Gyms have opened up, and our workout routines have finally achieved a certain semblance of normalcy at this point! However, if you’re still a bit of a lazy bum (like me), and actually landing up at the gym can feel like a task on most days, then Castleflexx could be the product to help you take a break from your sedentary lifestyle. Essentially, Castleflexx is “a multi-purpose stretching and strength tool designed to help athletes, fitness enthusiasts, or anyone with chronic pain improve both their flexibility, core strength, and mobility.”
Fed up with his own lower back pain, and in an attempt to improve it, Dan Castle created a prototype of Castleflexx with a biomechanical engineer and then approached Leadoff Studio. They set a goal to build a product from sustainable materials that could cater to the needs of a wide range of users – from professional athletes to elderly patients. They crafted Casteflexx from three materials – recyclable aluminum, sustainably harvested cork, and RPET fabric made from 100% recycled plastic bottles. The smart product is designed to last a lifetime and is microbial as well.
An ergonomic aluminum bae features natural cork handles on both ends, while a piece of non-stretch fabric connects to the bar, and can be expanded to create a “foot hammock”, on which users can position their heels. Users can either lay on their back, or sit on a chair, grip the handles, and flex their toes backward, leading to a flexed plantar fascia. There’s also a mid-bar cut-out to add a 2-pound magnetic weight whenever needed for increased resistance, and specialized mobility workouts.
Besides its sustainable construction, what Castleflexx essentially does is, it focuses on the posterior chain of the lower limb by stretching the soft tissues of your toes, foot, calf, and hamstring. It helps your fascial and nerve tissue release, in turn, improving issues related to lower back pain, herniated discs, and plantar fasciitis. Casteflexx’s goal is to make ‘Prehab’ an easy and accessible process, and to ensure people can prevent injuries from even happening!
Castleflexx is designed to be a portable and travel-friendly product that you can carry anywhere with you! Besides being easy to carry, and user-friendly – it was also designed to have a universal appeal or functionality. In fact, The Atlanta Braves used CastleFlexx in their 2021 World Series championship season to increase speed and mobility! It’s fit for professional athletes to stretch with, but can also be used by physical therapy patients, or even individuals suffering from arthritis. It’s truly a lightweight and effortlessly accessible device that can be used by a wide range of people!
In this age of cramped, tiny apartments but larger-than-life social circles it isn’t difficult to imagine a scenario where you’ve got 10 friends coming over, but just 4 chairs. I know it’s happened to me.
That’s when flat-pack folding furniture like the Hanging Stool come handy. Its nifty design can flatten up into a rather nice looking ornate form that you can hang on the wall. When you need a stool, take it off its wall-hook and set it up in roughly 5 seconds with a simple flip of the seat and the legs.
The Hanging Stool’s novel approach to the folding mechanism (we’ve seen loads of folding stools, none like this) and its quirky hang-able nature (thanks to the two leather straps on each side) give it a slight visual edge above others. Besides, that bright blue does wonders for bringing a splash of freshness to your space… even if it’s hanging on your wall!
For the better part of the decade, we’ve seen social networks help bind the world closer together. People who otherwise wouldn’t know or talk to each other are doing so, and while emotions may be mixed about platforms giving people a place to connect, convene, and converse, they’ve done more for collective humanity online, rather than for personal relationships offline. Social networks have taken our daily lives and put them on the public forum, but there are a few aspects of relationships that need to stay private, away from the eye of the world, away from the need for social validation… and Talsam is here to foster that.
Think of Talsam as being a tech enhancement for your emotional connection with your loved one. The wearable and app connect two wearers together, allowing them to stay in touch on a platform that’s designed to fortify one-on-one relationships, rather than be a ‘social platform’. Combining a wearable and an app, the Talsam ecosystem lets two people be in touch through the power of technology, focusing on the bond and the emotion behind it. The wearable looks like a piece of jewelry or a charm, sitting on your wrist or around your neck. It connects to your phone, allowing you to stay in touch with your relative, partner, or friend who’s wearing the Talsam too. Bound together with the Talsam app, the wearable acts as a notification machine, lighting up beautifully through its Swarovski crystals everytime the other person sends you a message or a notification. The app facilitates chatting and sending messages/images through an encrypted system, ensuring that the conversation stays between the two people. Images stay encrypted too, and tapping a button on the Talsam wearable unlocks the media, acting as an offline key of sorts.
Designed not to build relationships (like Facebook, Instagram, Tinder, etc.) but to enhance the ones that matter, the Talsam even comes with an emergency SOS feature that lets you ping your loved one with a distress message and geolocation. It enables private conversations and even video-chats through the app, allowing the wearable to bind the experience together and act as a real-world charm for a relationship that may be online. Perfect for long-distance relationships, or regular relationships looking to use technology to keep in touch, the Talsam is exactly what IoT needs. Not connecting gadgets together, not collating your data online for corporations, or pushing your private life into the public domain for social validation. Talsam uses tech to keep intimate relations intimate, and special moments special.
Talsam is a stylish charm that lights up when its wearer receives a message and lets its wearer send SOS alerts with their location.
A truly personal gift for a loved one. It’s smart jewelry you can use to let them know you’re thinking about them, exchange private messages, and get notified if they need help.
Talsam offers two people an intimate way to communicate. When you give one to someone, you transform the way you stay in touch with them.
The person wearing the charm can:
– Get light and vibration alerts when they receive a message – Send an SOS alert with their location by holding down a button for 5 seconds – Unlock private messages by pressing a button
The person that gifted the charm can:
– Send private messages to its wearer – Receive an SOS alert with its wearer’s location
The New York City based design team spent months carefully constructing every aspect of the charm to ensure that it offers wearability and style.
They handpicked semi-precious stones as the main accent of the charm and adorned them with Swarovski crystals to add elegance to the overall look.
Talsam is for anyone looking for a better way to stay connected with someone they love, whether it’s a friend, family member, or romantic partner.
FEATURES
Send Messages That Light Up a Loved One’s Life
Express your love in a video, photo, voice note or text message, or choose from a collection of animated emojis. Send any type of message using the app and the charm lights up like a shooting star.
Receive an SOS Alert That Includes The Wearer’s Location
A loved one can send you an SOS alert by holding down a button on the side of the charm for 5 seconds. The charm vibrates to confirm that the alert was sent. You instantly receive an email and SMS containing their location, along with an automated phone call.
Send Private Messages That Are Unlocked By The Charm
You can mark any message you send the person wearing the charm as a private message. The wearer then has to press a button on the charm to authenticate their identity before the message is displayed in the app.
THE MOBILE APP
They approached the app as if it was a standalone product and designed it to offer an intimate experience even without the charm. The end result is a full-featured messaging app built to support your most precious relationships.
Capture, Share, Cherish, And Relive Special Moments
Tag a message you receive according to how it makes you feel, choosing from five emotions: amused, happy, loved, optimistic, and thankful.
Replay old messages based on how they made you feel in the past. So, if you’re ever feeling blue, just tap on a random happy moment and turn that frown upside down.
THE CHARM
They explored an array of semi-precious and man-made stone options before picking the final six, each of which has its own unique set of properties.
Amazonite is a soothing stone that is thought to have a calming effect and an array of healing qualities. Some say that it boosts loving communication and even has the potential to empower you to discover your truth.
Black Sardonyx is a stone of protection and strength. It is said that the Ancient Greeks and Romans believed Sardonyx rewarded its wearer with true love and faithfulness. Wearing this stone is thought to attract friends and fortune.
Gray Agate is known as a grounding stone that harmonizes the mind, body, and soul. It has been used for healing as far back as Babylon and it was considered so powerful in Medieval times that tying it to the horns of oxen was thought to yield a plentiful harvest.
Lapis Lazuli has been sought after for its protective qualities for centuries. The sarcophagus of King Tutankhamen was lined with this stone and it is said that Michelangelo grounded it up into powder and used it to paint the Sistine Chapel. Lapis is thought to shield its wearer from harm and bestow them with wisdom, truth, and understanding.
They added six Swarovski crystals to the stone face laid out like the Lyra Constellation, a group of stars associated with music and love. Stainless was chosen for its durability and hypoallergenic properties, and applied gold-plating with a protective PVD coating.
There’s even a USB connector hidden inside Talsam that can be plugged into a power source, your computer, or even your smartphone.
Designed entirely by humans and manufactured entirely by robots, the ADAPTIV shoe is literally the future. With absolutely no human intervention in the manufacturing process, ADAPTIV is completely made by 3D printing robots. What’s more special is the fact that ADAPTIV is built with multiple gyroscopes and pressure sensors allowing the ADAPTIV to “move air pressure throughout the shoe to support one’s bodily shifts and motions.”
Foot strain should be a thing of the past with the ADAPTIV as it uses a series of 3D printed silicone air bags within the shoe to provide tailor-made comfort to the wearer. Using a series of sensors, the shoes can target stress points, allowing air-bags to provide relief over long periods of time. Leadoff Studio designed the shoe which then got showcased at an event hosted by Carmelo Anthony around the NBA All-Star Weekend. The designers see this unique brand of shoes becoming a reality in just a matter of 5-10 years.
The ADAPTIV Shoe is a winner of the Red Dot Award for the year 2017.
