This week’s SmartDevice roundup features: a ring that gets you to your destination; a bracelet that unlocks phones, doors, and cars using your heartbeat, and a camera intended to capture all your memories.

Sesame Ring

Ever missed the train because you can’t find your transit card?  Well, that’s something the makers of the Sesame Ring must have experienced numerous times, sparking the creation of this smart piece of jewelry.  In Massachusetts, you need your Charlie Card to get on the train, but just like any card, it is easy to misplace or get lost in your black hole of a bag.  Thus the need for something useful and wearable — the Sesame Ring.

It uses 3D-printed material for the ring itself, while the RFID lies just beneath the face of the ring.  All you need is to put the ring against the smart card sensors in the train station to load up and get on the train.  You get to choose the color of the ring, the size, as well as the design on the face of the ring – this gives it a more personal touch.

Wearing your transit smart card makes commuting fun and easier.  No more fishing out out wallet or bag for your card – just hold up your ring to the sensor, and you’re on your way.  If you’re wondering why it’s called Sesame Ring, it’s because using it is as easy as saying “Open Sesame!”

Nymi

Dr. Karl Martin believes that passwords, passcodes and even biometrics don’t deliver viable security solutions.  Passwords and passcodes can be cracked while fingerprints leave a mark, facial structures can be altered, and eyeballs can be removed by villains if they really want to access information or get into your house.  So he came up with a bracelet that is able to deliver enough security to allow it open your phones, doors, cars, and even authorize payments.

Martin is the CEO and President of Bionym and he and his team have come up with Nymi, a bracelet that uses the electrical activity radiating from a person’s heart, or ECG, to identify the user as well as connect with other devices.  Because electrical activity is something produced inside a person’s body, it’s unlikely to leave a mark, plus each person gives off unique electrical activities.

From the moment you put on Nymi, it constantly authenticates the wearer.  This makes it more secured and it learns the difference when you’re relaxed, tired, afraid or excited, so no matter what the circumstances are, the Nymi will always work.

Martin also believes that the Nymi will work well with other connected devices, like automatically setting the washer, changing the channel to your favorite station, or adjusting the lights just by entering the room or with the flick of your wrist.

ParaShoot

Most of us live our lives in a daze and if it weren’t for our friends telling us that something awesome happened right in front of us, we wouldn’t even know it.  Or sometimes, we’re just too slow in whipping out our smartphones to take that magical shot.

Now, because of crowdfunding, you can record your life as it happens.  Matt Sandy created the ParaShoot, a palm-sized HD smart camera that can take both videos and photos, as well as store and share files wirelessly.  It is available in plain silver, and if you want it look less obvious, there are skins available, or you can even design your own, to cover the front of the device.  This way, you can wear it like a pendant.  You can also mount in on your windshield, metal surfaces like your fridge, clip it on your clothes or just mount in on a tripod, as it has different attachments available for all your needs.

You can use the free ParaShoot app to see what the camera is seeing, start shooting or recording, sharing, syncing, and storing.  It originally has a Kickstarter funding goal of $30,000, but it’s now well over $100K.  Now, production of a waterproof case and a bike mount is well underway, and if it reaches $200K in funding, production for a heavy duty battery pack will begin.  It still has 18 days to go to complete its funding, so if you want a heavy duty battery pack to go with your ParaShoot, tell your friends to start funding the project before time runs out.