Hasta La Gadget!

LG Electronics has announced a brand new speaker system which will boast a minimalist design while offering a huge audio boost to your home entertainment center, calling it the LG SoundPlate. Having revealed at CEDIA 2013, the LG SoundPlate, carrying the model number LAP340, is said to help usher in a new generation of home theater audio systems and it has been optimized for today’s flat-panel HDTVs.

Jay Vandenbree, senior vice president, home entertainment, LG Electronics USA, said, “The tradeoff for the ultra thin TV design has been smaller speakers, which has led to a surge in demand for supplementary home audio devices. We’re augmenting our already robust line of soundbars with the LG SoundPlate to give consumers yet another alternative for powerful home entertainment sound in a compact, attractive design.” So that’s how we know where they are coming from.

The LG SoundPlate will work its magic by providing high-quality audio while maintaining an aesthetic that is minimally obtrusive. It has a profile of just 1-3/8 inches (35 millimeters) high, but do not be fooled as the LG SoundPlate will come equipped with a robust 4.1 channel sound system that is complete with dual built-in subwoofers.

Apart from that, there is also a 120W output that has been boosted by a unique internal structure alongside LG’s proprietary acoustic tuning system, making it easier for everyone to hear dialog and other discrete sounds whenever they are watching TV shows or movies. Not just content with that, the LG SoundPlate will also feature LG’s Bass Port system that helps lower harmful vibrations from within the speaker enclosure.

When set to LG’s Cinema Mode, it will optimize the LAP340′s surround sound capabilities, resulting in an immersive field of multidirectional audio. Additional functionality can be found in LG’s Sound Sync, which is driven by Bluetooth capabilities, allowing users to pair the device with other compatible devices – phones included, so that users are able to stream music sans wires when in range. Talk about another cable clutter reducing measure!

There is no word on pricing as at press time, but the LAP340 LG SoundPlate is tipped to arrive via US retailers from October onward.

Press Release
[ LG announces the LG SoundPlate speaker system copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Hmmm, what do we have here? So it seems as though the world cannot make do with enough “smart” things – from smart cars to smartphones and even smart homes, here we are with what some might deem to be a “smart bottle”. The folks over at BluFit have come up with an intelligent water bottle which will work with an app that runs on your smartphone device, making sure that you get an adequate amount of water into your system so that you would be able to maintain an optimum level of hydration. Through the use of the smart bottle and app, BluFit is able to know just how much water you need, the amount that you have consumed so far, as well as alert you whenever it is time to hydrate yourself.

We tend to take water for granted by not drinking enough throughout the day. Of course, you would know by now that remaining well hydrated will be able to help with your alertness, control your appetite, while improving activity and performance, in addition to ensuring that everyday symptoms such as being fatigued, having splitting headaches and dry skin will remain at bay. Since we tend to live real busy lives these days, tasks such as remaining hydrated can slip our minds, which is why BluFit has come up with this smart bottle to eliminate the unnecessary guess work while getting the job done for you.

How does this smart water bottle work? For starters, it comes with a sensor which will automatically record the time and amount of water consumed. An integrated app will make sure that users will end up with a program customized to fit their needs, so that there can be no wild accusations thrown at this smart bottle that it does not know what it is doing. The BluFit app will go about collecting a range of data such as weight, age, temperature and humidity to determine exactly what your daily intake should be, and via the app, you can check out your current level of hydration, set and monitor personal goals and adjust your daily intake depending on your activity level and health status. It will retail for $59 a pop when it arrives next March.

Press Release
[ BluFit the intelligent water bottle copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Well that was quick: Not long after T-Mobile announced it would stop carrying BlackBerry hardware in its retail stores (but continue selling them online), the Canadian smartphone maker has revealed a new direct selling model that it likely hopes will shore up that retail channel loss. BlackBerry now offers unlocked Q10 and Z10 smartphones via its own site, for $549.00 and $449.00 respectively.

Those may not be quite bargain basement prices, but they’re cheap enough compared to other unlocked flagship phones from manufacturers like Apple, Samsung, Sony and HTC, and the move is almost certainly tied to BlackBerry’s near-$1 billion write-down on hardware inventory reported last quarter.

The massive write-down was blamed almost entirely on poor performance of the Z10, the BlackBerry 10 flagship device launched last January by the beleaguered BlackBerry, and the first smartphone to be powered by its brand-new operating system. The Z10 was clearly not the rousing success its creators hoped it would be, and the write-down plus the $449 outright price now on offer via its site reflect the fact that there are probably tons of these things just sitting around burning precious and expensive warehouse space.

BlackBerry’s decision to price the Q10 slightly higher might be due to a marginally better reception for the keyboard-sporting design. Having reviewed both devices, the Q10 was definitely the better of the two by a wide margin, if only for basic advantages like longer battery life.

While the pricing and U.S.-only availability of these unlocked devices doesn’t scream “fire sale” just yet, it is worth noting that this is a similar strategy to the one BlackBerry took (back when it was still RIM) with the PlayBook tablet, another big hardware miss for the company. Based on that example, if you’re looking for an unlocked GSM BlackBerry smartphone (unclear why you would be), it’s probably better to wait a little while and watch the company deeply discount both the Z10 and the Q10 in time for the holiday shopping season.

There’s no sign of the Q5 in the direct sales channel just yet. And BlackBerry’s Z30, a new smartphone similar to the Z10 with a built-in bigger battery and larger, lower-pixel density display went on sale in many markets recently, so it also isn’t listed as one of the phones you can buy unlocked from BlackBerry. The company likely won’t have made the same mistake of producing lots of inventory for that device, given the Z10′s track record and the low-key launch it enjoyed, but it’s totally possible those could end up on BlackBerry’s virtual store shelves too, if that’s something you’re into.

Smartwatches sure are multiplying faster than rabbits. One of the newest devices hoping to make it to market is the A.I Watch: a companion gadget that’s also a standalone Android phone, similar to a Chinese creation we saw in August. According to its developers, you can use the A.I Watch to make and accept calls — à la Hot Watch — even if it’s not connected to a phone via Bluetooth. That’s because it has its own SIM card slot and supports 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM bands, as well as 3G. They also claim that its unspecified 1.2GHz dual-core processor is powerful enough for downloading apps from Google Play, loading Maps for navigation, streaming videos and accessing social networks, among others. The A.I Watch runs Android 4.0.4, has 4GB of storage, 512MB of RAM, a 1.54-inch 240 x 240 touchscreen display, a 500mAh battery and a 5-megapixel camera.

If the device ever makes it to retail, it’ll sell for $279 each, which is around the price of Samsung’s Galaxy Gear. Right now, however, the device’s fate hangs in the balance as its creators work to raise $100,000 on Indiegogo to cover mass production costs. Check out videos of the A.I Watch in action after the break, and enjoy a chuckle over one of its watchfaces that looks undeniably Metro-esque.

Update (09/30/2013): So, a lot of you have pointed out that the A.I watch is a dead-ringer for Vapirius’ AX2 smartwatch. We don’t know for sure if A.I watch is merely a copy, but we’ve reached out to its developers for comment — we’ll update this post once we hear back. Meanwhile, the AX2 is available in Europe for €299 ($400), so you can probably bypass this Indiegogo campaign and go straight to Vapirius’ website… although seeing as A.I has only raised a miserable $3,677 of its $100,000 goal, it seems like plenty of you weren’t that excited to begin with.

Filed under: Wearables, Mobile

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Source: Indiegogo, A.I Watch

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