All posts by Todd Cochrane

Vertix Wireless Helmet Communication

CES 2012, Wireless

Wireless communication has been around for several years in the sport of professional bicycle racing. Team managers use it communicate back and forth with their riders during races. Vertix has it’s own wireless communication solution, but this one is added into motorcycle helmets.

The Vertix hardware comes in a couple of different styles so that it can be used with both full-face and open-face helmets. Both the speaker and microphone can be easily mounted to almost any helmet. In fact, they claim an installation time of only minutes. The buttons can easily be tapped while riding to allow communication with other riders in your group or access to a cell phone. The units can paired with a group of up the three riders, and of course between rider and passenger as well. The published range for communication is 500 meters, but Vertix claims it can sometimes reach up to 1 km. One final feature, a handlebar-mounted remote control will be coming out soon. The MSRP is $160 and you can find out more at the Vertix site.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central & Steve Lee of WavesofTech.com for the TechPodcast Network

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Magellan GPS units made for Geocaching

Accessories, CES 2012


Andy (Head Hard Hat) Smith from Geocaching World talks to Eric Waters of Magellan GPS about their new line of hand-held GPS units made with the Geocaching Hobbyist in mind.

The Magellan eXplorist line of GPS units. Instead of having to type in a waypoint, the explorist units have a number of geocaches in the unit already. The Explorist 610 even has Turn by turn directions up to the nearest road and then walking point-to-point directions for the hike to the cache. Some models even have a camera so you can take a picture of the waypoint instead of typing it in manually.

More information can be found at magellangps.com

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SoftKinetic Gesture Recognition Platform

CES 2012, Home

SoftKinetic CameraMicrosoft can rightly claim to have brought gesture recognition to the consumer market through Kinect for Xbox in 2010, but SoftKinetic has been in the business since 2007, providing hardware and software solutions for the consumer electronics and professional markets. Andy and Courtney find out more from Virgile Delporte.

SoftKinetic are team of mathematicians, 3D imaging specialists, software engineers and game designers that have developed both hardware and software components of an end-to-end solution that can be incorporated into new products. The 3D middleware platform, iisu, lets content and video game developers, arcade and fitness equipment manufacturers develop their next interactive product or solution without needing a deep understanding of how the technology behind gesture recognition actually works.

If you want to have a play, SoftKinetic’s DepthSense Professional Kit, which includes a camera, is available from their store for just $499.

Interview by Andy McCaskey and Courtney Wallin of SDR News and RV News Net.

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Green Plug Brings Control to AC-DC Conversion

CES 2012, Home

Green Plug LogoAs energy prices rise and green credentials come under scrutiny, each step in the energy path is being examined for inefficiency. Andy and Courtney listen to Paul Panepinto from Green Plug on their technology.

Green Plug have developed a digital controller to optimize the conversion of electricity between AC and DC. For the non-engineers, AC (alternative current) is what is in your wall socket and DC (direct current) is what most of your gadgets use. All those power bricks and wall warts are transformers combined with AC to DC converters to change 110 V AC to 12V / 5V DC.

Green Plug has pioneered the use of intercommunicating digital power and load processors to optimize the AC-to-DC power conversion and increase efficiency. It’s an area that has been typically overlooked in power management but Green Plug has reduced the implementation cost to make the inclusion of the technology cost-effective. Over the next few years, it’s likely that this technology will start to appear laptop and phone chargers, so keep an eye out for it.

Interview by Andy McCaskey and Courtney Wallin of SDR News and RV News Net.

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Leonar3Do Virtual Reality Kit

CES 2012, Home

Leonar3Do 3D Controller

This looks more like an instrument of torture than any kind of bird I’ve seen but fortunately it’s not and it’s actually the virtual reality controller from Leonar3Do‘s desktop VR kit. Andy and Courtney breathe a sigh of relief and chat to Stewart Oldroyd from Leonar3Do.

Hungarian start-up have created “the world’s first desktop VR kit”, consisting of the scary controller above, 3D glasses and three line sensors that affix to the computer monitor to track the position of the controller and the glasses. There’s a video on the company’s website that shows the system in action and it looks amazing.

The innovative part is that it’s an out-of-the-box environment which costs around $1500 rather the $10,000+ usually associated with VR systems. Currently only available for enterprise and education markets, the consumer version will arrive in late spring.

Interview by Andy McCaskey and Courtney Wallin of SDR News and RV News Net.

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Vitallink Keeping the Elderly Connected

CES 2012, Health

VitallinkDid you know that there are 78 million baby boomers in the US and over 1 billion world wide. That the fastest growing age group are adults over the age of 85. Many of these adults are separated from their children and grandchildren and live alone often in isolation. A coalition called AgeTek was created to try to solve this problem. One of the members of this coalition is Vitallink.

Vitallink is a system that is installed on the older persons computer and it allows them to use applications such as Skype, or check the weather or answer email with a touch of a button. To answer email the elderly person can either type the answer as you would normally, or they can speak the reply. The use of video applications such as Skype are important because they allow the caregiver or relative to see their parent or grandparent. Seeing someone can tell you a lot more about their condition then a simple call. Elderly people are often reluctant to bother their off-spring because they don’t want to be a burden. Besides which would be better having grandma read a story over the phone to her grandchild or having grandma read the story through video chat, where the child can see and interact with their grandma. I know which method I would choose. The subscription for Vitallink is only $5.00 a month.

The two hardest groups to sell the product to is the elderly adult who are often computer phobic and the person who does the purchasing for the big box company who often are young and don’t recognize the elderly as an important market. Once the elderly adult uses the Vitallink technology for just a short time they are almost always sold on it. Unfortunately it takes a lot more time and effort to try to convince the young sales person of its necessity.

Interview by Andy McCaskey of SDR News and Dave Lee from Waves of Tech

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Duracell is Bringing Wireless Charging Everywhere

CES 2012, Wireless, ,

Duracell is starting in one the mecca’s of sports, Madison Square Garden, in their pursuit to build a network of wireless charging everywhere you go. They will be partnered with some 2013 cars and envision a future of airports, coffee shops, and more where your devices will just charge wirelessly simply by being there in that location.

Partnered with Proctor and Gamble, Duracell is perhaps the first to tackle this market, and they are in it in a big way with lots of expansion plans. Your phone won’t just magically charge by being present in a location, though. There will be Powermat stations available in locations where you will likely spend an extended period of time, like coffee shops, bars, and the like. They also plan a Google Maps app that will show you charging locations in your area. In fact, eventually they envision the Powermat technology built right into new devices with no case necessary.

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

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Mastercard 1 time use Credit Card Numbers on your iPhone

CES 2012, Home, ,


Todd and Steve talk with Heather Stone, VP at Mastercard, about their new app that allows you to bring up a one time use credit card number on the fly. The GlobalVCard app by Mastercard will allow you to also send 1 time use credit card number by email, text or photo to an employee or family member with restrictions in under a minute. The app is available now for iPhone,iPad, Android and Blackberry.

You can read more about it at globalvcard.com

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iOnRoad Turns Your Old Car into a High-Tech Safety Machine

CES 2012, Mobile

The slogan “Turn your smartphone into a personal driving assisstant” should give you a quick overview of exactly what iOnRoad is all about. The smartphone app works in conjunction with the camera in your phone to watch what is going on in front of you and warn you of things like if you are getting too close to another vehicle or of lane drift.

The app is built to work in all light conditions, including at night, and gives audio alerts when it detects any dangers. iOnRoad claims the app uses 30 percent less battery power than your mapping app. The iOnRoad app is currently free, but will be $9.99 soon. You can find it in the Android Market, but it will be coming to iPhone later as well. There are a lot more cool little features to this, but you will have to watch the video below to learn about them. You can find out more at iOnRoad.

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

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Waterproof Your Gear With Liquipel

Accessories, CES 2012,

Liquipel LogoNanotech waterproof coatings have been quite the fashion at CES this year but Liquipel‘s offering is a little bit different. Todd and Steve learn more from Kevin Bacon of Liquipel.

Liquipel have developed a nanotechnology-based liquid-repelling coating for electronic devices that makes the device waterproof for short periods of immersion. This sounds pretty much like ever other waterproofing technology on the market…except Liquipel can waterproof gadgets you already own. Woah!

For only $59, you can send Liquipel a phone or mp3 player and they will waterproof it for you. At the moment there’s a restricted list of devices that Liquipel will coat but the list includes some Apple, Motorola, Samsung and HTC devices. The list of approved devices will expand over time and if you have a particular need, you can get in touch with them.

Watch the video if you want to see an Apple iPhone get dunked in water!

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central for the TechPodcast Network and Steve Lee of Waves of Tech.

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