Hasta La Gadget!

A few days ago we found out that some, if not all SD cards actually contain computers. At the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Intel unveiled an offshoot of those flash devices. The Edison is a computer that looks like an SD card and can be read by SD card readers.

The Edison has an x86 dual-core 400Mhz Quark processor as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity. It also has LPDDR2 RAM and flash storage, though Intel has not yet revealed how much of either is in the tiny computer. It runs Linux by default but can be loaded with “multiple operating systems to run sophisticated high-level user applications.”

Intel made Edison as part of its bid to stay relevant in the emerging class of wearable devices, but the company also said that the Edison can be used in pretty much any project that needs a low-power and small computer, similar to Arduinos and the Raspberry Pi.

As you saw in MAKE’s video, Intel collaborated with Rest Devices to create prototype smart gadgets for parents, all of them powered by the Edison. The onesie monitors a baby’s “respiration, skin temperature, body position, and activity level”…

… and can supposedly trigger this baby bottle warmer to activate when the baby is awake and hungry…

…or help this coffee mug inform parents about their baby’s status using embedded LEDs.

Intel also promised that Edison “will be compatible with accessible developer tools used by the maker community”, although it did not yet provide a release date or price for the computer. With its size and capabilities I highly doubt that it will be as cheap as the Raspberry Pi, but I’m sure lots of tinkerers are still keen to get their hands on one.

[via Intel (pdf) via BGR & MAKE]

Okay, okay, I kid. The Xbox One doesn’t look that much like a VCR, but it still is about a big as one. But leave it to an enterprising console modder like James “DarkUncle” Terry to solve that problem, by transforming an Xbox One into a laptop.

What you’re looking at here is what I’m reasonably certain is the very first Xbox One laptop mod. The Console measures only two-inches-thick when closed, and that includes the size of the LCD flat panel built into its lid. That’s even more impressive when you realize that the Xbox One normally measures almost three inches-thick. The top of the console has a matte black finish, with an integrated touch power control and a gloss black shell around the outside. He also added custom buttons for controller sync, eject, and audio volume. Between its additional cooling fans and the standard Xbox One heatsink, James says it stays nice and cool too.

The laptop has all of the regular ports from an Xbox One, but also added an audio line-out connector, which Microsoft neglected to include on the console. Check out the build in the video below:

Great job, James! Now all you need to do is figure out a way to build the Kinect into it, and shrink down Microsoft’s power brick, and all will be right with the world.

If you’re interested in having your own custom Xbox One laptop built, head on over to Dark Uncle Custom Gaming to get in touch with James.

A few months ago we checked out an iPhone case that had several add-ons with different functions. The Pivothead SMART glasses have a very similar feature. The glasses have two microUSB ports – one at the end of each temple – from which you can attach small accessories called Smart Mods.

Unlike Google Glass, which has a heads up display to present detailed visual information, Pivothead SMART uses LED guides to display notifications and other basic data. That’s because the glasses are not really designed to be wearable personal computers like Glass. Instead, they’re taking on wearable cameras like the GoPro (though to some extent Google Glass falls into that bucket as well). For starters, it has a camera with an 8mp Sony CMOS sensor that can record 1080p video at 30fps. It has still, burst and time-lapse modes and auto, fixed and macro focus presets.

By default, the Pivothead SMART has 16GB storage and a battery good for an hour of continuous video recording. Here’s where the Smart Mods come in.

The Fuel Mod is a battery pack that adds more power to the glasses, equivalent to two more hours of continuous video recording. The Live Mod adds a MicroSD slot, but that’s actually just a bonus feature of the add-on. The main feature of Live Mod is that it allows the glasses to stream full HD video via Wi-Fi to a desktop computer, mobile device or to the web.

Even though Pivothead wants to be the next GoPro, its Air Mod has the potential to make it more versatile. The Air Mod add-on has the same features as the Live Mod add-on – i.e. streaming and a MicroSD slot – but it’s also much more than that. It’s actually a tiny, display-less Android device, with a dual-core 1.3GHz ARM A7 CPU, WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, GPS and a host of sensors.

The idea is for developers to make apps that will run on the Air Mod, which will in turn enhance the functionality of the glasses. The video above showed a couple of concept apps for the Air Mod, such as a boarding pass scanner and an app that can analyze street signs.

Pledge at least $229 (USD) on Indiegogo to get a pair of Pivothead SMART glasses without any Smart Mods. You’ll need to pledge at least $409 to get the glasses and all three Smart Mods. The Smart Mods are also available as separate rewards. The Air Mod will – like any mobile device – live and die by its app ecosystem, but at least it’s an optional purchase. The glasses are still quite useful on their own.

Overall this seems to be a really promising device, but its makers need to find a way to explain its features to everyday consumers if they really want it to take off like GoPro cameras.

[Pivothead via The Droid Guy]

Remember when we used gadgets called “tape recorders?” Well, now you can relive the prehistoric era of portable cassette tape recorders, but with your iPhone in place of the cassette.

The iRecorder looks like one of those old luggable cassette recorders that predates the seminal Sony Walkman. Like it’s distant relatives, the battery-powered iRecorder sports a speaker and buttons that actually work. But in this case, the buttons control playback of your iPhone 4, 5 or 5S, and the volume of the speaker. It’s even got one of those pull-out handles for carrying it around.

Ironically, the one thing iRecorder doesn’t do is offer a record button. Instead, the red button is now the play button. I’m assuming that’s because they couldn’t figure out a way to trigger recording through the iPhone’s headphone jack. Still, we get the point, and the iRecorder is a fun gadget for those looking for a retro gift for old fogies like me.

You can grab the iRecorder from CraziestGadgets for $49.99 (USD). I wonder how well the window on the player lines up with this app.

We live in an era where many consumer electronics have silly names, often with lowercase i’s, an abundance of z’s or a lack of vowels. But not Tail Lights. Because that’s just what they are, a set of LED strips that strap onto horse tails, giving the animals and their riders improved visibility and enabling owners to pimp their living rides.

At first glance, the idea of Tail Lights might be as silly as its name is plain. But it may end up saving lives. Sami Gros was moved to invent Tail Lights when she and and a friend were hit by a car while they were on horseback, even though both of them were already wearing reflectors and were even in a town where horseback riding was commonplace.

Tail Lights have two main parts. Its CPU and battery are in a case small enough to be stowed in practically any saddle bag, while the LED strips themselves are connected by a cable to the battery. The strips are waterproof and will be available in different colors. Tail Lights has two brightness modes as well as a strobe mode.

Gallop to Kickstarter and pledge at least $160 (USD) to get a Tail Lights unit as a reward. Sami should make a unicorn horn light for frontal visibility. And also because that would be awesome.

[via CNET]