Hasta La Gadget!

We can thank the Japanese for another wacky gadget that has just been unveiled. The device is called the Shippo, and is a concept right now. It’s a white, fuzzy cat tail that reacts based on the wearer’s mood.

It looks like the perfect complement to Neurowear’s mind controlled robotic cat ears we talked about a while back. The idea is that the wearer would have some sort of sensor on their head that would detect their mood and wag the tail in relation to how they felt. When excited, the tail would wag rapidly.

When relaxed, the tail would wag slowly, and when scared apparently the tail wouldn’t wag at all. The tail works in conjunction with a smartphone app that allows the user to search out places where other users of the Shippo where relaxed. You can even list where wearers found someone else they like wearing the tail, in case they want to meet up. Check out the video above for a glimpse at all the cat tail weirdness.

[via io9]

Last we heard from Mophie, it revealed its upcoming Juice Pack case for Samsung’s Galaxy S III. While there’s still no further info for that model, the company recently took to its Facebook and Twitter accounts to announce it’s new $40 Juice Pack Reserve Micro. The palmable battery pack is nearly identical to the 30-pin friendly Juice Pack Reserve, but, as the Micro in its name implies, this one charges Micro-USB devices. The unit features a key chain loop and stores a total load of 1,000mAh, which gets re-filled via its secondary USB 2.0 plug. There’s more info at the source links below — here’s to hoping for a Lightning variant soon.

Filed under: Cellphones, Misc, Mobile

Mophie’s $40 Juice Pack Reserve Micro charges your smartphone, fits on a keychain originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 09:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo’s Wii U will be region-locked, meaning games and other software bought in one region is unlikely to work on a console purchased from a different region. The news, apparently confirmed by Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, NeoGaf reports, means those hoping to jump the queue and order a Wii U from a different region so as to get their hands on it early will be left forever importing games, too.

“What can be played on the Wii U is restricted by a region-lock feature; software not sold in the same region cannot be played” the (translated) magazine stated of the new Nintendo console. In addition to preventing gamers from buying consoles earlier, it also means game imports will be curtailed.

The news is likely to come as little surprise to most gamers, given Nintendo’s – and indeed much of the gaming hardware industry’s – historic attitude to locked consoles. Nintendo has already announced that the Wii U will arrive in North America first, on November 18, with European gamers having to wait until November 30, and those in Japan not getting the console until December 8.

In the US, the Wii U will be priced at $299.99 for the Basic pack, and $349.99 for the Deluxe. Each will include a single GamePad tablet and the core console, though neither will bundle a Wiimote controller or numchuck. Nintendo says it expects most Wii U buyers to be upgrading from the Wii and to already have the older controllers.

[via Mark MacDonald]

Wii U region-locked says Famitsu is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Ubooly, A toy that uses Apple’s iPhone or iPod touch as a means to turn a cuddly plush into an interactive experience, today revealed to TechCrunch that it has raised a $1.5 million seed funding round, from investors including Jeff Clavier’s SoftTech, 500 Startups, David Cohen and more. The funding follows Ubooly’s successful Kickstarter campaign that funded an initial production run, and its participation in TechStars 2012 Boulder, and will help the team tackle their ambitious goal of providing an evolving digital experience to accompany a child’s physical toy.

The Ubooly, which began shipping just last week, is the brainchild of Colorado-based husband and wife team Carly Gloge and Isaac Squires, founders of design agency Warb. The two took to Kickstarter to prove their idea had legs, and that a toy that uses Apple’s mobile devices to provide interactive games, as well as speech recognition features could fly with consumers. The company passed its $25,000 goal, but the attention helped it attract more than just some initial pre-orders, including $335,000 in additional venture capital and a spot on The Founders: Season 3 web series, documenting TechStars Boulder’s 2012 class.

The team behind Ubooly is already putting the funding to good use, with engineering updates to Ubooly’s voice recognition to make it perform better with children specifically (I’ve used the app with a Ubooly plush, and find the recognition surprisingly accurate for adults already), and a new play mode for the Ubooly app that doesn’t require the physical toy to interact with the character. New contract writers have also been brought on board, to help meet the demanding update schedule the company has created for Ubooly: new content every two weeks.

One of the biggest perceived problems facing the Ubooly right now might be that it was designed with the iPhone 3GS, 4 and 4S (and 4th gen iPod touch) in mind. The plush animal fits those devices tightly, with no real wiggle room, which means the extra vertical space on the iPhone 5 and 5th gen iPod touch won’t work with it (though new units are shipping with deeper pockets to compensate). But co-founder Carly Gloge argues that’s actually a big benefit for the device in the short-term.

“I think the iPhone 5 release will be significant for Ubooly,” she said. “There are now multiple generations of iPhones that are collecting in people’s drawers, and our users have expressed that Ubooly has been a fantastic way to reincarnate their old devices.”

The Ubooly team will look at supporting latest generation iOS, and even Android devices down the road, but for now, Gloge is likely right about capitalizing on the opportunity that exists in the market for devices not on the bleeding edge; kids often get hand-me down devices when parents upgrade, which translates to a stay of execution for children’s iOS accessories when it comes to issues of obsolescence like form factor changes and compatibility with new technologies.

There are others out there trying to do the same kind of thing that Ubooly is doing, including Totoya Creatures and Griffin’s Woogie, but Ubooly’s plan is arguably more ambitious. The startup wants to create an entire thriving ecosystem around their toy, with apps that not only learn and grow with a child, but also suit specific use cases. For example, there’s a GPS-tracking app in the works that provides a virtual tour guide experience for kids on vacation.

Initial interest has been strong, the founders tell me, and this money will help continue to spread the word and develop product. But content is the key piece of the equation that makes Ubooly special, and where that’s headed in terms of both volume and quantity will likely determine whether or not this Boulder-based startup has the next Furby on its hands.

When it comes to Bluetooth headsets, are all of them the same? LG begs to differ, what with their LG Tone+ Bluetooth stereo headset (HBS-730) hoping to change the way things work in the industry. After all, you can more or less say that the LG Tone+ Bluetooth stereo headset does have its fair share of pedigree to call upon, considering how it is the successor to the original, the LG Tone, otherwise known as the HBS-700. One of the main key features in the LG Tone+ would be its support for VoLTE (Voice over LTE) calls, allowing one to carry out conversations in High Definition (HD) sound between VoLTE-capable devices.

Paul Bae, Vice President of Marketing Center of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company, said, “LG was the world’s first company to demonstrate VoLTE technology and announce a VoLTE smartphone. And today, we are still at the forefront of efforts to advance the commercialization of VoLTE as a follow up to the global expansion of LTE. In order to provide our customers with a superior user experience over 4G networks, LG will continue to raise the bar on all its mobile products, including accessories that support LTE and VoLTE.”

The LG Tone+ is said to deliver enhanced audio quality with a number of improvements compared to its predecessor. The extended bass register of the LG Tone+ will help increase the available sound range, while delivering a perceptibly improved audio experience which ought to keep audiophiles happy. Bear in mind that this is LG’s claim, and we will just have to test it out for ourselves in order to know just whether it can live up to its reputation.

The inclusion of a Bluetooth Multi-connection function allows the LG Tone+ to hook up to two smartphones or to smartphone and other multimedia device, where either way, it is done immediately. The Audible Pairing Assistance feature lets you know of the connection status when another device is connected, and Vibrating Call Alert helps the user be aware of incoming calls.

The talk and standby times of the LG Tone+ is said to have been extended to 15 and 500 hours, respectively, where it will arrive in South Korea, the United States and China by the end of September in two color combinations. Pricing details have yet to be determined though.

Press Release

[ LG Tone+ Bluetooth stereo headset for clearer conversations copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]