Cool Hunting
The annual Consumer Electronics Show took the breath out of Vegas last week. While there was an endless slew of things to see, we found a few stand-outs worth reporting on.
Iqua 603 SUN, Solar Powered Bluetooth Headset
This compact Bluetooth headset from Iqua offers all the same features as the big brands, but stands out with the innovative integration of a solar cell. Sunlight will extend the charge on this device, which has a Lithium Polymer battery that can also be charged via USB or a power plug.
Sennheiser MXW1 Wireless Earbuds Don’t Sound Wireless
Through a partnership with Kleer, the MXW1 wireless earbuds deliver rich, full, uncompressed audio over a 2.4GHz wireless frequency. While they look like Bluetooth headsets, they’re not—there’s no mic. These little guys are fully optimized for tangle free music enjoyment.
Hillcrest Labs Redefines Remote Controls
Hillcrest isn’t a consumer brand, they develop technology that makes media easier to access. Freespace, their motion based control technology, recently surfaced in Logitech’s MX Air mouse. HoME, their latest innovation, is a panning and zooming interface for home media that is best navigated with a Freespace device. Using the two technologies together it’s incredibly easy to navigate through large volumes of visual information.
Sharp Aquos D64 Series, Now in Smaller Sizes
Introduced at CES last year, the D64 line of Sharp’s Aquos Televisions offers incredible contrast and refresh rates in an attractive, simple casing. While the CES buzz is often about the biggest (Sharp showed a 105” LCD TV and Panasonic a 150” Plasma), we at CH can neither fit nor afford mega-televisions. Being small-space dwellers, we’re excited that the line-up has grown with the addition of two new smaller sizes (32” and 37”).
Ceiva
We take digital photos and share them all over the web, but some of family and friends aren’t always savvy enough to be able to see them. With Cevia networked digital photo frames and their online photo management service there is now a way to push photos in front of your grandmother without her having to do a thing. Available in an 8” desktop frame and soon to be a 19” wall-mounted version.
BUG
Bug Labs has developed a gadget prototyping system that lets the creative geek mock up both software and hardware to prototype any idea. The BUGbase is a small Linux box with connectors to snap-on BUGmodules like a camera, touch screen, motion detector or GPS. Software applications are build with the BUG SDK and shared with the development community on BUG’s community site.
iRiver Unit2 vs. Mickey Themed Mplayer
While the Unit2 all-in-one home entertainment and networking device (above) was an impressive piece of hardware with a modern-minimalist design, the Mickey Mouse themed Mplayer MP3 player was the winner in my book. Taking cute and making it functional, one ear controls volume and the other skips forward and back. The headset jack is right between the ears so that the 1GB can be worn as a pendant hanging from your earphones.
|
previous entry Papabubble |
next entry Polly van der Glas Jewelry |
Jawbone, the Yves Behar designed Bluetooth device, utilizes advanced noise cancellation technology to eliminate background noise from your call. I have been testing it out for a couple weeks now—walking on NYC streets, passing garbage trucks and ambulances, yet no one complained of the background noise and I didn't need to raise my voice to be heard. By using directional microphones and a bone...
Yesterday, here at CES, Creative was showing off these prototype wireless headphones. They're a bit bulky, as is the transmitter added to the Zen Micro, but the sound is really good. That's because they use a near field magnetic technology instead of Bluetooth. Peter also has a review over at Engadget....
This Bang & Olufsen headset brings style back to wired headsets, giving everyone time for Bluetooth headsets to get smaller and take on a more subtle design before buying one. Also it makes Frank Nuovo of Nokia's vision of the future a little closer to reality after his use of the Bang & Olufsen headsets with the wires cut off in the movie Minority...
Adding a few capabilities that help realize its full potential, the newly-launched version of Apple's computer-to-TV entertainment software is a massive improvement over the original. The biggest plus for aesthetes like us is the 1080p output which means you can stream HD movies, TV shows and podcasts (including featured titles like CHV!) with little more than a click in iTunes (TV and movies will...
Since the multi-use controller Monome first came out a few years back, it's slowly gained a cult following thanks to its attractive and flexible design. If you're unfamiliar with the device, the Monome is an ultra-tactile, interactive and adaptable MIDI interface that takes advantage of open-source software to manipulate any number of musical parameters. With a pleasing grid-based design, the programmable buttons function as...
Perhaps taking a cue from the iBelieve (a lanyard that made the original iPod shuffles look like crosses), Chinese electronics wholesaler Chinavision recently came out with a crucifix-shaped MP3 player for devout music listeners. It's a rather unique way of marketing technology and we can't help but wonder what the J Man would think of such a device. The player offers 1GB of internal...
The Pharos Project
Hank and Matlok
Neon Shoes
Radio Village Nomade
Ghostly Swim: Interview with Sam Valenti
Creative Index
Interview with Maarten Baas
A Paper Tiger
Von Totebags and T-Shirts
