Hasta La Gadget!

It’d be hard to go hands-on with the WearIT smart watch given that it’s still very much a prototype and its touchscreen is … well, it’s not enabled yet. But we did get a chance to put our hands to the device and snap a gaggle of pictures, highlighting its 1.54-inch capacitive touchscreen and trio of buttons (each of which will correspond to specific applications, we’re told). The concept with WearIT’s watch is that it’s a standalone device — “We’re getting closer to Dick Tracy every day,” a company rep told us. While the device isn’t quite up to Tracy’s standards (no phone functionality, for instance), it assuredly packs more power than the aging detective’s wrist gadget.

A Cortex A8 600 MHz CPU and 256MB of RAM are at the heart of the smart watch, backed up by a 550 mAh lithium ion rechargeable battery. 4GB of storage is embedded inside, along with 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth / Bluetooth LE, ANT+, and a USB 2.0 port (when using the charging clip, included with the watch). Oh, and it runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, though it’s pared down considerably for the screen size. We’ll have a much closer look at WearIT’s smart watch later this year — the device is expected to arrive in the US starting in November and will retail for $400.

Filed under: Peripherals, Wearables, Software

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Romo first rolled into our lives via Kickstarter. Since then we’ve seen it return leaner and meaner, with more improvements just announced. Romotive tells us that an app update coming today brings full telepresence functionality, allowing users to log into the device from anywhere via any iOS device or PC running a Chrome browser. Setting up the telepresence should be no harder than setting up a regular call, and once you’re set, you’ll get two-way video and audio — plus control of the robot (including its expressions!). This not only gives Romo new scope for (almost literally) becoming one of the family, it adds a whole host of new use cases. Want a few ideas to get you started? There’s a few in the suitably chipper video past the break.

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Mobile

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HTC may have its Mini Bluetooth handset, but Sony thinks such implementation works best as a big clip without the numeric pad. Dubbed the SBH52, this splashproof device comes with FM radio, a headphone jack plus a small OLED display to show caller ID and text messages, so in a way it’s similar to its predecessors. What’s new is that you now get NFC as well as an earpiece — the latter lets you use the clip as a mini phone. Expect to see this on the shelves in Q3 this year.

Filed under: Peripherals, Wireless

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While Tobii has a peripheral that brings eye tracking to Windows PCs of all sorts, there’s little doubt that an integrated approach would be more elegant. The company agrees: it’s partnering with Synaptics on a concept Ultrabook (seen above) that combines both Gaze UI and Synaptics’ pressure-sensitive ForcePad in a showcase of new input methods. The partners haven’t said just what new tricks they’ll demonstrate, if any, but it’s clear that there won’t be a size penalty when the concept is as slim as the laptops in stores today. Synaptics and Tobii plan to tour the PC throughout the industry during the summer and the fall, and they’re no doubt hoping that a few vendors use the concept as inspiration.

Filed under: Laptops, Peripherals

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Source: Tobii

Even before hitting store shelves, NVIDIA’s Shield is shedding $50 from its original $350 asking price — the little Android portable gaming console will cost $300 when it arrives at retail on June 27th. NVIDIA revealed both the new, lower price and release date today in a blog post which cited gamers asking for a lower price as the reason for the change. “We’ve heard from thousands of gamers that if the price was $299, we’d have a home run,” the post reads. As such, the company’s aiming for “a home run” with the new price point — despite $300 being $50 more than a new PlayStation Vita, and just $100 short of a new PlayStation 4.

Folks who pre-ordered aren’t out of luck, they’ll just be charged $300 when their unit ships rather than $350. As for where you can pick a Shield up outside of NVIDIA’s official website … well, we’re waiting on word from the company on supported retailers. We’ve dropped the video of our hands-on with the final Shield just below, should you wish to relive those memories with us.

Update: NVIDIA tells us that Newegg, GameStop, Micro Center and Canada Computers will all have Shield on the 27th.

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds, Peripherals, HD, Mobile, NVIDIA

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Source: NVIDIA