Category Archives: CES 2014

Mobio shows off its car mounts

Auto, CES 2014

mobioDon Baine, also known as “The Gadget Professor” stopped by the Mobio booth during CES to check out what the company is offering this year.

The mobile accessory maker is showing off its range magnetic mounts for smartphones. These work both in the car and in the office. The products make ifor convenient mounting of your device, as it just sticks — no need to fiddle with adjustable holders, as many of the traditional car mounts have. All of the gadgets shown off in the video below are available now at Mobio, with prices varying depending on the product you choose.

Interview by Don Baine, the Gadget Professor

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Panovise displays its camera mounts at CES

Auto, CES 2014

<img class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-47475″ alt=”panavise” src=”https://geeknewscentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/panavise.png” width=”228″ height=”71″ />Panovise makes mounts for may devices, including smartphones. Todd stopped by the booth to take a look at the mounting systems for portable cameras, such as the GoPro.

The systems are very advanced. You begin with the stand, such as suction-cup mount, and then add the various attachments for whatever device you are going to be using with it. The kit is called the Action Grip, and you can expect to pay somewhere in the $40 range for the starter set. You can find out more by watching the video below, and you can also visit <a href=”http://www.panavise.com/” target=”_blank”>Panavise</a> on the web.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of <a href=”https://geeknewscentral.com/”>Geek News Central</a> for the <a href=”https://tpn.tv/”>TechPodcast Network</a>

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CES 2014: Flir One Personal Thermal Imager with IdoNotes

CES 2014, Gadgets, Photography, Video, , , ,

Chris Miller (IdoNotes) took a look at the future of personal thermal imagery devices with the FLIR ONE™ at CES 2014. There are many practical and fun ways to use the Flir One that we explore in the video interview.  First, a quick description of what the Flir One does straight from their website:

FLIR ONE™ is a non-contact device that detects infrared energy (heat) and converts it into an electronic signal, which is then processed to produce a thermal image on your phone screen and perform temperature calculations.

The FLIR ONE™ is a case that comes in three colors for your iPhone with the thermal imaging portion easily detachable.  It utilizes it’s own internal battery supply. It weighs in at 3.2 ounces and currently fits the iPhone 5 and 5s only.  Android cases are expected later in 2014.

From using your phone for hide and seek in total darkness to checking your child’s temperature, this looks like an amazingly useful addition to your phone.

Video summary by Chris Miller (IdoNotes) of Spiked Studio.

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Xi3 Low Power PCs

CES 2014, Computers

Xi3 Corporation LogoDavid shows off Xi3‘s latest developments including the X7A modular computer and the Z3RO Pro. If you haven’t seen Xi3’s offerings before, you need to check them out – they’re small cube-like units totally unlike your normal case.

The X7A is aimed at the power user with a quad core AMD Trinity processor, Radeon graphics, 8 GB RAM, SSD (up to 1 TB) and more ports than you can shake a stick at. The modular part means that in future you’ll be able to upgrade components without replacing the whole unit. Prices start at $1099.

The Z3RO Pro is more budget friendly, starting at $549. With only a dual core processor and 4 GB RAM, it’s more suited to general office activities, but it will run two monitors. The killer feature here is that it consumes only 15W of power.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the TechPodcast Network.

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iRing the First Motion Control Device for iOs

Accessories, CES 2014, Computers, Gadgets

ir2iRing is the first motion control device that works with the iPhone and iPad. It will work with various music apps including The Groovemaker and VocalLive and more. The iRing FX/Control app runs in the background and talks to the other app, meanwhile the iOs camera picks up and follows the motion. The ring has controls on both sides. Instead of moving your fingers back and forth on the apps. You control the beat by moving the ring back and forth over the apps and the pitch by moving it closer and farther away from the app that you are using.

The iRing can be used by someone who knows very little about music but also by an experience musician. Although right now the ring just works with music apps that IK Multimedia has created, but according to IK Multimedia there is no reason it shouldn’t work with other types of apps. They are offering an SDK and licensing to app developers in hopes that more apps will be built that use the iRing. The iRing will be available starting the 1st quarter of 2014. It will cost $25.00 for two rings and the utility app.

Interview by Don Baine, the Gadget Professor.

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Panovise displays its camera mounts at CES

Accessories, Auto, CES 2014, Gadgets, Mobile

panavisePanovise makes mounts for may devices, including smartphones. Todd stopped by the booth to take a look at the mounting systems for portable cameras, such as the GoPro.

The systems are very advanced. You begin with the stand, such as suction-cup mount, and then add the various attachments for whatever device you are going to be using with it. The kit is called the Action Grip, and you can expect to pay somewhere in the $40 range for the starter set. You can find out more by watching the video below, and you can also visit Panavise on the web.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the TechPodcast Network

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Striker shows off some cool products for all sorts of uses

Accessories, Auto, CES 2014

striker logoStriker Hand Tools Company is a unique corporation in today’s technology world. It makes a variety of items for various different purposes, including your home and car. Recently we got them to show off some of the coolest items.

Starting with the Simple Sucker, which is perhaps the simplest phone mount you will ever find. It is a simple rubber stand with suction cups at both ends to stick to a surface, such as a car windshield, while the other end holds your phone, making for an easy GPS mount.

Striker also showed off the Flex-it Light, a unique flashlight-type system that can be utilized during home repairs or while camping. It can be bent and manipulated into all sorts of shapes to light your way in most any direction. It has two rare-earth magnets so it can stick to metal surfaces — such as working on a breaker box when the power is off. Striker also shows off several other models of lights, but you will need to watch the video below to get the full details and demos.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the TechPodcast Network

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Monoprice shows off its latest line — monitors

CES 2014, Gadgets, TVs, Video

monopriceIf you are not familiar with Monoprice, then probably you should be. For those who frequently need computer and home theater cables, which is likely everyone who reads a tech news site like this, it the place to shop. But the company isn’t just about cables anymore. I bought outdoor speakers from it a while back, and it sells things like switches as well.

Now Monoprice in branching out further, this time encompassing monitors. The company shows off both a 30-inch monitor, as well as a 29-inch ultra-wide. The big one is available now, and retailing for $682. The monitors also come with some impressive guarantees from the company, that allow for easy replacement if there is any problem whatsoever.

Interview by Don Baine, the Gadget Professor

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Better motion-focus for DSLR video with Canon’s EOS 70D

Cameras, CES 2014, Photography, Video, , , , , , , , , ,

20130702_hiRes_dafTech_frontShooting DSLR video has often had trouble with auto-focusing on moving subjects. But Canon‘s EOS 70D is a game-changing camera with “dual-pixel CMOS AF” for continuous, smooth, auto focus.

With the EOS 70D’s touchscreen LCD screen, you can tap on any visible subject for the lens to maintain focus on the subject, even when the depth changes.

This brings DSLR video production up in line with standard camcorders, which have often been used for better action focusing.

Without “dual-pixel CMOS AF” and Canon’s new Stepping Motor (STM) lenses, a digital SLR would shift focus back and forth on moving subjects (and sometimes even stationary subjects, too). With this new combination from Canon, amateur and professional videographers and podcasters can now get smooth auto focus.

Also don’t forget that the Canon EOS 70D is an amazing DSLR for still photography, too!

The EOS 70D is a cropped-sensor digital SLR that can record up to 30 minutes of 1080p HD video at up to 30 frames per second. The Canon EOS 70D  camera body is priced competitively for professionals at $1,199 ($1,099 on Amazon.com) and is available today.

Interview by Daniel J. Lewis from The Audacity to Podcast.

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TrackingPoint Weapon System

Accessories, CES 2014, Gadgets, Home

tracking PointTrackingPoint introduced a precision guided firearm at CES 2013. The kit consists of a digital rifle scope and a guided trigger. This kit works with a traditional bolt-action rifle.

The way the system works is that you point the weapon toward the target and the system tags the target. The tag, which is a red dot will remain with the target even if the target moves. The system then calculates all necessary measurements including distance and wind velocity. When you pull the trigger the shot is held until you can align the target. A cross hair will appear and then the shot is fired.

The TrackingPoint system includes five processors within it. There is an image processor that processes up to 54 frames per second. There is also a DSP processor, an Arm core processor and a FPGA with RISC processor inside.

The TrackingPoint kit includes a rifle, a scope, the trigger package, 200 rounds of ammo, a pelican case, a wind bag and an iPad mini. There is also an app for the iPhone or iPad which allows you to stream and record video of your shot. The total kit will be around $20,000. More information is available at the Tracking-Point website.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the TechPodcast Network.

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