The Internet of Pedals

Bike thefts are pretty common in major metropolitan areas, and even those who religiously use a bike lock aren't safe from savvy thieves. But there is a gadget in development that will help you get it back should it ever happen to you - the Connected Cycle. The Connected Cycle is a smart bike pedal equipped with GPS and GPRS sensors that are powered by cycling. As soon as your pedals move, the sensors track your activity so it acts as a basic fitness tracker, recording the speed, route, incline, and calories burned of every ride. That data is stored in a connected app that lets you view this activity over time. As all this data is stored on the pedals themselves, you won't need to bring your smartphone with you to track this activity. And since the pedals are always tracking location, they could even help you recover a stolen bike. Cellular service is included with purchase of the Connected Cycle, though as this product is in development, there is no pricing or availability information at this time. Once it's available for purchase, the company claims the Connected Cycle will be compatible with almost any kind of bike, and can only be removed with a special key held by the owner. But of course it's not as big a deal as if you're regretting your decision to save a few hundred bucks on your iPhone or iPad by opting for the smaller 16GB model (mine's a 64GB). But whether you're low on space or have lots but could do with more, there are ways to boost your smartphone's storage capacity. But because swapping in a larger microSD card just isn't an option in the Apple world, you'll have to settle for an external storage solution. And while there are lots of Lightning-friendly flash drives already on the market, the iBridge from Leef features a clever curvy design that wraps around behind your device in an attempt to be less intrusive. Does it succeed? Not entirely. You'll always know the iBridge is connected to your device, but with the bulk of the drive tucked out of sight behind your iPhone or iPad thanks to its unique J-shaped form factor, it's a fair compromise for an additional 256GB of storage capacity for your iOS device. There are some other compromises and trade-offs you'll need to be aware of, though. Thanks to the closed-off nature of iOS you'll need to copy files to and from your iPhone or iPad using the accompanying Leef iBridge app, and it remains to be seen how robust of usable its UI is. The same goes for streaming multimedia content off the drive, but there's at least the potential for the app to support more file formats than iOS does natively. And a starting price of US$60 for the 16GB model is a little on the pricey side as far as flash drives go these days, but with that Lightning port on one end, the Apple tax is probably invoked here.