The Goods: May 2012′s Hottest Gadgets
Posted by Will | Posted in News | Posted on 08-05-2012
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Bang and Olufsen create a $730 iPad audio dock
Posted by Will | Posted in News | Posted on 08-05-2012
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Bang & Olufsen is well known for premium audio products from ear buds to sound systems. Their latest iPad dock is one expensive accessory, considering it will set you back nearly $730—that’s $230 more than what the third-generation iPad costs.
The Beoplay A3 iPad Speaker is a 2.75-pound, pyramid-shaped dock that frames the iPad with three 0.5-inch tweeters and a 2-inch woofer. Its size and weight make it more likely to be a stay-at-home system, rather than an about town one. But, if you do decide to take it on the road it has an estimated run time of about 5 hours.
It has a frequency rang of 60 to 15,000Hz and is constructed from an aluminum frame covered by black polycarbonate ABS plastic. Thanks to its rubber collars it offers a snug fit for the second generation as well as original iPad, too. However, Bang & Olufsen has yet to confirm whether it will (or won’t) fit the slightly thicker, new iPad model. I’d be very surprised if they’d overlooked the current model, though.
The way the Beoplay A3 is designed, you can orient the iPad and the sound system one of several ways. The dock will be able to sense the change in orientation and activate the proper speakers to provide you with the best possible sound output.
There is currently no word on a release date, however, you can sign up on the Bang & Olufsen website to notify you when it does become available.
At $730 though, I doubt that many people will be lining up for a purchase.
via Ubergizmo
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We Asked Our Readers Why They Love the Samsung Galaxy Note
Posted by Will | Posted in News | Posted on 07-05-2012
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I didn’t care for the Galaxy Note at all–too big, unable to be either a great phone or a great tablet. But it’s been a huge success. Here’s why
Nobody expected the enormous, 5.3-inch Samsung Galaxy Note to be anything more than a joke. Many gadget reviewers hate big-screened phones. When I first saw it, all I could think was “cheese board.” “Is that the Note? It looks absurd,” said our Web Editor John. Sam Biddle over at Gizmodo called the Note a “distended LED baking sheet,” amongst lots of other creative things.
Now, two and a half months later, the Note has sold well over 5 million units, making it a legitimate hit. You can bet HTC and Motorola and LG will all make a competitor–HTC’s has already been heavily rumored–and last week, Samsung unveiled that its new flagship line, the Samsung Galaxy S III, would have a huge 4.8-inch screen, to the dismay of myself and many other gadget writers.
What do the people buying Galaxy Notes see that we supposed professional reviewers do not? To find out, I talked to a few Note owners and lovers.
I have average-to-small hands, and I use my phone one-handed for just about everything, so any phone with a screen larger than about four inches–4.3 at the very largest–just doesn’t work well for me. I can’t have a big area in an upper corner that is completely out of reach of my thumb. Also, when you get into a toboggan of a phone like the Galaxy Note, you have the curious problem of scaling the entire operating system: Android has enough trouble making apps look good on 3.7-inch phones and 4.3-inch phones. A 5.3-inch phone? Many apps look terrible.
“Using the phone with two hands comes pretty natural after a while.” The people I talked to generally had very different concerns than I did. Tim Gray was an iPhone 3GS user who needed to replace his phone. He’d also been shopping around for a tablet or an ebook reader, looking at the Nook Simpletouch or an iPad, but the price for both was a little too high. Tim has a long regional-rail commute to work, and the Note fulfills his need for both a phone and an ebook reader. (It may not be particularly good at either, in my mind–I find dedicated readers like the Nook Simpletouch and Kindle a much more pleasant reading experience, and I find smaller phones like the iPhone or HTC One S much easier to use as phones–but that is a totally reasonable compromise.) Tim keeps his Note in the inside pocket of his jacket when he’s wearing one, or in a messenger bag when it gets too warm for jackets.
Jayesh Mansukhani said that “portability is not an issue in my eyes.” He says it slips fairly easily into his pocket, and that while retrieving it “can be a bit of a challenge,” it’s “nothing major,” especially compared to what he likes about the phone: watching videos (valid!), editing documents (also valid!), and web browsing (good point!).
But what about one-handed navigation? How do you scroll through a cached Twitter feed while clutching the handrail on the subway? “I don’t lament the loss of the one-handed navigation as much as I thought I would,” said Tim. “Using the phone with two hands comes pretty natural after a while.”
I’m not saying you shouldn’t listen to gadget reviewers. We generally do know our stuff pretty well. But this is an excellent reminder that reviews are subjective. We try to think outside ourselves a bit, but it’s still a review, by a person. My opinion, living in Brooklyn, owning a Kindle, wearing jeans unable to accomodate a phone this size, riding a crowded-ass subway and checking my phone every twelve seconds? The Galaxy Note is not for me, and the Galaxy S III is way too big. But not everyone will agree. And that’s important to remember.
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Qumarion: a sensor-covered mannequin for 3D modeling
Posted by Will | Posted in News | Posted on 07-05-2012
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Creating 3D models and animating them requires a lot of skill and takes years of practice before you become a professional. Typically an artist will have a mannequin sitting next to their PC as an aid to getting a pose right. But that mannequin can only act as a guide rather than a direct input for an on-screen model in a package like Maya or 3ds Max.
Researchers at the University of Tsukuba and the University of Electro-Communications in Japan are aiming to change that by introducing a mannequin peripheral.
It is called the Qumarion and consists of a physical mannequin that can be posed in multiple sitting and standing positions. Using QUMA technology, the data from 32 sensors and 16 joints on the model is relayed via USB to the 3D modeling software on a PC. The feedback is instant, allowing an artist to fine tune the pose on the real model and see it copied by the character on-screen.
Although it looks perfect for the creation of 3D model posing and key frame animation, the creators believe it will mainly be used to create poses that then get traced over for 2D comic illustrations.
At $750 for the complete kit, it’s not overly expensive for an artist to pick up and start experimenting with. At the very least, it should offer a better starting point with a model on screen than having to manually set a pose using a keyboard and mouse.
The University of Electro-Communication isn’t new to the area of novel peripherals. Last year researchers there converted the vibration units contained in Sony’s DualShock controllers into a phantom vibration feedback system. Its aim is to make the feeling of getting stabbed or shot in a game more real.
More at DigInfo.tv
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Use Field & Stream’s Automated, Social Fishing Journal, Win Free Stuff
Posted by Will | Posted in News | Posted on 07-05-2012
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Our friends over at Field & Stream have a newish iPhone app that we’ll totally use, provided we’re still fishing in the coming world of genetically modified salmon and robotic fish. It turns your pictures of your catch into a sort of journal, with time, date, weather conditions, and location, plus added info like type and size of fish, type and color of lure, and more, which you can then share with your fishing friends or just use it to brag to those stuck in office buildings. Now Field & Stream is running a contest–the best photo gets in the magazine, and the winner gets some nice Columbia gear. Read more here.
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