Hasta La Gadget!

A few months ago we saw a concept for a camera-based device that is meant to recognize sign language and translate it into spoken words. A Ukrainian-based team has something better: a working prototype of a smart glove with the exact same capability.

The quadSquad team won the 2012 Imagine Cup – Microsoft’s technology competition for students – for their invention, which they call EnableTalk. The glove has 15 flex sensors, an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a compass, all manned by an onboard microcontroller. The glove sends input via Bluetooth to a custom app made for Windows smartphones, which will then interpret the data and output spoken language.

The brief demo below show the tester spelling “hello” letter by letter, which the app is able to translate after just a brief delay:

Head to EnableTalk’s official website for more information on the product. I tip my hat off to quadSquad; I hope the team succeeds in releasing a commercial version of their device.

[via CNET via Reddit]

Pretty much anyone who has an iPhone knows that it uses up quite a bit of power. If I’m away from home for most of the day, I absolutely need a juice up. These days, I’ve got a cheap iPhone battery case that does the trick. Everpurse is a more stylish option, with more power but it’s still an external battery.

Everpurse is a small case that has a special pocket into which your iPhone automatically “slides” and hooks itself up to a dock connector. There’s a patent involved, so I’m guessing that this is a pretty unique docking process. Once you’ve done this, your phone starts juicing up. Apparently the battery is enough to charge your iPhone from 0% to 100% twice in one day, so probably something like 3,000 to 5,000 mAh.

Once you get home, you just have to place your Everpurse onto a charging mat. The clutch itself will charge inductively, but it won’t charge your iPhone inductively. It was launched as a Kickstarter campaign and you’ll have to pledge $129 (USD) to get yours. At the time of writing, the project had amassed $127,000, blowing past its $100,000 goal with 25 days left, so it will definitely be produced.

[via Swiss Miss]

HTC has given a behind-the-scenes look at the design process of the new Windows Phone 8X and Windows Phone 8S smartphones, detailing just how it came up with the pillowy slabs of unibody polycarbonate. According to HTC, the inspiration wasn’t just Nokia’s Lumias – despite the obvious resemblance – but a physical embodiment of the Live Tiles of the Windows Phone homescreen.

“HTC designed the Windows Phone 8X and 8S to blend the virtual and the physical utilizing a three dimensional, unibody-style based on the Windows Phone Live Tiles” the company said today. “These smartphones are perfectly sculpted with a dramatic taper making them feel thin in your hand.”

Inside, HTC’s engineers stacked up the various circuit boards and components in a multi-layered pyramid. It means there’s no camera bump around the lens on the back, for a start, while the Gorilla glass curves neatly into the plastic casing.

Iconic design behind the Windows Phone 8X and 8S by HTC:

We’ve got more on both phones in our 8X hands-on and our 8S hands-on, and buyers will be able to check the two handsets out for themselves when they hit shelves across the US, Europe and Asia in November.

HTC 8X and 8S hands-on:

[youtube mHM-5ptKLvU

HTC details Windows Phone 8X and 8S design journey is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Telepresence robots seem to be something that some people are starting to look at, and that’s one of the reasons why two Princeton students, Tianlong Wang and Xinyi Chen created the Helios robot. It turns your smartphone into a mobile telepresence rig for far less than other solutions.

Helios looks pretty interesting, as it’s an extremely low-cost solution. I’m all for telepresence, but spending thousands of dollars for a remote avatar doesn’t interest me at all. The Helios will retail for just $99(USD). The small, wheeled robot will allow you to have video chats with friends, family and co-workers around the globe, while you can steer the tiny ‘bot to follow them around or change camera position remotely. Thanks to a clever system that reads symbols off the bottom edge of the smartphone’s screen, it should work readily with a variety of phones. The prototypes work only with iPhones, but after launch, the plan is to release Android and Windows Phone apps as well.

Hello Labs is currently accepting pre-orders for the device, which is supposed to ship for this year’s holiday season. They also plan on launching Helios as a Kickstarter campaign.

[via Make:]

It’s no surprise to hear that Apple continually wins design awards around the world. Until now they’ve usually gone uncollected, but last night Jony Ive shipped out his entire senior design team to London to pick up two gongs—and perhaps signal that his influence is more important than ever. More »