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My Top Tech Toys Of 2011

// January 30th, 2012 // 3 Comments » // technology, toys

I firmly believe that technology should enrich and enable our lives, so it’s no surprise that I use a lot of technology in my life. Some of these gadgets are for personal use. Some are for work, and others are just for fun, but here’s a list of the top tech toys that I discovered or started using in 2011.

1. T-Mobile G2 – I got this phone in November of 2010, and it’s been an awesome device. After I rooted it, overclocked it, and put HTC’s Sense user interface on it, it’s been a killer phone. The slide-out keyboard is really what makes it for me, plus having a real camera button.

2. Apple iPad 2 – I tried desperately to use a few different Android-powered tablets, but I just couldn’t. Honeycomb might’ve been built for tablets, but it sucks to use full time. The iPad can’t do half the things I did with my Android tablets, but what it does do is miles better.

3. Apple iPod Classic – I tried for literally years to duplicate two simple functions with various software solutions on various smartphones, and I just couldn’t. Given the size of my music library, I needed a portable solution that can sync playcounts/times and star ratings from desktop to mobile and back again. I finally broke down and bought an iPod Classic and couldn’t love it more. It doesn’t have apps or all that nonsense, but it does precisely what I need it to, and it does that well.

4. Xbox 360 w/ Kinect – after a few years of not even having a TV in the house (no kidding), I finally got one, along with an Xbox 360 w/ Kinect. The media experience with this thing is awesome, especially with the dashboard update that came late in 2011 and brought speech recognition throughout most of the software. I can literally tell my TV that I want to watch Modern Family without ever touching a remote control. Awesome.

5. Nokia BH-905i – these headphones are just plain awesome. Most of the time I use them wired to my iPod or iPad, but they also have stereo Bluetooth, which connects easily to my laptop. They also have active noise-cancellation technology, so I can watch a movie while Reese screams her brains out (or plays noisily with her toys….) and not miss a thing. Even when the house is empty, I’ll put these bad boys on and just disappear into the music.

6. Bose In-Ear Headphones – I got my first pair of these at the Nokia: Go Play event and bought a replacement pair two years later. These are my everyday earbuds, and I love them because I can have my music as loud as I want and no one around me can hear it. They’re brilliant for listening to music in public, as well as at my desk at work. They’re pricey, but I haven’t found any other headphones that fit as good.

7. Angelcare monitor – I lost a cousin to SIDS when I was a kid, so having a good nighttime monitor with the heartbeat pad is priceless. This unit also has video, which is cool. I have a full review coming soon.

8. Enercell Portable Power – this is similar to the Proporta units that I’ve loved for years, but it’s available at any RadioShack, and it’s a bit smaller. Other than that, it’s the same – huge battery cased in plastic with USB-out. I don’t travel with less than two in my bag.

9. Chumby One – I don’t remember how long I’ve had this, but I know I got it off Woot. I didn’t really use it until I talked with the Chumby guy at the NY Maker Faire, who told me I could get it to automatically change ‘channels’ if I used alarms. So brilliant, it now automatically loads Pandora in the morning and Groove Salad when I get home from work. Excellent.

That’s it – I originally started this with the idea to do ten, but I could only come up with nine, so it’s your turn. Let me know your top tech toy in the comments below.

SCUBA Mask POV Camera Seems Cool

// August 2nd, 2011 // 1 Comment » // toys

My wife and I got SCUBA certified last year, and took a dive trip to Cozumel, Mexico (I highly recommend Scuba Club Cozumel if you’re looking – it was an awesome experience). Given this was our first open-ocean dive, we both decided to just enjoy the initial experience, rather than rent or borrow an underwater camera to try and capture to awesome beauty that is under our seas.

Even after the trip, I’m glad we made the decision. I saw a few other divers with us who had cameras, and it seemed like they were so focused on getting the picture that they couldn’t possibly have simply enjoyed the actual dive. However, when I got home, I was left trying to describe some of the awesomeness to friends and family, and came up short.

Enter the Liquid Image Wide Angle Scuba Series HD. This dive mask has a 5 megapixel camera built right into the top of the mask, and even records video at 720p, which is pretty cool. There’s an optional lights attachment for night dives or low-light situations, and the whole shebang is apparently pretty easy to use.

Photo: Spencer Higgins

Unfortunately, at around $500 for the mask and lights, it’s awfully pricey (not that SCUBA gear is cheap, by any means). When we were diving, I had actually thought something like this would be really cool, but didn’t think of the challenges, as put forth in the comments.

For starters, you can’t really get up close and personal with the wildlife with this thing. I for one am not about to stick my face too close to some of the monstrous lobsters or creepy eels that I saw on my dive. Also, the bulk of the cost is in the camera – dive masks are much cheaper. With this solution, if something were to happen to the mask part, you’re out a full $500, as opposed to the ~$50 you would normally be.

A much more useful thing to have built into your mask would of course be a sort of heads-up display. Rather than looking down at gauges on my wrist, how cool would it be if my dive time and depth was projected right there in my field of vision?

Microsoft Kinect Is The Future Of Media Interaction

// May 3rd, 2011 // No Comments » // cool, toys

A few months ago, I joined the video game elite and picked up a 250GB Xbox with Kinect bundle. I grew up with PlayStations, but the controller-free part of the Kinect (as opposed to the PlayStation Move and Wii) really appealed to me.

The system came with Kinect Adventures, which is actually a pretty impressive game, to be honest. But really, Kinect is the impressive part. For starters, you can setup your profile with Kinect, and the system reads your face. This means, when we have friends over, as soon as I step in front of the screen to play my turn, the system ‘sees’ that it’s me, and uses my profile. I’m not kidding.

The other impressive feature is the accuracy. Even little things like scratching my nose or drinking a beer during play – my on-screen avatar mimics the action perfectly. It’s a completely new way of thinking about video games. This past weekend my buddy was over and brought his 15-month-old son with him. As we were playing Kinect Sports (I just got it, it’s sweet, too), I realized that it’s entirely possible his son will grow up not knowing what to do with a video game controller. It will feel foreign in his hands. Of course, it immediately reminded me of this scene from Back To The Future:

Of course, currently, the Xbox isn’t entirely controllable via Kinect. You still have to use buttons to turn it on, and most parts of the system still require that you use your controller. However, the Kinect capabilities are being included in more parts every day.

It’s also not just motion sensing. Kinect also listens to you, so that you can control your system by voice commands. Here’s a quick video demonstration of this from my friend James Whatley. Speaking of, Kinect also does video calling – James and I have done a couple video calls, on our TVs, through Kinect. It’s brilliant.

If you have an Xbox, get a Kinect. If you don’t have either, go get one. They’re sick.

What Worked At SXSW 2011

// March 17th, 2011 // 2 Comments » // Mobile, toys

I just got back from SXSW 2011, the annual nerdfest that takes place in Austin, Texas each spring. It’s a pretty harsh environment for someone to remain constantly connected. SXSW is spread out over several venues and covers most of the downtown area of Austin, so you’re constantly walking between hotels and meeting rooms. Despite the efforts of companies like Samsung to setup charging stations, there’s a pretty severe lack of power outlets available. Also, because you’re constantly on the move, you don’t really have time to sit there charging your gadgets, anyways.

The situation is quite similar to any other concert or festival that you would go to – wanting to stay online and connected to your friends pretty much constantly, and sharing things like photos, videos, and location with your friends, as well. What with summer coming soon, I thought it would be a good idea to share with you the things that kept me connected while at SXSW 2011.

HARDWARE

1. T-Mobile G2 – this is by far one of my favorite smartphones ever. It’s small, powerful, has a great battery, solid keyboard, and mine’s running Android v2.3 Gingerbread via CyanogenMod7. With the throngs of iPhone users at SXSW, it was rather nice to be using T-Mobile’s wacky 3G network – in fact, I was on HSPA+ (what they call 4G) pretty much the whole weekend, which was awesome. The G2 is so versatile that while I brought my Asus EeePC 1000HE netbook, the only time I used it was to charge up my phone via USB.

2. Samsung Galaxy Tab – another Android-powered device, this was a loaner through my new job at RadioShack. While similar to the G2, the Galaxy Tab’s bigger 7-inch display made browsing the panels on the SXSW GO! app much easier, and Sprint’s network was decent, as well. The Galaxy Tab’s front-facing camera works with the built-in QIK video application, too, so I could easily make talking-head videos to share with you guys.

3. Portable Power – this is the real trick, honestly. Portable power packs like this Enercell one from RadioShack are basically a big fat battery, cased in plastic, with USB output. My phone’s battery capacity is 1300mAh, so the 2300mAh Portable Power from Enercell can refill my phone fully once, and still have plenty left to get me through the rest of the day. Even better, it’s super compact, so I can stuff it in my pocket without having to bring my whole backpack (or toss a few of them into my backpack, for longer trips).

4. Belkin Portable Power Strip – I bought this a few years ago, and it’s definitely great to travel with. You can easily convert a single power outlet into three 3-prong outlets and 2 USB charging ports, all with surge protection. It’s a bit bulky, but completely worth it when travelling.

Software

1. Beluga – I set this up the other day, just after it was bought by Facebook, and was pleased to see how good it worked. I was able to setup multiple ‘Pods’ to keep track of different groups of people, and we were all able to keep in touch easily. This is much better than sending SMS to everyone in a group, and the added multimedia capabilities are awesome, as well.

2. Twitter - I’m a Twitter nut (you can find me at @Rcadden) and used it extensively at SXSW for several reasons. Primarily, it’s a great way to keep track of all my friends who are at the event. Twitter is also great for keeping up with the various panels and sessions at SXSW. Some of the speakers setup a specific hashtag for their session, so you could chat about what they were talking about, or pose a question.

3. Foursquare – I know, I gave up Foursquare a few months ago, but the service really shines at events such as SXSW with multiple venues. In addition to the cool badges, I was able to see where the crowds were and where my friends were. The new version of Foursquare for Android gives you notifications of your friends’ checkins, too, so I could know if I was nearby someone. I’ll probably continue to use Foursquare at home now, but in a much more limited capacity.

4. SMS – plain-jane text messages also proved useful, especially when the data networks got overloaded. It’s also great for friends with different phones that may not support Beluga.

5. SXSW GO app – when I went to SXSW back in 2009, we didn’t get an app, just an iPhone-only website, leaving me and my Symbian-powered smartphone holding a hard copy of the session schedules. This year, SXSW had an app for most platforms, and it worked really well. Despite some long load times, I was able to star the sessions that I wanted to attend on my computer and then sync that back to my phone. I could also search for various keywords, to make wading through the options so much easier. My only complaint was the interface – panel titles were only given one line and only showed 3-4 words, so I had to click through every one just to see if it was interesting.

Next year for SXSW, I’ll probably leave the netbook at home and just bring my phone, a tablet, and a few portable power units. This will make my backpack even lighter, which is also a huge plus. If you made it out to SXSW this year, did you find anything else, hardware or software, that was simply indispensable?

Fossil Is Rehashing The Connected Wristwatch

// January 9th, 2011 // 1 Comment » // cool, toys

Fossil has been around since 1984, specializing in clothing and accessories. They make some of the coolest wristwatches on the market, and they’re about to step up their game even more. They’ve recently announced their Connected Wristwatch line, a series of wristwatches that are able to connect to your phone via Bluetooth for various bits of information and notifications. Currently these watches are able to connect to Android-powered smartphones, as well as BlackBerries, which are two awesome platforms to start with. BlackBerry support gives Fossil’s Connected Wristwatches availability to the Enterprise market, while the Android platform is increasingly popular with consumers and ‘normobs’.

It appears as though Fossil will be releasing an entire lineup in the future, with a few different form factors to choose from. For starters, they’ll have watches that look like normal wristwatches, with the addition of small LCD screens that can show information somewhat like a stock ticker. I previously had a chance to check out one of Sony Ericsson’s Bluetooth wristwatches that behaved like this, and it’s a really handy extra, that’s for sure. Another one would see the entire face of the watch as a display, and you could obviously get more rich information from this – full weather forecasts, photo caller ID, email previews, etc. Quite handy for someone who is constantly on the go, as you could simply glance at your wrist to see what your phone is buzzing about – no need to fumble through your pockets.

The best part of these new Fossil watches is that they’re anticipating a $200 launch price – that’s nicely affordable, especially compared to the $400-500 that Sony Ericsson was asking for their earlier units. Fossil is also one of the pioneers of customizable fashion-oriented wristwatches. You can go to their store and pick out your watch face, then choose from a seemingly endless array of watch bands and other accessories to build your own unique watch.

I’ll most definitely be keeping an eye on this, and will hopefully be able to review one of these watches when they come available. In the meantime, Fossil spent some time with Robert Scoble, so you can check out the audio below for more on these cool watches.

This is another awesome example of technology enriching and enabling real life. By putting the information from your phone on your wrist, Fossil is converting quite a bit of data into glanceable information. The benefits here are endless, and because Fossil is behind it, these watches are sure to look great, as well.