Reverse driving accounts for just 1% of all driving time, yet it’s responsible for roughly 25% of all accidents. A dirty backup camera in winter, mud season, or on dusty country roads is not a hypothetical inconvenience but a genuine safety liability, one that most drivers have resigned themselves to either living with or solving by stepping out of the car every time. Mike Klein, a Vermont-based tinkerer with a characteristically no-nonsense approach to annoying problems, got fed up enough to build a solution in his garage. What started as a Ziploc-bag-and-zip-tie prototype strapped to his license plate has turned into the Lens Lizard, a compact, self-contained, remote-controlled backup camera washer that just hit Kickstarter and has absolutely run away with its funding goal.

The concept is beautifully blunt. Lens Lizard mounts behind your license plate, sandwiched discreetly between the plate and the bumper using your car’s existing screw holes. No drilling, no wiring, no running tubing through door gaps or under trim panels. The whole install takes under five minutes with a standard screwdriver, and once it’s on, it’s invisible. The unit itself houses a fluid reservoir, a battery pack, and a high-pressure nozzle that you aim at your camera once during setup and then never have to touch again. When your backup camera gets caked in snow/ice or road salt on a grey January morning, or buried under a slush splatter from the truck overtaking you on a Vermont highway, you press a wireless remote button from inside the car and a jet of washer fluid blasts the lens clean. Sort of like a lizard or a chameleon striking its prey with a sharp, swift flick of its tongue. Except this time, it’s a concentrated jet of soapy water. Maybe a Pokémon reference would work better but I don’t want Nintendo’s lawyers sending me a cease and desist.

Designer: Mike Klein

Click Here to Buy Now: $99 $149.99 ($50.99 off) Hurry! Only 5 days left.

The engineering philosophy here is aggressively practical. Klein explicitly designed the Lens Lizard for Vermont winters, which means sub-zero temperatures, aggressive road salting, heavy snow, and the kind of freeze-thaw cycling that destroys lesser materials. The housing is sealed and built from automotive-grade materials, and the battery and fluid reservoir are sized to last four-plus months between refills and recharges, meaning you top everything up roughly once per season.

Maintenance is a non-event: open the latch, refill with washer fluid, charge via USB-C, close it back up. Klein’s origin story is worth noting too, because it gives the product a satisfying internal logic. He tried hydrophobic lens covers (they peeled), ceramic coatings (they did essentially nothing), and eventually decided to just build a scaled-down windshield washer system for his license plate. The first prototype was, by his own admission, ridiculous. But it worked, and that was enough to tell him the idea had legs.

Lens Lizard works with any vehicle where the backup camera sits above the license plate, which covers 99% of cars on the road, pickup trucks very much included. The product ships with assorted license plate screws to handle different fastener sizes, and the adjustable nozzle lets you dial in the spray angle for your specific camera position during initial setup. After that, the unit lives its entire life tucked behind the plate, completely out of sight. The wireless remote is puck-shaped and lives wherever you keep it in the cabin, a glove box, a cupholder, the center console.

The Lens Lizard starts at just $99 for the entire kit as an early bird discount off its $149 price tag. A dual bundle costs $189 if you’ve got two cars, and all bundles include the Lens Lizard unit, a wireless remote, a battery pack, and an assortment of screws to help you install the gizmo on your car. Given its specific design (and that every nation has a different license plate), the Lens Lizard only ships to the US and Canada for now, although I’m sure a more universal version is in the works. Production is slated to begin in April 2026, with shipping to backers planned for May. For drivers in cold-weather states, high-dust regions, or anywhere that sees serious road grime, it’s a hard value proposition to argue with. Certain premium vehicles have had integrated camera washers for years, quietly tucked into the bumper plumbing. Klein has simply figured out how to give everyone else the same result for under a hundred bucks, no dealer visit required.

Click Here to Buy Now: $99 $149.99 ($50.99 off) Hurry! Only 5 days left.

The post This $99 Water Jet Remotely Cleans Your Car’s Backup Camera Without You Leaving Your Seat first appeared on Yanko Design.

We’re living through a strange moment where our refrigerators are smarter than ever, our thermostats learn our habits, and now, apparently, dogs can control household appliances. The Dogosophy Button, developed by researchers at The Open University’s Animal-Computer Interaction Laboratory, is a wireless switch designed specifically for canine use. Think of it as a smart home device, but instead of asking Alexa, you’re teaching your golden retriever.

This isn’t some novelty gadget cooked up to go viral on TikTok. The button is the result of years of serious research led by Professor Clara Mancini, who runs the ACI Lab. Initially created for assistance dogs who need to help their owners turn on lights, fans, or kettles, the button has now been launched to the public for any dog owner who wants to give their pet a bit more agency. The philosophy behind it, called “Dogosophy,” centers on designing technology around how dogs actually experience the world, rather than forcing them to adapt to our human habits.

Designer: The Open University’s Animal-Computer Interaction Laboratory

So what makes this button dog-friendly? Start with color. Dogs see the world differently than we do, and blue happens to be one of the colors they can recognize most clearly. The button’s push pad is a bright blue, set against a white casing that creates high contrast, making it easier to spot against floors, walls, or furniture. The slightly curved, raised shape means dogs can press it from various angles without needing pinpoint accuracy, which anyone who’s watched a dog enthusiastically miss their water bowl can appreciate.

The button itself is built to handle the reality of being used by an animal. The outer casing is sturdy plastic designed to withstand repeated nose-booping and paw-whacking. The push pad has a textured surface that helps dogs grip without slipping, whether they’re using their snout or paw. Inside, a small light flashes when the button is pressed, soft enough not to hurt their eyes but clear enough to confirm the action worked. It’s the kind of thoughtful design that comes from actually studying how dogs interact with objects, not just shrinking human tech down to pet size.

The system is refreshingly simple. Each set includes the button, a receiver, and basic mounting hardware. The receiver plugs into whatever appliance you want your dog to control, from a lamp to a fan to a kettle. The button connects wirelessly up to 40 meters away, giving you flexibility in where you place it. Press the button once, the appliance turns on. Press it again, it turns off. No app required, no monthly subscription, no “please update your firmware” notifications.

For assistance dogs, this kind of tool is genuinely useful. A dog trained to help someone with mobility issues could turn on a light when their owner enters a dark room or switch on a fan during hot weather. But the public release opens up more playful possibilities. Your dog could theoretically learn to turn on a fan when they’re overheated, activate a toy dispenser when they’re bored, or signal when they want attention by flipping a lamp on and off like a furry poltergeist.

Of course, training matters. Professor Mancini tested the button with her own husky, Kara, noting that huskies are notoriously stubborn compared to more biddable breeds like Labradors. The button works if your dog is motivated and you’re patient. This isn’t plug-and-play; it’s more like plug-and-train-with-treats-and-repetition.

The Dogosophy Button is priced at £96 (including VAT) and is currently available through retailers like Story & Sons. Whether it becomes a legitimate tool for pet owners or just an interesting experiment in animal-computer interaction remains to be seen. But there’s something appealing about the idea of designing technology that considers more than just human needs. Professor Mancini puts it plainly: humans have built a world measured for ourselves, often pushing other species out. A button that meets dogs on their terms feels like a small step toward sharing space more thoughtfully.

The post Your Dog Can Now Turn On the Lights (No, Really) first appeared on Yanko Design.

A reported DHS leak exposed personal details of about 4,500 ICE and Border Patrol agents after a Minneapolis shooting, raising safety and ethics concerns.

The post Leaked Data Exposes Thousands of Border Patrol, ICE Agents After Renee Good Shooting appeared first on TechRepublic.

New NSPCC research finds one in 10 UK children targeted by online blackmail, with parents feeling unprepared and calling for stronger tech safeguards.

The post UK Parents Doubt Tech Giants’ Efforts as Blackmail Cases Climb appeared first on TechRepublic.

NBC News tests reveal OpenAI chatbots can still be jailbroken to give step-by-step instructions for chemical and biological weapons.

The post OpenAI Models Caught Handing Out Weapons Instructions appeared first on TechRepublic.

New York City sues social media companies, including Facebook, Google, Snapchat and TikTok, alleging they have created a mental health crisis among children.

The post New York City Sues Facebook, TikTok, and Google Over Teen Mental Health Crisis appeared first on TechRepublic.

The International AI Safety Report, put together by 96 AI global experts, summarises existing literature on the risks and capabilities of advanced AI systems.

OpenAI and Anthropic will give the U.S. government early access to their frontier models for safety evaluation.