PLUGHITZ Live Presents (Audio)

While our medical industry tends to try and solve problems with drugs, there can be many other ways to solve the same problem. For example, many people are incapable of taking medication for insomnia because of work obligations. There is also the possibility of side effects, like more serious health conditions or even addiction. To help overcome these issues is Alpha-Stim.

Rather than medication, the Alpha-Stim system works by using electrical impulses. The reasoning behind the method is that 98 percent of the human nervous system is electrical, not chemical. By using the cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES) device, people have the potential to treat anxiety, depression, insomnia, and physical pain.

The device is in two pieces: the control pack and the ear clips. Together, they look like an MP3 player and earbuds. While the most common usage will be in the privacy of your home, if you were to use it in public, you'll look like you're just listening to music. A session takes 20 minutes and involves incredibly low power - so small that most people never consciously feel it.

While there are other entrants in the personal electrotherapy market, most are not backed by empirical evidence. Alpha-Stim, on the other hand, is. The company provides various studies of the technology showing how it can be effective for various pain management scenarios, as well as insomnia and depression.

It is important to note that our staff have not tested the device and cannot speak to personal experiences with it. However, published scientific and clinical studies certainly help alleviate some of the concerns generated by late-night infomercial products making unbelievable claims.

Alpha-Stim has two models available ranging from $795 to $1195. You can also get more detailed information about the products and read some of the studies on their website, as well.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

While baby care technology is a popular category, one area that seems to be missed is elder care. All elder care facilities have certain common issues, with one of the most common being incontinence. As we get older, it is fairly common to have problems controlling our body, but for a care facility, managing this for multiple patients can be a real challenge. Luckily, MONIT Adult Diaper Sensor is designed to help.

The technology is designed to help care facilities manage and monitor the diaper status of their patients. Currently, facilities either expect the patients to report when their diaper is soiled, which is not always possible, or check during their rounds. This is time-consuming and takes the caregivers away from other tasks. It can also waste resources by unnecessarily changing a diaper. By using MONIT's system, they can get alerts, care of the sensing technology built into the device.

More important than any of the resource issues are the medical problems produced by improper diaper changes. Patients can suffer from any number of issues, ranging from skin rashes to urinary tract infections. These health issues pose both discomfort for the patient and cost for the family and caregivers. The Adult Diaper Sensor reduces these risks while giving everyone involved a new peace of mind.

The sensor does more than just alert to a soiled diaper, however. It includes temperature, humidity, and accelerometer sensors as well. This can make staff aware of other issues, including a skin temperature spike or drop, or even a fall. It can also notify if the patient hasn't been moving at all, which can be an indication of a severe issue.

To find out about all of the Adult Diaper Sensor's features or to contact the company, check out their website.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

If you live in a place where the weather gets dangerous, like the Gulf Coast, you know just how important having a backup for power can be. Following a hurricane a few years ago, several of our team were without any power for over a week. In Florida, that means more than just food in the freezer spoiling - it can also mean health issues from the heat. Standard battery systems are too small, and generators require gasoline and maintenance. But, the EcoFlow DELTA is a product that finds the best of both worlds.

The EcoFlow DELTA is a large rechargeable battery designed specifically for those powerless situations. Unlike small packs, the DELTA is designed to be able to run your lights, refrigerator, CPAP machine, and more when the need arises. The DELTA is for more than just emergencies, however. You can use it to bring power along on a camping trip, without the need for the noisy generator, or running your car battery down.

The battery features a capacity of 1300Wh and an output of 1800W. The battery can charge from completely dead to 80 percent in only an hour. When combined with solar panels, through the universal solar input port, you can even keep the battery itself charging while it is also keeping your home running. On one side of the system is a panel of standard electrical outlets to power your appliances and necessities. On the other side is a panel of USB ports to keep your electronics, like phones and tablets, powered. You can even use it to give a small charge to an electric vehicle.

The EcoFlow DELTA is available now in several configurations. You can but it on its own for $1399, or in bundles with portable solar panels. To find out more about the products or to place an order, check out their website.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

During CES, wearable technology is all the rage. Across the show, you'll find the standard fare, like smartwatches, fitness bands, sleep trackers and the like. However, every once in a while you encounter something truly unique - something that doesn't quite fit into another category. That is exactly what we found with the Time-C from IEVA.

The Time-C is, by its very nature, fashion-forward. At first glance, it is a beautiful watch that could easily go with casual and formal attire. It's a Swiss-made watch, meaning it is going to be a quality timepiece. However, this watch is far more than meets the eye. It is smart, but not in the way you might initially predict. It doesn't show notifications or allow you to interact with the apps on your phone. Instead, Time-C is designed to improve your health and lifestyle, as well as your fashion sense.

The watch features a myriad of sensors, ranging from temperature and humidity to pollution and noise. These sensors are specifically chosen and designed to detect environmental stressors around you. It also measures your physical activity, heart rate, etc., which can also be environmental stressors. Once the readings are collected, the platform translates all of that data into recommendations to improve your beauty, wellness, lifestyle, and nutrition.

Within the app, you will see a beauty regiment, programs for nutrition, etc. These rituals will adjust over time as the device gathers more information about your daily life - your activity, environment, and other factors. All of the recommendations that are made can be fulfilled entirely within the platform, making it a one-stop process.

The Time-C follows the Twin-C, which they refer to as a connected jewel. This product is similar in intention, without the watch face. It is designed to be worn in a variety of ways, such as a broach, bracelet, attached to a scarf, etc. From a fashion perspective, it is more versatile, while the Time-C is more day-to-day practical for many.

The Twin-C is available now and ranges from $150 to $270. The Time-C is expected to hit the market around the end of Quarter 2 (around June 2020) and will retail somewhere in the range of $1000. For more information about the company and its products, check out their website.

Interview by Don Baine, The Gadget Professor.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Monit Bebefit is an ergonomic smart baby carrier designed to reduce stress on the back and joints of parents and caregivers. The infant carrier was developed by Monit CEO Tony Park after he suffered a back injury that required a 10-day hospital stay as a result of carrying his own infant daughter.

While he found a variety of infant carriers on the market, he didn't see any that were as uniquely adjustable with respect to weight distribution as the carrier he ultimately created. The Bebefit carrier can support up to 100 lbs., providing redundancy of safety for the average baby. The carrier can be adjusted in multiple ways, from one-handed opening and closing of the hip seat to one-button switching of weight-bearing from the shoulders to the back. The carrier also includes a Key Weight Shift Mechanism that equally distributes weight to the shoulders as the baby's center of gravity moves downward while being carried. Additionally, the carrier is made of non-abrasive and hypo-allergenic materials that are safe for babies and those who care for them.

The Bebefit infant carrier is made of water-resistant, quick-drying 100% polypropylene fabric with a low thermal conductivity that makes it cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. The fabric is 40% lighter than cotton, anti-microbial & odor resistant. The carrier comes in three colors, Navy, Pink and Gray, and is sleekly designed to complement everything from casual clothing to business suits, and has an expandable side pocket for storing personal items. It also folds compactly for storage between uses.

Bebefit is recognized as "hip-healthy" for babies by the International Hip Dysplasia Institute. The carrier retails for $169 online and comes with a variety of accessories including warmers, teething pads, and extra inserts. For more information, visit the company's website.

Interview by Don Baine, The Gadget Professor.

Whether it's for videogames, e-learning, or nearly any other sort of media, the best way to make it engaging is with speech. But, getting access to a talented voice actor can be difficult and, if you're making something in your home, expensive. And computer voices just don't have the same level of engagement, as there is usually no emotion to their voice. That might be changing, however, with LOVO.

This new platform uses artificial intelligence to create realistic computer-powered voices that can read any script. Most importantly, they can read the script with inflections and emotions that traditional computer-generated voices simply cannot. When you hear the voices, which you can in the interview, you'll be as surprised as we were that they were not recorded by a human.

LOVO offers over 50 unique voices, categorized by voice tone, age range, and where they are most likely to be used, such as audiobooks, advertisements, and videogames. This gives you the ability to find the right voice for the right purpose without having to listen to each one, similar to how stock photos or music are arranged. To make it even better, the company can clone a voice, allowing you to have scripts read by a particular person even when they are unavailable to read.

In addition to the traditional interface, LOVO also offers an API. This allows developers to integrate the company's world-class voice services directly into their applications, without having to pre-render all of the content. Imagine a newsreader that can read articles from an RSS feed in a human voice. But, the platform doesn't have to record voices for every article that is published but can instead generate the audio the first time someone wants to hear it.

LOVO is available now, with a free demo plan for personal use, and various other offerings starting at $19.99 per month. To learn more about LOVO, check out the company's website.

Interview by Don Baine, The Gadget Professor.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

With all of the many ways we can watch television these days, between broadcast, cable, and streaming, there are a ton of shows to watch. Some will premiere a new episode every week on the same day, while others will drop an entire season at one time. This can make following what you're watching more difficult. Fortunately, Minnow is here to help you keep track.

Using the Minnow platform, which is available on iOS, Android, Apple TV, and Android TV, you can track the shows that you are currently watching and get ideas for other shows to watch. By entering which streaming services you use, you can get a single interface to browse and track the shows that are available on your services. When you find a show you want to watch, the app will open the correct service and, if you are currently in progress, will return you to where you left off.

The idea of a single place to find out where a show or movie is available to stream has existed before, but with Minnow flipping the script, you get a new and exciting way to browse what you already use. Being able to see only the shows that are on the services you subscribe to, but in a single interface, can eliminate the process of opening Netflix and scrolling, then opening Hulu and doing it all over again, only to decide you want to watch something on Amazon Prime Video (don't lie - you do it, too).

Minnow is available now for free on mobile, Apple TV, and Android TV, with new platforms, like Roku, Amazon Fire TV, web, and smart TVs, coming in the near future. To find out more about Minnow, or to download the app today, check out the company's website.

Interview by Don Baine, The Gadget Professor.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.

Hiber is a Dutch company that works to provide IoT - Internet of Things - connectivity in remote and rural areas. Only 10% of the world has connectivity right now, says Erik Wienk, Managing Director, which is about 90% of the people. But the remaining 90% of the world needs to use satellite communications technology. IoT is expensive and power-hungry, though, so Hiber has combined terrestrial and satellite communications into a satellite network with the power consumption and cost-saving levels of land-based communications. They have their own satellite network, with two satellites currently in orbit and two more planned.

Hiber systems are used in agricultural technology, logistics and supply chain systems, and mining environments. Industry sensors connect to Hiber modems and antennae to transmit data like soil moisture or temperature via satellite. The company hopes to be a solution to the big challenges we have today in situations like food waste, due to poor monitoring of production or transportation. Hiber technology can be used to monitor beehives, 70 million of which are in remote areas, with a mortality rate of 40% in unmonitored areas. With monitoring, mortality rates can be reduced by 10%, with a commensurate positive impact on crops.

The company currently has about 70 pilot projects underway, with a major focus on agricultural monitoring and transportation logistics, as well as smart energy. Hiber has been nominated as a National Icon by the Dutch Government and attended CES as part of the Dutch Innovation booth. The experience has provided them with new ways to look at things, like connected beehives, that they might not have fully considered previously. As they solve problems at the edge, and others learn how Hiber solves connectivity issues with 4G and with LoRa (Long Range low power wireless communications technology), and it hopes to become the standard globally. To learn more, visit the company's website.

Interview by Don Baine, The Gadget Professor.

Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, LivingPackets designed THE BOX to reduce the amount of waste we all know shipping can produce. THE BOX is a reusable and smart packaging solution that can be used as an alternative to cardboard boxes in the shipping process. Whereas a normal cardboard box has a single life between warehouse and destination, THE BOX can be used and shipped up to 1000 times. At the end of its life cycle, LivingPackets will make repairs and refurbish it so that it could be used an additional 1000 times. This environmentally-friendly alternative also saves up to 90% of carbon dioxide emissions.

THE BOX can hold up to 25 liters of material, equivalent to approximately two shoe boxes. It can also fold to send smaller items such as paper documents and laptops. THE BOX is equipped with a holding mechanism inside that eliminates the alternative toxic filling materials (such as paper, plastic, styrofoam, and air-filled bubbles, both large and small) used in traditional packaging. A temperature sensor, shock sensor, and a weight scale are featured inside THE BOX to ensure that the quality is maintained and it is within weight.

Alexander Cotte, co-founder and CEO of LivingPackets, claims that THE BOX optimizes existing shipping processes. All you do is place your item inside, close it, and enter the address of its destination. You can then track your package in real-time from point A to point B using their app on your smart device. Labels are also a thing of the past; the E Ink display replaces the printed label and updates per traveling destination. It can also be used to show instructions once the package has arrived at its destination.

After four years in development and 37 patents, THE BOX is an affordable, environmentally friendly, and innovative solution that will not cost more than traditional packaging. No more breaking down cardboard boxes to throw out or, if you're up for it, recycling.

THE BOX is currently in beta testing with the company's partners. For more information on the product or the company, please visit the LivingPackets website.

Interview by Don Baine, The Gadget Professor.

He graduated from from Iowa State University with a Bachelors of Science in industrial engineering and is currently a PhD student at the University of Central Florida while interning with Lockheed Martin MFC in Orlando, FL. He has worked on projects that have included the ergonomic design of power tools, human factors research, and investigating the prevalence effects in transportation. He enjoys long walks on the beach and the search for alligators in the wild.

Geek News Central awards its TPN Picks Best of CES 2020 Award to Drinkworks by Keurig.

Nearly everyone knows who Keurig is. Their pod-based coffee makers changed the way homes and offices make coffee. You can purchase Pods directly from the company, or from a variety of companies who all make Pods for their own style of coffee. No longer do people have to portion out the right amount of grounds for a single cup of coffee, or even worse, make a full pot.

Last year, the company announced a new product with a similar goal - Drinkmaker from Drinkworks. Rather than focusing on coffee, like the standard Keurig devices do, Drinkmaker is a pod-based bartender. The Pods that you purchase won't come with coffee grounds, but will instead come with all of the ingredients to make an alcoholic drink. The variety of drinks available is already impressive, with everything from a Cosmopolitan and White Russian to Peach Sangria available on their website.

Like the standard Keurig product, you simply place a Pod of your choice into the machine, press the start button, and it will produce the drink. The biggest benefit of the device is that the drink will always be properly proportioned with quality ingredients without any work on your part. It's perfect for when you have friends or family over and don't want to spend your time bartending but instead socializing.

At CES 2020, the company showed off the final product and announced general availability. Drinkmaker is available now for $299 with free shipping. Because of certain restrictions, shipping is only available to certain states, but the company is working to expand its availability as quickly as possible. Drink Pods are available now starting at $9.99 and ranging to $15.99.

Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.