Category Archives: Toys & Gaming

Jamstik Guitar For Your iPad



Zivix LogoLearning to play a musical instrument is both challenging and rewarding but fitting practice into today’s busy lives can be difficult. Zivix Jamstik – the guitar for iOS – could be the answer. Chris Heille from Zivix shows the two Todds a few riffs.

The Jamstik is 16″ lightweight, portable guitar with six real strings and five frets designed to fit into modern life. It’s also a MIDI guitar controller which wirelessly connects with the iPad, iPhone and Mac. The Jamstik gives you the ability to use all of the nuances of guitar playing to control your favourite music creation iOS apps or Mac software.

Jamstik is a new idea in guitar controllers because it uses infrared light to “see” what your hands are doing in real time. Unlike other MIDI guitar solutions that rely on audio analysis and conversion to MIDI, the Jamstik scans the fretboard to detect what your fretting hand is up to before your picking hand ever hits a string.

If you want to learn the guitar, the included JamTutor iPad app will get you going through the basics of playing guitar without the hassles of tuning, lesson scheduling or expensive guitar teachers.

The Jamstik is available now for $299 from a range of retailers including select Apple stores. If buying direct from jamstik.com, look out for the limited time discount code CES2015JSSAVER.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central and Todd Aune of The Elder Divide for the TechPodcast Network.

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TPN Picks Awards



Each year the TPN team picks 10 companies that our team feels are deserving of a TPN pick. The awards are for what we feel is cool at CES and excites us the most. This years 10 picks are exceptional.


CES 2015 – Preshow Commentary



Todd Cochrane the host of the Geek News Central Podcast a 10 year veteran of CES discusses how the team coverage is going to shape up this year.


Whiteclouds displays its 3D printing



whitecloudsFor those who can’t afford a 3D printer, which with current pricing, likely includes the vast majority of us, Whiteclouds will handle that part for you.

The company stopped by to visit with Todd and Jeffrey during CES 2014 in Las Vegas. The rep explained exactly what Whiteclouds can do for you, which includes using your rough sketches, or even getting a description right over the phone. In the video below you’ll get a look at exactly what is possible, as some items the company created with its 3D printers are shown off. Depending on what you want printed, the price can vary. For instance, an architect looking for a model of a home plan should expect to pay somewhere in the $600-$2,000 range, depending on size. Find out more by visiting WhiteClouds.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the TechPodcast Network and Jeffrey Powers of Geekazine

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BeeWi Combat Toys



BeeWi LogoTodd and Don have some fun with Tobias Schoeler from French wireless specialists, BeeWi, and on show at CES are Bluetooth battle robots. Controlled from a smartphone app, the robots can fight against themselves or other BeeWi remote controlled toys including helicopters. Very cool and lots of fun.

The robots will be available in the first half of 2014 priced at US$35 and will be supported on Android, iOS and Windows Phone devices. More information and more toys at www.bee-wi.com.

Interview by Don Baine, the Gadget Professor, and Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the TechPodcast Network.

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Full Featured Pinball For the Home from Stern Pinball at CES



StarTrekPro_pinballPinball machines are making a huge resurgence in both arcades and home game rooms. They are also a great example of a healthier gaming experience since you play them standing up. Health Tech Weekly host Jamie Davis, the Podmedic got the chance to stop by the Stern Pinball booth and chat with founder Gary Stern about the latest offerings from his company.

Pinball games associated with popular entertainment properties like the Avengers, Star Trek, and Spiderman make the gaming experience more fun for the player. For the home enthusiast, the Stern Pinball company now offers not only a full line of commercially operated pinball games for arcades, bars and other businesses, they also have a full line of home-based machines. These large sized home pinball games offer many of the features from the larger machines including a full-sized playing area, professional bumpers, flippers, sling-shots, and more!

Find out more about how you can get one of these awesome machines for your home game room or entertainment center. Visit the folks at SternPinball.com for more information and pricing.

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Find more segments from the Digital Health Pavilion at CES 2014 both here and at the Health Tech Weekly podcast site with host Jamie Davis, the Podmedic.


Todd Cochrane – CES 2014 Host Introduction



I’m Todd Cochane of Geek News Central. I am also the CEO of RawVoice the parent company of TPN.tv and the Tech Podcast Network. This will be my 9th year covering International CES and as always I am excited to be at the show. Take a few minutes and watch the video to get some background on me and the team that will be coming to cover CES.