Hasta La Gadget!

Telepresence robots seem to be something that some people are starting to look at, and that’s one of the reasons why two Princeton students, Tianlong Wang and Xinyi Chen created the Helios robot. It turns your smartphone into a mobile telepresence rig for far less than other solutions.

Helios looks pretty interesting, as it’s an extremely low-cost solution. I’m all for telepresence, but spending thousands of dollars for a remote avatar doesn’t interest me at all. The Helios will retail for just $99(USD). The small, wheeled robot will allow you to have video chats with friends, family and co-workers around the globe, while you can steer the tiny ‘bot to follow them around or change camera position remotely. Thanks to a clever system that reads symbols off the bottom edge of the smartphone’s screen, it should work readily with a variety of phones. The prototypes work only with iPhones, but after launch, the plan is to release Android and Windows Phone apps as well.

Hello Labs is currently accepting pre-orders for the device, which is supposed to ship for this year’s holiday season. They also plan on launching Helios as a Kickstarter campaign.

[via Make:]

Finally. I think the mobile controller that I’ve been waiting for has arrived. And it’s not from Apple, Samsung or any of the major mobile device manufacturers. It’s from a small company, the same one who made the iControlPad. As one might expect from a group who named its product the iControlPad 2.

Like its predecessor, the iControlPad 2 can connect to any device that supports Bluetooth. But as you can see, the iControl Pad 2 has a lot more to offer. It packs a 55-key keyboard, a d-pad, four face buttons, two analog nubs, two shoulder buttons and more into a case that’s about as wide as the iPhone 4 is tall. It also has a new swiveling clamp, so you can tuck it behind your phone while still keeping it attached, and a 1360mAh battery that lasts up to 14 hours per charge.

The iControlPad 2 can also connect via USB and is open source, meaning it can be made to control all sorts of devices. Imagine using just one remote to game on your phone and tablet, control your HTPC and order your robot butler to attack the neighbors. I am vividly imagining that last bit.

Best of all, the iControlPad 2 can be made to work with a lot of games with virtual buttons thanks to BluTrol, the same app used by the iCade 8-Bit. Skip to about 3:30 in the video below to see how easy it is to map the buttons. What isn’t clear is if the app is built-in to the iControlPad 2 or if we have to jailbreak the device to install and use the app.

Pledge at least $69 (USD) to its Kickstarter fundraiser to reserve your own iControlPad 2, and check out its official website for more information. Of all the controllers I’ve seen, I think this has the best potential of becoming a standard controller for mobile devices.

[via Hack A Day]

Samsung has been very successful with its new smartphone the Galaxy S III and it has sold tons of the device. If you happen to be the owner of one of these smartphones looking for a case to protect it and need some extra battery life, you might want to check out this case.

The PowerSkin case adds an extra battery which has 1500 mAh of power, giving your phone up to 170 extra minutes of talk time or 97 extra hours on standby. Bright blue LEDs on the back to indicate how much power is left in the battery, and it also has smart technology inside to turn off when the smartphone is fully-charged to prevent wasted power.

The case also uses special technology to ensure that the Galaxy SIII’s NFC wireless transmissions pass through the silicone material, allowing the smartphone to communicate with other devices placed close to it using magnetic field induction.

The PowerSkin case is available right now for $79.99 (USD).  As an added bonus people to buy one before September 19th also get a free portable speaker.

Would you whack your phone voluntarily to shut it up? I know I wouldn’t. Just think of all the bumps and scratches whacking might cause to the phone’s exterior. This is just one more reason why I probably won’t be buying any Microsoft phones soon – especially those that incorporate this strange feature.

Okay, so Microsoft hasn’t actually gotten around to making phones that ask you to whack them, but they might. They’ve been on a patent filing spree lately and the one that asks you to give your phone a good old whack or two is just one of them.

The patent application explains that users will be able to turn their phone off or make it go silent by hitting it. It’s pretty much common knowledge that you aren’t supposed to drop your phone or hit it at will, but if Microsoft goes through with incorporating this feature into future phones, then you might soon see well-meaning people whacking their phones in public while they look like idiots to the rest of us.

[TNW via Gizmodo via Dvice]

As any touch-typist will tell you, the feel of the keys on a keyboard are quite important, a bit less that the spacing, but it’s one of the reasons why certain keyboards feel good and others don’t. Orée has just launched the Board, which is a wooden Bluetooth keyboard that looks like it’s got nice short-stroke, Mac-like keys. Now that’s not something you see every day.

The Orée Board is made out of single pieces of maple and walnut. The maple board is light brown while the walnut is a much deeper color. It’s cut to preserve the wood grain across the shell and to minimize waste.

Since it connects via Bluetooth, it will work with most mobile devices, including smartphones, tablets and laptops. The wood is sourced from sustainable sources in southern France. You can select from US, UK, Canadian English or Canadian French keyboards, as well as Mac or Windows layouts. There are also three fonts to choose from – two serifs and one sans serif.

The keyboard sells for €125 (~$164 USD) directly from Orée.

[via designboom]