The Mstick is a curious little device. It doesn't immediately appear to fall easily into any category and yet has multiple useful functions. It seems conspicuously unusual and yet strangely compelling. It's just an LED light stick. But it's also a timer, an alarm and a weather forecast display.
Designed to be simple, convenient and durable, the unit itself has a sleekly designed aesthetic and is available in white, turquoise or blue. It measures 160 x 26 x 16 mm (6.3 x 1 x 0.6 in), weighs 160 g (5.6 oz) and comes with a detachable leather hand-strap.
There are 16 RGB LEDs along the Mstick and has a 32-bit ARM Cortex M0 32-bit CPU brain. A Li-Po 2,000 mhA battery is said to provide a maximum of seven days low brightness use or at least seven hours at full brightness, and it's charged via Micro USB.
The Mstick has just two buttons. One for turning it on and one for activating Bluetooth pairing. The Bluetooth is used for connecting the device to an accompanying iOS or Android device running a mobile companion app, which is used to control the Mstick. It also has a universal camera mount, a built-in magnet for mounting on magnetic surfaces and an iron plate that can be attached in non-magnetic places. Other accessories include a bike mount and a running mount.
And so to its uses. The Mstick can serve as a lamp, with its LED colors changed to suit the mood, as a bike or running light, with a selection of appropriate settings, or as a torch. Two, almost novelty, functions allow the Mstick to be used for writing light-messages when waved in the air and as a sound visualizer for when listening to music.
In addition, though, it can be used as an alarm in the mornings, flashing to accompany an alarm sound. Its countdown timer functionality, for use when cooking or exercising, shows how long is left by way of the number or lights remaining on and indicates that the time is up by flashing. Finally, the Mstick can pull in weather data and use different LED colors and patterns to show the forecast.
A Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign is underway for the Mstick. At the time of writing, pledge levels start at US$45. Assuming all goes to plan with the campaign and roll-out, shipping is estimated to start in April 2016.
The video below is the Kickstarter pitch for the Mstick.
Sources: Molt, Kickstarter
