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Bluetooth Hapifork Measures How Much You Devour, Buzzes When You Eat Too Quickly [CES 2013]

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On the left, Hapifork; on the right, Hapitrack.

CES 2013 bug LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – After four trips to CES, it’s not often I find a gadget that ambushes me straight out of left field; this one comes from the bleachers. And judging by all the buzz that’s erupted at the show and on the blogosphere about this ungainly Bluetooth utensil variously referred to as the HAPIfork, HapiFork or Hapifork (we went with the latter), I’m not the only one.

Simplism Is The Coolest Case Maker You Have Never Heard Of [CES 2013 Gallery]

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CES 2013 bug LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – I was so impressed by Simplism neat case lineup that I thought I’d post a few pictures of the Japanese company’s wares, even though it’s still looking for an international distributor.

Below you will see the wonders of a case made to look like wood; the world’s thinnest iPhone 5 case, a clever Smart-Cover-locking, over-the-shoulder rear skin for the iPad and and a screen protector and cover which heal if they are scratched.

The JBL Charge Is Like A Jambox That Can Recharge Your iPhone [CES 2013]

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CES 2013 bug LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – I love my Jambox, but I’m always perplexed why I can’t charge my iPhone using it. After all, it’s essentially a big battery brick with a speaker attached… why can’t I siphon some juice off the top?

The answer is that, in reality, the Jambox has a pretty tiny battery. It’s good for powering a speaker, but it would die pretty quick if you tried to juice an iPhone or (heaven!) an iPad with it. The JBL Charge, though, remedies that problem: it’s a great sounding Jambox-style speaker with a massive battery inside.

RCA Soundflow Is Like NFC Audio For Any Device, Without NFC [CES 2013]

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CES 2013 bug LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – We’re a big fan of wireless Bluetooth speakers like the Jambox, but let’s face it: for most people, they are both too expensive, and too much of a pain in the butt to remember to pair and unpair. When NFC sees broad adoption, the latter will change, and you’ll be able to play from a wireless speaker just by laying it on top of the device.

Why wait for NFC, though? RCA of all companies is here at CES with a super cool new speaker line called the Soundflow, and it can play music from any smartphone or tablet just by laying it on top of the speaker. Best of all? The technology is so cheap that for the price of one Jambox, you could buy five or six Soundflows.

Lucky Students At Drexel University Have A MacBook Vending Machine

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Beats a bag of Doritos.
Beats a bag of Doritos.

University vending machines usually dispense soda and junk food, not $1,000 MacBooks. At Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a kiosk in the library spits out MacBooks free of charge for students to borrow and return five hours later. The kiosk is part of an experiment to gauge interest and see if more MacBook and iPad dispensers should be installed around campus.

Students who don’t want to carry a laptop out of their dorm room can use the self-service kiosk 24 hours a day in the school’s Hagerty Library. A dozen 15-inch MacBooks are available and can be checked out by anyone with a Drexel ID for up to five hours. There’s a $5 late fee for every hour a MacBook is kept out longer than the allotted rental time.

A Gallery of The Weird And Wonderful Consumer Electronics Show [CES 2013]

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CES 2013 bug LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – With so many companies competing for attention, there’s plenty of clever, crazy and just plain weird here at the Consumer Electronics Show. Take the gentleman above: his real name is Gary Fisher but his stage name is Sir Gaga. He claims to be the most photographed performer in Las Vegas. For those of you who like his style, he also has a fashion company called Nazrat (Tarzan spelled backwards)

DLNA Media Streaming Comes To iOS Devices With Skifta From Qualcomm Atheros

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If you own a relatively recent Android device, it’s likely to support a nifty feature called DLNA, which allows you to stream content directly from your device to a whole host of compatible devices, including televisions, stereos, and Sony’s PlayStation 3. It’s very similar to AirPlay, only it supports a far greater range of devices, and doesn’t require an Apple TV.

Well now you can enjoy DLNA streaming on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch thanks to Skifta, a new iOS app from Qualcomm Atheros.

Apple Settles Lawsuit With Photographer Over Retina Eyeball Image

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Apple has settled a lawsuit with Swiss photographer Sabine Liewald over the alleged misuse of a photograph of an eyeball that the Cupertino company used during a keynote presentation for its Retina MacBook Pro. News of the settlement came in an order of dismissal issued by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Thursday, January 3, but the terms of the deal are unclear at this point.

Ink Is The Digital Napkin You Need For All Those Coffee Shop Ideas [Review]

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Draw and share and nothing more
Draw and share and nothing more

The best ideas are famously (stereotypically, perhaps) captured on the back of a napkin. That’s the thing that’s been closest to hand at a zillion restaurant or coffee shop tables when great minds have got together and come up with something new.

Ink is a new, free digital napkin for the modern era. It’s also an exercise in minimalism, designed to replicate that napkin and the pencil you’d scribble on it with and nothing more.

Loop Attachment’s Awesome Mummy Case Finally Comes To iPad Mini [CES 2013]

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I’m a big fan of Loop Attachment’s Mummy cases for iPhone 4/4S and iPhone 5; I’ve reviewed them both in the past and found them to be two of the best silicone cases you can get for Apple’s smartphone. And so I’m delighted that the Mummy for iPad mini has finally be unveiled at CES in Las Vegas this week — alongside a nifty clip for the latest iPod nano.

The Jamstik Is A Cool-As-Hell MIDI Guitar That Will Turn Your iPad Into A Real Instrument [CES 2013]

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CES 2013 bug LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – Last year, I gave my friend Rachel — a NYC singer/songwriter/comedian with an impressive array of musical proficiencies — my old iPad 2 as a gift. It was her first tablet, or even touchscreen device. I worried she wouldn’t know what to do with it, so when she opened the box and gave me an inquisitive cock of the eyebrow, I told her that the very first thing she needed to do with it was install Garage Band.

To this day, I think it was Garage Band that is the real gift to Rachel, not the actual iPad. Using Garage Band, she can quickly jot out a song idea on the road, or even fully record a fantastic mix, all from a device small enough to fit in her purse. There’s only one trade-off: you have to use the touchscreen. There’s no physical instrument as portable as the iPad to take on the road with you.

That’s where the Jamstik comes in. A product so new and in-concept it doesn’t even have a distributor yet, it’s one of our favorite products of CES. It’s a tiny, ukelele-sized guitar with real strings that connects to your iPad over WiFi, and not only can you use it to record or even perform with your iPad, but it can also teach you how to play the guitar… or serve for an impromptu game of Guitar Hero.

Hitcase’s iPhone 5 Case Is Virtually Indestructible [CES 2013]

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CES 2013 bug

LAS VEGAS, CES 2013

iPhone protection company Hitcase is debuting a new iPhone 5 case at CES which is going up against the like of Otterbox to provide a secure shell for your iPhone 5. Going one step further, Hitcase has also made a harness system for the case itself, so you can mount your iPhone in a variety of different ways.

Like you’d expect from a rugged iPhone case, the Hitcase is waterproof up to 10 meters and fully protects all of the iPhone’s ports and switches. The back even integrates a wide angle lens for shooting scenes while outdoors with the case.

BodyMedia Puts Its Core Fitness Tracker on a Diet, Turns it Into Jewelry [CES 2013]

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CES 2013 bug LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – Our own Charie Sorrel wasn’t a huge fan of the BodyMedia Fit Link activity tracker when he reviewed it a few months back; negatives ranged from a user-unfriendly app interface and just the overall gawkiness of the device itself. BodyMedia has listened, and addressed at least one of those issues with a smaller, sleeker version of the Core called the Core 2 — and it’ll even allow you to pop the four-sensor device into elegant jewelry designed to accept the, well, core of the gadget.

The Cocoon IQ Collection Is A Smart Way To Organize Your Gadgets [CES 2013]

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CES 2013 bug

LAS VEGAS, CES 2013

Cocoon is showing off at CES this year a new bag that combines the best of their organization tools with the familiarity of a carrying case for your devices.

The IQ Collection, as it’s being tentatively called, is based around Cocoon’s Grid, a storage system that keeps a wide variety of your gadgets secure and organized while you’re traveling.

Fisher-Price Magically Morphs iPads into Kids’ Toys with Augmented Reality [CES 2013]

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CES 2013 bug LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – Back when I was a kid, I had all kinds of Fisher-Price toys I loved playing with. But I don’t think I remember anything quite as magic as Fisher-Price’s new line of Apptivity sets for preschoolers that combine child-safe cases and toy figures with slick augmented-reality apps (though my little Classic Xylophone came close).

How To Reset A Lost User Password In Lion Or Mountain Lion [OS X Tips]

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OS X Utilities

I ran across an issue yesterday in trying to support a Macbook Pro at work. We wanted to reformat the Macbook to a clean system install, but we had no system disk for the computer (it was lost in the move to our new offices), and we didn’t know the admin password for the Mac. I thought we were out of luck, until I ran across a solution in Apple’s discussion forums that showed me how to reset the admin password without a system disk. I figured I’d share this process here, hoping it helps some of you out.

The Pogo Connect Just Might Be The Best Stylus For Your iPad [CES 2013]

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LAS VEGAS, CES 2013

When it comes to styluses for your iPad, there’s quite a few options, but none are quite like the Connect, Pogo’s newest stylus that they’re showing off at CES this year. The Connect is a pressure-sensitive stylus with some unique features that set it apart from the rest.

The Pogo connect lets you rest your hand on the iPads screen while drawing, something that can come in handy when using the stylus for extended periods of time. Because of this, your hand won’t get sore trying to rest it on the bezel to avoid unwanted input from your wrist.