#4 5 smartphone

[latestnews24-blog]

E.L.O Everything Live On

http://www.everythingliveon.com/gadget-ogling-shooting-flames-flowing-time-and-locked-up-temptation/

Gadget Ogling: Shooting Flames, Flowing Time, and Locked-Up Temptation

Welcome to another edition of Gadget Dreams and Nightmares, your guide through the tundra of drab gadget announcements toward the oasis of wondrous gizmos. Or is that just a mirage?

In our garden of luscious, possibly nonexistent flora this week are a crowdfunded flamethrower, a liquid-powered watch, and a safe that helps you trick yourself into doing the right thing.

The ratings mean nothing, other than to suggest how interested I am in using each item.

Also note that these are not reviews, and I haven’t actually tested out the flamethrower on the ice that’s still somehow on the ground at the end of March.

Burning Up

Someway, somehow, it’s apparently legal to own the XM42 flamethrower (pictured above) in the United States, unless you happen to live in California or Maryland.

I can’t fathom any circumstance under which a weapon — let’s not mince words here — capable of shooting flames 25 feet should be available for anyone to pick up if they have US$700 lying around to back Ion Productions’ crowdfunding campaign.

That said, it’s incredibly cool and fulfills all my childhood superhero fantasies.

As an adult, I would love to see these portable, handheld flamethrowers used for snow clearing.

No one has found a workable solution to living comfortably in the northeast of North America from December to April with all the obstacles that entails, so why not give it a shot?

Rating: 3 out of 5 Melting Snowmen

Dripping Time

We’ve talked a ton about smartwatches around these parts over recent months, so it’s about time to take a look at a slightly more regular timepiece.

HYT’s H3 uses a liquid-mechanical hybrid to tell time. It pushes liquid through a narrow tube, which indicates the hour, while a hand slides along a 60-minute readout to indicate how far into that hour we are.

It’s visually impressive and would no doubt be a powerful talking point at parties. They would have to be fairly high-end soireés, however, as the H3 will set you back $290,000 if you can get your hands on one of the 25 limited-edition pieces.

For that cost, I’d at least expect it to tell me the time more accurately. I mean, at least the Apple Watch will have a precise time rather than an ambiguous minute hand.

Rating: 3 out of 5 Oddly Imprecise Watches

Apple Juice

Speaking of the Apple Watch, one of my main issues is the battery life. I’m enormously skeptical that it would be able to last me through a day and surely would find myself getting quite irritated with a watch I needed to charge every night.

So I’m glad to see someone is already taking up the challenge of a portable external power source for the smartwatch. Nomad’s Pod has a dedicated port to charge the Apple Watch, and it can give the device four full charges before it needs a recharge of its own.

It’s not just the Apple Watch it powers, as the Pod has a USB-C connector for hooking up to the new MacBook. It comes with a regular USB connector and micro USB charging port for extra connectivity.

At $60, it seems a solid, affordable backup power supply for the Apple Watch. If only there were a way it could power down some of the hype for the thing too.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Power Cores

Smart Cookies

I’m the first admit that I would benefit from a little more time at the gym, working on my physique. I want to as well — but it’s ever so easy to kick back on the couch to consumer garbage on Netflix along with garbage junk food.

Trying to do a little something to heighten motivation is kSafe, a smart safe that unlocks only when the user has accomplished certain self-created tasks. The key is to motivate people into doing short-term activities for instant rewards — which is arguably more of a motivator than a long-term goal like chiseled abs.

As the crowdfunding campaign video suggests, you could lock your TV remote in the kSafe. Maybe a game console controller. Or perhaps cookies. It unlocks only after you’ve achieved some personal goal that you set for yourself.

After you’ve achieved a certain level of activity (like a defined number of steps, tracked by your smartphone or fitness tracker), checked in to a certain location (e.g., a gym, library, or the middle of a park that only has footpaths), or waited until a certain time of day, the safe unlocks and you can enjoy your reward.

In theory, it’s a great idea. I have sorely lacking willpower skills. That’s just the thing, though — I can’t see how kSafe solves that problem.

TV remote locked away? I’ll just watch Netflix on my smartphone — I can’t lock that away, or I’d never be able to free it. Need to walk 10,000 steps to reward myself with some cookies? I’ll just walk 400 to the grocery store and buy some more, thanks.

It doesn’t solve the problem when there are so many ways to cheat the system. The only way it’d work is if a network of kSafes held all the world’s treats to stop me from keeping a Mars bar in my pocket while out jogging. So kSafe solves an immediate problem of motivation, but it can’t solve a cultural one.

That said, it would completely halt my midnight snacking habit, so it gets my stamp of approval.

[latestnews24-blog]

E.L.O Everything Live On

http://www.everythingliveon.com/gadget-ogling-slick-dull-and-outlandish-smartphones-a-powerful-shield-and-invisibility-glasses/

Gadget Ogling: Slick, Dull and Outlandish Smartphones, a Powerful Shield and Invisibility Glasses

Welcome to Gadget Dreams and Nightmares, your trusted mountain guide through the peaks and crevasses of the latest gadget announcements.

With Mobile World Congress having just wrapped in Barcelona, we have a mobile focus this time, with a look at a new BlackBerry, the latest Samsung flagship smartphones, and a colossal Huawei handset.

Also, we’ll check out a set-top box with a gaming focus and an extremely useful pair of glasses for privacy adherents. Phew.

Remember, the ratings relate only to how interested I am in using each item, and these are by no means reviews.

On the Edge

Samsung is trying something a little different while simultaneously positioning its S6 and S6 edge (pictured above) as the market’s dominant Android smartphones.

Sure, they’re faster, smarter, brighter, stronger and more powerful than previous models — as you might expect in a flagship refresh — and that’s all terribly pedestrian.

Still, I love the edge concept. I’m glad to see Samsung continue and expand it, with slivers of the screen bending around both edges of the surface.

What’s most galling about this refresh is the discontinuation of the removable battery and SD card slot. That’s disappointing, since both of those features gave Samsung a slight edge (sorry, sorry) over Apple.

Now those are gone, the S series looks increasingly like the iPhone, albeit a line that runs Android. Thank goodness the edge brings something a little different to the party.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Don’t Push Mes

Leap of Faith

BlackBerry is forging a path for its revival with a new handset, the Leap, aimed at young professionals. It’s perhaps not quite as flashy as the Passport, though it thankfully lacks that phone’s unfortunate squareness.

At 25 hours per charge, the battery life is nothing to sniff at, and the inclusion of Android apps from the Amazon Appstore is welcome as well.

That said, there’s nothing about this that screams at me to pay attention. It’s just another identikit canoe, floating on down the endless river of mediocrity. There is no greater sin in technology than to be boring.

Rating: 3 out of 5 Humdrums

Huawei Goes Large Again

Trust Huawei to swing for the fences with a bonkers idea. This one, however, won’t make it past second base.

The MediaPad X2 is fairly similar to last year’s X1, albeit with (you guessed it) a faster processor and better WiFi. Unfortunately, Huawei hasn’t done anything to reduce that absurd 7-inch screen.

There is no one on this planet or any other who needs a phone with a 7-inch screen. It’s ridiculous. It’d be like strapping a tablet to your face when you want to make a call. Your arm will get tired before you even say “Hello.”

I’d be amazed if anyone who bought one of these opted to take calls the traditional way over a hands-free set or speakerphone. I’d be amazed if anyone bought one.

It’ll be good for watching movies on the go, I guess, but otherwise you can pad out your wallet by not buying this.

Rating: 1 out of 5 Could Sink a Battleships

A 4K Shield

I’ve been consistently impressed by Nvidia’s Shield line, particularly the tablet it released last year. I’m fascinated to see whether the set-top box version will succeed.

It’s an Android media center that both streams and plays stored videos in 4K resolution, and runs all of the gaming content that owners of the Shield Tablet are used to.

That means access to bevy of Android games and those on Nvidia’s Grid streaming subscription service, which offers the opportunity to play more resource-intensive games without an expensive gaming rig.

It seems well-priced at US$200 for the box and a game controller, especially compared with the much less powerful and flexible Ouya at half that price. I’m mightily tempted to pick one up, though I’m concerned my meager home Internet connection won’t play nicely with Grid.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Urban Camouflage

I’ll admit this isn’t a flashy gadget per se, but I had to mention it quickly. AVG (yes, of antivirus software fame) has created a pair of glasses that halt facial recognition software in its tracks. Infrared LEDs around the frame essentially act as a mask invisible to the naked eye.

It’s a neat trick and one privacy advocates might be compelled by. I’m intrigued by the idea, as it’s the suavest eyewear I’ve seen lately that’s not a) smartglasses or b) X-ray specs.

I’m in the market for new spectacles anyway, and these are my kind of style, so if I can grab a pair with prescription lenses, it’s bye-bye Facebook facial recognition for me.