Meccano Introduces Your Favorite Robotic Pal, the Meccanoid

February 26, 2015CES 2015, Gadgets, Toys & GamingPLUGHITZ Live

Robots are something we all know and love, regardless of age or experience with technology. They’re just one of those things that you want to play with and learn more about. Luckily, Meccano is looking to make all of that possible by introducing a robotic friend that can be fully programmed to do a variety of things through a multitude of input methods.

For those familiar with the Erector Sets of the past, you may have already been familiar with Meccano, just under a different name. But now, Meccano will be bringing its name, along with its flagship product the Meccanoid, to stores across the world, beginning in August of 2015.

The Meccanoid stands four feet tall and comes in a simple-to-build kit. Once built, you can use different ways to tell the companion what to do. The easiest is the “mirror” method, where you press the record button on the robot and move its limbs around. Upon pressing the play button, the robot will do what you made it do, along with playing back any audio it recorded along the way. You can also program it via a smartphone that you connect to the Meccanoid via Bluetooth, or with a computer connected with USB. There’s even the possibility of hooking up a Kinect or similar device, and having the robot follow your every move using tracking, which is really cool.

The Meccanoid can be built into a bunch of different forms, from a normal robot friend to an automated trash retriever, to anything else you can think of. With the ability to fully code the bot, the combinations of forms and functions are practically endless.

Meccano also won the Last Gadget Standing event at CES 2015 with its Meccanoid product.

Interview by Nicholas DiMeo of F5 Live: Refreshing Technology for the Tech Podcast Network.

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Zolt Proves That Great Things Come in Small Packages

February 26, 2015CES 2015, Computers, GadgetsPLUGHITZ Live

It’s no secret: Everyone, at least once in their life has forgotten a charger or brought the wrong one on a business trip or vacation. What if there was one charger that you could bring that could handle 2 devices and a laptop? And what if the charger automatically knew what voltage and wattage to deliver to the devices? Meet Zolt.

The world’s smallest laptop charger was a 2015 International CES Innovation Award Honoree. Zolt’s ability to charger a laptop and two other devices at the same time is what makes it so unique and truly a product that stands out from the pack.

Zolt comes with a 6-foot proprietary cable that’s the same color as the charger, which comes in an assortment of flavors. It also features the a bunch of different laptop tips that charge almost every device on the market today. Your Lenovo laptop, Apple iPad and any micro-USB device are all on the list of the hundreds of devices in total that can work with Zolt.

Weighing in at only 3 ounces, and available for a special pre-order price of $79, or $99 when launched, Zolt looks to makes its debut sometime in Spring 2015.

Interview by Nicholas DiMeo of F5 Live: Refreshing Technology for the Tech Podcast Network.

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A Glasses-Free 3DTV and Gaming Experience with Ultra-D

February 26, 2015CES 2015, Entertainment, TVsPLUGHITZ Live

One of the things that were considered a “sleeper pick” in this year’s CES trends was 3DTV and gaming combining on the big screen in your living room. Up until now, the implementation hasn’t really been great and the technology used has caused eye strain for many who have used it. Luckily StreamTV Networks’ Ultra-D product looks to alleviate all of that with their latest announcement.

Introducing a glasses-free 3DTV experience for gamers and TV-watchers alike. For the TV, standing in a certain spot isn’t required. The 4K TV’s cones overlap, giving 140-degrees of viewing angle, and comes in different sizes all the way up to 89″. You can also set the depth of the 3D, so for sports you can tune down the 3D effect but can turn it up when you want to. This is one of the few on the show floor where my eyes different hurt when I was viewing the TV.

For gamers, the company has partnered up with a bunch of different game developers in order to create a gaming experience unlike any other. On that list of dev studios is Epic Games, who you may know as the creators of the Unreal Engine. The company also wants to target any developer who wants to use the Unreal or Unity engine and also wants to add in a 3D experience via the SDK. All five companies that have partnered with Ultra-D so far had the 3D up and running in 25 hours or less.

The key here is the zero-latency method that is used in order to not frustrate gamers, especially those who play first-person shooters or other “twitchy” game titles. Game developers, like you, also hate lag. So to make 3D work, it’s all done through algorithms that create a real-time depth map of the camera that is already in place, leaving essentially no extra work for the developer. This conversion process causes 4 milliseconds of lag, however, the SDK eliminates the lag entirely. It just needs a little bit of information from the video game and puts little stress on the GPU in order to make that happen.

If you’re a developer and want to get a hold of this, you can visit www.movebeyond3d.com. They are also working on launching some hardware in a style similar to the Oculus Rift, just to get it out there and get people to use it.

Interview by Nicholas DiMeo of F5 Live: Refreshing Technology for the Tech Podcast Network.

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Shortcut Labs Announces the Flic, a Programmable Button to Simplify Your Life

February 26, 2015CES 2015, Gadgets, MobilePLUGHITZ Live

Lots of talk surrounded the Shortcut Labs booth at Eureka Park this year at CES. The company had taken to Indiegogo to launch a new product, Flic, that is set to make life easier with the literal touch of a button.

This Bluetooth-enabled, programmable button has three different ways to press it, and each of those can be programmed for a specific task using the Flic app. Whether you want to select a certain playlist on Spotify, navigate to a destination on your GPS app or create your own command, all of that can be done with Flic.

A 6-pack was going for $99 on Indiegogo during CES, and Shortcut Labs managed to blow past their goal reaching over $700,000 in funding, 801% of their goal. That’s a truly impressive feat for something so unique, and it’s simplicity is what wins over consumers.

Interview by Nicholas DiMeo of F5 Live: Refreshing Technology for the Tech Podcast Network.

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Monster DNA Headphones Get Customized with Chris Nunez from Ink Master

February 26, 2015CES 2015, EntertainmentPLUGHITZ Live

Something we like about the Monster DNA headphones, aside from the Pure Monster Sound of course, is the fact that they really do come in all different sizes and styles. The DNA On-Ear headphones have over 50 different color combinations, and sometimes, a style will be completely done by an artist.

In this case, it’s tattoo artist Chris Nunez, from the hit show Ink Master that created a unique design so popular, that it crashed the Monster website when it released. Chris attended CES this year to take in the show floor, meet his fans, and talk about Monster DNA headphones.

His passion for music is as equal as his passion for tattooing and the two have combined under the Monster brand. Whether you need something for the studio or on-the-go, the Monster DNAs are an excellent choice and are made for long periods of listening.

Interview by Nicholas DiMeo of F5 Live: Refreshing Technology for the Tech Podcast Network.

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Monster Teams Up with Adidas to Launch New Line of Athletic Headphones

February 26, 2015CES 2015, EntertainmentPLUGHITZ Live

You can always count on the International CES to be a monsterous event. This is especially true when Monster announces big news, along with big celebrities.

The pairing of Adidas and Monster seems to be a natural fit, and together they’ve launched a new line of headphones and earbuds tailored to the active and athletic lifestyle. What stands out is the wireless Bluetooth in-ear buds that pack a Pure Monster Sound in a compact footprint.

Johan from Adidas and Kevin from Monster both spoke on the finer points of each of the new products coming from Monster, all the way up to the full over-the-ear headphones. Moreover, the headphones connect to the Micoach smartwatch that Adidas has launched.

Interview by Nicholas DiMeo of F5 Live: Refreshing Technology for the Tech Podcast Network.

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Ericsson Changes the Way We Think About Cloud Security

February 26, 2015CES 2015, Computers, GadgetsPLUGHITZ Live

With the cloud becoming an ever-expanding, highly-vulnerable space, there comes a time where businesses need to start caring about their customers’ data. That time is now, and many companies are working towards building better infrastructure to put customers’ minds at ease. One of those companies is Ericsson, one of the world’s largest mobile infrastructure groups.

Ericsson is taking the charge to make the cloud more safe and secure. By 2020, Ericsson estimates there will be 50 billion connected devices, and a majority of those devices will live in an industrialized cloud system. The problem is that the cloud isn’t secure nor efficient enough to sustain those devices.

Because of this, Ericsson is working on a platform that is highly programmable, highly accessible, highly governable, and controllable, but above all else is secure. The hope is that this work will change the way businesses think about security and the cloud, and the easiest way to explain the concept is to say that we need to build a bigger wall around our data.

Ericsson is just starting with its mission to roll out a better way to authenticate, validate and confirm your data and its transmissions. The ability to forensically prove your data during a breach and after a breach becomes crucial to understanding the severity of the breach, and Ericsson has made a series of acquisitions and partnerships to start to make this possible. If the infrastructure contains governed policies and profiles, the end users can feel safer knowing their data is authentic.

Interview by Nicholas DiMeo of F5 Live: Refreshing Technology for the Tech Podcast Network.

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Denon Professional Unveils a Dozen New Products at CES 2015

February 26, 2015CES 2015, EntertainmentPLUGHITZ Live

A trip to CES is never complete without visiting our good friend Eric Palonen. Now spear-heading Denon Professional, a high-end audio product company, Eric is responsible for showing more people some of the company’s great products. At CES 2015, Denon Professional debuted 12 new and exciting products, all launching in the spring.

Denon Professional showed off the Solution Series, designed for the A/V integrator or consultant. They’re little boxes made for very specific tasks. For instance, the DN-2000BR is a Bluetooth receiver with balanced audio outputs. For someone who’s upgrading a building, you no longer need to buy all new equipment to outfit the space with the latest tech. Other products in the Solution Series handle things like AirPlay, DLNA, audio routing without drilling holes, and Android mini-computers.

Denon Professional also demonstrated the Envoi. It’s a portable and powerful PA system perfect for places where a user might not have access to a large bank of power but need sound reinforcement. With the Envoi, you get a 360-watt speaker with a myriad of functionality and inputs. You can stream music from your smartphone, off an SD card, Bluetooth or even plug in your audio mixer. You can then unplug it and operate it for up to 12 hours on a single charge. Even better, there’s a built-in wireless microphone. Envoi will retail for $599.

We also got to take a look at the DN-300Z. It’s a poly-media player, so it’ll play almost anything you can think of. Slot-loaded CDs, USB, SD card reader, Bluetooth and AM/FM radio all come in a concise 1U device and perfect for clubs, places or worships or other larger venues. $399 gets you a DN-300Z.

Lastly, Eric showed us another Solution Series device, taking a page out of the on-the-desk KUDO device, with a covert presentation manager. Typically mounted under a table or in a rack, it supports Bluetooth, DLNA, MiraCast, Airplay and is 4K-ready.

All these devices, and more, can be found at Denon Professional’s website and it’s definitely a place you’ll want to check out to see the entire line-up.

Interview by Nicholas DiMeo of F5 Live: Refreshing Technology for the Tech Podcast Network.

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Crosley Mixes Old School and Today with New Line of Turntables

February 26, 2015CES 2015, Entertainment, HomePLUGHITZ Live

The retro-style record players are coming back with a bit of flare, all thanks to Crosley, a name that has been around since the 1920s. During the ’20s through ’40s, it was pretty much the household brand when it came to spinning some vinyl. The brand was then sold and brought back as a retro radio company, and now has started to join in on the resurgence of vinyl in the new millennium.

At CES 2015, Crosley launched a couple of new products aimed at getting people back into records again. First, the Cruiser turntable will make it easy for someone who wants a plug-and-play way to enjoy their favorite records. No longer do you have to buy components and piece them all together. The Cruiser comes in dozens of colors and styles, and some even feature your favorite cartoon characters or TV shows. The turntable will generally run you about $69 and is available at all major retailers, including specialty stores.

For those who want more added functionality or features, Crosley has launched a myriad of different turntables to fit different needs and styles. Things like Bluetooth, CD players, nicer speakers, wood housing and more can all be found in several different product lines from the company. Prices range depending on the flavor, but typically run between $150 and $400. All of the products can be found at Crosley’s website.

Interview by Nicholas DiMeo of F5 Live: Refreshing Technology for the Tech Podcast Network.

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Canon Continues Camera Excellence with New Line of HFR Camcorders

February 26, 2015Cameras, CES 2015, PhotographyPLUGHITZ Live

As avid Canon fans and users of the company’s cameras for our coverage and shows, we always make the Canon booth a yearly visit at the International CES. This year did not disappoint as Canon has continued to improve upon their “bridge” grade of video camera, the level between beginner and advanced amateur.

This year, Canon showed off a trio of Vixia HFR series cameras: the 62, the 60 and the 600. The only differences in these are internal memory storage. 32GB comes with the HFR62, along with WiFi and NFC. The HFR60 comes with 8GB and the same features, while the HFR600 comes in either black or white and contains no internal storage at all. All the cameras come with a 3″ touch panel, 57x advanced zoom and image stabilization, in a small and compact body.

The WiFi and NFC features are the key components to the new line of cameras, which compliment Canon’s other new product, the Connect Station CS100. Just by touching the R60 or R62 to the station, you can wirelessly share and send your videos. You can also use the SD card slot to transfer the videos as well.

The HFR62 will be $449, the HFR60 will be priced at $399 and the HFR600 will run $299, all launching in March.

Interview by Nicholas DiMeo of F5 Live: Refreshing Technology for the Tech Podcast Network.