By Evan Ackerman

There are a variety of self contained GPS tracking solutions out there, but most of them seem to assume that you want to know where something is almost all the time, and require you to pay a monthly subscription fee for that service. The fact is, though, that most of the time, you know exactly where your stuff/kids/pets are. It’s that every once in a while panic attack that makes having a GPS tracker worthwhile.

The XACT TRAX is just like any other GPS tracking device, with a GPS receiver and a cellular antenna to call home with coordinates, plus the ability to set “fences” around areas and a panic button. The primary difference to the TRAX is that it doesn’t do realtime monitoring, and you don’t have to pay a subscription. Instead, when you want to know where the TRAX is, you just ask it (via the internet or phone), and it’ll tell you and charge you $1. If you have > 15 freak outs about losing stuff per month, then maybe this isn’t for you, but if that’s the case you probably have other things to worry about. If, on the other hand, you’re just worried about things occasionally getting lost or stolen, $1 is not that much to ask for a precise location.

The XACT TRAX will be available by the end of Q1 for $249.99.

[ Xact ]

By Evan Ackerman

Anyone want to count the number of TVs in that Samsung display? They look all blurry to me, but that’s probably due to a combination of lack of sleep, electronics overload, and cheap booze. $1 beers FTW! Anyway, it’s a lot of TVs. Last year it was all about size, this year it’s apparently all about quantity… All the big names have about a hundred vaguely different TVs on display, and Samsung was certainly no exception.

Dynamic 3D TV. A chip inside this TV is able to take 2D high def video streams (like from an Xbox 360), analyze them for relative perspective and motion, and then modify the video to give it a faux-3D effect, all in real time. Basically, it turns everything 3D. Of course, there is no 3D data contained within the 2D stream, so the TV is basically making it all up. I tried it out; there are some disconcertingly weird things going on if you look closely, but overall, it’s quite a convincing effect, at least with something as straightforward as a racing game. I bet the quality of the effect degrades quickly in complex virtual environments. And, you have to wear special glasses. Blech. But a very cool feature nonetheless. No production plans at present.

OLED digital picture frame. Gorgeous, as all OLED displays are. No production plans.

A prototype Papyrus e-diary, part of Samsung’s plan to “eliminate paper,” a rep told me. On display right next to their new lineup of printers. No production plans.

[ Samsung ]

By Evan Ackerman

Well, okay, maybe it’s not literally zero steps. You do have to plug something in and go to a website. But in practically zero steps, you can turn any USB hard drive into a networked hard drive that’s accessible from absolutely anywhere, without going through all of the complicated and nausea inducing networking drama that’s usually required to do something like that.

Pogoplug is a piece of hardware that looks like one of those A/C adapters we all hate because they’re huge and they take up a bunch of outlets. On the bottom, it’s got a USB port, and an ethernet port. You attach your USB HD to the Pogoplug, and the Pogoplug to your router. Then you go to the Pogoplug website, set up an account, and you’re done. You now have access to your drive just like it was physically plugged into your computer, except it works like that from anywhere you have internet (it just might be a little slower). You can even get at your files via an iPhone app.

I got a demo of the Pogoplug at CES yesterday, and it seems to work exactly as advertised. There was a drive showing up on the demo computer as local network storage, except that the physical location of the drive was in Arkansas or something. It’s completely, impressively transparent. The file browsers online and on the iPhone are simple to use, and I’m told the security is excellent. Oh, and you can even hook up multiple USB drives to one Pogoplug using a USB hub.

Pogoplug is on pre-order at the moment for $79, and even though Pogoplug is also a service, there’s no subscription fee. Look for it in March of this year.

[ Pogoplug ]

By Evan Ackerman

3D printers are not quite home appliances yet, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have a use for them. Sometimes, objects you want simply don’t exist. Shapeways does the expensive part for you, taking your design and printing it out in 3D and mailing it to your door. They print in durable plastic which can be solid or flexible, or even transparent, and the printing resolution of 1/10 of a millimeter allows you to print things like functional gears and other moving or interlocking parts. Shapeways prices designs by the volume of material used… The candle holder in the picture above, for example, costs $80.

Of course, with the expensive part (the printing) taken care of, we’re still left with the difficult part: making a 3D design. Shapeways accepts all kinds of file formats if you already know what you’re doing with that, but if you don’t, they have an online 3D design creator that makes it easy (as long as you stick to the templates, anyway). And once you get good at it, Shapeways will even sell your designs on their online store.

After the jump, I’ve posted a couple YouTube videos showing how the design and printing processes actually work. Read the rest of this entry »

By Evan Ackerman

iRiver’s Wave Home is, I guess, primarily a VoIP console. But it’s got a touchscreen, it’s got internet, it’s got an OS that supports a variety of widgets… Really, it’s more of a specialized laptop than a VoIP phone. The touchscreen is 7″ and 800 x 480, and there’s a 1.3 mpx tiltable camera for video conferencing, stereo speakers, 1 gig of SD expandable flash memory, and a wireless remote/handset that lives in a slot in the back.

I played with the Wave Home for a while, and the user interface is pretty slick. In addition to VoIP and videoconferencing, you’ve got SMS/MMS, contacts, a diary, access to widgets, a web browser, location aware information like traffic and weather, internet radio, and of course all of your multimedia.

There isn’t any specific pricing or release dates, but it’ll probably be available in late summer at a target price of less than $400, possibly as a subsidized accessory when you subscribe to a plan from a VoIP provider.

By Luke Anderson

Over the last year or so, I’ve seen a lot of solar chargers hit the market. I’ve even started seeing a few wind chargers crop up as well, but how many chargers take advantage of both forms of power collection? Well now there is at least one out there, and it’s called the Kinesis K2.

Whether you’re sitting in your office, or taking a nice bike ride, you can take advantage of your natural resources to charge your phone (or other small gadget). About one hour of good sunlight is enough juice to give your phone a 30-minute charge. The manufacturer suggests that when the device is fully charged it will have enough energy to recharge the average cell phone roughly 5 times. There’s no word on how much steady wind it takes to charge it up. You can expect this to fetch around $100 when it goes on sale.

[ Kinesis ]VIA [ Dvice ]

By Luke Anderson

When you go to a big show like CES you tend to see a lot of really cool products. Then you come upon those that just make you cringe. You wonder whether or not the people on the other side of the table are crazy, since they are showing off something absurd. Case in point: The Cell Mate.

Now I’m not at the show myself, so maybe these things seem better in person, but just looking at the pictures is enough. I’m all for handsfree devices, but this thing is not the way to go about it. If you’re having serious issues with reception a Bluetooth headset, you need to buy a new one. Please, don’t waste your money on this thing, that is unless you actually get some sort of enjoyment from complete strangers (not to mention friends and family) laughing at you.

[ Cell-Mate ] VIA [ GearLog ]

By Evan Ackerman

Gadzooks! It’s something not made out of brushed metal or piano black plastic! The Magno radio hails from Indonesia, where it’s made from sustainably harvested hardwoods by pretty much an entire village of native Indonesians. Designed by Singgih Kartono, the big version costs $250 and the smaller one is $200. Seems like a lot to pay for something that grows on trees, but you can feel warm and fuzzy and green inside and that’ll make up for the additional cost. …Right?

[ Areaware ]

By Evan Ackerman

Here’s the coolest stuff from the Toshiba booth at CES. There’s plenty more cool stuff after the jump, and I’ve saved the best (IMO) for last.

Now this is a pico projector. It’s a prototype (can’t tell if it was functional or not), but Toshiba is shooting for 2010 in this form factor.

Toshiba media server. It’s a prototype and it may not even be functional, but it’s got cool LEDs and it’s a dodecahedron!

Lots more, click on through. Read the rest of this entry »