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Cell Phone Accessories Imaging Virtual Reality

Shot iPhone accessory takes a shot at virtual reality market

Virtual reality has become one of the hottest new technologies. But at least some of the devices using the technology are costly. Others –- like the AirVR mount that just straps a mobile device to the user’s head –- look even less comfortable and more awkward than the bulkiest of virtual reality headsets.

Shot is an affordable lens attachment for iPhones that, combined with an accompanying app, creates virtual reality videos and photos that can be shared. The attachment easily slides onto the smartphone and is made up of its own two lenses that increase the field of view of the smartphone’s camera.

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Categories
Displays

Cinq makes it a cinch to add second computer screen

Adding a second screen to one’s laptop computer can come in extremely handy, whether working at home, an office or on the road. After all, it cuts down significantly on the need to toggle back and forth between multiple windows on a PC to find necessary information.

patent-claimedCinq is a portable, 13.3-inch HD (1600 x 900) monitor that connects via USB to a laptop or Intel-based tablet such as Microsoft’s Surface Pro. It mounts to the laptop in two steps: the user applies a clear vinyl Lid Rail Skin to the laptop lid, and then attaches the Lid Rail using a clamp.

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Categories
Music Television

Electric Jukebox streaming device delivers tunes from the TV

The modern age has gotten rid of that communal feeling inherent in the jukebox, a cultural relic rarely experienced and as a result underappreciated. Nowadays, music lives on smart devices which can make the act of listening to music a singular one.

The team behind the Electric Jukebox is eager to tap into the spirit of yesteryear with their plug-and-play music streaming device. By requiring only an HDMI-enabled television and broadband connection, Electric Jukebox is hoping to make the idea of accessing absolutely any song at a moment’s notice a reality — no smartphone or laptop necessary.

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Categories
Imaging

Pakpod tripod could become a must-pack accessory for photographers

Cameras keep getting smaller, but most tripods remain as heavy as ever and can’t be used for underwater photography. Pakpod, however, is a versatile tripod that’s been designed to stand on or suspend from just about anything using a variety of stakes. It will even work underwater, and –- at 15.5 ounces –- is lighter than many other tripods on the market.

patent-claimedPakpod was constructed with stainless steel and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, a thermoplastic polymer, and is both waterproof and freeze-proof, according to its Kickstarter campaign. Its quick-lock design is patent-pending. In addition to smartphones, GoPro and other action cameras, Pakpod was designed to also be used with mini-LED lights, iPads, sound recorders and microphones.

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Categories
Automotive Cell Phone Accessories Displays

Hudway offers a simple cheap way to look into the future of driving displays

editors-choiceA head-up display (HUD) can be a handy device in a car, especially when facing low visibility conditions. Such devices provide valuable data for drivers and, because they display information on a transparent screen in front of the windshield, drivers don’t have to look away from the road to see that data. However, most HUDs are expensive, whether they’re purchased built into a luxury car or bought separately as an aftermarket product.

patent-claimedHudway Glass is an affordable alternative –- a car accessory that gets placed on a car dashboard and transforms smartphones into HUDs in conjunction with several mobile applications. Users place their smartphone on the accessory’s cradle with the display facing up. Its attached, transparent optical glass reflects the data received from the accompanying Android and iOS smartphone apps, allowing a driver to see road maps and other needed information just by looking straight ahead where the windshield is.

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Categories
Input

Ultimate Hacking Keyboard makes programmable typing a split decision

These days, there’s a lot of focus on input options for tablets and smartphones, but there’s still an awful lot of typing happening on PCs. In fact, it’s the tool most professionals turn to when people need to do there most intensive data entry.

And for keyboard users such as developers, gamers and  writers, the Ultimate Hacking Keyboard (UHK, it could really use a better name) is a new spin on a long line of curved, so-called “ergonomic” keyboards attempted in the past by Apple and in several iterations by Microsoft. While it looks — save for the phone cord above its number row — like a traditional keyboard when being transported, the halves of the UHK split apart from their magnetic bond to allow exceptional flexibility in the typing angle for the hands and it’s one of the few split keyboards that can be readjusted at any time.

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Categories
Chargers/Batteries

ATOM battery pack charges everything under the sun and then some

One of the biggest issues with the many pieces of technology that make life so much more enjoyable, productive, and fulfilling is their incessant need for electricity. Everyone has experienced that moment where their laptop, phone, or wearable was on the cusp of death, instantly ruining future plans. In this day and age, that just shouldn’t happen.

The team behind the ATOM is on a mission to make sure of that. The ATOM is an small, unassuming black box comprised of a universal power outlet and a battery pack with a rapid charging USB port. The battery pack’s tiny size betrays its monstrous capacity for power — 30,000 mAh to be exact.

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Categories
Wearables

Modoo helps moms to be with dos and don’ts of pregnancy

A wearable pregnancy monitor that would allow mothers-to-be to monitor and record fetal heart rate and movement at any time sounds like a no-brainer.

Modoo does exactly that, and also sets fitness tasks and provides diet advice that its maker says will allow expectant moms and their babies to be healthier. The small, circular wearable device is light and, according to its Indiegogo campaign video, easily sticks to the user’s stomach area. It works in conjunction with an Android and iOS app. Modoo’s maker set a goal to raise $50,000 by Nov. 7. The device is expected to ship in April at $199, but Indiegogo backers can get one early for $129.

There’s a huge potential audience for Modoo. But it remains to be seen how accurate the information it provides will be. It’s also hard to tell from the campaign video how comfortable it will be to wear Modoo all day.

Categories
Input

SOMATO makes keyboard keys rise up, demand to be felt by budding typists

Many educators agree that the influx of new technology in school over the past 10 to 15 years has led to a decrease in the quality of handwriting.

To the team behind SOMATO, this is troubling because it’s indicative of a loss of tactile character recognition — essentially, how cognitively involved people are in the act of typing. To address the declining connection between our physical and mental processes when composing words, keycaps with raised bump structures were developed to be used on any physical QWERTY keyboard.

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Categories
Smartwatches/Bands

This modular smartwatch and band will make you the coolest kid on the Blocks

editors-choiceSmartwatches are a paradox. They extend some of the capabilities of the smartphone by putting notifications and other functionality on the wrist but they also have serious limitations because of their size (including their puny batteries), comfort requirements, and limited input. They require even more functional tradeoffs than smartphones and unfortunately that may include things important to certain buyers

But there will be a far smaller chance of that for owners of the Blocks smartwatch. The “core” of the device includes a sleek round LCD watch face that provides features such as voice input, haptic feedback, low-power Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, notifications and activity tracking. It works with both iOS and Android smartphones.

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