All posts by Andy McCaskey

Skype Cubicle for Office Use

CES 2013, Gadgets

 Enhanced Skype Environment for Business

Poor lighting, lousy sound and poor camera angles can really distract from a professional communications setting on Skype or similar services. 

Skype

 Steelcase provides a formal location with great sound conditioning, lighting and camera positioning that contibute to a comfortable and efffective communications pod that is a natural extension of the office environment. The effect is to get conference room or cubicle ready for an interconnected world.

This interview with Steelcase at CES features the MediaScape line of furniture that has connected devices that feature one touch connection to the system in work or school.

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TPN Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDRNews.com

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Roku Stick Now on Available on Multiple TV Brands

CES 2013, TVs,

A Plug-In Roku Uses New MHL Port

Roku is now available on fifteen platforms through the use of the new Roku Streaming Stick, which provides over 700 channels of content as an option to a number of TV manufacturer’s products through a new port Multimedia High Definition Link (MHL) port.  It’s been recognized as a great strategy for manufacturers to tap into a market leader’s offering through a plug-in adapter, without having to waste resources trying to develop their own particular flavor of Smart TV.

Conventional Roku set top boxes required HDMI access and separate power connection. This new stick allows you to dispense with those connections, and have the Roku controls kept with the controls from the TV. The familiar Roku interface remains the same, and the consumer is able to provide one time set up on WiFi for the Roku’s internet connection. Price class $100.
TPN Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDRNews.com

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Radio Controller Quadcopter

CES 2013, Gadgets, ,

RC Pilot Fun on a Budget

RClogger

RC Logger introduces an affordable unit that will let you get started in the remote control aircraft hobby on a budget.  RC Logger has set out to find the sweet spot with a $79 unit that has the range and performance that challenge the bigger units and provide affordable entry into the RC pilot club.

The unit has a learning mode to allow you to start slowly. After you build your skills, there’s a more aggressive sport setting. Flight times are about 7-8 minutes. The unit will go about 20 mph and with a 915 Mhz system you could easily run it out of sight before it will  run out of range. It recharges from a USB in about 20 minutes. More details at RCLogger.com
TPN Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDRNews.com

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Portable Cooking Without Flame

CES 2013, Home

Emergency Food Prep or Hiking Off the Grid

MagicCook

If you need to prepare a hot meal and find yourself a long way from a source of power, here’s an ideal product. By adding a liquid to the container along with a chemical fuel packet, within sixty seconds you have boiling heat to cook all sorts of mealtime treats. Combining 16 different chemicals, it provides up to sixty minutes of heat for baby food, lunch, or dinner.

Snow, soft drinks or water are just enough to activate the chemical pouch in the system.With a shelf life of five years, the system is ideal for off road, camping or boating use. The small set is $35, including ten heating pouches. including the container. Replacement is $15 for a pack of ten.
TPN Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDRNews.com

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LTE Cellular Extenders from Wilson

CES 2013, Mobile

Wilson Amplifiers

Cellular Range Extenders from Wilson Electronics

Wilson

Smart Phones on LTE Networks Require Smarter Fill In

Smart phones are driving the FCC band assignments for cellular services for the new LTE technology. The problem is that they add additional frequency bands as they add higher speed coverage. Carriers have gained authorization for new frequencies but the laws of physics still introduce dead spots on the road and in buildings.

Wilson Electronics has a new line of Range Extenders that solve the problem with five band ‘Quint Band’ versions that include this new spectrum for Verizon and ATT LTE services. They are suitable for mobile use or to extend the signals into marginal signal areas in warehouses or small business operations.

TPN Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDRNews.com

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USB Cloud Distribution for Media

CES 2013, Computers,

Re-Direct Service Installs from USB Key

CLoud Example

This service might offer a digital content producer a more effective way to keep content fresh for subscribers without the overhead of e-commerce, shopping carts or elaborate back end system , yet maintain and extend the relationship for follow on order. It is a great way to keep your production and inventory costs under control.

USB-Cloud is a plug in key that maps the physical device – sold or given to a subscriber. When  it is plugged into a Windows or Mac computer’s USB port, it will automatically connect to a cloud based digial asset whenever. Each customer can be connected to a common content distribution point, or to a distribution point that has been created only for the person that has that one key ID.

There is no log-in, username, password, or similar requirement. Physical possession of the key is all that is required to access the asset. It is fully automatic on Windows machines. Mac OSX requires a one time driver download.

 

TPN Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDRNews.com
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Kitchen Tech for the 21st Century

CES 2013, Home, ,

Some Radical Thinking on Home Appliances

Whirlpool

Our homes are a fertile ground for engineer’s imagination. The basic functions of heating food or keeping it cool and fresh are now being re-imagined with advances in digital control and solid state technology.

FreshConnect2

For the past 120 years, our vision of the ice box or oven heat box has been exactly that.. a box. Whirlpool research is challenging that mental image with some exciting concepts- returning to gathering around the cooking fire or making the food storage and stocking a part of the room decor. Not a box in sight, and on the horizon for introduction as early as 2020.

TPN Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDRNews.com
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Home Smart Phone Kickstarter Project

CES 2013, Home, ,

HD 360 degree Sound

A CES-2013 Innovation Award Winner from Urban Hello puts the focus on a neglected category: the home telephone. It has been recognized by the IEEE Spectrum as the first product to  recognize HD voice calls.

Urban Hello

Smartphones have replaced many home landline connections – but there have been some compromises along the way in sound quality and the ability to set up a round-table conversation. Incorporating much of the commercial speakerphone technology, this Kickstarter project is compatible with DECT phone systems connected to landline or VoIP unit.

The phone is unusual in that it is being underwritten by a Kickstarter Project 

 

TPN Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDRNews.com

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Roll Aboard Laptop Desk

CES 2013, Mobile

Simple Laptop Stability for Productive Work

Tripad

A slight modification to a product originally developed for photographer or videographer use provides road warriors with a lightweight and compact accessory that converts the standard roll-aboard overhead compartment suitcase into a stable desk for a stable work surface.

The $39 Tripad Traveler allows you to turn those layovers where you have no Airline Club membership into a productive layover. It is lightweight and slips easily into the traveler’s suitcase outer pocket.
TPN Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDRNews.com

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Smart Fridge – Android Powered

CES 2013, Home

Hisense

Hisense Offers Ideas to the US Market

Hisense Logo

LCD control panels have been around four years – so don’t be confused by the fully capable Android tablet on the HiSense Smart Refrigerator, which integrates a general purpose Android tablet with full internet capabilities and some present day technology into a modern refrigerator concept. The concept includes a bar code scanner that enables real-time inventory awareness,  andthe tablet can communicate shopping lists directly to smart phones and keep track of the freshness status of the items in the fridge.

The tablet allows you to leave notes, take photos, and communicate to smartphones. Recipe favorites can be incorporated into the inventory planning, as well as keeping track of specific diets and nutrition.

This unit is being introduced into China, and should be in the US in the next 12-18 months.
TPN Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDRNews.com

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