Mobile app

Meet CREATE – The UNSW Club for Making Things – Sydney Maker Faire 2014

Meet the team from CREATE – The UNSW Club for Making Things.

These guys are the most entrepreneurial group of students I have met in my years of working with or attending Universities. As a group they are only about 18 months old but are growing rapidly.

Typically University students learn a particular skill set focused on their major, however the products of our new world are increasingly merging where new classes of devices require sophisticated combinations of Electrical, Electronics, Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Design and then fabrication. Its a team game, no one discipline can hope to master all of the skills needed.

CREATE UNSW Hexacopter

CREATE UNSW Hexacopter

 

CREATE started off as Student Club to give practical experience for Engineering students, running courses to learn how to program Microcontrollers and Ardunio, as well fabrication skills such as 3d Printing, CNC tools, CAD and other engineering subjects which are well covered in most Universities from a theory perspective but rarely well covered with practical workshops.

Hexacopter at Maker Faire

Hexacopter at Maker Faire

When I first did my apprenticeship 30 years ago (yes before most of you were born) you had to do a trade to learn how to make things. Fitters and turners, machinists, boilermakers, pattern makers, they were the makers of yesteryear, and while there were a lot of people who loved their mechanical engineering jobs, no one loved going to the factory everyday as it was in many cases a production line where your job was turning out parts someone else created, rarely being involved in the creation yourself.

Today many of these jobs are being done by machines programmed and operated by extremely smart University graduates or enthusiasts discovering new age ways to do past age work and to create new devices and services (Draftsmen are probably the only ones which are still in demand, but no velum, clutch pens or pen plotters in sight, only Solidworks or Autocad gurus need apply).

This trend will continue to accelerate, if you doubt that your job can be done by a machine run by computer check out this list of old English occupations and see whats left.

Which is why its great that the CREATE team are running these courses and now officially opening their courses to non University students. You can join their Facebook Group here

Once of the things that impressed me was their parts and quadcopter sales. Because a lot of the components needed for their soldering and electronics businesses were not available readily from local suppliers, they put together a float and started buying components in from China, they now run weekly trade stalls for all of the students to purchase the parts they need for their projects.

From this came a project to build a Quadcopter which I wrote about early this year and now after prototyping a few versions they have now sold over $20,000 worth of Quadcopters this year, not bad for a University Club, this will keep them in Beer and Pizza for the rest of the year.

If you think these things are toys you are dead wrong, they have very advanced features including;

  • GPS
  • 6 Axis Accelerometer
  • Compass
  • Altimeter
  • Long Distance Radio control with a range of 10 miles
  • Fully programable autopilot with mission planning
  • Self tuning flight trimming to save the potentially damaging process of launching a new aircraft
  • Sophisticated dampened Gimbal for mounting a camera and streaming real time video of the flight back to the user
  • Just in case something goes wrong they also have an auto return home function to return the aircraft back to base if they lose radio control.

Watch these guys, they are going to do something special.

 

http://youtu.be/izx3IIeTM6Q

 

Ownphones – Custom printed Bluetooth Earphones

ownphones

ownphones

 

Startup Name * OwnPhones
What problem are you solving? OwnPhones (#ownphones) today went LIVE with a Kickstarter (#kickstarter) campaign (http://bit.ly/ownphones) to help complete the development of its revolutionary product – the world’s first wireless 3D printed, personalized smart earbuds (#earbuds) and an accompanying mobile app for iOS (Android to follow).The campaign, which has a funding goal of $250,000USD, features limited Early Bird specials of 50% off all sets of earbuds (regular retail prices range from $299USD to $449USD).Designed to fit perfectly and built exclusively for each individual ear, OwnPhones earbuds represent a combination of the very latest in 3D printing, Bluetooth technology and personal audio.Along with being custom 3D printed according to the user’s personality and choice of activities, they’re also completely wireless, cancel noise around the user and can even be made to fit their lifestyle with an ergonomic custom fit. And with thousands of combinations of features and four different models (“Fit,” “Designer Fit,” “Smart Fit” and “Jewelry Collection) to choose from, OwnPhones earbuds can be personalized for each user.
What is your solution? “Ears are like fingerprints – each one is unique, so it is time that consumers were able to get earbuds that actually fit their ears properly,”OwnPhones Personalization Technology• A Custom Fit The OwnPhones mobile app turns a phone’s camera into a 3D scanner. By following a few simple steps, users create a short video orbiting the phone around their ears. The OwnPhones servers will then convert the video into a 3D model of their ears. This creates a custom ergonomic fit so every time the user wears them, they’ll fit perfectly and won’t jiggle when they run or jostle when they dance!• 3D Printed Each pair of OwnPhones earbuds offers a precise fit down to the millimeter. The printer can assemble 3D objects out of many different materials. This allows OwnPhones to match the cartilage in the user’s ear and can build any set of OwnPhones earbuds, one-at-a-time.• True-Wireless The earbuds are integrated with Bluetooth 4.0 technology, so there’s no cord to get tangled and no plugs to fumble with. OwnPhones gives users the freedom they need without the restrictions of a cord and will be the world’s first 3D printed wireless earbuds.• SoundScaping Since OwnPhones are perfectly fitted to each ear, they can be used to block out noise. But not all noises. A built-in digital signal processor can filter ambient noises (Soundscaping) and the user can use the OwnPhones mobile app to let through requested sounds – from a beeping alarm to a friend’s voice (OwnPhones calls this “Real World Notifications”).• Own Status Using red, yellow and green LED lights, the OwnStatus feature can let OwnPhones communicate for the user. A red light tells people, “Leave me alone,” a yellow light says “I’m busy” and a green light says “Let’s chat.”• Versatile Advantage Since users have two separate earbuds, they can push music to one side and let the world in through the other. Now, there’s no need to buy another headset to make and receive calls in the car… users can use their OwnPhones both as earbuds and as a headset.YouTube Video: http://youtu.be/Wv05p-ueHEI
Why is this a great opportunity? Kickstarter Details and Availability OwnPhone’s Kickstarter offering is now available at: http://bit.ly/ownphones. OwnPhones is seeking support to complete the development of its revolutionary wireless 3D printed, personalized smart earbuds and an accompanying mobile app for iOS (Android to follow). Early Bird Specials include: for a $149USD pledge, users can get the “OwnPhones Fit” model. For a $175USD pledge, users can get the “OwnPhones Designer Fit” model.For a $199USD pledge, users can get the “OwnPhones Smart Fit” model.Additional rewards include: for a $799USD pledge, users can design (in their own brand look and style) their own custom branded earbuds. As part of this reward, contributors can sell their branded earbuds on the OwnPhones online store. Another rewards option includes a pledge for $9,999USD, which will see OwnPhones commissioning a local artist who will meet with the contributor to custom design a Gold & Diamond studded fashion earbud.
Target Market Anyone who uses earbuds
How will you make money? Via sales of the earbuds
Founders Names Itamar Jobani
Website http://www.ownphones.com
What type of funding has the company received Bootstrapped/self funded


Startup88 Verdict

A few days ago I reviewed the NORMAL 3D Printed Custom Earphones, which look great. Ownphones pitch and presentation isnt quite a smooth or polished as the Normal, however they seem to have put the effort into the product rather than the marketing. The key difference here is the Ownphones are bluetooth where are the Normal earphones have wires. In addition the Ownphones have created a whole range of style options where your earphones can be completely customised including probably the first set of hea act as jewelry. As at 20th July they have 536 backers and $106,000 towards their $250,000 goal with 35 days to go. Looks like they have a shot of making their goal. There is probably enough space for a bunch of custom earphone makers, certainly given the size of the existing market and how much that has grown in the last and the propensity to pay $100-300 for their earphones so they probably have a good chance of making it but I am expecting a rush of custom built products of all types over the coming months and after the first 5-10 it will start to get repetitive. What’s not clear to me is how any of these customised hardware businesses will scale when they have to produce 1000s of devices a month, its tough to build little bits of hardware, little bits of custom hardware sounds diabolical.

Ownphones Status

Ownphones Status

Ownphones Soundscaping

Ownphones Soundscaping

Ownphones Custom Fit

Ownphones Custom Fit

NORMAL – 3D Printed Custom Earphones

These are cool, custom made 3D printed earphones for similar (albeit expensive) pricing to premium ear buds.

http://youtu.be/8tmhdOfIEqU

Normal-Ear-Bud-ExplodedNORMAL uses an App that takes photos to determine the size and shape of your ear and then prints an ear bud that will fit you like a glove.

Normal-Custom-Ear-Buds-App

 

 

 

 

 

 

NORMAL is opening a factory in Manhattan where you will be able to view your earphones being made. They are setting up 3D printers, CNC machines and assembly lines to produce them on the spot.

Normal-FactoryBe interesting to see how they scale, I imagine it would difficult to trust this to overseas 3rd party manufacturing when each is built for a particular customer and delivery time is expected in days not months.

For years we have been talking about mass customisation and have seen both vehicle and clothing manufacturers offer mass customisation but it will be interesting to see if this is new trend starting for mass customisation of personal electronics.

Pocketbook releases new tax summary feature, saves taxpayers 1000s of hours screwing around

taxhelper_heroerPocketbook really appears to be making massive progress, maybe the 10 or so VCs in Australia with a fund should get on board now.

Pocketbook-tax-hero

Hot on the heels of their mobile app they have released a tax primer which takes data you already imported and allows you to categorise and calculates a summary of the various tax deductions you have.

10 Questions

10 Questions

Pocketbook Tax Screen

Pocketbook Tax Screen

You add your bank accounts, answer 10 questions and then it sucks all the data out of the banks accounts and presents a confirmation screen to add expenses it identified to the tax return you can then take the summary to your accountants.

If you add this to the capability in their mobile App to snap receipts you can pretty well do just about everything a basic tax payer needs to do to get all their data together for the tax agent

Pocketbook Mobile Photo Receipt

Pocketbook Mobile Photo Receipt

Pocketbook Mobile Mapcash

Pocketbook Mobile Mapcash

If you have any experience of small business you will know there are 100s of thousands of small business owners who don’t have even basic accounting systems. My guess is that due to its ease of use Pocketbook will get real traction on a providing a workable solution for the 100,000s of small business owners who use a shoebox and spend days at tax time trying to get this all in order.

Pocketbook_tax_selectingedm

My opinion is the simple approach Alvin and Bosco are using is going to help them blow right past their competitors in both personal accounting and probably micro business accounting as well.

 

Enhanced by Zemanta