All posts by Todd Cochrane

Atmel Showcases IoT and Innovative Car Products to CES

Accessories, Auto, CES 2015, Home

Atmel logoAtmel is a Silicon Valley company that specializes in semiconductors, specifically microcontroller, touch, wireless, security and automotive products. Atmel brought many of its new concepts to CES 2015.

Marlo talks to Atmel Senior Vice President  and General Manager of  Automotive, Aerospace and Memory Business Units Rob Valiton about the company and what they were showcasing at the show.

-The “Powered by Atmel” zone showcased the company’s core products including semiconductors and microcontrollers. This zone gave convention goers a chance to see how Atmel’s products are being used by its customers.

-The smart living/IoT zone was all about connected devices.

-The automotive zone showed off Atmel’s offerings for the car, including its AvantCar system. AvantCar features a curved touchscreen that  give drivers and passengers individual access to apps.

-Atmel’s maker zone demonstrated ways to use Atmel’s products within your own designs.

As consumers we often forget that great companies out there provide many of the internal components that allow incredible innovation by the OEM’s

Interview by Marlo Anderson from The Tech Ranch.

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eyeSight Singlecue Gesture Control at CES

CES 2015, Gadgets

eyeSight logoWhen it comes to motion tracking and gesture control, gaming has shown the way especially with Microsoft Kinect and the Xbox. Outside of this arena, there’s been relatively little traction though eyeSight are hoping to change this state of affairs with Singlecue. The two Todds talk to Tal Kryzpow, VP of Product Management, to find out more.

The Singlecue is a tabletop device that’s roughly the same size as a Kinect, though unlike its sibling, the Singlecue has a small central display. Singlecue converts gestures, such as an upright finger to the lips, into an action, in this case “mute”, which it then passes onto the relevant devices in the room using infrared. As it uses IR, it’s compatible with almost every piece equipment in the home that uses a remote control. The Singlecue also uses WiFi to interact with technology such as Nest thermostats and Philips Hue lighting.

The Singlecue is currently on pre-order at $129 but will have MSRP of $199 when it goes on sale in Spring 2015.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central and Todd Aune of The Elder Divide for the Tech Podcast Network.

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Ion Audio Gets The Party Going at CES 2015

CES 2015, Entertainment, Home

Ion Sound Experience

The great thing about Ion Audio is that they concentrate on fun audio products: seriously, who else puts a speaker in plant pot? At CES, Ion has continued in the tradition of fun with two products for two very different environments. Todd listens in with Wendy Fortin, Ion Product Manager.

First up is the Block Party Live, a 50W PA speaker on luggage wheels complete with light show. No really, there’s a light dome on top that projects coloured lights. Music can be streamed via Bluetooth and there’s an Apple and Android app to control the lights. Available now for $199.

Coming inside, the Sound Shine are wireless stereo speakers with built-in LED lighting. Screwed into a standard lamp holder the two speakers can either work as independent mono speakers or can be paired up for stereo sound. As with the Block Party, music is streamed via Bluetooth and both the music and light output can be controlled via an app for both Android and Apple devices. Available in Q1, $69 buys a single lamp and $129 gets a pair.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the Tech Podcast Network.

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Jamstik Guitar For Your iPad

CES 2015, Entertainment, Gadgets, Toys & Gaming

Zivix LogoLearning to play a musical instrument is both challenging and rewarding but fitting practice into today’s busy lives can be difficult. Zivix Jamstik – the guitar for iOS – could be the answer. Chris Heille from Zivix shows the two Todds a few riffs.

The Jamstik is 16″ lightweight, portable guitar with six real strings and five frets designed to fit into modern life. It’s also a MIDI guitar controller which wirelessly connects with the iPad, iPhone and Mac. The Jamstik gives you the ability to use all of the nuances of guitar playing to control your favourite music creation iOS apps or Mac software.

Jamstik is a new idea in guitar controllers because it uses infrared light to “see” what your hands are doing in real time. Unlike other MIDI guitar solutions that rely on audio analysis and conversion to MIDI, the Jamstik scans the fretboard to detect what your fretting hand is up to before your picking hand ever hits a string.

If you want to learn the guitar, the included JamTutor iPad app will get you going through the basics of playing guitar without the hassles of tuning, lesson scheduling or expensive guitar teachers.

The Jamstik is available now for $299 from a range of retailers including select Apple stores. If buying direct from jamstik.com, look out for the limited time discount code CES2015JSSAVER.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central and Todd Aune of The Elder Divide for the TechPodcast Network.

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Liquid Image Ego LS at CES Unveiled

Accessories, CES 2015, Gadgets, Photography, Video, Wireless

Liquid Image LogoLiquid Image weren’t a company with which I was familiar but having looking at their website, they have an impressive range of action cameras, with some interesting models where the camera is integrated into a scuba mask or ski goggles. At CES Unveiled, Todd interviews Melanie about Liquid Image’s new streaming wireless camera.

The Ego LS is hand-sized wearable and mountable camera not unlike others on the market but its key feature is that it can stream video over the Verizon 4G LTE network including XLTE allowing for fast live streaming. In addition to 4G LTE, the wireless features include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Low Frequency RF, which keeps the camera in standby mode for over a day without draining the battery. This makes the camera very flexible with a range of wireless coverage options and the Ego can simply record to memory if there’s no wireless at all. Neat.

The Ego LS model 800 is expected to retail at $399 and will be available in Q1 2015 for the US, with availability in other territories including Europe, Russia, Japan and Canada in Q2 and Q3.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the Tech Podcast Network.

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Griffin PowerDock Pro at CES

Accessories, CES 2015, Gadgets, Home

Griffin LogoIf your house is like my home, there’s a plethora of gadgets to be recharged overnight and a quick tally gives five devices to be plugged in on a regular basis, from phones to tablets to mi-fis. The good news is that Griffin might have the answer with new PowerDock Pro which both charges and organises devices at the same time. Todd finds out more from Heather at the Griffin booth.

The PowerDock Pro can charge five devices at once while neatly racking the smartphones and tablets in bays to keep them tidy with cable management hidden in the base. Smart electronics charge the devices without overcharging and because it charges via USB, it’s device agnostic. Regrettably the PowerDock Pro won’t be available until Q3 with an anticipated price of $130. (If you can’t wait that long, the PowerDock 5 is available now).

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the Tech Podcast Network.

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Linx IAS Monitors Sports Impacts at CES

CES 2015, Health

BlackBox logoWith concussion now an increasing concern in many sports, Todd talks to David from BlackBox Biometrics about the Linx IAS, which provides real-time feedback on concussive impacts.

The Linx IAS is small device, not too dissimilar to a thin USB memory stick, that athletes wear in a headband or skull cap to monitor the concussive forces on the head. The Linx sends data on impacts via Bluetooth to an app on a tablet or smartphone which then shows to the coach the severity and number of impacts using a simple colour-coded and numeric scale.  If a smartphone isn’t in range, the Linx will store the data until one is nearby. The MSRP is $199 and it’ll be available in Q1 of 2015.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the Tech Podcast Network.

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OmniMount Takes A Lifestyle View at CES

Accessories, CES 2015, Gadgets

OmniMount LogoCES regulars OmniMount decided to approach the show a little differently this year, setting out their products in lifestyle vignettes, with visitors to seeing the products in real and relevant scenarios. Don chats with Bill Ennis, veteran of 31 shows, to hear about a few of OmniMounts latest products.

The first of OmniMount’s new products is the WorkSpace Wall Organiser, a stylish wall-mounted height-adjustable fold-away desk which conveniently creates a mini-office when folded down and hidden away when not needed. $399.95.

Also new and entered for a CES award is an in-wall TV mount that holds up to an 80″ screen almost flush with the wall surface. With the flush mount, the slim bezels of the stylish TVs are emphasised, enhancing the picture frame qualities of the TV. Snappily titled OE120IW, it’s $349.95.

Interview by Don Baine, the Gadget Professor.

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Antelope Goes Atomic at CES

CES 2015, Home

Antelope LogoAntelope Audio are manufacturers of professional and high-end home audio products. Well known in the industry, Antelope counts Stevie Wonder, Rhianna and Justin Timberlake as customers. At CES, Marlo chats with Georgi Lazarov from Antelope Audio about their Zodiac Platinum DSD DAC.

The Zodiac Platinum has three key components with the DSD DAC at the heart of the system. Antelope pursue the goal of keeping the music reproduction as close as possible to the original recorded by the artist and the DAC supports up to DSD128 (Double-DSD) and 384 kHz, 24-bit streaming. In addition, the DSD features include a unique 256x upsampling mode where DSD64 and DSD128 are upsampled to DSD256, knocking the standard CD into the proverbial cocked hat.

To complement the DAC, there is Voltikus audiophile grade power supply, and to keep everything in sync, an atomic clock. Driven by a 10M Rubidium oscillator, the atomic clock provides the most accurate and stable clocking reference keeping the digital to analogue conversion as close to perfect as possible.

Available now from audio dealers worldwide.

Interview by Marlo Anderson of The Tech Ranch.

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Perfect Bake with Connected Scales at CES

Accessories, CES 2015, Gadgets, Home

Perfect BakeAlthough the Internet of Things is very much of the moment, sometimes all you need is a connected device. In this case, the device being connected is a set of kitchen scales. Todd and Todd start cooking with Darin Barri and Perfect Bake Scale and App.

Targetted at cooks and bakers, Perfect Bake combines digital scales with a tablet app to make sure that the weight (or more correctly mass) is just right. Connected via the audio jack, scales can weigh in real-time, showing the quantity on the tablet screen. The app has hundreds of recipes and can walk the baker through the steps with mixing times and instructional videos. The scales come with colour-coded preparation bowls to help too and the app can adjust quantities to suit appetite.

There’s an even an oven thermometer to make sure the temperature is right, so whatever’s baked, it’s baked perfectly every single time.

The app available for both Android and Apple devices, the Perfect Bake Scale and App is available now for $69.99 from Brookstone. A Bluetooth wireless version will be available later in 2015.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central and Todd Aune of The Elder Divide for the TechPodcast Network.

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