Each May, Tech Crunch hosts Disrupt New York, a technology festival with 25 discussion panels, 27 startup demos, and a hackathon.

Since this weekend is VICFest, we thought we would share some musically themed innovations unveiled at Disrupt.

Acoustic Stream

Billing itself as “the guitarist’s wireless 4-in-1 companion,” Acoustic Stream is a mobile app that is intended to be a “Swiss-Army Knife” for guitarists. Boasting four wireless features in one, it covers all bases from songwriting and live performance to instrument protection, all in a compact, snazzy-looking transmitter and an easy-to-use app for Android and iOS.

Roadie Tuner

Also unveiled at Disrupt, Roadie Tuner is “the ultimate guitarist’s tool,” and is an automated robotic guitar tuner and the first device capable of tracking the quality of strings, informing users of when strings are about to snap and need replacing.

It’s complemented by a mobile app that allows users to switch between alternate tunings, create their own custom tunings, and keep track of their instrument’s maintenance information.

Fret Pen

Apparently Fret Pen is “the tiniest guitar you will ever play,” a super portable guitar practice device you can take anywhere. Pop off the cap, snap the ball-point end into the guitar body and pluck the tiny string; a Bluetooth-connected smartphone acts as a wireless amp that can make a host of sounds, “from clean acoustic to dirty garage.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxopieB7Hoo]

Kickstarter is taking on space exploration. While a crowded-funded planetary probe has been in the news, there’s another Kickstarter project that is putting space exploration within reach of… everyone!

Calling asteroids “the best real estate in the Solar System,” Planetary Resources bills ARKYD as “the first private space telescope and a stepping-stone to near-Earth asteroids.”

Planetary Resources is an American company formed in November 2010, and their stated goal is to “expand Earth’s natural resource base” by developing and deploying the technologies for asteroid mining.

The first step to mining asteroids, the company believes, is launching small (30–50 kg) low-cost space telescopes for both Earth observation and astronomy.

The same telescope satellite capabilities that Planetary Resources hopes to sell to customers can be used to survey and intensively examine near-Earth asteroids.

Planetary Resources is offering several versions of its space telescope.

ARKYD 100

The ARKYD 100, is, according to Planetary Resources, a low-earth, commercial space telescope “within reach of the private citizen.” According to the company:

The ARKYD 100 Space Telescope provides spectacular views of the Earth’s surface and deep space, including the rich, virtually unexplored areas between our planet and the Sun. Central to its configuration and functionality is a precision imaging system. With arc-second resolution, the ARKYD 100 spacecraft camera will provide detailed celestial and Earth observations where you want them, and when you want them. The ARKYD 100 is capable of surveying for near-Earth asteroids during one orbit, then be retasked for rain forest observation on the next. The possibilities for utility and engagement are only limited by the imagination of the user.

Planetary Resources says the telescope will be offered to the public “soon.”

ARKYD 200

The ARKYD 200 adds “propulsion capabilities and additional scientific instrumentation” to the ARKYD 100 Space Telescope to create a probe that can actually travel to an asteroid.

So far, more than 17,000 Kickstarter backers have pledged $1.5M in funding, blowing the company’s original goal of $1M out of the water… into orbit.

Urthecast’s claim to fame? The Vancouver-based company offers the world’s first Ultra HD video feed of Earth, streamed from the International Space Station.

Russian astronauts installed two HD cameras on the ISS this past January. Urthecast’s cameras will broadcast images and video of Earth to viewers on the ground. So far, their images have been featured on Space.com and many other places around the web.

Urthecast updates new images here.

The still camera has a resolution of five metres, while the Ultra HD video camera has a resolution of one metre, meaning that each pixel in the imagery represents one square metre of the earth’s surface.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSvSDja1OuM?list=UUKW4yDaYCtfWkUjRAeRAMiQ]

The still camera has a resolution of five metres, while the Ultra HD video camera has a resolution of one metre, meaning that each pixel in the imagery represents one square metre of the earth’s surface.

Images from the two HD video cameras will be made available just a few hours after they’re captured, providing what the company calls the “world’s first near-live HD video feed of Earth.”

UrtheCast customers are able to hire one of the two cameras to look at a particular spot on Earth for a fee. Companies like Google Earth would be possible customers, as well as governments wanting to track forestry, animal migration, environmental borders.

Urthecast is also working with universities, researchers, technology startups, and more.
If you have a proposal about how you would use Urthecast, request an invitation here.

Urthecast is also a finalist for a BCTIA Technology Impact Award… Wish them luck!

English singer-songwriter and composer Imogen Heap is working hard to create wearable technology that allows musicians to use motion and gesture to play music – think minority report for musicians brought to you by the DIY/maker revolution.

Imogen Heap’s Gloves are a “cutting edge experimental gestural music hardware” being developed for Imogen Heap’s studio and stage work.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhy-iPKnw_Y]

Using cutting-edge haptic technology, the Gloves feature an entirely unique “gestural vocabulary”, motion data-capture systems, and user interfaces developed by Imogen Heap and her team, to allow artists and musicians to use motion to guide computer-based digital creations.

The Gloves are both an instrument and a controller, designed to connect the user fluidly with gear performers usually use on stage, such keyboards and computers.

Why wearable tech?

Says Imogen Heap:

Most of us on our small team are musicians who are tired of being stuck behind computer screens, keyboards, faders, knobs, and buttons to make our music.  We feel there could be a better way that is more like the experiences we have with traditional instruments: using the dexterity and mobility of the human body.

Via their Kickstarter project, the team is seeking backers big and small to support the project.

Although the team has stopped making gloves for Kickstarter supporters for now, larger backers could pony up for a tailor-made set of gloves of their own.

The intent of the project is to make something open source, and they have promised even backers at entry levels access to information; other rewards include in-person workshops and kits, some friendly to people doing their own experiments in wearable tech.

The number of Kickstarter gloves is limited, but the team hopes to make more in future.

Through a very creative use of nanotechnology, engineers at Nissan have created a paint that itself creates a thin air shield above the surface of the car that makes rain, road spray, frost, sleet and standing water roll off the car without touching the paint surface at all – kind of like a force field.

The ‘super-hydrophobic’ and ‘oleophobic’ paint finish called is called, quite pragmatically, “Ultra-Ever Dry.” Nissan says it gets some of its ideas for paint from bird dropppings.

According to the engineers, ‘by creating a protective layer of air between the paint and environment, it effectively stops standing water and road spray from creating dirty marks on the car’s surface.’

Nissan says it has no plans of making the special paint job a standard on factory models but it will consider offering the self-cleaning paint as an aftermarket option.

Nissan is now attempting to determine if the material is durable for long-term use on vehicles – and if it will hold up in different weather conditions around the world.