Hasta La Gadget!

When Apple first demonstrated Siri to the masses, it certainly looked like it held a lot of promise although if anything, it seemed ever-so-slightly inconvenient that we’d have to take out our phone in order to use it. It’s really not that big of a deal, but what if there was a way to make using Siri more convenient? That’s what Federico Ciccarese thought about when he came up with the iSiri smartwatch concept. We’ve seen tons of smartwatches before and for the most part, they are devices that pair with your smartphone and lets you view basic items like SMS, email, and etc.

What the iSiri does is that it takes it to the next level by allowing you to interact with your phone using Siri simply by speaking into the watch itself. Once Siri has done what you’ve asked, it will communicate the results back to you via the watch as well through the embedded speakers. We suspect that commands might be limited because there’s no display, which means that using device would probably be more for asking questions like what’s the weather like, maybe checking movie times, making restaurant bookings and basically activities that don’t require the user to look at a screen. It’s definitely an interesting idea, maybe a bit novel, but what do you guys think?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Urine-powered generator developed by teenagers showcased at Maker Faire Africa 2012, Outdated USB Collector concept,

Four African teenage girls were able to develop a urine-powered generator. 14-year olds Duro-Aina Adebola, Akindele Abiola, and Faleke Oluwatoyin together with 15-year old Bello Eniola, showcased their unique innovation at this year’s Maker Faire Africa held in Lagos, Nigeria. The system works by pouring urine into an electrolytic cell to separate the hydrogen. The filtered hydrogen then goes into a water filter for purification where it then be pushed into a gas cylinder.

Afterwards, the gas cylinder pushes hydrogen into a cylinder of liquid borax in order to remove the moisture from the hydrogen gas. Lastly, the purified hydrogen gas is then pushed into the generator to provide power to the bulb. The girls claim that one liter of urine is enough to power the generator for six hours. Not bad for an alternative source of electricity Maker Faire Africa is an international organization that aims to promote and support innovations, inventions, and initiatives in the continent. The urine-powered generator could prove to be useful, especially in Africa, where power shortages are rampant.

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It was not so long ago when we told you about KOLOS, the first ever gaming wheel that’s specifically designed for the iPad. Well, today, the folks behind the ingenious creation is happy to announce that KOLOS has been launched on Indiegogo, a crowdfunding site. It also informed us that it has made some minor corrections to the price. Beginning today, you can pledge $50 for the steering wheel. Once it launches in the market, the retail price of the steering wheel will go up to $69,95.

But if you’ve got more cash to spare, you can get the full pack (a steering wheel, a base and a clamping system) for $85. The expected retail price of the full pack will go up to $120. Expected delivery dates will be on May next year. Compatible with all iPad models except for the iPad 1 and the iPad mini, KOLOS features a steering wheel that’s made from anti-perspirant rubber coating technology, high -uality metallized plastic base, rubberized circles on the bottom of the base for enhanced stability, a landscape mode-only gaming experience, an auto-centring function, and more. To learn more about KOLOS and how to help fund the project, check out its Indiegogo page here.

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Wood is typically the choice material used when crafting speakers given the inherent acoustic qualities found in wood, but will bamboo be just as good as hard woods? While I have yet to test out a set of bamboo speakers myself, this concept speaker by designer Guo Yang looks extremely appealing from an aesthetic point of view. Dubbed the Bambory Speakers, it features a body made from bamboo, similar to that of a bamboo basket, with the front grills made from what is reportedly ceramic, which we have to admit is a pretty interesting choice. It gives off a pretty clean and simple look, and to a certain extent looks very homely. We’re not sure what sort of specs the design had in mind, but its design is certainly good enough to warrant a place on the mantelpiece or bookshelf. Any takers?

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What if we had the technology today to make our smartphones run twice as longer in a single charge? Will you be willing to pay for it? Eta Devices, a startup company founded by two MIT professors, claims that it now has the technology to make it possible. Founders and MIT professors Joel Dawson and David Perreault says that the crux of our decades-old efficiency problem lies in the power amplifier. An amplifier, which turns electricity into radio signals, is used on smartphones and tablets.

The new amplifier design is currently being tested in the lab, but the company is planning to use its technology on LTE base stations next year. If proven to be successful, Eta Devices will then create a chip-scale version of the technology for smartphones and tablets. Power amplifiers utilize transistors which consume power either in standby mode or output mode. The company explains that the only way to improve the efficiency of these amplifiers is to use the lowest amount of standby power.

But since the sudden fluctuation from standby mode and output mode creates a distorted signal, other companies are forced to keep the standby power levels high, which wastes more electricity  “It means you are pulling a lot of energy just to keep the thing on. And the more data you need to send, the worse it gets,” says co-founder Joel Dawson. “With high data rate communication, you wind up needing far more standby power than signal power. This is why the phone is warm.”

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