Anyone who has a tablet, or smart phone knows that their one weakness is their speakers. One solution is to use a speaker dock. The problem with this solution is that it requires an outlet to plug the dock into. This is not very useful if you are in a park or on a beach, the other solution is to use Bluetooth Speakers. This is where the Zooka speakers by Carbon Audio Inc come in. They are Bluetooth speakers made of medical grade silicon. There are no mechanical moving parts and no dock. It slides on to a tablet or top of a notebook. It was designed so it doesn’t hide the iSight camera. There is a kickstand which tucks away into the side and screws into the back. It includes:

1. Two 30 mm speaker drivers at either end of the Zooka
2. 30ft Bluetooth Range
3. Rechargeable battery, providing up to 8 hours of playing
4. Frequency response of 150 to 20,000 Hz

The Zooka is available at Target, Amazon and at Carbon Audio Inc. It comes in a variety of colors and is priced at $99.00

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

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Wireless communication has been around for several years in the sport of professional bicycle racing. Team managers use it communicate back and forth with their riders during races. Vertix has it’s own wireless communication solution, but this one is added into motorcycle helmets.

The Vertix hardware comes in a couple of different styles so that it can be used with both full-face and open-face helmets. Both the speaker and microphone can be easily mounted to almost any helmet. In fact, they claim an installation time of only minutes. The buttons can easily be tapped while riding to allow communication with other riders in your group or access to a cell phone. The units can paired with a group of up the three riders, and of course between rider and passenger as well. The published range for communication is 500 meters, but Vertix claims it can sometimes reach up to 1 km. One final feature, a handlebar-mounted remote control will be coming out soon. The MSRP is $160 and you can find out more at the Vertix site.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central & Steve Lee of WavesofTech.com for the TechPodcast Network

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This was by far Nick’s favorite thing at CES 2012. Fulton Innovation has decided to get ahead of the companies wanting wireless inductive charging and has joined the Wireless Power Consortium and has teamed up to create the Qi (pronounced “chee”) Standard using their E-Couple technology to unite the world and cut that final cord that ties us all down.

Motorola, Sharp, Energizer, LG and Samsung join the list of over 80 companies that will allow interoperability across their devices and chargers, which will allow consumers to charge essentially any compatible device (with the option to retrofit) on their desk, in their office or even in their car, because at the end of the day, it’s all about convenience.

The idea for wireless charging doesn’t only extend to the phone sector. All mobility is looking to get some love as tablets and laptops can also be made to do the same thing. You can purchase an adapter module, bolt it under a table and you have wireless charging whereever you want it. Imagine setting a blender on a spot in your kitchen and it charges with no wires. Then, using the same spot on your induction range compatible top, cooking with a pan that can go from boiling to simmering using autonomous functions. For the ladies, you could have a designer bag with charging capabilities so your phone doesn’t have to be taken out to plug it in.

The possibilities are endless and we’ve mentioned it throughout our CES coverage on our shows which you can find here.

Interview by Nicholas DiMeo of F5 Live for the TechPodcast Network.

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