By now, it seems like just about every possible part of the iPhone 5 has leaked. There’s not much left for a surprise. There’s so little left, in fact, that there are all kinds of full-assembled iPhone 5 mock-ups on Taobao (it’s like a Chinese Ebay-ish, Amazon-y thing) already. More »
The TDK Life on Record Wireless Charging Cube is a wireless speaker that is equipped with an inductive charging pad into the top, allowing you to charge your Qi-compatible gadgets without wires. The speaker supports Bluetooth 2.1 with AAC that delivers high quality, near lossless wireless audio steraming for superior sound. The TDK Life on Record Wireless Charging Cube provides 4 full range left and right speakers, a ported subwoofer, a USB charging only port (1 amp), a 3.5mm stereo auxiliary input and an included AC adapter. Its rechargeable battery provides up to 6-hour of continuous music playback. The TDK Life on Record Wireless Charging Cube retails for $399.95. [TDK]
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
In the unmarked office of 3-D Vision, Inc., you can see a television or PC display a videogame or movie with a convincing stereoscopic effect. That might not seem very unique. However, the television is a CRT from the 1990s, the video game is Super Mario for the Nintendo 64 and the movie is The Wizard of Oz, made in 1939.
Despite the growth in 3D television sales, the requirement to wear 3D glasses has loomed as one of the most significant barriers to adoption. 3-D Vision’s technology still requires glasses, at least for now. However, with some caveats, it overcomes some of the other, oft-overlooked barriers to 3D adoption by creating 3D video from 2D content on 2D (or 3D) displays. On televisions, this is achieved via a small set-top box — a prototype of which approaches the size and noise level of a mini-fridge — that plugs into the video source and the TV and converts the video in real-time with virtually no latency. The box should be available early next year.
Continue reading Switched On: The Old Adventures of New 3D
Filed under: Displays, Gaming, Tablets
Switched On: The Old Adventures of New 3D originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 02 Sep 2012 17:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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I always wondered what it must have been like for Han Solo when he was frozen in that block of carbonite by Jabba the Hutt. We know that he was cold and blind when he came out of it, but did he dream when inside of it? Was he imagining a life with Princess Leia during his cryonic sleep, or was his brain switched off too? And if he was so cold inside, was he dreaming about sleeping inside a sliced open Tauntaun to keep warm? Who knows. I digress, anyhow, because this USB hub has nothing to do with Solo’s REM cycles – just how he looked in carbonite slumber.
Pariah Burke created this Han Solo carbonite USB hub that’s perfect for any fan of the Star Wars saga. Also perfect for people into freezing the good guy just when the series was hitting its stride. While Solo sleeps the blackest of sleeps, you can connect up to four USB 2.0 gadgets to the side of his carbonite coffin, which is a feature that not even Jabba’s full-size version offered. Though I’ve heard that you could plug a maintenance droid to that one.
You can grab the Han Solo carbonite USB hub over on Etsy for $45(USD). Looks great with a Leia/Boushh action figure alongside it.
With a new logo, a new operating system, and new phones on the way, Microsoft is definitely barrelling into the future. Presumably that’s why it spruced up its Services Agreement as well. The new version is remarkably readible, but sneaks in a few new permissions that weren’t there before. More »
4K TV, Windows tableteering, segment straddling smartphones, and cross-company sniping: another year, another IFA. We’ve seen the show coalesce around a few key themes before, and 2012 proved no different, as manufacturers took a suck-it-and-see strategy to try to cash in on holiday hardware sales. As always, the specter of Apple loomed heavy, despite the Cupertino firm’s resolute absence. Read on for the highlights of IFA 2012.
Windows tablets have been the weeds of IFA, springing up just about everywhere you looked. Samsung, Dell, Sony, and others each brought along their interpretation of an iPad-rivaling, usually keyboard-toting slate, with sometimes multiple models – often split between Windows 8 and Windows RT – from individual firms.
It’s a strong showing of support out of the gate for Microsoft, certainly, though with just about all of the hardware left unpriced (and with release dates generally vague) there’s really no telling whether any of the models will be competitive. That’s even before you get to quite how practical some of the hardware itself is; just because a tablet has a keyboard, it doesn’t make it the perfect hybrid of notebook and slate.
In contrast there was only one “phablet” at IFA, but Samsung’s Galaxy Note II is arguably more compelling than any of the Windows touchscreen models shown. If the original Note, announced a year ago at IFA 2011, was a tentative step into a new market, then the Note II is an altogether more confident product. Samsung, buoyed by widespread popular response to the idea of a sizable, pen-enabled smartphone and rewarded by surprisingly strong sales, has come up with a more refined product that doesn’t stint where it’s most important: software.
“Too often we’ve seen great hardware let down by sloppy software”
Too often we’ve seen great hardware ideas let down by sloppy or simply absent software support, but that’s not a fate destined for the Note II. Samsung has continued to polish its stylus experience, signing up compelling names like Moleskine in the process, and giving Galaxy Note II buyers not only a good reason to pick up the phablet on day one, but to keep using it in the months after.
Check out our hands-on with the Galaxy Note II for more details!
Big screens weren’t limited to phones. 4K TVs, promising resolution four times that of regular HD, made themselves known at IFA this year, and while they’re still targeting the richest living rooms, basking in their extra detail is enough to convince where 3D might still leave you cold. Where Samsung could flesh out the Note II with its own suite of functionality, however, the TV industry is stuck waiting for 4K content to proliferate. Right now, it’s a case of resolution oneupmanship; more boastful than truly beneficial.
It’s also been a show of jostling and sniping, as companies in an increasingly litigious and competitive marketplace jostle for position. Samsung CEO JK Shin got the ball rolling, obliquely describing courtroom rival Apple as a “hindrance” that the company would be sure to overcome. (Apple snapped back by adding the Galaxy S III and other recent devices to the list of devices it hopes to eject from stores.) Lenovo’s EMEA chief Gianfranco Lanci was somewhat more sanguine about Microsoft’s Surface and its potential for undermining the company’s own ThinkPad Tablet 2, suggesting the own-brand slate was “very welcome” and acted as “a good advert for us.”
Welcoming competition is all IFA’s starlets can really do. With several weeks of high-profile launches ahead – including Nokia’s new Windows Phone 8 range, Amazon’s Kindle refresh, and of course the inescapable iPhone 5 – the Berlin show was an opportunity to get in early with headlines, if not actual sales. How many of the products of the past week will be remembered when the dust settles at the end of September remains to be seen.
You can find all our IFA 2012 coverage in the show hub!
Messe Berlin subsidized SlashGear’s trip to IFA, contributing to airfare and accommodation costs. No requirements, guidelines or expectations were placed on coverage or content, and Messe Berlin had no involvement in our editorial processes.
IFA 2012: Note II, 4K TV, Windows wobbles and more is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
The world is no stranger to flexible batteries, but they’ve almost always had to be made in thin sheets — that doesn’t amount to a long running time if you’re powering anything more than a watch. LG Chem has developed a flexible lithium-ion battery that’s not just better-suited to our bigger gadgets but could out-do previous bendable energy packs. Researchers found that coating copper wires with nickel-tin and coiling them briefly around a rod results in a hollow anode that behaves like a very strong spring; mating that anode with a lithium-ion cell leads to a battery that works even when it’s twisted up in knots. Join multiple packs together, and devices could have lithium-ion batteries that fit many shapes without compromising on their maximum deliverable power. Some hurdles remain to creating a production-grade battery, such as a tendency for the pack to shed a small amount of capacity whenever it’s put under enough stress. LG Chem is fully set on turning these cable batteries into shippable technology, however, and could ultimately produce mobile devices and wearables that really do bend to their owners’ every whim.
Filed under: Wearables, Science
LG Chem develops very flexible cable batteries, may leave mobile devices tied up in knots originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 02 Sep 2012 16:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The newest model of the Parrot AR.Drone can be controlled via the iPad. Fancy eh? Well, researchers at Zhejiang University have come up with a way to control the quadcopter using a person’s brain waves. That’s telekinesis, Kyle.
Or not. Even though the dude above looks like he’s got a Professor X thing going on, the real magic isn’t in his DNA but on a PC. An EEG wired to his head reads his signals, which is processed on his laptop, which in turn wirelessly sends the equivalent command to the drone. The goal is to help disabled people be more independent and to be able to explore their surroundings, but there’s no reason normal people can’t enjoy this technology as well.
Combine the FlyingBuddy 2 with the ShockDrone and you have one hell of a party game.
[via The Verge]
This past June, a determined pilot managed to keep the human-powered Gamera II in the air for a whopping 50 seconds. Impressive, but it only hovered a little. This flight, while much shorter, nabbed a record of its own by soaring to the great height of 8 feet. More »
If Nokia doesn’t show off at least one banana-hued Lumia smartphone come September 5th, we’re going to be extremely confused. Say howdy to the Pro-monikered followup to its corded Purity HD stereo headset by Monster, which gains Bluetooth (no word on what version), NFC for pairing and active noise cancellation. Similar to its recently revealed PlayUp speaker, the company’s teasing the the Purity HD Pro as an audio accessory that’ll “perfectly match your Lumia” in a choice of black, white, red and yellow. The Pro is essentially identical to its predecessor, but now the folding earcups also serve as a pseudo-on/off switch for its anc functionality for the unit itself. As you might expect, all that tech and Monster branding will cost ya a spendy €299 (about $376) — nearly as much as Parrot’s Zik by Starck. Further details are currently unavailable, except that the cans will reach store shelves near this year’s close.
Update: You’ll find a video hands-on by way of The Nokia Blog here. According a Nokia rep in that video, the earpads have a head detection sensor for automatically enabling ANC (similar to the Zik), while plugging in an included cable will let the headphones function sans Bluetooth. Furthermore, the company also noted to TNB that the battery should last about 24 hours for music or calls, with a week’s worth of life on standby.
Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, Wearables
Nokia’s Purity HD stereo headset by Monster goes Pro, gains Bluetooth, NFC and noise cancellation (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 02 Sep 2012 15:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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