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Author Archive | Kyle Ha

By on November 7, 2016 in Technology


Nascent Modular Consumer Electronics from Nascent Objects.

Ever wonder how your water bill got so high? When are you using all this water? Is it your roommate or a family member?

Researchers have found that when people are aware of how much water is being used (ie. if they’re being timed while the water is on), they use up to 30% less. In places like drought-ridden California, 30% is a big number. In comes Droppler.

Droppler listens to your water usage – yes, listens. The company that invented it, Nascent, programmed Droppler to “hear” the sounds of water on different sinks (you can imagine how much time this took), and to block out other miscellaneous house sounds like footsteps, cooking, etc. Droppler starts off with a full bar of light in the morning, and as it hears water being used, the light depletes, and information is synced to an app. It’s supposed to make you aware of how much water is being used throughout the day.

When it’s not monitoring water usage, it can also be separated to act as a speaker or home-monitoring camera. Go figure!

Droppler has raised $62,499 USD on their Indiegogo campaign.

The Details:

  • Shell: Porcelain
  • Wifi & Bluetooth enabled
  • Microphone
  • Light: LED
  • Camera: 720px home-monitoring
  • Speaker: Wifi streaming
  • Price: Unknown

By on October 2, 2016 in Technology


Check out Sol Republic’s video on the Relays Sport Wireless Headphones

I always looked for excuses to skip working out. And one of the reasons I did that was because I didn’t have a way to listen to music while I did it. Headphones were always falling out or I’d yank on the cord accidentally while moving my arms. Sol Republic has entered the wireless headphone game with a great contender – one that may make me go back to working out.

Introducing the Relays Sport Wireless Headphones. So how do they work? There is one small box (for lack of a better term) attached to either side of the headphone cord (which balances it out). One contains the battery, one contains the electronics. There is a flap on one that opens the charging port (although be careful with this, it’s easy to snap off and not so easy to reattach).

The sound quality is surprisingly very good – music is crisp and clear, and there is a “bass boost” mode that can give you those extra cardio beats. They’re also sweat and water resistant, so don’t be afraid to go hard!

The neat thing about these wireless headphones is the cord adjuster. The headphones are connected by one cord that wraps around the back of your neck, but you can tighten it so it sits better. Though they may not have the tightest seal when running (I did have to adjust them a couple of times, but still less so than regular headphones), I enjoyed the use of them.

They’re currently selling at $79.99 USD and come in three colors – lemon-lime, mint, and black. The few downsides are nothing we haven’t seen before, and for the price (especially when compared to competitors), the sound quality is great so I think they’re worth it!

The Details:

  • Wireless
  • USB charging
  • Water and sweat resistant
  • Up to 8 hours of battery life
  • Button can activate Siri, play/pause music and answer/hang-up phone calls
  • Colors: lemon-lime, mint, and black
  • Price: $79.99USD