Hasta La Gadget!

Assuming you made it past the end of Season Two of The Walking Dead by now, you know all about Michonne and her “pets.” These zombies have had their lower jaws removed so they can’t bite. But that doesn’t mean they can’t still open a bottle of beer with their teeth, right?

Yes, you’re looking at the latest in wacky Walking Dead merch, Michonne’s zombie pet bottle opener. Unfortunately, it’s not coming out until January 2014, but you can always pre-order one now, and have it in hand so you can drown your sorrows with a few brewskis after Season 4 is over.

Funny thing is, this is probably what would happen to you if you tried to open too many beer bottles with your real teeth.

[via Geek Alerts]

Yep, the rumors were spot-on. At the 2013 IFA trade show, Sony revealed two of the most unusual cameras you’ll ever see. The Cyber-shot QX10 and QX100 Lens Cameras pack all of the necessary hardware inside a tiny cylinder, save for a viewfinder. Why? Because the two point-and-shoot cameras are meant as an upgrade for people who use their smartphone as their main camera. Now their phones can just be viewfinders, or even ditched altogether.

Remember the WVIL camera concept that appeared in 2011? The QX cameras are a lot like that. As Sony Alpha Rumors leaked a couple of weeks ago, the QX100 (seen above) has the same lens and 20.2mp CMOS sensor as the beloved RX100 Mark II camera while the QX10 (below) shares the lens and 18.2mp sensor of the WX150 point-and-shoot. Both cameras have their own battery and a slot for a microSD, microSDHC or a Memory Stick Micro card.

As you’ll see in the pictures and videos below, Sony is pushing these cameras together with the newly introduced Xperia Z Android smartphone. In fact, Sony is selling a plastic case that makes it easier to attach the QX cameras to the Xperia Z. Makes you wonder about the other Sony device in the images eh? It’s safe to assume that both the Xperia Z and the mystery device support NFC, which is the easiest way to pair the cameras to a phone. But the QX cameras can also be used with other Android phones and even iOS devices via the Sony PlayMemories app and a Wi-Fi connection.

To be clear, both QX cameras can be used on their own, but if you can afford either camera chances are you also have an Android or iOS device. If so, you can use the cameras’ clamp to attach them to your mobile device. Then get the PlayMemories app so you can use your device as a viewfinder, like so:

But as was imagined with the WVIL, you can keep a QX camera detached from your mobile device to make it easier to shoot from odd heights or angles…

…or to include yourself in the shot:

Then you can view, save or upload the photo or video on your mobile device using Sony’s app. The cameras will stay connected to your mobile device up to about 30ft., but the connection will likely be cut off if there are walls or other thick objects between the two devices.

Here’s Sony with more about the QX100 and QX10:

The cameras seem like great ideas for casual users, but they do have a couple of tradeoffs, most notably the way they connect to a smartphone. If you’re fortunate enough to have an NFC enabled phone, connecting to the lens cam is as easy as touching the two devices together, which automatically authenticates and connects them via Wi-Fi. However, if you don’t, you’ll have to manually connect them via Wi-Fi. It’s not clear if this creates an AdHoc Wi-Fi network between the phone and the lens, or if it requires a Wi-Fi infrastructure connection to be available. I’d assume it’s the former, which would mean your smartphone will be temporarily disconnected from any live Wi-Fi connections while connected to the camera. Then there’s the process of taking pictures with the camera. I have not tested either of the cameras, but David Pierce of The Verge did. Skip to about 0:40 in The Verge’s hands-on video below and you’ll see what I’m talking about:

Not exactly smooth, eh? Then again, unless you have the Nokia 1020 the QX cameras are significantly better than your phone’s cameras. Ultimately that should be their main selling point. You can pre-order both the QX100 and QX10 from Sony’s online store or from Amazon. The QX100 costs $500 (USD) (its big brother, the RX100 costs $750) while the QX10 costs $250 (the WX150 costs $400).

Last year when I saw YEI Technology’s Unreal Engine demo of their 3-Space Sensors, I mentioned how it might be able to integrate with the Oculus Rift for a more immersive virtual reality experience. Turns out the company had the same plan all along. YEI recently launched a Kickstarter fundraiser for PrioVR, an improved and affordable version of the 3-Space Sensors.

The PrioVR sensors are significantly smaller than the 3-Space Sensors and will also include an input unit. The latter is for plugging in additional external input, i.e. physical controllers such as a joystick or a gamepad. Data from sensors and input units will be sent to a “centralized wearable wireless hub architecture”, which in turn will beam the data to a base station that has a USB output.

PrioVR currently comes in two developer kits: PrioVR Lite includes 11 sensors, 1 input unit, the wireless hub, the base station plus the straps needed to wear all of the electronics. The PrioVR Pro kit adds 6 more sensors and 1 more input unit to the Lite kit. As expected, the kits will come with SDK and API so developers can adapt or build games around PrioVR. YEI Technology also said that “major game engines will be supported” and that they will also release “demo projects and open source code examples.”

Pledge at least $450 (USD) on Kickstarter to get a PrioVR dev kit as a reward. I wonder what gaming companies and console makers think of all these virtual reality hardware. The Omni VR treadmill in particular seems to be in direct competition with the PrioVR. I also find it hilarious that Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft seem to have given up on motion-controlled gaming when in fact they popularized it with their respective efforts, especially with the Wii and the Kinect. I guess they weren’t able to connect the dots to virtual reality. Perhaps no one really did until the Oculus Rift hit the scene.

However, while the PrioVR and other VR hardware have immense potential, I think it’s safe to say that we’re still years away from seeing consumer versions of any of them. I think the manufacturers need to sort out who their partners will be and eventually release a complete package for consumers and game developers alike. They can’t expect us to buy various VR hardware separately without knowing which games they’ll work with. Remember, as of now these sensors and headsets are separate from PCs and consoles – you know, the machines that actually run games. If folks are already balking at the Xbox One’s price, imagine how they’ll react when they find out you have to shell out hundreds of dollars for a console or a gaming PC, $300 for the Oculus Rift and then $450 more for the sensors. Holy crap. A subscription-based cloud gaming setup – with free-to-play games – almost makes sense from my wallet’s perspective.

[via PrioVR]

I hate wasting food. I hate having to bring up that old “kids are starving in Africa” reasoning, but I will anyway, because it’s true. However, I don’t believe in gorging yourself with food either, just so you won’t have any leftovers. There’s always storing them away in the fridge so you can finish them the next day or sharing them with random people through Leftoverswap.

LeftoverSwap is an app that’s currently in development, which lets you connect with people who might be hungry for your leftovers. I’m not kidding.

Here’s how it works: If you’re a giver, simply take a picture of your leftovers, name it and upload it to the app. If you’re a taker, browse the leftovers near you and arrange for a pickup or delivery.

The app’s website points out that some glaring statistics: 4o% of food produced isn’t eaten, but actually goes to waste. Aside from that, 70% of people are overweight, with about 99% not needing that second helping of whatever dish they’re about to pig out on.

It’s too bad though that the people who need your leftovers the most (such as homeless people and streetchildren) probably don’t have smartphones.

[via Geekologie]

Humans are slowly turning into walking billboards. Beards and thighs have already been turned into prime advertising spaces. The next body part to become a billboard might just be your earlobes. Or rather, what’s hanging off of your lobes, that is, if you happen to be wearing the Video Earrings.

Its creators have skipped the fancy naming for now, because you get exactly what the name implies. Each earring will have a dangling 2″x1″ screen with a built-in rechargeable battery. It can apparently display slideshows and stream videos for 4-8 hours on a full charge, while recharging only requires an hour.

The Video Earrings can be charged up and loaded with files via USB. Its creators plan to release three capacities for the earrings, 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB for $200, $249, and $300, respectively. However, it’s still up for funding right on Indiegogo, where you can get your very own pair by pledging at least $150. The project still has a way to go to hit its modest $10,000 fundraising goal, so for now you might just have to clip some iPod nanos to your ears instead.

[via C|NET]