Hasta La Gadget!

This time of year, developer conferences and the Moscone Center in San Francisco go together about as well as hamburgers and hot dogs. We enjoyed Google’s and Apple’s annual conventions last month, and this week it’s Microsoft’s turn. During this edition of Build 2013 (oops, we mean “//build/”), we’re expecting Windows 8.1 to take the bulk of the devs’ attention, while we also hope to see a few additional nuggets of info about other projects such as Xbox One and — if we’re lucky — Windows Phone. If we’re even more fortunate, we might get to see a famous Ballmer chant-and-dance for the developers, but we don’t want to set our expectations too high. Join us here as we canvas Moscone for the latest and greatest developments at Build 2013!

Filed under: Announcements, Microsoft

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Pioneer’s new SB-PS23W is a soundbar the way most people want it: A simple, relatively inexpensive way to make a television sound louder. In that way, it’s cut from the same cloth as the fantastic AirPlay speakers the company made last year (actually, they’ve got the some LA-based designer). It wasn’t the first AirPlay speaker, but its design made it a winner.

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Who likes taking out the trash? Nobody, that’s who. We’ll do anything we can to avoid trips to the curb, or the garbage chute, including letting it pile up for weeks on end. But a giant mountain of stinking trash in your kitchen isn’t the only solution. This stainless steel trash can includes a manual compressor letting you squeeze roughly twice the amount of trash into its 10 gallon capacity.

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Monkey see, monkey do – or so the saying goes. One of the best ways that kids learn is through emulation, which is why it is very important for parents not to mix things up with the mantra, “Do as I say, not as I do”, as that tends to confuse the little ones who are introduced to hypocrisy through the very same person(s) who are meant to shape their values and worldview in the right direction. Having said that, if Junior has seen dad or mom carrying an iPad all day long, surely it won’t be long before they too, start to hanker after a tablet of their own? This is where LeapFrog steps in, by announcing the all new LeapPad Ultra. The LeapPad Ultra is a kid-tough tablet that will play nice with LeapFrog’s unique library of over 800 life-changing content experiences which were specially designed or approved by LeapFrog’s learning experts.

In fact, the LeapPad Ultra is kid-ready right out of the box, thanks to LeapSearch by Zui, which happens to be a proprietary kid-safe web browser which parents are able to place their trust in. Not only that, you can also find the only 7” DUO TECH high-resolution screen on the LeapPad Ultra, where it was designed to help children learn to write using a stylus while supporting a slew of interactive touch experiences. Apart from that, LeapPad Ultra also boasts of a sleek new look, a long-lasting rechargeable battery, two cameras – one in the front and another at the back cameras, and video recording capability, all accompanied by 8GB of internal memory.

There are also new intuitive parental tools such as a four-digit security code so that parents will always have a semblance of control over the kind of content that their little ones are able to access, while Wi-Fi allows them to directly synchronize content to their child’s LeapPad Ultra. Parents are able to browse, purchase and download apps from LeapFrog’s library of games, apps, eBooks, videos, music and more. The LeapPad Ultra will retail for $149.99 a pop, and downloads have been priced at $5 and above, while game cartridges are more expensive at $24.99.

Press Release
[ LeapFrog announces LeapPad Ultra for kids copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Remember the View-Master? We’ve already seen goggles from Hasbro and Sanwa that transform the iPhone into a 3D viewer, but Poppy plans to spice things up by adding 3D photo and video capture to the mix. The device, which contains no electronics, is about the size of medium pair of binoculars and features a slot which accepts an iPhone 5. It’s launching on Kickstarter today for less than $50, along with a matching app. We got the chance to take a prototype for a spin and it worked like a charm. Check out the gallery and campaign link below, then read on after the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Mobile, Apple

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Source: Poppy (Kickstarter)