If you’ve lost faith in passwords as a means of keeping your mobile and other devices safe from prying eyes, PassWear has introduced software for your wearables that can help keep your device secure as long as you are with it.

The PassWear app works on a range of smart watches, and uses two-step verification to secure any apps – from social media, to more demanding enterprise apps – ensuring no one can break into your accounts and steal data.

PassWear chose to use wearables as its security option because the market is growing fast. Additionally, it says that by 2020, 284 million devices and 1 billion employees will be using their personal device at work, meaning corporate mobile security is essential.

Clearly aimed at the enterprise, PassWear plans to sell its product through an annual subscription. It’s already available via Good Technology, but the company will be looking to add more distribution partners to its line-up in the future.

It is also offering a white label product and is working with Samsung to offer its software as a native app on its platforms. It hopes to set up more licensing agreements like this so a range if vendors can offer PassWear as a value-added service.

Finally, PassWear will be offering its SDK to app developers who can then integrate the highlights into their products and sell via freemium or paid-for apps in app stores.

PassWear is appealing for £175,000 in funding on Seedrs and it’s hoping to use the funds in order to turn trial users into paying customers, complete its Samsung commercial agreement and finish building the SDK for developers so it can start monetising that way.

In exchange for investment, PassWear is offering 14 per cent equity and at the time of writing, it had raised just shy of 10 per cent of its target.

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With so many home automation devices on the market, it certainly is hard to keep track of what controls which device. In fact, you’ve probably found your phone is full up of controllers for your music system, security, heating and more.

Now nCube has come to the rescue, providing an all-in-one solution to the smart home ecosystem dilemma.

The small device connects to all your smart home devices and is controlled via one app, making it a lot easier to change the heating, switch on your tunes and deactivate your security system when you’re on your way home, for example.

Not only that, nCube learns about your lifestyle, so it knows when you wake up everyday and can make sure your house is toasty warm before you set foot on the chilly bathroom floor. It will also know when you’re away from home, so it’ll make your home look lived in, whether that’s by switching the lights on in your natural pattern so any potential intruders think someone’s in.

You can build ‘Cubes’, which are essentially schedules for everything in your home, so just switch on a particular Cube and nCube will do the hard work for you. You can also download more Cubes from reconfigurations to make the process of controlling your environment even easier.

“Cubes are very easy to create using the natural language interface – just click through to simply describe the exact scenario you want to create,” the company said. “To make it even easier the app has a number of pre-populated examples which can be edited for your own use.”

You can give different users of the nCube different permissions, so if your partner is always turning the heating on, you can be really cruel and take away their ability to switch the heating on, for example.

The nCube also works when it’s offline too, so if your internet goes offline, you can still control your home in the same way.

nCube is available from Kickstarter from £99, although you’ll have to be quick because there aren’t many left at that price point!

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If you’re looking for a super-affordable modular desktop, pi-topCEED has just launched its compact PC on Indiegogo for a very reasonable $99 (£65).

The Raspberry Pi-powered device includes a Raspberry Pi 2, making it simple to get onboard with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) subjects straight away.

When a new Raspberry Pi is announced, the old computer unit can be removed and replaced, making it a truly plug and play option for those on a budget.

The company’s mission is to make education more accessible for people of all ages, from all backgrounds and in all countries. The pi-topCEED is a follow up to the company’s original pi-top, but it’s smaller and cheaper than the company’s first foray into the affordable computer market.

Pi-topCEED includes access to a huge array of resources from the off, including CEED Universe, 3D Slash, Scratch, RaspberryPi Resources, Minecraft, Libre Writer, Libre Impress, Libre Calc  and Sonic Pi.

“By using the bundled software in pi-topCEED you will be able to design your own components and products,” the company said. “You will be able to work together on projects, contribute and help each other through CEEDuniverse – our educational MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) – and share your work with others.”

Whether you want to develop the next home automation system to control all your connected devices, create a controller for a 3D printer or create a robot from the device, you can.

You are of course able to use it just as a normal PC, whether you want to access the internet, check your Facebook, write documents or do anything else you’ve normally want to do on a home computer.

The pi-topCEED features a 13.3-inch HD LCD screen, an SD card loaded with pi-topOS and can be shipped with a range of different charging options to suit worldwide connectivity.

The company has so far raised £123,371 (£81,000) in 12 days and to say thank you, pi-top has decided to develop the pi-topSPEAKER  – one of its stretch goals – that you can add on for an additional $15 (£10).

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ChargeBox has launched a campaign on CrowdCube to help it stay ahead of the competition.

The company, which produces and installs smartphone and tablet charging stations in public and semi-public places, wants to boost its sales and marketing efforts, plus inject some money into development of the next-generation devices.

The company wants to make free charging of devices as prevalent as free Wi-Fi in cafes, restaurants, shopping centres and other places as consumers increasingly rely on their smartphones for everything in life.

ChargeBox was launched ten years ago, but other competitors have now popped up in the market, making it a hard industry to crack.

“Loved by end-users who frequently call ChargeBox a #lifesaver, we have provided over 5 million charges so far this year, and we have built (or have in production) over 2,000 machines,” the company explained.

“Our clients include well-known organisations who wish to provide the best customer experience to their visitors and encourage smartphone use, which is highly correlated with increased spending.”

The company has drummed up a fair amount of revenue from rentals, service contracts, short term event rental, a legacy vending business, and international license and software maintenance fees. It has two patents to protect its designed, but is now seeking the next big thing to differentiate its products.

To help take a bigger share of the market, ChargeBox will be spending the £500,000 it hopes to raise on Crowdcube on expanding the sales team, marketing and PR including events, exhibitions and the employment of PR consultants, R&D expenditure, IT development and to a lesser extent working capital.

ChargeBox is offering 7.2 per cent equity to investors and at the time of writing, was 40 per cent of the way through its funding cycle with 18 days to go until the campaign ends.

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Readbug – a subscription-based content innovation – has launched on Seedrs, helping print media become more accessible to everyone with a mobile device.

“Today’s readers want accessibility, immediacy and convenience, [but] print publishing has struggled to deliver against new and emerging digital platforms,” the company said on Seedrs. “The problem isn’t the content, it’s the delivery method.”

It has suggested the answer to this is offering consumers high quality, specially optimised content from some of the world’s leading publishers in a format suited for mobile devices.

“Our members can read the absolute best in fashion, music, film, travel and lifestyle from the likes of Dazed, Sight & Sound, Huck, Oh Comely and many more,” Readbug continued.

“Users can flick from cover-to-cover, select their favourite titles, scroll through their personalised article stream, share stories and read the best magazines wherever they want, however you want for a monthly subscription.”

Users of the app don’t have to pay a per-download fee, nor do they have to pay every time they want to read just one article from a magazine or newspaper. With Readbug, they pay a monthly fee that gives them access to thousands of articles they can choose based on their interests.

Other products such as Spotify have proven that subscription-based, all-you-can-eat models work and are attractive to consumers, making this an obvious way to get more people reading content that is only usually available to people buying physical publications.

The Readbug app will be available on Apple devices, with more than 60 publishers behind the idea. It has also sealed a number of commercial partnership deals with The Hospital Club and five universities around the country.

Readbug is appealing for £500,016 on Seedrs in exchange for 12.5 per cent equity. It hopes to spend the money on operations, developing the product, marketing, overheads and contingencies.

“During the next 12 months we plan on refining our marketing and growth strategy and gaining critical user traction. We plan to onboard a minimum of 100 publishers, expanding our library of titles,” Readbug finished.

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Headkayse has launched its one-size-fits-all, foldable helmet that not only conforms to world safety standards but also uses high tech for the ultimate impact protection.

The design follows the shape of your head, meaning it’s super-snug whatever the size of your cranium.

Headkayse helmets avoid the expanded polystyrene most helmets are made from,which tends to have a shorter lifespan. For example, if you fall off your bike and bang your head, you have to dispose of the helmet after it’s had an impact.

Additionally, expanded polystyrene can also pass on any shockwaves to your brain, meaning it could result in a brain injury (although less severe than if you were not wearing a helmet at all).

Headkayse is made from the company’s own Enkayse, which it developed itself. The bonuses of the material are that it’s soft and comfortable, while also moulding to the head. It also provides better protection from bumps, so will last longer than traditional expanded polystyrene.

The helmet also features the company’s “X” Strap harness and speed strap buckle for further better fitting for everyone, including children.

The design is fully foldable too – shrinking down by 70 per cent to just 5cm wide and reducing the total volume by 50 per cent.

“Headkayse has been designed as a hybrid to look good wherever. Flexibility allows it to follow your head shape, meaning there’s no sticky out bits making it look like you’re wearing a plastic pie,” the company said.

The Headkayse helmet is available for £89 from Indiegogo and the company is hoping to raise £60,000 with just over a month of the campaign left.

If you’re quick, you can get your hands on the product for just £55, but at the time of writing, there were only 140 units left at the price.

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The Elephant Door smart home security system doesn’t just keep tabs on your home’s security with a camera, like many other products in its category – it detects if someone is actually trying to break in using a range of sensors.

The tiny gadget fits to any door without looking unattractive and uses sound, vibration and motion algorithms to work out whether someone is trying to gain entry into your home. The data provided by the sensors is analysed by the company’s networks to work out whether it’s a false alarm or a real-life threat to your and your family’s safety. If the latter, it will send out an alert

Elephant Door fits on any door at all, so you can attach it to your main front and back doors or if you live in a shared home, your bedroom door to make sure none of your housemates are breaking in.

An app accompanies the hardware and will alert you if someone tries to gain entry into your property. You are then able to instantly alert someone close to your home, such as a neighbour, a family member or the police to ensure the intruder can’t get in or cause damage. It’ll also trigger a loud alarm to deter burglars.

Radek Pallach, CEO and founder of Elephant Door said: “We decided to create Elephant Door to offer an affordable alternative to the expensive and complex home security systems which are currently out there on the market. Currently only 17 per cent of households have home security systems and this is because of how extensive they are and the need to hire professionals to install.”

Elephant Door is seeking to raise $40,000 (£26,000) to further test the software and algorithms behind the security, get it certified and into production for its June 2016 shipping target.

It is available on Kickstarter from $149 (£97), although you can get a taster of Elephant Door’s work too, with the company’s Safety First app as a reward if you spend $10 (£6), an LED Safety Band for $50 (£32) or a first aid kit for $100 (£65).

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If your other half works away from home a lot or you live apart, Pillow Talk will bring you closer, by transmitting his or her heartbeat to your pillow so you can hear it whenever you feel alone.

The innovation comprises a pillow with an integrated speaker and a wristband that records their heartbeat and sends it to the pillow.

“Digital technology lets us email, text message, poke and video call people. That’s great – but it’s nothing like being in the same room, enjoying your partner’s company,” the product’s developer Little Riot explained.

“There is something special about coming home from a long day and being with your partner…with Pillow Talk, you can lie in bed next to your loved one, even when they are on the other side of the world.”

Although originally developed for couples in long-term relationships, it can also be used be anyone who needs that extra comfort that they’re loved, including children, parents or anyone else craving reassurance.

Not only does Pillow Talk offer that closeness to people on the other side of the country – or the world – it’s also been proven to improve your sleep. The steady thumping of a heartbeat can soothe and help you fall asleep faster. After all, it’s the first sound that we hear as babies in the womb.

The app is available on both Android and iOS and communicates between the pillow and wristband via Bluetooth.

Pillow Talk is hoping to raise £75,000 to put the product into manufacture and is offering the product on Kickstarter from £52 for one wristband and one pillow (limited early bird supply) or £118 for the duo pack.

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If you’re not a huge fan of Uber, or don’t really like using Addison Lee every time you want to catch a cab, Kabbee allows you to compare the prices of taxis in your area, helping you make a more educated decision on which company to use.

The company has been running since 2011, but it now wants to expand outside of just London and airports to become a nationwide cab comparison engine.

It’s simply more than a comparison engine for consumers though – it’s also designed to help private taxi firms market themselves to their customers, without the big outlay of advertising.

“In London 62,000 cars are spread across 3000 fleets (http://bit.ly/1M9TFYs). In the rest of England & Wales, fragmentation is even more severe with 108,000 cars spread across 11,800 fleets,” Kabbee explained. “Fragmentation means small fleets are unable to invest in marketing and technology and thereby grow their business and coverage. Drivers sent on long journeys almost always return empty.”

It uses similar models to hotel booking and insurance industries, where the industries aren’t particularly suited to big advertising or marketing campaigns.

“Aggregation provides the opportunity for fleets to benefit from marketplace dynamics, drivers to reduce dead mileage and customers to get good service and value wherever they are,” the company said.

Kabbee’s technology brings together value for money for customers, while also meaning cab drivers can ick up their next job where they last had a drop off, helping drivers claw back that wasted mileage.

Kabbee is appealing for £1m funding from investors on Crowdcube, with which it plans to boost profits in London by redeveloping the iPhone app and launching an Android app, add new features to the entire platform, including the taxi company-facing part and build the demand for a cab comparison app nationwide.

It wil introduce new loyalty features and concentrate its marketing strategy on low spend, but high impact ideas.

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The idea seems crazy: iBreather purifies air as you walk, work, sit in traffic or do anything else in your life, allowing you to intake clean air wherever you are.

It’s a tiny, USB stick-sized device that can sit on your desk at work, the dinner table, your car dashboard or even on your picnic mat while enjoying a day out with the family, gently purifying the air to make it safer for you to breathe.

Using two base modules, iBreathe purifies and tracks the levels of pollutants simultaneously. It works by neutralising charge atoms with negative ions that it distributes in the air. These neutralise the positively charged atoms commonly found in allergens, viruses, bacteria, dust and smoke to create completely pure air.

As iBreathe also tracks the air quality around you, it measures whether it needs to be purified. If it doesn’t, it’ll go to sleep, meaning it’ll be charged and ready to use if the air becomes polluted again.

You can charge it using a standard microUSB connector, via a dock station or in your car with a cigarette lighter charger that ships with the device, so you can always make sure it’s charged.

Everything is controlled via a smartphone or Apple Watch app, which will feed back the quality of the air to you in real time. Both the app and the iBreathe unit itself will update automatically when the company releases an update, meaning you’ll get the latest version of software as soon as it’s available.

iBreathe has so far raised almost $35,000 (£23,000) on Indiegogo, which is 225 per cent above its target. There’s still 22 days to get your hands on an iBreathe, costing from $79 (£52) for early birds or $99 (£65) thereafter.

The company said it’s gong to use the funds raised to put the device into production, which it expects will ship in February next year.

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