Im krisengebeutelten Spanien sorgt ein Bürgermeister für Vollbeschäftigung und billige Häuser. Die Krise und der Verdacht undemokratischer Praktiken bedrohen den Fortbestand seiner Utopie.

Here’s a quick mental exercise for you. Imagine you were faced with a fight, in which you knew your opponent was bigger, stronger, more experienced, and had access to the best facilities, trainers, and coaches money could buy. Would you step into the ring?

It’s a terrible analogy, but those kind of Rocky odds are what nearly every new independent brand faces today. Amazingly, despite having the deck stacked against them, plenty of small, passion-fueled companies are creating incredibly innovative products with one goal in mind; revolutionizing their respective industries. While we make it a point to highlight brands like this on a regular basis, in the list below we’ve compiled 20 of our favorites to date in no particular order.

Read on about them all after the break and remember their names, because we don’t expect them to stay small for long.

We’d like to extend a special hat tip to our partners at Intel for making this GP x Smart Life series possible. Sharing our passion for discovery, Intel’s relentless pursuit of innovation not only makes our lives better today, but tomorrow’s as well. Now that’s smart.



Additional contributing by Eric Yang

Liquipel:

Water has always been the arch-enemy of electronics, but Liquipel’s revolutionary coating seems poised to change that. Demo videos have shown how Liquipel can protect precious gadgets like the iPhone in the event of a water splash or even outright submersion, without altering the device in any tangible way for users. In fact, the company’s videos have made such an impact, that they’ve had to turn down customers demand for their $50+ waterproofing treatments until they can meet demand. That may be bad news for butter finger electronics owners looking for immediate “oops” insurance, but it’s good news for consumers at large, since this initial traction hints that H20 and circuitry may soon get along forever.

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FreeMotion:

The rigidity v. support tradeoff of ski boots is something any fan of the sport is keenly aware of after a day on the slopes. Austrian brand FreeMotion seems to have finally cracked the code with their new self-named boots, which offer users the ankle flexibility and comfort of a snowboarding boot with the same precision downhill performance of a traditional ski boot. They’re also easier to get into and tighten compared to the traditional plastic foot coffins, thanks to a front zipper gaiter, and specialized one-handed lacing system. Talk about putting your best foot forward…

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Nest Labs:

After years of leading the iPod to global music domination, Apple alums Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers decided to tackle a different product in need of a serious makeover — the thermostat. The result is the uber-slick Nest Learning thermostat, which combines excellent product and user interface design with Wifi and a bevy of sensors to make regulating home temperature intelligent, easy to use, and energy efficient. As if those features weren’t attractive enough, the company says installing a Nest will quickly pay for itself, since research shows it can reduce home energy bills by 20 to 30% compared to traditional thermostats.

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Hella Bitter

The bitters market has been traditionally dominated by a small collection of established brands selling their concoctions directly to bars and restaurants. After years of experimenting with making home brewed Bitters, Hella’s founders decided to raise some money via Kickstarter to sell a limited run of their concoctions to other home enthusiasts inspired by the resurgence of cocktail culture. The positive reaction from the first run was overwhelming and soon after, they decided to go full time on the project. While they certainly aren’t shying away from competing with the big boys for shelf space at venues and adoption by talented mixologists, Hella’s main goal is to help sophisticate the American palate by educating people at home about how these unique herbal concoctions can turn everything from a Manhattan to a plain glass of soda water into a new taste experience.

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Vitality GlowCap

Outside of setting yourself a bevy of reminders, remembering to take your prescription meds can not only be a hassle, but downright dangerous for those requiring regular regimens. When you consider that nearly half of America is on some type of prescription med, then the socio-economic effects quickly add up. The GlowCap works by replacing the typical prescription bottle cap with a device that reminds you when it’s time to take a pill with a visible and audible alert. When a bottle has been opened (or not opened) at a prescribed time information, that information is wirelessly transmitted to a secure network, which then places a telephone call as a reminder. GlowCaps can even place refill orders from the pharmacy, create monthly regimen reports for doctors, and inform family members or caregivers through weekly email updates. A smarter prescription bottle is something we could all use.

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SmithsonMartin

Touch screens have revolutionized the way we interact with a variety of gadget categories — and created some new ones along the way. Veteran DJ’s Alan Smithson and Pablo Martin saw the same potential for disruption in the DJ world, and founded SmithsonMartin to help direct the future of the art form on multi-touch screens. While their incredibly customizable emulator software and companion touchscreen hardware are aimed squarely at the pro market, it’s just a matter of time before seemingly sci-fi tech like this trickles down to bedroom mixing enthusiasts. Digital music was already ushering the term “Disc Jockey” toward obsolescence, but SmithsonMartin is putting the nail in the coffin.

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Espro Press

The French Press has made an enormous impact on the gourmet coffee scene ever since being patented in 1929. While the classic design is certainly effective compared to other brewing methods, Bruce Constantine and Chris McLean still felt the cafetiere (its other common name) was far from perfect, because its filter placement above the grounds allows fine coffee particles to stay in the coffee, resulting in a gritty and muddy cup. So, they decided to revisit the concept and after years of tinkering, the Espro Press was born. Their version uses two nested micro filters to keep grounds separate from the coffee, while still allowing for aromatic oil flow through. The result is a great tasting and cleaner cup of coffee.

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In2Technologies

Everyone acknowledges that immersion surround sound systems provide a better home entertainment experience compared to your average TV speakers. The trouble is, most aren’t willing to deal with the setup and research required to install one in their home. Former Apple Audio Lab head Tod Beauchamp and Sony engineering exec Mike Fidler saw this as a missed opportunity on the part of major electronic brands and decided to solve the issue themselves. Their Unity Home Theater system is designed to eliminate consumer headaches, by combining a left, right, center speaker, with dual subwoofers, a DVD/Blu-ray player and an iPad/iPhone dock, into one beautifully designed TV stand. Thanks to that tight integration, consumers just need one cable to connect the entire setup to their TV. In short, it takes the notion of plug and play to an entirely different level.

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Basis

Most people know the steps they need to take in order to live healthier lives. The tricky part is convincing them to do it. The team behind Basis thinks game dynamics, social media, and data collection can go a long way to help people monitor and improve their health. Their upcoming Basis Band is essentially a health tracking watch that features sensors for tracking your heart rate, movement, skin temperature and even perspiration levels. All of the personal information the watch records is then neatly displayed via a web portal, that users can take advantage of when setting and meeting health goals.

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110% Play Harder

Muscle compression has plenty of benefits that sports medicine experts have honed for years to help athletes perform their best and stay healthy. The same thing goes for icing. 110% Play Harder’s (yes, that’s their name) “Compression +” line of athletic gear builds off both techniques, combining an advanced, zoned and gradient compression design with an integrated reusable ice therapy pocket system. Together, compression+ helps athletes increase blood flow and muscle stability, while reducing muscle fatigue and recovery times.

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GORUCK

When Jason McCarthy took his accumulated knowledge from the Special Forces and combined it to with a passion to create the best ruck (a bag in civilian parlance) imaginable, GORUCK was born. The flagship bag, the GR1 balances extraordinary attention to detail, over-engineering and simplicity. Those happen to also be core axioms of the GORUCK brand, which continues to innovate their lineup with everything from handy field cases, a brick bag, and even somewhere you might not expect there to be room left to innovate, a hat. But GORUCK is more than a company with products. Just ask its scores of enthusiasts who have aligned themselves with the GORUCK Challenge, a P.R.-free event that asks its participants to partake in brutal endurance races that build camaraderie, achievement and yes, further love for GORUCK.

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KUAT

KUAT (pronounced “koo-at”) was founded from the start out of a desire to make innovative roof racks, and their URL, kuatinnovations.com, reminds web visitors just in case they forget it. Despite competing directly with 800 pound gorillas in the industry like Yakima and Thule, Kuat’s special mix of revolutionary thinking and high-engineering serves as a blueprint for how small brands can achieve massive recognition with enthusiasts, given the right approach. Thei[…]

Now, these visuals can be used in a nice 2011 intro! Very, very nice, basic audio. Cool!