Holiday family gatherings are the ripest events of year for photo-documentation. Rather than leaving the task to Aunt Edna, take those reins yourself. You can capture the finest damn pictures this family has ever seen! More »
Game controllers for iPhone are no longer all that rare, even though once upon a time Apple didn’t even allow them to connect to its smartphone. Still, there’s plenty of room for innovation in this space, and Justice Frangipane’s new design is a perfect example of how things can still get better in this market. Frangipane’s project is an iPhone case that while only 3mm thick, holds a Bluetooth 4.0 video game controller that recharges via solar power.
Launching today on Kickstarter, the project is a concept that creator Justice Frangipane has been working on for the last year, but now he’s working with iDevices, the creators of the Bluetooth iPhone meat thermometer iGrill, to help make it a reality. It features a controller that snaps into the back of a super thin iPhone case, providing physical controls compatible with specific games on iOS that support Bluetooth accessories. It not only charges via solar power, but can also use “trickle charging” to sip on low light and indoor light sources, too. The goal was to build a device you never had to build in, and Frangipane says in the project description that they’ve managed to achieve that.
The controller also doesn’t need that much energy to do its thing, thanks to the use of Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy tech,. That will help it connect to the iPhone without sucking down too much juice on either side of the equation, in order to get four hours of play time on a full charge without any light source. And Bluetooth 4.0 also means that response time for input is dramatically improved: BLE has a 6 second response time, Frangipane says, vs. a sluggish 100 milliseconds for older Bluetooth specifications.
Frangipane says that the project has Apple’s support, and that in fact, the iPhone maker has agreed to work with their team to help make sure the controller works with iOS devices, thanks to help from iDevices. At this stage, the prototype still looks like something created by a home hacker in a garage, but it clearly demonstrates that the concept works: by the time it ships, Frangipane says the control pods will snap into place on the front of the device in the case frame, and of course any wires or connectors will be less exposed.
Backers can get shipping devices for $60, with an estimated delivery date of June 2013. If you’re feeling adventurous, there are 125 prototype testing spots open at the $500 pledge level. Overall, the team hopes to raise $135,000 to bring the controller to market.
Some people love Facebook, some people hate it. For me, it’s somewhere in-between. Unlike some other services like Twitter for which I keep a tab or a screen open, I check on what’s happening on FB a couple of times a day, no more. Facebook has announced that effective December 20, they will allow a small group of users to pay in order to have their messages routed directly to your inbox.
During the test, Facebook will let select non-connected users send messages into your inbox, instead of going to the “other” folder. It’s supposed to be an experiment that will validate the usefulness and create a new revenue stream for Facebook. They’re claiming it’s supposed to discourage unwanted messages and facilitate delivery of messages that are relevant and useful. Has anyone ever heard of useful spam? I haven’t.
On the plus side, there will be a maximum of one message per user per week – and is charging $1 per message – so it’s unlikely that it can be abused by spammers – at least not yet. However, it’s unclear how the service will evolve once the testing ends.
[via Facebook]
Marissa Mayer and the folks at Yahoo! have a nice little gift for you this holiday season: free Pro Flickr for three months for any and all users, old and new. Surely this is just all in the spirit of holiday cheer and has nothing to do with cleverly making use of another image-sharing service’s TOS debacle, right? Right?! More »
I used to always listen to music while I was riding my motorcycle, but after a couple of close calls, I decided to switch the beats off. That being said, when you’re shredding powder, there aren’t as many obstacles that can kill you. If you prefer to listen to music while you’re snowboarding, then check out this helmet.
The POC Receptor BUG helmet has built-in headphones from by Beats by Dre, so you’ll be able to listen to your favorite tunes while you’re skiing or snowboarding. The neck roll even has a mic and a remote, so that you can take calls and change tracks on the slopes, though you’ll want to use caution if you do that.
POC Receptor BUG helmets will be available in either black or white and they will retail for 2200 SEK (~$338 USD). If you’ve already got a helmet by POC, you can just purchase the neckroll for about $180.
[via GearPatrol via Gizmodo]
There’s a certain aspect of human creation, a quaint sort inconsistent imperfection, that most of us tend to think is exclusive to us meatbags. Turns out it’s not; computers can emulate that too, and these weird-looking cartoon faces you could swear were drawn by a five-year-old prove it. More »
Everyone loves to play around with Lego, don’t they? After all, the extremely precise Lego bricks from Denmark magically stack up and connect to one another (where possible) without being off by a bit. There has been many pretenders to the throne, but none so far have been able to usurp Lego from its numero uno position. Well, an iconic part of Lego would be the Lego minifigs, where the top of their yellow heads have this connecting bit for you to add some other pieces of Lego to it, like an antenna for comic relief. Why not let the whole world know just how engrossed you are with Lego by bringing the $16.49 Lego Water Bottle to work?
With the Lego Water Bottle, you can basically share all of your adventures with the head of the iconic Lego minifig. To clean it is a breeze, just like how you would separate two Lego pieces that are stuck together. All you need to do is unscrew the bottom and you will gain access to the innards that delivers a thorough wash. Since it is PVC, BPA and Phthalate free, you know that the Lego Water Bottle would be perfect for your little ones – and you, even. Just don’t microwave this 9.75″ tall water bottle and you’re good to go, although it is food and dishwasher safe.
[ Lego Water Bottle copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
If there is one thing that one cannot avoid in life (other than death and taxes, of course), it would be fashion. Since our ancestors ditched the fig leaf, you can more or less say that mankind has been on a quest to dress as well as possible, even more so in social functions and events, and more often than not to be as attractive as possible. After all, we are not peacocks who do have beautiful feathers to strut, do we? And most of us do not look that flattering in our birthday suits, either. Well, if you are going to go on plenty of rough-and-tumble adventures during the winter, you might as well make the most of it by looking nice and listening to your favorite inspiring tunes, and this is where the Receptor BUG communication helmet comes in handy.
It does not make sense to cram a pair of headphones in between your noggin and a helmet, as that is the perfect recipe for discomfort, which is why ski and snowboard helmet manufacturer POC has decided to work with their engineering team in order to come up with a special helmet that will integrate a set of Beats by Dr. Dre headphones into the neck roll.
The Receptor BUG Communication will be inspired by the Receptor BUG, which so happens to be one of the Swedish company’s most popular helmet models. Apart from enjoying your favorite tunes, you can also take phone calls, adjust the volume level, and skip tracks thanks to the a 1.3 m (4.3 ft) long cable with integrated microphone and remote control which will hook up to a smartphone.
The Receptor BUG Communication is not that lightweight though, but you should not notice it too much at 550 grams a pop, where black and white are the colors you can choose from. You can pick it up from January 2013 onward in sizes ranging from XS to XXL, where it will retail for around $337 each.
Source
[ Receptor BUG communication helmet copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
PA Consulting has created a mobile phone basestation using the Raspberry Pi. In doing so, they replaced a giant 30-foot GSM cell basestation that is scarcely larger than your Internet modem. The consulting group based in Cambridge, UK, detail briefly how they achieved this in a video that you can watch after the jump.
According to the consulting firm’s team, a variety of wireless experts using the Raspberry Pi, a radio interface, and a couple pieces of open source software create the mobile basestation. As you can see in the video, the team uses two cell phones and successfully has them communicate with each other. The purpose?
To show that it can be done, and for a very small price. “We’ve shrunk a 30ft basestation into a 3-inch Raspberry Pi and created our own mobile phone network. This proves what can be achieved through low cost, off the shelf systems.” Of course, they had to do this in a screened room in order to avoid running afoul of the law.
The system is run using three applications: OpenBTS, FreeSWITCH, and a script for assigning telephone numbers. OpenBTS is used for providing the GSM standard, while FreeSWITCH is used to route calls “in a similar way to Skype,” the consulting firm explains. Condescending a 30-foot tower into a 3-inch Raspberry Pi is perhaps the epitome of demonstrating low-cost solutions for the future.
[via New Electronics]
PA Consulting creates mobile basestation with Raspberry Pi is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Volvo, the Swedish manufacturer of cars, trucks, buses and construction equipment, may soon integrate Spotify into its future line-up. According to Wired, Thomas M. Müller, the Vice President of Electrical & Electronic Systems Engineering for Volvo, has confirmed to them that a roll-out is imminent. This will be Spotify’s first venture into the car industry. (more…)
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Audi’s next-gen infotainment system will use Texas Instrument’s Jacinto 5 processor, Plug & Play Screamer Motorcycle Horn,
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