Feb 27
Feb 27
Fujitsu's New Generation GPS Cane puts directions at your fingertips.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
Imagine waking up, reaching for the tablet on your nightstand, and turning on your coffee maker from bed. You catch a few more winks before it alerts you that your hot java’s ready. If Qualcomm’s concept Wi-Fi coffee maker ever goes into production, your mornings may never be quite the same.
The coffee maker, however, is just one of many odd and unusual gadgets on display at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Fujitsu rolled (or walked) out a cane equipped with GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth that could help seniors get around. BeeWi showed off an early version of its Mobot power plug. Not only can you use it to remotely turn electrical devices off and on with your phone, but it also has a motion sensor and temperature sensor to warm you when things get too hot.
MWC 2013 gets wacky with mobile (pictures) … [Read more]
Related Links:
Plug in a BeeWi Mobot to control your gadgets while you’re out
Day 2 at MWC: What you may have missed
Fujitsu New Generation GPS Cane takes you places
Qualcomm’s Wi-Fi coffee machine: High-tech caffeinated kicks
Android rumor roundup
Feb 27
Feb 27
I love hardware. That’s why I want you guys to bring some of the coolest hardware projects imaginable to Disrupt NY this year. That’s why I want you guys in our Hardware Alley.
Hardware Alley is a one-day celebration of hardware start ups both young and old. The goal has always been to show off amazing hardware that we have written about over the past few months, as well as a few surprises. Last Disrupt we featured the guys from Thermovape, Makerbot, and Lit Motors. This year we want to fill Disrupt NYC with more amazing companies.
For more details on Disrupt head over here. We’re looking for new or even unlaunched products, as well as potential Kickstarter projects. Prototypes are fine as long as they’re amazing.
You can see the previous Hardware Alley participants here. You can sign up here. Bootstrappers can contact me directly at john@techcrunch.com if you need a break on price. Hope to see you in the alley… the Hardware Alley.
Our sponsors help make Disrupt happen. If you are interested in learning more about sponsorship opportunities, please contact our amazing sponsorship team here sponsors@techcrunch.com.
Feb 27
This Bluetooth Smart Trigger Turns Your iPhone Into A Canon DSLR Remote And Intervalometer
Posted in: Today's Chili
If you’re into DSLR photography, remotely controlling the thing is a pretty common want for new users and seasoned veterans alike. Satechi’s BT Smart Trigger, which starts shipping today, is a remote that works with a range of Canon DSLRs, connecting to the camera’s hot shoe and giving them full control over their camera’s shutter. It also doubles as an intervalometer, making it possible to get those cool time lapse and extended exposure shots that never fail to draw the appreciation of photography fans.
The Smart Trigger connects to your camera via USB, and rests in the hot shoe mount normally reserved for flashes and other accessories. It communicates with the iPhone via Bluetooth 4.0, meaning it’s a low power consumption device which can get up to 10 years of battery life, and has a range of 50 feet. The trigger app works with iPhone and iPad, and features both a basic standard shooting mode, as well as Manual Shot, which allows for long exposures (like the ones where you see people writing things in the air with sparklers), or Time Shot, which captures a series of images that are then stitched together to generate time-lapse images (like the lightstream photos you see of nighttime cityscapes with busy thoroughfares).
The Satechi Bluetooth 4.0 Smart Trigger might not be able to relay a live feed of the camera’s digital viewfinder, as Canon’s official remote app can with the Canon 6D’s built-in Wi-Fi radio, but at $44.99 it’s an excellent option for amateurs and enthusiasts looking for an easier way to take time-lapse and long exposure specialty shots, using the iPhone they already know and love. Satechi also says that Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note 2 compatibility will be coming sometime in March, so owners of two of the most popular Android smartphones will be able to join in on the fun at that time, too.
Feb 27
The FCC’s Chairman Julius Genachoski may have challenged the U.S. to his “Gigabit City Challenge,” which he’s hoping would spark at least one community in every state to offer gigabit Internet, but according to Time Warner Cable, it’s completely unnecessary.
According to Time Warner Cable’s CFO Irene Esteves who spoke at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, TWC doesn’t believe gigabit Internet is something its customers want. “We’re in the business of delivering what consumers want, and to stay a little ahead of what we think they will want,” she said when asked to comment on the Internet speeds Google Fiber is capable of providing. “We just don’t see the need of delivering that to consumers.” (more…)
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Belkin Announces Plans To Purchase Linksys From Cisco, Radioline Goes to the Connected TVs with Mstar and to the Car with Parrot,
Feb 27
Qualcomm’s AllJoyn Gets An Update
Posted in: Today's Chili
[WMC 2013] During a keynote at Mobile World Congress, Qualcomm CEO Dr. Paul Jacobs and several high-profile executives like Rob Chandhok were promoting AllJoyn, the company’s open platform for device-to-device proximity communications that allow devices to exchange data over any network protocol, without going through a wide area network.
To shed some context around this new AllJoyn push, you should remember that Qualcomm has been promoting the concept for the past couple of years. We’ve seen demos in previous Qualcomm events and back then, AllJoyn was mainly shown in games, but in theory it works with many types of apps and data. Qualcomm’s idea is that with AllJoyn, smart appliances could be equipped with a low-cost processor and radio that would be sufficient to communicate with a smarter device like a smartphone, tablet or home hub. Today, smart fridges basically integrate an Android tablet: this is not cost-effective and therefore prevents their proliferation. (more…)
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Coinstar Allows Customers To Deposit, Withdraw From PayPal, Kymera Jet Body Board,
Feb 27
[MWC 2013] After nearly one month of leaks and rumors, Samsung made the Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet official at Mobile World Congress and I had the opportunity to briefly try a global pre-production unit at the show. Basically it looks like a large Galaxy Note 2 and the key features are pretty similar with a few enhancements here and there. At the briefing, Samsung confirmed that it sports the same 1.6 Ghz Exynos Quad-Core cortex A9 than its smaller sibling. Additional similar features include 2GB RAM, a 1280×800 resolution (1280×720 in the Note 2), Android 4.1.2, and the S-Pen supports with 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Ubergizmo’s Best of MWC 2013, ASUS Padfone Hands-On Review,
Feb 27
We’ve seen plenty of robots based on animal designs. Nature knows what it is doing after all. Researchers, much like leopards, don’t change their spots. They are still working on robot designs that will run us down and devour us. Like the Pneupard, a robotic leopard from Osaka University.
This robot is driven by compressed air. It is still a prototype, which is why this thing doesn’t seem very fast or certain on it’s feet. Plus, its front legs and spine are incomplete right now. Regardless, the artificial muscles that it sports are impressive and when this robot gets further along, it will be more nimble, I’m sure.
It’s movements were based on the movements of a cat walking on a treadmill. I’m guessing they’re not talking about these cats.
They are hoping that capturing movements this way instead of programming the system by hand will lead to a more authentic movements.
[via IEEE Spectrum via Geekosystem]
Feb 27
Alcatel is not quite done yet with their range of smartphones, and have continued to march onwards at the ongoing Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, having introduced a couple more devices to keep the One Touch Fire and One Touch Idol X company. The two new smartphones that were just announced by Alcatel would be the One Touch Snap, and the One Touch Snap LTE. No prizes for guessing just which of the two will be able to offer LTE connectivity support though.
So far, we do know that the Alcatel One Touch Snap will be a wee bit different from its LTE-capable twin brother, the Snap LTE, where the former will run on a quad-core 1.2GHz processor, sport 1GB RAM, carry a 4.5” display with qHD resolution that also features Dragontail Glass for added protection and an oleophobic coating so that them nasty fingerprints will remain more or less non-existent, an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash, a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera, 4GB of internal memory and a microSD memory card slot for expansion purposes.
The One Touch Snap will be powered by Android 4.2 Jelly Bean as the operating system of choice, and will be powered by a decent 1,800mAh battery. The Snap LTE itself is pushed by a 1.4GHz dual-core Snapdragon CPU just in case you were wondering. There is no word on pricing, but the One Touch Snap is set for an April debut, while the One Touch Snap LTE will be arriving in July this year.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Ubergizmo’s Best of MWC 2013, Samsung Galaxy S4 Rumored To Feature Different Chipsets For Different Regions,
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