To celebrate Internet of Things Day, here are some recent useful, silly and plain weird internet of things projects.
If you can stuff a chip and a low-power Bluetooth module into a home appliance, someone in Silicon Valley is making it.
Even if it involves unicorns and farts.
Rainbow farting unicorn
Tootz currently integrates with Twitter, Facebook, Twitch and Gmail to receive fart-worthy notifications.
Whenever you get a notification Tootz announces it with a blast of awesomeness.
Behind that gleeful smile is a sophisticated system powered by Intel’s internet of Things SoC.
It utilizes node.js and websockets to filter out good news from bad news, insuring that Tootz only activates when good things happen.
The Tootz project is available on Indiegogo, and backers can claim one of their own for $69-89 with a special Golden Horn edition available for backers that fund it at the $114 level.
Inventor Ruiz-Avila stated, “We already have requests for a dragon that breathes fire and a “hype” Train that bellows multicolor steam. So, this might become a real product line.”
The internet of farts
A different kind of cloud.
The goal of this fun Hackaday project is to keep track of ahem..personal emissions while driving.
With a PIC, an ESP8266, a GPS module, and a small LCD display and keyboard, you now have a way to log rolling flatulence.
It turns out that Michel mainly farts while heading south, and he’s worried about the implications both in terms of polar ice cap loss and how Santa is going to treat him…
This project has gone so far as to inspire poetry:
Once after committing a LOMA
I detected a peculiar aroma
I then checked my iPhone
To analyze the stench-zone.
But found that it only runs on Chrome-a
Michel designed his internet of things project for fun. Here’s a Kickstarter project that attaches to your belt and monitors your farts.
Smart paper plane
Wouldn’t it be great if you could make your self-made paper airplane fly in any direction you want?
The PowerUp 3.0 was launched after a successful Kickstarter internet of things campaign. It’s a smartphone controlled paper airplane.
It works by attaching the smart module to your paper plane and then connecting it with your smartphone through the app.
You can steer your plane by tilting your smartphone to the left or to the right and make it go up or down by increasing or reducing throttle.
You can buy it here for $50.
Smart Fork
This fork literally gives you a little vibrating jolt if you’re shoveling food into your mouth too fast.
HAPIfork is an internet of things connected fork that helps you to eat more slowly.
If you eat too quickly, the fork vibrates, and bright lights flash on its handle.
It monitors a lot of data for a fork. Here’s according to the Hapifork site:
Every time you bring food from your plate to your mouth with your fork, this action is called: a “fork serving”.
The HAPIfork also measures:
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How long it took to eat your meal.
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The amount of “fork servings” taken per minute.
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Intervals between “fork servings”.
Kill the laugh track
Can’t stand the canned laughter on TV comedy shows?
According to the people behind Kill The Cann (KTC), you’re not the only one.
“Over 80 percent of our survey audience replied that laugh tracks on television shows annoyed them.”
Their solution is Kill The Cann, which reduces or removes laughter from television audio using a signal processing algorithm.
You connect the HDMI cable of your DVR to KTC and then to your TV.
The project could use some help on Kickstarter, to put it mildly.
Vacuum Cleaning Sneakers
These vacuum shoes are perfect for tidy fashionistas.
The Ecology Shoe from Japanese auto company Denso has a small vacuum inside its very large, outer sole.
These classy kicks “shoe-ver” with a toe-box nozzle that sucks up dust and crumbs as you stroll.
At the heel is a small pedal, which is connected to gears. Every step you take powers the vacuum motor, allowing it to suck up small pieces of debris at a time.
All the dirt winds up in a space no bigger than a Tic Tac box.
Kérastase Hair Coach
This smart hairbrush listens to the sound of your hair as you brush.
Internet of things sensors collect info on your brushing pressure.
Apparently, it provides all the insights you could possibly want into “manageability, frizziness, dryness, split ends and breakage”.
It provides hair tips and recommends L’Oreal’s Kérastase luxury products.
Hopefully not too many of them, after shelling out $200 for the hair brush!
You can find it at Withings from Fall 2017.
Smart Cat Water Fountain
The IndieGogo campaign describes the Pura cat water fountain as:
“a beautifully crafted and ergonomically designed smart water fountain for cats that is easy to clean, encourages better water-drinking habits and helps you keep tabs on your kitten’s water-intake right on your smartphone.”
It allows you to monitor the water intake of your pampered puss as well as reduce neck stress (!) and keep their whiskers dry.
