Jawbone THOUGHTS unveiled

Mention the word “Jawbone” and most people would definitely have the image of one of those sleek looking Bluetooth headsets spring to mind. After all, Aliph did a pretty good job in getting word of their Jawbone series around, backing it up with some really solid performance where hardware is concerned, although certain quarters do feel that the physical size is still somewhat larger than most of the other Bluetooth headsets in the market.

No matter, we’re talking about software today, where Aliph just introduced Jawbone THOUGHTS, an iPhone application which enables users to easily send quick voice messages to individuals and groups, doing so without the need for typing or calling. Sounds like a dream, eh? Hopefully it will work out so as we describe the Jawbone THOUGHTS in the extended post.

This application will merge the speed of texting, the group collaboration of email, and the emotional quality of voice all in one. Best of all is, even in this economically trying period for most people, the Jawbone THOUGHTS isn’t going to cost you a penny. You read that right, it is available as a free download in the Apple App store.

According to Travis Bogard, Vice President of Product Management and Strategy at Jawbone, “We live in a world that is 100% mobile, 100% connected and unfortunately 150% distracted. Reading and typing doesn’t work when you need your hands and eyes to navigate the physical world. While there has been a tremendous amount of innovation in text based messaging, all of it lacks the richness of voice. THOUGHTS is our solution to these realities by integrating all the things we love from text-based communications with the power of voice. We think it’s a really powerful way to share ideas quickly.”

Just how much faster must we communicate with one another? What happened to a good ol’ fashioned sit-down-and-have-a-heart-to-heart talk? Perhaps times have changed too fast for us, but we’re still quite sure that Jawbone THOUGHTS will be successful in its own way.

  

Sanyo Taho set to conquer the wilderness

Do you have a wild streak in you that intends to go off on an adventure at every single opportunity? If that is the case, then apart from owning a nice four wheel drive to get you and your family to a faraway destination, chances are you will need a communications tool which will be able to keep up with you. Of course, an iPhone 4 is nice and all, but will it be able to last the distance when you’re busy tracking bears and living it out in nature? Those who are looking for a companion phone under such trying circumstances need not look any further, thanks to Kyocera churning out the new Sanyo Taho that not only looks good at first glance, it is also more than capable of taking a beating.

Don’t be fooled by its exterior that exudes calm, put it through its paces and in spite of all the harshest elements that it experiences, it will still work reliably enough for you to call for help should such a situation arise. Not only that, you can even take a nice 29 minute bath at the river with the Sanyo Taho fully immersed within and it will still work after that – just don’t wade into water that is more than a meter deep and the Taho will be all right, at least for half an hour. This fully submersible device can be yours for a cent shy of a Benjamin – we’re talking about $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and agreeing to a new 2-year contract. Of course, all of this won’t happen until January 9, 2011, when it hits the official market then.

This no-nonsense handset won’t come with the latest features though, so you will have to make do with its 2-megapixel camera with flash and camcorder capability, which is a far cry of what other smartphones can do these days. Apart from that, you will be well pleased with its military standard 810G certification, where it is able to stand up to dust, shock, vibration, extreme temperatures, blowing rain and water immersion. This clamshell phone also sports applications such as Sprint Navigation and Sprint Family Locator for added value.

Radio Controlled Smart Bullets – Go ahead, make my day

Remember the old Bugs Bunny cartoons? Where Elmer Fudd would shoot his double barrel shotgun and the buckshot would zip over and around things and then tap you on the shoulder and wave, right before they exploded. Funny right? Not, so much anymore.

The U.S. Army has unveiled an experimental weapon that is heading to Afghanistan as we speak. This $25,000 high tech rifle fires explosive grenades or specialty “bullets” that can blow up in front of, or behind the intended target.

It was meant to give soldiers the ability to fire on the enemy, even if they were taking cover around a corner or in a foxhole.

The XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System, allows soldiers to program the ammunition to explode at precise distances by measuring how far it is to a target using the laser site and then dialing in where the ammunition should explode, such as at the corner of a building. The “bullet” has a magnet inside that generates AC current as it spins, and a microprocessor that measures the spin to determine how far it has travelled, and when it will need to.. well, let’s just say….tap the enemy on the shoulder.

The weapon has an array of ammunition to choose from, including non lethal rounds meant to stun, rather than kill the enemy. Individual rounds start at about $24.

How do you guard against something like this? My suggestion? RUN

11-year old comes up with own iPad stand

There is just something precocious about 11-year olds and their imagination – at least we know one of them in the good ol’ USA is patriotic enough to observe that while many devices and other stuff are designed here, they are actually manufactured elsewhere. Of course, the economics of the situation might be a bit too heavy for him to understand at the moment, but at the very least, he is able to think out of the box by coming up with something that is made back in the US without losing any bit of functionality.

We’re talking about 11-year-old Dino Zaharakis, who intends to develop a stand that could place/remove a device without disconnecting its cable, hold a device with/without a skin in both portrait and landscape modes, have viewing angles that were optimized for video conferencing and manufactured back home, all the while being able to play nice with iPad, Kindle, nook, tablets, iPhone and other smartphones.

Dino actually came up with this iPad dock after seeing his dad use an impromptu one while discussing the family’s summer camp plans, where Dino quickly pointed out a bunch of design flaws while suggesting that he could do better. Naturally, his dad decided to challenge him, offering him a new phone if Dino could come up with an iPad dock and a web site. This catalyst caused Dino’s mind to move into high gear, where he manipulated pieces of aluminum stock from McMaster-Carr, using a Home Depot miter saw and a vise. He made several prototypes. There were three favorites in total, dubbed Curly 3 Stooges, Alpha Slick and Big Z.

The final prototype was created after merging the best features and capabilities of each prototype. This led Dino’s dad to bring him to Northampton Community College’s Fab Lab where they created 3D solid models using Solidworks and later created prototypes using a Dimension 3D printer. The dzdock One can be yours for $29.99, where it will come in black, white, silver, red, pink, lime and blue shades. With the promotional code of DZPRNEWS at www.buy.dzdock.com, you can bring this puppy home for $10 less – and this offer is good until Christmas, so what are you waiting for?

   

Play Off Ice Hockey

There is nothing quite like a brutish game of ice hockey to get the adrenaline pumping, what with huge men crashing each other against the wall just to get a tiny puck into the opponent’s goal. Well, you can now bring that experience home (albeit sans the atmosphere) without getting hurt one bit in the form of the Play Off Ice Hockey. At £59.99 a pop, it will take a certain amount of finesse to make sure your players do the things you want them to, where each team comes with six movable players. The players themselves can move up and down their designated grooves, turning full circle on the spot if you so desire. Perfect to spend those chilly evenings indoors with your family and friends over a simulated game of ice hockey, eh?

Smart Astro Color Changing Lava Lamp

Lava lamps are real classics when it comes to home decor – they hardly get out of date, and are always mesmerizing to boot. Well, it won’t hurt that the Lava Lamp is given an update in the 21st century, eh? This $18.99 Smart Astro Colour Changing Lava Lamp adds a modern update with touch sensitivity at the base in the form of a button, where you can change colors with but a single touch. You are able to choose from Green to Yellow and Blue to Red, where each one will go through several shades en route to its destination color. Heck, if you like a particular color which is in transition, just touch the button on the base and you’re good to go. This will work differently from other lava lamps as it uses LEDs and other kinds of high tech wizardry, achieving its hypnotic effect in the process.

Google Chrome OS – Stop worrying about your hard drive, you don’t need one anymore

I have a confession to make, I sometimes lay awake at night and worry about my hard drive. I write quite a bit and I am an addicted amateur photographer who has become so worried about losing all my stuff, I back things up two different ways, just so I can sleep.

Knowing I am not alone, I am excited to introduce you to Google Chrome, an operating system coming to you soon, on a laptop, with NO HARD DRIVE. That’s right, the new platform stores it all, your applications, your files and pretty much everything else you might need, on online servers rather than your PC.

Able to boot in 7 seconds or less, primarily because it doesn’t have to load all the customary background stuff, the Chrome OS will first be available on laptops from both Samsung and Acer. I wondered what kind of storage these laptops would have, because I wonder about things such as this, when I realized that thanks to cloud-based storage for my pictures, music and files… I really shouldn’t need any.

So look forward to your next computer having no hard drive and virtually no storage. How awesome is that?

Of course that cloud based storage, how does that work? It’s not a hard drive is it? Oh come on I have to stop thinking about this stuff.

Justbeats by Dr. Dre is a Best Buy exclusive

  

Teen sensation Justin Bieber has yet another channel of income – it is pretty insane to see young pups these days raking in the dough like nobody’s business, when back in our day, we had to break our backs just to earn a quarter of a dollar an hour. Well, as mentioned earlier, Justin Bieber will have a very Merry Christmas as he has yet another source of dough to rely on, although we’re pretty sure that profits from this will not be as lucrative as that of his recording contracts.

The golden goose we’re talking about? Well, Justin Bieber has rolled out a new line of headphones, known as Justbeats by Dr. Dre. To make it all the more exclusive, you can only get it from Best Buy stores in the US and on BestBuy.com. It does seem to make sense though, as Justin Bieber is all about the music, and he sees this as an opportunity to team with Beats by Dr. Dre and Monster, where the latter is a global leader in high performance headphones and AV accessories.

Just how well does it perform? Well, it seems that each pair was specially engineered to help you feel the emotion that Justin wants each song to evoke. The headphones are also capable of expressing Justin’s signature style by offering both on-ear and in-ear versions in Justin’s favorite color – purple. The Justbeats by Dr. Dre Solo Headphone is going for $199.95 a pop, while iBeats by Dr. Dre Justbeats Edition is a whole lot cheaper at $119.95, where that will come with high tech features such as ControlTalk for you to pick up a phone call even when you’re enjoying his present and past hits.

Somehow, saying past hits for someone so young does seem pretty strange to roll off the tongue, as that normally applies to musical greats who have been around for decades. Well, if you’re a Justin Bieber fan, we are pretty sure that you will be able to drop off enough hints for your parents or elder siblings so that they can scurry to the nearest Best Buy outlet and pick up one of these puppies for you come Christmas day. What do you think? It is safe to say that this might just be the catalyst to kick start your love of expensive headphones, eh?

Powermat hates you to run out of juice this holiday season

The holiday season is upon us yet again, and it is a time for you to spend with family and friends. Well, the world has certainly gotten a whole lot more connected, and that is due to the number of gizmos and gadgets that we tote around. You name it, chances are at least one of your family members will bring it out at the table during the annual family dinner – be it an iPhone, a Sony PSP or Nintendo DSi. One problem about such gadgets is, they run on battery power, and more often than not, they tend to run out of juice if you aren’t the meticulous type who keep things fully charged before embarking on a long road trip or trans-Atlantic flight. Trust Powermat to come to the rescue this holiday season with their Portable Power Series.

Just what does Powermat’s Portable Power Series offer to the masses? For starters, there is no longer any need to look out for power outlets wherever you go, as long as you toss in the Portable Power Series into your bag. Powermat’s power! Rechargeable Back-Up Batteries is touted to be the ultimate charging convenience. All you need to do is make sure you don’t forget it on your travels, where you can juice up to two devices simultaneously using the dual on board micro USB and Apple connectors. Other devices in the series include the Dual 1200 and 1850 (in white or black), providing a boost of power up to a full smartphone charge.

As for the Powermat Portable Rechargeable 2X Mat, there isn’t any need for a charging cord, all you need to do is drop and charge up to two Powermat-enabled devices simultaneously, now how about that! In addition, it can hold enough juice for up to four smartphone charges.

You also won’t need to search far and hard for it, since a whole host of participating retailers such as Best Buy, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Wal-Mart, Powermat.com, and Amazon.com among others are more than willing to help you part with your hard earned money. If you have more than a trio of gadgets with you at any one time and need them to be powered all the time, you would do well to bring home one of these Powermat offerings lest you regret not having enough juice to save your game on the PSP when you’ve finally reached the last level.