Hasta La Gadget!

Tiggly is a toy for kids who might be past the “teethe on your iPad” and just below the “I want to play the birds game” stages of mental development. Designed by a parent, Steve Miller of Cambridge, MA, the system includes three little shapes and a set of apps that allow kids to interact with shapes, colors, and animals on the screen.

In my experience, kids are using iPhones and iPads younger and younger. Our eight month old stares intently at pictures of baby faces on the iPhone and my son and daughter knew how to slide to unlock before they could crawl. This gives them something fun to do on the iPad and, using capacitive touch points, allows them to put shapes right on the on-screen representations in order to win games and interact with characters.

The toy and three apps cost $29. The apps are quite simple and include:

Clearly we’re not working on advanced particle physics here, but it definitely looks like something I could get into with the kids. Miller built the toy for his children after realizing that the educational games for the very small on the iPad required a level of interaction that was quite difficult for the wee ones. Miller needs a minimum run of 5,000 pieces to make these fairly cheaply so he’s looking for a Kickstarter pledge of $50,000 to start shipping these things. He’s at about $10,000 so maybe we’ll have some happy shapes to help smear pureed pears all over our iPads this holiday.

Project Page

Google gave the broadest of targets when it said Google Play carrier billing would reach Verizon in the “coming weeks” — those last two words are often hints from companies that we shouldn’t hold our breath. Call us surprised, then, when Google quietly takes the option live two weeks later. At least one Droid-Life reader has discovered that it’s now possible to load as many as $25 in purchases per month on an existing Big Red smartphone bill and pay through just the one channel. The move puts all four major US carriers on the same page, and gives Verizon subscribers an incentive to splurge on apps and movies for that new Droid RAZR HD… so long as they remember to deal with the financial fallout afterwards.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Google, Verizon

Google Play carrier billing goes live for impulse buyers on Verizon originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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About a week and a half ago we talked about the official unveiling of the awesome new GoPro HERO3 action camera. The camera was up for pre-order when we mentioned it last time with an estimated ship date to be somewhere around the middle of November. GoPro has now announced that the camera was now officially available for purchase in its three main versions.

The HERO3: Silver Edition is available right now and has all the same features as the HD HERO2 it replaces – and more – including 11 megapixel still photo capability, up to 1080p HD resolution video, and adds integrated Wi-Fi. This camera sells for $299.99. The HERO3: White Edition offers five-megapixel picture resolution, up to full HD video recording, and has integrated Wi-Fi for $199.99. This camera is a direct replacement of the original HD Hero. As with all GoPro cameras, there is a vast array of mounts available to suit just about every recording need.

The top-of-the-line HERO3: Black Edition ships starting on November 14th for $399.99(USD) and includes the Wi-Fi Remote accessory that normally sells for $79.99. That remote accessory allows you to turn on the camera and start recording even if the camera located too far away from you to reach physically. That is a big deal if you use one of these cameras for motorsports where deeply bolstered seats and racing harnesses make movement very difficult within the vehicle. The HERO3′s resolution is pretty incredible, with full 1080p/60 and even a 4k mode (only 15fps, though.)

All these new features make my original HD HERO look pretty lame.

The Empire Strikes Back is definitely my favorite Star Wars movie. Come on. You can’t tell me that you didn’t shiver up and down as the rebels fought the empire on Hoth. The subterranean cold forced the rebels to come up with a number of different innovations for surviving. Massive amounts of high tech clothing to start. How about the ton-ton? A two legged horse that survives the cold.  In the case of the wampa – the big abominable snowman type thing that hung Luke upside down in his cave – he was cut out for the cold. Fortunately the wampa’s strength was no match for a Jedi.

What better way to prepare yourself for the impending winter snow, than with an arm patterned after that very cold weather being? ThinkGeek has a great solution in the Severed Wampa Arm Ice Scraper. You will look like you can take on the world – or Luke Skywalker – with this furry clawed scraper. The mitten keeps your hand warm. And as the winter goes on and your paw gets dirty just throw the mitten in the washer. You can conquer the ice on the car for just $24.99. So get yourself armed for the snow and ice – and add a little character to your scraping.

[ A Claw for Ice copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Microsoft’s Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 have one thing in common – the implementation of Windows Live Tiles. I find the idea of Live Tiles to be a fascinating one, as you get to know what is going on in real time at a glance on your handset without having to actually fire up the app or program. Unfortunately for Microsoft, they seemed to have hit a speed bump this time around as a smaller operating system technology designer will be bringing Microsoft to court, citing that the software giant actually copied its technology for use in Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8.

SurfCast filed a complaint yesterday in a U.S. District Court in Maine, touting that Microsoft infringed one of its four patents — No. 6,724,403 — by “making, using, selling, and offering to sell devices and software products” covered by SurfCast’s patent. Among these include mobile devices that operate on the Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8 operating systems, in addition to PCs which run on Windows 8/RT. We await with bated breath as to how Microsoft will handle this particularly sensitive situation.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Folders for Windows offers more freedom in Windows Phone 7, Windows 8 Consumer Preview to be released on February 29th,