devices simultaneously.

What Sparks our Fire: Fueling our phones as quickly as possible.

How many times have you been frustrated because you didn’t have time to wait for your phone to charge?