It’s a familiar situation. If you haven’t experienced it yourself, you probably have at least heard someone tell a story about it happening to them. No one’s really come up with a reliable solution to these kinds of airport troubles yet. But what if I told you that your suitcase could help solve them for you?

That’s the goal of the various startups and more established companies in the smart luggage game. These innovators create suitcases and carry-on bags that have a bunch of high-tech features designed to make travel easier.

The features include things like location tracking so that your bag doesn’t get lost or stolen, integrated scales to help your luggage stay within weight limits and batteries with USB ports to charge your electronics. There are now a number of smart luggage options on the market, so here’s a list of all the best high-tech luggage for your next trip.

Best Smart Luggage

1. Looks

Away offers four different sizes of their signature suitcase. There are two carry-ons. One measures 21.7” x 13.7” x 9” and weighs seven pounds. The other is 22.7” x 14.7” x 9.6.” Both of them fit into the carry-on size requirements for major airlines. There’s also a medium 25” x 17.5” x 10.5” checked bag and a large 28” x 19.5” x 12” checked bag. The bags have a simple but smart plain black design. The build leaves a little bit to be desired though and the bag tends to wobble as you roll it around. The shell is designed to be flexible so that it doesn’t break. It bends quite a lot, which might actually cause problems if you’re carrying anything exceedingly fragile.

2. Features

Away’s carry-on features a 10,000 mAh battery with two USB charging ports – one for regular charging and one that’s more high-powered for faster charging. As far as tech goes, that’s all that Away offers. The checked bag doesn’t include any smart features. The bags do feature a TSA-approved combinations lock and several zippered compartments, a removable laundry bag and a compression system to help you pack compactly. The different sized bags also fit in each other for easy storage after your trip.

3. Price

The smallest carry-on costs $225, and the bigger version’s price bumps up to $245. The medium checked bag will costs you $275 and the large costs $295. Away offers some of the most affordable smart luggage available, but you do sacrifice some features including the integrated scale and location tracking. However, if you’re looking for a solid suitcase with just a splash of tech, Away fits the bill.

1. Looks

Raden is one of the biggest players in the smart luggage game – and for good reason. Their carry-on and checked bag offerings look sleek but also just like regular suitcases and come in seven different colors, so that you can customize your bags to fit your personal style. They feature a sturdy polycarbonate shell to help them withstand the wear and tear of travel. At 28” x 21” x 13,” the checked bag weighs about 13 pounds. The carry-on comes in at seven pounds and measures 22” x 19” x 14.”

2. Features

Raden’s products come with all of the main features that smart luggage tends to offer. There’s a 7,800 milliamp hour (mAh) battery, which the company says can provide up to four full phone charges. There’s also a built-in scale to help you make sure you don’t overpack. The bags also come equipped with location awareness, so that you can track your stuff’s location with Raden’s companion app. To top it all off, there’s a TSA-approved lock and waterproof zippers.

3. Price

The 28” check bag goes for $395, and you can get your hands on the carry-on for $295. If you decide to go for the set, you can save a few bucks and just pay $595 for the two of them.

1. Looks

Bluesmart, whose 2014 Indiegogo campaign raised over $2 million, bills itself as the world’s first smart carry-on. The company followed up its original Bluesmart One case with the Bluesmart Black Edition, which is similar but with a few upgrades, mostly centered around the materials it’s made of. The case’s Makrolon body and shell are more weather resistant and durable. The Bluesmart Black Edition measures 22” x 14” x 9,” the standard size for major airlines. It weighs 9.4 pounds.

2. Features

Bluesmart’s Black Edition has all the same technology as the Bluesmart One – built-in charging, location awareness, an integrated scale and a remote lock. The suitcase has a 10,4000 mAh power bank that the company says can recharge a phone five to six times on one charge. The remote lock feature is somewhat unique. If you get out of range of your suitcase, it will automatically lock, and it will stay locked until you open it through the app. The lock is also TSA approved.

3. Price

The Bluesmart Black Edition goes for $599 on the company’s website. If you want a slightly cheaper version, you can opt for the Bluesmart One for $449.

1. Looks

Horizn offers a large variety of models, ranging from cabin-sized trolleys to check-in ones. All of these offer a pleasant, bold aesthetic with well-defined features. There is a DJ Trolley model that measures 8.7”x17.9”x18.9” and weighs 12 pounds, several Cabin Trolley models that measure 15.7”x21.7”x7.9” and weigh around 7.5 pounds. They both feature German polycarbonate hard shells, while the Cabin Trolley features a 360° ultra-durable, aerospace-tested polycarbonate hard shell. Most of the models come in different colors, with the Cabin Trolley Model H2 boasting bright colors such as Infra Red or Electric Blue.

2. Features

Every Horizn smart luggage trolley features a TSA-approved lock, an inbuilt 10,000 mAh removable battery with 2 USB ports and silent Japanese 360° spinner wheels. The DJ trolley has multiple compartments for digital equipment, and a nylon front pocket. Customers can opt for GPS tracking at an additional cost, or for a smart card that notifies you whenever your luggage, wallet or handbag has gotten more than 30 meters away from you.

3. Price

The Cabin Trolley Model H2 is the cheapest smart luggage available, starting at 200 euros, while its Model M counterpart costs 300 euros. The Check-In Model H2 costs 250 euros, and the DJ trolley costs 500 euros. If you’re not sure about your purchase, Horizn offers a 100-day risk-free trial, meaning that you can return any model within 100 days of your purchase, no questions asked.

1. Looks

This Kickstarter-funded company’s claim to fame is that its bags collapse to under three inches even with its aircraft grade aluminum frame and polycarbonate shell. The case has a sturdy build and a no-frills, functional-looking black exterior. The design isn’t quite as sleek as some of its competitors, but it’s quite durable and practical. The company offers a 90-liter checked bag that weighs 10 pounds and measures 29” x 18” x 12.” The carry-on version comes in at eight pounds and measures 22” x 14” x 8.”

2. Features

As far as smart features go, Néit’s bags are a bit lacking, although the company says it is adding location tracking soon. For now, the features are mostly low-tech and include a waterproof exterior, a TSA-approved lock and, of course, the ability to collapse for easy storage and enhanced maneuverability. Once the company launches the location-tracking feature, its bags will become truly smart. There’s also a companion app that allows you to track the bag, as well as find hotels, flights and other travel accommodations.

3. Price

Néit’s prices are quite reasonable compared to some of its competitors. but you do have to sacrifice a few of the high-tech features. The luggage is high quality however. The checked version will run you $295, the cabin size costs $245, and you can nab the two as a set for $495.

1. Looks

Planet Traveler says that it “set out to design the most fashionable smart luggage in the world.” Its suitcases are pretty slick, and they offer some cool tech features as well. The company offers an eight pound bag that’s 21.5” x 7.5” x 13.5.” It’s eleven-pound bag measures 29” x 11.5” x 21.” The case comes in four styles – polished silver, polished black, stealth black and raw carbon fiber texture.

2. Features

The lock on the Planet Traveler Space Case helps set it apart from the competition. You can unlock your case by placing your finger on its fingerprint scanner or through the companion app. The app also features location tracking and a proximity alert that will let you know if your bag enters or leaves your immediate area. You can even arm your case so that the case itself issues an audible alarm if it leaves your vicinity. There’s also a Bluetooth-connected scale and a Bluetooth-connected speaker system integrated into the suitcase. It features a 12,000 mAh battery with three USB charging ports.

3. Price

The extra features that aren’t available on some other bags bump the price of the Planet Traveler Space Case up a bit. The small case costs $750, and the larger version is priced at $950. You can get the two cases as a set for $1,660. It’s a bit of a hefty price for luggage but if you want a bag that’s truly decked out with tech, this might be the right choice for you.

1. Looks

What sets Trunkster’s smart suitcase apart from other smart luggage is the way you open it. Instead of a zipper or a latch, it features a rolltop door that brings to mind a miniature garage door that allows you to quickly and easily access your stuff. The bag weighs 10.3 pounds, measures 22” x 14” x 9″ and has 43 liters of packing space. Rather than having the separate compartment inside, the inside of the bag is just one big open space, which could be a positive or a negative depending on your packing style.

2. Features

Trunkster’s smart bag features a 10,400 mAh power bank that is designed to be easy to remove and upgrade with another, more powerful battery. You can use the bag’s two USB ports to charge your devices. The case also features a built-in digital scale with a display on the bag itself. You also get GSM location tracking that integrates with Trunkster’s app, but it’s only free for one year. The bag’s durable outer shell is also water resistant, and the handle is easy to use and retract. One downside is that it doesn’t come with a lock.

3. Price

At $295, the Trunkster is more affordable than some other smart luggage offerings. If you want to keep the tracking service after a year, it will cost you $5 for one month, $20 for six months or $30 for a year.

1. Looks

First off, what makes the Modobag exciting is the fact that it doubles as a motor scooter – but more on that later. As for the bag’s specs, it measures 22” x 14” x 9” and is, understandably, the heaviest smart suitcase on this list at 20 pounds. It has a lightweight aluminum frame and high strength ballistic nylon shell that allows it to be both light and durable enough to transport a person.

2. Features

The Modobag has a 200-watt electric motor that can reach speeds of up to eight miles an hour and run for up to six miles. The company’s website points out that the top speed of the bag is three times the normal walking speed. It also includes a dual braking system to help you avoid airport fender benders and a touch-control dashboard. The bag features two USB charging ports and will recharge in under an hour. You also have the option of adding a GPRS/GSM location tracking system that works with the optional companion app.

3. Price

You can buy the Modobag on Indiegogo for $1095 plus an additional $69 if you want the tracking capability. The company’s fundraising campaign was successful and delivery is estimated for May 2017.

1. Looks

The Barracuda measures 22” x 14” x 9” and weighs 8.7 pounds. It can, however, collapse to 22” x 15” x 4.5.” The bag has a more casual look than some of the other smart bags and is made of Bayer Makrolon Polycarbonate Ballistic Nylon and Aircraft Grade Aluminum. Unfortunately, the design of the bag isn’t flawless and the craftsmanship is not quite as impressive of some other smart suitcases. Zippers frequently get stuck and some of the features aren’t particularly easy to use.

2. Features

The Barracuda emphasizes convenience with its collapsible laptop tray and two cup holders, which will help make your time waiting for your flight a little more enjoyable. The bag also includes a 10,000 mAh battery and a USB charger. The battery is removable, and you have to take it out of the bag in order to charge it. It also features a digital scale. Location tracking isn’t standard but you can opt to add in the feature. Additionally, the bag’s exterior is waterproofed. The Barracuda also has some neat features that help you store it. It comes with a bag that fits the suitcase once you collapse it, which you can hang in your closet.

3. Price

You can purchase the Barracuda on the company’s website for $349 or get two for $299 a bag. If you want luggage for the whole family, you can get four for $273 per bag. If you’d like to add location tracking, you can purchase a Lugloc luggage tracker from Barracuda for $50, which is cheaper than such a system usually costs.

1. Looks

Traxpack just finished up a successful Kickstarter campaign for its smart luggage offering, which focuses on easy maneuverability in addition to tech features. The case weights eight pounds and measures 22” x 14” x 9.” The hard shell exterior is a smooth-looking black with a few colorful accents.

2. Features

What sets Traxpack apart is its focus on maneuverability. It has tracks like those on a tank on the side of the bag so that you can easily roll it upstairs. The handle also tilts, so that you can comfortably pull it at different angles. For added convenience, it includes a mobile device stand, so that you can comfortably use a tablet or other device while waiting in the airport. The way that Traxpack handles its smart features is unique as well. The company allows you to pick and choose which ones you want when you check out on their website. Your options are a GPS tracking system and a proximity sensor, a built-in scale, a TSA-approved lock and packing cubes.

3. Price

Price, of course, varies depending on how many of the features you want. Full functionality costs a little under $300, and the bare bones case costs $139.99.

1. Looks

Another recent graduate of a crowdfunding campaign, Ready Travel expects to start shipping its smart luggage around June 2017. Ready Travel makes perhaps the most stylish of the smart suitcases, but it’s made with aircraft grade aluminum and 100% polycarbonate shell so it’s durable as well. It’s also scratch and water resistant, so you don’t have to worry too much about it getting damaged during travel. The case weighs a little over eight pounds and measures 21″ x 14″ x 9.”

2. Features

The Ready Travel bag features all of the major smart features available on many smart suitcases. It has an integrated scale, tracking capabilities, proximity alerts that let you know if your bag leaves your vicinity and USB charging ports. It’s designed to for use with a battery but one doesn’t come standard. The company does offer a 10,000m mAh battery for a reasonable price though. It also has a TSA-approved lock and a cup holder. Instead of using a zipper, the bag utilizes latches on the side of the case.

3. Price

Although the retail price for the Ready Travel bag is $339, if you order off of Indiegogo, you can get the bag for $199. If you order a battery with your bag, you’ll pay an extra $19 for a charger that the website says has a retail value of $39.

UPDATE: Ready announced in August 2017 on their Indiegogo Page, that they have ran out of money and won’t be able to proceed with the mass manufacturing of their Smart Luggage range. This unfortunately leaves all backers out of Pocket.

1. Looks

E-CASE just started its Kickstarter campaign and has already surpassed its goal – a good sign for the startup. The campaign is scheduled to end on May 22, 2017. The E-CASE comes in three sizes. There’s a carry-on that’s 22” x 14” x 18,” a smaller checked bag that measures 26.5” x 18.5” x 10.5” and a larger check bag that’s 31.5” x 21” x 12.” It comes in black, navy blue, rose gold, mint, and teal but the company says that you can message them if you want a different color.

2. Features

The E-CASE team emphasizes the fact that it uses a combination of real GPS, GSM, WiFi, and Bluetooth signals for its tracking. GSM-based positioning, the company says, must be disabled during the flight to conform to airline regulations. Upon landing, you only get a one-time notification that tells you just that it arrived at the airport. Because of its use of GPS, E-CASE says that its tracking is more accurate. The suitcase also includes proximity alerts, a built-in scale, a lock that can be opened by fingerprint, through the app or by SMS, a removable 12,000 mAh battery that lasts 10 days and USB ports. E-CASE also guarantees that its luggage is TSA compliant.

3. Price

According to the Kickstarter page, the retail cost of the carry-on is $489, the small checked bag goes for $549 retail, and the large version’s retail cost is $609. You can however currently get one for pledges of $269, $289 and $349 respectively. The cases come with two free years of the GSM portion of the tracking service. After your two free years, the service costs $9.99 annually.

The post The Best Smart Luggage and Carry On Bags in 2019 Will Enhance your Travel Experience appeared first on ChipIn.

According to Deloitte blockchain technology has the potential to transform healthcare. Secure, immutable ledger technology will help provide new models for healthcare provision, data security, privacy, interoperability and make electronic health records more accessible and manageable for both users and wellness if not healthcare providers.

While blockchain cannot fix all the problems facing overburdened health systems, this rapidly evolving technology and the field that supports it holds vast promise for new kinds of health services provision, patient care, and preventive health.

As a recent Capgemini report suggested, growing demand for healthcare services, integrated care delivery, preventive health management and other service model provision has placed an added premium on finding ways to drive out additional costs (not to mention the middleman) in delivery of such services.

Blockchained applications with the right privacy measures could certainly play a major role in helping to not only drive bloat out of healthcare provision but rethinking care provision at every critical point.

Lympo is a blockchain-based start-up that has a singular, passionate mission. They want to build an engaging platform that incentivizes people to live a healthy lifestyle and be rewarded for it.

The Lympo ecosystem is their answer.

Powered by both blockchain and user-generated data that includes health and fitness data collected by mobile health apps, Lympo will allow the exchange of value through the transactions of its system token – the LYM utility token.

The ecosystem will reward users and industry stakeholders fairly. The platform consists of three pillars – the Lympo fitness wallet, a marketplace, and the crowdfunding platform.

The Lympo Fitness Wallet – The wallet functions as the entry into the ecosystem and allows users to earn healthy lifestyle tokens (LYMs).

The Lympo Marketplace – LYM tokens can be earned and spent through the ecosystem marketplace for goods, services, and healthy lifestyle activities.

Lympo plans to create a user-generated and controlled fitness and wellness ecosystem where the exchange of “value” is achieved via the use of the LYM utility token. The company aims to create a marketplace where data is used by ecosystem members and everyone is rewarded for this use. The ecosystem will be comprised of several different communities of distinct participants, all of whom overlap, share data and contribute to the ongoing growth of the ecosystem.

The blockchain-enabled ecosystem is also being added to the existing Lympo platform which enables users to find personal trainers in Lithuania currently and is in the process of expanding to California in the U.S. and Melbourne Australia. The system currently reaches over 500 fitness professionals.

Health-conscious consumers – At the center of this paradigm is the mHealth or wearables consumer but there are other user groups who will be able to use and participate too. The following groups of people will be incentivized to use the system with the central goal of enabling a healthier lifestyle for all participants.

Personal trainers and sports coaches – Not only do these participants gain a fertile marketing entry into a community that is actively searching, but they also can use the Lympo system to help monitor client’s progress, use gamification techniques created by the platform to motivate and attract customers and gain a unique advertising proposition in the process.

Gyms and other wellness businesses – Businesses in the vertical will be able to reach a distinctly pre-selected audience of core potential consumers. They will also be able to interact with customers via the platform rewards system, gain insights from user data, utilize the system’s unique marketing opportunities and tools as well as enter into ongoing partnerships with token ecosystem companies.

Health Insurers and Employers – Incentivizing healthy lifestyles of clients and employees is one way to keep premiums down and employees healthy. The platform provides great incentives for potential clients as well as data-based management options driven by client data.

Health and fitness apps (and other niche-oriented start-ups) – The platform creates a unique way to penetrate a health and fitness minded market of active users, bringing new users, added value for existing ones and interaction with a potentially very wide, but targeted client base.

Investors – Those seeking to enter the blockchain and health world will be aided in their search for innovative companies by accompanying reviews by users and experts as well as have access to data enabled by the LYM tokens to understand user activity, reviews, and ratings by industry experts.

Just how do this reward and incentivization work? The system uses a utility token to connect users and activities and pay for services offered by program partners. Consumers will buy tokens to pay for training sessions and other healthy lifestyle activities supported by the platform (such as visiting a participating physical therapist). There are two types of token awards and several places to spend them.

Healthy lifestyle activities: – Participants receive system tokens if they complete a healthy lifestyle goal such as running 5 kilometers, following a precise diet and submitting records to the Lympo profile.

Healthy location rewards: – Participants who check into a health facility, a gym or attend a sports competition for a certain amount of time are also rewarded with tokens. Participants in platform sponsored and advertised events (like a local 5k fun run) can also earn token rewards.

The Lympo Marketplace: – The developing health services marketplace is the place where users can spend their tokens on everything from premium platform features (like specialized advertising placement), users can purchase discounted goods and services provided by corporate partners to creating token-reimbursed advertising and outreach campaigns.

The Lympo Crowdfunding Platform: – Token holders will also have access to a section of the ecosystem where they can review and explore up and coming apps, services and other wellness start-ups as well as invest in and use them.

Here are the details of the upcoming Lympo token sale:

Token name: LYM

Token base: Ethereum (ERC-20 compliant)

Token supply: 1,000,000,000

Token sale duration: Presale January 23 – February 3, Crowd sale, February 17 – 28, 2018

Token sale target: Presale – 265 million tokens. Crowd sale – 385 million tokens

Token exchange rate: Discounts apply to pre-token sales. Presale valuation is 1 ETH = 50,000 LYM. During the full sale, 1 ETH = 40,0000 LYM

Lympo’s Website

Lympo’s White Paper

The post Lympo – Using blockchain-Based Incentives to Help People Live More Healthily appeared first on ChipIn.

Within the platform, each user has the freedom to launch or accept challenges which are then proved with videos. For example, one of the ways Eristica works is that users can upload footage of completed challenges which are then judged and rated by the community. The connected system of rewards and rankings boosts users’ participation in Eristica as they get both bragging rights and incentives for ranking highly in Eristica.

We recently sat down with Nikita Akimov, the CEO of Eristica to have a chat with him about the project as well as finding out his thoughts and insights.

Hi, Nikita. Thanks for joining us today. Can you tell us more about yourself and Eristica?

Hi! More about myself?
Well … I`m CEO of a p2p challenge platform Eristica. I’m a graduate of Department of Mathematical Methods of Economic Analysis at Moscow State University and Mobile Only Accelerator (MOX) which is the number 1 startup accelerator in Asia. Moreover, I`m an avid musician and I perform with my own music band.

First off, why did you decide to use the blockchain in building Eristica? What was your thought process behind it?

Blockchain opens up a wide range of possibilities. First of all, we wanted to make our platform protected from fraud. Therefore, the platform is decentralized and all challenges are taken with smart contracts. It ensures that all participants fulfill the conditions. Users shouldn`t be afraid that they will not receive their reward for the completed challenge.

Tell us about how you came up with the idea of Eristica. Did you face a problem within the industry or do you think there is a gap in the market for Eristica to fill?

It’s a cool story in fact!! In 2014 Artem Dalevich and I had a bet — whether I would learn 15 guitar solos for only a couple of weeks. The stake was a box of Scotch whiskey Chivas Regal. We posted that challenge on social networks and our followers started to comment on that and then requested a video proof of my challenge where I was playing those solos. Then we realized that it is actually a great idea to create an app where people could challenge each other and provide video proofs. That’s how Eristica project came to life.
We for sure faced a problem in the industry. But it doesn`t cancel the fact that there is a gap in the unTech market. The main part of entertainment platforms is games. We make a new mixed social product, which gets people a lot of fun and awesome emotional experience.

Editors Pick: Eristica ICO

Eristica – Global Decentralized Platform For Challenges & Viral Videos Built On Smart Contracts

Posted: December 7, 2017

Today, YouTube boasts an amazing record of having over 1.5 billion registered users on the platform. To put it in perspective, 1/5th of the world’s population has an account on YouTube and we’ve still not counted the people who do spend time on YouTube but don’t have a Google account.

0 comments

What do you think is the biggest problem Eristica will solve and why is the problem important to solve?

Good question! Many believe that it makes no sense to talk about solving major problems when it comes to entertainment projects. After all, the end goal is to entertain users, help them have fun. However, in our case, everything is a bit deeper. Almost everyone has once faced a bet or a challenge – they challenged someone to do something or either accepted someone’s challenge. Eristica formalizes this process, displays it online, makes it public and official in fact.
There are many problems besides that, like a trust issue, payment difficulties, centralization – but in the end, it all comes down to bringing fun to people who are bored and sad.

Tell us more about how challenges actually work in Eristica. For example, if I wanted to make a challenge to eat pineapples for a good cause or charity, how would the process look like from my end? Also, are there limits or restrictions to creating challenges or do have users have complete freedom in what to challenge or compete?

Starting a challenge looks exactly like making a post on Facebook or Twitter: you type in the description, chose a prize for your opponent and you’re good to go. In your case the description would look like “Eat pineapples”, the prize – ”x$ for charity” and the opponent would be a random person or a group of people. Simple as that. There are some restrictions obviously. If you use obscene language, violent texts or porn-related stuff, the challenge will be deleted automatically. Right now we’ve restricted types of challenges users can create, and narrowed it down to ~300 preloaded ones. That’s a preliminary phase which we use at that stage and will definitely enable custom challenges really soon.

The competition options in Eristica seems to be perfect for e-Sports and games where a competitive play is available. Is this an area of focus for Eristica and if it is, why would a user choose Eristica over something else like Steam or FACEIT, for instance?

Indeed Eristica is perfect for gaming! This is sort of an experiment which we made last year specifically for game developers: we’ve created an API which allows them to use challenge mechanics instantly without coding it themselves. This brings a new seamless experience for contest and challenge events in multi- and single player games. Imagine challenging your friend while you play for example Forza Horizon or Assassin’s Creed without exiting a game. Say, “run this race faster than me and get my credit points to buy a new car” or “kill the boss without using a sword and get a new exclusive outfit”. This Game API is a gateway to the 100 billion dollars game industry. The coolest thing here is that we don’t compete with Steam, FACEIT or Twitch because we use different mechanics, which is unique on the market.

An interesting detail about Eristica is that your team is planning to move to the Graphene blockchain soon if I’m not wrong? If yes, can you explain what the Graphene blockchain is to our non-technical readers and why are you moving there instead of sticking to the ERC-20 protocol like many tokens today?

Yes, we are going to move from Ethereum to the Graphene blockchain because it’s much more suitable for us technologically. Every time a user calls a smart contract he must pay a transaction fee for it. It is a fairly large amount. We don’t want to force our users to pay for what they can do for free. The Graphene protocol allows content producers to make challenges for a minimum price that is close to 0. Moreover, Graphene`s transactional delays are incommensurably low compared to Ethereum. It encouraged us to partner up with Cryptonomex the founders Stan Larimer and Michael Taggart so that they would support us from a technological point of view in this matter. We are very happy and proud that they responded and became a part our team.

Businesses, of course, play an important role in this industry. Realistically, what can businesses expect in terms of advertising results from Eristica, if there is one at all? Can a challenge be considered “viral” if it relates to advertising or to businesses?

We already had experience with advertisers in Eristica. Of course, businesses are interested in viral distribution. Challenges are a very good mechanism for this. First of all, advertisers are interested in coverage, the number of views. So the most popular type of advertising is still a banner next to the video (it is easier to calculate). We have consistently high metrics for the average time in the app and the number of watched videos per session. And this means that the effect of banner advertising is easier to predict.
At this point there are not too many advertisers which are open to this “experimental” way of a marketing. However, we expect that within the next 3 years they will understand the power of creativity and unusual marketing channels because these options usually have much higher conversion and user engagement. So our mechanics will be right there for them.

What has been your happiest moment so far working on Eristica? On the flipside, what has been the most painful, or perhaps the most regretful decision you’ve made with Eristica?

Without a doubt, our participation in the Mobile Only Accelerator (MOX) was the happiest experience. During this time we managed to work with a large number of professionals who gave us valuable advice. It allowed us to learn a lot very fast. Of course, we had sleepless nights and it all was very hard. But despite this, it was very fun and cool. All of the most painful decisions were connected with the fact that some of our ideas were not perceived by the public and they had to be removed as features. Unfortunately, not always what you think up will be interesting for the masses. At first, it was painful, I didn’t want to remove everything but the time comes and you get the understanding that this is a completely natural and normal process.

Is Eristica already working with notable businesses or firms? Are there any future partnerships in process? If yes, can you explain briefly about it?

We work very closely with SOSV from the beginning of 2017. After the accelerator, we call each other every week to agree on plans and form a strategy. Also, we are beginning to work with BitShares. One of our first common tasks will be the implementation of the Graphene framework to Eristica.

Tell us more about ERT. What is its function in the platform and what can token-holders expect from it in the future?

Eristica utility tokens ERT will enable users to participate in challenges even with celebrities, get rewards for winning challenges and successful predictions. And also get access to platform services. Estimates and predictions of Eristica are based on Metcalfe’s law, which states that: “The utility of the network is proportional to the square of the number of users of this network ≈n2.”

1.2 million users of the platform will add value to Eristica tokens. Moreover, the constant exponential growth which has already been seen plus the pre-installs of the application on new smartphones will certainly contribute to the further growth of the user base and, consequently, the increase in the value of the token.

But as I said earlier, we will move away from Ethereum to a more suitable Graphene-based network. All details will be published later on our blog.

What do you think is the biggest challenge or obstacle Eristica will face? How do you plan to tackle that challenge?

All fast-growing content services sooner or later face the same challenge – the regulation of user-generated content. And we have already started to face this. With the growth of our user base, there is inevitably more and more obscene content and spam, which must be banned and isolated from users. We will solve this problem the same way as Facebook does – with automated and manual moderation. New AI and machine-learning technologies allow us to do this more efficiently every year.

Moving on to more personal stuff, what does a typical day in your life look like?

In this industry, things are changing really fast and you have to adjust, so I wouldn’t say that there’s a strict schedule: calls and spontaneous meetings happen all the time.
But if there’s no rush and we’re talking daily routine, I’d describe it like this:
I wake up around 8 am, spend an hour or two replying to messages and emails. Then I exercise, have breakfast and go to the office. If I do not need to go to any meetings and make calls, I work on the computer. I spend quite a lot of time talking to people as well. Of course, I do not do this alone, my team is always with me.In the morning we talk to partners in the Asian market, in the evening there is an opportunity to talk with American partners including Stan and Michael and guys from Product Hunt. I manage to eat twice a day, and if I eat a third time, it happens very late.

Can you express one personal opinion of yours about the blockchain? It doesn’t matter if it’s negative or positive, we just want to hear your thoughts on it.

Blockchain as a technology has an almost unlimited number of application ways, which, as practice shows, are capable of changing the rules and principles on various markets.
From my perspective, blockchain is able to bring up a new round of evolvement, which is going to be built around two major shifts: using data transparency and publicity for simplifying business operations and user experience + new ways of monetization for companies.
For example, in the content space, the distributed ledger can solve problems of authorship and ownership rights – content makers can always be sure that each member of the network complies with initial copyrights. Also, there’s a window of opportunity for incentivizing users for content generation using tokens or cryptocurrency.

Or blockchain in dating – the open ledger may allow users to create their own “dating pools”, earn public rating points and go through transparent identification processes (e.g., using Civic or Identifi). Instead of traditional ads or in-app features, one can earn cryptocurrency with matchmaking: useful recommendations of the soulmate will keep you rich and morally satisfied.

Using blockchain in Eristica challenges helps to solve the problem of trust, fair prize transfers and the absence of video editing (e.g. using a technology which allows to verify it via file’s hash). Content makers and other members of the network can earn cryptocurrency with their own talents by winning challenges and observes – by participating in decentralized votings and other in-app features.

Finally, what other personal goals (besides your career) do you have in life? Is there anything else in life you want to achieve?

I’m a musician and from time to time I play with my rock band in clubs or bars. At this moment we play only covers, but my dream is to release an excellent rock album with my band and go on tour.

That concludes our Interview with Nikita Akimov

We’ll be scheduling even more exclusive interviews like this in the coming weeks to delve into the minds of what makes a blockchain startup tick as well asking the questions you want to know the most.
To make sure you don’t miss out on our exclusive interviews, go ahead and sign-up to our mailing list and subscribe to our social media channels.
Get in touch to let us know who you want us to interview as well as the questions you want us to ask. You’ll get notifications on the latest exclusive articles as soon as they appear on our website – we won’t and will never spam you.

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“Through the new scheduling, we have for the first time obtained the support of the global bicycle industry to participate in Eurobike at an early stage.

We are looking forward to a full exhibition hall with groundbreaking bike themes,” explains Messe Friedrichshafen CEO Klaus Wellmann. With a new Eurobike concept, the organizers of the leading industrial exhibition are responding to the great dynamics of the global bicycle industry and for the first time are holding the 27th Eurobike at an earlier stage of July 8 to 10 2018, and with a purely specialized direction.

“We are giving the original function of Eurobike back to the manufacturers and importers: namely the first publication of the new collection and the associated exchange with trading partners for seasonal planning,” Klaus Wellmann describes the core aim of the event. The commitment of manufacturers to a new alignment is huge and the organizers of the trade fair are expecting around 1,350 exhibitors from all over the world. Eurobike Divisional Head Stefan Reisinger says, “the dynamics with which the bicycle industry is changing are immense. We are pleased with the reception and the solidarity and have never had such a demand for space at this early time as for the coming trade fair. In particular, the number of participating companies from abroad and the strong growth in the e-mobility, drives, components and mobility solutions sectors are the market’s driving forces. All the relevant market players have made firm bookings. We can also report a full assembly in the areas of accessories, parts and clothing.”

In spite of the generally strong booking situation, the strong changes in the bike market also leave their traces on Eurobike too, of course. “The highly sportive sector without the ‘E’ is losing its relevance thanks to the motorized bike, and these market shifts are reflected by our exhibitors. On the other hand, we have in total around 200 potential new customers, returnees and lateral entrants from other industries for the upcoming trade fair and here we can draw from the full range,” says Stefan Reislinger.

The fact that the change from 2017 to the early stage of July 2018 presents a challenge to many companies with an interval of ten months between the events is perfectly comprehensible. “In perspective, we regard ourselves as very well equipped after this ‘year of change’ 2018 with the positioning as a trade fair for trends, novelties, and information.” The 27th Eurobike is open from Sunday, July 8 until Tuesday July 10, from 9 .am. until 6 p.m., and access is only given to specialist visitors and accredited journalists.

Ahead of this, the Eurobike Media Days will be held in the Tyrol vacation destination Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis from July 4 to July 6. The day before the trade fair, Saturday July 7, a top-level presentation and conference program is offered, as well as the opportunity for OEM manufacturers to hold closed-door meetings. Further information is available at: www.eurobike-show.com

The post Eurobike 2018: Unique display window for bike mobility of the future appeared first on ChipIn.

Top 10 Most Intuitive GPS Trackers For Kids in 2017. Keep your kid safe.
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It gets hectic when you have to work, run errands and watch after the kids as well. Well, not to worry anymore, with child GPS trackers, you can always know where your child has been and in some instances, know where they are going. Some trackers use Bluetooth to connect over short distances, say in a supermarket while others are long range and can cover more ground. What’s even better is, with GPS tracking, you can pinpoint the exact position where your child is.

1. FiLIP 2

Now, this is what you go for if you are looking for more than a GPS tracker for your child. The FiLIP 2 is a GPS tracker for kids, cell phone, and a wrist watch. Three functions in one tracker with a modern design. Moreover, it is light and water resistant. This feature is good news for almost all parents as; children are playful and coming into contact with water, dirty or clean are nearly a norm for them. In addition to being light, this device was modified earlier in 2015 to ensure it is comfortable on a small wrist.

The FiLIP is a wearable phone and locator for kids, designed with parents in mind

The FiLIP 2 has a kid-friendly band that can be adjusted with spacers. This band can be worn open or closed; the purpose of the spacers on the band is to give room as your child grows so that you do not have to budget for another GPS tracker as your child gets older. With this in mind, the company went ahead and made it more durable. The FiLIP 2 is the first child GPS tracker of its kind to have a two-way text messaging feature. You can send texts or alerts like, dinner is ready, to your kid without having to look for them.

It comes in four kid-approved colors so your child can choose from a variety of colors. However, you can only store and contact five numbers with this device. Then again, why would a child need more than five numbers for? The FiLIP 2 goes for $149.99 plus a monthly $10 fee for phone service.

2. The Tinitell Watch

When buying a GPS tracker for your child, it is important to enquire if the tracker allows communication. The reason for this is, sometimes your child may be out of range or wander off to a very crowded place where you can see them but cannot get to them. Also, they can be in school, or you can be at work, and since some schools do not allow cell phones, this is the easiest way to check on your kid during the day. The Tinitell Watch was made with communication in mind. Nonetheless, it still performs as a tracker and obviously, as a watch.

Tinitell GPS Watch comes in various colours

This device has a module that enables parents to GPS track their child’s location in real-time. Most kids may not be quite familiar with using technological gadgets; well unless they play games or do something a child would consider fun. With this notion in mind, the Tinitell manufacturers enabled voice commands on the device to make using it easy. It would be a big mistake to trust a kid with a touchscreen device when they are not familiar with how it works or are very playful. With Tinitell, all your child has to do is issue voice commands such as, call mom, the device then springs into action.

Easily give permission who can view and interact with your loved one

The device has one button on the front that turns it on and off and two other buttons to adjust the audio levels/volume. The Tinitell GPS watch for kids has arguably the best battery life a GPS tracker can have; it lasts for 60 minutes while talking and seven days on standby. It is also water and dust resistant, this eliminates the worry of your child ruining it while playing or by spilling drinks on it. This smart watch/GPS tracker goes for $150; it has gained a reputation for the simplest GPS child tracker on the market.

3. My Buddy Tag

My Buddy Tag is the ultimate pocket-friendly child GPS tracker for your kid. It is safe to have a backup safety plan concerning your finances and buying such a tracker can help with that. The reason most parents do not go for GPS trackers is because they are expensive, and it is not very wise to entrust a child with an expensive technological gadget. Besides spoiling it, there is also the risk of someone stealing it from your child. This device provides the real-time location of your child’s whereabouts as one of its features.

My Buddy Tag is the only device on the market that sends alerts to you in case your child accidentally drowns. The device sends a signal if it is submerged in water for five consecutive seconds. It may turn out that your child is just playing with water, and it is his hand only that is submerged, but it would not hurt to have this tracker just for this feature. There are multiple cases of kids accidentally drowning but with My Buddy Tag you do not have to worry about that as a parent, or you can, at least, get there on time.

My Buddy Tag has two different wristbands, a terry cloth or Velcro wristband for regular use and a disposable silicone wristband for field trips. Moreover, if you have several children, you can track them simultaneously and identify each tag by name. It also has a place where you can write contact information. However, this device only covers a range of 80-120 feet while outdoors and 40 feet while indoors. My Buddy Tag goes for $38.

4. SAFE Kids Paxie Band

Kids will always love fancy looking things. The SAFE Kids Paxie Band is colorful and elegant looking. No child will see this tracker and not want it. Some will be oblivious of its functions but it doesn’t matter, it looks good, and every child will want to have it as theirs. The company changes the tracker’s design to suit the ever changing children fashion industry. What would be better than a device that your child loves and it can help you locate where they are in real time and looks good on their wrist?

The SAFE Kids Paxie Band GPS tracker for kids has excellent GPS connectivity, which not only helps a parent track their child, but also set boundaries of where the kids should be. The good thing about this tracker is you can know when your child goes beyond the areas you have designated. This device has a feature that helps you input boundaries of where your child should not go past. Moreover, it also records ambient temperature using sensors installed in the wristband. This feature can help you prevent your child from getting a heat stroke.

The SAFE Kids Paxie Band also has inbuilt sensors on the wristband that monitor your child’s heart rate. It also has activity tracking sensors that help you keep track of how active your child has been. This device goes for $ 175 plus monthly fees.

5. PocketFinder

It would be safe to assume that children do not understand the meaning of delicate until later on in their lives. Children often break valuable things out of their unquenchable inquisitive nature or just for the sake of breaking stuff. However, you have no reason to worry about your child breaking the PocketFinder tracker. In fact, you do not have to worry about anyone spoiling this bad boy. The PocketFinder can withstand going through the washer and the dryer. How you ask, well, it is made from the same plastic material that makes riot shields.

If you have a wild child, this is the device for you. You can set your child’s speed limit using this device. It is equipped with an accelerometer that will alert you the instance your child goes past a pre-set speed limit. On one hand, this tracking device can help you know when your child is running from something or someone. On the other hand, in the event of a kidnapping, you would know first. The PocketFinder uses tap alert, a feature that helps the child send SOS messages to the numbers connected to it. It works by tapping it three times on a hard surface.

Your child does not even need to wear this device on their wrist; it can also function properly from a backpack or the child’s pocket, pinpointing your child’s location via GPS. Considering the kind of damage this device can withstand, you do not need to worry about having spent your money on an expensive tracking device only for it to be broken by your child. The PocketFinder goes for $130 and a monthly fee of $10.

6. The hereO

The irony that comes with the hereO is that it is very colorful yet has an insipid aura around it. At a glance, this device looks like a simple watch with a digital clock interface. However, its GPS tracking system can run for up to 72 hours. You know what they say; simplicity is the best form of complexity. The hereO kids GPS tracker comes in several kid-friendly styles. Its design makes it look like a simple kid’s accessory, but its features prove that it is more than just that. It is hard to think it is a tracking device so predators won’t pay much attention to it in case something bad happens.

The tracker activates a tamper alert in case anybody removes the watch from the child’s hand; the alert pings the last known GPS info making tracking easier. Even if it is the child who removes it, the signal still goes through. It is a little disappointing to know that this GPS tracker for kids does not support calls, but it makes up for that by sending location data to pre-programmed family members. This is made possible by its panic alert feature that comes in handy in case of an emergency.

The hereO goes for $149. Moreover, it comes with a charging dock and three months of free service before a monthly fee of $4.95 every month for maintenance.

7. Caref GPS Phone Watch

This tracking device is among many other tracking devices made by Precise Innovation for kids. The Caref GPS Phone Watch has a sleeker look that would go best with children aged above seven years. Its display is easy to read, and the tracker itself is easy to use. It has a call option that allows kids to call their parents directly from the watch. Most GPS enabled child trackers only send alerts to the parent in the event of an emergency or when the parent needs to know where their child is, well, apart from the Caref GPS Phone Watch.

It has an additional feature that sends your child’s GPS location in real-time every ten minutes through the mobile app. With this tracker, parents can set geofence boundaries, and it will automatically send alerts to them the instance their child leaves them. In the case of trouble, the watch has an SOS button that immediately calls for help while relaying the child’s GPS location at the same time. Moreover, if the first number that is pre-programmed into the device does not go through, it systematically calls the other numbers until contact is established

This feature means you do not have to worry if your phone battery dies as anybody on the list can be reached in case of an emergency. The device calls all the numbers until the end of the list. The Caref GPS Phone Watch goes for $67.

8. Trax

Just like some of the tracking devices discussed above, Trax is not worn on the wrist; rather it is a portable box-shaped device that can be carried in your child’s pocket or backpack. It snaps into a clip that can be attached to your child’s belt as well. Most parents would prefer this device for kids who have a tendency of taking the wristband type of trackers off. Moreover, the fact that it is not visible to other people makes it a precious commodity for a child to have.

Trax provides geofencing, just like some devices discussed above as well as speed alerts, location updates, and scheduling. While most GPS trackers for kids provide you with the location of your child, Trax does that and a little more. It provides your child’s location within your vision field through your phone’s built-in camera. Besides, it also provides the distance between you and your child so you can decide the best route to take to get there fastest. This augmented reality feature makes it stand out from most child GPS trackers.

However, unlike most GPS enabled child tracking devices, Trax does not support calls or texts. Additionally, its price is hefty too with one device going for $249. While most trackers offer two or three months of free use, Trax offers two years. After that, there is a monthly charge of $5.

9. Lineable

Lineable is arguably the cheapest tracking device on the market. For just $ 5, you can have this Bluetooth-powered location device.

Lineable lasts for approximately one year and requires no charging. This child tracking device is ideal for instances when you have your child close to you, but you are in a crowded place, say the park, playground or the mall. Lineable has a kid-friendly design that helps it disguise its real function. Most child abduction cases happen in parks and playgrounds; it is wise to have a location device that can tell you where your child is despite being able to see them because a person may distract you, but you can still get to your child before the confusion created by the busy park or mall makes you lose sight of your child.

Lineable makes the world a parent for every kid through a feature called Crowdsource GPS. It uses this as its working system to help people with the Lineable Application track any Lineable device within their range. This feature comes in handy for those instances where you lose your phone, or its battery dies. The Lineable App makes the world a safer place for kids through this feature that allows active engagement of the public. Additionally, this device is waterproof and is coated with silicon, which makes it durable and comfortable for your kid to wear. It also has a long battery life that acts as a massive selling point.

However, you can guess that it has a somewhat limited tracking range because it uses Bluetooth and only uses GPS when you cannot access Bluetooth or need to access Crowdsource GPS; it tracks your child within 65-98 feet, depending on the environment.

10. Amber Alert GPS Locater

This tracking device for kids is the closest thing to a mobile phone a child will have. Most trackers do have the voice call option, but very few have embedded sim cards. Just like the name suggests, this device is currently among the best GPS trackers for kids. Normally, a kid has no idea who the strangers they meet are. A person may be a thief but to a child, he or she is just another stranger, and as long as you can get on with the child properly, you can distract him or her to your real agenda.

Now imagine a tracker that can notify you if your child is close to a registered sex offender. I am not kidding you; the Amber Alert GPS Locator is the only device on the market that sends notifications to parents or guardians when your child is within 500 feet of a registered sex offender, how amazing. I mean, with all these cases of child defilement I know I will not be surprised if parents decided to ask the government to provide their children with these trackers. However, you do not need to wait for the government to get this tracking device; you can get it for only $129.

Did I mention you can make calls using this device? Well, in addition to the price you pay to acquire the device, you can pay $ 15 per month to get 150 texts alerts or $ 18 per month for 300 texts. In addition to texting and calling, the Amber Alert GPS Locator supports alerting via voice and e-mail as well.

A short Relevant Q & A Session

. Conclusion

The post Top 10 Most Intuitive GPS Trackers For Kids 2017 appeared first on ChipIn.

These innovations in technology are now embedded in the consumer, public and industrial sectors.

What would feel better for you? A security guard or knowing you can see anything that happens in your house and you can control it from your Smartphone?

33 of the Best Internet of Things Gamechangers 2017 to Look out For
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Individual smart devices equipped with cloud security cameras and Wi-Fi thermostats are surpassing consolidated home automation systems that only perform basic monitoring thereby enabling you to control every smart device in your home from a single console.

Amazing isn’t it? Below are 33 of the most intuitive, well-thought-out IoT products that are causing waves in the tech industry.

Internet of Things Gamechangers 2016

1. Ring Video Doorbell

After the introduction of doorbells, it took quite a while before surveillance followed and you could see who is ringing your doorbell before you open it.

However, this process required you to walk to wherever the monitor and the button to open the door are located. With Ring Video Doorbell, you will be able to open your door from anywhere through your Smartphone.

It has an HD camera equipped with night vision enabling you to have a clear sight of your front door whether day or night.

Additionally, it has motion sensors that alert you of an approaching target even before they get to the doorbell.

With this technology, you can track anyone that goes into your house or open the door for someone without moving an inch.

2. ConnectSense Wireless Sensors

ConnectSense has enabled the creation of robust sensors that can help you monitor different aspects of your environment.

These sensors help you watch over your home, business and any other location important to you.

The sensors are battery powered and Wi-Fi-based with secure cloud-based communications that notify you the instant something in your location requires your attention.

Picture this, you had a long night and woke up late for work, the plumber did not come to fix your water and in your rush to leave for work, you leave the tap open.

ConnectSense is set up to text, tweet, call or email you. So you leave home and head for work, the instance water starts running you will receive a call or a text depending on how you set up your instructions.

A text like, ‘Hello Dave, water has been detected in your basement’ will help you figure out how to combat the leak before it is too late.

3. Lapka Pem

Imagine having the ability to collect measure and analyse hidden qualities in your surroundings.

Always knowing the humidity, temperature, altitude (in case you’re flying) and toxic gases just to mention a few.

Lapka Pem enables all that; the smart personal environment monitor is a product to look out for in 2016.

With globalization and industrialization still on the rise, this item will come in handy as you traverse different countries or continents and get to know of the changes in the environment as they happen, thank me later. Recently acquired by AirBnB, we expect more good things to come.

4. GlowCap

Imagine you are at work or busy running errands and have this dosage to clear that has strict regulations concerning time for full and proper recovery.

Missing a dose is not good for you, what’s worse, you cannot change the time of medication or change the dosage and take more tablets to counter missing a previous dose.

The GlowCap adherence tool uses escalating sounds, daily lights and interactive reminders to remind you to take your medication on time.

A mobile app on your phone can also help you research on all you need to know about the medicine you are taking as well as refill and manage prescriptions anywhere, anytime with the patient portal.

Say hello to the future of pharmacy.

5. Kiwi Ki

Some smart locks have emerged in recent years but none of them is as ideal for an apartment building like the Kiwi Ki wireless entry system.

The reason it is so appealing is because it is very light and requires just proximity as opposed to contact.

A high level of encryption ensures no hacking can happen and can allow time-based access enabling you to give or deny access to your home from anywhere.

This product is ideal for apartments that require people such as genitors and mail carriers to get in and out at will.

You will surely love this product as it not only improves apartment security but is keeping up with technological advancements about locking systems around the world.

6. C2C or Car To Car Communication Technology

Just when you thought it could not get any better after cars could read your mood and drive you home, now they can talk to each other as well.

Don’t get too imaginative, I am not speaking in the sense of actual communication but relaying important messages while on the road.

This product will reduce accident rates exponentially, as soon as these smart cars hit the streets.

What awaits this venture becoming a reality is a law yet to be passed to ensure all new cars are fitted with this new technology.

With C2C, cars will be able to communicate with each other so as to establish proximity hence aiding in preventing collisions.

There are vehicles out there that have proximity sensors but that will only work for those models of cars.

However, if all cars are fitted with this technology, driving will be safer for everyone no matter what type of automobile they are driving.

7. Drift TV

There is one form of entertainment that most people cannot get enough of, the T.V.

Even with the emergence of large-sized tablets and laptops with the best resolutions, the T.V just keeps getting better and better.

There is a hazard that all medical and eye health professionals always stress out, blue light emission from your television.

This light affects not only your sleep and quality but mood as well. Come to think of it that explains a lot.

However, Drift TV, a product from Saffron enables you to reduce the blue light emitted from your television.

You can connect it via your TV’s HDMI port or another specified connector and enjoy better sleep and uninterrupted productivity.

8. Energy Aware Technology Neurio

In recent times, there are a whole lot of electrical appliances that have made way into our homes that aid both entertainment and work related activities.

With these devices becoming cheaper by the day, you never really know how many electrical appliances you have until you see your electricity consumption by the end of the month.

However, with Neurio, you can monitor each electrical device in your home and know the exact amount of power they use at any given period.

I feel this is one thing every man should have in their house. A Wi-Fi enabled sensor is implanted into your electrical panel by Neurio and identifies every electrical appliance by their power signatures. Pretty amazing isn’t it?

What sounds better than an application that can tell you the actual amount of electricity every electronic device in your home consumes accurately?

Like I said earlier, all men should have this one.

9. Crock-Pot Smart Slow Cooker

Now this one will get the ladies excited. Imagine you are late to cook dinner, you have prepared everything and your favorite show on television starts.

Alternatively, you can have some guests who require your attention but cannot join you in the kitchen and shouting is the only option left right?

Well, not when you have the Crock-Pot Smart Cooker. The cooker has inbuilt functions that enable you to cook directly from your Smartphone.

As long as the cooker and your phone are connected to the Internet via3G, 4G or Wi-Fi signals, you can turn the cooker on and change the temperature setting directly from your phone.

10. Brain Organoids

I am sure you can name some brain-related diseases that affect people and have no cure yet. These few include; Bipolar disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, and dementia.

Most persons with these diseases painfully await their demise while watching their families struggle with hospital bills and medication that only slows down the inevitable with no actual cure.

Well, not anymore, science has found a way to induce brain cells and they start working immediately.

Brain Organoids analyze aid in re-growing of brain cells as well as supported by technology that scans and analyses brain cells.

This is an important scientific breakthrough; let us hope it gets integrated into the healthcare system as fast as possible so that we can conquer some of these incurable diseases.

11. AdhereTech Smart Bottles

Earlier on, we discussed GlowCap, the meditation reminder. There is a better solution to taking medication on time rolled out by AdhereTech that makes automated phone calls to caregivers and listed patients if they miss their dose in real time.

The bottles are equipped with chimes and lights as well as wireless tracking so you can track your medication in case you misplace it.

If you have a tendency of forgetting to take your medicine, which almost everyone has, this product is the best you will have, in 2016 at least.

12. Zipato Smart Home Control

Up until now, most people have pictures of their homes in their minds or mobile phones. In the case of an emergency, you have to wait until someone notifies you.

Moreover, when you miss your home, you have to wait until you get there. Zipato Smart Home Control takes care of all that by not only aiding in security but enabling you to access any part of your compound wherever you are.

It is equipped with motion detection, energy metering, lights, fire, burglary, access control and vehicle detection just to mention a few.

13. Adrenaline dress

The fashion industry is buzzing with this technology from Intel designed to ape the fight-or-flight response of animals.

The adrenaline dress has a 3D-printed carbon fibre design shaped like butterfly wings on its back.

These wings contract and expand depending on the wearers’ body temperature, adrenaline and stress level.

How about that? A guardian angel aura embedded in a dress.

14. Sphero

Every child’s life revolves around playing, learning, eating and sleeping.

Truthfully, parents spend a lot of money on toys and learning aid just to keep their children occupied.

Imagine a small ball that can play all those roles by itself, that ball is Sphero. This robotic ball from Orbotix features speed, spinning as well as color control.

It is controlled from your tablet or Smartphone and can be used as a pet, toy or learning aid.

15. OpenEnergyMonitor

Developed by Megni, the OpenEnergyMonitor is the office version of Neurio. This monitoring system enables you to not only track your energy use in the office but turn appliances on or off as well.

However, it is only compatible with Raspberry Pi and Arduino.

16. Internet Beaming Drones

I can bet you have been stuck in a place where there is no network coverage; you cannot make calls, send texts or connect to the Internet.

I relate to the feeling, a dead battery sounds far much better.

Well, Mark Zuckerberg will not stop in his quest to make sure everybody in the world is connected to Facebook, his plan to beam Internet connection to marginalized/unconnected village attests to it.

The Internet connection is beamed via laser by flying drones. You have to admit this is a pretty ingenious idea, more to follow in the course of the year.

17. SmartyPan

Have you ever tried out a new recipe and the food was the opposite of what you expected?

I know I have, the reasons behind the failed cooking operation are either overheating, improper mixing of the ingredients and time taken to cook the meal.

Worry no more, SmartyPan, the first ever pan to use Bluetooth gets rid of all these errors with its cutting edge technology.

SmartyPan helps you cook with the precise amount of ingredients while maintaining the exact duration and temperatures required to cook the meal.

Pancakes will now be real easy to make even for an amateur with SmartyPan.

18. Lucis Wireless Lamp

There are those moments in your life when you need an ambiance that reflects your mood to feel fully alive.

Such as a date, this would require the perfect color coordination to elicit a romantic atmosphere.

The Lucis Wireless Lamp is the ideal item to have in case it is a home date or you are meeting in a place where the lighting is just plain.

All you need to do it touch it to switch between its different colors until you find the one that matches your mood.

What’s even better, it is portable meaning you do not need to look up the best lit places on the Internet where you are, you can be your lighting coordinator.

19. August Smart Lock

Home lock systems have evolved from wooden planks to bolts to key and lock systems and lately smart locks.

However, nothing is as close to perfection as the August Smart Lock.

Operating primarily via Bluetooth, this system ensures that even in the event of little to no Internet connection or power shortage, you can still access your home.

Some smart locks have keys as alternatives but this one is totally keyless, additionally, you can cancel or extend digital keys whenever you need to.

The August Smart Lock also keeps track of your movement and will notify you instantly if someone else tries to access it.

20. Digitsole SmartShoe

From intelligent dresses, now we have intelligent footwear as well. The huddle about shoes is that you have to bend down and adjust your shoe laces every time.

Digitsole has combated that problem by coming up with a shoe that can not only automatically tighten itself around your foot but lace itself and warm your feet up to 100 degrees.

Admittedly, 100 degrees would be too much heat to have on your feet but it is good to at least know it can warm your feet right?

The sensors embedded in the shoe are controlled by a companion app that aids all those functions.

Personally, I will get this one just for the automatic fastening system.

21. Koubachi Plant Sensor

There is a good feeling that comes with having plants in the house or the home garden.

Whether it is flowers or groceries, it becomes quite upsetting when one day they look healthy and the next are dying and you can’t help it.

The Koubachi plant sensor works by placing it on the soil surface next to the plant then feeding it information about the plant via Wi-Fi.

The sensor then regularly gives information on soil moisture, temperature, and sunlight.

It also sends notifications reminding you to water the plant, weed it, move it or fertilize it.

22. Fogo

This product is specially designed for bikers, hikers or explorers.

To go for any of these, you will need a variety of items such as a flashlight, GPS, communication (walkie talkie) and maybe a charger for your phone just to mention a few.

Fogo has all these features plus an army knife and the ability to send an emergency beacon in case you are stranded.

The future of hiking will never be the same again with this product.

23. FishBit

Most people who have aquariums in their home experience the ultimate sense of bliss just by looking at the fish swim as the plants sway and the water bubbles.

However, maintaining that ecosystem is arguably the biggest challenge every fish tank owner has.

FishBit enables you to measure salinity, temperature and PH levels of the water as well as control all your other aquarium related electronics.

Aquariums will be revolutionized by FishBit in this year as most people will be able to keep track of their source of joy at home wherever they are and make necessary changes in real time.

24. BeClose/Alarm.com Wellness

Old age is a factor that every human being gets to handle.

How fast time flies, one day you are a toddler sucking your mother’s nipple the next you are an elderly person in need of the same care you got as a toddler.

To most seniors, it is apparent that you need that care, what sometimes proves hard is seeing your children juggle work and their daily routines to tend to you.

For a caregiver as well or a family member to an elderly person in need of constant care, this juggling can sometimes prove cumbersome.

Wellness will alert the enlisted family members to sleeplessness or changes in sleep patterns, erratic or unusual habits, wandering, sedentary lifestyles and night-time falls just to mention a few.

25. Momit Thermostats

When thermostats were introduced to replace older forms of temperature regulation, it was considered a landmark achievement.

However, almost all of them were manual and broke down quickly. Momit thermostats are the digitalized version of thermostats.

They use Wi-Fi so you can control the temperature levels in your house directly from your phone.

This one item is worth getting in 2016, choose from 6 different designs and be in control of your environment from your phone.

26. ORVIBO Wi-Fi Remote Control

Thank the heavens for this device.

We have all faced that moment when your favorite show is about to come up but you cannot find your remote, or you need to access a remote-controlled appliance in your home but cannot find its remote.

ORVIBO remote control to the rescue, this product links all your remote controlled devices to your iPhone so you don’t waste time looking for the remote.

Every man would love to have the ORVIBO Wi-Fi remote control in their home.

27. ORVIBO Wi-Fi Smart Socket

After finishing up using an electronic device, it is advisable to not only switch it off but turn off the socket too.

Imagine a socket that can turn off all your electronics remotely, you do not need to find the remotes or do so manually.

The smart socket has an app for Android and iOS that enable you to control any electronic device in your home from your phone or tablet.

This socket reduces time wasted plugging devices in and out of sockets as well as switching them on and off.

28. Webee

We have reviewed products that control various aspects of your home, now imagine one that can control all devices in your home from the comfort of your phone.

Such an item is Webee; all you have to do is connect as many devices as you wish, from lamps, surveillance cameras, doorbells, sockets, and thermostats.

With Webee, you will be able to control every device in your home remotely from your phone.

29. It Bed

Now this is interesting, a bed that gathers sleeping data such as heart rate, sleep status, movements and breathing has been unveiled.

Debuted by Sleep Number, the bed can also be connected to other devices such as the thermostat so as to alter temperature levels so as to suit sleeping patterns.

You can know how you sleep with this bed as it records all the data at an impressive a hundred times per second.

The bed comes in six sizes allowing you to not only track your sleep but that of your children as well.

30. Eight Sleep Smart Mattress

The It Bed may cover your sleeping patterns but the eight sleep smart mattress will cover your sleep.

Aside from monitoring your sleep, it acts as an electronic blanket that adjusts temperature between the sheets for better sleep.

Moreover, you can sync it to your Smartphone to ensure you are safe in your sleep.

It regulates the house temperature, locks windows, and doors and can make coffee for you in the morning if your smart coffee make is synched to it.

31. Mimo

Let’s take a short break with this quick riddle: Apart from a running stomach, what else has can keep you floating in between sleep and spontaneously waking up?

That’s right, a baby.

Now imagine it’s not even at night, it is a hot afternoon, you have been through with all your household chores and just want to sit on the porch or balcony and sip some cold juice.

The baby is asleep upstairs and it may be a while before you hear it cry. Moreover, you have to check on it to make sure it is sleeping in the correct position.

Additionally, discomforts such as a rise in temperature can disrupt the baby’s sleep and cut short your relaxing time as well.

Mimo is one IoT that uses sensor technology to inform you of your baby’s activity level, breathing, sleeping temperature as well as body position.

Additionally, it can tell you if your baby is asleep and send nightly reports of your child as they sleep to you and your caregiver.

With Mimo, you can do more around the house with an eye on your Smartphone, which in return is tracking your child’s every move.

32. Wireless Scale

When it comes to health issues, most are used to consulting their doctor for everything. However, there are some things you can manage such as monitoring your weight and blood pressure using the smart wireless scale.

The app linked to the weighing scale keeps data taken over time enabling you to keep track of your weight as well as set fitness goals.

33. Spiroscout

It is said that prevention is the best cure, but then again when it comes to diseases steered by the environment, it is hard to prevent them and such is the case with Asthma patients.

All you have to do is attach this small device to your inhaler and every time you use it in the event of an impending attack or when it happens, the information is uploaded to Asthmapolis servers.

The data collected enables you and your doctor to know exactly where and when you experience asthma attacks. Additionally, it can send a text alert to your phone to remind you in case you forget it.

Internet of Things Q & A

. Conclusion

The post 33 of the Best Internet of Things Gamechangers 2017 to Look out For appeared first on ChipIn.

If that word “implantable” jolts the membranes out of your cells, there are also wireless, software based, and wearable medical devices changing the health scene from this year going forward. In fact, there is quite a bunch out there. And it is only wise to cut right through the teasers and learn about the most promising, 20 smart medical devices that are changing healthcare in 2017 and beyond.

We saw some of those on the run up to, during, and, now, after CES 2016. Below are some of the best-connected health technologies leading the way. These carry the most potential for helping care for more people and at lower cost—hopefully.

20 Smart Health Products for Healthcare that Could Improve your Health Now

We start with the most obvious one—or, at least, the most doable, least weird one.

1. GingerIO

There is no doubt that life in the 21st century has become more stressful than the last three centuries combined. GingerIO is the company seeking to help you take control of depression and anxiety right from your pocket.

To help with this, get one of GingerIO’s mobile apps and experience the power of mobile healthcare apps.

GingerIO App Screenshots

How you communicate tells a lot about your mental health. According to GingerIO, their apps for portables such as tablets, smartphones, and laptops leverage on the company’s database of over 1.6 billion data points and screening results of over 500,000 patients to determine your stress levels. This information is then analyzed by the technology and promptly sent to a caregiver, guardian or the actual patient to help with finding personalized mental care.

2. Helium Digital Pills by Proteus Discover

How Proteus Discover works is a sci-fi kind of explanation. We’ll try to explain.

The concept is not merely about one medical device but that of an entire smart system leveraging the connectivity power of your smartphone, tablet, and computer to relay the important bits of alerts, warnings and reminders to care for yourself.

It all starts with patients swallowing the digital pills. The tablets contain ingestible sensors. Upon swallowing, the sensors relay, among others, the time of swallowing, heart rate, body temperature, rest and activity rates as well as basal metabolic rate. The information collected is then wirelessly (but of course) transmitted to the accompanying wearable patch that comes with the Proteus Discover diagnostics package. From there, that medical data is transferred to the mobile device of the relevant patient, guardian, nurse or doctor for determining best health practices.

3. Maxio—the Med Robot

Perfint Healthcare is already a well-known industry player. The company’s newest smart medical device is Maxio, a robot designed to assist human doctors within the image-guided interventional procedures. These include fine needle aspiring, ablation and biopsy.

Maxio brings all the planning, execution and validation of ablation procedures in a single system—and in crisp, clean 3D.

4. Robio

Still sticking with Perfint Healthcare, their other Robo-med, Robio, is different from Maxio.

Robio is meant to be more into targeting cancerous and non-cancerous tumors and in tool placing. What that means is that the robot can help clinicians determine a patient has an abnormal lump in the body, and if this has been posted for biopsy. Also, Robio EX can check patient pain, procedure times and radiation exposure.

Both technologies are already being spread to aid in the ferocious fight against cancer. It is official; robots join humans to combat cancer.

5. LiftWare

There is a smart way to help pick up, eat and spill less food in case you experience hand tremors.

LiftWare by Lift Labs claims to stabilize a utensil you are using by up to 70% compared to your hand. The gadget itself consists of a stabilizing handle and your preferred utensil—and automatically turns on immediately both are connected. To turn it off, just place it with the face of the utensil facing down.

Liftware Smart Health Device

The utensil could be a soup spoon, everyday spoon or fork. Each of the three comes with a $34.95 price tag, with the starter kit (one everyday spoon and stabilizing handle) selling for $195. For that much, you also get a battery charger and pouch to carry LiftWare anywhere you like eat.

6. Gene-Radar

What if diagnosing infectious diseases was as fast as checking mail on a high-speed WI-FI connection? Well, maybe not that fast but you get the idea.

This smart medical device the size of an iPad determines a disease almost instantaneously. Developed by Nanobyosym, the device accomplishes this by leveraging on its accompanying mobile apps to “read” and “identify” a particular disease’s tell-tale signs or biomarkers.

Currently, CASIS, the nonprofit arm of space organization, NASA, has selected the health care product for further verification aboard the International Space Station (ISS) some 250 miles up above the Earth. But the health tech will not stay there forever, and healthcare professionals applaud the fact that this is the ultimate, handheld kit to test for infectious diseases such as Ebola, Malaria and HIV remotely, within a short span of time, and to corner further spreads as soon as they are detected.

Check out Gene-Radar here

It needs no running water, trained staff, or electricity to orchestrate its genius.

7. Smart Test Tube

Smart Medical Technologies’ development is a tube for blood collection that integrates an embedded RFID chip for both identifying and storing the information of blood put in them.

The chip ensures doctors no longer need that tiring paperwork to label specimens. Instead, the information they require is accurately and securely saved under the intelligent test tube on the tiny chip’s memory using USB connection with the feeding computer.

The data can then be encrypted to protect patients’ privacy, as well peg down chances of having that information corrupted—security.

8. MedWand

It is about time you did not have to get to the clinic, wait out in the crowded waiting room, only to have that cold doctor physically examine your vitals.

If you agree, MedWand could be your next home medical cabinet installation in just a short time. The device captures essential medical data in a private video session with your doctor from wherever you are. That could be from your couch at home, on the road in your car, or just out and about in a park.

The information taken by the smart medical device includes data regarding the condition of your eyes, nose, throat, lungs and heart. MedWand will also get your pulse rate and temperature, after which it securely relays that sensitive data to your doctor as well as stores it on the cloud over MedWand servers.

From there, you can access your medical history from your smart portable device such as a smartphone. Also, your doctor can then receive alerts anytime any symptoms shoot up higher than usual.

9. Stethee – Smart Stethoscope

In 2015, start up, Medic8 Health, halted their Kickstarter funds drive first to seek medical permission to release their Do-It-Yourself stethoscope.

This year maybe the time they release the wireless home-based version of the regular doctor’s cord. After all, Medic8 Health had already won over $500,000 out of the target $700,000 to kick start the development to reality.

Stethee Smart Stethoscope

If this comes to fruition, then expect to take medical readings on your vitals from home, be able to link Stethee to your smartphone or tablet, from where you can analyze and share the information with other concerned parties if you like.

10. Bloom Ring from Prima Temps

Want to find out when you can try for a baby?

Bloom Ring may help give that answer. This temperature sensor is self-inserted. After this, it helps detect pre-ovulation changes in temperature and pings you with an alert direct to your smartphone to let you know the night is yours to try—well, or keep off happy hour if you are not looking forward to conceiving.

When its development is complete, the device will be able to link out to your smartphone via its accompanying fertility app to accurately determine the meaning of those subtle changes.

11. MiniMed 640G Smart Guard Pump for diabetics

Medtronic’s solution to the nagging, day-to-day diabetes challenge is in making a smart insulin regulator to help diabetics around the world to regulate and stay on top of symptoms.

This automatic pump system turns off when it detects a diabetics sugar level is falling, effectively helping the person from drowsing into hypoglycemia. The new and spanking fresh MiniMed 640G System mimics how a healthy pancreas regulates blood sugar levels in the body to help steady your basal metabolism rate effectively and efficiently. Doubtless one of the smart medical devices on the market right now, it can connect to Bayer’s easy to use blood sugar meter wirelessly and relay accurate data regarding your glucose levels in real time.

Also, part of the MiniMed 640G system is a Guardian 2 Link Transmitter and an Enlite Sensor to help monitor glucose level continuously while at your own comfort patch. Add the company’s software offerings, which come packed together with the hardware, and it can get pretty exciting to stomp over diabetes—whether type 1 or type 2.

12. The Scanadu Urine Testing Smart Medical Device

Seeking FDA’s clearance is a disposable paddle to test for great health in perhaps one of the best samples to do so—urine. Of course, urine is the great way to tell on your body’s health condition.

To successfully take a test, you will need to dip the Scanadu Urine device in a urine sample, light up the accompanying Scanadu App for your phone, then use the phone’s camera to read colour change on that paddle. Doesn’t matter what colour shows up, the Scanadu App will interpret the results on your behalf and all in under 60 seconds, according to the startup.

The information the Scanadu App retrieves from the data collected is shareable too. So you can connect to your doctor online, share your vitals, and rest assured some infectious disease is not creeping up on you.

If all goes well after that FDA assessment, the company is promising to release another smart medical device they are calling Scanadu Scout, which can serve even more purposes such as testing for blood pressure and taking pulse rates and temperature.

13. Cue Kit

While Scanadu plays to the tune of the FDA, Cue is taking DIY medical testing to the home in smart mode.This test kit for the home is good for use to collect, say, saliva samples to determine testosterone levels, blood to gauge inflammation, and nasal fluid to diagnose flu. Place the rod in a cartridge, where special sensors collect the vital data, process and convert it into digital information that is then picked up by the accompanying app on your phone.

Like the Scanadu Urine, the Cue Kit uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to connect to your smartphone, so power problems should not be problematic at all wherever you choose to take your important gauge with you. If you prefer, you can use the Cue Smart Recommendation function to tune your diet for better health.

In case you are wondering, the Cue Kit is available for pre-order for $199 (138.78 GBP), including a bunch of cartridges.

14. Eyenaemia

Eyenaemia makes screening for anaemia as cool and simple as taking a selfie. So simple, you will not want to encounter a doctor again.

The Australian team consisting of Jarrel Seah and Jennifer Tang, are currently working overtime to bring Eyenaemia to life. And after winning a $50,000 award from the Gates Foundation to boost development, it is easy to believe this duo can deliver pretty soon.

What Eyenaemia does is analyze your eye’s conjunctiva and calculate the risk of anaemia. So you can pass on the idea of visiting your doctor for a long, cumbersome and challenging blood test to gauge iron levels in your blood system. Just selfie it from the eye and have the Eyenaemia App comb through years and stacks of medical literature, tests, and insights, and then advise you what’s up. However, we will have to wait up until the app is complete.

15. PeriCoach

Analytica’s tool helps measure how good you are exercising your pelvic flooring and if you are even doing enough of it.The conveniently tiny, smart medical device for women is an insatiable one. It is also linked to a mobile app from where ladies can determine if they are doing those pelvic floor exercises just right.

This device is especially useful for women who may be experiencing urinary incontinence—a condition that distresses scores of women globally beyond childbirth.

PeriCoach will ping you with alerts, so you do not forget your daily workout. If and when you do the workout, the smart little thing supplies live responses to the app, letting you know if you are doing the squeezes right or if you need to make some stepping up.

16. Physitrack

This one is not exactly a medical device. What makes it interesting, though, is that it works frigging good with your trusty smartphone. With your smartphone at its hardware, you can move about with the software—which is what Physitrack is, mostly.Step right into it, and the software hosts over 2400 HD videos on various exercise routines you can use to better that back pain or whichever condition or health goal you set out to achieve. Physitrack hosts live outcome tracking features and inbuilt reminders to help keep you motivated and to keep on keeping on and make the best version of your healthy self.

The free PhysiApp patient app is available on both Google Play and the App Store for Android and IOS devices, respectively. The software is also accessible via the web.

This fresh and useful pie of healthcare device innards is also (conveniently) compatible with Apple Health’s Healthkit, and works with Cliniko and MyAstro as well.

17. iTBra

Early breast screening is the one thing women anywhere around the world are always encouraged to take up to prevent the unchecked development of breast cancer. Early breast screening saves lives.

Empowering women’s breast health awareness is Cyrcadia Health’s goal, and they are advancing on that target with this new hardware. That, they promise to achieve by helping women across the globe to use a comfortable, discreet, smart wearable tech to receive breast healthiness screening in the privacy of their homes on a monthly basis.

Cyrcadia Health claims just wearing their iTBra tech for 12 hours straight will not only be comfortable, even for women with denser breast tissue but also help conduct a “highly accurate”, monthly breast wellness exam without needing trained help.

The technology has already been tested successfully in 500 patients, and the company claims iTBra scored a pretty on point 87% correspondence to a confirmed, clinical diagnosis of breast cancer.

18. Vitaliti

Cloud DX’s neck bracelet is a cool wearable to sport and scrutinize your vitals wherever and whenever.

Pretty much like the Cue Kit above, Vitaliti reads and records your heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure, and so on when you have it on around the neck. To do so, the neckpiece hosts two sensors that fire the reads when in contact with the user’s skin.In total, the device automatically detects 16 conditions, including diabetes mellitus, urinary tract infection, sleep apnea and iron deficiency anaemia, and, of course, the absence of any health concerns. The information the Vitaliti Tricorder records is then received, recorded, analysed and interpreted by the accompanying mobile app—available for both Android and IOS devices.

19. QuardioCore

Need a powerful, wireless heart health monitor?

QuardioCore provides a high-tech, wireless ECG system–like functionality to rival the best, and larger systems in hospitals almost everywhere. The EKG/ECG monitor is clinically validated to monitor accurately and continuously your heart rate, stress and activity levels, electrocardiogram, respiratory rate and body temperature, among others on three channels.

The hardware also promises to sneak right under your workout outfit discreetly and comfortably, as well as utilise all of its six sensor levels, slim profile, and water resistant frame to help keep you heart healthy in style.

QuardioCore has its own internal memory, where it gathers and saves your wellness data awaiting deeper analysis. Users can then take to the accompanying IOS app to interpret the data and make something healthy out of it.

20. Quell Relief

This intelligent knee brace renders the traditional knee braces pretty archaic.

The company claims about 80% of users have reported improvements and lessened knee pain after using the device. It also claims its product is 100% drug-free technology and should be okay for anyone to fit right on and take back what knee pain has taken away from them.

Claims aside, Quell is indeed FDA cleared. The wearable intensive nerve stimulation tech is medically passed for use to manage chronic pain both during active day times and during rest at nighttimes.

. Healthcare IT in a Nutshell

The post 20 Smart Health Products Changing The Healthcare IT Landscape in 2017 appeared first on ChipIn.

Bisecu is the world’s lightest and first fully automated smart bicycle lock. At only 1/4 weight of the widely used U-lock, Bisecu is completely keyless by using patent pending bluetooth technology. Because the smart lock is securely installed on the bicycle, there is no need to carry or use a heavy conventional lock. Simply approach the bike, and leave the bike- the front wheel will lock itself. Bisecu also has an additional security feature that sounds a loud alarm and notifies the owner in the case of theft. Bisecu also provides cycling data such as distance, speed, and calories burned.

Bisecu Kickstarter Campaign launching in Q2 2017 – More information soon

Locking and unlocking your bike, lugging around a clunky piece of metal, searching for your keys, all of these actions take away from the riding experience. Bisecu Inc. is excited to announce Bisecu, a new smart hardware accessory for your bike. Bisecu is the lightest, most securest smart bicycle lock – a beautiful blend of advanced technology and design. Bisecu’s features: smartphone distance based automatic unlocking and locking, a design that prevents the lock from being cut, and a real time speedometer. Bisecu turns your bicycle into a smart transportation device.

-Automatic lock: Bisecu’s smartphone recognition instantly knows when you’ve approached your bike and automatically unlocks. When you leave your bike, it locks on its own. No more searching for the keys, stooping over to unlock, or carrying around a heavy piece of metal. Just approach your bike and ride. Forget about the lock and enjoy your ride.
-Secure design: Don’t worry about your bike being stolen. Bisecu’s unique design means that the lock cannot be cut. Most bicycle thefts occur after the lock has been cut and the bicycle is ridden off. There is also an added level of security. Bisecu sensors trigger a 100db alarm and send a notification via its mobile app in the case of tampering and foul play.
-Real time data: Bisecu turns your smartphone into a display and becomes a cycling computer that provides data on distance travelled, speed, and slope. Bisecu remains attached to the wheel and measures the number of wheel turns. Therefore, it is able to deliver riding data with precision. You can track your rides more easily with Bisecu.

-World’s lightest smart lock: Bisecu weighs 350g (or 0.77lbs), half of weight of the existing smart bike lock, and ¼ of the conventional U-lock. But the weight does not matter so much because you no longer have to carry around the lock- Bisecu stays attached to the wheel. A lock should not slow you down.
-Lasting power: Under normal use, Bisecu does not need to be recharged for 6 months. Bisecu’s long-lasting lithium polymer battery can be recharged on any USB port in under 2 hours.
-Quality materials: Bisecu has an aluminum alloy body and a black or silver finish. Bisecu has been tested for sustainability, such as weather conditions, extreme downward force, and attempted sawing.
-Compatibility: Bisecu is compatible with most standard bikes such as road, hybrid, mini velo, and pixie bikes. Compatibility with Garmin and the Strava apps will be released in the future.
-Military grade encryption: Bisecu uses AES 128 bit encryption to ensure that the lock cannot be hacked.

Three engineering students in Korea came together because they were frustrated with their riding experience. They founded Bisecu Inc in 2016 with one mission: better the bicycling experience by stripping away the nuisances in bike riding. Backed by Korean VC Futureplay, it is a brewing startup preparing its Kickstarter launch in Q2 2017.

It’s first product, Bisecu, aims to get rid of the most negative part of the riding experience- locking and unlocking your bike. It allows users to even forget that the lock is even there. The fully automatic lock eliminates the need to carry around a clunky piece of metal, eliminates the hassle of searching for a key, and also delivers precision riding data in real time. Keyless entry can be triggered when the user approaches the bike, and Bisecu locks automatically when the user leaves the bike. Bisecu’s unique design ensures that the lock cannot be cut and the bicycle ridden off. This is how most bike thefts occur. It is the lightest smart bicycle lock by a large margin (weighing only 350g which is ¼ of the U-lock). The lock stays on the bicycle front wheel and provides accurate real time cycling data, meaning bicycle riders can save an extra hundred they would spend on a cycling computer.

It is an automatic lock that recognizes your smartphone. No more bending over, looking for your keys, taking away from the riding experience. The keyless entry is seamless- if you approach your bike, it unlocks itself, if you leave your bike, it locks automatically. It takes 0 seconds to unlock your bike. So you can focus on the more important things in life.

Bisecu was designed for security. Most bicycle thefts occur once the lock has been cut. Bisecu reinvents the lock through its design that prevents cutting.
There is also an added level of security. Bisecu sensors trigger a 100db alarm and app notification in the case of tampering and foul play.

Why should the lock slow you down? Bisecu stays attached to the front wheel at all times, but it is also light enough to not slow you down. It is the lightest smart bike lock, weighing only 350g (0.77lbs), which is ¼ of the conventional U-lock.

That’s not all, it’s not just a lock. Bisecu is also a cycling computer that provides data on distance travelled, speed, and slope. Bisecu remains attached to the wheel and measures the number of wheel turns; therefore delivers riding data with precision. You can track your rides more easily with Bisecu. Bisecu automatically recognizes when you are beginning to ride, unlike other products that need to be toggled on. It’s a real time speedometer. By relaying the data to your mobile screen, you can see the stats in real-time. Users do not need to splurge an extra hundred on a speedometer because Bisecu is a lock and cycling computer in one.

.GENERAL

How is Bisecu different from other smart bike locks?
Bisecu is in the shape of a cylinder, meaning it is the only smart bike lock that cannot be cut. It stays on the front wheel of the bike, meaning you no longer need to carry around a clunky lock. The lock also prevents the front wheel from being stolen.
How does Bisecu work?
Bisecu’s proprietary technology involves a locking disc that is installed on the front wheel. It is similar to how doors are locked.
How does Bisecu communicate with my phone?
Bisecu connects to your smartphone using Bluetooth Low Energy. Through the Bisecu app, you can manually lock and unlock Bisecu. By measuring the signal strength of the bluetooth, it unlocks automatically when you approach your bike.
Do I need data connection for Bisecu to work?
You don’t need a data connection for Bisecu to work as a lock. For other functions, you do need a data connection.

.SECURE

How secure is Bisecu?
Bisecu’s design ensures that the locking mechanism cannot be seen from the outside. It also prevents the lock from being cut, which is how most bicycle thefts happen. In the case of tampering or attempted theft, Bisecu’s sensor triggers an alarm that is 100db loud.

Can Bisecu be hacked?
Bisecu is uses AES 128bit military grade encryption and Bluetooth encryption technology.
How strong is the lock?
Other locks are mostly made of steel. The outer casing of Bisecu, on the other hand, is made of aluminum alloy, and can withstand hammering as well. Sawing the lock is difficult and takes much longer, because of its cylinder design.
What material is Bisecu made of?
Bisecu is made of aluminum alloy 6000 series.
Does Bisecu support location tracking?
GPS and location tracking will be available in the next generation.

.COMPATIBILITY/INSTALLATION

Will Bisecu fit my bicycle?
Bisecu is compatible with most bicycles with 9mm QR or standard scew type axles, such as road, hybrid, pixie, and mini velos. However, it is not compatible with MTBs or other bicycles with disc brakes.
What phones are supported?
Bisecu is compatible with iOS 8+ and Android 4.4 and above, and devices supporting Bluetooth 4.0.
Is it difficult to install Bisecu on my bicycle?
Installing Bisecu takes about 10 minutes. You remove the front wheel, install the disc and the Bisecu device. If you have a basket or other accessories attached to the front axle, it must be removed.

.WEIGHT

How heavy is Bisecu?
Bisecu is the world’s lightest smart bike lock. It weighs only 350g. The lightest smart bike lock so far weighs over 500g. A conventional bike lock such as the U-lock weighs over 1kg, averaging at 1.5kg. Bisecu is less than ¼ of this weight.
How big is Bisecu?
Bisecu fits in the palm of your hand, with specific size being 85mm*100mm*85mm.

.BATTERY

How long does the battery last?
Battery life lasts for 6 months under normal use.
How do I charge Bisecu?
Bisecu can be recharged using its micro-USB port.
What type of battery is used in Bisecu?
Bisecu uses a lithium polymer battery.
How do I know if I need to charge Bisecu?
When battery life reaches less than 20%, the app send you a notification as a reminder to charge Bisecu.
What happens if the Bisecu battery dies and my bike is still locked?
You have to recharge Bisecu first, by using a portable battery pack.

.WARRANTY/REPAIR

How long is the warranty for Bisecu?
Bisecu comes with a 1 year warranty.
What happens if Bisecu breaks or malfunctions?
Bisecu comes with a 1 year warranty. The repair policies will differ from country to country and the local retailer.
Can I leave Bisecu out in the rain?
Yes. Bisecu is weather resistant and can withstand rain and the cold. However, we strongly advise that you don’t take Bisecu for a swim.

.PHONELESS ACCESS

What happens if my phone battery dies?
You can use your a preset password and unlock the device manually using its exterior button.
What happens if I lose my phone?
You can use your a preset password and unlock the device manually using its exterior button.

.THEFT/TAMPER ALERT

How loud is the alarm?
Using its sensors, Bisecu triggers a 100db in the case of attempted theft and sends an app notification.

.COLOR/DESIGN

What colors are Bisecu available in?
Bisecu comes in black and silver. We would like to add colors to Bisecu depending on popular demand.

Bisecu will be coming to Kickstarter in the second quarter of 2017.

The post Bisecu Smart Bicycle Lock – Smart Bike Lock appeared first on ChipIn.

While smartwatches have made a significant splash in the past few years, and small fitness trackers have certainly made their mark, exercise watches are carving out a larger portion of the market. They’re more substantial than their flimsy fitness tracker counterparts, and they look more like watches and less like a wristband, but they perform many of the same functions and then some.

The big appeal of workout watches is that their raison d’être is well defined: they exist to help you focus on your health. The glitzy draw of high-end and open-ended smartwatches, on the other hand, is still a little unclear. Is it a computer on your wrist? A scaled-down smartphone? And why exactly do I need one, other than to feel cool? Exercise watches, on the other hand, do a great job of providing data with a purpose, often at a decent price, and without too much of a commitment to having a giant piece of technology strapped to your body.

The features you’ll want to focus on as you shop for a new exercise watch depend on what type of exercises you’ll be doing with it. All of the exercise watches on our list track steps taken, calories burned, and distance traveled — the holy trinity of contemporary fitness tracking metrics. Many will measure elevation climbed, and most will track your sleep

In the past year, almost all of the new exercise watches on the market have included heart rate monitoring, and many have other sensors for things like temperature and galvanic skin response. Some have smart coaching, and if you’re willing to pay a little more, you can get one with onboard GPS. Smartphone syncing is a common feature, though if you’re trying to exercise, you might find this a bit distracting. And of course, there is the design of the thing to consider, as some are more bulky or flashy, while others are slimmer and more unassuming.

What are the best exercise watches on the market today? We took a look at what’s available, sized up the competition, and here are our top ten picks.

10. Fitbit Blaze

Brand new to the market this year is the Fitbit Blaze, an exercise watch that borders on smartwatch territory. It looks great, almost like the Apple Watch’s younger and less athletic brother, with its vibrant full-color touchscreen display and impressive functionality. It can recognize exercises automatically, though this feature is a bit slow, and it measures heart rate as well. The Blaze also tracks sleep, syncs with your phone for notifications, allows you to control your workout music, and has FitStar workout instructions right on the screen.

Fitbit Blaze Exercise Watch

There’s no built-in GPS, though it can connect to your phone’s GPS; it’s a nice connection, though it also means that you have to have your phone within arm’s reach as you exercise. The Blaze also isn’t waterproof, so taking it swimming is out of the question. And while it looks pretty good on the wrist, its overall appearance is definitely not as impressive as some other exercise watches. Still, it’s a wonderful and exciting new product from market cornerstone Fitbit, and that’s why it earns a spot on our list.

9. Basis Peak

A longtime favorite fitness tracker and exercise watch, the Basis Peak was one of the first to offer 24-hour heart rate monitoring at an affordable price. But how does it hold up after being on the market for almost a year and a half? Surprisingly well, actually, and that’s because the quality is evergreen.

Basis Peak Activity Watch

Its black and white display may seem vintage for the category, though it is touch sensitive. Its activity and sleep tracking are practically legendary in the category for accuracy and automatic mode switching. The app helps you set goals, you can get text messages and other notifications right on your wrist, and it’s water resistant to 5 ATM, so you can even swim in it. It’s an oldie but a goodie, and it looks good to boot, earning it the number nine slot.

Update: Unfortunately Basis stopped supporting the Watch after customers experienced problems and have now decided to issue a full recall of ALL sold watches and not offer any exchange, just refunds. It’s a shame, as it was really one of the best on the market. Time will tell, if Basis (part of Intel now) will bring a new and improved version onto the market.

8. Polar A360

Finally — a Polar fitness watch with built-in heart rate monitoring! That’s the big draw of the relatively new Polar A360. Other appealing features include a full-color touchscreen TFT display, all day activity and sleep tracking, a WR30 waterproof rating, a two-week battery, and Polar’s smart coaching to help you improve. It also boasts a sleek look and comes in five colors.

Polar A360 Activity Watch

There’s no built-in GPS on the A360, but more concerning is the fact that the device easily slips out of its wristband. This is maybe a positive feature if you swap out wristbands on a regular basis, but the downside is that it could fall out, leaving you $200 in the hole and without your device. It’s a strap problem and not an A360 problem, but it’s a big enough concern to keep the Polar A360 from rising any higher on our list. It’s a wonderful exercise watch, but if you’re not careful, it could get away from you.

7. Mio Alpha 2

If you were to close your eyes and envision a generic sports watch, you’d probably be envisioning the Mio Alpha 2.

Mio Alpha 2 Exercise Smartwatch

It just looks like it’s built for exercise — which it is. Its features include heart rate monitoring and all the all-day tracking you need: steps, calories, distance, and pace. There’s also an onboard timer, and the device is water resistant up to 30 meters, so it’s safe for swimming. It’s a more basic workout watch, but it does a great job.

What the Mio Alpha 2 lacks, though, keeps it from ranking any higher on our list. There’s no built-in GPS, which isn’t a huge deal at this price point (it retails for $169 but can often be found for a little less), but it also lacks a full-color display, and it doesn’t do sleep tracking at all. Still, for a dedicated exercise watch, the Mio Alpha 2 is well worth a closer look.

6. Pebble Time Steel

While the Pebble Time Steel is technically a smart watch and not a workout watch, it still ranks well on our list because it’s a great watch that doubles as a fairly solid fitness tracker. It will run several different fitness apps, including the new Pebble Health app that the company has been featuring on its website. It tracks the basics — steps, distance, calories, and sleep — and syncs with both Apple Health and Google Fit.

Pebble Time Steel Smartwatch

The Pebble Time Steel can be worn all day for several days, thanks to its ten-day battery life. It has a reflective, always on color display that looks great, even if the overall design of the Pebble Time Steel is just so-so. The downsides to this one? There’s no built-in GPS, and there’s not even any heart rate monitoring. So, this is an exercise watch with the emphasis on “watch.” Its tracking capabilities are good, but more serious athletes will probably want something with a little more functionality.

Update: Pebble no more. Taking all the headlines at CES 2013 and 2016 Pebble decided few months ago to close down their business and sell their technology to Fitbit. RIP Pebble!

5. Withings Activité Steel

You can’t deny the beauty of the Withings Activité Steel: it’s an amazing looking watch with a full-fledged fitness tracker under the hood. Does it qualify as an exercise watch? Yeah, probably. It’s got 24/7 fitness tracking capabilities plus sleep tracking, and the Withings Health Mate app not only aggregates and graphs your personal data, but it even offers a little bit of coaching so you continue to improve. Oh, and it’s waterproof, so you can even swim in it.

Withings Acitivité Steel Watch

The Activité Steel is a good choice for everyday exercise, but it’s really not designed for more intense workouts. There’s no heart rate sensor or built-in GPS, two big drawbacks. Still, it runs on a button cell battery that should last up to eight months, and it seems designed for activity. Unlike the leather band on the more expensive Activité Sapphire, the Steel’s comfortable silicone strap means that you won’t feel badly sweating in it. The bottom line is that the stunning minimalist aesthetic of the Activité Steel has pushed it to the halfway point on our list.

4. Garmin Forerunner 235

If you’re a navigation company, your exercise watches had better contain a GPS sensor — and the Garmin Forerunner 235 does. For runners, this means accurate distance information, maps, routes, and more. The 235 also offers a good heart rate sensor, and it can do both all day tracking and some very basic sleep tracking. There’s even a built-in accelerometer for treadmill workouts. It’s lightweight and comfortable, it’s totally durable, and while the 235 probably won’t be winning any awards for innovative design, it’s decent looking.

Garmin Forerunner 235 Exercise Watch

The downside of built-in GPS, of course, is the limited battery life. With the 225, you’re looking at about 10 hours; switch off the GPS, though, and you’ll have up to four weeks. Also, the heart rate sensor runs only during workouts. If you’re a runner, the 235 is a great exercise watch. If you’re not a runner, or if you want a device that will track a variety of activities, then you’ll probably want to look elsewhere.

3. MOOV NOW

Putting the MOOV NOW on our list, especially in the three spot, might seem like a strange call. It looks like a watch, and it’s built for increasing the intensity of your workouts, but some might say that it’s more of a watch-shaped activity tracker. That argument does hold water, but we’re not here to argue about that. We’re here to tell you that the MOOV NOW is an awesome piece of tech if you’re hoping to run better, swim better, bike better, cross train better, and be better.

Featuring live audio coaching as you exercise and 3D motion detection (thanks to a nine-axis motion sensing system), MOOV NOW helps improve your performance, one workout at a time. It’s less useful as an all day tracker, though. And, even though there’s no heart rate sensor or built-in GPS, its high levels of functionality and versatility make the MOOV NOW one workout watch that you’ll want to check out.

2. Apple Watch 2

How could we make a list of the best exercise watches and not include the Apple Watch 2? Sure, it’s not a dedicated workout device, but that’s what makes it so appealing: it does lots of things, and it does them all well. Features like automatic exercise detection, an accelerometer, and heart rate monitoring all measure and track, then put your data in the Workout app for easy viewing and comparing.

Apple Watch 2 – Smartwatch

The best part is that when you’re done working on your fitness, the Apple Watch can stay on your wrist and look great. Even the Sports line of the device looks more sleek than sporty. True, there’s no onboard GPS, and true, the battery lasts just a day, but with everything else that the Apple Watch does, it’s hard to deny its overall excellence as both an exercise watch and a smart watch. There’s also an undeniable cool factor here that you just don’t get with the other products on our list, and that helps the Apple Watch rank quite high on our list.

1. Fitbit Surge 2

Even though there are many worthwhile competitors in the exercise watch arena, we just don’t see any of them topping the Fitbit Surge. Their top of the line tracker is, according to their website, the number one selling GPS watch in the US, and it’s easy to see why. In addition to great navigation (which means routes, maps, and highly accurate distance information), the Surge boasts continuous heart rate monitoring, all day and all night tracking, multi-sports tracking, smartphone sync, and a simple but effective design.

Fitbit Surge 2 Fitness Tracker

At $249.95, it’s on the pricey side, but it’s still competitive with other GPS-enabled workout watches. The battery gets just ten hours when GPS is turned on, but that’s also on par with similar devices; it gets up to seven days when it’s off. Plus, you get the Fitbit name, a giant in the fitness-tracking industry. All of these factors make the Surge tops on our list

But wait, as the saying goes — there’s more! There’s plenty of room at the top of the exercise watch mountain, and the best workout watch for you depends largely on your own personal needs. After all, not all users are created equal. Here are some of the best exercise watches by category.

Best for Men: Basis Peak

When looking at the best fitness watches for men, there are many good choices, but we’d have to go with the Basis Peak. It’s got a strong, masculine appearance that goes from the trail to the office, and the smartphone syncing is extremely convenient.

Best for Women: Polar A360

It’s slim, it’s attractive, and it’s one of the best fitness watches for women. The full-color display and continual heart rate monitoring are some of its better features, though as mentioned earlier in this write-up, wearers will want to be a little extra careful about the device fitting snugly in its wristband.

Best Calorie Counter: Fitbit Surge

Fitbit really has a lock on accuracy, and its calorie counting algorithm is no exception. The Surge is really the best calorie counter watch, plus the Fitbit app is incredibly thorough, with food and hydration logs, a weight tracker, and more. Having all of your calorie intake versus calories burned information is most helpful in reaching your ideal weight.

Best Step Counter: Misfit Shine 2

It may not seem fair to call the Misfit Shine 2 the best step counter watch since its face is nothing more than a series of pinhole LEDs. However, it ranks on our list because it’s just so good at what it does. It tackles all day tracking like a champ, it’s equally as home at the gym, and because it’s waterproof up to 50 meters, you can even wear it in the pool.

Best for Running: TomTom Spark

A new favorite running watch on the market, the Spark is from longstanding navigation company TomTom. It goes without saying that this exercise watch has built-in GPS, but it also has heart rate monitoring, all day fitness tracking, goal setting, and space for 500 songs plus the ability to transmit them wirelessly to your BlueTooth headphones. Move to the app, and you’d get routes, maps, and more. For serious runners, the Spark is an ideal choice.

Best for Weight Lifting: Atlas

It’s good for running and cardio, but the big selling point of Atlas is that it recognizes individual exercises, rates you on your form, and even counts reps.

Add in optical heart rate monitoring, water resistance up to 30 meters, and an app that offers motivation to go harder, faster, and stronger, and you’ve got an exercise watch that will completely transform your time in the gym.

Best Looking: Withings Activité Steel

We’re sorry, Apple Watch. You’re beautiful, but this one goes to the Withings Activité Steel. There’s just something about its clean and classic aesthetic that is just so appealing.

Withings Acitivité Steel Watch

It’s slim without seeming flimsy, simple without seeming basic, and functional without seeming like a complicated piece of technology. Truth be told, we really love the Activité Sapphire, with its leather band and sapphire glass, but we’d feel bad about getting it all sweaty. The Steel it is, then.

. Looking Ahead

The post Best Exercise Watch 2017 – Top 10 Activity & Fitness Watches appeared first on ChipIn.

With amazing technological progress being the staple of our generation, it’s only natural for both well-established companies, as well as start-ups to introduce students to new ways of learning. This list contains the 10 most promising technology trends that will improve education as we know it.

Artificial Intelligence has been slowly improving other fields, and education is up next. With the help of AI, teachers will be able to realize their shortcomings of their ways in order to improve themselves and adapt to the learning style of each class. There are certain online tutoring websites, such as Third Space Learning, who have successfully implemented AI into their systems. Therefore, whenever a student seems to misunderstand a new subject based on their answers, the system warns the tutor early on in order for them to be able to prevent any further misunderstandings.

Another great way of using AI in education is to create virtual teachers, which could hold a lot of information on subjects that they have studied, as they couldn’t possibly be subjective, therefore providing students with the cold, hard facts. These virtual teachers could be easily implemented in apps, virtual reality or even in real life, through holograms made possible by augmented reality headsets. Additionally, AI could help classrooms all over the globe be inter-connected by tracking each classroom’s data, then creating useful statistics for the other ones.

For example, data from one teacher’s session on teaching a certain lesson can be used by another teacher who is yet to teach that lesson, and can see which were the high and low points of the lesson. In this way, not only could lessons be made more exciting, but also more efficient.

Perhaps one of the most natural evolution in the classroom is the transition from paper-based textbooks and notebooks to e-books and text editing software. This transition is not only friendly to the environment, as no more paper needs to be wasted by students and publishing companies, but also extremely efficient: students are able to easily edit what they have already written, can work together on tasks using online software, and don’t have to carry around heavy bags of books, while publishing companies are able to cut down on their printing costs and edit textbooks online, so as to reflect the most recent and accurate information.

Another huge problem that is seemingly solved by digital textbooks is the outrageous cost of paper-based textbooks in the United States, which are paid by students who are already deep in debt after having to pay for university. By allowing students to rent digital copies of textbooks, companies are not only securing themselves a place among digital publishers, but are also saving students hundreds of dollars yearly.

Fortunately, it seems that this transition is taking off at a rapid pace on a global scale, as schools find it better to lend students designated tablets, or let them bring their own devices. It seems that the majority of people are agreeing with this transition, as proponents of devices over textbooks claim that they are not only more convenient in every way, but they also improve standardized test scores. On the other side, there are the “purists”, who claim that they will always enjoy the feeling of an actual book over holding an e-book reader.

While far from a new trend in technology, cloud computing has been rapidly extending, to the current point where most people are storing their files on at least one such service, with at least 95% of respondents to a survey using some sort of cloud-based service. This technology creates the basis for a functional online classroom, as students now have access to their digital textbooks from any location, using any device.

Teachers can also use this technology in order to upload important learning material such as videos or manuals and share them seamlessly with their students, thus reducing costs by removing the need for printing and copying.

Another great example of cloud computing is Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), which most people use without even knowing. Microsoft’s free Office Online, as well as its paid Office 365 counterpart are shining examples of SaaS, allowing people to access, share and work on their documents from a large variety of devices.

While there are many advanced uses for cloud computing that can be applied to education in order to improve the lives of teachers and students alike, one cannot overlook the most basic one: storing files on free services such as Google Drive, which offers 20 GB of storage for free, saves people money, as they do not need to purchase external hard drives.

While not exactly a household term, Big Data has a powerful impact on all aspects of our lives, even going as far as enabling doctors and researchers to understand mental illnesses. The term sounds extremely intimidating, but what exactly is Big Data?

Big Data is the entirety of data created by the usage of technology. This data is then processed by companies, creating relevant statistics. This allows teachers to properly identify the strengths and weaknesses of each student in order to change their methods, if needed, and to create balanced work groups for projects.

Gamification is a unique item on the list, in that it is not exactly a technology trend, but rather a trend born from technology. As its name suggests, it stems from gaming, which is perhaps one of the most popular hobbies among students.

The way it works is easy to understand and apply: instead of simply using grades to motivate students, teachers come up with various challenges that, when completed, give the student access to more advanced challenges, as well as a sense of fulfillment. Often, teachers will also choose a certain reward for each completed challenge, meaning that students also have a tangible reward to look forward to. Leaderboards may also be used in order to encourage students to do their best and to train their competitive side.

There are certain mobile apps that help track students’ progress and their already unlocked challenges, granting them achievements that they can show off on their profile.

Another fancy term that’s yet to become viral, mind mapping is actually similar to brainstorming, except for the fact that instead of ideas, it’s facts that are written down. There’s also a rhyme and reason to everything that is written down, as information is broken down into different, color-coded categories that take up different sides of the surface, making every bit of information easy to process and memorise.

Mind mapping is not a new concept, but it has been enjoying a surge of popularity in the recent years due to many mind mapping programs appearing on the market. Both paid and free, these programs allow teachers to effortlessly create mind maps for every lesson, which ensures their students’ success.

Perhaps one of the most bizarre items on the list for someone used to the public education system, flipped learning is a new way of teaching made possible by the widespread of technology among citizens. The concept has been successfully applied in several private academies, and continues to spread worldwide.

In a flipped learning environment, students learn new lessons at home, watching video lectures and studying online materials, then go to school in order to do their homework with teachers. In this way, not only are students able to feel more comfortable and relaxed while studying, as the concept is similar to watching educational YouTube videos, but they are also able to ask for help immediately when encountering roadblocks in their homework.

The fact that the teacher is no longer the lone knowledge keeper also plays a huge part in the proper education of students, as they are no longer taught from a subjective point of view. Instead, they are now able to create their own points of view on the subjects after extensive research.

Virtual reality has been one of the most popular tech subjects in the last few years, as it finally made its debut into the homes of consumers with the release of Google Cardboard, Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive. While people at home are mostly concerned with how much fun these headsets may provide, the technology is able to create useful virtual workspaces that will act as training grounds for students. This means that future surgeons will be able to improve their skills using virtual patients and tools by taking the role of chief surgeon, which is more effective than simply standing in the operating theater, watching someone else work.

But training isn’t the only education application of virtual reality. Google, among many other companies, have uploaded virtual tours of museums, which may, in time, substitute the costly and lengthy road trips. Creativity can also be stimulated through virtual reality programs such as Google’s Tilt Brush, which places players into a simulated room with complex 3D paint brushes, allowing them to create colorful 3D paintings.

Costly as it may be in the present, virtual reality has a real future in the classroom, as schools will most likely invest large sums of money in order to provide students with the most advanced learning environments. With the success of Rec Room, a game that simulates social environments through virtual reality, it may not be long before students gather in simulated classrooms.

Unlike virtual reality, augmented reality hasn’t had a great development process. The first time augmented reality became a popular subject was with the failed Google Glass, which boasted a high buy-in price to be a tester, and then was silently pulled back for more development. Microsoft apparently saw something in this market, and went on to produce the Hololens, which took the world by storm when it was first unveiled in January 2015.

While the Hololens and many other augmented reality headsets still have a long way to go before they are usable and affordable to consumers, their potential in the classrooms is not lost on anyone. One demonstration video is enough to make you imagine students sitting in a classroom and being amazed at a hologram of the human body appearing in front of the class, enabling them to study anatomy with simple gestures and voice commands.

Voice recognition software is all the rage in the mobile market right now, with every big company investing large sums of money so that their virtual assistant understands most phrases. This is, of course, a welcome improvement to every smartphone, but Amazon has been paving the way for the use of voice recognition in the classroom, and it certainly is promising.

The Amazon Echo, Amazon’s home device which contains the virtual assistant, Alexa, has slowly been infiltrating households and workplaces. Thanks to its useful features, it seems to also be finding its place in classrooms, as several teachers found it enhancing their classes. By simply saying “Alexa”, and then continuing with your request, the Amazon Echo can serve as a true assistant to every class: it can search for terms and data on the Internet, calculate quickly, provide synonyms, set timers and so on. What is more, the fact that the assistant has a name means that students can look at Alexa as a friendly person who makes classes easier and more fun.

Teachers not satisfied with Alexa’s capabilities can teach her new skills and answers to certain questions, customizing every classroom’s experience.

The post 10 Education Technology Trends and How They Will Change Learning | Classroom Technology 2017 appeared first on ChipIn.