Hasta La Gadget!

Japanese company Green House Co Ltd has quite an eclectic product portfolio, what with its women-only camcorder and peripherals like a PCI Express interface card with USB 3.0 support. Its latest device falls under another category entirely: the rivetingly named GH-LED10WBW is an LED lantern that runs on just water and salt; no batteries required. The light source provides eight hours of electricity per dose of saline water, and the lantern comes with a dedicated water bag for mixing the solution. The salt / water combo acts as an electrolyte with the magnesium (negative electrode) and carbon (positive electrode) rods inside the lantern. Users can get about 120 hours of power with the Mg rod before they’ll need to buy a replacement (the rod is sold separately to begin with). More than just supplying a battery-free source of light, though, the lantern can function as a charger, thanks to a USB port built into the casing. Pricing has yet to be announced, but the GH-LED10WBW will be available by mid-September.

Filed under: Peripherals

Green House’s lantern runs on salt and water, powers your gadgets via USB originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Sep 2012 23:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With the exception the occasional lighting fixture at IKEA, most cool modern lights are ridiculously overpriced for what they are. Here’s a case where you can get your hands on a cool accent light that looks amazing, and costs just 20 bucks.

Designed by CFabStudios, the O-Lite is a small (3-4″ high/3″ wide) accent light which is made out of discs of concrete. It’s powered by a small LED light source and outputs a warm glow for up to 20 hours on a single 9V battery.

At just $20(USD) a piece, you can buy several of these to place on your bookshelves, or possible in place of candles on your dining table. They’re available over on Etsy, where you can also find matching coasters and other accessories made from concrete. There’s also a plug-in lamp called the R-Lite for $10 more, but I think I prefer the look of the battery-operated design (which may also come in an AC version down the road.)

If AscTec’s Hummingbird quadrocopters continue to fly around in your nightmares, you might not want to watch their latest video — even if they resemble hypnotic robot fireworks. Ars Electronica Futurelab and Ascending Technologies teamed up for this latest show, programming 50 LED-equipped quadrocopters to frolic over the Danube last week. Watch them dance after the break.

Continue reading 50 quadrocopters take to Austria’s skies for synchronized swarm (video)

Filed under: Misc, Robots, Alt

50 quadrocopters take to Austria’s skies for synchronized swarm (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 08:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Eager to get your hands on a top-of-the-line set without shelling out five figures for a super-slick 55-inch OLED? Sony’s Bravia HX950 may have caught your eye, with its Intelligent Peak LED Backlight that’s said to deliver “the best contrast Sony has to offer.” According to representatives at IFA (who don’t always tend to offer the most consistent specifications), the full-array system includes 196 individual zones, letting the television adjust backlighting on a more granular level, resulting in brighter whites and deeper blacks. We caught up with both the 55- and 65-inch flavors of Sony’s HX950 at the company’s booth, where several demo stations were arranged to highlight the backlighting, along with features called 3D Super-Resolution, Internet Video Super Resolution and HD Super Resolution. All of the side-by-side demonstrations provided noticeable improvements, though all three Super Resolution settings may be a tad too sharp for some viewers.

The set itself is as gorgeous as you’d expect for a flagship model, with a black glossy bezel and a narrow design that’s sufficiently svelte without stepping into ultra-thin territory. The specially designed glass panel does indeed help to reduce glare, as we experienced in the visually congested IFA booth. Perhaps most interesting is the price — €2,999 (about $3,800) for the 55-inch model, and €4,999 (about $6,300) for the 65 incher — a steep drop from the 650,000 yen (about $8,270) the HDTV is commanding in Japan. We weren’t able to confirm US availability or pricing, which will likely come in below the European tag, but reps did quote a November 1st ship date, which seems to be in line with the November 10th date we heard for Japan earlier this week. You’ll have but two months to wait before adding this monster to your collection, but you can snag a look today in our gallery below and hands-on video after the break.

Continue reading Sony demos Bravia HX950 flagship HDTV at IFA, confirms pricing from €2,999 (hands-on video)

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment, HD

Sony demos Bravia HX950 flagship HDTV at IFA, confirms pricing from €2,999 (hands-on video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Aug 2012 10:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony’s busy rolling out new products as fast as they can talk this afternoon here at IFA 2012 in Berlin, Germany, and they’ve just detailed a massively beautiful new 84″ TV for all you HD fanatics. This stunning new 84″ 4K Bravia TV sure looked amazing on stage, and we have a few details after the break.

This is Sony’s first 4K TV — and it’s that big! This TV doesn’t just have 4K capabilities but it offers full 4K upscaling from simply any source. This will bring anything you watch to life in the living room thanks to the Sony 84″ TV. Sadly this TV was just announced by the folks at Sony so we are still rather light on the details as things develop. However, we do have a video below for everyone.

This massive new TV you’ll surely be drooling about all week comes with a mind boggling 3,840 x 2,160 resolution, passive 3D, and what Sony called a “10 unit live speaker system.” Obviously we don’t have any details or pricing yet at this time, but will update as soon as we hear the large price point this beauty can be yours for.

According to the video above this new and impressive 84″ 4K TV will be available in select Sony stores starting September 6th. Who’s buying?

Sony unveils 84″ 4K Bravia 84X900 TV at IFA is written by Cory Gunther & originally posted on SlashGear.
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