There are a huge number of available applications for smartphone users who also like to ride bikes. The apps can do things such as track their ride history, route, and even keep up with their cycling cadence and performance. Many of these people end up running bicycling specific applications as well as listening to music at the same time. What that means is battery life for a mobile device is greatly impacted.

A new project has turned up on Kickstarter called the Siva Cycle Atom that is a small power generator that you connect to any bicycle to keep your gadgets charged on a long bike ride. The project is currently seeking $85,000 and has raised over $52,000 with 28 days to go. The Atom uses what the developers call top-of-the-line magnetic rotors, powerful lithium-ion batteries, and will be built in the United States.

The device allows the power generating unit to directly charge your smartphone or other gadget and it comes with a removable battery pack as well. The designers constructed the Atom to output USB compatible 5 V at up to 500mA. The removable battery pack holds 1300 mAh of power. The device generates different amounts of electricity depending on how quickly you ride. At 3 mph, the power output is 0.75 Watts. At 10 mph, the device puts out 3 W of power and at 15 mph the power output is 4.5 W, which is the maximum output. If you want one of the Atom devices, a pledge of $95 will get you a unit by November of 2013.

While that 19% seems a bit grim for Apple’s iWatch, a survey done in January 2010 suggested that only 18% of consumers would purchase Apple’s iPad, which ended up selling 300,000 units on its first day, 1 million units within a month, and 3 million units within 80 days. It is currently the most popular tablet in the market, with over 5 variations available and with over 100 million units sold so far.

An analyst from Citigroup believes that the iWatch can generate $6 billion in revenue for Apple. He says that the watch market is worth $60 billion at the moment, and Apple should be able to grab at least 10% of the market with its smartwatch. It is speculated that Apple is planning on launching the iWatch by the end of this year, and it is likely the game-changing gadget Tim Cook was hinting at that will revitalize Apple’s stock value.

Many competitors are already considering launching an iWatch competitor. Samsung has confirmed that it is working on a smartwatch of its own, and LG is rumored to be doing the same. Even Microsoft plans on joining the game, however, it should consider holding off considering its Windows Phone 8 platform, and Surface tablets have yet to gain enough popularity in the market to call for a smartwatch. We’re about to witness a smartwatch war coming up soon, but Apple and Samsung, like in the smartphone wars, may be the only real competitors.

[via Apple Insider]

A project has turned up on Kickstarter that lets you make your drinks nice and cold without adding any additional water to change the taste. The project is called Pucs and they are simple little devices made of solid stainless steel. The idea is that you take the Pucs and place them into your freezer along with the little wooden holder.

Once those Pucs are nice and cold, you can then pull one out and drop it into your drink. The people behind the project say that the way the solid little chunks of stainless steel work one will add a little chill to your drink while adding additional pucs will drop the temperature of your drink even further allowing you to custom tune the temperature.

Another interesting use for these objects is in hot beverages. You don’t have to put these in the freezer to absorb heat from hot beverages such as coffee. You can drop one into a cup of coffee that’s too hot to absorb some of the heat allowing you to get your caffeine fix more quickly. The Pucs are machined from solid 304 stainless steel and are 100% inert. They are unable to change the flavor of your drink and will not absorb smells or flavors from the freezer. They’re designed to be cleaned with soap and water or in the dishwasher. A pledge of $35 more will get you six Pucs and a maple case to place them in. The project was seeking $2500 and has raised almost $14,000 so far with 44 days to go.

[via Kickstarter]

The last time we talked about the little device it had raised a little bit over $80,000 and had another 18 days to go. The campaign now has only 48 hours left and will fund on Saturday, 13 April. So far, the project has raised $131,011. That means it raised enough money to get one of the stretch goals added to encourage additional pledges.

At $100,000, the people behind the Breathometer project promised to add what they call a safety net. That safety net creates a one-click calling feature for friends and local taxi services. I can see that being useful if someone is too intoxicated to work the numbers on their smartphone.

With a couple days left in the program, there is a chance he could reach the $150,000 level, which will add four additional colors to the mix. At $200,000, the developers of the project promised to add a feature to help stop drunk texting. You can still pledge $100 and get your own Breathometer by July 2013. If you’re in no hurry, a pledge of $20 will get you one devices by January 2014. The project was originally seeking $25,000.

[via Indiegogo]

The air purifier is able to clean the air around your desk of dirt and odors. The purifier has a two-speeds and stacked filter elements to clean the air as the air is pulled through the purifier. The filter set up has six layers total and is capable of trapping particles in the air as small as 0.3 µm.

That is an impressively small particle size and the device could go a long way towards improving the air quality in your office or cubicle. The purifier also features an integrated ionizer to help capture dirt and other allergens. Another feature inside the device designed specifically for killing bacteria and germs is an integrated ultraviolet light.

Hospitals all around the world use ultraviolet light to kill airborne bacteria and germs so as strange as using UV light sounds, it is a proven method. The USB purifier sells for $65, so the device isn’t exactly cheap. You could probably go down to your local Walmart for Target store and pick up a plug-in air purifier that would do much better job, and do it quicker.

[via EverythingUSB]

Without getting into whether or not this project will ship as expected, we can say that as of today it has almost 700 backers with a total pledged of $36,177 towards a goal of $75,000. Before we get to the Keyport Slide 2.0, lets begin with this, the Keyport Slide is a little gadget that consolidates your keys and other gadgets. Some of the other items include a bottle opener, flash light and even USB flash drive with up to 32GB of storage. Each Keyport can hold up to six items in total. Aside from consolidating keys and other little gadgets, the Keyport Slide has a nice recovery program — just in case you ever lose it.

Moving forward the Keyport Slide 2.0 will also have an option to add a pen. More important though, the Keyport Slide 2.0 is said to have been redesigned to be lighter, stronger, more customizable and more affordable. The customization will deal with colors as well as logo plates. According to details coming from the Kickstarter page, the funds will be used to “accelerate the production of 2.0.”

The pledge levels vary depending on what you need and/or are looking for. Perhaps the one most appealing would be the Keyport Slide 2.0 Tech Bundle (for $89) which give a Slide 2.0 in black, white or red along with a button set, flash light, 8GB flash drive and 4 standard key blades. Basically, enough to get started. You can always purchase extras from the Keyport website. Alternatively, there is an option for current Keyport owners — a $33 pledge level that will give you a Slide 2.0 and set of buttons.

[via Kickstarter]

The motor is the handiwork of forty engineers, so the invite claims, and runs at sixteen bars of pressure and with six of Dyson’s own Helmholtz silencers. Judging by the exploded diagram it’s a reasonably compact assembly, too, all coming together into a donut of sorts, though it’s tough to judge scale.

Whispers to the Australian site claim the new products will be “primarily commercial” rather than domestic, in their focus, so think more along the lines of Airblade dryers than Dyson’s cyclonic vacuum cleaners. Dyson has already flirted with heating and cooling with its “bladeless” fans, but this new super-quiet motor might find its way into a more serious air conditioner, perhaps, or even a robotic vacuum cleaner.

Dyson’s Australian event is on February 19, though we’re guessing that it has nothing to do with HTC’s presumed M7 launch which is also scheduled for the same day. Still, the thought of a new HTC phone with a weather app that could not only tell your the forecast but forcibly blow the clouds out of the sky does have its appeal.

[via Guardian and via Develop3D]

The update comes by way of statements made to The Next Web by an Apple spokesperson. According to the spokesperson, this is a refresh of some of the internals of the product, not a full model refresh and it doesn’t bring any physical changes. The spokesperson said that sometimes Apple makes component changes that require an updated model number for FCC approval.

The spokesperson also said these component changes wouldn’t affect any product features. The updated device will also be the same dimensions even though previous FCC documents suggested a smaller device. Apple says that the updated Apple TV with the new model number will operate in the same manner as the previous device.

The component change that required the recertification by the FCC is reportedly the use of the Apple A5x processor and the Broadcom BCM4334 wireless chip. Both of those products are used in other Apple gadgets. Other than having new hardware inside, performance and features are exactly the same as previous models.

[via The Next Web]

Your 100 bucks will get you an interesting device that is approximately the size of a large flash drive. The gadget is designed to plug into your vehicle’s USB port allowing you to access all sorts of content including music, podcasts, and audio books. The device has built-in Wi-Fi and when you park in the driveway, it’s designed to automatically sync with cloud storage services such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, and other services.

The device will sync with those accounts and automatically transfer any new audio content to its own internal storage. The device has 4 GB of internal flash memory but only 2 GB of that is available for storing audio content. The little gadget has 1 GB of RAM and a microSD card slot to expand storage when you need to. Inside the box is also an Arm Cortex A8 processor operating at up to 1 GHz.

Users can choose specific audio content they want to store on the device and the Automatica also has a web service that allows you to manage the audio files stored on the device. If your smartphone can act as a Wi-Fi hotspot, Automatica can add new content anywhere you can get a mobile signal. The device also has an available specific car power supply kit since most cars don’t provide power over USB port.

[via automatica]

The device is actually a ballpoint pen but it also has an integrated camera that can scan documents. Inside the top of the pen is a high-precision autofocus lens and a five-megapixel sensor. Using the scanner camera you can scan letters, recipes, or any other document.

The scanning is actually more like simply taking a picture of a document in 2048 x 1536 resolution. When the shutter button is pressed halfway down, the pen will throw the red outline around what you’re trying to take an image of that you see in the photograph above. That allows you to be sure that you are getting the entire document you want to scan.

The pen has 1 GB of storage promising to hold up to 1000 scanned pictures in JPEG format. The pen can also be used to capture one-minute voice memos using an integrated microphone. Power for the internal camera comes from a USB cable and the pen can capture up to 300 images after one hour of charging. The Pen Sized Scanner is available now for $124.95.

[via Hammacher]

This bracelet offers more functionality than some of the products on the market with the ability to track specific exercises, reps, sets, heart rate, calories burned, and more. The bracelet also has gesture recognition technology that allows it to detect what exercise you’re performing and how your body is responding. The bracelet knows if you are using an elliptical machine, running, swimming, or doing squats.

The device can identify and track over 100 different activities and correlate activities with information about your body such as heart rate and oxygen saturation in the blood. The bracelet is constructed of plastic elastomers and stainless steel. The electronics are waterproof and accessories are available to customize the color.

The bracelet communicates with a smartphone via Bluetooth. The sensor can also be worn on your shoe if you don’t like things on your wrists. The bracelet is micro-adjustable allowing for a comfortable fit no matter what size your wrist is. The Amiigo is on Indiegogo right now and a pledge of $99 will get you one of the devices when they ship this June. The project was seeking $90,000 and has raised $196,443 with 35 days to go.

[via Indiegogo]

Withings is the maker of the interesting Internet connected scale for adults that will share your weight with social networking sites if you want it to. The company has just launched a new Internet connected scale and the United States specifically made for children. The scale is called the Withings Smart Kid Scale and the company says that it can help parents keep kids interested in maintaining a healthy weight from a young age.

The scale has integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity allowing it to connect with your smart phone and an app called the Withings Baby Companion application. The app allows parents to track the history of the child’s weight readings allowing them to share readings with doctors and family. The child’s scale has a weight range of zero through 55 pounds.

The scale accuracy is within 10 g. The scale also features a large graphical display with 120 x 58 pixel resolution and power comes from for AAA batteries. The scale is designed to be used for children from infancy up to eight years old. The scale also allows parents to track height in addition to weight and the scale ships with a folding, interlocking baby basket for infants. The scale is available now for $179.95.

[via Withings]

The pulse oximeter is able to determine, without having to draw blood, exactly how much oxygen is dissolved in the blood. A company called Massimo has announced a new gadget for people who need to keep track of their blood oxygen levels that works in conjunction with the iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch called the iSpo2. It requires a 30-pin connector.

That last caveat means that this device will not work with the iPhone 5 natively. It’s unclear whether the accessory will work using the Apple adapter for 30-pin to the new port. The hardware accessory plugs into the Apple gadget and works in conjunction with an app that is available as a free download.

The hardware accessory has a sensor that you slip over your finger and results from the reading are displayed on the iPhone screen. In addition to showing the oxygen saturation, the device will also show the heart rate. The device is available right now on Amazon.com for $249. The app can also export readings to a text file for use in other programs and to share with doctors. The hardware accessory gets its power from the iPhone and needs no external power source.

While I can understand needing to keep your backside toasty and warm during the cold winter months, some products Thanko offers are quite beyond my understanding. Having eight-year-old daughter who hates combing her hair, I’m quite familiar with morning crazy hair so perhaps this gadget does make a little sense. What you see here is a hairbrush that plugs into the USB port to charge an internal battery.

Once the battery is charged, you can fill a tiny little 15 mL container with water. The brush will automatically spray a fine mist allowing you to comb your hair while the brush sprays it with water. This might be the perfect thing for younger kids who have a hard time working a pump top bottle of detangler.

I would totally fill that little plastic container with detangler rather than water instead of fighting my daughter to let us spray her hair. The brush costs ¥6379, which works out to about $78. That makes this a very expensive hairbrush.

[via EverythingUSB]

The device is called the Misfit Shine, and it is an all-metal disc that is small and very easy to use. In addition to tracking your walking or running exercise; the device is also water resistant so you can track cycling and swimming as well. The disc is only slightly larger than a quarter allowing it to be worn just about anywhere.

Users can tap the device to turn on lights around its edge to give you an easy visual representation of how active you have been during the day. The device is designed to sync with your smart phone, such as the iPhone, using no wires and no complicated Bluetooth pairing procedures. The paring process only requires you to lay the Shine on your iPhone.

Another cool feature of the Shine is that several mounting options are available, including a bracelet and a clip to secure it on the clothing. The Shine disc is 27.5 mm in diameter and 3.3 mm thick. It gets power from a coin cell battery good for six months and weighs under 10 g. It works with any smart phone running Android 4.0 and up or iOS5 and up. This project was seeking $100,000 and has raised over $117,000 with 32 days to go. The cheapest pledge that will get you a Misfit Shine is $79. Shipping is estimated for March of 2013.

The video showed Walmart backroom employees unpacking a crate of iPads and throwing the tablets around like a football. One of the boxes, apparently having an iPad inside, was spiked to the ground like a football after a touchdown on the video. I’m not sure I’ll ever understand why people post videos of themselves doing stupid and illegal things to the Internet.

After the video was posted to Reddit, Walmart confirmed that the video was, in fact, real. A Walmart spokesperson also noted that it hadn’t received any returns on the merchandise in question. The person who submitted the video to Reddit says that the employees in the video have now been fired.

However, none of the people in the video have been prosecuted. The video was originally posted in August. Be warned that there is some adult language in the video below if you watch it, it is NSFW. There’s no indication of which Walmart store this video was filmed at.

“We’ve seen the video of several night-shift associates destroying merchandise in the back of one of our stores in August and, as anyone can image, it made us wince. We are also embarrassed,” said a Walmart spokesperson in a statement provided to Cnet’s Chris Matyszczyk.

“Since this unfortunate incident, we haven’t received any returns of this merchandise. We stand behind our merchandise, and our associates work very hard to take proper care and handling of the products we put on our shelves,” the spokesperson added.

[via PC Mag]

The system promises enough range to work even in a large 3000 square-foot home. The transmitter has four buttons that you can label to correspond to the specific devices you tend to lose. When you need to find one of those devices, you press the button associated to it and seconds after you press the button the receiver on your lost device begins to alarm.

The manufacturer says that the signal can be transmitted through walls and allows you to find your lost devices, even if they’re in another room. This thing sounds like a modernized version of the key chain my mother had when I was growing up that set off an alarm when you clapped or whistled.

The Gadget Hound is on Indiegogo seeking funding now. A pledge of $99 will get you the standard version featuring for receivers while $129 will get you the deluxe version with six receivers. The project is seeking $60,000 and has 117 days to go. So far, only $603 has been raised.

The starter box – containing three bulbs and the base station – is priced at $199/£179, while individual bulbs are priced at $59/£49. That might seem expensive on the face of it (though Philips has high-end white LED bulbs in its range that are $50-60 alone) but, in comparison with the LivingColors lamps which come in with an RRP of £159 apiece, it starts to look more reasonable. If you’ve already bought any LivingColors models, incidentally, you’ll be able to use them with the hue system too (with one or two limitations).

Installation is simple: screw in the bulbs, plug the ZigBee base station into a spare ethernet port on your router, and hook it up to the mains. A pairing button on the base station allows you to link up any other hue bulbs, while three LED lights show system status including whether there’s an internet connection for remote access. Since ZigBee is a mesh system, each hue bulb can talk to each other: bulbs can be a great distance from the base station itself, just as long as there are other bulbs spanning the intermediate distance (though lag increases the more mesh-points the signal needs to hop through).

Philips hue official demo:

The bulbs themselves use 8.5W at most, and – at 600 lumens – are equivalent to 50W traditional bulbs. They also use a special internal coating that, coupled with the shape of the glass, projects light more evenly around the bulb, meaning there isn’t a dead-zone to your lamp. Officially, up to 50 can be paired with a single base station, though Philips told us that in fact that’s more of a quality-assurance guarantee; in fact, the company has had 250+ bulbs paired with test systems, and had no real issues with them. Bayonet fitting versions are in the pipeline.

Control is via smartphone and tablet app, with iPhone, iPad, and Android versions available at launch; up to ten devices can be linked to control any one base station. The software itself is surprisingly comprehensive. At its most basic, you can adjust the color of any one bulb across the spectrum, including adjusting brightness and color temperature, from a rich red, deep blue, bright white, or anything in-between. You can link up two or more bulbs into a group, and control them all simultaneously, and create preset scenes which each have their own icon on the app’s homescreen.

However, there’s also color sampling to be played with. Philips includes a number of photos in the app – scenes like beaches or mountains – and by dragging pointers linked to each lamp, you can recreate the color of that point in the image. Again, custom setups of multiple lamps tied to different points can be saved, or you create a random arrangement by physically shaking the tablet or iPhone.

You can alternatively pick out a photo from your own photo gallery – or take a new photo, within the Philips hue app – and select colors from that instead. Each of the scenes, whether basic colors or based on photos, can be set to timers, either turning them on or off; you can also have them gently fade in or out over a period of several minutes, helping you to gently wake up or drift off to sleep. Of course, you can also shut off all the bulbs with the tap of a single button.

Finally, though, comes Philips’ splash of science. The company preloads four “LightRecipes” – relax, read, concentrate, and energize – which adjust lighting to specific shades and brightness levels based on research into how those scenarios affect the human body. Philips says testing in schools showed students did better in tests, were calmer, or read faster and more accurately, depending on the different setting active at any one time. It’s worth noting that older LivingColors lamps won’t work with these new LightRecipes, as they don’t have the settings baked in like the new hue bulbs do.

There are some sensible tweaks and decisions Philips has made along the way to the hue system overall. An override feature automatically lights the bulbs up to a regular white “lamp light” default if the physical power switch is used, just in case of emergency, and you can easily deactivate a phone or tablet from the control group in case it’s lost or stolen (or if your kids insist on triggering a mini disco in your room at 2am every day). At launch, the Android app will lack the out-of-house remote control feature, though Philips says it’s coming; if you have any existing remotes from the LivingColors line-up, the company confirmed to us that they, too, would still work, useful for the less tablet-savvy in the household.

Perhaps best of all, it’s all designed to be open. Philips’ base station works as a regular ZigBee hub, and so will function with any other ZigBee devices that conform to the standard, while the individual bulbs are compliant with the ZigBee Light Link standard and so can be integrated with wireless home automation setups you might have already. The company is also opening up its app to third-party developers, in the hope that they’ll step in and augment the functionality. Suggestions included flashing the lights when you get a VIP email, synchronizing color changes with musical playlists, or geo-location so that the lights automatically turn on when you get home, and off when you leave. Individual users will be able to use the site to swap color scheme presets.

At sixty bucks apiece, hue bulbs aren’t cheap. However, the popularity of recent Kickstarter campaigns for WiFi-enabled bulbs such as Lifx - which raised more than 13x of its goal - has shown that there’s a consumer interest for more flexible, smarter lighting. Unlike fund-raising projects, though, Philips’ hue system ships from tomorrow, not sometime next year, and comes from a company with a long history in lighting. We’ll be putting hue through its paces soon, to see if the promise lives up to the price.

While using a mobile phone isn’t allowed on commercial flights within United States, Emirates has announced that it will begin allowing passengers on its A380 airline fleet to use their cell phones while in flight. The service works with normal mobile phones in conjunction with an in-flight Wi-Fi company called OnAir. Since the FAA bans the use of cell phones in the United States on commercial flights, the service is shut off when Emirates aircraft are within 250 miles of the US.

The airline says that the first call was placed using its new in-flight phone service on October 2 and was made in China. It’s no surprise that this particular airline is among the first to offer in-flight call capabilities. Emirates equipped its Airbus fleet with phones and fax machines during the 1990s and has offered the ability to e-mail and text message to all passengers since 2006.

The FCC has indicated that it would reconsider some of its block on using electronics during flights in the US. Recently, the FAA has been clear the way to allow aircraft pilots and crew members to use tablets such as the iPad during all aspects of flight. However, the FAA has specified that allowing voice calls during flights on passenger phones isn’t being considered.

[via AllThingsD]

Both of these robotic vacuums are able to clean a variety of surfaces, including carpet, tile, and wood. The RC530A has an integrated cleaning schedule program that allows you to program the robotic vacuum to clean at specific times of the day. This high-end robotic vacuum cleaner is also able to return to include a recharging station automatically when it needs to charge.

The main difference between the RC530A and the RX330A is that the 330A has to be physically plugged in when it needs to charge. The manufacturer says that it has a cleaning time of up to 60 minutes per charge and when it runs out of power, it turns itself off. Both robotic vacuums have anti-touch and anti-cliff sensors.

Those sensors keep them from banging into your furniture and from falling off stairs or other drops while cleaning. Both vacuum cleaners have several cleaning options to ensure that the room is thoroughly cleaned including along the wall, spiral, and random modes. The 530A also has a zigzag cleaning pattern. Both the products are available in Canada now and will come to the US in November.

Something that appears to be made to go along with those robotic cat ears has now surfaced called the Shippo brain controlled tail. The device is in concept stage right now, but seems to use the same technology as those cat ears. The tail is worn around the waist and is connected to a sensor that claims to sense the wearer’s mood.

The tail interfaces with a smartphone app that lets users share their mood. The user can also use the app to search for places other Shippo users found relaxing. The video shows that the tail wags slowly when a user is relaxed and wags quickly when the user is excited.

The app also claims to be able to detect when the person is frightened. I wonder if one neural controller might be able to operate the robotic cat ears and the robotic tail. I still think these are some of the strangest gadgets I’ve seen in a long time.

[via NewLaunches]

Berg Little Printer teases Instagram-esque photo tweak is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved. ]]> http://www.slashgear.com/berg-little-printer-teases-instagram-esque-photo-tweak-10246657/feed/ 0 http://www.slashgear.com/doctor-who-sonic-screwdriver-toothbrush-prevents-time-traveling-gingivitis-05245995/ http://www.slashgear.com/doctor-who-sonic-screwdriver-toothbrush-prevents-time-traveling-gingivitis-05245995/#comments Wed, 05 Sep 2012 11:06:35 +0000 Shane McGlaun http://www.slashgear.com/?p=245995 Read The Full Story]]> I know a lot of people who really like Doctor Who. I’ve tried watching the show on more than a few occasions. I just can’t do it. The show is too cheesy for me. I know that is sort of the point of the franchise. If you’re a huge fan of Doctor Who, we have the perfect toothbrush for you.

This is an officially licensed Doctor Who sonic screwdriver toothbrush. I know the design of the sonic screwdriver tends to change as often as the title character of the series. Someone with more Who knowledge than me will have to let us know which doc the sonic screwdriver design would go with.

The toothbrush sells for about $20 and is electric getting power from a single AA battery. It doesn’t appear that it has any of the spinning and swirling motions some of the fancy electric toothbrushes from other manufacturers offer. It appears to be an old school electric toothbrush that simply vibrates.

You can purchase the toothbrush over at Firebox, and it comes with an extra head. Once you wear out both heads, you’ll need to purchase a brand-new one since the odds of finding a head that fits in your local store are slim. The handle measures 3 cm wide by 3 cm deep by 14.5 cm high and adds an additional 1 cm wide by 1 cm deep by 6 cm tall.

[via CNet]

IFA – the “Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin” – dates back to 1924, differing from its Las Vegas counterpart in opening up its doors to the public rather than keeping the tasty tech treats solely for the journalists. It’s had some high-profile visitors, too: perhaps most famously Albert Einstein, who opened the 7th show back in 1930.

These days, the attendees we’re most interested in are the tech companies themselves. Samsung stole the show last year, revealing its segment-creating Galaxy Note “phablet” along with new smart TVs and even giving bada a shot in the arm (though the momentum for the homespun OS has flagged in the intervening months). The company is expected to make another big splash this year, with talk of the Galaxy Note 2 increasing the screen size, keeping the stylus, but making the overall device more pocketable.

HTC, meanwhile, likely has some surprises in store for IFA 2012. The company has struggled in 2012, and while 2011 saw only a pair of little-loved Windows Phone handsets revealed, it’s almost certain to be Android taking the stage this time around (anything running Windows Phone 8 will have to wait a few weeks for Microsoft to released the smartphone platform officially).

IFA isn’t just about phones and tablets, though; its widely-spread halls contain everything from TVs through home entertainment equipment, robotics and even white goods like dishwashers. We’re not likely to be distracted by the latest in refrigerator tech – well, not unless it’s running Android – but smart TV and Google TV in particular could make a resurgence, with Toshiba, Sony, LG and Samsung all likely to bring new sets along.

There’s also the chance for some legal wrangling to spice up the displays. Apple vs. Samsung might have reached a billion dollar conclusion in US courts this past week, but a year ago it was the Cupertino company forcing Samsung’s new Galaxy Tab 7.7 from the demo stands mere hours after it had been officially announced that made headlines. Germany has become a hotbed of patent arguments in the past 18 months, and you can bet Apple’s lawyers will be watching Samsung’s announcements closely to see whether there’s a rug to be pulled away from under their South Korean rivals.

Meanwhile, the shadow of the new iPhone (and rumors of an iPad mini) is on the horizon, and anything launched this coming week will inevitably be compared to what little we know of the iPhone 5 (and, indeed, how it holds up to the best-selling iPhone 4S). That’s not to mention Nokia’s next big hurrah with Windows Phone, hoping to gather up some of the momentum shed by Samsung after its courtroom struggles.

Since this is Europe we’re talking about, there’s a healthy splash of weird to the proceedings. IFA’s fixation is the eponymous “Miss IFA”, a red-wigged young woman rolled out to make announcements and pose awkwardly next to new gadgets. We’ll be trying to muster at least a little of her enthusiasm ourselves, though perhaps in a slightly more discerning way.

SlashGear is headed off to cover all of the big IFA 2012 news this coming week, so stay glued to the IFA Hub for all the announcements, gadgets and legal furore you need to know about!

I think that would be a good use for a severed Wampa arm personally. If you live in a colder climate or just want to get ready for wintertime, ThinkGeek has an awesome Star Wars officially licensed gadget that you will want to add to your winter arsenal. The product is called the Star Wars Wampa Ice Scraper Mitt.

The scraper is expected to be in stock on October 9 and will sell for $24.99. One side of the ice scraper mitt has white fur and the other side has an ice scraper in the palm. The fingernails appear to be black vinyl. Naturally, the Wampa fur is fake, and it does have a bit red on the underside to show where Luke hacked it off.

ThinkGeek says that the plush ice scraper is warm so it should keep your hand as warm as Luke slumbering inside a recently gutted Tauntaun. The mitt measures 17 x 8.5-inches and the scraper is 3 x 4-inches. When the scraper is removed the mitt is also machine washable.

The devices are claimed to be the first thermoelectric generators available and output the power they generate through a special USB port. The PowerPot V generates 5 W of electricity, The PowerPot X generates 10 W, and the PowerPot XI makes 15 W of power. The power is generated from any burner or campfire while boiling water.

The downside is the device is still a concept right now. When and if the PowerPot comes to market it expected to cost from $125-$500 depending on the version purchased. I see a lot of melted USB cables if this device comes to market. Check out the video to see the concept in action.

[via EverythingUSB]

The camera takes 60 seconds to set up according to the maker with the user simply needing to plug-in the camera, select Wi-Fi network, and personalize it. The camera also features two-way audio allowing you to talk to the people on the video using your smartphone. Users can also pay $9.95 per month for the optional DVR component that allows video to be recorded off-site to the cloud.

The camera is roughly the size of a yo-yo making it easy to place in the home or office. The HD resolution is 720p and apps are available for viewing the video for iOS and Android devices. Other features include digital pan and zoom as well as motion and audio detection. Using e-mail alerts or app notifications, the camera can also alert you when it detects motion or audio The Dropcam HD is shipping right now for $149 for the camera only. We reviewed this camera back in February before it was shipping.

Their “SpeechJammer” device uses a phenomenon known as delayed auditory feedback, sending someone’s own recorded voice back at them in a strategic gap that causes most people to pause in their speech. If you’ve ever been on as phone call where you can hear your own voice in the receiver a second or two late, you know what that feels like. The researchers developed the tool to gently encourage patrons of traditionally quiet venues, like libraries or art galleries, to take the conversation somewhere else. The SpeechJammer is completely harmless, but you wouldn’t know by looking – it’s even got a laser guidance system.

That’s thinking a little small, though: imagine the possibilities is movie theaters or cable TV political debates. If someone takes too long to answer a question (or does so in a manner that’s less than polite) you could point the SpeechJammer their way and almost literally derail their train of thought. Currently the two graduate students are refining their techniques; at present it needs quite a bit of volume to achieve the desired effect, somewhat defeating their original purpose. Even so, I can’t wait until someone embeds this tech into a smartphone.

[via PCMag]

But I’m starting to wonder how much price really matters. Surely we’d all like to save a few extra bucks whenever we can, but if the right product comes along that satisfies many of our desires, we find a way to justify purchasing it in our mind. The device over there that’s $200 cheaper is nice and all, but it’s not the one we want. And that’s all that matters.

[Image credit: Scott Dierdorf]

Nowhere is that more evident than in the mobile market. When it comes to mobile phones, there are a slew of devices available for free. In many cases, that means buying a feature phone, but for those that need data, coming across a free or extremely cheap smartphone is far easier now than ever.

And yet, it’s Apple’s iPhone, which saw unit sales soar to more than 37 million last quarter, that steals the show. Granted, Apple is offering the old iPhone 3GS for free and the iPhone 4 is available for just $100, but according to most analysts, the vast majority of smartphones it sold were iPhone 4Ss, which retail for $199 and up with a two-year contract.

If it was really the iPhone that everyone was after last quarter, why did they buy the most expensive version? If all they really wanted was the iPhone experience, wouldn’t have buying the cheaper alternatives been a better idea?

A similar scenario plays out in the tablet space.

For months now, I’ve been hearing that the Kindle Fire is popular because of its cheap price. And its estimated 5 million to 6 million fourth-quarter unit sales have been used to prove that point. But if pricing was really that important to customers, why did Apple sell 15 million tablets that cost $500 or more?

Similar scenarios play out in other markets, too. Samsung, for example, sells exceedingly expensive HDTVs, and yet, it’s one of the leading television makers in the world. Bose sells ridiculously expensive audio equipment, but people flock to buy its products.

Pricing really doesn’t matter. Today’s technology consumer wants the very best product in every category, and they’re willing to save up for a few extra months to get it. To them, it’s an unnecessary sacrifice to buy the cheap, underpowered alternative when they can keep up with their friends and coworkers and get something better.

Will those same folks find a deal when they can? Sure. And whenever they have the chance to buy a product on Amazon rather than in Best Buy stores, they’ll take it. But don’t expect them to be running over to the cheap Dell PC over there. Today’s consumer wants the MacBook Pro — exorbitant price tag and all.

The goggles use Bluetooth to pair to your smartphone. On the outside of the goggles are large buttons that appear to be usable while wearing gloves. Those controls are for answering phone calls and ending them along with controls for your music. A special microphone is integrated into the goggles that picks up vibrations when you speak through the facial bones and eliminates noise.

That is supposed to mean that you don’t have to shout to make a decent phone call while you’re skiing down slopes. The coolest part is that you don’t have to have smartphone to communicate with a group of skiers. The goggles can interface with six other pairs directly for group conferencing. Check out the video below to see the goggles in action.

[via Ubergizmo]

I would love to have this little gadget called the Cryoscope. It would be the perfect thing for letting a little kid figure out exactly what they need to wear on any given day. The Cryoscope is a cool little DIY gadget that was created by a guy named Robb Godshaw, who is an industrial design student at the Rochester Institute of Technology. The device is impressively simple in its construction with only a few parts that anybody familiar with computers will recognize.

The Cryoscope uses a solid little cube, a peltier element, heat sink, cooling fan, and RGB LED. An Arduino controller operates all of those parts. The controller receives the weather temperature data from an app that operates on the web. The way it works is incredibly simple, the controller either allows the aluminum cube to heat up or cool down. The hot or cold temperature created is passed to a simple metal cube that sits over the top of all the parts. All you need to do to know what the temperature is going to be like is simply walk up and place your hand on the outer aluminum cube, and you can feel what the weather will be like. Check out the video to get a better idea about how the thing works.

Cryoscope from Robb Godshaw on Vimeo.

[via CNET]

Case Western Reserve University has recently published some research papers outlining how these electronic sensor packing bugs might soon become a reality. One major issue has always been the power source for something of this caliber being so small. New research has been lightly detailed outlining a new process where researchers can harness power from insects movement, and even from the chemical reaction as they eat.

Chemistry professor Daniel Scherson and his team has found a way to create power from the bugs food intake. Converting food into electrons and then using this for electricity and power the little sensors and everything else. Creepy crawly gross indeed, but cool nevertheless. Previous advances in this unique research has needed movement to create power but being able to use those techniques along with what we are seeing with this report would give our Cyborg bugs and beetles plenty of power.

Obviously these are still from a reality but are definitely a work in progress. All we need now is to figure this technique out, get a few cockroaches and a trail of crumbs and they are good to go.

[via Huffington Post, via Engadget]

Either way, the Aria set tracks weight, percentage body fat and calculates BMI, meshing those results with the feedback from the Fitbit dongle. That way, the company reckons, you can see which elements of your exercise regime are really working. It can also feed into a food planner, with users logging their diet and getting suggestions on calorie consumption.

An iPhone app allows you to track your progress while on the move, and all eight users of the scales have private accounts so that you can’t see how much everyone else weighs. User identification is based on weight, so it might not work if you’ve suddenly lost or gained a huge amount, or live with people who all weigh the same.

The Fitbit Aria scales will go on sale in late April 2011, priced at $129.95. They’re available to pre-order now.

Whereas the first-gen AR.Drone – which we reviewed back in 2010 - required you to keep track of where the front of the quadricopter was, the new Absolute Flight mode relies on a 3D magnetometer built to let the the second-gen model know what orientation it’s at in relation to the smartphone controlling it. That way, “the pilot no longer needs to care about the orientation of the AR.Drone 2.0′s front camera, which will accurately track the smartphone’s motion and tilt.”

The traditional steering method will still be available as an option, and you’ll now be able to pre-program preset flight paths. Meanwhile there are some tweaks to the sensor array, with a pressure sensor used to boost vertical stability, new blade designs for smoother flight, and a slightly altered hull. As before, two shells are supplied – one for indoor flight, one for outdoor – and there are flashing LEDs to keep it looking impressive.

Apps for both Android and iOS are available, and there’s an open development platform for third-party game and other app developers to tie into the new AR.Drone 2.0. According to the leaked release, the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 will go on sale in Q2 2012, priced at $299. We’ll be keeping an eye on the skies at CES to see if we can spot it there.

[via Engadget and via AR.Drone Flyers]

On Sunday, I’m going to fly from Dallas to Las Vegas. I’m not going to have time to check into my hotel, because I have to go directly to my first meeting. I’ll be sitting in meetings for at least 8 hours. The next four days, I’ll wake up at 8AM and start working. I won’t stop until late into the evening. On many nights, I won’t get back to my hotel room until after midnight.

I’ll be at the Consumer Electronics Show, of course. The Super Bowl of gadgets. Except it lasts for days and days, and there is no football, just commercials. It’s so huge that it takes place not only at the Las Vegas Convention Center, but also the Hilton next door, and the Sands convention center connected to the Venetian hotel. A friend wore a pedometer at the show one year and discovered that she walked 4-6 miles a day, every day.

Sounds grueling, right? Hardly. Let me fill in the blanks.

My first meeting is with a good friend and drinking buddy. Every subsequent meeting I have will be with technology journalists, analysts, and other industry professionals. These are people who are interested in the exact same thing I’m interested in. We’ll have plenty to talk about, on professional and personal levels. It’s not like going to the office, it’s more like hanging out in a college dorm, arguing politics over pizza until late in the night. But instead of pizza, it’s all about gadgets.

My day job, and the sponsor of my trip, is with Samsung. My meetings will involve talking about Samsung products and showing off the coolest stuff we have. I’ll be carrying around a bag full of awesome gadgets throughout the show. During the meetings, we’ll play. There will be questions, photographs, hands-on videos. But mostly, we’ll play.

At night, we’ll head to corporate and PR sponsored events. These are usually nice meals, parties at night clubs, or mini trade shows with free alcohol and plenty of fried food. Since CES always happens after New Year’s, usually we’ll hear anecdotes from the club workers about how Britney Spears or Paris Hilton passed out in this VIP room, or threw up in that elevated bathtub. I’ll go to the most exclusive clubs in Vegas, the places that wouldn’t let me in wearing the same outfit a week later. There will be music, dancing, free pens and baseball caps, and more time hanging out with some of my favorite people in the world.

I love my job. I loved my job when I was a journalist. I love it now that I’m on the corporate side. If you’re working at your cubicle, or from the cab of your truck, or from anywhere that does not send you on an all-expense paid trip to Las Vegas once a year, I hope you see I’m not trying to brag. I appreciate my job and the opportunities it gives me. I work hard at it, and I worked hard to get here. I put in the hours. I will never complain about it. I know exactly how lucky I am.

I wish everyone in my business were so self aware. I’ve seen column after column on other technology Web sites complaining about having to make the trek to CES. Some folks even revel in the fact that they have never attended the show, all the while dismissing what’s there, as if they have any idea.

Is CES a dying animal? No way. Microsoft is scaling back. Other companies have stopped exhibiting at trade shows, preferring their own, invariably more exclusive corporate events. There is certainly a time and a place for that strategy, but CES serves a definite purpose.

First, it’s a mile marker for our industry. It’s a way to stop after the holidays, look around, and try to figure out where this giant ship is sailing. It’s a way to spot icebergs and jet streams.

The Consumer Electronics Association, the group that runs CES, exists to promote consumer electronics. No trade show in existence does a better job promoting its category than CES. Sure, you may have read about the adult entertainment show that used to run concurrently with CES. But have you heard of the pizza maker’s trade show in Las Vegas? Have you seen coverage of the Construction Expo that happens once every 3 years? In fact, can you name any other major trade show convention that is covered by all major TV networks, all forms of print and online publications, and supports an entire category of bloggers and Web sites? Of course not. This isn’t just a testimony to the popularity of technology. It’s a testament to the hard work and sheer spectacle of CEA at CES.

Second, CES lets in the little guy. At some point during the show, all journalists run out of steam and decide to walk the floor. Everybody wants to find the little guy, the cool products hidden in the back of the convention center. I’ve played video games with my mind. I’ve watched movies that smell. I’ve watched body painting and drag racing and all sorts of fascinating pageantry.

The weirdest thing about technology journalists is that many of them think they have hard jobs. They think that CES is difficult. They complain about the walking, the long nights, the bad food (okay, too much fried, not enough fresh). If you follow tech journalists on Twitter, be prepared for a full week of complaining about flight delays, poorly designed airports, hotel errors, shuttle delays, blistered feet, missed meetings, and more.

Feel free to tell any and all of them where they can stick it.

I’ve never had a true manual labor job, but I have had jobs that were actually difficult. Tedious jobs that were repetitive and dull. Retail jobs over the holiday time. I worked 12 hour days as a teacher in inner-city schools. My students were awesome, and they were the reason I woke up every day. But there was endless paperwork, long hours, a complete lack of appreciation on every level, and heartbreak. Try grading 200 papers in a weekend and tell me how difficult CES can be. Try calling a single working parent to tell them their child would be expelled for a stupid rule infraction, then tell me how much you hate going to parties every single night.

Or don’t. Enjoy it. Love it. Have a great time. If you’re so jaded that you really hate the Consumer Electronics Show, you probably need a new career. But I warn you, you’re going to be very disappointed with what you find. There are very few openings for people with expertise in playing with gadgets, drinking heavily, and hanging with friends.

Hawking has a motor neurone disease that has progressively left him almost entirely paralyzed, with the computer integrated into his wheelchair also providing his well-known synthesized voice since a tracheotomy took his own. Part of the challenge for the new “technical assistant” will be maintaining a hodgepodge of systems that have been accrued over the years: for instance, Hawking’s original DECtalk DTC01 voice synthesizer has since been replaced with a NeoSpeech app running on one of the regularly-upgraded laptops.

Elsewhere there’s a mass of cables, batteries and motors, together with the infrared remote system that Hawking uses to control his home and lab automation. They’ll need to be kept online too, as well as helping keep press attention under control and answering questions to avoid the laborious text-to-speech system the professor must use.

The initial job post listing – pasted below – has since been taken down, with the advice that interested parties should keep an eye on this page at the DAMTP. The role is expected to become available in late February.

Graduate Assistant to Stephen Hawking

The above post is expected to become available shortly, with a starting date around 20th-27th February 2012. The salary is expected to be in the region of £25k; the exact value will be confirmed in the near future.

Disclaimer: This is not an official job applications page, however similar it may look! The official applications process will be started when the post has been properly advertised, probably in mid-January. We will not be able to offer the post to anyone on the strength of this unofficial submission alone; we can only direct people to apply through the official channel. However, if you fit our requirements, we would like to hear from you.

The post is more accurately described by the title “Technical Assistant to Stephen Hawking.” It is not a PhD or Post-Doc position for academics looking to study physics, but a purely technical post to allow Prof. Hawking to function within the physics community and as a public speaker.

The original purpose of this position was “to aid Professor Hawking in those areas which he has difficulty due to his disability.” The job has since expanded and now includes:

Managing national and international travel for Prof. Hawking and his care team. Expect to spend around 3 months per year abroad!
Development and maintenance of Professor Hawking’s communication and speech systems
Procurement and maintenance of his wheelchairs and accessible van
Preparation of lecture graphics and public speaking
Dealing with the media and press
Answering inquiries from the public and maintaining the website

The post requires a wide range of skills, most importantly:
Ability to work under pressure
Maintenance of “black box” systems with no instruction manual or technical support
Computer literacy
Electronics knowledge
Ability to speak to a large audience
Ability to show others how to use complex systems

The role of ‘Graduate Assistant to Professor Hawking’ is funded as a research post at the University of Cambridge. Normally it has been under a 12 month contract, although recent graduate assistants have stayed on for several years.

[via The Register; Image credit: NASA]

[Image credit: Julian B]

I’m away from my family this holiday, and it seemed an excellent time to take advantage of Skype for a video call or two on Christmas day. The tech world may have raced ahead, but carriers and roaming phone calls still lag behind, and using my cellphone to ring could easily rack up a bill greater than I was spending on gifts. Trying to install Skype onto a regular Windows laptop, though, proved to be an irritant greater than forgetting to defrost the turkey.

My parents aren’t stupid, or even particularly tech-naive. They’ve managed to install routers and printers – something, along with scanners, almost guaranteed to get my blood boiling – by themselves before now, and they know how to run regular anti-virus and malware scans and keep their PCs in shapely condition.

Installing Skype, then, ought to have been an easy matter: we should’ve been video chatting within minutes. In actual fact, though, the convoluted online registration process – page after page of setting up a new account, uncertainty over what personal information was mandatory and what wasn’t (and being thrown back to the beginning when something was inadvertently left out, with no obvious indicator of why), then installing the app and being forced to put in that account information again, peppered with Skype’s attempts to encourage them to buy SkypeOut credit – stretched out what should’ve been a quick “make a connection” moment into a homework-like chore for my family and a remote frustration for me on the other end of the phone.

We take for granted that some elements of the technology world come more easily to us than others. We overlook elements of bad UI or confusing installer decisions, perhaps don’t even “see” them, because we generally understand what the designers “meant” to say. Those who aren’t immersed within this world suffer for that blasé attitude, are made to feel stupid or inept.

Technology can be wonderful: when all the pieces had finally slotted together, I quietly marveled at how my Galaxy Nexus could give me a clear view into my family’s living room several thousand miles away. I used Skype over WiFi on my phone to make several voice calls, too, at rates a fraction of what O2 would’ve charged me to roam onto T-Mobile USA’s network. But to have that video call with my family on Christmas Day, I had to create a new Skype account for them on my phone and read the login details out: the new account Skype had made for them simply wouldn’t let them log in.

Skype could have won some devoted customers over the holidays. Imagine an undemanding webpage – holiday themed, perhaps – promoting the simplicity and convenience of video calling, created in HTML5 maybe or using the same quick plugin as Skype made for Facebook’s video chat integration. A couple of clicks, a temporary username, and you’re talking with and waving to loved ones many miles away. At the end of the call, you’d have the option to convert that temporary account into a permanent one, perhaps receive a little tester SkypeOut credit with the prompt to “call a landline this Christmas.” Nothing overwhelming when people are stuffed full of festive food and simply want to connect. Show them how it works, demonstrate why they should want it, rather than making them jump through dozens of hoops first.

(In actual fact, the company ran a “free airport WiFi” promotion across the US. I used it myself in Detroit; there was no promotional material in the airport or when you connected to the network pointing out you could have an hour of free access, you had to guess to log in via Skype WiFi in the app itself rather than putting your Skype username into the Boingo roaming page, and, even when you’d done all that, it was still unclear whether you were going to be charged. Every ten minutes a warning dialog popped up asking if I wanted to extend my session, cautioning it would probably cost me each time (it didn’t). Even as a frequent hotspot user I was confused, and it would hardly have made a good impression with a novice.)

The barrier to geek nirvana is still too high. Previously it was a matter of price: a computer, or a smartphone, was expensive. Those who could afford them inevitably spent the time understanding their intricacies, to “make the most” of the functionality on offer. As prices have diminished, though, the headaches and confusions have persisted. The barrier is a more pervasive now, too, and the wonderful promises phones, tablets, computers and other tech make are all too often locked behind poor communication, unnecessary gimmicks and an over-emphasis on something looking good rather than being straightforward to use. I find myself wondering how many people will end their holidays satisfied and enthused about the gadgets they received, and how many will be disillusioned.

Companies and analysts haven’t tired of telling us how 2011 has been a difficult year for those trying to sell hardware, software and services to an increasingly cost-conscious public. Turning every user into an evangelist is worth a hundred expensive advertising campaigns; 2012 could be the year when simplicity and usability catch up with feature promises and geek hyperbole.

The relative size of the team Apple has working on the iPod-bangle project is probably an indicator that it’s not high on the company’s agenda for release. Still, the iPod nano has at least in part jumped the gap to become a legitimate “wearable” itself: with the latest model, Apple added a variety of user-selectable watch faces, meaning the iPod can be used with one of various third-party wrist straps as a timepiece replacement. It’s not clear what wireless technology Apple might use, though the company did add Bluetooth 4.0 support (aka “Bluetooth Smart Ready“) in its recent iPhone 4S.

There are also systems like ANT+ and Nike+ which use low-power wireless connections to join sensors such as pedometers to smartphones and PMPs. Garmin released an ANT+ compatible watch earlier this year, the FR70, which uses the wireless tech to track heart rate during exercise with a bundled sensor.

Apple has competition, however, with Google also working on its own wearables tech. The search giant’s so-called X Labs employs programmers, engineers and others formerly of Microsoft, MIT and Nokia Labs and is working on the “internet of things” or an interconnected mesh of network-enabled gadgets, sensors, devices and more. They, sources claim, would be able to whisper back details to your Android smartphone.

[Image credit: Gopinath Prasana]

Author’s Lament

This year I had a tougher time than usual, not because vendors weren’t willing to send over gadgets for me to test – oh, they were. It just seemed like this year I got a much worse percentage of products that just weren’t good enough to recommend. To make this list, I had to suffer through bad streaming media boxes, terrible QWERTY remote controls, remote control helicopters that were not terribly controllable, clothing made with moisture-wicking technology that didn’t work, useless car-finder gizmos, “revolutionary” earbuds that aren’t, unique speaker systems that sound awful, and an extended battery system for portable game consoles whose installation can break the console itself. I nearly put the helicopter – Griffin’s HeloTC – on the list anyway because sort-of-controlling a little helicopter via an iPhone is cool, and making family members scatter from a perpetually out-of-control helicopter can be great fun. I also received a slew of fitness-tracker gadgets, but haven’t had the time to test them fully. Maybe I’ll do a New Year’s Resolution Gift Guide follow up.

Tablet and Smartphone Accessories

Last year I recommended Belkin’s Woogie case, which apparently has been updated somehow (the upgrade did not arrive in time for this guide). Along the same thought lines, Speck figured out a safe way to give your small child an iPad – by encasing it in foam, making it adorable, and giving it handle arms. The iGuy ($40) works with either the original iPad or the iPad2 and leaves the 40 pin connector, headphone jack, and camera unblocked, but it can be a bit hard to get on and off the tablet.

For mounting an iPad in the car, I was impressed with Vogel’s RingO modular docking station system ($100), which is pricey but fits securely around the headrest. The iPad snaps on or off easily and can tilt for optimal viewing angle. Vogel also sells an overpriced wall mount ($70) but that unit provides no tilt or extension – unlike many of Vogel’s TV mounting systems. An under-counter mount would be ideal for people who use their iPad in the kitchen. Maybe next year?

I like to think of Dream Cheeky’s iLaunch Thunder as a product that is just ludicrous enough to be brilliant: it is a wireless foam missile launcher controlled over Bluetooth by your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. The company has made similar products in the past that tether to your PC via USB and can be controlled by an iOS device over WiFi, but who wants to be tethered to a PC? The iLaunch has its own rechargeable battery, offers 270 degree rotation, 40 degrees of vertical tilt, and darts fly straight for about 20 – 25 feet. You can aim via accelerometer (great fun, impossible to get any degree of accuracy) or touchscreen (better, but still not perfect). The iLaunch will not make a dent in any serious cubicle war – firing time is too slow, and you’re going to lose the four darts it comes with (Dream Cheeky really ought to include a few spares in the box). But it looks good, and when placed out of the way and carefully aimed ahead of time, can be a great way to ambush your boss. Just be prepared with a regular Nerf gun for the aftermath.

I’m a big fan of many of Speck’s cases, mostly from familiarity – Speck is more proactive at distributing products to the media at trade shows than nearly any other accessories vendor – but my absolute favorite product of theirs right now are the soft-touch SeeThru SATIN MacBook Air covers ($50). It adds almost no depth or weight – critical for such a design-centric notebook – and protects the Air from scratches and dents (let’s just say that it is possible to dent the Air’s aluminum case and that you do not want to do this). As a bonus, Speck’s cases can make your silver Air jet black or crazy happy orange. The product is mistakenly named “satin” which sounds… frilly. In reality, it’s a rather awesome electric orangey hue.

I tested a lot of keyboards this year. A lot. Keyboards for Macs and PCs, keyboards for Android and iOS tablets, keyboards for Motorola smartphones. The good news is that I can recommend several of them, especially since many people buying tablets are trying to use them as notebook replacements. The productivity software I personally need for my workflow isn’t “there” yet, but if your needs are different from mine, adding a physical keyboard can make a big difference in typing usability. My favorite overall is ZAGG’s brand new FLEX Bluetooth tablet keyboard ($80). The keyboard case acts as a stand for your tablet, and a switch on the back changes the function keys from iOS to Android. Key travel and spacing on the not-quite-full size unit is good, and the internal battery is rechargeable. However, the real reason this is my favorite is because it is incredibly light and compact. Since I don’t always use the keyboard, the minimal size and weight mean I am more willing to carry this one with me, just in case.

However, if you know you’re going to be using a keyboard all the time, the slight additional bulk and weight of Logitech’s Tablet Keyboard (in either iOS or Android versions, $70) is easily offset by superior key size, layout, and travel. Here, too, the cover serves as a tablet stand.

Honorable mention goes to two of Logitech’s other iPad keyboards. The Keyboard Case ($99) sacrifices typing comfort with compressed keys and side ridges that dig into your wrists, but doubles as a handsome hard metal case for the iPad itself. Logitech also deserves credit for creating the Fold-Up Keyboard ($129), which is an expensive, bulky plastic contraption that transforms – literally – the iPad into a netbook. Lift the iPad, and a full-size butterfly keyboard slides open. It is endless fun to open and close, but not so fun to carry around. It also forces you to use the iPad in landscape mode, and the sliding mechanism makes the whole unit feel flimsy. Still the butterfly keyboard makes a great conversation piece, and I have a soft spot for objects that feel like Transformers toys.

Books

Barnes & Noble’s Simple Touch ($99) is my favorite eReader for the technophobe. It has no ads, plenty of content, a dead-simple user interface, and a great price. However, if you’re going to buy someone a vending machine, give them some quarters, will you? Buy them a Barnes & Noble gift card to get them started with their first book or two.

It’s hard to believe, but there are still actual physical books on the market. If you know an adult LEGO fan, one way to delight them by validating their hobby is by giving them the coffee table-sized “The Cult of LEGO” ($39.95, no starch press). The book aims to provide a broad overview of the LEGO phenomenon rather than exhaustively cover any single aspect (such as professional model makers or conferences), but it could be perfect for the adult who has recently re-discovered LEGO – or one who hasn’t yet.

Music

I travel a lot, and I’m always looking for a speaker to take with me on the road. This year’s winner was Logitech’s Tablet Speaker ($29.95), a tube that clips onto your tablet (or not – it works equally well sitting next to a notebook or plugged into an iPod or a phone). It isn’t as compact as I’d like it to be, but is perfectly shaped to fit in that recess between the handles of a rollaboard, is incredibly light, and is fully rechargeable. This is a travel speaker and, while you shouldn’t expect it to be heard over guests at a party, it plays louder and cleaner than internal speakers on tablets or notebooks. It perfectly fills a hotel room with music or can be used by salespeople who give presentations using an iPad.

Does it seem like I recommend a Sonos product each year? Yes. Does Sonos introduce a new recommendation-worthy product each year? Yes. This year Sonos simplified its naming scheme across all its products, launched a free Android control app for phones and tablets, and introduced the $299 PLAY:3, a smaller, lower priced entry into the Sonos line. For the uninitiated, Sonos is a dead simple way to add music to every room in your house – each room can be grouped together with other rooms, or can play its own soundtrack; music can come from your PC or the Internet. The $399 PLAY:5 is still the better sounding unit, but the smaller PLAY:3 can fit in tighter spaces. If you assign two PLAY:3’s to act as a stereo pair, their combined output is preferable to a single PLAY:5. You can also BYOS (Bring Your Own Speakers) with the $499 CONNECT:AMP or jack into your home theater system with the $349 CONNECT. You can buy a dedicated Sonos CONTROL-er ($349), or use any iOS or Android device you happen to have lying around; either way, even the biggest technophobe will have no trouble using – or even setting up – the system. Warning: Sonos has been shown to be addictive. Buying a starter system for a couple of rooms may seem relatively inexpensive, but you will soon find that you “need” to add rooms to the system.

However, if you only want music in one room and you have an iDevice, there are dozens of sound docks vying for your attention. But what if you have an Android phone? Google doesn’t mandate that Android phones adhere to any standard size or port layout, and there isn’t a big enough market for any one Android phone for it to be profitable to build speaker docks for them. Philips saw this chaos as an opportunity, and came up with a unique sliding/rotating connector on the ($162) Fidelio Docking Speaker for Android. It works – I tried about a dozen devices, from the Galaxy Nexus to Motorola’s XOOM tablet – and they all fit, though some fiddling was required in some cases, so this is one where you may want to test it with your phone/tablet in the store. The good news is that sound quality equals, or perhaps slightly exceeds what you should expect at this price level. The bad news is that Philips is cheating – the docking connector is just to keep your phone or tablet charged. To actually play music, you’ll need to connect to the speaker over Bluetooth, a process I always find annoying and sometimes error-prone. Philips includes a remote control and has a music management app for good measure, but I wish it would take the extra step and build a music playback app that outputs digital signals through the microUSB connector, then does D/A conversion in the unit itself.

I often recommend headphones as a great accessory for music players and phones – most work with any device brand/OS, they dramatically improve the audio experience over the cheap earbuds that came in the box. The investment in a good pair of headphones can be enjoyed even as you upgrade to the latest iWhatever. There are terrific headphones at the $100 price point, but if you really want to invest and you were somehow unaffected by the economy, may I suggest ($1350) Ultimate Ears 18 Pro Custom In-Ear Monitors? It will be a truly unique gift, as each pair is custom made for the recipients’ ears (you should also budget for a $75 to an audiologist for the mold making). The UE18’s have six, yes, six individual drivers in each monitor, and the sound quality is astonishing. Sure, there are diminishing returns beyond excellent non-custom headphones such as Ultimate Ears TripleFi 10 ($399) or Shure’s SE535 ($549) – both of which I highly recommend, and those can be found on sale, while the UE18’s… not so much. Still, the difference is easily audible, particularly in the bass region; the UE18’s reveal octaves of bass that lesser monitors cannot reproduce. (Note: I was not able to compare them to comparably priced Westone or JH Audio monitors, even though SlashGear has reviewed the JH16 Pro’s. Those have been customized for Vince’s ears, while these will only fit mine). My sole complaint with the UE18’s is minor: they come in a great little hard aluminum case suitable for roadies, which is bulkier and heavier than the ballistic nylon travel cases Shure uses, which are better for traveling light and using the headphones inflight. That’s a quibble. At this price, you should expect to be amazed, and these things are amazing.

Honorable Mention:

If you find yourself with an Xbox and Kinect system this holiday season, go to the Zune Marketplace (on your Xbox or on the web) and buy Fruit Ninja Kinect. For the life of me I can’t figure out the Microsoft Points-to-real-money exchange rate, but the game costs about $6. Your soon-to-be-sore arms may never forgive me, but I am firmly convinced that one of the best Kinect experiences – along with Dance Central 2 (which somehow makes aerobics fun) – is a fruit slicing iPhone game.