Hasta La Gadget!

On a diet? Need to lose a few pounds within the next few weeks? Then you need the HAPIfork. It’s a ‘smart’ fork that comes equipped with a sensor that keeps track of how fast you’re eating and how many times you’ve used it to stuff food into your mouth.

Once it detects that you’re eating way too much or way too fast, it’ll vibrate gently to remind you to stop or at least slow down so you won’t eat more than you should. HAPIfork also takes note of the time you began and finished eating, and how long it takes for you to eat a meal so that you can check out your eating stats later and evaluate it accordingly.

The HAPIfork is currently being demonstrated at CES 2013, where it’s delighting dieters and weight watchers at the show and the world over.

HAPIfork will be launching on Kickstarter this March.

[via Mashable]

Kingston just unveiled a technological marvel at CES 2013: a 1TB USB 3.0 flash drive. A terabyte on a stick. If you can make something as insane as that, then you deserve to name it whatever the hell you like, which is what exactly Kingston did. Behold: the 1TB Kingston DataTraveler HyperX Predator. I say the name doesn’t do it justice.

According to Kingston the flash drive can achieve 240MB/s read and 160MB/s write speeds on a USB 3.0 connection. Maximum PC got a look at the massive pocket drive on Kingston’s CES booth; skip to around 0:25 to see it.

Some of you may remember that Victorinox showed off a 1TB thumb drive as part of a Swiss army knife almost a year ago, but I don’t think it ever went on sale. As the Kingston rep said in the video, their 1TB flash drive should be out in a couple of months. You probably won’t be buying one though. Pocket-lint says it will cost a ridiculous $3,400 (USD). But I can believe that price tag, because the DataTraveler HyperX Predator that “only” has 512GB is already available and it lists at $1,750.

[via Pocket-lint & Kingston]

These days, it seems that the art of taking down handwritten notes is dying. Why use a pen and paper when you’ve got a tablet or ultrabook in your bag that you can use to type things up instead? There is something to be said for handwritten notes, however – sometimes it’s much faster to write down something by hand, and during big shows like CES, taking along a pen and some paper ultimately cuts down on the amount of stuff you’re taking onto the show floor.

Of course, the environmentally-minded among us might be concerned with the amount of paper we use to take down these notes, but thankfully the folks at Improv Electronics have found the answer to that wasteful issue. Say hello to the Boogie Board Sync LCD eWriter, which is outfitted with a 9.7-inch pressure-sensitive LCD screen that lets you jot down notes on the fly and then share them in any number of ways. This isn’t the first Boogie Board eWriter we’ve seen, but it certainly is the largest of the bunch.

The Boogie Board Sync comes equipped with a micro SD slot, so if you’d like to stash your notes on a card and move them to your other devices later, you can certainly do that. There’s also a micro USB port for wired transfer, but if you’re a fan of going wireless, this baby also comes with support for Bluetooth. Using that Bluetooth functionality, you can send your finished note to any other Bluetooth-supported device, whether that’s a computer, smartphone, or tablet. You can also sync your Boogie Board with a second screen using Bluetooth, meaning that what you write down on the eWriter shows up on your second screen (perfect for presentations and the like). Fancy saving your note and uploading it to Evernote to refer back to later? You can do that too.

The models we saw during ShowStoppers certainly look nice, but at the moment, they’re only in the prototype stage. Though they do feel good in the hand at the present moment, we’re expecting a few things to change as we move toward the final product, which is scheduled to be released in time for 2013′s holiday season. Hopefully we’ll get to spend a bit more time with the Boogie Board Sync soon, but for now, have a look at our CES portal for much more from the show.

Boogie Board Sync 9.7 hands-on is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Nemotek Technologie is a manufacturer of customized wafer-level cameras. The company announced the world’s first wafer-level high-definition camera module called the Exiguus A15-B1. This camera module supports 720p HD resolution in an ultracompact form factor.

The camera offers dual element HD and reflowable wafer-level lenses that provide lower distortion, better resolution, and higher image quality. The camera also utilizes replicated lenses on glass wafers instead of traditional plastic. The manufacturer says that these features make the A15-B1 ideal for front-facing camera applications for smartphones, tablets, notebooks, gaming systems, and other portable devices.

The camera offers a 1/6-inch, 1.2 megapixel reflowable wafer-level camera solution with an active pixel array of 1296H x 976V. The camera module also has a CMOS image sensor and the embedded image processor featuring sophisticated functions such as automatic exposure control, automatic white balance, flicker avoidance, and defect correction.

The camera is able to capture 720p HD video at 30 frames per second and provides lowlight sensitivity during video recording. Other features of the camera module include automatic image enhancement, parallel and MIPI data outputs, and multi-camera synchronization. The manufacturer also says that the camera module can be directly reflowed onto the printed circuit board making system design and manufacturing easier and more cost-effective. The camera module is currently being sampled by manufacturing partners.

Nemotek shows off first wafer-level 720p HD camera module is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’ve seen our share of cool devices and ideas here at SlashGear, but this one might just rank up with the best of them. Today at ShowStoppers we got to take a look at a new technology called Tethercell, which incidentally went live on crowdfunding site Indiegogo earlier today. Tethercell has received a significant amount of funding in its first day, due to the simple fact that it allows you to control your battery powered devices from your smartphone.

Specifically speaking, Tethercell is a AA-battery adapter that will fit your device in place of one battery. The adapter itself is powered by a AAA-battery, and when it’s been inserted into your device, it lets you switch it on and off using an app installed on your smartphone. That’s pretty cool, but of course, there are plenty of other nifty features to go along with this technology.

Using Tethercell, you can track the amount of juice you have remaining. The app will let you know when your batteries are running low, and you can even set schedules for your devices. Is there one battery powered toy your kids love but you absolutely hate? Set a schedule to only let them play with it for an allotted amount of time, and enjoy peace for the rest of the day. The app connects to the adapter using Bluetooth 4.0, so this technology could one day be applied to any smartphone with Bluetooth 4.0 capabilities.

Tetherboard, the company behind this technology, says that Tethercell should begin shipping in late 2013 (provided everything goes well with its Indiegogo campaign). At first, Tethercell will only support AA-batteries and iOS, but the team promises that Android and 9-volt support will be following soon. This is just the beginning for Tethercell, so expect to hear more about it in the coming days and weeks. While you wait for more details, be sure to stop by our CES portal for all of the trade show news you could ever want.

Tethercell lets you control battery powered devices from your phone is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.