While they might inspire imaginations and creativity, LEGO blocks are not known for being particularly, um, ergonomic. If you thought those sharp corners were a nightmare to step on, imagine having them crammed in your pocket. Because that’s exactly the scenario you’ll be dealing with if you were to customize your iPhone 4 using this LEGO-compatible studded case. Just like with PENTAX’s questionable Optio NB1000.
On the other hand, the case would let you build and use one hell of an iPhone dock. Imagine watching Pirates of the Caribbean with this thing strapped to the deck of the Black Seas Barracuda! Available in black, white and a clear version not pictured for just $19.99 each.
Wandering around the iPod/iPhone/iPad accessory neighborhood of CES I came across this chunky looking touchscreen-friendly stylus that caught me eye. It reminded me of the thick crayons and fat Crayola markers I use to use in grade school, but since it’s made of brushed aluminum I doubt it would pass the ‘kid-friendly’ test these days. But from time to time I’ve pondered taking the iPad for a spin with a stylus, and the soft rubber tip of the AluPen and its overall design put it at the top of my list for possible contenders. It’s also available in black, blue, gold, green and red, for $24.95.
We first brought you news about Sphero around a month before CES 2011 was set to begin, and it immediately became one of the things I was most excited about seeing at the show. And given the amount of time I spent playing with their white plastic ball at their booth, suffice to say it didn’t disappoint.
The most common question raised by other attendees while I loitered around the Orbotix booth was “why?” and it’s exactly that question that has me most excited about Sphero. At the moment most people see it as nothing more than an RC toy, but it’s the endless possibilites of what it can also be that I think will be its ‘killer app’. Just like how every day a new app comes along that takes advantage of the iPhone’s capabilities in a unique and interesting way. More of my thoughts and hands-on impressions of Sphero after the jump.
Evan Ackerman, tech-blogger extraordinaire and Senior Editor of BotJunkie, was the first person in the United States to don Cyberdyne’s ‘Hybrid Assistive Limb’ or ‘HAL’ robotic exoskeleton suit. Or more specifically, just the pants. Using four sensors attached to his waist and his thighs the suit reads the signals being sent to Evan’s legs when he wants to walk, but its electronic muscles end up doing all the work for him. The suit is designed to help those who are unable to walk on their own, and as a result has 4 different strength levels. Because Evan is still able to walk they left it at level 1, but according to him it was still remarkably powerful even at the lowest setting.
So based on how my legs and feet feel right now after a week roaming the CES show floors, I think I’ll be adding a set of these to my blogging kit for next year.
While its current aesthetics leave something to be desired, Casio is definitely on to something with their prototype Bluetooth Low Energy watch designed to communicate with smartphones. It’s not the first watch on the market designed with such functionality, but its BLE technology means that on a single CR2032 cell button battery you’ll get about 2 years of life, assuming it’s communicating with your phone ~12 hours a day. Other wrist-worn devices, while sporting lovely full color LCD displays, require you to charge them on a weekly basis which is simply annoying.
Of course functionality is a bit limited as a result, but I think the watch strikes a good balance between battery life and capabilities. A scrolling dot-matrix LCD display provides information on who’s calling, who txt’d or who emailed, and the watch can control or silence alarms and notifications on a smartphone in your pocket by simply tapping its face. There’s even a locator and/or security function that can let you know if your phone has been left behind, or simply help you find it by sounding an alarm.
However, as you can see the prototype being demo’d at Casio’s booth was communicating with an Android-based phone since the current limitations with the iPhone and Bluetooth connectivity when it comes to third-party apps once again means that Apple’s offerings might not be able to play nice with these devices that Casio is hoping to get to the market sometime in 2011.
As a tech blogger I keep an open mind about new gadgets, but at the same time, I still have my favorites. And when it comes to USB flash drives, for the past few years I’ve only been using Victorinox’s (aka the people who made the original Swiss army knife) offerings for my important stuff. At CES this year the company introduced a handful of new models including these Slim & Slim Duo drives which are lacking the traditional knife blade so that they’re safe to bring on a plane when traveling. In fact I’ve yet to have agents even bat an eye at them when passing through airport security.
Available in 32GB size capacities, or 64GB with the Duo which simply doubles the number of flash drives, the Slims are not only some of the largest compact flash drives available, but also some of the fastest. What I like most though is that Victorinox doesn’t skimp on the components. Even the 32GB model is one of the fastest flash drives I’ve ever used when it comes to writing data. And the fact that they’re also waterproof and shock-resistant makes them a durable travel companion. But would you expect any less from the people behind the Swiss army knife? The Slims even come in a choice of 5 different colored housings including green, blue, orange, pink and silver. Pricing and availability TBA.
As they pointed out to me when I stopped by their booth at CES on the weekend, Mimoco’s MIMOBOT flash drives are a subtle way to express your real self at work, particularly if you happen to be a geek stuck in a world of suits and ties. To date the company’s biggest franchise has been their Star Wars themed USB flash drives, but at CES they announced their latest licensing agreement which now brings characters from the DC Comics world into their fold.
First up is a limited edition 5,000 piece run of a vintage 1939-era Batman to be followed by other characters come February including a more recent Batman, Robin, The Joker and Catwoman. And further down the line we’ll be seeing characters from other DC Comics’ franchises get the flash drive treatment like the Green Lantern, Superman and The Flash. And as with previous versions, the drives range in size from 2GB to 16GB and include pre-loaded character specific content like wallpapers and screensavers.
Thermaltake is a very well-known computer hardware company, and although they are most commonly recognized for their computer tower cases, they also have their own line of gaming peripherals for the PC. The company just recently rolled out these new additions to their hardware resume, and we were lucky enough to get a few pieces of this equipment in for review. The first up – the Thermaltake Black Gaming mouse. Let’s see how it performed.
Here’s a really cool idea. Let’s say you want to give someone an item, but you really want to make them work for it. There are many ways you could do it, but few as interesting as this DIY reverse-geocaching briefcase. What does it do? Well it can be programmed with specific coordinates, and will only open with the briefcase is actually in the listed spot.
The case uses an Arduino, GPS sensor and some cool-looking nixie tubes to pull off this feat. Once the location has been programmed, it will use the GPS sensor, then display the distance to the location on the tubes. Once you’ve gotten to the spot, a motor will release the latch holding it closed. Expect to see something like this in the next James Bond movie, only with a bomb as the contents.
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