Hasta La Gadget!

[CES 2014] Eye-Fi has made a name for themselves when it comes to churning out wireless memory cards, and I would presume that they are checking out various avenues of income, by working on Eye-Fi Labs. Eye-Fi Labs happens to be an experimental platform for customers who want to preview and test new Eye-Fi technology. With Eye-Fi Labs, one will be able to host new mobile apps as well as beta product features as long as you use one of the compatible popular wireless memory cards prior to their availability to the masses.

Not only that, Eye-Fi will also make an announcement concerning a beta Mac desktop receiver software for its Mobi card, which will follow in the footsteps of its Windows desktop receiver rollout last month. The Eye-Fi Mobi card is now capable of transferring directly to both Mac and Windows desktops in an instant, opening up another brand new door for users when it comes to having additional options for photos and video transfer.

I guess this is sort of an interesting method to organize a trial run, and at least any issues can be fixed before it hits the mass market.  Eye-Fi’s product development teams will monitor and engage directly with Lab participants so that they can continue to refine products based on customers’ needs, desires and feedback. Those who are interested can register here.

Eye-Fi Launches Eye-Fi Labs original content from Ubergizmo.

Mio, which was one of the first companies to make a watch that could accurately measure your heart rate without an additional chest strap, has decided to downsize. They’ve taken the brains of the Mio Alpha, then they shrunk it and got rid of its face. What we’ve got left is a pulse reading wristband called the Mio Link. Good idea! Kind of.

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Fandango is announcing the first partnership that will see its movie ticketing capabilities embedded on Internet-connected TVs.

Mark Young, the vice president of mobile strategy and business development at NBCUniversal (which owns Fandango), said that the service has been available on smart TVs before this, but consumers had to actually download it. Thanks to a deal with Samsung, Fandango will now be directly integrated into the Samsung Smart Hub.

Essentially, Fandango will be powering the Trailers section of the Hub’s Movies & TV section. That’s not exactly what I would have expected, since Fandango is best-known as a ticketing service — sure, it will offer ticketing capabilities as well, but that’s not what it’s leading with. Young described it as the “branded storefront for all movie trailers,” comparing the approach to music video site Vevo.

Although the announcement, which is being made at the Consumer Electronics Show, is the first of its kind for Fandango, Young said the team has been looking beyond ticketing for some time, for example with the launch of original video series FrontRunners and Weekend Ticket.

“We believe Fandango as the movie discovery brand has an opportunity to work with not just consumer electronics manufacturers but also other types of over-the-top delivery services,” he said, later adding, “It’s a definite strategy for us to be more forward-leaning in video as content discovery.”

The embedded capabilities are supposed to launch in the first quarter of 2014.

A few weeks ago, Fandango also announced that 2013 was the best year in its decade-plus history in terms of total ticket sales, visitor traffic, and mobile app downloads.

[CES 2014] Just as how the entire consumer electronics ecosystem seem to “speak” to one another these days with seamless ease, so too, will hardware manufacturers think of new ways to make sure that one device can connect to another with the least amount of hassle. Case in point, the $49.95 IOGear KeyShair which will enable seamless switching between desktop and Bluetooth-enabled devices that use a keyboard. This is good news for those who tend to do a whole lot of multi-tasking, where one would be able to obtain a greater degree of precision and speed whenever KeyShair wirelessly links them to a full-sized desktop keyboard or laptop, delivering faster texting or emailing on up to a quartet of mobile devices. (more…)

IOGear KeyShair Delivers Seamless Device Switching original content from Ubergizmo.

[CES 2014] IOGear intends to take advantage of the latest wireless capabilities in terms of NFC and Bluetooth by introducing the Bluetooth with NFC Audio Receiver. Also known as the GBNAR3 if model numbers are your cup of tea, the IOGear Bluetooth with NFC Audio Receiver will cost you $49.95 when it is available. This device will be able to wirelessly hook up an Android-powered smartphone or tablet that has been enabled for NFC to a stereo or home audio receiver music system, where all that is required to do so is a single tap against the provided receiver. As for the other range of smartphones, tablets or notebooks, those can also be hooked up via the standard Bluetooth pairing processes.

For instance, a college student is able to rely on a small set of box speakers to fill up the room with music from his or her handset itself, before making the seamless switch to a friend’s phone content whenever he or she taps the receiver. This would mean that a living room which has been wired for speakers will also benefit from the luxury of wireless audio streaming, coming in handy during family and friend get-togethers, parties and events. As for home theaters and audio video receivers, these can be connected via an optical or 3.5 mm output (2.1) without the need for any drivers or applications.

IOGear Bluetooth With NFC Audio Receiver original content from Ubergizmo.