Category: Misc gadgets
Switch view

Oakley and Ray-Ban maker inks Google Glass deal

by 14 comments

Luxottica, the name behind high-profile sunglasses brands like Oakley, Ray-Ban and Vogue-Eyewear, has teamed up with Google to provide future fashion-centric models of the Glass wearable.

The deal will undoubtedly go a long way to pushing the high-tech device into the mainstream, as Luxottica also controls numerous avenues of distribution with over 5000 retail outlets in the US. Read more »

Google Chromecast reaches 11 new countries

by 38 comments

Google’s smart HDMI stick Chromecast, which turns any HDMI-capable TV into a smart TV with streaming capabilities from Youtube, Netflix, Hulu, and Google Play movies among others, has become officially available outside of the US.

The device goes on sale today in the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, with localized streaming services for many of those countries. Read more »

Amazon HDMI stick to come in April, stream media and games

by 5 comments

Google’s Chromecast topped Amazon sales charts – it’s a small, cheap HDMI stick that streams video and music on your TV. But those use Google’s media library, Amazon can’t let that stand – and, apparently, it won’t.

Amazon subsidiary and designer of the Kindle, Lab126, is reportedly working on just such an HDMI stick. Read more »

Samsung Gear Fit wristband is official with a 1.84-inch curved Super AMOLED display

by 17 comments

After yesterday Samsung unveiled the new duo of Gear smartwatches, today the Koreans announced a new addition to the Gear family called Fit.

As its name suggests, the Fit is aimed towards fitness enthusiasts and is a wristband with a 1.84” curved Super AMOLED display. It packs a resolution of 432 x 128 pixels and alerts you of incoming notifications. Read more »

HTC prepping three wearable devices for MWC – two smartwatches and a band

by 18 comments

According to a Bloomberg source close to HTC, the Taiwanese company is aiming to show off three wearable devices to carrier representatives at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week. One of them is a smartwatch prototype based on Qualcomm’s Toq, the other a smartwatch which will rely heavily on Google Now and finally a bracelet targeted at music lovers.

The source reveals that HTC will likely keep said three devices under wraps from the public eye and only showcase them privately for now – bummer! Read more »

Buy bottle of water, get free Sony MP3 player

by 41 comments

It’s worth mentioning that the bottle of water will cost the same price as the MP3 player.

Sony’s W Series Walkman MP3 player has an interesting marketing tool that highlights its waterproof nature: Sony has decided to package it in a bottle of water. Read more »

Chromecast now works with embedded YouTube videos as well

by 3 comments

One of the cool features of Chromecast is that you can open any video on the YouTube site and then cast it to your Chromecast connected to your TV. Unfortunately, this feature only worked for videos on the YouTube website and not those embedded on other sites.

That seems to have been changed now as you can now cast any YouTube video on to your Chromecast, from any website. Google mentions support for ‘most’ videos to leave a little wiggle room but according to Android Police every embedded YouTube video can be cast now. Read more »

Sony Smart Tenis Sensor starts selling in Japan in May

by 2 comments

Sony’s Smart Tennis Sensor is going on sale this May, with Japan being the very first market to experience the new racquet tech. Unveiled at CES 2014, the company’s latest sports gadget is priced at £105 (JPY18,000).

Just like the Babolat Play Pure Drive tennis racquet, the sensor sits on the bottom of the racquet and transmits various information via Bluetooth. Read more »

Nike unveils Silver edition of its FuelBand SE with $169 price tag

by 6 comments

Nike has officially announced a new limited edition of its FuelBand that comes with a new silver paint job. The activity tracker is now up for grabs in six color options – Black, Pink Foil, Total Crimson, Volt, Rose Gold and the newly launched Silver hue.

The Silver version of the Nike+ FuelBand SE comes with a silver plate on the clip and apart from that there are no alterations to the design. Read more »

Google acquires Nest Labs for $3.2 billion in cash

by 12 comments

Google acquired the designer and manufacturer of home products Nest Labs. The search engine giant paid $3.2 billion in cash for the Palo Alto-based company.

Founded in 2010, Nest brings modern design and functionality to ubiquitous home products. Read more »

Weekend poll results: The hots and nots of CES 2014

by 51 comments

This weekend we set out to get your thoughts on the hottest products from this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas and now that we have the results it’s time to see what you guys liked and what disappointed you.

While the overall tone remained excited there were things you guys weren’t really thrilled about. This year’s CES brought the first real non-compromises mini smartphone from the Android camp, some exciting slates from Samsung, a new take at smartwatch design by Pebble and more. Read more »

The Babolat Play Pure Drive: a smart tennis racquet

by 8 comments

Want to stop sucking at Tennis, but can’t afford a good instructor? Well Babolat may have something that’ll help you out: the Play Pure Drive.

Essentially a tennis racquet that is packed with sensors, Babolat’s racquet measures vibrational and gyroscopic data and displays how many forehand and backhand hits you’ve made and where exactly you hit the ball on the strings. You can then use this data to delineate your tendencies and try to correct them and improve your game.

The data is synced via Bluetooth, where all of the tennis-centric metrics are pushed to your smartphone or device of choice. You don’t need to interpret all of the data yourself though, because Babolat’s software will give you suggestions on how to improve your swing. Read more »

Sony’s new Ultra Short 4K projector doesn’t come cheap

by 16 comments

Sony has launched a new ultra short throw projector that is able to produce a 4K resolution image at up to 147-inches.

The projector features both powered focus and powered zoom at up to 1.6x, has 4 HDMI inputs, as well as ethernet, IR, and USB inputs. Read more »

Microsoft sold 3 million Xbox One units in 2013

by 14 comments

Microsoft announced that its latest gaming console, the Xbox One managed to achieve 3 million sales from 13 countries before the end of 2013.

The Redmond gaint’s launched its newest gaming console on 22 November and was available in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Spain, New Zealand, UK and the US. Read more »

Pebble says something special is coming at CES

by 5 comments

The Pebble is one of the most popular wearable devices, which came to life through a Kickstarter campaign. The company has announced that it has “something special” to offer at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show.

Pebble’s CEO Eric Migicovsky will be making the announcement on 6 January, a day before the CES kicks off. The keynote will begin at 11AM Pacific time and will be live streamed on the company’s website. Read more »