PLUGHITZ Live Presents (Video)

Your pet would love for you to stay home and play with it all day. Unfortunately, you have to go work. Pebby is a smart ball that entertains your pet while you are away. Best of all, the Pebby app allows you to remotely interact and play with your pet from anywhere.

Todd visited the Pebby booth at CES 2018 and spoke with Thinesh. The Pebby ball has many ways to entertain your pet. It allows pet owners to talk to their pets, record videos, and snap photos. The Pebby ball has a camera in it that connects to the Pebby app. Pet owners can maneuver the Pebby ball via the app by using the joystick icon.

The Pebby ball can make sounds. Press the cat icon on the app and the Pebby ball makes a "meow" noise. Press the dog icon and the ball makes a "woof" sound. Talk into the app, and your pet will be able to hear you through the Pebby ball. The Pebby ball has a laser on it that pet owners can use to entertain their cats. Put a Pebby collar on your pet, and it unlocks the auto-play function. The Pebby ball will follow your pet and encourage your pet to play.

To recharge Pebby, roll it into the Pebby wireless charging dock. Four hours of charging time gives you two hours of optimal non-stop playing and 12 hours on standby.

You can preorder Pebby for $189 USD. Pebby is expecting to deliver in Quarter 2 at $249 USD for the Pebby ball, Pebby dock, and Pebby smart collar.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

Riding a bicycle or motorcycle can be fun, but it isn't always ideal if you are in an area with lots of pollution. R-PUR found a fun and effective solution to this problem. They created the R-PUR anti-pollution mask that can filter out the harmful particles that are in the air.

Todd visited the R-PUR booth at CES 2018 and spoke with Matthieu. R-PUR has created an anti-pollution mask for people who ride motorcycles or bicycles. The mask is efficient, comfortable, and fashionable. The R-PUR mask is the result of a year and a half of research and development. It is the only one that can filter out nano sized particles.

You will, at times, have to change the filter in the R-PUR anti-pollution mask. The filters last between four and six weeks. R-PUR created an app that takes into consideration your location, the weather, and the amount of pollution, and lets you know when you need to change the filter. R-PUR launched their first collection of winter filter covers for the mask at CES 2018. They want to release new collections every six months. Doing so will keep their filter covers fun, fashionable, and something that people want to wear.

The R-PUR anti-pollution mask will be on the market in the United States in June of 2018 at $150 USD.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

Lexip is the world's first gaming mouse designed to be an all-in-one solution for your gaming needs across all types of games. It is a high-performance gaming mouse which is intuitive, precise, and fast in all your favorite games.

Todd spoke with Hugo at the Lexip booth at CES 2018. Hugo pointed out that the Lexip Gaming Mouse has won three innovation awards. The mouse has two fully mechanical joysticks. One is on the side of the mouse and can be moved with your thumb. The other is in the core of the mouse itself, which you move by tilting the shell of the mouse. Everything on the Lexip mouse is fully programmable.

Lexip has a Kickstarter for the mouse. You can get the Lexip Gaming Mouse via Kickstarter for $109 USD. Retail marketing for the Lexip Gaming Mouse starts in July of 2018 at $149 USD.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

Tracking shots have traditionally been the preserve of the professional filmmaker or broadcaster, first with cameras on dollies and tracks, then with Steadicam and now there are cable or wire systems (SkyCam) that can move in three dimensions to get some really amazing shots. While these are all still expensive, the amateur filmmaker can achieve a similar effect with Wiral Lite at a fraction of the cost. Todd hangs tight with Emilie.

The Wiral Lite system consists of a steel cable plus a motorized camera mount - the cable cam - that hangs from the cable and it's a little like a miniature cable car. The cable is strung between two strong points, say, a couple of trees or street lights, and the cable cam is hung on the wire under tension. It needs the tension so that the rubber wheels can grip on the cable and move about. Cameras up to 1.5 kg / 3.3 lb. can be carried by the cable cam so it can easily hold a GoPro. The remote control moves the cable cam back and forth on the cable with adjustable speed.

The Wiral was successfully funded on Kickstarter in the autumn raising over $1,000,000 and is now also crowdfunding on Indiegogo. There are currently perks at $239 with delivery expected in August.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

As serious wine connoisseurs know, you have to let red (and some white) wines breathe after opening, allowing them to aerate for the best aroma and taste. As a generalization, the younger the wine, the longer it needs to rest before drinking. Very young wines might need a few hours, but half-an-hour is the minimum. And simply taking the cork out doesn't count: the wine needs to be decanted (or double-decanted back into the bottle) for proper aeration. If this sounds like too much effort, then take a look at Aveine, a connected aerator and winner of a CES Innovation Award.

Thanks to the connected aerator Aveine, you can immediately taste any wine in ideal conditions without having to wait 30 minutes or more. Place the aerator on the bottle, scan the label with your smartphone and serve. The smartphone checks for the wine in its database, connects to the Aveine and adjusts the aeration so that the aerator breathes the right amount of air as the wine is poured allowing it to breathe in an instant. Any red wine will benefit and there's no waiting around or pouring into decanters.

The Aveine aerator is launching on Indiegogo in March - signup for notifications at Aveine. Retail pricing is expected to be $200 with deals on Indiegogo. Delivery in June.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

After the success of their smart helmet light for motorcyclists, Cosmo Connected are back at CES with a new version for bicyclists. For once the smart moniker is well deserved and it really could save lives. Todd goes for a ride with Emily.

Winning three CES awards in 2018, the Cosmo team's smart helmet for cyclists builds on bike version. With investment from Michelin, the new helmet light not only shows when the cyclist is braking but also when they're going to turn. For braking, the light uses accelerometers to detect deceleration but for turns, it's more sophisticated. The smart light is pre-programmed with the cyclist's expected route and then uses GPS to anticipate upcoming turns, indicate either to the left or the right as appropriate. This is particularly useful for cyclists who have regular routes such as commutes.

In the unfortunate event of an accident, the Cosmo smart light can automatically call for help via the rider's smartphone (Android / iOS) using Bluetooth.

The new cycle light will be available in the summer for $59 - that's amazing value and I'll be getting one. As promised, here's last year's CES video for the motorbike light.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

Smell is one of the last human senses to be conquered by machines, with human noses still assessing and testing a wide range of products such as tea, perfume and body odour. French firm Aryballe Technologies are smell specialists with their new NeOse Pro, which aims to bring consistency to the market. Todd sees the end for Q Graders....

Aryballe's NeOse Pro brings objective analysis to the identification and measurement of odours and smells. The NeOse Pro isn't designed to suggest what's a good smell or a bad one, but rather that a standard for a smell has been met. This could be for quality control purposes in a fragrance or to detect fruit ripeness. There's a wide range of opportunities in food, beauty, medical and manufacturing. New car smell anyone?

The NeOse Pro is intended for commercial uses so the hand-held unit won't be on the shelves of stores anytime soon. Businesses will need around $10,000 to get their hands on the device.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

Stainless steel insulated water bottles are commonplace today and have largely taken over from the glass vacuum flasks - the latter are just too delicate, especially for camping and hillwalking. And while the steel bottles are good are keeping stuff warm, the liquid has to be hot in the first place....or does it? Cauldryn Fyre bottles have a built-in heating element which not only keeps liquids warm, it can actually boil water. Colten and Joe have a quick Americano.

The Cauldryn Fyre water bottles feature a modular design, offering a 16-ounce, stainless steel, vacuum insulated bottle with the revolutionary Fyre heating element. The standard Cauldryn Fire is powered from AC but the Fyre Mobile features a rechargeable battery to heat the liquid and keep it hot all day. The mobile base has a couple of USB charging sockets too. There's a DC base available for heating from 12V / 24V.

The Cauldryn Fire system is modular. Want a smoothie? There's a blender attachment. Need a light? Snap in the rechargeable battery. It's even got integration with Google Assistant. Seriously, I want one of these. The Cauldryn Fire is shipping now. The standard Fyre is $69.99, Fyre Mobile is $129.99 and additional battery units are $69.99. DC base $9.99.

Interview by Colten Clymer of Geek News Central.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

The smart home is where-it's-at, and while there are all kinds of automated lights, plugs and switches for people, there's a growing market for the "internet of pets" - activity trackers, smart beds, smartphone apps. Jenna throws Todd a bone and shows him the latest kit for the connected canine.

The Wagz team have range of products which work round a connected collar. As expected, the collar tracks steps and activity, building up data on the pooch's fitness and lifestyle. There's LED lighting to avoid road accidents and the smart dog collar has an OLED display for name and owner info. Amazingly the collar has built-in GPS with 3G/LTE mobile connectivity, meaning it'll phone home tell you where your mutt is when it gets lost. There's even an option for a camera to get a dog's eye view of the world that streams in real-time. Now you can watch Lassie come home as it happens. Here girl!

Mind you, this isn't cheap - the basic collar will cost $295 - and for the camera version, it'll set you back a cool $495. Pre-orders are open for expected deliveries in Q2 2018. The Wagz collar will also be available in stores as it was recently picked up by Black and Decker. Integrating with the collar are a pet feeder ($250) and a pet door ($250) which will be available later in the year too.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

For relatively small devices, handheld hairdryers use large amounts of power for anything up to ten minutes at a time. As a result, it's one of the last things you'd think to be successfully battery-powered. Nevertheless, the team at VOLO Beauty have taken on the challenge to develop the world's first cordless hairdryer, the VOLO Go. Todd discusses the problem with Ryan and Jonathan.

Their approach for the VOLO Go has been to re-engineer the hair dryer, changing from heating the air to heating the hair via infrared. This reduces the power demand to only 600 W - that's about a third of a traditional hairdryer - without increasing drying time. At this level, battery-power is feasible, and the VOLO Go lasts 14 minutes on a charge. As the average drying time for a woman's hair is 7.5 minutes, this is ample. Extra batteries will be available for extended use.

The VOLO Go will launch in summer 2018 priced at $388, with a Kickstarter campaign in the spring.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.