Hasta La Gadget!

LAS VEGAS — Quirky’s Perch is an all-in-one speaker and charger for your phone. It comes in two parts: the dock, which stays put on your nightstand, side-table or desk, and the Bluetooth speaker, which charges on the dock but can be taken with you in a bag, a big pocket or just to the bathroom so you don’t miss any of your audiobook.

When not docked, the speaker has its own kickstand, so you can prop it up wherever you like, vertically or horizontally. It also has a built in mic for conference-calling. When it is docked, the speaker snaps into place, held by magnets.

The dock part hooks up to AC power and connects to your phone via a USB cable instead of a device-limiting dock-connector. It also has a clock readout so you can use it as a bedside alarm.

The Perch is just like any other Quirky product – designed by an online community and only sent to production once the minimum order has been reached. In this case the minimum pre-order is 1,600, and the price is $200, with a $20 discount for early adopters.

Perch product page [Quirky]

See Also:

• Jawbone
• Ears-On With the SuperTooth Disco Bluetooth Boombox
• SuperTooth, a Block-Rocking Portable Bluetooth Speaker
• Quirky

Vlogging and lifecasting are both things we haven’t really gotten into in this new-age of gadget crazed aliens and humans, but the LooxcieCam is a gadget — and you know us, we kinda-maybe-sorta really love gadgets. Here at the Consumer Electronics Show, Looxcie ousted its new streaming service which it has dubbed LooxcieLive. In addition to the Bluetooth video connectivity to your smartphone, the service allows you to beam the vidcast across mobile networks and WiFi to any other dude or dudette on your contacts list that’s got the app installed. Those looking to get started right away will be disappointed — the service is currently unavailable, but will be live within the first half of 2011.

Aside from the newly announced software, we got a chance to play with the LooxcieCam. The headset we looked at was paired (via Bluetooth) to a Droid X using the LooxcieMoments app, and the streaming quality was something we hope to see an improvement on. The unit, stuffed with 4GB of recording memory, can record one hour of VGA quality (and 4 hours of sub-VGA quality). The app is both available in the Market and App Store, and minimum requirements to run it are 2.0 on Android and 4.2 on iOS. Interested in seeing the headset in action? Head past the break and click play.

Continue reading Looxcie introduces LooxcieLive, enables mobile-to-mobile stream viewing

Looxcie introduces LooxcieLive, enables mobile-to-mobile stream viewing originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Jan 2011 12:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CES is most definitely in full swing, which means the wave of accessories is coming hot and heavy. Xtrememac has just revealed a trifecta of USB chargers, all of which seem to boast subtle changes from the norm that piqued our interest. First off, the universal dual USB wall charger has not one, but two USB charging ports, delivering a full ten watts of power (read: enough for the iPad) to a pair of your favorite gizmos. Moving on, there’s the universal USB car charger, which sadly doesn’t sport two USB ports. The universal USB battery pack and wall charger looks mighty similar to the PowerPak XT, doubling as a USB wall charger as well as a portable battery pack when it’s unplugged. As for pricing? Try $14.99, $24.99 and $59.99 in order of mention, with the whole lot being available now directly from the company.

Continue reading Xtrememac’s dual USB wall charger gets it right, car charger and battery pack ain’t bad either

Xtrememac’s dual USB wall charger gets it right, car charger and battery pack ain’t bad either originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Jan 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is this the Samsung SCH-i520 headed to Verizon? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Jan 2011 11:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We have to say, we’re pretty pumped about Eye-Fi’s new Direct Mode, and that’s not just because it’s free — CEO Jef Holove showed us how his wireless SD cards can fire snapshots from a point-and-shoot camera straight to a Samsung Galaxy Tab, and it looks like a breeze. Once the free update launches later this year, you’ll just need to download the Eye-Fi app, and select your Eye-Fi X2 card from a list to permanently pair them — much like Bluetooth or a WiFi access point — and then whenever you shoot within range, the pics will automatically spirit themselves to your Android, and can send them to Picasa or Eye-Fi View from there with an additional tap. See Direct Mode do its thing in the video above.

Eye-Fi’s Direct Mode hands-on: from camera to tablet in seconds (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Jan 2011 11:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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