FOMO, or fear of missing out, is that feeling of anxiety you get from being away from a phone or internet connection. And the Aumi Mini nightlight wants to help you to not feel that anxiety quite as much. Or it’ll make it worse, we’re not sure.
The Aumi Mini is a little connected nightlight that has a range of functions. Showing you smartphone and internet notifications is one of these, though knowing that you’ve got tweets or emails waiting might not be the best thing to be aware of at 2:13 in the morning.
The Mini connects to WiFi and is compatible with IFTTT, meaning that you can use it in any number of ways — not just the FOMO-tastic functions above. It could tell you that your Gmail account has mails waiting but it could also tell you that someone just accessed the front door’s smartlock, or that your internet connection has dropped (damn you, Telkom!) or… quite a few things really. It makes a nifty addition to a smart home, certainly.
The creators are also imbuing it with some tactile smarts — the colour-changing USB-powered LED light has a touch and light sensor, letting you turn it on and off with a press or set it to do that on its own when the light fades from the day (or you turn them off).
If this is something that you can see yourself installing in your home (and then snapping awake to when you see that you have unread emails), then we have good news. The Aumi Mini has completely reached its funding goal, so it should be on its way by December this year. At the time of writing there were still some $20 (R260) pledges — which will net you your own versatile connected nightlight — available. Otherwise, expect to shell out about… R320 for one. You have almost a month to decide before the campaign ends.
Source: Kickstarter via The Verge