Hasta La Gadget!

I first encountered the founders of Litho, a new hardware and software startup developing a new finger-worn controller, at London’s Pitch@Palace last April. The event sees startups pitch in front of the British royal family and other esteemed guests, and naturally the company’s young founders, 24-year-old Nat Martin (CEO) and 25-year-old Charlie Bruce (CTO), were a little overawed by the occasion, just like many of the other founders pitching that day. However, perhaps unbeknown to them, Litho was also one of the more notable companies, not least because, as the saying goes, hardware is hard.

Fast forward to today and the young company is ready to show the world the first publicly available iteration of what it has been building: an innovative finger-worn device that provides control over various “spatial interactions” and should find applications ranging from AR and VR to the smart home and the control of other IoT devices. The next stage for Litho is to offer the controller and access to its SDK to developers who join the startup’s beta programme for $199/£179.

“Computing is increasingly structured around the real world rather than the desktop,” says Litho’s Nat Martin. “With the advent of smart devices such as lights, thermostats, and door locks, physical things are becoming digitally connected. Equally, with the advent of AR, digital things are becoming physically anchored in the real world. These are two sides of the same coin — digital interactions are entering physical space”.

However, the status quo is for the smartphone to be the primary interface for these spatial interactions, but smartphones were designed to interact with 2D content on screens and are therefore struggling to make the leap. “Trying to interact with objects in the real world through a smartphone is like trying to do heart surgery with a spork,” says Martin. “More often than not our phones end up being a frustrating barrier to the digital world, rather than a tool to enable interactions with it”.

To solve this problem requires a combination of hardware and software, while the Litho device itself is described as an unobtrusive finger-worn controller that connects via Bluetooth Low Energy to a smartphone or AR headset. The controller has a capacitive touch surface on the underside, which allows for precise 2D input, scrolling and tapping. But, more significantly, it also has an array of motion sensors and provides haptic feedback.

The Litho SDK uses the popular 3D game development platform Unity, and Martin says developers will be able to make apps that can not only identify the direction (/vector) in which the wearer is pointing, but what they are pointing at in the real world. It also provides an interaction framework of off-the-shelf solutions for core interactions, including templates for tools such as object creation, movement and deletion, making it easier for developers to quickly build “delightful and intuitive experiences”.

“Having an input device designed from the ground up for 3D interaction opens a whole new paradigm of mobile interactions,” he adds. “Instead of an awkward and frustrating interface, developers can create precise yet effortless interactions in 3D space. This opens up a whole new range of use cases — architects and designers can create precise 3D models in the context of the real world, and gamers can create a virtual theme park in their back garden simply by pointing and drawing. At home, instead of opening up a smartphone app, searching for the right bulb, and operating a virtual dimmer, you can simply point and swipe to dim your lights”.

Meanwhile, Litho has already picked up a number of notable investors. The burgeoning startup has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from U.S. venture firm Greycroft, Paul Heydon (an early investor in Unity and Supercell), and Chris Albinson (who co-led investments in DocuSign, Pinterest and Turo), along with several other unnamed angel investors.

Like all online platforms, Google is not immune to the scourge of fake news that has dominated headlines over the last few years. The company has taken various steps in fighting the problem — from partnering with fact-checking networks to launching…

Fallout 4 was the high point for the franchise, and it put some very cool weapons at your disposal. One of the stranger instruments of destruction in the game was the Super Sledge. This was a big sledgehammer with a rocket motor on the back.

The sole purpose of that Super Sledge was to smash the shite out of enemies in the game. This officially-licensed reproduction is a 1:1 version of the weapon from the game. Measuring in at 41″ long, it’s perfect for cosplayers.

Construction is from injection molded plastic. That means no actual super smashing things, or you will break it more likely than the object of your destruction. ThinkGeek will sell you a Super Sledge for $79.99, but the display stand shown is not included.

Most notebooks these days come with an SSD as costs begin to plummet and it becomes easily available, not to mention offering a far better performance capability as opposed to traditional hard drives. External SSDs have yet to really catch on though, but here we are with Plugable’s latest release that might make you want to jump aboard the bandwagon. Enter the Plugable USB-C NVMe Enclosure that lays claim to being the first high performance NVMe enclosure which boasts of a completely tool-free,
spring-loaded design when it comes to inserting and removing a compatible SSD. Oh yes, not forgetting the inclusion of advanced thermal management that will help to maximize performance as well as device lifespan.

With SSDs being slim and light, the Plugable USB-C NVMe Enclosure also boasts of a similar sleek profile that features a rugged aluminum body on the outside for improved heat dissipation. There are two different types of USB ports included to increase the degree of compatibility: USB Type-A and Type-C. Touted to be an optimal solution when it comes to safeguarding SSDs as you bring your SSD around from home to the office or virtually anywhere else, it helps to increase productivity as you can achieve maximum transfer performance speeds on PCs, Macs and Linux devices.

What makes the Plugable USB-C NVMe Enclosure different from other NVMe enclosures? You do not even need a single tool or screwdriver to help keep the SSD in place. It arrives with an enclosure that opens via a slide-lock, where you then gently align the NVMe notch into the socket before securing it in place using a tensioned rubber peg. Once you have secured the SSD, slide the cover back into place and it is good to go. With a rugged and durable frame, you can then toss it into a bag and bring it around wherever you go without any worry of damaging the SSD within. Expect the Plugable USB-C NVMe Enclosure to retail for $49.95 apiece.

Press Release
[ Plugable boasts of tool-free NVMe SSD enclosure copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]