Google’s major developer conference, Google I/O, went down this week. Was it a bit of a letdown? Probably. Did cool stuff still come out of the event? Eh? Maybe? We discuss these topics and more this week on the TC Gadgets podcast. In fact, we even had Frederic Lardinois join as a guest, along with John Biggs, Matt Burns, Jordan Crook (that’s me!), Romain Dillet, and Darrell Etherington as Bob… → Read More
Because I like sharing cool watches with you guys I decided to share this cool watch with you guys. It’s called the Ressence Type 3 and it’s actually a liquid-filled mechanical watch with a nearly featureless face. Each of those dials – registers in the parlance – look like they are seamlessly embedded in the face surface and the watch, being suspended in synthetic oil, has no crown and is wound… → Read More
Online note-taking company Evernote revealed something very interesting via its CEO Phil Libin, who told IDG News Service that his company wants to design hardware products and eventually make them itself. Libin said Evernote will move soon to start releasing Evernote-branded gadgets, which will be co-designed and manufactured by external OEM partners. → Read More
Leap Motion hasn’t even launched its first product yet, and already the company is on a roll. Now, it’s announcing a collaboration with HP, to bring its brand of 3D motion control to that company’s devices, first via bundling the Leap Motion Controller with select HP computers, and then later by hardware integration that embeds Leap tech right into HP gadgets themselves. → Read More
I always wanted but never got a Virtual Boy, but I’m glad I waited since the Oculus Rift looks like a much better goggle-based gaming platform. The gadget got the teardown treatment over at iFixit today, thanks to a developer edition secured by the site. The Rift was remarkably easy to pull apart, earning it a very high repairability score. Rare for an iFixit teardown, the Oculus Rift one also… → Read More
Unless you’re reading this while using an inhaler, this fact may surprise you: According to the CDC, 26 million Americans currently have the chronic respiratory disease we know as asthma. Not only that, but the CDC tells us that the disease costs the U.S. $3,300 per person annually, and medical expenses associated with asthma have increased to about $56 billion (thanks to hospitalizations… → Read More
A few years ago, I received a panicked phone call from a friend I hadn’t heard from in months. His Internet connection was on the fritz, and he had a huge project due the next morning. He’d called his ISP, and they were no help. As his only friend that, as he said, “knew computers and stuff”*, I was bound by International Homie Law to fix his crap. → Read More
Findables, a specialty case maker for smartphones and tablets, has just scored some significant distribution deals for its QR-coded, “connected” cases. Previously, the company was selling online and in 550 “The Source” locations in Canada, but will now be on the shelves in all 1,100 Office Depot stores in the U.S. next month, as well as made available on BestBuy.com, Amazon, and Gamestop.com. → Read More
Carvoyant, a startup that’s been busy developing a platform that will tell you exactly what’s going on with your vehicle’s general health (and what that blasted “check engine” light means), is today ready to start shipping its devices to early adopters and developer testers. It has also signed a couple of agreements with auto dealer partners, who will be the first to distribute the system more… → Read More
The PhoneScope 3D offers high-resolution magnified 3D scanning that can have applications for users ranging from forensics specialists to CGI animators. But its developers mostly just want people to have fun with the iPhone add-ons. After years in development, PhoneScope 3D is now raising funds on Kickstarter. → Read More
If you know me, you know two things about me: I love watches and I smell, faintly, of ferret. That’s why I’d like to share my excitement at this review of the new Seiko SRP313K1 “Orange Monster,” one of the nicest and least expensive automatic diving watches you can buy. → Read More
It’s that time again when Google does its “Spring Cleaning.” Basically, that means the company axes the stuff that really isn’t working and takes up too much time or resources. But lets’ call it what it is, these things failed or fizzled. → Read More
Once, buyers were overwhelmed with choice. Now, they’re just overwhelmed with a choice of tools to help them choose. But gdgt, one such site, is hoping that it can build the ultimate solution for consumers looking to make smart gadget buying solutions, is launching new custom search tools it hopes will make using it to clear up shopper confusion a no-brainer.
Gdgt is the creation of former… → Read More
As if our new hardware-based Hackathon opportunities weren’t enough, we’d love to draw your attention to Disrupt Hardware Alley, a collection of hardware startups who are ready to amaze, delight, and stupefy you with crazy hardware from around the world.
This year we have over 25 participants and we’re sponsored by NewBlue Innovators Program by Best Buy. Look for some wild stuff including a… → Read More
I’ve been hearing about LittleBits, an electronics kit for hobbyists and kids, for quite a while but I never got a chance to play with them until recently. The company recently announced a funding round with hardware manufacturer PCH and they launched their Extended Kit, a new box of bits.
The kit allows you to build simple circuits using a power source, a connector, and an output. For example… → Read More
Professor Keon Jae Lee at the Korean Advanced Institute Of Science And Technology created a solid-state flexible battery that retains is energy level when folded, spindled, and or mildly mutilated. The battery could mean future ereaders and tablets could be paper thin and partially foldable, ushering in interesting new device designs. → Read More
Imagine this: you get an email message. Maybe it’s from someone important, like the Dalai Lama or Lorenzo Lamas. But how do you know that it came? Easy. The Blink(1). The Blink(1) is a little LED that lights up when something happens on your computer. You can run as many of these things as you have USB ports and, with a little creativity, you can really start to see the value.
For example, you… → Read More
Europe in the mid to late 18th century was not as backwards as some people may believe. In fact, much of the developed world was at a point of incredible intellectual advancement. In Switzerland, for example, a man named Jaquet Droz and his team were building real, honest-to-HAL robots. They didn’t call them that back then, but these automaton androids were incredibly advanced even by today’s… → Read More
As a big watch nerd, I love sharing cool watches with you guys in hopes that my obsession, as unseemly as it is, will be passed from writer to reader like an STD. This time I was lucky enough to be able to handle the new Ernst Benz Officer ChronoLunar, a huge “officer-style” chronograph with day-date-lunar cycle registers and a 24-hour dial.
To be clear, this watch uses the Valjoux 7751… → Read More
If you watch one homemade Japanese RC car transformer video today, make it this one. This amazing little roadster switches from sports car to dancing robot in a few seconds and it can even walk while in robot mode, and, more important, transform back into a car in the blink of an eye. → Read More
No self-respecting gadget lover can deny that MB&F’s very high-end artistic wrist machines are overall cool. Most of us can’t afford them, but items like this certain stir our ambitious sides. Recently MB&F released a new limited version of their Horological Machine Number 3 (HM3) watch that was designed and produced in collaboration with a boutique Finnish watch maker named Stepan… → Read More
Screens with a 1024×768 resolution are a bit like Windows XP: they have long been surpassed by better options but still remained the most often used screens on the web. That is, until now. According to the latest data from StatCounter, 1366×768 screens just surpassed 1024×768 as the most popular screen resolution used by the visitors to StatCounter’s global network of sites. Three years ago… → Read More
An interesting thing is happening in hardware marketing these days and I think Devin noticed it yesterday when he pointed out that Samsung, in their marketing of the Samsung Galaxy Note, is changing the script when it comes to gadget advertising, a tendency that is becoming more and more apparent in newer ads from many big players.
First, let’s look at the history of CE advertising. For most of… → Read More
When you’re a small team going to cover the biggest electronics show in the world, every person has to act as a Swiss Army knife, able to fill any role at any time. This generally produces an incredibly heavy bag, packed with spare cameras, lenses, batteries, cords, and of course a laptop. Luckily for us, our live-camera approach to covering the show takes a bit of that burden off of our sagging… → Read More
Rather than looking back (which I’m sure we will), I thought it would be nice to look forward to 2012 and beyond and note some of the gadgets that will change the world in the next few years. I’ve included mobile, gaming, and computing gadgets but I think 2012 will also be the year of Windows Phone, 3D printing, and fitness technology that actually makes a difference.
I’m not expecting much in… → Read More
Based on the RepRap platform, the Printrbot is a $499 3D printer accessible to everyone. Designed to be built in a few hours, this Kickstarter project includes multiple levels of kit completion – $199, for example, gets you most of the parts except for the extruder while $500 gets you the whole caboodle. It is completely expandable and can build items 5 by 5 by 5 inches, although you can upgrade… → Read More
For a mere $50 you, too, can own a small, iPhone-controlled helicopter made by a company that has been traditionally known for selling phone cases.
Like Parrot before them, Griffin is branching out from its traditional product line and offering this small dual-rotor helicopter that is, in general, controlled via IR commands sent using a special dongle attached to the iPhone. There is full… → Read More
Microsoft has announced the .NET Gadgeteer, a small, Arduiono-like toolkit that allows hackers to build unique hardware and software solutions using a set of pre-assembled parts.
The kid includes a framework for hardware programming that works with Microsoft’s own Visual Studio. For example, you can add camera widgets, heat sensors, and screens to your software project, program it from a PC… → Read More
If you’ve always wanted to play air hockey in real life and couldn’t shrink yourself down enough to stand comfortable on a regulation table, this may be a solution. It is a DIY hoverpuck that uses a motor, propeller, and a puck-shaped case to create a real air hockey experience at full scale. → Read More
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