Hasta La Gadget!

As the recent NSA leaks have proven, a lot – if not all – of what you do, say and store online can be examined and archived by other people and organizations without your knowledge or approval. That’s why Adafruit Industries put together a DIY kit for those looking to add an extra layer of anonymity and security to their online activities. It’s called the Onion Pi, a plug and play device that creates an anonymous access point.

As you may have guessed, the device is based on the popular Raspberry Pi computer. When you connect it to the Internet via an Ethernet cable, it creates a Wi-Fi access point that is connected to the Tor network. In simple terms, the Tor network encrypts your connection and routes it through a random series of relays. This makes it harder – but not necessarily impossible – to identify your location as well as the data that you’re sending or receiving. You can listen to the folks at Adafruit talk about the Onion Pi at around 11:50 in the video below:

Stage a PRISM break and order the Onion Pi kit from Adafruit Industries. The kit with a small antenna is available for $90 (USD); there’s a kit that comes with a large antenna but it’s out of stock at the moment. Adafruit donates part of the proceeds from the sale of the Onion Pi to the Tor Foundation. Sadly the Onion Pi logo is not included in the kit.

[via OhGizmo!]

Cats are techie creatures. From playing games to wearing headphones (okay, so this was just an April Fools’ Day joke, but hey, I can totally see it happening), cats can do it all.

And now a developer has created an app intended for use by your frisky kitty so it can take its own selfies.

It’s aptly called Snapcat and it’ll snap pictures of your cat based on its movements. Once the app is fired up, a red dot appears on the screen. You cat will, in theory, be attracted to the red dot and will attempt to take a swipe at it. This swiping motion triggers the front-facing camera, which then takes a candid shot of your cat.

Once the photo has been taken, you can apply filters or add stickers to the image. When you’re done, you can share the image on social networks like EyeEm, Facebook, and Twitter – with the approval of your cat, of course. You can even post a snap on your cat’s Social Petwork page, if it has one.

Snapcat can be downloaded for free from the Google Play Store.

[via Chip Chick]

If Google Fiber is the company’s attempt at bringing superb Internet connections to developed areas, Project Loon is Google’s plan to connect areas that may otherwise have no access to the Internet at all. These can be rural areas, urban areas with coverage gaps, areas struck by disaster and areas where nerds are having birthday parties.

Google says it will launch balloons to an altitude of about 20km (appx. 12 mi.). Each balloon can supposedly cover a ground area about 40km (about 25 mi) in diameter and provide “speeds comparable to 3G.” Each balloon is made of plastic that’s about 49 ft. wide and 39 ft. tall when fully inflated.

A solar panel will power the electronics onboard each balloon. The panel will also charge a battery on each balloon so that it can still work at night. On the ground, users will connect to the balloons using antennas with – guess what – balloon-shaped covers. Here’s a slightly more technical explanation of Project Loon:

Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots? Come on. How can you argue against a guy with a name and title like that? The first Project Loon balloons will be launched in South Island in New Zealand this month. Check out the Project Loon website if you want to learn more. Also, alert the Resistance.

[via Electronista]

Earlier this year we heard about the Meta, an augmented reality computer in the shape of a pair of glasses. The company behind the computer took a page from the Oculus Rift team and also launched a Kickstarter for the Meta developer’s kit.

The fundraiser may not be aimed at end users, but it does reveal a bit more about the Meta. In the video below you’ll see that the consumer version of the glasses should be much more compact and much less dorky than the current prototype. The Meta projects its display up to 16 ft. away from the user at 960×540 resolution. Developers will initially use Unity 3D on Windows to write software for the Meta. They’ll be able to make use of the Meta’s gesture, finger and surface tracking as well as its depth and color data.

You’ll need to pledge at least $695(USD) on Kickstarter to get a Meta 1 dev kit as a reward. I’m really intrigued by the possibilities of this device, partly because I’m into card and board games right now. It would be nice to have more interactive board game. And also to not have to clean up the tokens and other pieces after each game.

The company that became known for its humble robots for cleaning homes will soon be selling a fancy robot for offices. Coming in 2014, iRobot’s Ava 500 will let you work both remotely and on site. It has a 21.5″ HD screen, a webcam, a microphone and its predecessor’s ability to find its way around on its own. Depending on your office dynamics, the Ava 500 will either be a hilarious or a creepy sight.

According to iRobot, the Ava 500 can explore and map its assigned area on its own. The idea is for its user to direct it remotely using an iPad app. You just have to pick the robot’s destination and it will figure out how to get there on its own. So no, you won’t be able to “drive’ it and yes, it’s still pretty impressive.

Aside from the iPad app, iRobot says it will provide users with Cisco TelePresence EX60 monitors. The Ava 500 can also adjust its body’s height so that its monitor will be at the appropriate level at all times. When you’re done using the Ava 500, it will return to its charging station on its own. It’ll probably chat with the other ‘bots about that cute copier and how annoying that security cam dude is.

I wonder how many takes that meeting scene took. If I was there I wouldn’t be able to stop laughing when the robot rolls in the room. He looks constipated. And can you imagine a future where the only “employees” in the office are all Ava 500s? The Ava 500s will be so busy they’ll have to use other Ava 500s to do their job.

[iRobot via The Boston Globe]