It was originally shown off at CES in private demos from what I can tell, but GEAR4, maker of the iPhone UnityRemote, has teamed up with MIDI accessory maker Novation to produce the Pocketloops keyboard for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The keyboard works in conjunction with a free app (and by ‘free’ I of course mean the cost is rolled into the Pocketloops’ $69.99 price tag) that allows aspiring Daft Punks and Chemical Brothers to finally create their own bleep bloop masterpieces without needing any musical knowledge whatsoever, save being able to keep a beat.
Users can layer up to 16 different loops at one time taken from the app’s library of sound effects, complete with mixing capabilities and the ability to add rudimentary filters. It hasn’t popped up on the GEAR4 website just yet, nor has the Pocketloops app made an appearance in the app store, so availability is still TBD.
It seems the people of Japan are far more conscientious about their scalps and haircare than I am, because the thought of holding a webcam against my head to see what’s really going on up there has never occurred to me. Also the fact that my only webcam is embedded above the display on my laptop makes for a few logistical issues when it comes to analyzing my follicles. Not any more though, because a company called Spec Computer has created the Scaloupe, which is a USB webcam with a macro lens and a miniature white LED-illuminated ‘softbox’ that lets you get up close and personal with whatever scalp conditions you’re looking for.
It lets you examine the top of your head via a live feed displayed on your PC, and if you’re particularly proud or worried about a certain spot up there, you can snap a photo for further analysis. However, since the Scaloupe is not a medical instrument it’s advised against using it for official self-diagnosis. Available now for ~$96 (¥7,980) presumably only in Japan.
CTA Digital, probably best known ’round these parts for their bowling ball, inflatable go-kart and strap-on nylon wings Wii accessories, have decided that they’re not content to just fill your living room with pointless gaming crap. No, now they’ve set their sites on ensuring your kids wake up in the middle of the night screaming after a puppet-induced nightmare.
I’m sure they had the best of intentions when they introduced this Padded Puppet Pouch designed to safely store a Nintendo DS in its gaping jaws, but good intentions do not stop this thing from looking totally unsettling. Trying to put a positive spin on it though, I guess it could be an effective tool for treating a gaming addiction if your little ones spend too much time with a DS in their hands. I guarantee once this enters your home they’ll be spending their afternoons building treehouses, riding bikes and doing anything they can to avoid coming back inside the house. Available now from Amazon for just $10.
While the ninja-shaped water-resistant silicone jacket means that this 4GB USB flash drive from the Bone Collection should be safe from everyday wear and tear, those who are particularly prudent might have a hard time accessing the USB port since it’s basically sticking out of the ninja’s posterior. And I mean look at him when he’s attached to a laptop’s USB port. It doesn’t look like it’s files he’s offloading…
Anyways, on the plus side there’s also a set of magnets in the ninja’s feet that let him scale filing cabinets and fridges, and he’s available from Cyberguys, in black or red, for $24.99.
I’m a sucker for unique furniture, so it’s not surprising that Chung-Tang Ho’s Push and Store Cabinet caught my eye. With just a cursory glance it looks like a curvy retro chest of drawers, but in lieu of drawers, doors or even shelves, it’s filled with a grid of thin wooden shafts that are all free to slide against each other. So to store a given item all you need to do is push it into the grid.
The downside of course is that you won’t be able to sit the Push and Store Cabinet against a wall, or even have anything behind it since the wooden shafts that have been displaced need someplace to go. And it’s only available as a limited edition piece from Droog, which roughly translates to you probably can’t afford it.
For a while a lot of people thought that Sony had kind of given up on the PSP as a gaming platform, and were going to simply roll it into one of their Android-powered smartphones in the form of a PSP phone. Well thankfully the surprise reveal of their NGP(aka the PSP2) put those rumors to rest, but it was clear that Sony still had something in development, and it turns out that something is called the Xperia Play.
As Android smartphones go it’s pretty robust, with a 854×480 pixel capacitive multi-touch TFT LCD display, 5 1/2 hours of gaming time on a single charge, a 5.1MP flash assisted digital camera and a 1 GHz Scorpion ARMv7 CPU powering the lot. And in lieu of a physical keyboard the Xperia Play’s sliding design reveals a ‘PlayStation Certified’ controller with digital and presumably touch-sensitive analog controls. At launch, which is slated to be on Verizon in the early Spring, Sony is promising some 50 available titles including a handful shipping with the phone, but don’t expect anything too amazing since the popular PlayStation One title they were boasting about turned out to be Crash Bandicoot. (Maybe that will sound more exciting if you say it to yourself like Riiiiiiiiidge Raaaaaaaacer!!!)
As dedicated gaming phones go it looks like it sits near the top of the heap, but that’s not saying much when the only thing underneath you is a mountain of unsold Nokia N-Gages.
There have been versions of Battleship dating back to the late ’80s that incorporate electronic elements like sound effects and a light-up board. But at this year’s Toy Fair Hasbro revealed the latest incarnation of their naval warfare game, now known as Battleship Live. It’s kind of a hybrid between a video game and a board game, and features a central tower with an infra-red camera hidden inside that’s able to automatically detect where all of the ships (and other pieces like cannons and spy planes now) are on the board. It can even detect the position of your hands since by simply touching certain parts of the board you can make and confirm various commands.
Battleship Live is slated to be available sometime in the Fall, most likely just in time for the holiday spending spree, and will retail for around $49.99.
Autotuning has to be one of the biggest changes to come to music in the last decade or so. Sure, technically speaking, artists have been autotuning their voice for many years. However, it was originally designed to help perfect the pitch of your voice, whereas these days you hear something vastly different from the original vocals. This is sometimes referred to as the T-Pain effect, since he is rather noteable for using the technique. Honestly, the guys over at Autotune the News are the only ones I can stand to listen to who use it.
Last year brought us the I Am T-Pain App for the iPhone, which let you autotune your voice with your phone. Well now you don’t even need a fancy phone to do it. Just get yourself an I Am T-Pain Mic from Jakks Pacific when they come out for $40 this fall. It will record your voice, and play it back autotuned. You can even download the vocals to your computer for further entertainment. I’m still trying to figure out whether or not this will be used better when you’re sober or drunk. Probably the latter.
A can of pop or a candy bar might give you an energy boost for a couple of minutes, but the makers of the RoboPutt vending machine feel your money could be better spent, particularly if you’re an avid golfer with a terrible putting game. Designed to be installed in pro shops or somewhere near a golf course, the RoboPutt machine provides 5 minutes of putting training and instruction for a mere $5.
Users bring their own putter, since it helps to use a club you’re already comfortable with, and in the process of creating their user account they attach a small sensor to it and record the mechanics of their current putting swing. Once satisfied, that information is uploaded to the RoboPutt machine and is stored with their ID for future comparisons. Each user is also provided with a swipe card so their information is available on any RoboPutt machine around the world. For the actual putting lessons they then attach their putter to a mechanical arm which goes through the motions of a proper putting swing so that a user can build up the appropriate muscle memory over time.
There are options to simply go through the motions of the swing you recorded to reinforce what you already feel is an ideal swing (if you’re a professional golfer for example) or to have the RoboPutt machine take into account and correct the swing you recorded to improve your game. And after that more advanced lessons are also available to help you master any kind of putting scenario.
Related Tags: Instruments, iPhone
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