Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve seen plenty of Beats-focused KIRFs in our time, some better than others. Few, however, play quite so directly on the name as OrigAudio’s Beets. For $25, adopters get a set of headphones that bear little direct resemblance to Dr. Dre’s audio gear of choice, but are no doubt bound to impress friends — at least, up until they see a root vegetable logo instead of a lower-case B. Thankfully, there’s more to it than just amusing and confusing peers. Every purchase will lead to a donation of canned beets (what else?) to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County. For us, that’s reason enough to hope that Beats doesn’t put the kibosh on OrigAudio’s effort. Besides, we could use some accompaniment for our BeetBox.

Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio/Video

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Source: OrigAudio

Rugged phone cases are bountiful. But, while they may offer some additional thermal protection, they’re not built for true extremes. For that, you’d need either piles of insulation (too bulky) or some way to control the temperature inside the case. ThermoShield, one of over a dozen student-run companies vying for attention at Northeastern University’s Husky Startup Challenge, went the latter route by slipping a Peltier element inside a slim plastic shell. The current prototype was built on a 3D printer and clearly created for an iPhone, but plans for the initial model should be simple enough to port to any handset. A standard watch battery powers the small plate and by controlling the voltage across it you generate either small amounts of heat or produce a slight cooling effect. A simple switch or slider would be used to manually control the flow of electrons. Trekking through the arctic tundra? Simply crank up the heat to keep your phone from freezing to death. Meandering through the Sahara? Take advantage of the Peltier’s thermoelectric cooling properties to keep the Gorilla Glass from melting.

According to one of the creators, Hannah Bialic, it wouldn’t be terribly difficult to add automatic temperature control. Though, development costs could significantly drive up the price of the ThermoShield. The hardware could all be baked directly into the case itself or an app could be created that would automate everything. Obviously, though, relying on software would limit the case to working with a single device (and let’s be realistic, it won’t be your beloved Nexus 4). There’s no telling when or if you’ll actually be able to pick up one of these variable temperature shells, but you can add your name to the mailing list at the more coverage link.

Filed under: Peripherals, Mobile

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On Sony’s upcoming Xperia SP mobile handset, you’ll be able to control various PlayStation Mobile titles using the PlayStation 3’s ubiquitous DualShock 3 controller. Sure, it seems a bit strange to us that you’d want to carry a full game console controller with you, but then it’s also a much better option for games with virtual buttons. And hey, Sony’s not the only one employing such strange logic, so who are we to judge?

Anyway, the controller functionality seems locked to Sony’s Xperia SP phone for now, but it’s likely to head elsewhere before too long (at very least to the rest of Sony’s Xperia line, if not all PlayStation Mobile-enabled devices) — we’ve asked the company for more info, but have yet to hear back. Since the DualShock 3 connects via Bluetooth, pairing the DualShock 3 with the Xperia SP is a snap; simply connect via USB, pair the devices, and you’re off the races (or the shooting, or whatever game you’re playing). After doing so, you’ll be able to reconnect without wires in subsequent uses by holding down the PlayStation button in the middle of the DualShock 3. For a quick walkthrough of how it works, head past the break for a snazzy video showing off just that.

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Handhelds, Peripherals, Tablets, Software, Mobile, Sony

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Via: Xperia Blog

Source: Twitter – @djnermal

Sony may have unveiled a slew of new audio products back at CES 2013, but the company has been relatively quiet when it comes to launching ones that are compatible with Apple’s novel Lightning connector. That being said, it looks as if folks in the Land of the Rising Sun will soon be able to pair their current-gen iOS device with a dock from the PlayStation maker, thanks to the recently announced SRS-GC11IP. Pictured above, this little 0.8W speaker isn’t loaded with fancy features like Bluetooth 4.0 or WiFi, but it does offer convenient functions such as an alarm clock and AM / FM radio — these, of course, go along with the ability to also play tunes straight from a Lighting-ready iDevice or, with the proper RDP-NWC11 model, a new-era Walkman and many different smartphones. Whether we’ll ever see the as-yet-unpriced tubular peripheral hit other markets, well, that still remains to be seen, with Sony only going so far as to listing it as “coming soon” on its Japanese website.

Filed under: Misc, Peripherals, Sony

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Source: Sony Japan (1), (2)

It’s easy to chop and change components in spacious towers, but small PCs need upgrading, too. If your stunted desktop has fallen into the “minimum system requirements” category for the latest games, then maybe the newly announced ASUS GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU Mini graphics card will interest you. Quite the mouthful, we know, but its long name contrasts with its small size — the dual-slot, 2GB card measures 6.7 inches on its longest edge, shaving almost 3 inches off the reference design. There’s no reason you can’t put the card in a regular case, of course, but it’s intended mainly for compact rigs with mini ITX or micro ATX motherboards. We don’t have pricing or release info yet, but if the cost of NVIDIA’s GTX 670 is anything to go by, expect to drop at least a trio of Benjamins on the petite version. Glamor shots and all the finer specs are available at the source links below.

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, Peripherals, ASUS

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Via: Fareastgizmos

Source: ASUS (1), (2)