Hasta La Gadget!

Zoom’s handheld recorders have long been a solid choice for capturing audio for video, live events and more. Today, the outfit is ready to ship its latest. The Zoom H6 offers six tracks of simultaneous recording and interchangeable mic capsules for varying the capture method. Those swappable units include stereo X/Y and MS (included right out of the box) with both shotgun and dual XLR / TRS combo capsule options coming soon. Of course, those add-ons work alongside four XLR / TRS inputs for external mics and the like. As we’ve already hinted, the Zoom H6 can be mounted atop a DSLR or camcorder for capturing live audio to accompany footage — recording to SD, SDHC and SDXC cards up to 128GB. The unit even sports 24-bit / 96k chops for those who crave high-def tones. If all of that sounds too good to pass up, you can snag the H6 at the usual audio gear spots for $399.99 and take a closer look in the gallery that follows.

Filed under: Misc, Portable Audio/Video

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Source: Zoom

It’s about time you know what a Type-A person our managing editor Dana Wollman is (though a tendency to copy edit other people and benchmark laptops should have already been hints). In this edition, Dana makes a case for the personal finance app Mint.com, while Edgar (maybe a little Type-A himself) deals with a snap-on case for the sake of keeping his MacBook Pro scratch-free.

Filed under: Misc

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Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week’s most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us — it’s the Week in Green.

It’s been a big week for planes, trains and automobiles as California (finally) announced plans to break ground on the US’ first high-speed rail and we speculated on just how Elon Musk’s 600MPH Hyperloop train will work. Inhabitat also brought you the scoop on BMW’s 2014 i3, which is the world’s first electric vehicle made mostly from carbon fiber. Green vehicles proved they could go the distance as a 65-year-old man embarked on a 1,200-mile journey in a solar-powered tricycle, and a crop of green-roofed buses brought lush air-purifying plants to congested city centers. And if you’re planning an outdoor adventure this summer, you won’t want to miss this caravan that doubles as a boat, Mini’s new ultra compact luxury campers and the full-sized tent that fits in a pair of sneakers.

Filed under: Misc, Transportation, Science, Internet

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Motorola has been doing its best to build some buzz around the Moto X, which launched this week. As a smartphone, the X is decidedly middle-of-the-road. It boasts specs and a design similar to the Droid models Motorola announced last week. Available later this month at $199 on-contract from most major US carriers, the X’s biggest claim to fame — other than swappable backplates, including one made of wood — is the fact that it’s assembled in the US, in a 500,000-square-foot factory in Fort Worth, Texas. Yes, that’s “assembled.” Despite widespread reports that the X is being made in the US, most of its components, from its display to those backplates, are produced in factories around the world, and workers in Texas will assemble the phones.

Does it really matter where your smartphone is made? If your main concern is domestic job creation, it might. A 2012 survey by Boston Consulting Group found that over 80 percent of Americans are willing to pay more for products that are made in the US instead of China, mainly because they want to keep jobs in the country. Interestingly, the same survey found that 60 percent of Chinese consumers would pay a premium for US-made products, apparently based on the belief that the US produces higher-quality products. When it comes to smartphones, that’s an idea that’s difficult to put to the test; there are none currently manufactured in the United States, and that’s not about to change with the launch of the X.

Filed under: Misc, Google

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These days, it seems like everyone and their dog is running a Kickstarter campaign to fund their very own 3D printer, and the market’s quickly become saturated with a plethora of models to choose from. Not quite as popular are crowd-funded 3D scanning solutions. Volumental, a Stockholm-based startup, is looking to bridge that gap with a Kickstarter campaign to raise $20,000 for its browser-based 3D scanning project. What sets Volumental’s endeavor apart is that it requires such a bare bones setup: all you need are the necessary drivers, a browser and any OpenNI compliant depth camera, like Kinect or PrimeSense. Once the scan has been made, the process moves to the cloud, where users can share models and access the most up-to-date software available. To find out more, head on over to Volumental’s Kickstarter page (linked below) or check out the video after the break.

Filed under: Misc, Peripherals

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Via: TechCrunch

Source: Kickstarter, Volumental