Hasta La Gadget!

What do the Lumia 920, Surface Pro, Velodyne LIDAR, NovAtel GPS and Jetta TDI wagon all have in common? They’re all essential parts of the next generation Nokia Here collection vehicle. When Here was announced last fall, we checked out v1.0 of the car which featured an elaborate but clunky set of sensors and cameras. That’s also when Nokia announced it was acquiring Earthmine, a Berkeley-based 3D-mapping company. Nine months later, we’re seeing the results of this collaboration with v2.0 of the collection vehicle. It’s a simpler and more advanced setup which provides much improved image quality. Nokia recently invited us to take ride in a next generation Here car — check out the gallery below then hit the break for our video and breakdown of the technology. %Gallery-slideshow73223%

Filed under: GPS, Transportation, Mobile, Microsoft, Nokia

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By now you’ve all heard of the Pebble smartwatch, which became the most successful campaign in Kickstarter history after hitting its $100,000 fundraising goal in a mere two hours. But the Hot Watch is no slouch, either. With 16 days left to go in its Kickstarter campaign, it’s already surpassed its $150,000 fundraising goal by more than three hundred grand. It also offers some features you might not expect from a smartwatch — namely, the ability to make calls from the watch itself, Dick Tracy-style, without having to use your phone as a middleman. If you choose to take a chance on it at the source link below, it’ll cost you $109 for the basic black version, as shown above, though once it ships (sometime in December, we’re told), it will range from $169 to $249, depending on whether you get it in plastic or with more premium materials like leather and titanium trim. Though it won’t arrive on people’s doorsteps for another four months, we’ve already scored a few minutes of hands-on time. Read on for some early impressions (and photos too!). %Gallery-slideshow73285%

Filed under: Wearables

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Source: Hot Watch (Kickstarter)

You know what’s not new? Android games. You know what is new? Games for Google Glass. There has been the odd attempt so far, but french-based game developer AMA is porting one of its bonafide titles over to the small screen for real. Escape! is a simple puzzler, the sort that we’re all familiar with on our phones, that is being squeezed into the wearable format. While games on the hardware might be something of an inevitability, we managed to get our eyes inside a pair to take a better look for ourselves. Head past the break to see how it worked out.

Filed under: Google

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There are more than enough action cams on the market, but that’s not stopping Garmin from jumping head first into that saturated space. The GPS maker hopes to bring something fresh to the table with its $299 VIRB and $399 VIRB Elite, a pair of ruggedized camcorders that do more than simply snap footage from within a clear protective shell. Both models can shoot 1080p clips at 30fps and 16-megapixel still photos (while recording video) for up to three consecutive hours with one 2,000mAh cell, but they offer a variety of features that some competitors can’t match, including a low-power 1.4-inch transflective LCD for navigating menus and previewing footage, optional (digital) IS and the ability to sync up with a variety of other Garmin devices through ANT+.

That last feature is perhaps the most compelling here — VIRB’s ANT+ chip lets you add on accessories like a heart rate monitor while also pairing with the company’s Fenix watch, logging GPS coordinates and other stats with each captured clip. The pricier Elite flavor brings positioning sensors on board, however, along with an altimeter and WiFi, which you can use to connect the cam to a dedicated Android or iOS app. That software component lets you see a live preview and control basic settings (video start/stop and still image capture) remotely — eventually, you’ll be able to send content from the device to your phone or tablet, though that functionality isn’t included just yet. A tiny remote will also be available as an add-on, should you opt to leave your smartphone at home.

It’s easy enough to operate the water-resistant camera without a remote though, even with it mounted on your helmet or attached to a surf board. A large sliding record button lets you power up and start shooting video right away, even when the camera’s turned off. There’s no built-in storage, but you can slide in your own microSD card under the battery. The Garmin VIRB ships next month for $299, while its Elite counter part will ship around the same time for $399. Check out that base model, along with some of the many optional straps and mounts, in our hands-on photos just below.%Gallery-slideshow46976%

Filed under: Cameras, GPS

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We had a walkthrough with Motorola’s dedicated Moto X assembly site during the company’s launch event earlier this month, but we’ve since had a chance to log on and build our own device, selecting front, back and accent colors with a live preview updating along the way. Not much has changed since August 1st, but considering you’ll be walking out of an AT&T store with a $200 scratch-off card and a two-year contract, it’s worth taking another look at what you’ll find when you get home. Click past the break for our hands-on video to see what we managed to make.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google

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Source: Motorola