Archive for February 6th, 2012

(Credit:
Daniel Abendroth)

As I’m writing this post, I’m desperately trying to find a way to warm up my feet and hands. I suppose ditching the ice-cold soda would be a good place to start, but I need some caffeine on this post-Super Bowl Monday. If only I had Hagent, the heat-spewing robot, by my side.

Hagent is a portable heating concept by German designers Andreas Meinhardt and Daniel Abendroth. Though it looks like a simple black box on the outside, the mobile bot is capable of searching out heat, absorbing it, and then re-releasing the heat in cold places.

Heat sensors incorporated into the black box allow Hagent to identify large sources of heat, while something called phase change material (PCM) can absorb, store, and release the heat in places where it’s needed. So, for example, Hagent can gather heat coming from your burning fireplace and then move over to a part of your house that’s chilly and warm it up by releasing the stored energy. It’s not immediately clear, however, if Hagent automatically detects cold spots or if you must instruct it to go to a certain room.

Hagent is still just a prototype at this point, but if it ever came to market, it could go a long way in cutting down heating and electricity bills during the winter months. You can check out Daniel Abendroth’s Web site for more videos and infor… [Read more]

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Hardly portable, but classy: Michael Greensmith’s iPhonograph

(Credit:
Instructables)

Remember kicking back in the 1890s? There was nothing better than relaxing with the latest Sherlock Holmes adventure in The Strand magazine and a Gilbert and Sullivan cylinder on the phonograph.

Now you can relive those glory days with your iPad and this classy steampunk audio system by Michael Greensmith.

We’ve seen plenty of passive speaker systems for the iPhone, including the organic iBamboo and the funky Horn Bike. The iPhonograph is a powered, steampunk-style audio system for the iPad that Greensmith put together with a little elbow grease and several odd parts from recycling shops.

As detailed on Instructables.com, it includes a reproduction brass horn made in India, an antique cutlery box, potentiometer knobs, a mini stereo amp kit, and a bunch of felt.

With an iPad added to the completed stand and speaker combo, the iPhonograph is easy to operate and seems to sound way too good for its form factor, if the vid below is anyth… [Read more]

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(Credit:
Sony)

Surfers, snowboaders, skaters, and action sports enthusiasts everywhere, there’s finally a smartphone just for you.

Sony has partnered up with action sportswear company Billabong to release a special edition model of the Xperia Active. The Billabong Edition features a special back cover and comes preloaded with exclusive screensavers, videos, and a Billabong Live app, which offers live streaming, as well as photos and news, of the company’s surf contests. In addition, you get a copy of the Billabong Surf Trip game.

Like the regular Xperia Active, the Billabong Edition has a dust-proof and water-resistant design with a 3-inch, 320×480-pixel touch screen that works even if your fingers are wet. Other fitness goodies include built-in ANT+ wireless technology for connecting to compatible heart-rate monitor and an included armband. Don’t expect extreme power though, as the Xperia Active ships running Android 2.3 Gingerbread and has a 1GHz processor and a 5-megapixel camera.

The Xperia Active Billabong Edition is available now in select markets, but pricing information was not available at the time of this writing.

(Via Unwired View)

[Read more]

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(Credit:
Buhel)

There’s nothing like hitting the ski lodge for a warm beverage after a few hours on the slopes, but trying to round up the troops can be a pain when you have to dig through your winter layers to find your cell phone and then shout instructions over all the swooshing and ambient noise around you.

If you’re sick of dealing with this first-world problem, let us introduce you to the Buhel SpeakGoggle G33. These high-tech goggles connect to your cell phone or smartphone via Bluetooth and feature a bone conduction mic integrated into the frame that translates speech using the vibrations from your nose. The advantage of bone conduction technology is that it blocks outside noise, so you can have a clearer conversation with your friend.

A pair of earphones is included with the SpeakGoggle G33, and they connect right into the goggles so you don’t have to deal with long wires running from your phone to your ears. In addition to making phone calls, you can listen to music from your phone or Bluetooth-enabled MP3 player, as well as connect up to six other SpeakGoggle systems within 1,640 feet of you.

Large buttons on the exterior of the goggles allow for easy control, and voice dialing is supported as long as it’s a feature of your mobile phone. Buhel says the SpeakGoggle’s battery offers 10 hours of music playback and 12 hours of… [Read more]

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