Tagged: gadgets

January 14, 2013

CES 2013 – My Top 10

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has come to an end again and so many products have been shown off. Here are some of my favourites for this year.

1. Ultra HD TVs

Ultra HD and 4K displays was the big buzz word this year. All the big TV manufacturers announced and revealed their Ultra HD TVs this year at the CES. Ultra HD TVs have a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels which a 4 times the resolution of our current 1080p TVs.

Now all that has to happen is for all the content providers to up their game and start giving us content in that kind of resolution.

Above is Samsungs 85 inch 4K “floating” TV. It uses a metal frame that has inbuilt speakers and let you easily angle the TV to your liking. One thing for sure is that I won’t be able to afford it.

2. Nvidia Project Shield

The gaming handhelds are making a comeback. There are the Razer’s Edge Gaming Tablet and the Nvidia Project Shield.

Nvidia is known in the industry to supply some of the best graphic chips for PCs, Laptops, tablets and mobile phones and at CES this year they shows off a gaming handheld that is Android based and can mirror to your big displays while on the same network.

I think it is a nifty little device, but right now it is a niche product that hasn’t got a release date or a price attached to it. Check out some impressions in the video below.

3. Oculus Rift Virtual Headset

Remember VirtuaBoy from the 90s? Oculus Rift is the grown up version.

The headset will give the user a very compelling virtual reality experience. It will immerse the user into a wrap-around 3D world – you will feel like you are part of the game. Here are some impressions:

4. The Pebble

I pre-ordered my Pebble in September when it came out on Kickstarter and I was very happy about the fact that they will start sending it out to us at the end of this month.

Instead of packing in a ton of features, Pebble focuses on a few simple features. You can get quick notifications for texts, email, and calls along with custom watch faces and some music control. All that in a small form factor and with an e-paper display – what more can you want.
5. Panasonic 4K Tablet

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July 24, 2012

Best use of NFC so far

NFC is the big buzz word everywhere now and most people don’t even know what it is, what it does or that they already have it in their phone.

Will the new iPhone have it? Nobody knows until it is revealed, but that shouldn’t stop us from exploring it.

And that is exactly what Razorfish in Germany did with this 2 day project, coming up with the best idea on NFC usage I have seen so far.

The idea is simple, just like you used to get your candy from a machine you can now get all kinds of digital goodies: Apps, movies, songs, ebooks, as well as other exclusive and location-based content that can be pushed to a phone. Simply enter a coin and turn the lever – then follow the animation and tap your smartphone next to the release chute.

In terms of hardware, we used a Samsung Galaxy Tab, an NFC shield, a simple reed switch and two Arduino microcontrollers – all nicely fitted into an original Gum Machine metal base.

Super awesome indeed. Nicely done Razorfish. You can read more about it here.

@maniac13

March 22, 2012

You can run, but you can’t hide

The smart peeps at MIT have created a camera that can look around the corner.

To do this, the system uses a so-called femtosecond laser to send out extremely short light pulses that are aimed at a nearby wall, then bounce around, hit the object hiding and then bounce back to the camera.

Then smart software figures out what is lurking behind the wall by determining how long it took those pulses to return to the camera.

This happens over and over again at different angles, meaning that the system will ultimately be able to get a general idea of the object hidden.

check out the video below

@maniac13

January 7, 2011

CES 2011 and here are my favourite things

As usual everybody seems to be waiting to announce their new products at CES and this year hasn’t been any different.

And again we are overwhelmed with information from everyone and blinded by all the new shiny products. I will have to get a 2nd job to be able to afford all the new gadgets I want now.

So below is a list of my favourites from the CES this year that I found on different blogs around the internets (maybe one day I will be able to go there in person)

So here I will be showing you tablets, 3D stuff, Microsoft hardware and some other cool stuff I came across

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May 10, 2010

My Gadget wish list for 2010

In my line of work (and because I love it) I come across a lot of cool gadgets and usually (at least if you ask my wife) I spend too much money on them.

So this year I will follow my moms advice and make myself a list.

Usually I start these lists with the least and work my way up to the best, but I want to start with the device I really really want this year.

1. Samsung Galaxy S

I have been using my 8310 blackberry for too long and for a while there I was carrying around 3 devices to do my phonecalls, emails and browsing and gaming, but the Samsung will be able to do all that.

So why do I want it?

for a start I don’t like the iPhone (don’t get me wrong I think it is a good phone for “normal” users), but it just doesn’t do what i want from a phone.

apart from that here is my shortlist on why I want it:

* 4 inch WVGA Super Amoled screen (finally a device i can use outside)
* big (as in big capacity) battery – 1500mAh
* 16GB internal memory + extendable with micro sd
* wireless n
* camera capable of 720p video @ 30fps
* support of MPeg4, H.263, H.264, WMV, RV, DivX, Xvid and MKV – no more converting movies
* Samsung Social Hub – no more opening up app after app after app – I just have it all in one inbox – sweet

2. Tablet

I had a chance to play with the iPad for a few weeks now and I have to say I am not impressed – especially since Apple announced the AU pricing for it today and again, Australia gets screwed – all you really get is a big iPod

so what do I want in a Tablet?

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January 13, 2010

My Top 10 gadgets at CES this year

I wish I had the time (and money) to go to CES this year, but thankfully all my favourite tech sites were covering it very well.

So looking at all the new gadgets coming out I thought I share my favourites with you – they are in no particular order

1. The transparent laptop screen – Samsung 14 inch Transparent OLED

2. HP Slate tablet – Apple is meant to do it – MS and HP have done it

3. A.R Drone – a Quadcopter controlled by your iPhone (we mentioned it here already)

4. liquid Image HD snow goggles and underwater goggles – all you need for your own discovery movies

5. Peregrine Glove Game controller

6. LBO Light Touch – have an interactive surface on any surface (we mentioned it here already)

7. Finally some USB 3.0 products – superspeed here we come

8. PlasticLogic Que Pro eBook reader/tablet – very sexy

9. Project Natal – can’t wait to connect this to my Xbox360

10. Zyxio Sensawaft – move your cursor with your breath

something additional – these didn’t quite make it into my top 10, but are still pretty cool

The instant Camareas are back – non digital – Polaroid makes a comeback with the Polaroid Pic 1000

Lenovo bringing out a phone

Panasonic 152 inch 3D TV and wireless HDMI transfer

MSI Dual screen multitouch tablet

July 24, 2009

Things Your Kids May Never Know About

Now that I am a dad I get drawn to different types of topics that never really interested me.

So I came across this one and it made me sad because it’s so true.

Being a geek myself I enjoyed reading about the “good old” days and i made it my mission to at least teach my child about all the great gadgets from the past.

here are my top 10 that i hope our children will remember because we tell them about it.

Inserting a VHS tape into a VCR to watch a movie or to record something
Sending that film away to be processed
The scream of a modem connecting
5- and 3-inch floppies
Screens being just green (or orange) on black
Phone books and Yellow Pages
Waiting several minutes (or even hours!) to download something
Putting film in your camera: 35mm may have some life still, but what about APS or disk?
LEGO just being square blocks of various sizes, with the odd wheel, window or door
Finding out information from an encyclopedia – times before Google and Bing

There are plenty more here

December 1, 2008

Back to Basics: Citrus Clock

Blame it on the erstwhile design journalist in me, but I am a sucker for clocks. This one is a collab between Anna Gram’s Florian Dussopt and Julie Dirard (design), Atelier Chauvet (cabinets) and Anthemis (electronics.)

The Citrus Clock runs like a simple battery, drawing power from the oxidation process. A cut lemon keeps the clock powered for about a week, and according to the team it’s a “pedagogic project because the aim is obviously not to replace our actual clocks, but at least to help people think (or remember) about nature and energy.” The clocks were just featured at the City Eco Lab during St Etienne’s Biennale International Design. Super fun!