George Costanza would love the Loop: it’s a tiny device that stores all of your credit card information, lets you pay at any terminal, and guarantees you’ll never live with the threat of your wallet exploding again. And you can buy it right now.
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Don’t quite have the funds — or room — for the circular B&O Play A9 speaker ($2,700)? Libratone’s new AirPlay and DLNA-equipped Loop might catch your eye. The $500 satellite dish-like rig packs two ribbon tweeters and a bass radiator, which together pump out enough volume for moderately sized rooms. While the Loop is tiny enough to sit on a nightstand, it also comes with a detachable wall mount. You can even connect devices to it via ad-hoc WiFi if you’re away from an actual network, thanks to PlayDirect — just like the Zipp. As with all Libratone speakers, the unit’s sound characteristics are adjustable via a free app (Android and iOS) and the swappable wool speaker grille comes in a variety of colors ($50 each). The Loop is up for pre-order now in “Pepper Black, “Salty Grey” and “Raspberry Red” if you’re interested enough to bring it full circle. It’ll hit doorsteps and retailers by the end of the month.
Filed under: Home Entertainment
Source: Libratone
The last time we heard from Denmark-based, fancy audio purveyor Libratone, they made one of the finest AirPlay speakers we had ever heard
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We’ve tested our fair share of activity trackers and Polar is now adding one more to the fray. That’s not a Nike+ FuelBand you see, it’s the Polar Loop: a wearable for your wrist that keep tabs on activity, exercise and sleep patterns. Touting the “first waterproof” gadget of this sort, the company says the device can discern between activity levels, with alerts and motivational feedback along the way. The Loop syncs to Apple smartphones via Bluetooth with its companion app, Polar Flow. Similar to Nike’s wearable, Polar’s offering displays goal info, calories burned, steps taken and the time on an LED display. If you’re also after a heart rate monitor, the Loop can be combined with Polar’s H6 or H7 heart rate sensors for that purpose when it arrives next month in black with a pink version set for release in 2014.
Filed under: Wearables
I’m really bad at drawing. Really really really bad. Like hand turkeys and stick figures level. But Loop might be a way to bring me up a little bit. It’s an iPad app for making hand-drawn animations, but you can use it with guides like other drawings or photos for tracing. Basically there are a bunch of different ways to get going, which is what I need.
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Wacom’s Bamboo line of products have always been far more whimsical and user-friendly than the rest of its professional offerings, and it’s taken that a step further today with the introduction of the Bamboo Loop digital card app for iOS. Essentially, the app lets you doctor up a photo with graphics and different styles to create a greeting card of sorts that you can ship off to a friend. If you’re on the receiving end of the card, you can scribble on it and “loop” it back to the sender — sort of like a digital version of passing notes back and forth in class. Of course, you’re free to upload your cards to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or Instagram too if you feel like sharing them with the world. The app itself is free, though you can cough up an extra $2 if you want to get additional style packs. It runs on iOS5 and higher, and you can download it from the iTunes store starting today. As for those on Android, hold tight, because Loop should be available to you as well pretty soon.
While there have been many different apps that have tried to be what Instagram is to photos but for videos, this new one is backed by Twitter, making it immediately interesting to the Twitterati. Sharing and recording looping vids is nothing new, but the constraints and functions make Vine, which is still a bit buggy, cool to use.
The app makes recording and creating short, looping animations a cinch, but there are still plenty of bugs that need to be ironed out. It’s also no surprise to me that some of the first videos on Vine featured some adult content, but its editors have been quick to act and there are plenty other clips featuring playful cats and sunsets as well.
Fortunately, since it’s backed by Twitter, it will hopefully have more interesting content, and an update that makes it more stable very soon. You can get Vine for free at the iTunes App Store. It’s only available for iOS currently.
[via Uncrate]
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