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Unikey Brings Keyless Entry To Your Home At CES

CES 2015, Home

Unikey logo

It’s no secret that technology is making its way into every aspect of our lives, and our homes are no exception. Most of us know how frustrating it is to arrive home, only to spend 5 minutes digging around trying to find your house key. Fortunately, with new advances in smart technology, that nuisance could soon be a thing of the past.

Todd had the opportunity to talk with Dirk Wyckoff, VP Sales & Marketing at Unikey, a technology company that’s working to enable you to use your smartphone as your key. Unikey’s technologies have been incorporated into a variety of smart-lock products, which wirelessly communicate with your smartphone to lock and unlock your door before you even touch the doorknob.

To find out more about Unikey and the products that use it, visit unikey.com.

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

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Kelvin Wireless Wine Thermometer at CES

Accessories, CES 2015, Gadgets, Home

Kelvin LogoWatching the video for the Kelvin Duo wireless wine thermometer put me in mind for a glass, so as I write this, I’ve a tasty little Sicilian red to hand. But how do I know that I’m getting the best from the wine? Let the wine breathe – check. Wide glass – check. Temperature….hmm, not so sure about that…and that’s where the Kelvin thermometer comes to the rescue.

The Kelvin Duo consists of a thermometer band that goes round the bottle, transmitting the temperature to a receiver which in turn shows the temp on a small screen. The screen’s backlight is colour-coded to red, green and blue for too warm, just right and too cold.  The Kelvin is straightforward to use: first choose your wine, second select the category of wine from a choice of ten (four for white, three for red, two for sparkling and one for rosé), next put the band on the bottle and the bottle in the fridge. Finally, wait for the receiver screen to get into the green (or just flick into the blue) then pour and enjoy!

The Kelvin Duo is already on sale in the UK for £39.99 and will be coming to the US in the coming months with a price somewhere around $70-$80.

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

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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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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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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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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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OWC Thunderbolt 2 Dock at CES

Accessories, CES 2015, Computers, Gadgets, Home

OWC logo (OWC) always turns up at CES with new toys and this year Todd looks on with desire as founder Larry O’Connor shows off the latest accessories from the Mac shop.

First up is a 240 GB SSD with USB3 crammed into a memory stick form factor. Made to match most Apple products with a brushed aluminium finish, it’ll set you back a cool $199. A 480 GB version will be coming soon!

Next is OWC’s which brings five USB 3.0, two Thunderbolt 2, FireWire 800, HDMI, gigabit ethernet and audio in/out ports into a single unit. On order for delivery in February, this will set you back $249 as a CES limited-time special ($299 normally). Very handy if you have legacy FireWire gear that you want to use with newer Apple computers.

Other products mentioned but not shown include SSDs for Mac Pro upgrades, and portable backup drives.

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

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TPN Picks Awards

Accessories, Auto, Cameras, CES 2015, Computers, Gadgets, Health, Home, Mobile, Toys & Gaming, TVs, Video, Wireless

Each year the TPN team picks 10 companies that our team feels are deserving of a TPN pick. The awards are for what we feel is cool at CES and excites us the most. This years 10 picks are exceptional.

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CES 2015 Brilens LS1280 LED Projector

CES 2015, Entertainment, Gadgets, Home, TVs, Video

The Worlds First Portable Laser Projector.  It features an Osram Laser Lamp with over 50,000 hours life and Texas Instrument DLP display technology, as well as a rich multimedia interface, mobile wireless screen mirroring and passive shutter 3D. It comes with a an external battery pack that can power the projector for two hours as well as run on regular power. The Projector is capable of 3800 lumens and was stunning in the studio. The color clarity was simply incredible. The unit retails for $999 and comes with multiple language support.

The projector has almost no heat due to the LED projection and was tested extensively running for up to a week continuously. It comes with a 2 year warranty.  It has nearly every possible media connection while the projector is capable of 720p the image quality was incredible.

In the coming weeks we will be taking a much deeper look at this projector with a separate review by Geek News Central.

 

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