Showing posts with label Increase. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Increase. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

10 Really Smart Gadgets to Increase Productivity

Lately, more and more technologically advanced innovations are taking shape in handheld or mobile gadgets. Smartphones aren’t the only smart gadgets we use these days. We have the smartwatch, smart TV, smart cars, and more. But not all gadgets that carry the label "smart", is actually smart, it just means that it is connected to the smartphone via an app or via Bluetooth.


Keeping that at the back of our heads, we dug around for gadgets with above-average smarts, the kind that helps make our life easier. We found a few items that can help you keep track of your things, a very smart lock that can also help save your life, as well as a pen that will change the way you work online. Let’s take a look.


1. Bolt


Bolt is a smart bulb which illuminates your room with a variety of colors — with only a single bulb. Yes, no more lightbulb changing with this smart lamp. Its efficient LED technology allows for a 20-year use (3 hours a day, 7 days a week). Bolt also comes with a two-year warranty.


With the Misfit HomeApp on your Android / iPhone as a control panel, you can dim the lights or adjust the colors according to your mood. Bolt also uses dynamic Lightscapes, but you can create your own Lightscape or use your own photos. Bolt also can be set as an alarm to wake you sleep with a beautiful sunrise shades.


Get it: .99


2. Bttn


When many smart devices can be controlled via the phone or computer, bttn does this in a different way. It is a physical button that you allows you access to a service, or to control an internet-enabled device by simply pressing it. Think of it as an IFTTT with you "pushing the button" as the trigger, for instance, a bttn can be configured to let you know when your kid is home from school.


You can set bttn as a trigger to services such as Zapier, OpenHome, SmartThings, Twitter, Facebook, email, or SMS messaging. Bttn connects to the internet using WiFi or mobile data with a micro SIM card, powered by couple of AA batteries.


Get it: €69


3. TrackR Stickers


TrackR is a piece of coin-sized sticker which is easy to affix to your keys, smartphone or pet. It comes in three variations: the coin-sized TrackR Stickers, the flat and rectangular TrackR Wallet (for keys), and the waterproof, engrave-able TrackR bravo (for pets).


All are capable of ringing at 85 dB if triggered with the smartphone app. The app also can use Distance Indicator and Crowd GPS that give you accurate coordinates to your missing valuables. TrackR also works in 2-ways, that means you can find your phone simply by pressing TrackR’s button.


Get it: .95


4. Keen Home


Keen Home is a vent that will help keep the temperature of your rooms uniform and balanced. You can manually open or close the vent via the application on your mobile phone, or let it work to automatically based on settings that you prefer. Keen Home will open and close to adjust the hot and cold temperatures into a comfortable range, allowing you to save energy and save on the electric bill.


The vent designs are available in Herringbone, Arbor and Wave (coming soon), and it can run for years on just 4 AA batteries. There are four measurements available: 4" by 10", 4" by 12", 6" by 10" and 6" by 12". Just remove to present vent installation in your home and plug Keen Home faceplates in.


Get it: (pre-order)



5. Smokio


Smokio is a smart vaporizer, with a system embedded in it to keep track of your smoking activity. The beauty of this is, it is designed to help you quit. It monitors your smoking activity based on the number of puffs you take as well as your nicotine levels on a day-by-day progress.


You will receive statistics on your smoking habit, as well as a report on the financial savings you are getting from smoking less. A full charge of the Li-ion battery requires 90 minutes, which can then last for 750 puffs.


Get it: €59.90


6. The Pocket Printer


The Pocket Printer by ZUtALabs is a small yet fully functioning printer that prints the content you need on any piece of paper you place it on. No more feeding the paper only to get it jamming up the insides of a printer, or wasting time figuring out how to setup the correct paper size.


With a working WiFi connection, the Pocket Printer can print documents you send to it from your smartphone, tablet, desktop or laptop, no matter where you are. It measures 10.2 cm in diameter, 7.5 cm in height and weights only 350 g.


Get it: 9 (pre-order)


7. Fever Smart


Fever Smart is a patch thermometer that connected to your iPhone, allowing you to monitor a patient’s body temperature, taken under the armpit. This tool is useful for parents who want to monitor a sick child but cannot be physically there with them, or for women who are tracking their ovulation via basal temperature (to conceive a child).


Fever Smart is also good for healthcare professionals to keep watch of their post-operative patients or to monitor critical patients with possibility of sudden high fevers, so treatments can be administered quickly. The team is releasing an Android app for this soon.


Get it: 9.99



8. Equil Smartpen 2


Some of us prefer to work with pen and paper, but find it hard to transfer that onto the digital platform. With the Equil Smartpen 2, you can use sketch, doodle and draw, write notes or plot novels on a piece of paper, then have all your scribbles transferred into digital form via Bluetooth or via the pen (and its receiver’s) built-in memory.


You can also share your writing through social networks, sync your files with Dropbox or Evernote across multiple platforms. The software will convert your handwriting to editable text, enhancing readability. The pen is good for use for 8 hours between charging, which is done via its charging case. Equil Smartpen also works with multiple languages like traditional Chinese, Japanese, Koren and more.


Get it: 9.95


9. Skylock


Skylock is a bluetooth-enabled lock that is locked and unlocked with the Sky Lock smartphone app. You can even choose to unlock it by proximity (via Signal Strength Indicator). Apart from that, Skylock also can send crash alerts to people in your trusted network, in case it detects that you were involved in an accident. It will also alert you if it is being tampered with by a theft attempt.


The beauty of Skylock is that a fully charged battery can last 6 months without a recharge, and it is powered by sunlight. This means that if you take your bike out for a ride, Skylock is continuously charging. Alternatively, it can be charged with the micro-USB port.


Get it: 9 (pre-order)


10. Arlo


If you have to install security cameras, you might fuss with wires, receivers, and settings. With Arlo, installing surveillance cameras is as easy as putting it where you want it, connecting it to your WiFi and doing all your monitoring from your mobile phone with the app. It is equipped with a fully magnetic mount, as well as waterproof container so as not to protect from rain and heat.


It is capable of recording 720p video with angles up to 110 degrees giving you high detail output. The camera starts recording once it detects any movement with its motion alert feature. Connect up to 15 cameras and monitor up to 4 cameras simultaneously.


Get it: 9.99


Bonus


Ringly


Ringly is made of 18K gold with beautiful precious stones but we’re not here to talk about jewelry, right? Ringly has the ability to notify you when someone calls you on your mobile phone. It uses 4 vibration patterns and 5 blinking colored LEDs to give you different types of configurable notifications.


The configurations can be done on the Ringly smartphone app. With the app, you can set how you want Ringly to notify you on calls, texts, emails, calendar alerts and various social applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others.


Get it: 5 (preorder)


Now Read:
15 Voice-Controlled Gadgets










10 Really Smart Gadgets to Increase Productivity

10 Really Smart Gadgets to Increase Productivity

Lately, more and more technologically advanced innovations are taking shape in handheld or mobile gadgets. Smartphones aren’t the only smart gadgets we use these days. We have the smartwatch, smart TV, smart cars, and more. But not all gadgets that carry the label "smart", is actually smart, it just means that it is connected to the smartphone via an app or via Bluetooth.


Keeping that at the back of our heads, we dug around for gadgets with above-average smarts, the kind that helps make our life easier. We found a few items that can help you keep track of your things, a very smart lock that can also help save your life, as well as a pen that will change the way you work online. Let’s take a look.


1. Bolt


Bolt is a smart bulb which illuminates your room with a variety of colors — with only a single bulb. Yes, no more lightbulb changing with this smart lamp. Its efficient LED technology allows for a 20-year use (3 hours a day, 7 days a week). Bolt also comes with a two-year warranty.


With the Misfit HomeApp on your Android / iPhone as a control panel, you can dim the lights or adjust the colors according to your mood. Bolt also uses dynamic Lightscapes, but you can create your own Lightscape or use your own photos. Bolt also can be set as an alarm to wake you sleep with a beautiful sunrise shades.


Get it: .99


2. Bttn


When many smart devices can be controlled via the phone or computer, bttn does this in a different way. It is a physical button that you allows you access to a service, or to control an internet-enabled device by simply pressing it. Think of it as an IFTTT with you "pushing the button" as the trigger, for instance, a bttn can be configured to let you know when your kid is home from school.


You can set bttn as a trigger to services such as Zapier, OpenHome, SmartThings, Twitter, Facebook, email, or SMS messaging. Bttn connects to the internet using WiFi or mobile data with a micro SIM card, powered by couple of AA batteries.


Get it: €69


3. TrackR Stickers


TrackR is a piece of coin-sized sticker which is easy to affix to your keys, smartphone or pet. It comes in three variations: the coin-sized TrackR Stickers, the flat and rectangular TrackR Wallet (for keys), and the waterproof, engrave-able TrackR bravo (for pets).


All are capable of ringing at 85 dB if triggered with the smartphone app. The app also can use Distance Indicator and Crowd GPS that give you accurate coordinates to your missing valuables. TrackR also works in 2-ways, that means you can find your phone simply by pressing TrackR’s button.


Get it: .95


4. Keen Home


Keen Home is a vent that will help keep the temperature of your rooms uniform and balanced. You can manually open or close the vent via the application on your mobile phone, or let it work to automatically based on settings that you prefer. Keen Home will open and close to adjust the hot and cold temperatures into a comfortable range, allowing you to save energy and save on the electric bill.


The vent designs are available in Herringbone, Arbor and Wave (coming soon), and it can run for years on just 4 AA batteries. There are four measurements available: 4" by 10", 4" by 12", 6" by 10" and 6" by 12". Just remove to present vent installation in your home and plug Keen Home faceplates in.


Get it: (pre-order)



5. Smokio


Smokio is a smart vaporizer, with a system embedded in it to keep track of your smoking activity. The beauty of this is, it is designed to help you quit. It monitors your smoking activity based on the number of puffs you take as well as your nicotine levels on a day-by-day progress.


You will receive statistics on your smoking habit, as well as a report on the financial savings you are getting from smoking less. A full charge of the Li-ion battery requires 90 minutes, which can then last for 750 puffs.


Get it: €59.90


6. The Pocket Printer


The Pocket Printer by ZUtALabs is a small yet fully functioning printer that prints the content you need on any piece of paper you place it on. No more feeding the paper only to get it jamming up the insides of a printer, or wasting time figuring out how to setup the correct paper size.


With a working WiFi connection, the Pocket Printer can print documents you send to it from your smartphone, tablet, desktop or laptop, no matter where you are. It measures 10.2 cm in diameter, 7.5 cm in height and weights only 350 g.


Get it: 9 (pre-order)


7. Fever Smart


Fever Smart is a patch thermometer that connected to your iPhone, allowing you to monitor a patient’s body temperature, taken under the armpit. This tool is useful for parents who want to monitor a sick child but cannot be physically there with them, or for women who are tracking their ovulation via basal temperature (to conceive a child).


Fever Smart is also good for healthcare professionals to keep watch of their post-operative patients or to monitor critical patients with possibility of sudden high fevers, so treatments can be administered quickly. The team is releasing an Android app for this soon.


Get it: 9.99



8. Equil Smartpen 2


Some of us prefer to work with pen and paper, but find it hard to transfer that onto the digital platform. With the Equil Smartpen 2, you can use sketch, doodle and draw, write notes or plot novels on a piece of paper, then have all your scribbles transferred into digital form via Bluetooth or via the pen (and its receiver’s) built-in memory.


You can also share your writing through social networks, sync your files with Dropbox or Evernote across multiple platforms. The software will convert your handwriting to editable text, enhancing readability. The pen is good for use for 8 hours between charging, which is done via its charging case. Equil Smartpen also works with multiple languages like traditional Chinese, Japanese, Koren and more.


Get it: 9.95


9. Skylock


Skylock is a bluetooth-enabled lock that is locked and unlocked with the Sky Lock smartphone app. You can even choose to unlock it by proximity (via Signal Strength Indicator). Apart from that, Skylock also can send crash alerts to people in your trusted network, in case it detects that you were involved in an accident. It will also alert you if it is being tampered with by a theft attempt.


The beauty of Skylock is that a fully charged battery can last 6 months without a recharge, and it is powered by sunlight. This means that if you take your bike out for a ride, Skylock is continuously charging. Alternatively, it can be charged with the micro-USB port.


Get it: 9 (pre-order)


10. Arlo


If you have to install security cameras, you might fuss with wires, receivers, and settings. With Arlo, installing surveillance cameras is as easy as putting it where you want it, connecting it to your WiFi and doing all your monitoring from your mobile phone with the app. It is equipped with a fully magnetic mount, as well as waterproof container so as not to protect from rain and heat.


It is capable of recording 720p video with angles up to 110 degrees giving you high detail output. The camera starts recording once it detects any movement with its motion alert feature. Connect up to 15 cameras and monitor up to 4 cameras simultaneously.


Get it: 9.99


Bonus


Ringly


Ringly is made of 18K gold with beautiful precious stones but we’re not here to talk about jewelry, right? Ringly has the ability to notify you when someone calls you on your mobile phone. It uses 4 vibration patterns and 5 blinking colored LEDs to give you different types of configurable notifications.


The configurations can be done on the Ringly smartphone app. With the app, you can set how you want Ringly to notify you on calls, texts, emails, calendar alerts and various social applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others.


Get it: 5 (preorder)


Now Read:
15 Voice-Controlled Gadgets



10 Really Smart Gadgets to Increase Productivity

Friday, March 13, 2015

Designers: 15 UX & UI Tools To Increase Your Productivity

If you find yourself spending way too much time prototyping your next big design, you may need to take a step back and evaluate the tools and resources you have at hand. There is no reason to stick to the same wireframing or prototyping tool when new and improved UX tools and UI resources are added ever so often on the Web. Work faster, better and smatter with more powerful tools and fresher UI kits.


To help you with that, we have here 15 UX and UI tools that are great for prototyping. Some of them carry drag-and-drop functionalities and powerful team collaboration features, while others contain great resources for testing your design’s usability within the development phase and in some cases, in real-time.


More on Hongkiat:


Proto.io


You can create your prototypes on the browser via drag-and-drop and zero-code with Proto.io, and on top of that apply multiple touch and mouse events to any UI element. Proto.io also carries one of the most realistic and useful interactive UI libraries you will find in any prototyping tool. Test your prototype on an actual device and discuss your design-related info with team members with its collaboration tool.



Pidoco


Create clickable wireframes quickly and easily with Picodo’s drag-and-drop feature, then create, edit and share an unlimited number of wireframe mockups or prototypes with team members and clients in real time. Its powerful feedback and discussion functions makes for great and easy collaboration. Save your customized templates for reuse later on, and test your prototypes on your favorite mobile devices.



Vonn Mobile Material Design UI Kit


The Vonn Material Design UI Kit by Visual Hierarchy features 100 beautiful drag-and-drop UI templates in 8 categories, all perfect for creating Android apps. The templates are designed at 1920×1080 pixels to provide a perfect fit on a mobile device. No coding needed. The Vonn UI Kit is fully compatible with Google’s material design guidelines for style and layout.



AppCooker


With the advanced features AppCooker brings to the table, you will save time, money, and impress your clients, while designing and sharing beautiful iPhone and iPad mockups through the use of native iOS widgets. Don’t have the time to create a mockup from scratch? Then, AppCooker is the app for you.



Firefly


Firefly is a highly practical app development tool that features a useful combination of design, data management, and collaboration functions, great for organizations with widely dispersed development teams. With Firefly, it is possible to upload mockups, app designs, images, and even entire web pages during the design process. This tool has the ability to manage multiple design versions, while allowing collaborators to be brought into the picture at any time during the design process for information sharing purposes.



InVision


InVision provides a prototyping, collaboration, and workflow platform suitable for applications in a design-driven environment. It easily and rapidly transforms static screens into interactive prototypes. Its drag-and-drop functionality makes rapid prototyping during any development phase. The information features that have been incorporated into this tool make real-time design presentation, collaboration, and conveniently-displayed feedback a reality.



Ace iOS 8 Mobile UI Kit


The Ace Module UI Kit is well organized and ready to use to mock up iOS 8 mobile app designs for the benefit of the end user. With 75 PSD templates and more than 100 icons at the designer’s disposal, iPhone app design is easier than ever. The screens available in the kit allow over 1000 different apps to be created. The templates are created for Retina HD 4.7 size, and are a perfect match for creating stunning apps on iPhone 6.



User Testing


User Testing is a user research platform that can be used to test either released or unreleased mobile apps on iOS and Android devices. User Testing will design a test for you, or you can design a test yourself. You can run the test in minutes, and have the results within an hour. The cool thing about this is that feedback is not only in the form of metrics but also videos of real people commenting on the usability of your app.



Prott


Prott is a powerful rapid prototyping and collaboration tool especially designed for creating mobile apps. Graphics, sketches, and images can easily be animated, screens can be sync’ed together, and the resulting prototype can be previewed on a real device and shared with team members for collective feedback. iOS and Android screen resolutions and sizes are fully supported.



Optimizely


Optimizely is an optimization platform offering fast and powerful A/B testing for mobile apps. A visual editor allows visual changes to be made to your app in real time and on the fly without waiting for App Store review, no matter how customized it may be. A single line of code, generated by Optimizely, and inserted into your HTML is the only coding that is necessary.



Notism


Notism features a UX capability that allows design events and progress to be shared with remarkable ease, and in real time. This translates into more rapid design iterations, less time required for sign-offs, and a streamlined usability testing process. The most significant feature Notism brings to the table is the capability to collaborate with others by video, a feature regarded by some as a true game-changer.



PowerMockup


PowerMockup is a useful prototyping tool that features a unique twist. This tool provides the necessary wireframing templates and functionality, but it enables the actual wireframing to be done on PowerPoint. This makes it possible for end users and non-technical participants to more easily follow the design process. PowerMockup iterates and redefines designs in real time, while remaining focused on the usability of the end product.



myna


Myna brings to the table a form of A/B testing that learns in real time as you test. It optimizes your tests on the fly, enabling your best designs to be seen by more of your customers or potential customers. Tests are conducted based on your individual visitors, not individual pageviews. Test results are quickly available, and Myna even allows you to make changes to your design while testing is in progress.



Usability Tools


Usability Tools provides two sets of useful tools to test the usability of your app. One set identifies usability issues on the fly, and tells you which features of your app draws the attention of your visitors and which features that are ignored. The second set provides user feedback relating to the look and feel of your app. Both sets offer a variety of testing options.



Antetype


Antetype was developed by UI designers and provides all the tools you need to design rich, hi-fidelity prototypes. More than 400 widgets are available for all major platforms, but you still have the option to add additional widgets, including your own. Integrated interaction and annotation features allow you to demonstrate ongoing design work, and make comments and feedback available to team members and stakeholders.



Editor’s note: This post is written by Kate Dagli for Hongkiat.com. Kate enjoys writing roundups for web dev and technology websites. She is currently a staff member of the-webdesigner.co.


Now Read:
7 Ways To Boost Your Productivity












Designers: 15 UX & UI Tools To Increase Your Productivity