I’ll admit that I wasn’t sold on the idea of portable Bluetooth speakers until someone actually gave me one and I tried it out for a couple of days. Since then, I use it almost everyday. Soundmatters is adding another portable speaker to their range, the DASH7, as part of their CES 2013 lineup.
The Soundmatters foxL DASH7 is pocket-friendly, so when you don’t use it, you can just stash it in your coat. It only weighs 200g, stands about 18mm high, and comes with a compact stand for adjusting its angle. It’s also short enough when laid flat to fit in front of a tablet in a stand without blocking the screen.
It’s supposed to provide omni-directional sound when aimed upwards, but directional sound when placed on its stand. It can also connect to the Soundmatters foxLo subwoofer, if you want a little extra low-end thump. It’ll even work as a speakerphone when paired with a compatible smartphone, and has a built in microphone.
The DASH7 will be available in red, white, black and silver between late January and late February 2013. It will retail for $249(USD) but you can pre-order it for $219, and also save $13 on shipping.
Okay, I made that part about gorillas up, but it’s easy to forget the usefulness of Gorilla Glass. A lot of the smartphones and tablet people use everyday are covered in this durable material. That’s one of the reasons that the screen on your phone won’t break if you drop inadvertently. Granted, it won’t protect your phone from any drops, but I’ve been quite happy at how scratch-resistant it is.
And while it’s not actually shatterproof, Gorilla Glass is far more durable than ordinary glass. Now, Corning has revealed that a new version, simply called Gorilla Glass 3. The new glass will be unveiled at CES 2013 and it’s supposed to be even more durable than the previous generation.
There are already many devices covered in Gorilla Glass 2, and I’m hopeful that most of the ones I use next year will be covered in Gorilla Glass 3, assuming that it really does make them less likely to crack and shatter.
Days before CES 2013, a mysterious new tablet computer has emerged, along with a short film that gives us a brief look at the device. Apparently, the enchantMOON is some sort of “hypertext authoring tablet” designed for the creation of HTML5 content.
Specifically, enchantMOON is described as “a digitizer pen-driven tablet device designed to let anyone program and share HTML5 games, applications, and interactive publications without writing code.” Presumably, the tablet renders code using the Open Source enchant.js framework, since it appears they’re both coming from the same company, Ubiquitous Entertainment.
The concept sketches here by designer Yoshitoshi Abe doesn’t really tell us much about the tablet, other than the fact that it doesn’t look like any other tablet out there.
Nor does the early prototype photo taken here with Ubiquitious Entertainment CEO Ryo Shimizu:
Image: AV Watch
It’s got a science-fictiony look to it that makes it look like some sort of gadget out The Matrix, with a built in handle that can be used for carrying or as a stand. From an article over on Japan’s AV Watch [JP], I’ve gleaned that the tablet will have a magnesium alloy body, and a 7-inch screen. It will also have a minimal user white-on-black interface which is centered around the use of handwriting recognition and converting drawn images to vector art. Specs are sketchy at this point, but it appears that it will run on a ARM Cortex A8 CPU with a Mali400 GPU, with Android deep under the hood.
Image: AV Watch
And to go along with the Sci-Fi/Anime theme, they’ve created an enchantMOON short film series, inspired by Alduos Huxley’s Brave New World, and directed by Hiroaki Yuasa. Japanese film director and animator Shinji Higuchi(Evangelion, Gamera, The Floating Castle) is also involved in the project as “CVO” – Chief Visionary Officer. Gee, I’d like a title like that. I guess since I’m the boss, I can do that.
Here’s the first part:
And here’s part two:
Nope, still doesn’t tell us much about the tablet, but they’re definitely going after a part of the market that other tablet makers haven’t been too successful at – content authoring. I think my iPad is a stellar device for content consumption, but I’ll still take my desktop or laptop over it in a heartbeat for web development and authoring. I’m hoping that they’ve got something special up their sleeves, but if nothing else, they’ve piqued my curiosity.
We’ll have to wait a few days until CES starts to find out what all the mystery is about enchantMOON, but I’m definitely intrigued.
I’ve always wanted something a bit bigger than my iPad that I could use for both desktop and laptop computing, but carrying around a 21-inch PC seems like it might be a bit of overkill. But weighing in at 11 pounds, it sounds like Onkyo’s TW21A tablet PC [JP] isn’t really designed for portability anyhow.
This oversize Windows 8 tablet is basically one of those touchscreen AIO PCs but can lay flat, so it can be used on a tabletop. It also supports up to 10 points of input at the same time, so multiple users can interact with it at the same time. You can prop it up like a traditional AIO PC too. It also has VESA mounting screw holes so you can easily attach it to a wall mounting bracket.
One thing that definitely sets it apart from desktop PCs is that it will actually run on battery power, and has a 2200 mAh lithium-ion pack built in – though with a screen that big, and a beefy CPU in the best model, I can’t imagine battery life is great.
The TW21A-B3C67 – the top of the line model of the capacitive-touch tablet PC – features a full 1080p (1920×1080) HD display, and is powered by an Intel Core i7 2.9GHz CPU. Other specs include both USB 2 and 3.0 ports, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, 8GB of RAM, 128 GB SSD storage, and a built-in 1.0MP webcam. There are two less expensive configurations, both of which decrease CPU power and SSD capacity, and the bottom of the line has less – and slower – RAM.
This Jumbo Japanese import is a little hard to come by stateside, but the guys over at Dynamism have you covered – though at $2599(USD), it’s quite expensive for what it is. If you’re fortunate enough to live in Japan, you can find the TW21A-B3C67 for ¥154,800 (~$1772) over on Amazon Japan.
These days, having a small, handy speaker to carry with you is pretty convenient – especially when you want to share your music or watch a video with your friends, without having to rely on the paltry integrated speakers on your tablet or smartphone. These portable speakers come in allshapes and sizes, but this is definitely one of the more unusual designs I’ve seen.
The orb-shaped BALLO speaker was designed by the Swiss firm Bernhard Burkard for Hong Kong-based OYO – Objects You Obsess. It has a built-in rechargeable battery and works with most devices that can play audio thanks to its 3.5mm jack. The design is pretty minimal, and it has a colorful belt that joins the two hemispheres of the spherical speaker. The shape and perforated surface reminds me of the tip of an old-school microphone.
BALLO is available in ten different colors, and it costs about $30(USD). It can be ordered directly from OYO.
The newly-announced Samsung NX300 is going to be their flagship compact digital camera for 2013, offering interchangeable lenses. The NX300 is quite compact, and comes with an 20.3 MP APS-C CMOS sensor.
Having a bright and sharp AMOLED touch screen on a phone is pretty cool. Having one on a camera is just that much better, especially when the screen can tilt up or down, allowing you to properly use it as a viewfinder from your chest or any angle.
It can shoot photos in with a broad ISO range of 100-25600. With the available f1.8 45mm 2D/3D lens, it should also be good for low-light photography. In addition to still images, it can capture 1080p video at 60fps, or at 30fps in 3D.
The 3.31-inch WVGA AMOLED touch screen serves as a viewfinder and offers lots of controls. There are plenty of physical buttons as well, which is good in my opinion. The camera can also shoot in 3D mode and has Wi-Fi, so it can automatically upload photos. The NX300 can be charged via a microUSB port, so you won’t need any special charging cable for it.
The camera will retail for $749.99(USD) when it’s released this March. It ships with a 20-50mm f3.5-f5.6 lens. The f1.8 45mm lens costs $599.99 extra, though.
Most of us probably have just one iPad – or maybe two in our households, so managing the chargers is pretty straightforward. But say you run a restaurant, museum, shop or office that’s started to use iPads in your business. How do you charge up a bunch of iPads at once? Well, Kensington has got you covered.
The Charge & Sync Cabinet ($599.99 USD) for iPad can juice up 10 iPads at the same time. Simply side the tablets into the cabinet, and the system will charge the iPad right up. A single power cord charges all the iPads, and there are also built-in USB ports for charge and sync operations. You can stack up to three of these cabinets too, and they each have a cooling fan inside to make sure the iPads don’t get too hot.
In addition, the cabinet has a locking front door, and can be secured using a mounting bracket or security cable, so you don’t have to worry about thieves walking off with 10 iPads at once. It looks like the Charge & Sync Cabinet currently only supports iPads with the 30-pin dock connector though, so if you’ve got iPad 4′s or later, you’ll have to look elsewhere for a charging solution – until Kensington releases Lightning adapter cables.
Earlier this year, Canonical threw its hat into the mobile arena when it announced Ubuntu for Android, a variant of the open source operating system that can be installed on phones already running Android. But today the company unveiled Ubuntu for Phones. What’s up with that? Is that one hat too many, or is this an idiom too stretched out?
I think the thing that needs to be made clear first and foremost is that Ubuntu for Phones is exactly the same as the desktop version of Ubuntu, only with a different, phone-friendly interface. Compare that to Apple’s OS X and iOS, which are still two very different operating systems. Windows 8 could be a more apt comparison, except Ubuntu avoids Windows 8′s problem. Microsoft’s new OS also crams the mobile interface into the desktop version, but Ubuntu will only have a phone interface on phones. Revolutionary, I know.
With Ubuntu for Phones, Canonical hopes to enter the budget phone market and also create the legit “phone that doubles as a PC” market. Cheap phones with low hardware will only use the Ubuntu phone interface, but high end phones with beefy specs can be connected to a typical desktop setup – monitor, keyboard, mouse – and let users access the full Ubuntu desktop interface. That, by the way, is the exact same thing that Ubuntu for Android does. I guess Canonical will eventually ditch that if Ubuntu for Phones takes off. Skip to around 5:20 in the video below for more details on Ubuntu for phones.
On one hand we have Android-on-a-stick computers. On the other hand we have Ubuntu for Phones – and you can bet your RIM stock that Apple is planning something very similar to this. Which portable desktop do you prefer? There’s a lot I didn’t cover here so if you want to know more I suggest you head to the Ubuntu website for more information on Ubuntu for Phones.
I’ve always been somewhat perplexed by users having more than one tablet. Still, I have to say that a smaller tablet, perhaps an inch or two smaller than the iPad Mini, could be handy to tote around daily. The oddly-spelled Qooq tablet doesn’t fit that particular bill, instead being designed specifically for kitchen use.
Made in France, the Qooq tablet was designed for cooks, so it’s splash-proof, heat and humidity resistant, and has a retractable support that serves as a stand. If you use it with greasy hands, don’t worry, because the grease can be easily cleaned off with a damp cloth. It’s got a 10.1-inch screen, an ARM Cortex A9 processor, 8GB of memory, built-in Wi-Fi, and a customized interface that has a meal planner, browser, and built-in virtual cookbook. It can also be used for surfing the Internet, viewing videos or images and listening to music.
This all sounds pretty cool. However, I’m sure that anyone with an inexpensive tablet could duplicate these functions with a waterproof case and the right cooking apps, which will probably add up to less than the Qooq’s $399(USD) retail price. But if you’re looking for a stylish gadget, dedicated to kitchen use, you should definitely check out the Qooq.
Elephants are pretty cool, and there are plenty around in Thailand. However, you don’t expect them to have the same penchant for smartphones as humans. This one at a Thai animal part took a liking to a Chinese tourist’s iPhone and decided to swallow it whole.
If you’re an elephant and you swallow something, you’d better believe that it’s coming out the other end, sooner or later. That’s apparently what happened with the iPhone, no worse for wear, but perhaps a tad smellier. A little while after the incident, the handler nonchalantly digs through the elephant’s poop, looking for the ringing phone.
While at first glance, it looks like the real deal, I think that the video could be a fake. Given the circumstances, everyone seems a bit too relaxed, including the handler and the woman who lost the phone. Still, it’s pretty funny to watch.
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