(Credit:
BebeSounds)
Baby monitors have come a long way in the last decade, as manufacturers try everything from designer models to night-vision cameras to distance themselves from the crowd. But BebeSounds has an entirely different way of keeping tabs on your baby--by movement instead of only sight or sound.
The "Angelcare Movement Sensor" tracks movements through a wireless pad under the crib's mattress. The pad's sensors detect movement (or lack thereof) and send the data to nearby transmitters, which in turn provide audio and visual information for a remote device that parents can carry around the house.
Monitoring movement might not seem necessary at first, but Boing Boing points out that this system could help detect issues related to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, whose causes remain unknown but are believed by some to be related to lack of oxygen. Like other products such as the "KickTrak," which tracks baby movement in the womb, the Angelcare monitor is designed to provide an early-warning system.
(Credit:
Fresh Cube)
If you're a parent like us, you may have discovered a couple of dirty little secrets: Diaper Genies break and most baby monitors suck. We can't offer much about the first issue, but we're told that the second is making some significant advances.
U.K.-based Digitally Fresh, for example, has combined a video monitor and a wireless Webcam so that you can watch your precious creations as well as listen for them from anywhere in the house, according to Gearlog. But the best part? It has a night-vision camera so you make sure they're not trying to escape out the window under the cover of darkness.
The video feed--color by day, black and white at night--can be viewed on a 1.5-inch LCD screen. And as a bonus, it can be used as a voice-activated walkie-talkie that you can still use when the kids get older. Now if they can build this technology into the ultra-portable NScessity monitor, we'd have it all.
(Credit:
Babyworld)
It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to us either: Baby monitors are supposed to let you hear every whimper no matter where you are, presuming that you haven't gone out for groceries. And yet many monitors on the market today still come in sizes reminiscent of those 5-pound "mobile" phones of the late '80s, as Slashgear rightly points out.
Attempting to bridge that gap in logic is the "NScessity Compact Audio Monitor," which U.K.-based Babyworld describes as "about the size of an egg" and having a range of up to 200 meters (about 656 feet). It can even be worn around the neck, for those of us absent-minded mums and dads, at a price of 50 pounds (about $99).
We're wondering if there's a way to hook up these monitors to one of those new Motorola helmets. Parenting, after all, is a contact sport.
(Credit:
Hammacher Schlemmer)
If you're a parent, chances are you've tried a baby monitor. And chances are even greater that you've tried one that sucked. That, at least, has been our experience and that of practically every other mom and dad we know.
Hammacher Schlemmer is trying to right this widespread wrong with a $200 "Superior Baby Monitor" that does address one obvious flaw in many other models: This one uses "digital enhanced cordless communication" (DECT) that will automatically find an open frequency among 60 channels, avoiding interference from phones, microwaves and other electronic appliances. (In theory, at least.)
But the uber-monitor goes too far, in our opinion, by trying to play nanny with five lullabies that can be controlled from the system's remote. Call us old-fashioned, but we think parents should handle that function themselves, in person, with--gasp--a real live voice. Otherwise, you might as well get an "Intellicot" and let the machines raise your kids.
(Credit:
Ubergizmo)
It's a sure sign that tech fashion has invaded the home when you see a designer baby monitor. Ubergizmo liked the mod look from U.K.-based Techwall Electronics, and we must admit that it's sleek form and neon green hue make the product more attractive than the traditional alternatives. The monitor also has a camera, which brings it more up to date than older versions. But let's face it: No matter how much you try to dress it up, it's a baby monitor. And if you really want a camera to monitor the baby, you might as well go all the way and get a spy-bot instead.
- prev
- 1
- next
