Apple’s developer bits are generally the bigger picture story that comes out of WWDC, and some details are slowly emerging about those 1,500 or so new APIs Apple has added for devs to take advantage of. Some of the better news is around new gaming technologies, which should result in much improved experiences for both gamers and the people creating the games they play. → Read More
Google Glass isn’t in the hands of consumers yet, but a pair of intrepid Glass explorers didn’t let that stop them from taking the thing apart to see what makes it tick. This teardown is also especially pleasing in terms of shot composition and image quality, so if you’re hankering for a really good, close-up look at the tech inside of Google Glass, I highly recommend checking out what the Catwig… → Read More
It seems a week doesn’t go by without finding out about a malfunctioning Jawbone Up band. The wearable step tracking bracelet measures how much you move each day and how well you sleep.
It was relaunched late last year in the US, and came to Asia in March. → Read More
Poor Nokia. Samsung doesn’t stop. It’s just announced a new iteration of its flagship Galaxy S4 handset which has a digital camera embedded in its rump. The Galaxy S4 Zoom has a 10X optical zoom lens on the back, giving it two clear aspects: from the front it looks exactly like Samsung’s flagship S4 smartphone. But from the back it looks like a point and shoot digital camera. → Read More
Brooklyn-based MakerBot is a darling of the 3D printing community, and it recently moved into its new digs in Sunset Park, so the crew can more efficiently build and ship their shiny new Replicator 2 and 2X printers. Call it a classic case of growing pains — once demand for 3D printers started picking up, the MakerBot team soon found themselves aching for even more space to work in, and we got… → Read More
As a lover of all things mechanical, I’m in awe of Chris Fenton’s Entabulator. Using an old book on mechanical loom-making, a 3D printer, and some serious patience he engineered a computer that can read a program off of punch cards and, in this case, calculate the Fibonacci sequence. The machine runs using a hand crank (Fenton notes you can overclock it by cranking faster) and it is quite finicky… → Read More
By now we’ve heard most of what the big three have had to say. Nintendo is holding the line with the Wii U, Microsoft has announced an always-on box for $499, and Sony has made nice with gamers by offering a $399 device that allows users to share and sell games. All of the consoles are HD, all of them support multi-player, and the console wars are essentially over. Each console is a permutation of… → Read More
DIY micro-robotics is having a moment. The latest project to take the crowdfunding route to build out a platform for playing around with robotics is called BrickPi. As its name suggests, BrickPi is a mash-up of the Raspberry Pi microcomputer, co-opted to act as the brains of the robot, plus LEGO Mindstorms sensors, bricks and motors for crafting its working parts. Firmware is written in Arduino. → Read More
Today is the big day. The era of iOS 7, OS X Mavericks, the Mac Pro is upon us, even if we won’t actually enjoy these wonderful wares for another few months. That said, we’ve switched things up a bit and decided to do an extra, non-Friday TC Gadgets podcast to discuss how fundamentally all of our lives have changed. This week, the podcast features John Biggs, Matt Burns, Jordan Crook… → Read More
Apple’s new Mac Pro is a radical departure from previous versions, and a redesign that in many ways has to be seen to believed. Which is why we’ve put together this gallery of the new pro desktop for power users, which is clad in black aluminum and houses not one but two workstation graphics cards along with PCI Express flash storage, Thunderbolt 2, Xeon processors and 4k video output for up to… → Read More
While Apple touted selling a cumulative 600 million devices, their numbers will inevitably draw comparisons to the figures that Google shared last month at developer conference I/O. At that point, Google said that it had seen 900 million devices activated. → Read More
While that other big tech press event soldiers on, Microsoft just recently wound down its E3 media briefing with a long-awaited bit of news: the Xbox One will launch sometime this November, and gamers in the U.S. will have to shell out $499 to get their hands on one.
Don’t live in the U.S.? No problem. Microsoft has said that the console will be available in 21 (currently unspecified) markets… → Read More
Today at WWDC, Apple updated the MacBook Air to give it a boost. VP of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller insisted on one of its main feature, its battery. The 13-inch now has 12 hours of battery life while the 11-inch is supposed to last 9 hours. “You can watch almost the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy,” Schiller said. The MacBook Air now boasts a new Intel Haswell CPU, a 40 percent… → Read More
Well, Microsoft kicked off its big E3 media briefing today with a big middle finger to rival console player Sony. Starting on July 1, XBOX Live Gold members who still have XBOX 360s will get two free game downloads per month to keep — according to Microsoft SVP Yusuf Mehdi, Assassin’s Creed 2 and Halo 3 will be among the first titles to be available for Gold subscribers. → Read More
It’s no secret that iRobot’s domestic cleaning machines can carry some interesting things while they putter around and wipe up your floors, and iRobot and Cisco have taken that notion to its next logical step. The two companies have just announced that they’ve taken this smart roving robotics platform and stuck this pricey enterprise video conferencing monitor on top, all to facilitate West… → Read More
So Samsung’s Galaxy S4 Mini and Galaxy S4 Active have officially made the leap from unimaginative rumors to unimaginative reality, which leaves only one oft-rumored version of the popular smartphone left unaccounted for — the curious S4 Zoom.
As the name sort of implies, this Galaxy variant is said to blur the line between smartphone and camera, and we may now be getting our first look at the… → Read More
As you may well know, the tourbillon is one of the hardest (and most expensive) complications to build and only the very rich and very obsessed can afford them. This watch, however, may be just the ticket if you’re a hardcore Trekkie and you just hit a liquidity event. → Read More
Apple is set to deliver its WWDC keynote address on Monday June 10, and there are bound to be a lot of new things revealed on that day. The exact details remain shrouded in mystery, but as with every major Apple event, there have been lots of leaks and rumors leading up to this one, so we can at least sketch in broad terms what we’re likely in for next week. → Read More
If you’ve got that summertime sadness, look no further than this week’s TC Gadgets Podcast. In it, we discuss the new Form 1 printer which is meant to compete with the likes of MakerBot, as well as all the upcoming WWDC goodness from Apple, including a revamped iOS 7, the new iRadio, and even some new MacBooks? Maybe? → Read More
BlueStacks is hoping to take the clear early consumer interest in a home gaming console built with mobile technologies and make that into big business, and today it’s announcing what could become a huge advantage for its GamePop console over other similar offerings. GamePop will support iPhone and iPad apps at launch, in addition to Android titles, making the first such device to tap into Apple’s… → Read More
London-based roboticist Evangelos Georgiou wants to offer an open-source platform for helping Arduino hobbyists take their projects mobile, thanks to a remote controlled robot called the RK-1 that combines a programmable Arduino microcontroller with apps for iPhone or Android, tank tracks, DC motors and Wi-Fi connectivity. It’s a project that could really help out with home hobbyists, or with… → Read More
Paris-based Internet of Things startup Netatmo, which makes personal weather station and air quality sensor devices (as seen in the video above) for use with Android and iOS apps, has just closed a €4.5M ($5.8M) funding round. It plans to use the funding to launch new connected devices in the second half of this year, including additional indoor air modules, and also rain and wind meters. → Read More
Payments company Adyen has published the first of a new quarterly index intended to track the evolving landscape of mobile commerce. One notable increase flagged up by the data is the increasing popularity of tablets as a commerce device. The inaugural Adyen Global Mobile Payments Index is based on 10 months of transactions conducted on its platform. → Read More
Doing your homework may net you more than just a good grade in school. Two young designers have just found out that it may lead to a big company snapping up your tiny design firm. Logitech announced that it has acquired Chicago-based TT Design Labs, the tiny startup behind the crowdfunded TidyTilt iPhone case that made it big on Kickstarter in late 2011. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. → Read More
Yes, it’s become exceedingly clear that the Internet has entered into a prodigious, lascivious (and hilarious) relationship with cats. But, at the end of the day, when it comes to the title of “Man/Woman/Child’s Best Friend,” it’s the friendly neighborhood pooch that takes the cake. In my own experience, even when The World thinks you’re an idiot, life gets you down and you’ve forgotten to feed… → Read More
Amazon has made official the return of a device many thought was bound for the e-reader graveyard, the Kindle DX. The DX is Amazon’s big-screen reader, with a 9.7-inch e-ink display and a full keyboard at the bottom. It’s almost comically oversized compared to the more popular and current e-reader models, which include the Kobo Aura HD and Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, and the technology within is now… → Read More
Let’s say you’ve created an incredibly well-received smartphone and need to create another such device to send off into an incredibly competitive market. What do you do?
Well, if you’re HTC, the answer is to make another one… but slightly smaller. In line with rumors that have cropped over the past few weeks, Estonian news site Delfi → Read More
mOwayduino are programmable Arduino-based robot toys designed to be used in conjunction with apps plus hardware add-ons — creating a rich environment for learning by playing with hardware and software. Or that’s the idea. At the moment, mOwayduino is at the concept/prototyping stage. The Spanish company behind the project is aiming to crowdfund it via Indiegogo. → Read More
Thalmic Labs, the Waterloo-based startup working on an all new form of user input for computing devices with the MYO amrband, today announced the close of its $14.5 million Series A funding round, led by Spark Capital and Intel Capital. The round boasts a lot of others besides, including Formation 8, First Round Capital, FundersClub, and individual investors like Paul Graham, Garry Tan, Marc… → Read More
After unboxing last week’s Galaxy S4 Mini, Samsung is keeping the pedal pressed to the metal by announcing another new launch variant of its current flagship smartphone — this time aimed at users who want their device to be made of slightly tougher stuff. Iterating its portfolio in this way is how Samsung squeezes the competition by making it harder for them to differentiate. → Read More
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