Hasta La Gadget!

It’s been a while since there was a decent BlackBerry phone, and while there are plenty of smartphones available, there are still legions of Crackberry addicts that have been awaiting a new phone from the aforementioned RIM, which is now known simply as BlackBerry.

With the release of the BlackbBrry 10 OS platform, the eponymous company has introduced their latest smartphone, the Z10. This is their first full-touchscreen device, with a 1280×768 resolution 4.2″ display, a 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 Plus processor with 16GB of memory and 2GB of RAM. The rear-facing camera is 8MP and the front-facing one is 2 MP. The phone is capable of capturing HD video in 1080p.

It has NFC connectivity and works on 4G LTE networks, allowing it to be quite speedy. BlackBerry’s big differentiator with this phone is that they’re aiming to provide a single device that can seamlessly allow you to bounce between personal and business data and applications, while keeping them separated in the UI.

The BlackBerry Z10 will be coming to the U.S. via AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon in Mid-March for $199.99 (with a 2-year contract). If it’s not already, it’ll be available andy day now in the UK and Canada, and coming to various other carriers around the globe soon.

It didn’t take long for hackers to use the Kinect to create 3D models by scanning real world objects. Microsoft has also pitched in to the scene, but an upstart company from Austin, Texas could introduce the next step in affordable 3D modeling. They’re working on a portable 3D camera that can scan objects and show the resulting 3D model in real-time.

Lynx Laboratories believes that its Lynx A camera is vastly different from similar efforts because it packs significant power in a portable and affordable device. Those are relative terms of course – after all, the Lynx A measures 11.5″(H) x 8″(W) x 1″(H) and weighs 6 lbs. That’s because aside from its 3D sensor, the camera has a 14″ LCD, a 2.6GHz Intel Core i5 CPU, an unspecified “powerful” GPU, 500GB of storage, two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI out, two joysticks and four buttons. It also has a battery that’s good for up to 4 hours. So what can this chunky point and shoot do? You can use it to scan physical objects or surfaces and also for motion capture.

As of this writing, you can reserve your own Lynx A camera by pledging at least $1,799(USD) on Kickstarter. I can’t wait for all this neat 3D tech to become mainstream.

[Lynx Laboratories via Engadget]

Looking to make some stylized photos on your iPhone, but are bored with of Instagram’s effects? Well, look no further than Alt Photo, a cool little app from Alien Skin Software, the same guys behind some of the best photo effects plugins for Photoshop.

Alt Photo provides a really easy way to add film-like effects to your photographs, and is extremely well executed – especially for a free app. You start out by selecting an image from your existing photo library or snapping a new pic directly in the app.

Then you simply hit the “Edit” button, and you’ll have access to a selection of 36 base photographic effects, ranging from vintage color and toy camera styles to black and white tintypes.

In the edit mode, you can swipe up, down, left or right to instantly preview your images with various effects applied, and similar effects are adjacent to one another – making navigation a breeze. The app also allows for quick image cropping to 1:1, 4:3 OR 3:4 proportions, as well as an unconstrained crop mode. Crops can then be combined with effects, and you can also adjust the intensity of the effect and brightness levels by tapping the appropriate control and dragging across the image.

Once you’re satisfied with your image, you can quickly save it back to your Camera Roll (in full or cropped resolution) and share it with the world. Alt Photo has built-in integrations with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Flickr, as well as E-mail sharing – and with the press of one button, you can share to any or all of these methods.

While Alt Photo doesn’t really cover a lot of ground that Instagram hasn’t already covered, I’m still impressed with this little app. It doesn’t aspire to be a full-fledged image editor like Photoshop, but there are already plenty of apps for that. It does everything you’d want a mobile app to do – it’s easy to use – and doesn’t try to go too deep. Best of all – it’s free. So what are you waiting for? Head on over to the iTunes App Store and download Alt Photo now.

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]

Picture this: you’ve reached a level that you’ve never reached before and your handheld console is slowly running out of juice. You can’t save your game in the middle, since you can only do so when you reach the end of that level. Just as you’re about to hit save, your console dies and you scream out in agony…

Yeah, that totally happened to me. If you can relate, then you’ll agree what a good idea the Universal Gadget Wrist Charger is.

To the rational majority, it’s a silly device at best, geared to a silly audience – but for those who recognize the need for portable power, then it’s a godsend.

The Wrist Charger AKA Bracer of Battery Life +2 is a universal gadget charger that can provide some last-minute, emergency power to all sorts of mobile devices and gadgets -via a mini USB port (a variety of adapters are included for popular gadget makes and models.) The battery band itself can be recharged using your computer’s USB port, and has a 1500 mAh, 5.5V battery built in.

The Universal Gadget Wrist Charger is currently on sale at ThinkGeek for $39.99(USD). It normally sells for $45.

[via Bit Rebels]