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Looxcie’s second-gen camera is no better than the first

Remember the Looxcie? It’s a low-resolution, wearable video camera that beams footage to your Android phone or iPhone. Now comes the Looxcie 2, a smaller, lighter version which also comes with a bunch of new attachment options, as well as compatibility with Apple iCloud.

The old Looxcie was ear-mounted, and looked like an oversized Bluetooth earpiece. Now you can also mount it on a bike, a helmet, or anywhere else you might like to record crappy VGA resolution video. The camera can capture up to 10 hours of video and has a two-hour battery life while recording.

But most interesting — and mostly unexplained — is the claim, reported by Slashgear, to be iCloud compatible. ICloud is Apple’s new push-syncing service that keeps app data, music and photos in sync across your iOS devices and computers. Third party developers will be able to use iCloud to push data around, but as far as yesterday’s Apple Keynote went, I remember hearing no mention of video-syncing, doubtless because files would be too big.

Perhaps Looxcie knows something we don’t, and is somehow using the companion iPhone app to sync across your home Wi-Fi network. If this is so, then we can look forward to a whole lot of devices hooking up with our iPhones and iPad in future, and that can only be a good thing.

The Looxcie 2 will be available in a week at $200 for the 8GB model and $180 for the 4GB.

Looxcie 2 press release [PR Newswire via Slashgear]

See Also:

• Looxcie, A Futuristic Wearable Bluetooth Camcorder
• Ear Mounted iPhone Camera Is Like Tivo for Your Life

Would a Droid X by any other name smell as sweet? When we reviewed that phone last year we found it to be a solid performer in a solid chassis. In short: a very good phone. Now it’s back with a new name, or a revised one at least, the Motorola Droid X2 offering the same basic design as its predecessor but packing a lot more heat on the inside — a dual-core dose of Tegra 2, to be specific. Will it tickle your olfactory sensors just like the first X?

Continue reading Droid X2 review

Droid X2 review originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Jun 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The iCade Arcade Cabinet began as an April Fool’s joke in 2010, but this golden unicorn of iPad accessories has actually made it to production, showing up at our door last week. iCade creator ThinkGeek partnered with Ion to make this former imaginary gadget a reality, and so far it appears to be a hit, backordered for weeks soon after hitting the online store in April. The $100 cabinet pairs with your iPad or iPad 2 over bluetooth, bringing familiar hardware arcade controls to the Atari’s Greatest Hits app, which includes classics like Missile Command (free), and Pong, which you can download from within the free Atari app for $1. The iCade is an awesome addition to your gaming collection, but it won’t replace the hours of coin-dropping at your local arcade. Read on to find out why this accessory may become a permanent fixture on our desk.

Continue reading Ion iCade Arcade Cabinet review

Ion iCade Arcade Cabinet review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 May 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RFID tags are already used to trace everything from poker chips to hotel towels, but what if these little pellets were embedded directly within your lunch, providing everything you’d ever wanna know about that ham sandwich you’re about to beast? That’s the idea behind NutriSmart — a food tracking system that revolves around edible RFID tags. Developed by Hannes Harms, a design engineering student at the Royal College of Art in London, these little markers would allow consumers to trace the entire supply chain behind every item in their cupboard, while feeding valuable nutritional information to dieters or people with particularly dangerous food allergies. Kodak, as you may recall, came up with a similar idea a few years ago, though Harms’ prototype extends beyond the realm of medical monitoring. Properly equipped refrigerators, for example, would be able to alert users whenever their stock’s about to expire, simply by scanning the tags. The NutriSmart concept also calls for a smart plate, which Harms describes as an “invisible diet management system.” Just put your meal on the plate and an embedded reader will analyze your grub, tell you how many miles it traveled before arriving at your kitchen and transmit all of its history and caloric data to your phone, via Bluetooth. No word yet on what would happen to these tags post-digestion, though our inner 13-year-olds are giggling at the possibilities. Video after the break.

Continue reading NutriSmart prototype embeds RFID tags directly within food, traces your lunch from start to finish (video)

NutriSmart prototype embeds RFID tags directly within food, traces your lunch from start to finish (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 May 2011 06:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Like what you’ve seen of Sammy’s slim new slate, but aren’t so psyched about typing sans tactile feedback? Well, worry no more, as Samsung Germany is showing off some peripherals for the ten-inch Galaxy Tab. There’s a €150 ($213) case with an integrated Bluetooth keyboard to give it that Transformer-esqe form factor or an €80 ($114) keyboard dock (“available soon”) that should also sate your phalanges’ physical desires. Other accoutrement includes USB adapters, protective cases and sleeves, a docking station, and an HDMI adapter for viewing video on screens of all sizes. So now that Samsung’s selling some of the sides, we’ve got one question. Where’s our entree?

Continue reading Samsung Germany puts cart before horse: Galaxy Tab 10.1 peripherals on sale now

Samsung Germany puts cart before horse: Galaxy Tab 10.1 peripherals on sale now originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 22 May 2011 22:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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