Hasta La Gadget!

My life changed when I sipped a shot of Bailey’s mixed with chocolate liquor. I guess you could say that my life changed at that point, because I never liked the taste of alcohol nor appreciated it all – until that very moment.

Japanese brewery Sankt Gallen is no stranger to chocolate booze.

In fact, they brew a damned good chocolate stout that’s about to get even better. Sankt Gallen’s newest offering is a special set which includes a 330mL bottle of their chocolate stout, along with a completely edible glass that’s made entirely out of chocolate.

Rocket News 24 is quick to explain that the chocolate glass might be able to counteract the bitterness of the the “ultra-dark beer”, which is apparently brewed “with over twice the ingredients of your average dark beer including roasted ‘chocolate malt.’”

Chocolate stout with a side of chocolate? Sounds good to me.

[via Foodbeast]

Did your grandparents have a light timer in their living room? I think many did. Back when burglaries were fewer and farther between it made sense. Unfortunately crime is on the rise. (I’ll resist going on a political tangent) Burglars are much smarter. So we the home owners/dwellers must better prepare our domiciles. House sitters have become a popular option. Or maybe your neighbor stops by to turn lights off and on. Smarthomes enable remote control of many items in the home. But not all of us can afford a True Smarthome (or can’t retro fit ours).

Announced yesterday at Mobile World Congress, and covered by CNN, in Barcelona is a solution to use our everyday technological capabilities when it comes to remote household control. The BeeWi Mobot will make your grandparent’s timer look archaic! At its simplest the device is a power socket. Plug your light, appliance or gadget in however, and Mobot takes over the control. Multiple Mobots in the home can communicate via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, with  master Mobot also having a SIM card installed. This, of course, means the master Mobot communicates with the outside world via iOS app (no mention of Android yet). Voila. You can control the full gamut of Mobot connected devices from anywhere in the world. Change the lighting while you are away from home. Pop on the TV to entertain the dog. Turn the TV off as a reminder of teenagers about bedtime. Start the washer while on your way home from work. Or scare the heck out of family that may be home! In addition to controlling power on devices, Mobot offers a motion detector which texts you after movement in the house or you can set it up to turn lights on when you walk in. BeeWi anticipates launch later this year at about $195 (£130) for a master and $80 (£50) per additional plug. Sure it is an investment, but for control and awareness of activities at home it should be worth the money.
[ Remotely Control Your Home copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Big screens are the talk of the town at MWC. Got nothing else to announce that makes your handset stand out from the crowd? Throw a huge screen on the sucker. Or just put phone features in a tablet and call it a day. Apple seems to be the only smartphone OEM out there without a giant-screened smartphone, but designer Peter Zigich has created a concept of what a Cupertino phablet could look like, should Apple ever feel the need to big it up.

In a new blog post, Zigich envisions a number of different concepts for a next-generation iPhone, including a design that gains screen real estate simply by shifting the home button to the side of the device, clearing the entire front for display. That adds an extra row of apps, above and beyond the five plus dock available on the iPhone 5. A recessed, side-mounted home button actually makes a lot of sense, especially with one on each side for convenience/ambidextrous use, as Zigich has placed them in his mockup. Would Apple actually add a button to its design in the real world though? Never, say I.

Zigich’s basic iPhone 6 redesign borrows cues from the iPad mini to reduce the size of the bezel around the display, which is feasible if Apple integrates its accidental screen edge touch filters to the smartphone. The designer also employs the same tricks in developing an iPhone mini concept, and what he calls an “iPhone 6 XL,” or an iOS powered equivalent of a Galaxy Note-style handset with a big ol’ screen.

With his nearly edge-to-edge screen, Zigich says that his concept is still perfectly usable with one hand, which has been a sticking point for Apple in the past, at least in terms of the public line it has taken regarding bigger displays on smartphones. And the squat iPhone mini uses the same size screen as is found in an iPhone 4/4S, but in a much smaller package thanks to the new placement of the home button(s) and the shrunken bezel elements.

These concepts are excellent in that they don’t venture too far from Apple’s current design, making them look and feel like something we could actually see out of Cupertino, but despite their merits I doubt we’ll see Apple unveil very similar designs at any upcoming event. Still, with rumors of different screen sizes and new iPhone SKUs flying, it’s interesting to see a material take on how exactly Apple might go about that kind of product differentiation.

Boy, how time flies when you are having fun – or not. I digress, it was just last month in Las Vegas, Nevada, when the folks over at Razer took the opportunity to announce that they have successfully put together all the best elements possible of a gaming notebook/tablet, taking input from hardcore gamers who know best what they want, and asking the engineering team to conjure a miracle, resulting in the announcement of the Razer Edge. Well, we did take a good look at its specifications back then, but there is no harm in going through the list again considering how Razer has just placed the Razer Edge on pre-order from March 1st, and shipping it set to commence sometime later in the same month. It is definitely going to be an interesting gaming spring and summer, for sure!

Razer did say that all purchased units during the pre-order period will be shipped to consumers later that very same month, and we do wonder whether there will be enough supply to keep up with voracious demand, assuming that happens, of course. The Razer Edge is touted to be the most powerful tablet in the world, and before it is even released to the mass market, you might be interested to know that it has already picked up its fair share of awards, having swept eight gongs at the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), where among them include CNET’s “Best of Show” award.

Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder, CEO and creative director, had this to add about the Razer Edge, “The Razer Edge combines the features of full-functioning PCs, touch-enabled tablets and gaming consoles into one incredible, portable form factor. Furthermore, the Razer Edge’s powerful chipset, unique among all tablet computers, ensures that you can take advantage of the world’s most sophisticated games, programs and apps on these multiple platforms anytime.”

The Razer Edge will be powered by an Intel i5 processor and have a 64GB SSD, while the Razer Edge Pro sports an Intel i7 processor with an option for a 128GB or 256GB SSD. Its gamepad controller, home console dock and extended battery accessories will also be up for pre-order at the same time, although the optional keyboard dock is due for a launch in Q3 later this year. Prices for the Razer Edge begins at $999 and goes north from there.

Press Release
[ Razer Edge gets March 1st pre-order date copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

If you pre-ordered a Leap Motion, it’ll land in your mailbox this May — nearly one full year after it was introduced.