Beyond a case: Smartphone accessories

There is no doubt that our lives have changed – mostly for the better – by the introduction of the smartphone. I’m still amazed at the things we are able to do with them, and even more amazed at how quickly we’ve been able to assimilate them and all they do into our lives. It seems like I’ve always been able to get stock quotes on my phone, or snap pictures of inappropriately dressed Walmart shoppers and post them to my Facebook wall.

And smartphones have been good for my writing. They’ve provided me with plenty of fodder to write about over the last couple of years as I’ve explored various apps, devices and operating systems. And once again, Geek Chic is going to focus on smartphones, in a round-about kind of way.

About a year ago I was cleaning out some bookmarks I had on my browser and noticed that I had an inordinately high number of sites that sold some piece of physical merchandise that could somehow be connected to a smartphone – accessories and the like. From cases to custom screen covers, this “smartphone aftermarket” is huge – just look what it has done for Otterbox.

Unfortunately, a lot of this crap is just that – crap. But there are also some pretty cool accessories out there; some of it pretty useful and others, not so much, but great for entertainment value nonetheless. So over the past year I’ve made note of some of the more unique products out there and here they are, in no particular order.

Helo TC Assault Copter (www.griffintechnology.com), $59: I really can’t think of anything cooler to be able to do with your phone than pilot a remote-controlled, missile-firing helicopter. I’ve waited about 30 years for this type of technology and make no mistake about it, I’ve got some big plans to use theses babies to advance my goals of world domination, or at least start colonizing neighboring cubicles.

The copter is actually pretty small (read: stealthy) and the range of the missiles is about six feet. It operates on a wireless signal that is broadcast through a transmitter (included) that plugs into the headphone jack of the phone. I like the idea of a dedicated operation signal. It avoids the frustration of Bluetooth connectivity altogether. The manufacturer states that up to three copters can be operated within the same area from different phones. Can you say “attack formation?”

The website says not to fire the missiles at loved ones or the family dog or cat. Yeah, right.

LIFX (www.lifx.co), price to be announced: LIFX is, according to its inventors, “the light bulb reinvented,” and that is a pretty accurate description. Imagine having complete control over every light bulb in your home from your phone. And I’m not just talking about on/off control. I mean complete control.

LIFX is an LED bulb with some pretty fascinating attributes. For one thing, it is LED, so its power consumption is low (although your net-dollar savings on your electric bill is probably going to get eaten by the cost of the bulb). Combined with the LIFX app, the real power of the bulb — no pun intended – comes to light – pun intended.

Lights can be turned on/off, dimmed, combined into controllable groups, automatically turned on/off at preset times and are capable of illuminating in millions of different colors. There is even a setting that allows the colors to change and pulse with your music and even strobe. Disco night is back, baby!

The bulbs operate on your local wireless network using a master/slave mesh network – basically one bulb acts as a master and connects to your network. The remaining bulbs connect to this master and receive their instructions through it.

The only issue with LIFX is the demand for the product is out of control. Originally started as a Kickstarter project seeking $100,000 in funding, the inventors were able to raise about 13 times that amount and quickly sold out on the first production run. The website is currently collecting email addresses for notification of the second production run.

Stick-N-Find (www.sticknfind.com), $69 and up: Here is a new twist on the solution to an age-old problem: finding that which is lost and/or annoying the heck out of your cat, dog or teenage child.

Stick-N-Find is a small disc about the size of 75 cents worth of quarters. You place the disc on people, pets or objects that tend to get away from you and then with the handy radar-screen-like app, you track them.

Stick-N-Find has a couple of methods of operation. The most active of the modes is what the manufacturer calls a “virtual leash.” This method lets you set a distance that you are comfortable with letting the object you are tracking move within (the maximum is 100 feet). Once the object moves outside of that range, your phone will alert you. The website suggests this mode of operation for children and pets.

More passive modes of operation allow you to view items that are out of sight via the screen on the app, which indicates relative distance, not actual location. You can also send a signal to the disc to activate audible and visual alarms to help locate lost items; think remote-control between the sofa cushions and car keys in jacket pockets.

Unfortunately, this device doesn’t help find minds that wander or get completely lost, nor with locating general sanity once it is gone.

Stick-N-Find is sold in packs of tracking discs – from three up to 100. It relies on Bluetooth connectivity so expect some wonkiness in the presence of other Bluetooth-enabled devices.

Netatmo (www.netatmo.com), $179: This is a neat little device and app combination that collects data on your local atmosphere, both inside and out.

The device portion of Netatmo is two cylindrical-shaped sensors – one you place indoors, the other outdoors – that monitor atmospheric conditions like temperature, barometric pressure and humidity. The collected data is displayed on your phone. Now $180 is a lot of money to lay down for a weather-reporting app, especially when there are plenty of free services out there that will give you the same data, but Netatmo goes into a little more detail: it truly reports on your local atmosphere.

In addition to the above mentioned metrics, Netatmo will also monitor and track air quality, carbon-dioxide levels and noise pollution. It will even offer suggestions on activities like going outside or opening windows based on the data it is receiving.

Netatmo works via Wi-Fi, connecting to your local wireless network. The only things that would make this a must-have would be more traditional weather reporting metrics like wind speed and precipitation accumulation and the ability to monitor more toxic gases like carbon monoxide.

So there you have it: more cool things to do with your phone besides bringing air traffic to a halt while attempting to play a word that contains 12 consecutive consonants or photographing one more beautiful sunset. Until next time.

Michael D. Wailes is an interactive developer at Burns Marketing and Communications in Johnstown. If you have questions or would like to suggest a topic for a future Geek Chic column, email him at news@ncbr.com.

on Facebook on LinkedIn