Hasta La Gadget!

You’ll never have to break out the TV trays or ask your dinner guests to dine off their laps with Ozzio’s beautiful transforming coffee table. One moment it’s sitting low to the ground making it the perfect accessory for your living room set. And the next a gas lifting device brings it up to dining height while an expanding surface provides enough capacity for what looks to be at least ten guests. More »

Apple made much ado of the Lightning connector it launched side-by-side with the iPhone 5, but what we’ve known about it has been limited outside of the presence of an authentication chip. Double Helix Cables’ Peter Bradstock has delved deeper and tells AppleInsider that there’s some clever wiring that clinches the reversible design. While Lightning’s power supply is truly symmetrical among the contact pins, the data isn’t — which suggests a chip inside is redirecting data to keep the plug working as intended. The technique helps explain why Apple would need any elaborate circuitry in the first place. No matter the wizardry inside, Bradstock doesn’t see any cut-rate Lightning alternatives being useful in the near future: as it’s unlikely that anyone outside of Cupertino knows how the authentication works at this stage, clone cables may amount to little more than heaps of metal and plastic.

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Mobile

Apple Lightning cable inspection finds an extra-smart connector, won’t make for cheap substitutes originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 18:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve seen amateur and professional developers alike do some really cool things with Microsoft’s Kinect since the motion control peripheral launched in 2010. Interestingly enough, many of these cool things have nothing to do with video games, but that’s another story for another time. The latest in a long line of cool gadgets that put Kinect in the spotlight is a new wearable device that has the ability to make maps in real time.

Specifically, this gadget is geared toward mapping the inside of buildings. Developed by MIT, the device combines a laser range finder with the depth-perceiving abilities of Kinect to generate maps of an area in real time. The unit also houses a CPU to process and construct the map (in the prototype, the user has a laptop in his backpack constructing the map as he walks around), and the map can be sent back to a remote station so those outside of the building can get an idea of its layout.

Also included in this package is an inertial sensor to compensate for the fact that it’s hard to keep the laser perfectly level while walking, and a barometer to measure changes in air pressure, allowing the gadget’s user to map out multiple floors. This technology was developed for use in emergency situations, with applying it to search and rescue operations specifically mentioned. The prototype seems to be a bit bulky at this early stage, but the developers imagine a finished product that is handheld. Check it out in action in the video posted below.

The US Air Force and the Office of Naval Research helped MIT with the project, which suggests that this device could have some military applications in the future. For now, its simply in its prototype stage, but that doesn’t change the fact that its still a really interesting device. What do you think of this latest MIT creation?

[via MITnews]

Kinect takes center stage in new map making gadget is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It looks like Samsung is looking to break away from the Android game just slightly with one of their upcoming Galaxy handsets. The South Korean company is rumored to be working on a Galaxy smartphone that will run Tizen, an open-source Linux-based mobile operating system. If this turns out to be true, it’ll be the first time that a Galaxy device will be Tizen-based.

We’ve talked about Tizen before and its ties with Samsung, but this is the first time we’ve heard anything about the relationship since May. This rumored Galaxy device is said to launch sometime in the future, but no solid time frame has been leaked yet.

However, even if Samsung does pull off a new Galaxy smartphone running Tizen, it’s said that it will face challenges when it hits the market. The biggest reason being that no one really knows what Tizen is, so it’ll no doubt be extremely difficult for Samsung to standardize the Tizen mobile OS and introduce it as a real competitor to Android and iOS.

However, Samsung already has a huge market in the US, so bringing Tizen to one of the company’s most popular smartphone lines might make it a little more easier for Samsung to introduce Tizen to consumers. Plus, if that happens and Tizen takes off, it could lower the market share of Android and possibly weaken Google‘s dominance of the mobile market.

[via BGR]

Samsung rumored to launch Tizen-based Galaxy smartphone is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

While the Lytro’s light-field sensor represents a major advance forward for imaging technologies, it’s mostly been used by early adopters and tech bloggers at this point because the only way to obtain one was through Lytro’s website. Consumers who would’ve otherwise been interested in the camera could not try it before a purchase. On October 9, it will become much easier to both purchase and put your hands on a Lytro: Amazon, Best Buy and Target will carry the light-field camera in the United States. Canada, Hong Kong, and Singapore will recieve retail availability by mid-October.

(more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Google’s autonomous vehicles are now legal in California, LaCie finally puts Thunderbolt on a portable, external SSD,