Everyone who has read the The Da Vinci Code or has seen the movie knows what a cryptex is – an old-timey way to password protect your documents. Except today’s documents typically come in digital form, say a flash drive, rather than paper so as cool as a cryptex sounds, it’s no good to use today.

Enter the Crypteks USB – you can guess what it does just by its name. It’s not a real product yet, it’s just a concept on Kickstarter. Still, considering it has received $130,000+ in backing (well over the $12,000 goal), it seems a pretty safe bet that it will be a real product soon. Read more »

When I first heard of the recently founded headphone maker Sol Republic, my first thought was if there was any room left on the market for a new supplier of premium headphones. The U.S. market in particular is dominated by Beats Audio – the company with Dr. Dre as its face, followed by several competitors. In a nutshell – it is not the friendliest environment to launch a new product, given the already established competition.

Once I found out more about the newcomer however, its aspirations began to make a lot more sense. Sol Republic (by the way, Sol stands for “soundtrack of life”, not something related to the sun) is founded by Read more »

We don’t often do accessory reviews, but this one is too interesting to miss. You see, one of the problems with touchscreen smartphones is that you cannot use them with gloves, so you have to pick your priorities in the winter – operate your phone or save your fingers from the freezing cold.

Enter the Isotoner SmarTouch gloves – compatible with your touchscreen phone, those will keep your fingers nicely warm in those cold months. Read more »

The Xbox 360 fall update is coming tomorrow and it will bring tons of new stuff. But the first and most important change is the complete interface overhaul. Microsoft has put the Metro UI in charge.

It’s hardly a surprise to see the Metro UI here though – after all, it is Microsoft’s “all-in” both in the desktop and mobile versions of Windows. And I think the dashboard has never been so awesome. Read more »

The MOTOACTV, the illegitimate child of the Sony Ericsson Bluetooth watch and the iPod nano, will soon be hitting British shelves this December. Motorola has announced that the MOTOACTV will be available in Sweatshop stores across the UK starting December 1 and it will be priced at £249.99 ($390).

In case you don’t know what the MOTOACTV is, it is a glorified wrist watch running Android. It works like a personal trainer during your workouts, keeping track of all your sessions, how much you ran, how many calories you burned, etc. using the built-in GPS and accelerometer. Read more »

Amazon has just revealed the launch date for their new Kindle range, which now includes the Kindle, Kindle Touch, Kindle Touch 3G and the Android-based Kindle Fire. Tuesday, November 15 is the day when you will be able to get your hands on one of Amazon’s shiny new Kindles.

They have also announced that the Kindles will be available in 16,000 locations across the US, from retail stores such as Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Staples, Sam’s Club, RadioShack, Office Depot, etc. And of course, there is the Amazon online store, if you’re too lazy to go out and buy it. Read more »

A rather curious devices has been uncovered by the people at The Verge. The device claims to be a wireless controller for some other device and is shown operating a TV, which is presumably connected to the mystery device.

The Motorola Corvair, as it is called, itself is running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread and has a 6-inch capacitive touchscreen. It communicates with other devices over IR or RF4CE using WI-Fi. There is a 4000mAh battery inside to provide to the juice for all the wireless interfacing and whatever else the device is capable. Read more »

If you’re tired of the iPad charger hogging an extra slot on your wall socket or one of the USB ports on your MacBook, then Twelve South has just the device for you. Called the PlugBug, this neat little accessory snaps on top of any MacBook charger and lets you charge both your iPad and MacBook simultaneously.

Of course, it’s not just limited to the iPad and the standard USB port will allow any device that supports USB charging to be charged from it but the iPad will benefit the most from it due to its hunger for power that can only be satiated with a powerful charger and with 10 watts and 2.1 amps on tap, the PlugBug has all the power it needs to provide the fastest charging experience on the iPad. Read more »

With Gorilla Glass already the synonym for high performance and durability in mobile displays, Corning Incorporated announced the next great thing in display glass technology called Lotus Glass. Despite not having as tough a name as its predecessor, Lotus Glass offers higher performance, while being easier on the environment.

Developed to support the latest generation Read more »

Apple adds a new accessory to its portfolio – the iPhone microUSB adapter. It does just what it says on the box – allows you to use standard microUSB cables and chargers with your iPhone both for syncing(!) and charging.

The unveiling of such a gadget might not seem so surprising at first look, but it actually represents an end of an era where Apple’s closed eco system relied solely on proprietary hardware and peripherals to run and interconnect. Read more »

Only earlier this month Sandisk announced their latest offering for removable mobile storage, an impressive 64GB micro SDXC Ultra series number that was said to offer class 6 performance.

That class 6 rating means we should see minimum write speeds of 6MB/s and theoretically, promising transfer speeds of up to 30MB/s. The news of the card’s existence at all is all well and good, but it comes with a disclaimer of sorts. Read more »

Get ready for a new Galaxy Wi-Fi device – the 3.6, which is a multimedia-centered droid with a 3.6″ HVGA TFT LCD display, single core 1 GHz OMAP processor, Gingerbread 2.3, 2 MP fixed-focus camera with LED flash and wide-range codec support for music and video playback.

The Galaxy Wi-Fi 3.6 is aimed at those of us who want to get the all-you can eat smart experience but don’t want to cash out for an expensive smartphone at an expensive monthly contract. Prices start from £149 for the 8 gig model and £169 for the 16GB version. Both Galaxy Wi-Fi 3.6′s will be offered in both black and white color versions. Read more »

Sony has announced the HMZ-T1, a new Head Mounted 3D Display, which they like to call “Personal 3D Viewer”. It’s basically the equivalent of watching a 750-inch 3D TV from a distance of 20m, along with a pair of surround sound headphones, except this time it’s personal.

The crux of the HMZ-T1 are the two OLED panels. Each of these panels is only 0.7-inch in size and have a resolution of 1280 x 720, which gives them a mind-blowing pixel density of 2098-PPI. Read more »

Following the official launch of their two new Honeycomb tablets, Sony has now announced a new eReader for those who like simpler things in life. The new Reader Wi-Fi (PRS-Ti) is claimed to be the lightest 6-inch eReader in the world with a weight of just 168g, which coupled with the 8.9mm thickness would make it very easy to hold in your hands.

The Reader Wi-Fi has a multi-touch touchscreen, underneath which lies a 600 x 800 resolution, 16-level gray scale E Ink Pearl electronic paper display. The Reader Wi-Fi has 2GB of internal memory, which can be expanded up to 32GB usig microSD card. Read more »

Samsung has worked up a new naming scheme for its Androids and today we’re seeing the first phones to abide by the new rules. Of course, old models fit the new naming scheme too, but what Samsung has done is codified the tiers (low, mid, high, premium, and “Super Smart”).

I’ll go over the four new models from Samsung (which hail from the M, W and Y lines) along with a few older ones (that conform to the new naming scheme) to see how well it works. You’re welcome to join me.

Read more »