Hasta La Gadget!

By Beth Pinsker Gladstone
NEW YORK, Nov 23 (Reuters) – In a one-day blitz of shopping, consumers are expected to empty their wallets of more than $1 billion on Cyber Monday, the online shopping spree on Nov. 26, according to spending projections from research firm, ComScore.
The day follows closely on the heels of Black Friday on Nov. 23, which kicks off the holiday shopping season at stores, and is often the busiest shopping day for retailers.

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Canadians won’t have to race to the border or gamble on an import if they’re jonesing for a Samsung Galaxy Camera to call their own. As of December 7th, they’ll find the Jelly Bean-touting shooter sitting either in a local Black’s Photography store or the official Samsung store in Burnaby, BC. The Canuck model keeps the HSPA+ data we’ve seen in the AT&T version, but the similarity in networks up north works to a budding photographer’s advantage: a data micro-SIM from any of the larger carriers will be enough for some 3G photo sharing. Samsung is oddly silent on just how many toonies it will take to buy the Galaxy Camera, although a near-perfect parity in currency suggests the Canadian price won’t be too far from the $500 US sticker.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Camera reaches Canada on December 7th with carrier-independent 3G

Filed under: Cameras, Samsung

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Are all computer monitors the same? The obvious answer is, of course, no. After all, we do have different sizes of monitors in the market, and all of them do come with various specifications ranging from the resolution to pixel density and brightness/contrast levels. Well, if there is one route that monitors tend to move to these days, it would be the “slim is in” look – and apart from that, there is also the transition towards a smaller bezel size; so much so that the recently released AOC i2367fh monitor looks as though there is no bezel at all. I kid you not – take a look at the image above and tell me otherwise!

The AOC i2367fh monitor can be considered to be a virtually borderless 23-inch monitor, making it the ideal setup for not only workstations but gaming machines as well. Sporting an Advanced High-Performance In-Plane Switching (IPS) technology as well as a whopping 50,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, we are talking about top notch enhanced picture quality here, where it will be accompanied by higher definition, better color accuracy and greater light transmission.

You will not find it difficult to hook up Blu-ray players, video game consoles as well as a slew of other compatible devices effortlessly thanks to the integrated HDMI port as well as integrated speakers which do away with the need for external audio.

The bezel itself measures a near invisible 2mm, making the monitor look extremely sleek and of course, borderless. Not only that, the AOC i2367fh monitor comes with an artistic design which also boasts of a metallic hook-shaped stand, letting you enjoy two different setup modes of viewing – one as a photo frame style sans a base, and the other as an ordinary function stand. You can pick up the AOC i2367fh monitor for $199 at select retail stores.

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[ AOC i2367fh monitor takes the borderless route copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Editor’s note: Ross Rubin is principal analyst at Reticle Research and blogs at Techspressive. Each column will look at crowdfunded products that have either met or missed their funding goals.

Like a Kickstarter campaign, Apple’s embrace of technologies tends to be an all-or-nothing affair. The company was early to support Wi-Fi and now supports Bluetooth throughout its product line. However, it has remained at an arm’s length from technologies, such as Blu-ray, DLNA, wireless charging and NFC. Apple VP Phil Schiller has said it’s not clear what NFC is good for. The answer: lots of things, mostly having to do with initiating different kinds of transactions, including payments and Wi-Fi transfers.

Backed: FloJack

Some of those things should soon be possible with the aid of the Kickstarter project by Miami-based NFC wizards Flomio and its project FloJack. It’s not a device that enables you to track stolen boats with GPS. Rather, in the spirit of the Square credit card reader, it is a small white lollipop of a device that plugs into the headphone jack of mobile iOS or legacy Android mobile device and allows it to read and write data via NFC. The company has wisely avoided getting wrapped up in payments at this point, but it is supporting other NFC functionality, such as tag reading via Samsung’s TecTiles or its own similar Zapps.

The Flomio Kickstarter page includes a four-minute intro video that takes prospective backers through a cutesy “NFC party” in which iOS devices aren’t on the guest list, the standard CAD-drawing development segment and a concept “day in the life” where we see shoppers tapping FloJacks to access special deals. Still, the FloJack campaign started off slow, no doubt leading many backers to wistfully wonder, “Flomio, wherefore art thou?” The Kickstarter campaign has come down to the wire, with about $6,000 needed to reach the $80,0000 funding goal needed in the next 60 hours as of this writing.

When one breaks down the backers at this point, most have gone for either the $99 FloJack dev kit or the $49 FloJack pack for NFC enthusiasts. The real boost, though (half of the project’s funding), has come from three backers who have shelled out $10,000 each to have Flomio help them create NFC applications and a fourth who shelled out the same amount to have Flomio build them something while they take in a Miami Heat game and relax on the beach — nice work if you can get it done for you.

Like its longer-range radio brethren Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, NFC is best integrated not only into the casing of the phone, but into its operating system as well, which is exactly why Android and Windows Phone have taken that approach. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth USB sticks for laptops lacking those technologies proved that point, and the situation is even worse with a mobile phone, where a need for portability and personal style is at a premium.

Sweetening the deal and taking advantage of a Kickstarter campaign that enables owners to change rewards midstream, the clever Flomio team added a new option, the FloCase. This wraps a FloJack-style NFC reader/writer into an iPhone case. It makes for a far better solution in which you don’t have to be as concerned about the FloJack slipping out of or even breaking off in the headphone jack, which remains free for audio output.

Not only has Flomio been smart about its Kickstarter rules, but it’s also recognized that, for NFC to do anything, it must be supported with an SDK. Flomio’s works across platforms. However, at some point Apple will no doubt support NFC or something like it for transactions, and at that point Flomio will likely have to focus more on its own custom development work. Unil that time, though, developers may be willing to deal with a little protrusion from their iDevices in order to get a taste of at least some of the promise of NFC.

I have always believed that scissors are overlooked as weapons and as survival tools. The Leatherman Raptor is a versatile pair of scissors fit for surviving World War Z. While they might come in handy during zombie attacks, the Raptor was actually developed for medics.

This scissor-like multi-tool features stainless shears, a strap cutter, a carbide glass breaker, a ring cutter, a ruler, and an oxygen tank wrench.

Unfortunately, they aren’t available yet – and won’t be until May 2013. The price hasn’t been announced either.

Personally, I’d like to see a model that’s a bit more substantial than this one, something that looks scary, you know, something that you could use to take the head off a zombie.

[via Uncrate]