All posts by Todd Cochrane

Brookstone wants to help make your mixed drinks

Accessories, CES 2014, Home

brookstoneTodd stopped by the Brookstone booth to show off Perfect Drink App-Controlled Smart Bartending, a product he actually uses himself. With that disclaimer out of the way, here’s what it is.

Essentially, this is a food scale with a 1/8-inch jack that plugs into an iPad. It then utilises an app that allows the user to begin mixing ingredients from the many recipes available to make a mixed drink exactly right. You can even enter in the contents of your cabinet and the app will offer suggestions of drinks that you’re able to make based on that data. It’s available now and retails for $69. Find out more at Brookstone.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the TechPodcast Network

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Velodyne Lidar for Driverless Cars (and other things) at CES

Auto, CES 2014

HDL_pageheaderTodd and Don interviewed David Oroshnik from Velodyne about their lidar systems.

The lidar system David demonstrated has 32 infrared beams that can see 360 degrees from the spinning sensor and 10 degrees up and 30 degrees down for a 40 degree field of view. These sensors are used in self-driving cars and mapping applications.

Velodyne Lidar sensors are not available to the public and, as David said, would cost as much as the car does right now. Look for Velodyne Lidar sensors to become part of future consumer products.

For more information see VelodyneLidar.com

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the TechPodcast Network and Don Baine, the Gadget Professor.

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Singing Machine Bluetooth Speaker and Karaoke Machine

CES 2014, Entertainment, Home

Singing Machine

Todd interviewed Kristen from The Singing Machine Company about their new Bluetooth Speaker and Karaoke Machine at Digital Experience during CES 2014.

The Singing Machine turns your Laptop, iOS device and TV into a Karaoke system that has Access to over 8000 HD Karaoke videos that can be streamed to your TV on demand. It also acts as a standard bluetooth speaker for times you just want to listen to music. The wireless remote also acts as the microphone.

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The singing machine is available now at Costco.com, Walmart.com and for $299. For more information see: https://home.singingmachine.com/

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

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YourKarma Wifi Hotspot at CES

Accessories, Auto, CES 2014, Mobile, Wireless

karma-logo1

Todd interviewed Robert from YourKarma about their Karma Wifi hotspot device at CES. The Karma device is a pay as you go wifi device that lets you buy and use your data as you need it. It costs $14 per 1 gb of data with no other fees. Use it when you want and it never expires. You can even earn more data when a new person uses your Karma Wifi. Earn 100mb of free data for sharing each time.

This device would be real handy for someone that only uses it once in a while and doesn’t want a monthly fee. It is also priced so that the heavy user can use it and not blow the budget.

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The Karma Wifi hotspot is available for $99 at yourkarma.com

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

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Tablo Takes TPN Award at CES

CES 2014, TVs, Video, , , ,

Tablo LogoDigital video recorders (DVRs) are commonplace but usually they’re integrated with a cable decoder. Tablo’s offering records OTA (over the air) HD broadcasts that are transmitted from local TV stations, free of charge. Still not excited? The Tablo can stream both live and record programmes to any connected device including Android and Apple devices, and set-top boxes like the Roku or AppleTV. Now that’s cool.

The Tablo contains two tuners (with a four tuner option), so can record two broadcasts at once. There’s no built-in storage but there are 2 USB ports for external HDD units to provide whatever space is needed. It’s perfect for cord-cutters. I’d love to see this come to the UK too.

The Tablo is on pre-order for US$219 and will be available in February 2014.

Interview by Daniel J Lewis of The Audacity To Podcast and Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the TechPodcast Network.

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Gibson Takes TPN Award at CES

CES 2014, Gadgets, , , ,

Gibson LogoCelebrating 120 years of Gibson, Aljon Go shows Jeffrey and Todd the superb Anniversary Edition of the Les Paul Standard.  It’s stunning both in the Ocean Water Perimeter finish, the level of detail and the technology built-in. The sound of the guitar can be changed to mimic the tone of your rock’n’roll hero and Min-ETune will tune the guitar automatically. Amazing – watch the video to see the guitar adjust the keys by itself.

There’s no doubt that this is a premium product – the price for the guitar on show is $2999 – but it’s hand-crafted in the US, taking 30 days produce. Every one is a collector’s item. Sweet.

(Is it not a little bit worrying that Jeffrey’s Google Glasses match the Les Paul finish?)

Interview by Jeffrey Powers of Geekazine and Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the TechPodcast Network.

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Panasonic 7″ Windows Toughpad

Accessories, CES 2014, Computers

Panasonic LogoPanasonic’s Toughbooks are legendary for their ruggedness and are used by armed forces world-over. Panasonic have now turned their attention to tablets with a line of Toughpads and on show here is a new 7″ Windows 8.1 tablet. Panasonic’s Toughpad Product Manager Dan Diliberti takes Todd and Don through it.

Running the latest Intel Core i5, the FZ-M1 is currently the only 7″ Windows 8.1 tablet on the market. As you’ll see from the video, there’s a dockable keyboard and there is also a pile of expansion options including desktop dock, bar code scanners and smart card readers.

Devices like the FZ-M1 don’t come cheap, with a base price of US$2099, but if it’s the kind of device you need, it’s worth every penny.

Interview by Don Baine, the Gadget Professor and Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the TechPodcast Network.

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D-Link NVR and Low-Light Webcam

Accessories, CES 2014, Gadgets, Home, Video

D-Link LogoAt CES’ Digital Experience, Ken from D-Link tells Todd about their new (NVR) and low-light webcam.

The NVR can record up to 9 IP cameras at once, storing the images on the SATA drive. The feeds can be viewed either via an attached HDMI monitor or else viewed remotely via D-Link’s mydlink solution which securely connects from the Internet back to devices in the home, using a web browser or a smartphone app.

The low-light web camera works down to 0.01 lux light levels and can still pick out colours. In complete darkness, a white LED provides illumination for up to 50 feet. As you’d expect, it’s 802.11ac wireless.

Both the NVR and the webcam will have an MSRP of US$379 when they go on sale in April ’14.

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

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Kanex Multi-Sync Keyboard

Accessories, CES 2014, Computers, Gadgets

kanexlogo
Todd chats with Tracy from Kanex at CES Digital Experience about their new Multi-Sync Keyboard for Apple devices.

Although touch is great way of interacting with tablets and smartphones, it really doesn’t replace a keyboard when it comes to large amounts of text entry. In response, many manufacturers have come out with add-on keyboards that typically connect to the tablet via Bluetooth. These are generally useful devices but usually it’s one keyboard-one device and often there’s already a keyboard on the desk for the PC, so the desk simply gets more cluttered.

Kanex’s solution the Multi-Sync Keyboard which allows 3 Bluetooth and 1 USB connection to be maintained at any one time – Mac, iPhone and iPad. The user can then switch between connections, entering text into just one device at a time but being able to connect to up to 4 devices. Brilliant! Currently, it’s only available for Apple devices, but future versions should support PCs.

On-sale now for US$69.95 at www.kanexlive.com.

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

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Omnimount PJT40 Projector Mount

Accessories, CES 2014, Home, TVs, Video

Omnimount LogoIf you want to hang or support some piece of technology from a wall or ceiling, then Omnimount ought to be on your review list as they have a portfolio of mounts and brackets that will do the job for flat screen TVs, speakers and projectors. Todd and Don chat with Kevin Paulson, who has the latest ceiling mount, the PJT40, for digital projectors. They also discuss the merits of desks that go up and down to facilitate standing at work. Really.

The new PJT40 is a universal projector mount that offers easy one person installation and tool-less microadjustment in the pitch and roll axes, making it simple to get a perfect image in your home cinema. The PJT40 will be on sale in February priced at US$179, which Don thinks is a bargain. Omnimount products are available AV dealers throughout the US and there’s more information at www.omnimount.com.

Interview by Don Baine, the Gadget Professor and Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the TechPodcast Network.

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