Hasta La Gadget!

After the numerous times I’ve dropped my iPhone, I totally believe in the protection of a sturdy case. Thanks to cases, my current phone still has no scratches, so when I inevitably upgrade, the pain in my wallet will be a lot less thanks to the resale value I’ll get from a non-messed-up phone. While my current case offers good protection, this case is definitely something I’d like to try out since it offers a neat feature that others don’t.

My phone is always in silent mode, but I rarely miss any important notifications because I use the flash notifications setting. This case design takes that basic concept of visual notifications a bit further.

The Endliss Smartcase has LEDs built into its back, that will flash in a number of different ways, displaying icons and other information to let you know of any notifications that you might get.

The case has an 8×16 LED grid that syncs to your iPhone 5 via Bluetooth 4.0. It can also display the time and comes with a 1,500 mAh battery, which is enough to power the lights and give your phone a bit of extra juice.

The Endliss case was shown off at CES 2013 last week. It’s a pretty slick concept, but there’s no word on a price or release date yet.

[via Chip Chick]

We haven’t heard much out of IBM and its impressive Watson supercomputer in a while. Watson is the supercomputer that IBM fielded as a contestant on Jeopardy back in 2011. Despite the fact that Watson was able to perform impressively well on the game show, it’s still been unable to pass the Turing test designed to determine if a computer can think for itself.

The Turing test says that a computer capable of carrying on a natural conversation without giving itself away can be considered intelligent. The problem for Watson is that human language has a lot of subtlety and is packed with slang. IBM research scientist Eric Brown decided to help Watson learn human slang by setting the machine free to ingest content from Urban Dictionary. You can see the beginnings of a problem about now.

As instructed, Watson gobbled up all of the material on Urban Dictionary. However, the supercomputer was unable to tell the difference between acceptable language and curses. According to the IBM scientists, Watson even use the word “bullshit” in response to a question posed to him by researcher. Apparently, the IBM researchers tried a filter to stop Watson from cursing but were ultimately forced to wipe all the content from Urban Dictionary from the supercomputers memory. I think they should have left it alone. I find the idea of a multi-million-dollar supercomputer cursing at scientists undeniably entertaining.

[via CNN]

One of the things you may not expect to see at CES is wristwatches. Despite that fact, it’s not uncommon for companies to show up with geeky timepieces claiming to be the “world’s first” or “world’s most” this or that. This year a company called Central Standard Timing has unveiled what it claims to be the world’s thinnest watch called the CST-01 (The CST stands for “Central Standard Timing“.)

The CST-01 watch is only 0.80mm thick. That means it’s thinner than a credit card. It uses E Ink electronic paper display to help achieve this feat. The patent-pending design is assembled by laminating the flexible watch components into a 0.5mm deep pocket etched into a single piece of flexible stainless steel. That flexible piece of stainless steel holds the display and acts as the watch bracelet.

Power for the watch comes from an embedded Thinergy Micro-Energy Cell that promises to charge the watch in just 10 minutes using an external dock. Thanks to the energy efficiency of the E Ink display, that charge is enough to power the watch for an entire month. One other unique feature is that you actually set the time on the base station, which cuts down on the need for buttons or a touchscreen on the watch itself.

The makers of the CST-01 are currently raising funds for production on Kickstarter, and you can pre-order one before February 22 for $129(USD). The watch is expected to ship in Q2 of 2013.

If you follow the technology world and TV technology specifically, you might remember years ago when the first large-scale OLED panels were unveiled at last year’s CES. While the displays can be incredibly thin, lightweight and bright, they’re also extremely expensive at this point.

Panasonic is working on a new method of producing OLED panels using a printing technique that is said to be more economical than traditional display construction methods. In fact, the company is showing off a 56-inch 4K2K OLED panel at CES 2013 that was constructed using this method.

According to Panasonic, its “all-printing” processes is capable of producing OLED screens of up to 56-inches, and will allow the construction of smaller displays as well. In the all-printing method, OLED materials are applied to a substrate using a printing technique that forms an electroluminescent layer. The printing method applies just the right amount of organic material exactly where it is needed making for less waste and a shorter production lead times.

That means that Panasonic’s method is able to make OLED panels more quickly and more cheaply than comparable methods. This printing process allows for separate application of red, green, and blue OLED materials. Panasonic says that this construction method will allow it to create next-generation displays for use in the home, medical field, broadcasting, and aircraft applications. There’s no indication of exactly how much cheaper panels produce using this method might be. It would be nice if this production method could help create an affordable OLED TV. The cost of producing the screens is one reason why modestly sized OLED TVs currently cost $10,000 or more.

My local movie theater has a number of auditoriums with different screen sizes. While most of those theaters have flat screens, I’ve noticed that the larger auditoriums have screens that are actually curved. Apparently, that curvature has something to do with making the surface a uniform distance from the viewer’s eyes.

At CES 2013, LG is showing off prototypes of the world’s first curved screen OLED TV. LG says the reason for that curvature is to ensure that the entire screen surface is the same distance from the viewer’s eyes removing any problem with screen-edge visual distortion and the loss of detail. Of course, the curved screens just plain look cool too.

The first curved OLED screen is 55-inches wide and uses LG’s four-color pixel system that has a white subpixel working along with the traditional red, green, blue set up. The extra white pixel gives the TV better color and improved brightness. Pricing and availability on the TV is unannounced, but given the fact that their plain old flat OLED screen will sell for about $12,000, you won’t be seeing these in living rooms any time soon.