Hasta La Gadget!

It’s no secret that the GPS business has faced an uphill battle these past few years. Thanks to smartphones there’s less of a reason to invest in a standalone navigator, and while GPS companies have been selling mapping apps of their own, that doesn’t quite make up for plunging device sales, now does it? Well, Magellan has an interesting solution: the firm just announced the smartGPS, a dashboard navigation device that’s designed to work in tandem with an iOS / Android app.

Naturally, both the smartGPS and the app have turn-by-turn navigation, so you can use either when you’re in need of directions. But really, the device does so much more than that. Thanks to Magellan’s new cloud service, all of your data — recent destinations, etc. — will get pushed across your various devices, including the navigator and mobile devices with the mobile app installed. (There’s also a website where you can manage all of this.) By default, this syncing happens over your home WiFi network, but if you already left the house and are out of range, the smartGPS will instead use Bluetooth to talk to your phone. So what does this all mean? For starters, if you search for a restaurant on your phone, you can send it to your navigator so that you don’t have to enter the address manually (and we all know how annoying that is). What’s more, the navigator and app both have Yelp reviews and Foursquare offers built in, so if you wanted you could peruse reviews of cafes on your phone and then push the directions to the device.

As an aside, it’s neat to see user reviews built into a personal navigator, which isn’t exactly a typical feature. It also seems pretty well-implemented: there are big, yellow stars indicating the overall rating, so you needn’t worry about having to drive and read a two-paragraph write-up at the same time. By default, the driving map takes up the whole screen, so you can keep those Foursquare offers hidden if you find them distracting. The smartGPS will be available in March (price TBA) with applications for both iOS and Android. (Note: these won’t take the place of Magellan’s existing apps.) Turn-by-turn navigation will be a premium feature — an in-app upgrade. That’s all she wrote for now, but if you want to see the whole setup in action, we’ve got a demo video embedded just after the break.

Continue reading Magellan’s smartGPS navigator has built-in Yelp reviews, syncs with your phone (video)

Filed under: GPS

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We were rather stoked when Liquipel brought its “watersafe” nanocoating service from California to South East Asia in fall 2012, but it turns out that the Santa Ana-based company had another surprise lined up for us later on. At Startup Debut 2013 in Las Vegas today we saw the announcement of Liquipel 2.0, which claims to have “significant advancements in durability, corrosion resistance and water protection” than its predecessor. Specifically, the new version is “up to 100 times more effective… while maintaining component integrity and RF sensitivity.” Obviously we had to see it to believe it, and to our surprise, this time Liquipel had a demo that let us submerge a 2.0-coated iPhone 5 under two feet of water — you can see us going bonkers with it in the video after the break.

According to Managing Director Sam Winkler, a device thoroughly treated with Liquipel 2.0 can actually achieve a liquid protection rating of at least IPX7: immersion at a depth of 1m for 30 minutes. While the iPhone 5 we tortured did eventually take in too much water and thus disabled the touch panel, it quickly came back to life after we shook off some of the water. Winkler added that his company’s now offering its 4ft x 4ft “Liquipods” for shops that want to provide the Liquipel treatment themselves, but it’ll be a while before all existing partners — mostly outside the US — can be upgraded to 2.0. That said, interested customers can already get the 2.0 treatment in the US.

One final note: it turns out that Jaybird also uses Liquipel during the assembly of its sports headphones. Hopefully we’ll see more products treated with the same goodness in the near future.

Myriam Joire contributed to this article.

Continue reading Liquipel 2.0 nanocoating debuts with improved water protection, matches IPX7 and beyond (video)

Filed under: Misc, Science

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The latest to announce its entrance into the Ultra HD market with its 84-inch 4K LED TV is Toshiba. The L9300 series is also available in 65-inch or 58-inch models and will be available this summer with no word on price. According to a representative of the company, the key to Ultra HD is the processing as there won’t be much native content at launch, and it has the best with its CEVO 4K Quad+Dual Core Processor and CQ Engine. The demo model on display sure impressed, but we’ll hold our final judgement when the product finally ships.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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BeeWi may not be a well-known name in the audio world, but the company’s bringing some innovation to the space with its new Bluetooth headphones. Called Ghost Bee, the cans have capacitive buttons on the right earpiece that serve as music and phone call controls. The Ghost Bee also comes with a base station that connects to the headphones via micro-USB and hooks up to any home stereo’s 3.5mm audio-in jack. That base station is what really sets the Ghost Bee apart from other wireless headphones on the market. You see, using the free BeeWi iOS or Android companion app, you can dock the headphones and stream both locally and cloud-sourced tunes from your phone wirelessly to the stereo speakers.

We got a chance to see the thing in action, and it works quite well. Once you’ve paired the headphones to your phone, it’s simply a matter of spooling up some tunes in the app, and you’re good to go — return the Ghost Bee to its cradle and the music starts coming out of the speakers. Easy peasy. Unfortunately, given the cacophony of the show floor, we can’t speak to the sonic quality of the headphones, but the system did work well in our brief time with it. Though its functionality is quite clever, we weren’t enamored with the Ghost Bee’s glossy plastic exterior. Aside from giving it a smudgy look when handled, the plasticky build lends it a cheap appearance — not good considering the $180 asking price. The Ghost Bee is set to go on sale in the next month or so at retailers nationwide, so you’ll be able to see (and hear) it for yourself soon.

Jamie Rigg contributed to this report.

Continue reading BeeWi’s Ghost Bee Bluetooth headphones also stream music to your stereo (hands-on)

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio/Video

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Google’s Project Glass may have made the augmented reality headlines in 2012, but Vuzix’s Smart Glasses M100 is set to be the first wearable on sale in 2013. Packing a full Android-based computer in a headpiece, with an eye-mounted 800 x 480 display and both Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, the M100 is at CES 2013 in prototype form, ahead of a launch at “under $500″ later in the year. Read on for our hands-on first impressions.

Vuzix is fitting a lot into its headset, borrowing specs more commonly associated with a smartphone: a 3-axis head tracker is paired with a gyroscope, GPS, and a digital compass, a 720p HD camera, 4GB of onboard storage, and an 8GB memory card. There’s also a companion Android app which can be used as a remote control, with a trackpad for navigating through the M100′s menus, and an app launcher menu.

Unfortunately Vuzix isn’t showing any of those apps right now, only a video clip that runs on a loop. It’s a little disconcerting initially, watching it through one eye – Vuzix will offer both ear hooks and a head-strap arrangement, which can hold the Smart Glasses on either ear depending on which is your dominant eye – but you quickly grow used to the concept, glancing across to see the bright, clear content.

Audio, meanwhile, is loud and surprisingly solid considering it’s coming through one ear only. Physical controls are limited to a trio of buttons across the top edge – for volume up/down and select – as well as a power button. Using the remote app makes more sense, however, as it doesn’t shift or move the eyepiece on your ear; there’s a little flexibility in how the eyepiece is positioned, with an extending arm that can be bent slightly.

Vuzix Smart Glasses M100 hands-on:

Battery life may be the M100′s downfall. Vuzix is quoting up to eight hours of use, though that’s not solid runtime. Instead, the company expects users to turn their Smart Glasses on periodically, using the display sparingly: leave it on full-time, and the M100′s battery will last for more like two hours (or even half that, if you use the handsfree, display, and camera simultaneously).

Still, with Google’s Explorer Edition Glass priced at $1,500, and Vuzix already pushing the AR SDK out the door, the “under $500″ M100 might well find some eager buyers. We’re looking forward to trying out the final results to see how the Smart Glasses hold up to day-to-day use.

Vuzix Smart Glasses M100 hands-on is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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