All posts by geek news

Marshall Electronics Targets Pro Portable Audio

Accessories, CES 2015, , , ,

Marshall Electronics LogoSmartphones, and in particular the iPhone, are beginning to replace the video camera for on-the-spot interviews especially when it’s a one person gig. While the video side of the recording is well covered by the iPhone, the audio isn’t, mainly because the camera has to be six feet away from the subject rather than the the six inches preferred by a microphone. Marshall Electronics have been thinking about this problem and Don gets a world exclusive on their newest product from Perry Golstein.

Marshall have been working on a set of portable accessories for the iPhone which connects pro gear for high quality audio recordings. Brand new is a battery-powered pocket-mixer with four audio inputs, headphone monitor and an analogue output. In addition, the mixer has a digital out over USB: connect the mixer to the iPhone via Apple’s camera connector and the audio can be recorded digitally. The mixer will be available later in the year with a target price of $249. Very neat.

Interview by Don Baine, the Gadget Professor.

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New Matter MOD-t 3D Printer

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New Matter logoPersonally I’m not convinced by the vision of a 3D printer in every home though I’m constantly reminded of IBM’s Thomas Watson and his alleged statement regarding the need for only five computers in the world. New Matter don’t have my doubts and are working hard to produce an affordable 3D printer for the home. Steve Schell brings in some printed objects for Don to admire.

New Matter are building an ecosystem around their new 3D printer, the MOD-t, to make life as easier as possible for owners. No experience of 3D modelling is required, with pre-made models in their online store. Some are free of charge, others cost a fee; it’s up to the designer. All the major 3D model formats are supported so keen owners can create their own designs if desired. It’s a single head printer so only one colour of plastic polymer can be used at a time, though the material can be changed during a print run. If I’m wrong and you want one in your home, the New Matter’s MOD-t 3D printer will be available in the summer for less than $400.

Interview by Don Baine, the Gadget Professor.

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OmniMount Takes A Lifestyle View at CES

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OmniMount LogoCES regulars OmniMount decided to approach the show a little differently this year, setting out their products in lifestyle vignettes, with visitors to seeing the products in real and relevant scenarios. Don chats with Bill Ennis, veteran of 31 shows, to hear about a few of OmniMounts latest products.

The first of OmniMount’s new products is the WorkSpace Wall Organiser, a stylish wall-mounted height-adjustable fold-away desk which conveniently creates a mini-office when folded down and hidden away when not needed. $399.95.

Also new and entered for a CES award is an in-wall TV mount that holds up to an 80″ screen almost flush with the wall surface. With the flush mount, the slim bezels of the stylish TVs are emphasised, enhancing the picture frame qualities of the TV. Snappily titled OE120IW, it’s $349.95.

Interview by Don Baine, the Gadget Professor.

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Oort SmartHub Integrates With Bluetooth

CES 2015, Home, , , , ,

Oort Logo

Smart homes and the Internet of Things are very much in vogue at CES this year with vendors offering a wide range of products, some of which hardly deserve the name “smart” and others that are genuinely innovative. In the latter camp, there is Oort which tries to “make your world smarter”. Don learns more from Radek Tadajewski, Wizard of Oort.

The difference between Oort and many of its competitors is that Oort has been designed to work openly with Bluetooth devices from the start. By using Bluetooth profiles as the integration mechanism, Oort can use any Bluetooth device that has the necessary profile. To get you started, there’s a $350 starter kit which includes the Oort hub, light bulbs, sockets and a tracker beacon though other devices can be added as needed. As you’d expect there’s a smartphone app for Android and iOS which communicates with the hub and the connected  devices. You can view the status of devices and sensors through the smartphone app, whether you are inside the house or sitting in the office, and you can turn devices on and off as needed.

There’s more in the interview by Don Baine, the Gadget Professor.

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Wi-Fi Alliance Looks To The Future at CES

CES 2015, Wireless, , , ,

WiFi Alliance Logo

The 10 billionth Wi-Fi-certified device will be shipping around now. That’s impressive considering that Wi-Fi is still young, going back only 15 years. I remember 802.11b and my first Wi-Fi PCI card which had an antenna the size of a pack of playing cards. Those were the days. Anyway, Don Blaine, the Gadget Professor, gets a little more up-to-date with Edgar Figueroa, President and CEO of the Wi-Fi Alliance.

Expected this year is new feature called Wi-Fi Aware which gathers information from the surrounding environment and pushes it to the user (subject to preferences). For example, when in a supermarket, a message might pop up to show the shortest check-out queue or special offers. If combined with the Internet of Things, other clever things can happen such as a garage door sending a message indicating that it’s been open for two hours, or turning the water off if a leak is detected. Sounds like a great technology to make life easier and safer for everyone.

Interview by Don Baine, the Gadget Professor.

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Ericcson Is Making the Cloud more Secure at CES

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Ericsson logoIt wasn’t that long ago that businesses, and individuals started to use the cloud. There are those who love its convenience, and others who don’t really have a good understanding of how it works. The biggest concern is often security.

Nick spoke with Vance from Ericsson about the company’s plans to make a safer, more secure, cloud. Ericsson is looking towards the future and noting that in 2020 there will be approximately 50 billion connected devices. The company believes that a lot of that will exist over an industrialized cloud platform.

That platform needs to be highly programmable, highly accessible, highly governable, and controllable. Most of all, it absolutely must be secure. Ericsson is putting a fundamental paradigm shift into how we think about security in the cloud. Today, the concept people use can be summarized as “build a bigger wall” around your data. If you create an app, for example, you have to spend time working on its security.

That is still important, but in addition, Ericsson wants the structure of the cloud itself to provide security. Ericsson is currently at the start of their journey towards that goal. They want to be able to validate for you the authenticity of the data you put into the cloud and to mathematically validate that it has not been breached. Or, if a breach occurs, they will go through a series of events to determine where the data was comprised, how it was compromised, and when the event occurred. All of this should bring peace of mind to people who use the cloud.

Interview by Nick of F5 Live for the TechPodcast Network.

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Denon Has New Gear for Professionals at CES

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Denon logoThere’s definitely a real emphasis on consumer-focused products at CES. But there’s still much to be found at the show that’s specifically geared towards professionals. Denon is a great example of one company that’s not here to sell wearables or kids’ toys.

Nick caught up with Eric from Denon. Eric showed off several of Denon’s new products that are specifically designed to be used by audio-video integrators. The first is the Solutions series bluetooth-enabled receiver. It’s a box that transmits audio via bluetooth and can easily be integrated into a pro-grade sound system.

Next up is the Denon Envoy, a 360-watt chargeable PA speaker that comes loaded with different input options. Envoy can stream audio from a bluetooth-connected smartphone, it can play media from a built-in SD card slot or it can be connected to a standard external mixer. Envoy’s battery will run for up to 12 hours on one charge.

The last piece of gear is the DN300Z rack-mountable media player. This device is designed to play any type of media a user might have on hand. It’ll play CD’s, bluetooth streams, files from SD cards or USB sticks, even AM/FM radio. This unit would work great in situations where it’s necessary to play back multiple media formats in a hurry.

Interview by Nick of F5 Live for the TechPodcast Network.

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iSet Smartwatch Improves your Tennis Game at CES

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iSet LogoPeople who are playing a competitive sport need to know the score as the game goes on. Sometimes, in the middle of a match, it can be difficult to keep track of. The iSet smartwatch solves that problem. It keeps track of tennis match scores in real time. Use it to track your own or to check the win/loss ratio of your favorite tennis players.

Scott spoke with Lea Partouche about the iSet smartwatch. The watch connects via Bluetooth to a player’s smartphone. It requires an app that is free to download for either iOS or Android. You can connect one iSet smartwatch to one smartphone.

Two tennis players, who each are using an iSet smartwatch, can keep track of the score of the match in real time just by glancing at their smartwatch. One really nice thing about the iSet is that it can be used even if your tennis partner doesn’t have one. The smartwatch can still record the score into the app.

In addition to recording the score, the app will show your win/loss stats. It keeps track of who you played against and when the match took place. Or, you can put the name of a tennis player that you want to follow into the app, and it will show you that player’s statistics.

In addition to being a tennis tracker, the iSet smartwatch can do other things. It can show you the time. It can be used as a stopwatch or a timer. The iSet smartwatch is expected to be released in March of 2015 for a retail price of $129.00.

Interview by Scott of F5 Live for the TechPodcast Network.

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Immersis Brings Gaming out of the Screen and Into the Room at CES

CES 2015, Entertainment, TVs, Video, , , ,

Immersis logoVideo games have come a long way since the days of blocky bits bouncing ’round on a cathode ray tube.

The unrealized potential of gaming has always been to transport players to worlds otherwise unreachable in everyday life. And while game sound and graphics have improved a lot, those improvements are still stuck on a flat, two-dimensional screen. French developers Immersis are working on a new projector system that brings game environments out of that two-dimensional state and into an entire room.

Scott had a rendezvous with Daniel from Immersis. Daniel showed off a miniature mockup of the full-sized Immersis projector and he explained how the Immersis system will consist of the full-sized version of their special HD protector that’ll work with either a console game system or computer to project the gaming environment onto all of the walls surrounding a player, putting that player right in the center of the action.

Immersis is launching the product thru Kickstarter and the company has already reached its goal of raising $100,000 thru the crowdfunding site. Daniel believes that Immersis will be able to bring the projector to market by November of this year and that the retail price will be $2500.00.

Interview by Scott of F5 Live for the TechPodcast Network.

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Meccano Brings Future Robot Overlords to CES

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Meccano logo

We’ve all dreamed of owning our very own robot. Imagine, having a mechanical friend who’s always there and won’t mind when you tell it to fetch another cold drink from the kitchen. Well, those robot dreams are quickly becoming real thanks to the efforts of companies like Meccano.

Nick spoke with Fraser from Meccano. Fraser explained that many people had probably already heard of the Meccano brand, as it was known as Erector for many years in the U.S. He also gave details on an amazing new product, the Meccanoid, which Meccano will bring to stores in August of 2015.

Meccanoid is a four-foot tall humanoid robot that’s built from an easy-to-assemble kit. Upon construction, users can program Meccanoid by using a simple “record-and-playback” system built right into the bot, or via bluetooth-connected smartphone, or USB-connected computer. The potential of Meccanoid is endless as the kit can be broken down into a number of configurations, limited only by the imagination of the builder.

Interview by Nick of F5 Live for the TechPodcast Network.

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