LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 –

Lego is showing off a new version of its popular Mindstorms robotics kit at CES that adds some incredible new technology. The third generation Lego kit includes support for mobile devices, meaning that you can now control your Lego creations with your iPhone.

As Mindstorms continues to evolve, the technology in them improves as well. The heart of the EV3 is powered by Linux, which allows the creator to program the creation remotely from your iOS device.

Lego plans to make the Mindstorms EV3 available sometime in the second half of 2013, with a retail price of $349.99 It seems like just yesterday that Legos were just plastic bricks…

A day after AT&T announced its “best-ever” quarter for smartphone sales, rival operator Verizon Wireless is doing exactly the same thing. The carrier has announced that it expects to have reached a record 9.8 million sales during the fourth quarter of 2012, and it’s attributing that success to the popularity of the iPhone.

I haven’t really paid much attention to Mountain Lion’s new Power Nap feature, until I learned that it will keep my Mac safer, as Power Nap allows Find My Mac to run while it’s sleeping. A stolen Macbook can be run on battery power, so if you want to make it so that it’s more likely to continue running Power Nap, even when the Mac is unplugged, you have to enable it.

Power Nap also lets Time Machine back up hourly while asleep and runs Software Updates once per day. It will also keep all the iCloud stuff we all use synced up and ready to go, including email, calendars, notes, contacts, and reminders.

In case you don’t have this little gem running on your Mac, here’s how to check if it is, and enable it if it isn’t.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 –

Fitness technology company Fitbit has unveiled a new product this year at CES that they call the Fitbit Flex, a bluetooth wristband. As with many other products announced at this year’s CES, the Fitbit Flex works with an iOS app over Bluetooth 4.0 to keep your fitness data up to date.

The Fitbit Flex companion app tracks your activities, and keeps a record of how many steps you’ve taken, the distance you’ve traveled, how many calories you’ve burned, as well as the quality of your sleep.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 –

Fisher-Price is showing off a new iPad case along with some apps at CES that are perfect for any child. The Create and Learn Apptivity case, as it’s called, is a rugged, kid friendly case made for use by children. It not only securely holds the iPad, protecting the entire unit, but also has an integrated handle and stylus connected to the case.

T-Mobile USA will finally start selling the iPhone and enforce its plan to eliminate subsidies in “three to four months,” according to the company’s chief executive, John Legere. It will be the first time T-Mobile has offered in the iPhone in the United States since the handset was first released launched in 2007.

High-end hifi people Naim announced a stylish new audio playback gadget designed to make listening to computer-based music as good as possible. Needless to say, you have to shell out serious money for this kind of serious sound.

If you’re into iOS but don’t know how to turn that passion into revenue, then the latest Cult of Mac Deals offer will be just what the doctor ordered. With The Master iOS Programming Course, you’ll be able to turn your iOS passion into a new lucrative hobby – and for just $47 to boot!

LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – When Steve Jobs first unveiled the 9.7 inch iPad back in 2010, he made a specific point of telling how many endless hours, how many prototypes had been rejected determining the perfect size for an onscreen keyboard. 9.7 inches, he claimed, was the minimum device that you could accurately and comfortable type on. Any smaller tablet, he later elaborated, was a “tweener” you would need sandpaper to whittle down your fingers to type upon.

For Steve Isaac, CEO of Touchfire, those words are a challenge. If anything smaller than an iPad is a “tweener,” how can you enable a satisfactory typing experience on the 7.85 inch iPad mini? And Isaac thinks he’s got an answer.

Apple has released yet another seed for OS X 10.8.3 today, Build 12D50, to developers in the Mac Dev Center. This is the fourth seed since the original 10.8.3 beta back in November.

Retail giant Walmart announced today that it will be offering a prepaid iPhone in its stores starting January 11th. The iPhone will run on a $45 to $60 per month no contract, unlimited talk, text and data plan from the Straight Talk reseller, exclusively through Walmart.

Walmart is also offering a no interest fixed-monthly payment financing plan for the iPhone, if purchased with the Walmart credit card. Yes, you will be able to finance an iPhone 5 with unlimited talk, text, and data through Walmart (assuming approved credit) and Straight Talk ( a TracFone brand) for a whopping $70 a month. No word on how much you’ll actually be paying for the device after the financing has completed, though. This is a zero percent financing deal, so the $25 will never go up, and will end once the full cost of the iPhone is paid off.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – I honestly believed I’d seen pretty much everything in iPhone cases. I’m existentially bored with them, like if Camus wrote about tech writers.

So it was notable to me as I walked through the iLounge Pavillion today that a small booth of cases actually caught my eye and for just a second, made me go, “Hey, I haven’t seen that before.” The cases are by Huckleberry; called Chara-Cases, they turn your iPhone 4, iPhone 5 or iPod touch into the equivalent of a big, colorful action figure.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – I tried a Lightning-equipped battery case out today, and it was great. If you were doubting Apple’s decision to swap out its hideous 30-pin connector for the svelte new Lightning, then one smooth-sliding click of UNU’s case will put you straight.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 –

If you’ve ever wanted to feel your music while you listen to it, look no further than CES iMusic Body Rhythm, a new product being shown off at CES. Cult Of Mac’s Buster Heine went hands on with the product to rock out to some Justin Bieber tunes and see how it works.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – There’s nothing that isn’t Bluetooth-powered at CES. We saw a Bluetooth-enabled fork the other day, and today, we saw a pack of Bluetooth-enabled stickers. Really.

Unlike the stickers of Hello Kitty and She-Ra: The Princess Of Power that Buster and I shrewishly compete to collect, however, the Stick ‘N’ Find Bluetooth stickers are actually pretty useful, although worth every penny as much to collect.

T-Mobile recently announced that it has finally entered a partnership with Apple, meaning the iPhone should be sold on T-Mobile sometime later this year. While the iPhone isn’t officially sold on T-Mobile quite yet, that hasn’t kept iPhone owners from joining T-Mobile’s ranks. The nation’s fourth largest carrier says that it has been adding 100,000 iPhone activations each month, and T-Mobile now serves 1.9 million iPhones total.

Since you can’t yet buy an iPhone with a contract when you walk in a T-Mobile store, these numbers mean that a signifiant number of customers are bringing over unlocked iPhones from other carriers.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – I, like many of you, love my Olloclip. And while I don’t often use an iPhone case, when I do, I hate having to peel it off just to pop on the super-convenient accessory lens.

Thankfully, Olloclip has weathered the ordeal that was the iPhone 5 launch, and is now back to making cool new stuff. The latest is a case with a slide-open corner for use with the Olloclip. But it packs some really clever extra gimmicks.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – Jabra makes some nice stuff, but the last time I played with a pair of Jabra’s headphones I really felt like doing this to them. If I had, they would have broken; the new Jabra are probably better, and they have a nigh-indestructible headband to boot.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – I have an unhealthy love affair with LEGOs. They’re beautiful and fun, but also expensive. Have you seen how much it costs to build a replicate R2D2 and B-Wing fighter to put in your bedroom.

Smallworks isn’t helping me any either. They’re making iPhone cases that let you play with LEGOs right on your iPhone and morph it into any creation you can dream up.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – I cringe every single time I drop my iPhone 5, but still I refuse to add a bulky protective case to its slim body. If I wanted a fat ugly phone that I could toss around the room, I’d buy some piece of crap Android handset.

But Ballistic’s new Aspira case manages to be not only tough, but also thin and good looking. It’s like the Sarah Connor of iPhone cases.

The Aspira aspires (ahem) to be an everyday, always-on case. It’s a smooth rubbery cover with edges and corners which are subtly flared to make them thicker without looking bulky. I tried on and it is surprisingly thin and light, and slides in and out of a front jeans pocket easily.

There are patterned versions and multicolored ones, and the patterns look a lot nicer in the flesh than in the website’s photos.

I’d seriously consider using one of these as an everyday case, it’s that slim. And when I bashed my iPhone (my own, personal iPhone, paid for by me) up against the Ballistic booth’s table, I didn’t cringe. High praise indeed.

Source: Ballistic

LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – FitBit – the OG fitness-tracking dongle – has gone toe-to-toe with the Nike Fuelband and Jawbone’s Up. Or maybe that should be “wrist-to-wrist,” as the new FitBit Flex is a tracker which wraps around your arm.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – Are you ready to have your mind blown? Three words: Bluetooth Clackety Keyboard. More words: without the clack.

That’s right. Matias, maker of the non-clicky Quiet Pro, has released a tenkeyless version of the mechanical-switched keyboard, and it has Bluetooth, which means it works with the iPad.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – It’s pretty unusual to see a major headset manufacturer’s brand-spanking new flagship phone soaking in a goldfish bowl. Then again, if that phone is the new waterproof Sony Xperia Z, maybe a fishbowl is exactly where one would expect to find it.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – Big ass tablets “Table PCs”  have been all the rage at CES this year. Lenovo and Panasonic think that you want to throw a dance party on a big iPad on the floor. It’s amazing, but not in a good way.

Rather than waiting for everyone else to jump in on the big ass tablet craze – we’re looking at your Samsung – did you know that you can actually just pay Steven Hu, of T.S. MicroTech, to make you your own 32-inch Android tablet? Heck, he’ll even make you a 65-incher if you pay him enough.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2013 – MakerBot just announced the Replicator 2X, an advanced 3D printer that’s can print complex 2-color models and is optimized for ABS plastic.

In addition, MakerBot released a printer API and expects third-party software makers to create software for the iPhone and iPad to run its printers.

“I expect we’ll be building the moon base with them,” said Bre Pettis, MakerBot CEO after introducing the Replicator 2X to a scrum of press. “That’s where it’s going.”