Bluelounge Kii and Saidoka Lightning Accessories: Weird Names, Still Useful

Up until recently, there haven’t been all that many accessories with Apple’s tiny Lightning connector available. Today, Bluelounge released two new accessories to complement your latest-gen iOS devices. First up is the Kii, a handy USB to lightning adapter that is small enough to fit on your keychain.

bluelounge kii lightning

Like you might have gleaned from its name, the Kii looks like a key. It even hangs neatly on your keychain. However, the large end of the Kii is a USB connector, and if you snap the top of the Kii off, you’ll find a Lightning connector. This makes for easy docking and charging of the latest iOS devices to the side of laptops, without need to carry around a cable. The center part of the Kii is flexible, which allows for a certain amount of variance in heights of laptops, desks, and iPhone cases. It’s a very handy device, though I wonder how well the exterior finish of the exposed USB connector will hold up over time – especially banging around on a key ring.

bluelounge kii lightning 2

The second accessory out today is the Saidokā. It’s a unique take on the desktop iPhone dock. Instead of standing your iPhone vertically, the Saidokā keeps your iPhone at just about the same angle as your keyboard. This allows you to not only see the screen easily while typing, but to actually use your iPhone’s touchscreen while docked. This is especially handy for apps which let you use the iPhone as a trackpad or external screen for your computer.

bluelounge saidoka 1

That said, it’s pretty nice to be able to have your iPhone in such a convenient position alongside your computer. It’s a pretty neat design, and even features a removable rubber liner so you can fit your iPhone in the dock “naked” or in its case. It also comes with special “microsuction” rails which help grip the dock to a smooth desk surface without adhesive. The dock also includes the micro-USB to USB cable needed to connect it to your computer.

bluelounge saidoka 2

Both the Kii and Saidokā are available for order from Bluelounge today. The Lightning Kii sells for $39.95(USD) and the Saidoka goes for $49.95(USD). Both are available in either black or white. 30-pin versions are also available for older iOS devices, with the added bonus that each they sell for $20 less.

When I Said I Needed a Car Charger for My Phone, This Isn’t What I Had in Mind

External batteries are great to keep our mobile devices juiced up, but I’ve never seen one in a car form factor before. Now we have one. Japan Trust Technology (JTT) has introduced the GT5200 Coupe with a built-in lithium-ion battery that will charge your tablets and phones that are equipped with a microUSB port.

GT5200
The Minicar GT5200 Coupe looks sort of like a BMW from the front, though it’s not any specific model that I can tell. It has a 5200mAh battery inside and is available in 4 colors: white, black, crimson red and deep blue. There is a display mounted on the sunroof, which shows the battery usage and of course, built-in LEDs in the headlights and tail lights that flash during charging. It will charge your device about 300-500 times.

GT5200a
The GT5200 Coupe charger is only 3980 yen (~$40 USD), though there’s no word on availability outside of Japan yet.

[via Damn Geeky]

PureGear Retro Game Cases: Game & Watch & Case

PureGear’s latest smartphone cases don’t have a built-in battery, but they can still extend your phone’s own battery. That’s because they come with old school games. Angry Birds? Pfff. Labyrinth maze, yo! Ridiculous Fishing? How ’bout a ridiculous mashup of a pinball machine and a magic 8-ball? XCOM? Yeah I’ll go with XCOM. Nothing beats XCOM.

puregear retro game case

The Retro Game Cases come in three variants. Two are simply mazes where you have to guide a tiny and shiny sphere (or spheres), but the third one – the aforementioned pinball meets magic 8-ball – is quite interesting.

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The funny thing about these old school cases is that they’re only compatible with some of the latest smartphones: the iPhone 5, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S III. You can order them from PureGear’s website for $30 (USD) each.

BLEduino Arduino-compatible Board with Bluetooth 4.0: Low Cost, High Potential

Bluetooth low energy (BLE) technology may lead to better mobile gadgets and perhaps even the rise of new kinds of devices, thanks to its low power consumption and cost. But like NFC – another technology with huge potential – as of now only a handful of consumer devices support this technology. But thanks to a small company, tinkerers can incorporate BLE to their projects. All they need is the BLEduino.

bleduino arduino compatible bluetooth 4 board

Made by Kytelabs, the tiny BLEduino board is based on the Arduino Leonardo. That means it will work with Arduino shields and code. Watch the video below to see examples of devices that can be made using BLEduino.

Imagine that. You can make your own Bluetooth controller! Pledge at least $34 (USD) on Kickstarter to get a BLEduino as a reward. In case you want to make sure that your BLEduino will work with all of your shields, the higher reward tiers also come with Shield-Shield, an attachment that was also invented by Kytelabs. Shield-Shield makes the BLEduino compatible with both the old and new pin layout of Arduino shields.

Ben Heck Bakes a Raspberry Pi Portable

We’ve seen a small arcade machine that can be powered by a Raspberry Pi. Master modder Ben Heck decided to make an even tinier version of the tiny computer and put it in a custom case with buttons, turning it into a portable gaming device.

raspberry pi portable by ben heck

Aside from a Raspberry Pi, Ben Heck also used a 3.5″ LCD screen, a Teensy board, a couple of Li-ion batteries and some buttons from a Logitech gamepad.

Then he 3D printed a case, wired everything together and installed MAME on the Pi. You can skip to around 15:10 in the video below to see it working:

Can we just sit back for a minute and process what we saw? He made a freakin’ gaming device. On his own. This guy. This Ben Heck guy. He is quite the guy. If you have the same godly capabilities, head to Thingiverse to get the files you need to 3D print the case.

[via I Heart Chaos]

iblazr LED Flash for Mobile Devices Plugs into 3.5mm Port: from Audio to Video

Most modern smartphones have a built-in LED camera flash. But if you think that your phone’s flash isn’t bright enough to properly document your party nights, dramatic Instagram pics or Bigfoot sightings, keep an eye out for the iblazr. It’s an external flash for mobile devices that plugs in via the 3.5mm headphone jack.

iblazr led flash

The folks behind the iblazr claim that its four LEDs provide four times more brightness than the iPhone 5′s built-in flash when taking pictures, and up to eight times brighter when shooting videos. The image below supposedly shows the difference between the iPhone 5′s flash (on the left) and the iblazr (on the right).

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The iblazr will also have its own power supply so you won’t worry about it draining your mobile device’s already limited battery life. It will also come with a free camera app that will let users toggle the iblazr’s brightness and other options.

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But of course the iblazr’s best feature is the fact that it plugs in via the 3.5mm headphone jack. This makes it compatible with virtually all mobile devices. Apparently you can also control multiple iblazr units at once using a headphone splitter, as shown in one of the images in the gallery. Their website is hinting at a fundraising campaign soon; keep an eye on it or on their Facebook page if you want to. I hope it comes with sensor that will prevent it from flashing when it senses that the user is shooting a video vertically.

[via DamnGeeky]

Tactilu Sensor Bracelet: Touch People from a Distance

You can touch people from all over the world with kindness, but now you can use something called the Tactilu to literally touch people, even when you’re miles apart.

The Tactilu is a wrist device that lets its wearers communicate and “touch” each other, but only on the wrist for obvious reasons. Its described by its maker as a bracelet for remote tactile communication.

Sensor bracelet

The Tactilu is powered by an Arduino Pro mini microcontroller and a custom circuit board with a Bluetooth module. It connects and communicates to another device via Bluetooth or through the Internet to deliver the other person’s “touch” using actuators mounted on the inside of the bracelet.

tactilu inside

It’s still a work in progress, so expect to see more changes to its shape and form before the final version’s eventual release.

The Tactilu was made by Poland-based design studio panGenerator together with the Polish bureau of Cheil for ITAKA Foundation.

[via Creative Applications Network via Dvice]

Poppy Turns the iPhone Into a 3D Camera: View-Master 2.0

So far 3D video hasn’t taken off like high definition did, but that hasn’t stopped entrepreneurs from exploring its potential. But while most 3D-capable gadgets tout their cutting edginess, the inventors of Poppy did the opposite. The gadget, which allows you to shoot and view 3D videos and images using an iPhone or iPod Touch, is a throwback through and through.

poppy iphone 3d camera

If nothing else, I love how it looks. It’s not shiny, streamlined or made of machined aluminum – it’s a freaking plastic box. Even the way it works is low-tech. The Poppy has no moving or electronic parts. It just uses lenses and mirrors to achieve the 3D effect. The only high tech component of course is your iOS device. The Poppy only works with the iPhone 4, 4S and 5 and the 5th generation iPod Touch.

In the end though, the Poppy is up against the same problem that other 3D gadgets have. It promises a see-it-to-believe-it experience that just can’t be demonstrated or previewed. Still, that hasn’t stopped it from blowing through its Kickstarter goal with almost a month left on its fundraiser. Pledge at least $49 (USD) on Kickstarter to get a Poppy as a reward.

Back to the Future Sports Almanac is Real, As an iPad Case

Now Back To The Future fans can turn their iPad into the Grays Sports Almanac that Old Biff gave to Young Biff in Back to the Future II. It’s just too bad that it didn’t arrive in time to get some future scores.

sports almanac

Oh well. So you won’t get rich with this thing, but at least your iPad will be protected and look awesome. And who knows, maybe some dude from the past will steal it from you. Then he’ll be upset that it has no sports results and all he got was a lousy flat TV. Which will then lead to an iPad being manufactured in 1984. Great Scott!

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So what are you waiting for? Make like a tree and pre-order one now for $30.79(USD) over at Firebox.

Creepy Robot Doll Controlled by Smartphone

Dolls can be creepy. Everyone knows that. But they have just upped the creep factor with this interactive smartphone controlled doll (some images at link NSFW) based on mascot character Mirai Suenaga. Just look at those eyes.

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I guess Anime fans will love it, but to me it’s pretty freaky. The doll is going to be 60 cm tall and has been named simply the Smart Doll. Right now it is in the prototype phase. It has soft vinyl skin and 3D printed parts which were duplicated to generate wax clones and copper plated using electroforming. The robotics are all inside.

smart doll

For movement of the hands, limbs and arms it has 24 small servo motors and hybrid servo motors. The CPU board sits in the doll’s head. It sports Bluetooth, an ultrasound sensor, a visual sensor, acoustic sensor, location sensor and a touch sensor. Somebody out there will no doubt love this doll. Me, I just want to run.

smartphone controlled doll

[via Damn Geeky]