Hasta La Gadget!

Amazon’s Matchbook service, which offers e-book versions of hard copies of books like Amazon’s Autorip offers digital versions of physical music, is now live. The service supports over 70,000 books at launch with digital equivalents costing $3 or less. The service recognizes purchases from as far as …

The folks over at VOXX Accessories have just announced the launch of the SoundFlow Soundboard portable speaker, so if you have been on the lookout for something like it all this while, now might be the time to check this out. The SoundFlow Soundboard Portable Speaker would be able to let you enjoy smartphone audio instantly in a big way, where there is no need for pesky wires which tend to get all tangled up, all the while doing away with having to pair up or to connect to another device. All you need to do is to place any smartphone on top of the Soundboard, and the SoundFlow wireless audio will get the rest of the job done.

When it comes to brand compatibility, you can more or less say that the SoundFlow Soundboard Portable Speaker will be able to support virtually all brands and models that you can find in the market today where smartphones are concerned. In fact, just about any portable device that has a built-in speaker will be able to get the job done with the Soundboard. If you are interested inwhat the Soundboard is able to do, it will arrive in a trio of different colors and models, and they are SP20WHBK (white top, chrome trim and black bottom), SP20WDBK (woodgrain top, chrome trim and black bottom), and SP20BKGR (matte black top, lime green trim and black bottom).

Just like how all good solutions tend to come about as a result of a problem in the past, so too, the same applies with the SoundFlow wireless audio technology. It was developed by VOXX because they realized that nearly 80% of smartphone users who listen to music from their phones rely on the integrated speakers 55% of the time, so the SoundFlow Soundboard was developed in order to introduce an easy solution for smartphone users to enjoy enhanced sound quality and amplification without breaking the bank.

After all, with an asking price of just $29.99 a pop, not buying the SoundFlow Soundboard Portable Speaker does sound criminal indeed.

Press Release (PDF Link)
[ SoundFlow Soundboard Portable Speaker from VOXX kisses goodbye to wires copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

While Apple definitely made it easier to access the calculator in iOS7, you still might find yourself without a way to do math on your smartphone. Maybe the battery ran out, or maybe you’ve found a way to make the Calculator app crash. Either way, you need a “Plan B” for your maths. I present the solution to this challenging equation – the Abacus iPhone case.

This 3D printed case designed by Joaquin Baldwin provides a fully-functional abacus on the back of your iPhone, letting you work math problems without even slightly draining your battery. And as an added bonus, you’ll get tiny Apple logos in place of traditional abacus beads.

The Abacus case is available in iPhone 5/5S and 4/4S variants over on Shapeways for $24(USD). While I’ll have to dust off my abacus-using skills, I guess it beats using Chisanbop.

Ready to be a certified Facebook expert? Of course you are.

(Credit: Syracuse/Hootsuite Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

Whenever I see a social-media expert, I bow.

Little do they know I’m doing it in the hope they don’t recognize me. Otherwise, they’ll regale me with their latest homilies — I’m sorry, I mean theories — about how to get more of, oh, something on social networks.

Social-media experts are today’s witch doctors. They promise they have the requisite potion. All you have to do is believe.

The problem for many of them is that they are self-proclaimed experts/gurus/visionaries. Usually because they’ve bought themselves 10,000 Twitter followers from an Australian broker called Bill.

However, now they can achieve what many believe they have always deserved. Yes, they can be certified.

For Hootsuite has clubbed together with Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Communication to offer, no, really, an Advanced Social Media Strategy Certificate.

Naturally, being social-media educators, these folks aren’t actually going to make you turn up anywhere to listen to anyone. Instead, this certificate is earned entirely online.

Still, you’ll be able to learn (in your own time and pajamas) about Situation and Environment Analysis, the Strategic Planning Process, Content Strat… [Read more]

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While Livescribe’s offerings might be popular among those who wish to marry their pen and paper habits with the digital world, the eponymous smartpen does require users to scribble their notes on Livescribe-approved dot paper. If you’d rather use your own precious Moleskines or all you have on hand …