It might be lacking the power laces I’ve dreamed of for years, but Nike’s new Air MAG sneakers are still close enough to the pair Marty donned in 2015 to make me really sad I’ll probably never get my hands on them. Powered by a rechargeable battery pack good for about 5 hours of use, the sneakers light up on the side of the sole, on the heel and even feature an electroluminescent NIKE logo on the tongue strap. They’re about as close as you’re going to get to the pair seen on screen in Back To The Future Part II. That is, if you’re able to outbid others since they’re limited to 1,500 pairs being auctioned off on eBay. But it’s hard to be too disappointed since the proceeds are going to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
And today is special because we move away from laptops, away from monitors and land squarely in the world of digital cameras. It’s a wonderful place we seldom visit. And we’ve arrived at the Sony Alpha NEX-5 station. This camera has been described thusly by one reviewer:
The new alpha NEX-5 is truly a breakthrough and even if you’re not in the market to spend over $600 for a camera, you should play with it at a local store. Once you pick up the NEX-5, you’ll quickly realize you have photography’s future in your hands.
Aside from the standard 18-55mm lens, today’s offering comes with a 16mm F2.8 Prime Lens, an 8GB SD card, and a camera case. And instead of having you pay $899 for this, there’s a $150 rebate, leaving the Alpha NEX-5 at $749.
Seagate has revised and shrunk its GoFlex portable storage down to a stylish new minimum. Now called Goflex Slim, The svelte drive – based on 7mm thick Momentus Thin 320GB – is barely bigger than a regular 9.5mm 2.5-inch notebook drive. Somehow, they’ve managed to maintain the GoFlex option on this newly miniaturized drive. The GoFlex system allows you to change out the connector to switch between USB 2.0, eSATA, USB 3.0, etc. They’ve also upgraded the software that comes pre-loaded onto the drive from Basic to Premium.
If you already have a GoFlex drive, your connector cables will still be compatible. Older model connectors will work but they might look a little bulky compared to this wafer thin drive. This latest model is about as thick as a #2 pencil and should travel well with or without a laptop adding no more size and weight than your average cell phone. The internal hard drive has been upgraded to 7200-rpm which should provide an appreciable increase in access time performance. Check out the detailed performance stats reviewed at Everything USB.
Belkin isn’t a completely unknown electronics brand, I’m sure many of you have heard of them and may even own one of their products. But if they manage to follow through with this brilliantly simple concept for an iPhone case, I think they could easily have a best seller on their hands, and gain some valuable notoriety.
The Elasty, created by Yoori Koo, actually won the Korean Belkin Design Awards, and was inspired by wrapping elastics around your iPhone so you can use it to hold things on the back. The problem with elastics though is that they also block your display, so the Elasty case provides similar functionality in a more usable iPhone shell case. The product shot does a great job at showing how and why the case would be useful, but there are probably an infinitely number of other ways you could use it too.
To enjoy a digitally projected movie at 4K resolutions you have to visit your local cinem’o'plex and deal with hoodrats, sticky floors and annoying commercials before the feature. That is until Sony unleashes their new VPL-VW1000ES 4K digital projector which is specifically designed for home theater use. That’s right, 4K at home, perfect for all of that 4K content none of us have. So the VPL-VW1000ES of course does its own internal upressing of your SD and HD video so it looks slightly fuzzy but overly sharpened.
While the $3,699.99 price tag is a bit high for your average home theater, it’s not unreasonable if you consider yourself a true aficionado. Or, if you’re completely obsessed with 2001: A Space Odyssey and have always wanted an unblinking HAL-like electronic eye watching your every move.
*Update: The $3,699.99 price tag is actually for Sony’s VPL-HW30AES 3D projector introduced earlier this Summer. The price tag for the 4K VPL-VW1000ES has yet to be officially announced.
My parents remember exactly where they were when man first landed on the moon. But as a gadget blogger, my most vivid ‘do you remember where you were when…?’ memory was when the original iPhone was first revealed. Today could be another one of those days though. Nike has apparently invited a select group of journalists to Los Angeles for a super secret event, including the folks from Highsnobiety who posted the following photos of what awaited them at their hotel.
A black box labeled ‘IT’S ABOUT TIME’ with a pair of futuristic Back To The Future Part II inspired sunglasses inside. And two days ago, the following viral video, McFly’s Closet, was uploaded to YouTube by one ‘DocEmmettBrown88′ which shows a room filled with blinking Nike ‘MAG’ sneakers.
So all of the clues, including the fact they patented self-lacing shoes last year, point to Nike finally producing a real pair of shoes as seen in BTTF Pt. II. Complete with a self-lacing mechanism, which their first attempt, the Hyperdunks from a few years ago, were sorely lacking. Of course maybe I’m getting my hopes up too high here, but maybe, just maybe, Nike will come through for all of us BTTF fans this time.
Before anyone gets too excited about the prospect of finally finding a way to easily turn a roman candle into a handheld ‘flaming ball of pain’ launcher, let me dash those dreams. This handheld fireworks projector is actually designed for kids, so safety standards and lawyers pretty much guarantee it’s not going to be as fun as the name implies. Instead, it simply projects images of fireworks, one of eight as selected on the rotating barrel. But it’s not completely boring.
The projector features a pump action handle which ‘launches’ a shell, complete with mortar-like sound effects and a whistling trail sound as it races across the sky… of your imagination. Squeezing the trigger then detonates the shell/projects the selected fireworks image with accompanying booms, crackles and whistles. It’s powered by 3xAA batteries which is probably one of the reasons it only has a projectable range of about 5 feet. Lame? Yes. Far safer than a handheld device that launches actual fireworks? Probably also yes. Available from Hammacher Schlemmer for $39.95.
If you’ve ever felt that scribbling down a quick message for someone on a Post-it note was too cold or impersonal, Native Union’s new high-tech alternative is right up your alley. Instead of leaving just a quick “Call George” you can take advantage of its whopping 256MB of built-in memory and camera to record a video message up to 3 minutes in length. Or, multiple shorter messages. The videos can be ‘enjoyed’ on its 2.4 inch LCD display, and on a set of 3xAAA batteries you should be able to record up to 3 hours of video before it conks out.
Instead of a sticky strip on the back, the Play is magnetic so it can be adhered to fridges, cabinets and far less places than a Post-it note. And since the name of the game is ‘fun’ here, when it’s available in about a month’s time for ~$80 (£49.99) you’ll be able to pick one up in your choice of green, pink, blue, purple, red, white or black.
The Big Big Cursor isn’t your typical touchscreen-friendly stylus. Not only is it big x2, but it’s also available in two versions shaped like a traditional arrow tip or a pointing hand. The stroke (black border) around each cursor is made from conductive foam so it will pretty much work no matter how you hold it, or where you touch your device’s display. And it’s even magnetic so you can store it on a fridge, filing cabinet or on the device itself. They’re available here for$12.99 each, with free worldwide shipping.
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