Tag: Portable

We see interesting consumer electronics all the time, but we rarely get to see weird gadgets that people use for work – stuff like the HC1, a wearable computer by Motorola that looks as silly now as it did in 1992.

I lack any of the skills you need to make cool mods and DIY projects of just about any type. That is certainly not true when it comes to modder Ben Heck. This geek took his hobby of building modded consoles and other items and turned it into his own web series.

If you have a HTPC in your living room or spend a lot of time using a tablet or smartphone and wish you had a small keyboard, check this out. A company called FAVI Entertainment has released a palm-sized keyboard that supports just about any portable device on the market including Android tablets and just about anything else with Bluetooth connectivity.

As gadgets become more and more compact and portable, one thing that continues to stand in the way is the limitation of current battery technology. Just think of how the majority of space and weight inside your tablet or smartphone is its battery pack, and they still often run out of juice before you’re done for the day.

Microsoft unwittingly kicked off a revolution in multi-touch and 3D tracking when it released the Kinect. It seems the company is still innovating on those fronts, as it has teamed up with researchers from Newcastle University to create a wrist-mounted sensor that tracks the wearer’s hand movements.

Laptop trays and portable desks come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and have different features. Some focus on keeping your laptop – and thighs – cool, while others add speakers, USB ports or even keyboards.

We’ve all seen keyboards made for tablets, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen a display made for tablets. It’s called the Monitor2Go, a 15.6″ display with a built-in slot for the iPad 2 and the new iPad.

This gadget is quite old in Internet Age, but the concept behind it is sound. If you find yourself playing “Where’s the Keyhole?” when you come to your home at night, you’re either drunk, a character in a horror flick that’s about to die or it’s just too damn dark at your doorstep.

Denon hasn’t released all that many speaker docks over the years, but their latest offering looks quite good. The Cocoon wireless speaker has an interesting shape and is packed with tech to make you consider this as a good option.

Mobile phones are making a lot of things obsolete – payphones, maps, privacy – because of cheap and easy to use apps. A new open source technology might add keys – and keychains, and locksmiths – to the cellphone hit list.

Do you remember the Bluetooth glove hack that we saw last year? Wasn’t that cute? A silly hack made by a person with silly hair. But no one’s actually going to pay for that right? A company called Hi-Fun begs to disagree.

Personally, I’m not a big fan of keyboards which don’t have physical keys, but if given the choice between a virtual full-size keyboard and the tiny virtual keys on the touchscreen of my smartphone, I’ll go with the bigger keys.

If you’ve used a consumer-grade portable solar charger, then you know that it takes them a considerable time to do their job. That’s why Don Cayelli invented SunVolt, which he claims can recharge gadgets at “outlet-like” speeds.

I think my mouse is portable enough that I’d have no trouble carrying it with me wherever I go. But the farthest I’ve traveled is to our gate. I barely made it back. Anyway designer Taewon Hwang thinks mice could be smaller and thinner.

And I thought that John’s Phone was as dumb as dumbphones get. But now, a UK-based company has created OwnFone, a phone that doesn’t even have a number pad, just speed dials people that you set when you order the phone.

There are tons of media players on the market, and a number of relatively inexpensive “pico-projectors” as well, but here’s a fun gadget that combines both into one cheap and compact little package that costs less than $100.