Hasta La Gadget!

There’s plenty of sensor gear around for hobbyists to play with, but not so many polished products for the monitoring-obsessed. Cao Gadgets is attempting to fill that niche with its functionally named Wireless Sensor Tags — small devices which monitor movement and temperature, notifying you if anything’s amiss. A magnetometer registers movement by changes in its orientation, and can inform you of door openings or similar disturbances, while the temperature triggers are based on upper or lower thresholds. The $15 sensors (or $12 if you want three or more) have a battery life that should last several years depending on their setup, but there is one catch — you also need the Tag Manager hub ($50), which plugs into your router via Ethernet. It keeps in frequent contact with any subordinates in its 200-foot range, and if after several attempts it finds one MIA, a warning can be sent in case any of your home guards have walked or fallen asleep. The tags also have inbuilt beepers which can be pinged to track down any rogue possessions they’re partnered with, like your keys.

A lot of thought has been put into micromanaging the tags, which are customizable through web-based, Android or iOS apps, and will send out alerts via email, Twitter, or push notifications on slates and phones (text-to-speech is available if you’re too lazy to read). If you’re into your data, you can also access trigger statistics from the software, complete with graphs. The home monitoring kit is available now, and instead of crashing your browser with too many embeds, we’ve decided to point you to the source below for the half-dozen demo vids.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Household, Wireless

Wireless Sensor Tags alert you to movement and temperature changes, fit on your keyring originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Aug 2012 22:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Three and Everything Everywhere have completed the sale of two 15MHz blocks of the 1,800MHz spectrum, announced yesterday. It follows Ofcom’s controversial decision to let the latter network queue-jump to offer LTE services in the UK before the official auction process begins. Three won’t be able to use its new toy until its frenemy has vacated it, which could be as late as September next year, but could start preparing 4G internet shortly after. The sale was made due to merger requirements by the European Commission, but still needs approval from Ofcom, but given that it’s already handed the company an unassailable head-start, we hardly think it’ll be too concerned by the deal.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Everything Everywhere completes sale of spectrum to Three, waits for regulators approval originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Aug 2012 20:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are plenty of (terribly named) stars in Samsung’s Galaxy, but despite the overcrowding, its stateside constellation’s showing no signs of slowing. Joining US Cellular’s lineup as early as this Friday, the Metrix 4G packs a mix of yesteryear’s specs for a budget LTE alternative to the GS III. The 4-inch handset, outfitted with the OEM’s preferred Super AMOLED display tech, runs the incredibly stale Android 2.3 Gingerbread atop a single-core 1GHz processor and packs a dual 1.3-megapixel front facing / 5-megapixel rear camera setup into a slide-out QWERTY form factor. If you happen to live within the operator’s 4G footprint, you’ll be able to snag this handset for $130 with a mail-in rebate, otherwise outliers will have to chalk up an additional $50. Skip on past the break to check out the company’s official PR.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Metrix 4G hits US Cellular this Friday for $180

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Samsung Galaxy Metrix 4G hits US Cellular this Friday for $180 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Aug 2012 15:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This week the Nikon Android camera has been revealed, and the manufacturer is certainly not being shy about sharing its abilities in sample media form. This device brings on telephoto zooming, high-resolution video as well as photos, and wi-fi connectivity so you can share your photos and video instantly. And what’s best is the camera works with a variety of apps via the Google mobile OS Android!

THis device has a lovely 16 megapixel CMOS censor right up front with a Zoom-NIKKOR ED Glass Lens – you’ll be blasting forth with 10x zoom right out of the box! Have a peek at a couple of examples provided by Nikon here, first with a kite in the bright blue afternoon, then with a couple standing on a balcony of a ship. This same couple appears in another sample shot below.

Next you’ll see this device’s special effects abilities. Not only will you be accessing essentially any Android app you desire on the web via the Google Play app store, you’ll also have a collection of built-in abilities as well. You’ll be able to work with fisheye shots, “Nostalgic Sepia”, color selection, and more! Have a peek at a collection of samples here, again provided by Nikon.

The Nikon team behind this device have also made it clear that the 1080p video you’ll be capturing here is top-notch, made to be able to be shared to HDTVs without a hitch. Check out the rest of our coverage of the CoolPix S800c in the timeline we’ve got set up below, and stay tuned as this device hits the market soon!

Nikon CoolPix S800c Android camera sample shots released is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Love venting your E-Train frustrations with Boingo and Google Offers’ free WiFi? While the Manhattan program ends on September 7th, the partnership has swelled its coverage to include a further 24 locations across the nation. From today, eight malls will offer WiFi in cities like LA, SF and Seattle — while Airport hoppers will be able to get a 50 percent discount on 24-hour access at 16 airports including JFK, O’Hare and Midway, if you sign up with Mountain View’s offers service. If you’re at nearing the end of your data cap and need some free internet stat, head on past the break to find out more.

Continue reading Google Offers, Boingo add more locations for free and discounted public WiFi

Filed under: Wireless

Google Offers, Boingo add more locations for free and discounted public WiFi originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Aug 2012 22:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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