What if you could control the color of your jewelry (provided you wear some, that is) using your iPhone?
This thought is behind the development of a new line of Bluetooth smart jewelry from UK-based chip maker CRS — able to connect to mobile devices so that wearers that customize the color and brightness to suit their mood, or match a particular outfit.
Amazon has made a huge update to the iOS Kindle app, bringing it mostly in line with the features on the hardware Kindle Paperwhite. Many of the new features concern the organization of books into collections, but there are also improvements to browsing notes, using X-Ray and even the reading screen.
One of the potentially coolest gadgets unveiled at CES 2014 so far is Sony’s virtual reality headset.
Named the HMZ-T3Q (a follow-up to last year’s HMZ-T3W), Sony’s new Oculus Rift competitor is designed primarily for movie fans and gamers, and offers a virtual screen reaching up to 750 inches.
Cult of Mac favorite Braven is showing off a wireless speaker at CES this year. It’s totally not what you’re expecting, though: The Vibe System is a range of hybrid Bluetooth/Wi-Fi speakers that can be used individually – hooked up to your iDevices – or in multiroom concert, Sonos-style. And being from Braven, it all runs away from mains power.
Braven’s new BRV-Bank is a ruggedized backup battery for your mobile devices, with some very neat/curious additions: It has Bluetooth, for one, and it can be remote controlled from your phone. WTF?
Apple is seeking the removal of Michael Bromwich, the court-appointed lawyer tasked with ensuring that Apple complies with e-book price fixing antitrust rulings.
An attorney for Apple asked U.S. District Judge Denise Cote on Tuesday to disqualify Bromwich on the grounds that he has shown a personal bias against the company.
This is the Ladibird, and it might just be the answer to the question, “What the hell are the camera makers going to do now that we all have iPhones?” The Ladibird is a camera case that slides onto your iPhone 5/s and lets it take great portrait photos, complete with the blurred backgrounds characteristic of a fast lens.
Eye-Fi has launched Eye-Fi Labs, a place to find test versions of new software. The first thing that you might be interested in is the Eye-Fi Mobi Desktop Receiver for Mac, an app that will let you beam photos from your Eye-Fi Mobi card direct to your Mac.
LAS VEGAS — We’ve heard the same story for years: the revolution in home automation is just around the corner! And yet, despite the hype, it still hasn’t arrived. But talk to vendors at CES, and they say it finally is just around the corner — thanks to the iPhone.
The iPhone finally gives ordinary consumers a bunch of good reasons to automate their homes, beyond the geeky thrill of turning on the sprinklers from the couch. For example, it can alleviate the universal anxiety of worrying about the stove when away on vacation. Paired with a connected-range (there are several on show here at CES), your iPhone can you tell you if the oven is on, and then let you switch it off.
The best evidence that home automation has arrived is that the nation’s home builders are finally including home automation technology in many new homes as standard. Lennar Homes, the third biggest home builder in the US, is making home automation standard in more than 20,0000 new homes this year, said Matt McGroven, marketing leader of Nexia, a San Francisco-based home automation company.
Nexia makes an app that works in conjunction with a Home Bridge ($60 on Amazon) and service ($9 a month). With 70% of users on iOS, Nexia controls a wide range of automated products, from nannycams to lighting, locks, thermostats, and dozens of others.
“You can do a bunch of cool and genuinely useful things,” he said.
Wearables are all the rage at CES this week, but everyone is waiting to see what Apple does with its rumored iWatch. The mysterious device has been in the rumor mill for several years now, but reports have started picking up more frequently in the past year.
According to The Information, Apple is running into problems developing its watch-like device. Specific panel technology isn’t mentioned in the report, but Apple has apparently had problems choosing the right display. A “sizable” team is working on the project, which was reported last year. Battery issues (which are tied to the screen problems) have also been slowing development.
LAS VEGAS — There are countless ways to catch up on the news thanks to the advent of services like Flipboard and Feedly. You may stick to traditional papers like The New York Times or USA Today, scan Twitter or Facebook, use RSS, visit a few of your favorite sites every day, or a combination of all the above. The possibilities are endless.
Then there’s Yahoo. At a big keynote today during CES, the tech giant announced its new News Digest app for iPhone. It’s a beautiful, bold take on presenting the news that has a good chance of being quite successful.
LAS VEGAS — Plenty of companies have come up with cable-tidying solutions for MacBooks but few let you tame the beast as easily as this miniaturized belt for your power adapter, the Cordlupa.
LAS VEGAS — The simplest solution is always the best. Take external battery packs for your iPhone, which are sometimes hard to use when you’re actually talking on the phone. Either you have to remove your case to snap in a battery case, or you have a long cord dangling to an external pack in your pocket.
MyCharge’s clever Talk & Charge ($100) is a slim external battery pack that works with any and every iPhone case on the market because it doesn’t physically attach to your iPhone; you just hold it against the back of your iPhone while talking, like an electronics sandwich. Simple.
It’s almost the same size and shape as an iPhone 5s or 5c. It boasts a 3000mAh battery (good for more than two full iPhone 5 charges) and a Lightning cable built right in, so you’ll never forget your charging cable again. It’s a nice touch.
In fact, I think all of MyCharge’s wares are thoughtfully designed. The tech is pretty good too. According to the company, they are the fastest chargers on the market. Check out their well-designed charging bricks:
LAS VEGAS – I just finished my annual slog through the world’s largest ever exhibition of iPhone cases – a.k.a. The iLounge at CES. While most of this years’ offerings are focused on providing extra battery power, PureGear has a lineup of cases that turn your iPhone into a retro physical game, no app required.
LAS VEGAS – Dropping your iPhone in a pool of water can be a traumatic experience. Especially if you don’t have AppleCare+. Sure, there are a bunch of home remedy methods you can try to dry it out, but I’ve never had any success shoving my soaked iPhone in a bag of rice. Enter Bheestie, a small plastic bag that claims to remove water from you gadgets faster than any home remedy.
LAS VEGAS — Remember Anki, the little iOS-powered toy car app that Apple brought up on stage for its World Wide Developers Conference last year?
We got to catch up with them at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show to talk about the app, the AI-controlled toy cars, and how they’ve created the latest must-have toy gadget with Apple’s help.
LAS VEGAS –Brookstone’s Perfect Drink is an app-Controlled smart bartending system that’s a dream come true for the cocktail-challenged. If you become paralyzed when confronted with a liquor cabinet, Perfect Drink is all but guaranteed to turn you into a bartending genius with it’s real-time pouring instructions.
LAS VEGAS — Remember the View-Master? I used to spend hours looking at 3D reels but after awhile the same pictures got boring. Now, a Kickstarter startup called Poppy has taken the immersive 3D scenes concept but instead of stock photos, you can take your own iPhone photos and videos and make them 3D.
Apple released iOS 7.1 beta 3 to developers today, and like always, many have already combed through the new software to find what’s new. The second beta of 7.1 brought a few additions and UI tweaks, and beta 3 also includes several noticeable changes.
Here are 8 design changes Apple made in the latest iOS 7.1 beta today:
The Independent Games Festival (IGF), held every spring at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, is a celebration of the independent spirit. It’s both a gauge of the cutting edge in game design as well as an increasingly popular event among gamers of all stripe.
This year, the list of nominees for the awards contains a veritable boat-load of games that are available on iOS or Mac. It’s a who’s-who of the hot new games tat everyone’s talking about as well as a notice that mobile gaming is definitely on the map.
LAS VEGAS — Mophie’s Juice Packs are widely considered to be the best battery cases you can get for the iPhone. They attach via Lightning and give you a backup power reserve for long days when a normal charger isn’t available.
Today at CES, Mophie unveiled its new lineup for battery cases for the iPhone. The Space Pack not only doubles battery life, but it has a pretty cool trick up its sleeve: additional storage.
Apple seeded the third beta of iOS 7.1 to developers today as a direct download and OTA update. The release comes after beta 2 was seeded in the Apple Dev Center on December 13.
Apple hasn’t said what new features are in beta 3, but rest assured that we’ll let you know. New betas for the Apple TV and Xcode were also released alongside 7.1 beta 3 today. The public release of iOS 7.1 hasn’t been revealed, but this new beta is a sign that the software is getting closer to prime time.
Just after we waxed rhapsodic about the new SteelSeries Stratus iOS 7 gaming controller comes a new controller to the news cycle, the Signal RP One.
If the picture above is any indication, this one is sized more like a typical console controller in the Xbox style than SteelSeries’ mini stature, which could bode well for Signal, as not everyone has the tiny hands to deal with a smaller controller device.
LAS VEGAS – It seems like every company is busting out a tiny sensor that keeps track of your steps and other fitness goals here at CES, but if you’re slouching over a computer for 8 hours a day, correcting your posture can go a long way toward improving your fitness. Lumo is putting a different spin on the pedometer by focusing not just on how much you’re moving, but on whether you’re keeping your head up and shoulders straight too.
LAS VEGAS — For years now, Olloclip has been making stellar lenses that slip over the iPhone’s camera lens and enhance iPhoneography with the ability to take fisheye, telephoto and macro photos. But there has apparently been a struggle within Olloclip about whether or not to offer an iPad lens. Now the struggle is over, and iPad-loving photographers have won: The first Olloclip lens for iPad will be available soon.
Chong Pak, the company’s design director, told us there were only a few hurdles to clear before Olloclip went iPad — but those hurdles were tall.