Hasta La Gadget!

You may have missed Transporter’s unveiling on Kickstarter earlier today, so let us provide a quick refresher — it’s a device that, when used in tandem with one or more other Transporters, enables simple and secure peer-to-peer file sharing. Unlike many Kickstarter projects, however, Transporter’s already in the beta testing stage of development and the hardware is ready for prime time. We had a chance to see the thing in person this evening, so we figured we’d open it up and give you a glimpse of what lies beneath its onyx exterior. Join us after the break for our impressions.

Continue reading Hands-on with Transporter, the peer-to-peer social storage solution

Filed under: Storage

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Source: Transporter (Kickstarter)

This week a Kickstarter project has been initiated by the name of Transporter, a device that its creators are saying is both an online yet off-cloud storage solution for personal use. If you’re a family member who wants to share massive amounts of photo and video content but you don’t want to hassle with the less-than-secure solutions out there at the moment, you’re one of the many, many different types of people who may very well benefit from the simplicity of the Transporter. This project is being worked on by several folks responsible for “designing and manufacturing products from Drobo, Handspring, Sling Media, Snap Appliance, and TiVo.”

It’s no small thing to create a solution as gigantic as this one, but if the Engineers and Operations executives in charge of this project’s former employers are any indication, we’re about to get a product that works fabulously. What you’re about to see is a really basic outline of how Transporter works as well as how the physical product looks. Mostly what you’re seeing is how the software works in its present state.

You’ve got the ability to share any type of file because this is basically a set of folders you share between your Transporter devices. You’ll see that the Transporter in the demo also has a capacity of right around 300GB (289.75GB formatted) – the final product will have many different sizes, working with Transporters and Drives, the two connected to create a full system.

In that you’ve got shared folders between devices that sync over the web, this solution is very similar to the basic idea of services like DropBox. The big difference here is that your Transporter devices are offline – you wont have any remote servers owned by companies with recurring fees appearing here. You’ll have the same files on each of your connected Transporter devices, edits and all – update a document at the office and get home to find that same document edited there.

This project has nearly 40 backers at the moment with 35 days left to go before it needs to be funded up to $100,000 USD. At the moment it’s not exactly near that goal with less than $7k, but with that amount of time left, there’s one whole heck of a good chance you’ll see these devices appearing in 2013.

Transporter Kickstarter summons Drobo engineers for offline sharing device is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Not all Kickstarter projects take flight, to say the least, so it’s nice to see one like GoPano Micro that not only went somewhere but is continuing to evolve. The company has just put a new version of the 360 degree camera lens adapter on pre-order, this time for the iPhone 5. The tiny lens is mounted to a case for Apple’s latest smartphone, and lets you film while panning in any direction by swiping the screen left or right — as shown in the video for the last model, after the break. It even lets you scroll around the video after its been recorded, since it films the entire circular panorama at once. It’ll run you $69 to grab one, including a second case for the iPhone 4/4S, so if you’re looking add to your bag of cinematic tricks, click on the source.

Continue reading GoPano Micro brings 360 degree video to iPhone 5, now on pre-order for $69

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Mobile

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Source: GoPano Store

While touchscreen controls are great for playing some games, there are games out there in which gamers are probably wishing for a physical controller, such as fighting games and first-person-shooters just to name a few. While there are physical controllers already available in the market, the PhoneJoy Play is hoping that perhaps you might prefer their solution – after all not only do they claim to be compatible with both iOS and Android, but due to its collapsible nature, it can be folded up and put into your pocket and at the same time will play nice with devices in a variety of different sizes, tablets included! Doesn’t sound too bad, does it?

The PhoneJoy Play unsurprisingly pairs with your device via Bluetooth and there will be an app for both iOS and Android that will help you set it up and look for compatible games. However if there are games you want to play with the PhoneJoy Play that aren’t supported, the controller can be configured to match touchscreen controls, although in the case of iOS, you will need to jailbreak your device in order to do so. At the moment the PhoneJoy Play is a Kickstarter project and a minimum pledge of $50 is required to guarantee you the device upon successful funding, so if you’d like to know more about it or perhaps pledge your donation, head on over to its Kickstarter page for the details.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Sony details new level in upcoming PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale DLC, Rhapsody On Xbox LIVE,

There are plenty of Bluetooth speakers to choose from, which is exactly why I asked Boombotix co-founders Lief Storer and Chris McKleroy what made them think the market needed another one. But Boombot Rex, the company’s latest Bluetooth speaker (it previously made a few different models based on collectable vinyl toy designs) is a different beast, and one they think can win over even the jaded Kickstarter crowd, which has seen countless iterations of wireless mobile speakers.

“Where our speakers really stand out is that they’re all designed as wearable speakers,” Storer said in an interview. “For the first time, you have a piece that could be really used externally and actually replaces your phone, giving you that speakerphone/hands-free thing that other brick shaped units can’t provide.” While some devices like the Jambox are designed to be fairly comfortable both indoors and out, the Rex is made from the ground up to be a wearable external speaker that hits the bike trails or ski slopes with a user, stand up to significant abuse, and still sound terrific on your next trip. It features a number of external controls for controlling music playback and answering calls, as well as a noise-cancelling mic to make its speakerphone component more than just an afterthought.

The Rex has other benefits, too. Boombot claims it’s the smallest 2.1 sound system in the world, with two 36mm drivers and a bass woofer crammed into its 3.3mm wide, 1.8mm deep shell. It also boasts changeable front grills, which will eventually come in a variety of colors and designs, has survived drop testing at up to 2.5 meters, and boasts on-board Siri support via a dedicated button for those connecting it to an iPhone device. The rechargeable battery keeps the Rex going for up to six hours, which is less than the advertised run times of a lot of the competition, but it’s cheaper than most other speakers, too – estimated retail pricing is just $99, but backers can get it starting at a $75 pledge.

Click to view slideshow.

The Rex isn’t Boombot’s first speaker, so unlike with many of those going to Kickstarter for funding, the company has plenty of experience with manufacturing partners, and with shipping devices to paying customers. They’re only looking for $27,000 in funding, too, and hope to ship by February, 2013. Storer explained why they’re targeting that specific amount, and why backers should trust that they can deliver.

“It’s a goal that’s just high enough for us to get a pilot run done,” he said. “We’ve raised some money from friends and family and we’ve made some investments to take this product really far, but our production facility is willing to do a small volume test run. We’ve had a number of mistakes when we built the original Boombots, and we’ve learned from those mistakes. Small hardware companies like ours can get just washed through one bad production run, so we want to take things slow with the initial order volume.”

Boombot Rex is a project with a lot of promise from a small hardware startup that has proven it can ship product. The San Francisco-based company may be taking on one of the most crowded smartphone accessory spaces out there, but it’s doing so in style with a twist on the concept that’s truly unique.