Weekly Recap: GravityLight, Dashbot, Vixole, artificial fingerprints and lighting drones

GravityLight

GravityLight is an ingenious device that can produce light by the force of gravity. It is aimed particularly at populations who do not have access to electricity, and who have until now used expensive, dangerous and toxic kerosene lamps.

⇨ Mashable, “Gravity can light the world with this new technology.”

⇨ “The GravityLight Foundation.”

Dashbot

If you were a fan of the classic Knight Rider TV series, Dashbot will probably remind you of KITT, the David Hasselhoff's car. Dashbot is a red LED display that lands on the dashboard. Connected over Bluetooth to your smartphone, it is a sort of personal assistant, allowing you to get your itinerary, to answer your SMS, to choose your music, etc. It can be powered via the cigar lighter receptacle. Pre-order on Kickstarter, 49 USD.

⇨ Digital Trends, “Dashbot is the hands-free, eyes-free AI assistant your car is dreaming of.”

Artificial fingerprints

In winter, in Canada, you become attached to your gloves. But gloves hamper the fingerprint-based unlocking of devices… Of course, you could amputate your glove of a fingertip. Or, you could purchase a fingerprint sticker to wrap over the tip of your intact glove. Obviously, each sticker is unique, for security reasons. Plus, your new fingerprint-enabled glove is now compatible with touchscreens. Available on KickStarter, for the very reasonable price of US$11 for four different stickers. 

⇨ Circuit Breaker, “These stickers have a unique fingerprint, so you can unlock your phone with your gloves on.”

Vixole

Vixole shoes come with come with an LED screen near the heel. The display can be customized with a phone and an app-based library of images and animations; alternatively, the wearer can create their own visuals. This is probably an up-and-coming trend in the fashion industry. The sneakers come in three models: the Vixole Basic, with an LED display, the Vixole Plus, with an LED display and eight sensors that can track your movements, and the Vixole OLED, with an HD OLED screen. Vixoles recharge wirelessly after about 8 hours’ autonomy. The Verge’s reporter says about them that “They look like orthopedic shoes repurposed for the club”, which is neither very nice nor very wrong. Available by pre-order on Indiegogo for US$150 to 300, depending on the model.

⇨ Circuit Breaker, “Let’s hope these sneakers with LED screens are not the footwear of the future.”

Lighting drones

Though more at the concept phase in light of today’s technology, if only because of battery issues, the idea is luminous. British insurer Direct Line came up with the bright idea of drone lights that can be summoned from your cell phone at will. The drones use your cell phone’s GPS to follow you and make you see the light. They are shown in the promo video lighting the way for a pedestrian, a group of cyclists and a search-and-rescue team. This said, if you are a nervous pedestrian walking down a bad street or across a park at night, you probably don’t want a drone putting you in the limelight!

⇨ Circuit Breaker, “These on-demand drone lights are a clever idea.”