Nerd Stalker

KeyMe Kiosks Expanding its National Reach Photo Courtesy of KeyMe Anyone that has ever been locked out of their office, house, car, or apartment knows that calling a locksmith is costly and time consuming. Besides the seemingly endless waiting for the locksmith to arrive, it can easily cost hundreds of dollars to get a lock opened, fixed and/or replaced. According to HomeAdvisor, the average locksmith visit is over $150 but can easily top $250 depending on your location and needs. Now there is a new, high-tech way to avoid the cost and get your locks opened for a fraction of the price – KeyMe .

We interview Daniel Shaked, CEO and founder of Silicon Valley-based ClipCall, an innovative mobile platform that leverages AI to ensure the success of home repair and improvement projects. A pioneer in solutions for the ‘sharing economy,’ he’s spent thousands of hours working with home improvement service professionals from around the world. ClipCall knows that maintaining a home can be a pain which is why they bring today‘s technology to home maintenance and improvement. Because they own the process end-to-end, they are able to utilize AI algorithms and a network of data from past transactions between homeowners and professionals in your area. By analyzing thousands of previous project cases, aggregate over 40 different signals from a single transaction to smartly match the right pros to the right projects. Record a short video of your project They guide you with prompts for the best requests The unique show-and-tell approach gives pros all the details Dynamic business pro...

If you had an announcer's voice, half of our podcasts would probably be very good regardless of sound quality. What would you do if you can get high quality audio from your mobile device. Well, Tim Sinclair, the PA voice of University of Illinois and major league soccer Chicago Fire discusses what motivated him to create Ringr , which increases the sound quality of interviews or podcasts through your mobile devices if you don't have a radio voice like Tim's. Tim also discusses some of the upcoming features as his app exits beta and talks about his journey from Radio personality to entrepreneur.

What happens when you merge Waze and Uber together to help stranded motorists? That would be Lyfeboat . Lyfeboat is an app that matches stranded motorists with the nearest good samaritan or should I say the nearest trained good samaritan. We interview, Phat Le , co-founder at Lyfeboat on their service. Phat is also alumni of Founders Space where he honed the business model. He also shares a beta launch of a new addition to their service that makes car ownership easy. Check it out!

The Robot Factory lets kids build, test, and collect whatever they can imagine. Robot cats. Robot samurais. Robot spies. Robot butlers. Robot wizards. Robot lizards. Robot dancers. Robot doctors. Robot moonwalkers. Kids can create thousands of different robots from 50+ parts: exoskeletons, zephyr mechanisms, hydrostatic tentacles, ungulate feet, machinos locomotors, solartronics, and more. Then, they can test their robots in a fantastical world full of obstacles. Whether their robots survive or bust, kids can build, rebuild, and retest endlessly. And, kids can save and collect all of their robots.

The Uptick Personality Match Algorithm connects clients with a real Wellness Coach using in-app text messaging, video chat, and photo messaging. The Uptick app also allows users to pair several popular fitness trackers and devices, giving coaches the ability to interpret and motivate based on live and historic data. "Fitness and nutrition apps today lack a personal touch. You get a cookie-cutter plan and spend your day entering every calorie you eat. We don't think that's a great experience. Uptick matches you with a real person who gives you instant guidance and turns your device data into a powerful tool for your wellness." -J.C. Mauricia VP, Product Uptick’s Vice President of Product, J.C. Mauricia, will be presenting Uptick to the show’s developer and conference attendees. Uptick will showcase consumers at all points of the Wellness Life Cycle, from the absolute beginner to the serious athlete. The app highlights the personal connection between coach and ...

Beauty App Blow Me connects available hair stylists with guests interested in a professional blowout in the convenience of their hotel room, office, or home or anywhere with a chair and an outlet. As of right now stylists are servicing West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, CA and then will eventually expand throughout LA and to other major cities. You can simply download the app on your iPhone or Android and a professional hair stylist will be at your door within an hour. Upon completion of the service your credit card will be charged a fee of forty dollars. (the same price as drybar). It is a completely cashless system - gratuity included in the, one set price.

This is a Nerd Stalker review of Ubooly a children's technology toy. The toy is made up of a stuffed animal and iOS application. The stuffed animal comes in multiple colors and the iOS application is free. To use Ubooly you place your iPhone with the application turned on upside down into the stuffed animal. The application can be personalized for multiple children, this is a nice touch. Each toy includes over 1000 activities, free credits to unlock lessons, and customizable content for your child. The recommended ages from 4 to 10 although we have observed more interest on the younger end of that spectrum. The toy is dead simple to use, this is a huge plus for a child, it takes almost no time to learn. The toy is like a tutor and friend and includes educational learning packs like language, math, science, music, history lessons for K through five and developed by teachers. We did experience a couple application hangups but these should be quickly resolved with updates be...

listen to ‘How Tempo completely Failed their launch. ’ on Audioboo Two days ago Tempo was announced to the world, there was significant interest and it appears now no one is able to register to use the app. That means two days of a useless app, the team now says they have decided to launch a new app tomorrow 2/15 that will onboard more. Read the update from the Tempo blog, "...Here is the plan: We will submit a new version of Tempo Smart Calendar with a reservation system to the App Store tomorrow (Feb 15th) for express approval Once approved (usually within 24 hours), you can install the new Tempo and secure your position and we will then email you when Tempo is available In the meanwhile, we will continue to gate-keep ~1-3K users / hour (we have a backlog well over 100K users)..."

Photo by Peter Dutton Two products caught my Nerd Stalker eye this week. I am not sure this is a tech trend but worth mentioning. Two emotion-based products were mentioned in the news. One from our friends at Gizmodo about mood-catching robotic cat ears from Neuroware and the another from our friends at evolver.fm which features an app where music is sorted/tagged/shared by mood from Stereomood . Is Your Partner Really Excited to See You? Image courtesy of ITMedia Posted from Original Article from Gizmodo's Andrew Tarantola The Neccomimi (ネコのミミ） ears—an animatronic headband controlled through the power of your mind—that we first  covered last year  are finally coming to America! Designed and built by Neurowear, a Japanese fashion electronics company, the ears respond to their wearers emotions, perking up and flopping over depend on your mood. They will retail for $100 and be available at Comicon and through the  Neurowear website . These are obviousl...

By Adolfo Foronda Beluga is dead but Touch is very much alive. (mp3) A few of us here at Nerd Stalker have been testing the pre-release version of the just released mobile app " Touch " (note the released version will differ from what we were provided). Touch is the latest product to come out of the Waterloo, Ontario based company Enflick, creators of TextNow and PingChat! Whats particularly impressive about the Touch release is that Enflick is going the painful route of natively  supporting iOS devices (OS version 3.0+), Android (1.5–2.3) and Blackberry (5.0+) on day one! Touch allows you to create groups or private chats of all sizes as needed, you can share text, images and emoticons for free (think what Baluga should have been). Install and setup on the iPhone and Android was a breeze (note we did not test Blackberry) our only comment on signup was that (on the Android version) when registering for the first time the password you choose is not obf...

Experience the Art and Craft of Letterpress Printing on your iPad LetterMpress™ will be a virtual letterpress environment—released first on the iPad—that will allow anyone to create authentic-looking letterpress designs and prints. The design process is the same as the letterpress process—you place and arrange type and cuts on a press bed, lock the type, ink the type, and print. You will be able to create unlimited designs, with multiple colors, using authentic vintage wood type and art cuts. And you can print your design directly from LetterMpress or save it as an image for import it into other applications.

Interview with Beth Halel of the red hot startup Square at MacWorld 2010. Start accepting payment cards immediately with Square. No contracts, monthly fees, or hidden costs. Effortlessly manage all the money you take with an easy and intuitive interface. In February 2009, Jim McKelvey wasn’t able to sell a piece of his glass art because he couldn’t accept a credit card as payment. Even though a majority of payments has moved to plastic cards, accepting payments from cards is still difficult, requiring long applications, expensive hardware, and an overly complex experience. Square was born a few days later right next to the old San Francisco US Mint. Today the Square team is focused on bringing immediacy, transparency, and approachability to the world of payments: an inherently social interaction each of us participates in daily. We’re starting with a limited beta and rolling out to everyone in early 2010. Square is backed by Khosla Ventures and a team of angels. Square, Inc. has of...