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Big things come in a small package. The Fenix LD30 Outdoor flashlight has one of the most innovative designs I have seen in a while. When ordered with the ARB-L-18-3500u 18650 rechargeable Li-ion battery you unlock some very cool features. First of all the battery is recharged directly by plugging into the battery I have never seen anything like it. This allows the flashlight to be 100% waterproof. Providing 1600 Lumens of lumination and a multi-selection switch to change intensity. The onboard sensor even indicates battery charge life. Priced at $79.95 with the battery included this is an incredible flashlight packed in a small package. The post Fenix LD30 Outdoor Flashlight appeared first on Geek News Central.

MyCharge Product Reviews, I look at two products from MyCharge.com The UnPlugged 10k Wireless portable charging station priced at $69.99 with a battery capacity of 10,000mAh with two additional USB-A ports and the RazorExtreme PD 26,800mah battery capable of charging a compatible device at 45W with 2 USB-A ports, and 1 USB-C port priced at $99.99 designed for Small Laptops, Tablets & Smartphones.   The post MyCharge Product Reviews appeared first on Geek News Central.

broski has introduced an Indiegogo for a new set of headphones. broski lety Noise Canceling Headphones are in a price class that blows the competition away. Nearly $150.00 cheaper than a comparable product. I have been testing these headphones for over a week and I am impressed. I have used a variety of noise-canceling headphone over the past few years and I can say the Broski noise-canceling headphones list of features is impressive. Priced just at $149.00 you cannot go wrong. 20 Hours Play Time Built-in Microphone Foldable and Adjustable Charging Cable Audio Cable Superb Noise Canceling I am impressed with the fit, the sound and the quality of the onboard microphone. The team at broski have provided me with an extra pair and I will be giving these away to a random reader of this blog post or anyone that watches the video. Send an email to [email protected] with broski in the subject line to enter to win. We will award the headphones a week from today. The post broski lety Noise Canceling Headphones appeared first on Geek News Central.

The team from Juiced System sent me a variety of products to try. All are quite straightforward and there Deca Hub is quite robust. While most will leave it on their desktop I travel with mine as it easy to hook up to various devices while I travel. Both the 10 Port and the UltraHub USB-C Thunderbolt multiport Adapter give you a lot of options. On top of the hubs, they have USB-C Port adapters that eliminate the need to carry a bunch of accessories to access media cards. There full line of USB-C to USB-C cables also are nice in that they are robust and versatile. Visit their website to see the full lineup. Demo Room Design by AudiMute.com contact me to get the pricing on all of their Audio Conditioning products. The post Juice Systems Product Overview appeared first on Geek News Central.

Activity trackers with built-in heart rate monitors are incredible pieces of technology. Sophisticated electronics crammed into a tiny space at relatively inexpensive cost and generating vast swathes of data. Fantastic as these devices are, they’re aimed squarely at consumers. There’s no guarantee that a thousand steps is a thousand steps. For medical applications, a validated wearable is required and these devices have gone through rigorous research programmes to ensure that they work within a confirmed margin of error. British firm Activinsights manufacture their own wrist wearables for medical and healthcare professionals to use with with patients and clients. In the interview, Stephanie from Activinsights tells me how their wearables differ from the consumer market. For starters, some of them have a year-long battery life. With a range of devices for different scenarios, detailed information is collected and subsequently downloaded for analysis. Activinsights’ analytic tools can assess the data to provide lifestyle recommendations for long-term prevention but can also identify when the wearer’s condition is deteriorating. Many physical manifestations can be indicators of serious medical conditions, so it’s worth keeping track of activity over extended periods to help make a diagnosis. The devices are available now with prices from around GB£260. The post Activinsights Measures Health at Wearable Technology Show appeared first on Geek News Central.

Continuing GNC’s coverage of the Wearable Technology Show, I’m with Kenneth from G+D Mobile Security which specialise in “user and device identities”. In particular, they’re behind some of the technologies that enable wearables and mobile devices to act as ID for, say, transit or ski lift passes. The team at G+D Mobile Security work to put additional value into an existing wearable device, so a watch becomes a lift pass, an activity tracker becomes a payment device or a wristband becomes ID for a music festival. G+D were behind Swatch Pay launching in China with China UnionPay in 2017 using Swatch Bellamy models, and a European launch is expected later this year. In the interview, Kenneth takes me through the process by which a wearable or other smart device can be programmed to securely mimic a credit card, and talks around the current capabilities plus some interesting future developments that give greater control over where and when payments can be made. Payments are only one aspect of G+D’s wearable portfolio, and they’re currently working with various universities to develop IDs which can be used for access control, tracking class attendance and membership of sports teams. G+D Mobile Security have a couple of interesting papers on current technology trends including smart homes, app security and the “digital doctor“. Worth a read.   The post Pay By Swatch with G+D Mobile Security at Wearable Technology Show appeared first on Geek News Central.

In my experience, expecting a new baby is a conflicting mix of emotions ranging from total joy to sheer terror…and I’m the dad. For mums-to-be there’s the extra worry from carrying the baby and 78% of women experience unhealthy levels of stress and anxiety during pregnancy. These concerns are not entirely unfounded as the risk of miscarriages and stillbirths is significant, and sadly there’s still considerable stigma associated with a failed pregnancy. Many medical professionals recommend measuring kicks and punches after 28 weeks as a good indicator of a foetus’ relative health but there’s often natural variation and mum’s often got other things on her mind. Of course, this is where Rubi from Sensable Technnologies comes in. Rubi is a passive wearable pregnancy monitor that mum wears over her bump to automatically record kicking information. Eric and Nolan tell me more about Rubi at the Wearable Technology Show in London. Typically Rubi records a running total for the last hour and keeps track of the last kick. The information is transmitted via Bluetooth to the parents’ smartphones and the complementary app shows the activity. If there is anything to be concerned about, the Rubi app will alert the mum and she can do a non-stress test to check. Rubi itself uses strain gauges which are screen-printed onto the fabric to make the maternity band, and there’s a small microcontroller pod for collecting the kick data and transmitting it onwards. In addition to the maternity band, the team has produced an active tape which adheres directly to the skin. Rubi is now live on Kickstarter with several early bird deals. Prices are slightly different from the interview but currently Rubi is priced at US$223 / GB£165 with delivery expected in February and March 2019. The active tape version will be delivered earlier at the end of 2018. Please bear the delivery dates in mind when considering your own pregnancy as Rubi is best used from 28 weeks onwards. The post Rubi Pregnancy Monitor at Wearable Technology Show appeared first on Geek News Central.

When it comes to exoskeletons, many will think of Ripley’s power loader in Aliens. While that kind of machine is still a little way off, what it did get right is that exoskeletons will be used to help with work and here’s an early example from Dutch firm Laevo. I chat with Boudewijn Wisse from Laevo and I get to have a go myself. Demonstrated at the Wearable Technology Show, the Laevo exoskeleton is for people who have to bend over or squat repeatedly and helps the wearer stand up. It’s not a powered exoskeleton and the additional assistance comes through a clever spring mechanism which stores energy when crouching down and then releases it to help the wearer stand up. The picture on the left shows the Laevo exoskeleton and when worn, the chest pads push the body upright, reducing the strain on the back and consequent back pain. This potentially reduces the load on the back by up to 50%. I tried on the exoskeleton at WTS2018. Fortunately there are no pictures, but I could very much feel the effect with only minimal adjustment. Admittedly it doesn’t look sleek and sexy but if I was picking up goods in a warehouse or working in a field, I’m not sure I’d be that bothered how it looks. The Laevo exoskeleton is available now – expect to pay around 3,000 euros. The post Laevo Exoskeleton at Wearable Technology Show appeared first on Geek News Central.

It’s stressful enough as an adult to go into hospital for an operation or procedure. Much as you know it’s for your own good and the doctors are there for your benefit, hospitals are still unfamiliar territory for most people and there are machines which you’re not quite to sure what they do and whether the beeping noise is normal. Imagine how much worse it is for children when they go into hospital: they’re already unwell and in pain, and now have to cope with strangers and scary machines. It’s all very intimidating – the child will be afraid and uncooperative. To help with this, the team at JSC have developed a game-based VR experience for children where the child is taken through a medical procedure with the help of a friendly in-game character. The child gets a 1st person view, interacting with the characters and exploring the hospital in a fun way. The child sees it as a game and enjoys the experience, instead of being afraid. When it comes to the real thing, the VR pre-experience increases the success of the procedure, reduces the child’s stress and anxiety, and increases the active participation of the child. Currently the medical procedures include injections, blood-taking, x-ray, anaesthesia and surgery. JSC is a South Korean company and the interview at the Wearable Technology Show took place with the assistance of a translator. I spoke with SeHwan Lee, JSC’s Chief Business Development Officer, but it’s the translator’s voice in the interview. The post Hospital VR Experience for Children at Wearable Technology Show appeared first on Geek News Central.

I’ve been attending the Wearable Technology Show for a couple of years now and it’s been interesting to see the change in fabrics, yarns and threads. In particular, the conductive wires for LEDs have gone from being obvious to almost invisible. If the LED wasn’t powered up, it would be unnoticeable except close up. The Advanced Textiles team at Nottingham Trent University in England were demonstrating some of their latest yarns and explaining how their research had helped create yarns with LEDs and other electronics inside. M-Nour from the team took me through their latest developments. The basic idea is that by encapsulating small electronics within resin and connecting with very flexible wires, the yarn can be used in a wide range of fabrics and clothing without affecting the drape, wash-ability and durability. Although LEDs are eye-catching, there’s much potential with sensors, such as socks with woven-in thermistors (temperature sensors) for people with diabetes, or gloves with accelerometers to measure vibration for workmen using pneumatic drills. There’s even the possibility to embed RFID chips for the tracking of clothing (and their wearer). It’s all impressive stuff and I wonder what will be available next year. The post Advanced Textiles Research at Wearable Technology Show appeared first on Geek News Central.

Laser barcode scanners have revolutionised stock management and inventory processing in a wide range of industries and they’re ubiquitous at the supermarket checkout. Many of these scanners are handheld models that are constantly picked up and put down as needed, but ProGlove offers an alternative with the barcode scanner that’s fitted on the back of a glove. I chat with Aaron from ProGlove as the company brings to the scanner to the UK. Even to someone who doesn’t work in this space, the benefits are obvious. A worker isn’t constantly picking up and putting down the scanner and the scanner comes with the worker without any thought; it doesn’t get left behind on a shelf. It’s ingenious and solves a couple of problems in one go. The scanner follows all the major standards and integrating the ProGlove scanner into an existing setup should be straightforward. ProGlove have already worked with a number of big names – Audi, BMW, Skoda, John Deere, Bosch – so it looks like they’ve a good thing going here. The post ProGlove Scans from the Back of the Hand at Wearable Technology Show appeared first on Geek News Central.

At the Wearable Technology Show, there were many vendors demonstrating clothing with built-in sensors and lights – I think there was even one with a Raspberry Pi tucked away in the lining. All of them have the problem of how to get power from a battery pack to the electronics and one solution is to use a conducting thread or yarn. Statex have a silver-based yarn which can be woven or embroidered into a cloth to make a circuit. The silver and polyamide mix gives a balance of lightweight and elasticity while still conducting electricity. I discuss the practicalities of silver threads with Robert from Statex. Statex were demonstrating the properties of the silver yarn with a small keyboard that was embroidered into a cloth along with a small circuitboard to produce the tones and flash some lights. It’s not a baby grand piano, but it’s lots of fun and shows off the potential. They were embroidering some of them at a nearby stand and I’m sorry I didn’t snaffle one! Statex is a world-wide leader in the silver-coated fabrics industry. The company has successful developed silver-based yarns, textiles, bandages and carpets which provide a range of benefits from electrical conductivity and RF shielding to anti-bacterial and fungicidal properties. The post Silver Threads from Statex at Wearable Technology Show appeared first on Geek News Central.

When I saw the second generation of the Oura smart ring at the Wearable Technology Show, I was impressed. The Oura team has managed to cram their smart ring with everything you’d expect to find in an activity tracker – motion, pulse, temperature. What you might have expected to wear on your wrist, you can now wear on your finger, and it looks like a piece of jewellery, not a tech gadget. And while steps and pulse rate are interesting, the Oura ring isn’t only about the day and motion. It continues the prevalent theme of getting a good night’s sleep. The smart ring measures in detail blood flow, motion and temperature to track sleep, and the Oura app shows the wearer their sleep patterns, including the amount of deep sleep. With this information, the wearer can adjust their behaviours before bedtime and see the impact of the changes the next day via the Oura app (available for iOS and Android). The ring syncs wirelessly via Bluetooth to nearby smartphones. Like jewellery, there’s plenty of choice in the models and colours. There are three models; Heritage, Balance and Balance Diamond, and four colours; silver, black, and premium rose and stealth. Not all combinations of model and colour are available – check here. The Heritage and Balance models are priced at US$299 / 314€ and the Balance Diamond is US$999 / 1049€. Yes, those are real diamonds. Pre-orders are open now with delivery expected in June or July for orders taken now. There’s $50 / 50€ for orders before end of April. There’s more in my interview with Marjo and Hannu, Oura’s Chief Scientific Officer. Ok, so the Oura ring doesn’t show the time, but I’ve a perfectly good wristwatch for that. The post Get Smart about Sleep with the Oura Ring at Wearable Technology Show appeared first on Geek News Central.

It’s well established now that blue light has a disruptive effect on sleep as it affects the production of melatonin more than any other wavelength of light but it’s not only effect of light in the hour before bedtime that’s important. Much of our day is spent indoors in often poor quality light conditions. But how bad is it? The Lys light tracker can help with that, and I find out more from Christina, CEO and Founder, at the Wearable Technology Show. UK firm Lys Technologies have developed Lys as a light tracker for the indoor generation and physically it’s a small round device that clips onto clothing. The intention is that you get Lys as close as possible to your eyes so that the tracker receives a similar amount of light radiation. Lys not only measures the intensity of light falling on it, but also the quality, which for light is represented by its wavelength. Most of us are familiar with the light spectrum which runs from infrared through the ultraviolet but white light is not a single colour: it’s made up of many colours (remember the experiment with the prism in school?). By slightly adjusting the composition of the light, you can end up with bluish whites and warm (reddish) whites – you might have seen these descriptions on LED lighting. The other side of the coin is that humans have a circadian rhythm that’s aligned to the 24 hours of the day (give or take). This rhythm is reinforced by daylight received in the eyes but as we now spend so much of our time indoors, sometimes the rhythm becomes disrupted and we have difficulty sleeping. One of the key differences between natural and artificial light is that daylight is “full spectrum” with a broad range of wavelengths, whereas most bulbs only approximate daylight with a smaller number of wavelengths. Anyway, that’s all by-the-bye. The important thing is that the Lys tracker can measure the light falling on it during the day, and provide this information to you via an app, showing you the quality, intensity and duration of the light. This guides you to help get the “right light” to reinforce the circadian rhythms and get a good night’s sleep. Just in case you are wondering, Lys means light in Danish, and is a nod to Christina’s Danish roots. The Lys tracker is available to purchase now for GB£89 but what I’m most interested in are some of the possible future developments where information from Lys is fed into smart lighting systems like Philips Hue or LIFX which can adjust their colours to prepare you for bed. That’s really where the smart home becomes smart. The post Get the Right Light with Lys at Wearable Technology Show appeared first on Geek News Central.

The British National Health Service (NHS) is often thought of as a single organisation but it’s more of a Hydra-esque organism made of many semi-autonomous agencies each with their area of expertise and sources of funding. Consequently, it can be hard for entrepreneurs and startups to engage with the NHS – where do you start? I chat with Rose from Digital Health London, a programme aiming to speed up the development and scaling of digital innovations across health and care, and pioneer their adoption by the NHS…matching innovators with NHS need, and supporting them to navigate the UK health environment. The Digital Health London accelerator programme works with small-to-medium companies to help these firms access NHS providers through an NHS Navigator. The Navigator is someone who has good understanding of how the NHS works and is funded, and can guide the company to make the right contacts. The programme also provides guidance on how to work within healthcare, such as running clinic trials, patient safety and handling confidential information. Hopefully these startups can avoid some of the pitfalls seen recently with some of the larger social media companies! The post Digital Health London Innovates with NHS at Wearable Technology Show appeared first on Geek News Central.

Specialists in wearable technology, Thrive Wearables helps companies and entrepreneurs take ideas and concepts through to finished products. At the Wearable Technology Show, I chat with Jacob, Thrive’s founder, about their design service and the challenges facing the wearable market in 2018. To understand what Thrive do, think of a big company that sells goods that aren’t electronic in any way. Say, clothes or shoes. The clothier can see complementary wearables as an opportunity but has no knowledge or experience in the space. In this instance, it can turn to Thrive Wearables to help deliver the imagined product without the need to develop in-house skills. Alternatively, the Thrive team can mentor startups to get their ideas to a prototype. The startup can then seek the funding needed to take the prototype to finished product. For example, Thrive worked with BioSelf on their Sensate stress management wareable which is currently in a beta phase and taking pre-orders. Looking to the future, Jacob sees wearable tech disappearing into clothing and becoming more modularised and seamless. Key to delivering this change are higher quality sensors, better power sources and improved communication networks. Here’s to the next few years. The post From Idea to Product with Thrive at Wearable Technology Show appeared first on Geek News Central.

While most tech shows have their headline acts like Apple and Samsung, I really enjoy talking to the the entrepreneurs, artisans and artists who come up with ideas and concepts that are unlikely to be on the shelves PC World anytime soon. Here’s a great example from the Wearable Technology Show: Thushara from Tinker Design has these beautiful smart shoes. Not content with the normal smart features of steps and distance, these shoes give the wearer a gentle foot massage under control of their smartphone. It’s a great combination of design, aesthetics and electronics. Supported by Centre for Fashion Enterprise, a fashion business incubator, Thushara hopes to bring these to market in around six months. No details on price but as these are handmade shoes, they’re not going to be cheap. The post Really Smart Shoes from Tinker Design at Wearable Technology Show appeared first on Geek News Central.

Kicking off GNC’s coverage of the Wearable Technology Show, I chat to Valentina of Nomi. Their bright backpack LED display keeps cyclists safe while doubling up as a mobile billboard. The Nomi uses GPS to locate the cyclist and then show adverts relevant to the local area, with the rider earning a small commission from the advertiser. Alternatively, the display can be programmed to show pictures or other information from, say, Twitter or Facebook. The Nomi display is expected to come to market within a year and will be relatively inexpensive at around 30 euros. The post Safe Cyclists Save with Nomi at Wearable Technology Show appeared first on Geek News Central.

As serious wine connoisseurs know, you have to let red (and some white) wines breathe after opening, allowing them to aerate for the best aroma and taste. As a generalisation, the younger the wine, the longer it needs to rest before drinking. Very young wines might need a few hours, but half-an-hour is the minimum. And simply taking the cork out doesn’t count: the wine needs to be decanted (or double-decanted back into the bottle) for proper aeration. If this sounds like too much effort, then take a look at Aveine, a connected aerator and winner of a CES Innovation Award. Don and Matthieu get every wine tasting its best. Thanks to the connected aerator Aveine, you can immediately taste any wine in ideal conditions without having to wait 30 minutes or more. Place the aerator on the bottle, scan the label with your smartphone and serve. The smartphone checks for the wine in its database, connects to the Aveine and adjusts the aeration so that the aerator breathes the right amount of air as the wine is poured allowing it to breathe in an instant. Any red wine will benefit and there’s no waiting around or pouring into decanters. The Aveine aerator is launching on Indiegogo in March – signup for notifications at Aveine. Retail pricing is expected to be US$200 with deals on Indiegogo. Delivery in June. Don Baine is the Gadget Professor and gives lectures at TheGadgetProfessor.com. P.S. This is possibly the funniest CES video – a few things are lost in translation. Become a GNC Insider today! Support our coverage sponsors The post Aveine: Breath of the Wine at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

Converting a house into a smart home shouldn’t mean replacing every electrical device for a new smart model. A cheaper and greener way is to add smart features in with wireless accessories. A good example here is SkyLink Nova which adds smart capabilities to automatic garage doors at relatively low cost. Don and Frank take a closer look at SkyLink Nova and its accompanying ecosystem. The SkyLink Nova is wired into an existing garage door opener using the standard connections used for the interior open/close button. Once connected up, the Nova can be remotely controlled with the SkyLink smartphone app (iOS and Android). Nova is also compatible with If This Then That (IFTTT) platform and Alexa so the garage door can be opened (or closed) by talking to an Echo. The Nova itself looks like an LED light fixture and works as a smart home hub too, communicating with up to 100 smart devices. In addition, it can detect sirens from smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in the house. When one of those is heard, Nova will automatically open your garage door to aid in ventilation in the case of an emergency. SkyLink‘s Nova will be on sale in the spring for under US$100. Don Baine is the Gadget Professor and gives lectures at TheGadgetProfessor.com. Become a GNC Insider today! Support our coverage sponsors The post Smarten up the Garage Door with SkyLink at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

The efficient use of electricity is a win-win: it both saves money and saves the planet. At home, energy-efficient LED lightbulbs have all but replaced incandescent bulbs, which means the quick wins are gone. The next step is to identify the big energy consumers in the home and that’s where Smappee comes in. Stefan and Don save the world. Smappee is an energy monitoring system that identifies the energy usage and behaviour of major appliances in the home. Each fridge, AC unit, cooker, TV has a unique electrical “fingerprint” and over time the Smappee monitor works out which appliance is starting and stopping, sometimes with a little help from the homeowner. With this information, Smappee shows the running cost of each one in the complementary Smappee app. Anything that consumes more than 20W can be identified but really the wins are with devices that use kilowatts of power. Smappee doesn’t require an electrician to install Smappee as it uses a sensor clamped round the live cable coming from the meter. Nothing needs to be cut or permanently installed. Smappee is available now for US$350. Don Baine is the Gadget Professor and gives lectures at TheGadgetProfessor.com. Become a GNC Insider today! The post Get Smappee for Energy Efficiency at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

If you want to listen to music you need to put on headphones or use a Bluetooth earphone. Both of those can become uncomfortable over time and hurt your ears. Echo Music solves this problem with their MusicLens sunglasses that use bone conduction technology. Daniele spoke with Junyi from Echo Music at CES 2018. MusicLens sunglasses let you listen to music through bone conduction technology. You don’t have to wear headphones, and no one else will be able to hear that you are listening to music. Bone conduction technology is the conduction of sound to the inner ear through the bones of the skull. MusicLens sunglasses use this technology to reduce the sound leak you would get from headphones. Bone conduction technology can also protect your eardrums while you listen to high quality music. MusicLens connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth. Download the music from your phone, or from the Echo Music app, to the MusicLens sunglasses. MusicLens has buttons on it that you can use to turn it on or off, to adjust the volume, or to have the Echo Music app autoplay. In addition, MusicLens will automatically take your phone call within five seconds. There are several styles and colors of MusicLens to choose from. MusicLens with prescription lenses is priced at $88. Classic Ladies or Classic Mens style is priced at $99. MusicLens Fashion style without storage is $120, or is $199 with storage. Daniele Mendez is a contributor to F5 Live: Refreshing Technology. Support our coverage sponsors The post MusicLens Sunglasses Let You Listen to Music at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

Think about all the things you touch in a day. You might use a grocery cart, push an elevator button, open a door knob, or shake hands with a co-worker. All of these things can put bacteria onto your hands. Next, you touch your smartphone and transfer bacteria onto it. PhoneSoap can sanitize your smartphone, tablet, and more. Daniele spoke with David at CES 2018. PhoneSoap is a UV sanitizer for devices like phones and tablets. It uses UV light, similar to what hospitals use to sanitize devices. Put your smartphone into the device. Once you close the device, the light comes on. The UV light will stay on for about ten minutes. At that point, your smartphone is sanitized. The UV light will sanitize up to 99.9% PhoneSoap also works as a charger, so you can charge your phone while it is being sanitized. It is priced at $59.95. There is also a PhoneSoap Wireless that is priced at $99.95. PhoneSoap XL is priced at $119.95. It can sanitize tablets and other objects that will fit inside it. Daniele Mendez is a contributor to F5 Live: Refreshing Technology. Support our coverage sponsors The post PhoneSoap Sanitizes Your Phone at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

Your privacy is important. Posting your photo, or other personal data, online can be an uncomfortable experience. How will that company use your likeness and information? Deep Force uses artificial intelligence to keep your personal information private. Daniele spoke with May from Deep Force at CES 2018. Deep Force powers artificial intelligence on devices. They leverage deep learning, which is the most advanced AI available. Its face recognition accuracy is over 99.9 percent. Deep Force takes that model and uses it for heterogenous computing.This process helps all the different parts inside a smartphone to work together more efficiently, which makes the device to have more computational powers. Instead of requiring users to send their photos, videos, and audio over the internet, Deep Force enables smartphones to process all the information on the device itself. It works even if you are in a place that does not have Wi-Fi. Deep Force makes an app that their partners can use in their products. The app is not sold directly to individual consumers. Daniele Mendez is a contributor to F5 Live: Refreshing Technology. Support our coverage sponsors The post Deep Force Empowers AI on Devices at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

Encrypted external hard drives and USB memory sticks have been around for at least a decade, but most of the time it’s either locked or unlocked: if you have the password, you’re in. Sergey from SecureDrive shows Scott their security solution to this common problem. SecureDrive specialise in hardware encrypted data storage. They’ve three product ranges with varying capacity (1 – 5 TB) to address different security and storage requirements. – SecureDrive BT, which uses Bluetooth and an app for authentication – SecureDrive KP, which uses keypad authentication – BackupDrive, which backs up files and encrypts them with built-in anti-malware For the rapid transfer of large files, all the devices use USB 3.0, and for security, it’s pending FIPS 140-2 level 3. That’s pretty secure. The unique part of the SecureDrive solution focuses on the BT model, which uses Bluetooth and an authentication app. Instead of the drive only being locked or unlocked, the solution allows additional controls for geo-fencing and time schedules. For example, the SecureDrive BT can be set to only unlock between 9-5 M-F or only if the unit is within company premises. In addition, there’s remote management so authorisations can be revoked and the drive remotely wiped. The drives are assembled in Ohio, USA, and they’re available for purchase priced at US$299-$499. The remote management feature is a subscription service. Scott Ertz is a software developer and video producer at F5 Live: Refreshing Technology. Become a GNC Insider today! Support our coverage sponsors The post Encrypted Storage with SecureDrive at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

When you think of cameras, KODAK is likely one of the first brands that comes to mind. They have a long history of providing innovative cameras for professionals and hobbyists. KODAK PIXPRO showcased several of their next generation cameras at CES 2018. Todd spoke with Tracy from KODAK PIXPRO at CES 2018. KODAK PIXPRO focuses on digital cameras. The cameras they showcased at CES 2018 offer a lot of technology for a great value. KODAK PIXPRO Orbit360 4K VR camera has a single body with two lenses on it. It is compact, freeze proof, dust proof, shock proof, and can be dropped six feet and still be ok. In addition to being a 360 camera, it is also a 4K 197 degrees of view camera that can be used as an action cam. You can upload 360° videos and photos to Facebook and YouTube. The Orbit360 4K VR camera comes with a Satellite Pack of accessories and is priced at $549.99. In addition, Tracy pointed out the features of several other KODAK PIXPRO cameras. This includes an inexpensive point-and-shoot camera, the newest Astro Zoom bridge model with a 102x zoom, and a professional action cam. Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today! Support our coverage sponsors The post KODAK PIXPRO Showcases Next Generation Cameras at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

In the United States, many people make purchases with their credit card. In the UK, contactless payment is booming. Barclays has a mantra – to give its customers a choice about ways to pay. The choices include contactless payment via a chip that is located inside a common object. Todd spoke with Adam from Barclays at CES 2018. Barclays Bank has always been at the pioneering end of innovation. They are integrating contactless payments into normal form factors. Barclays has the smallest contactless payment card on the market. They use it to make non-smart devices smart. The Barclays contactless payment card is small enough to be integrated into items you already use: fitness bands, watches, car key fobs, or jewelry. Companies who make those items partner with Barclays. The result is that people can make small contactless payments with their car key fob without having to enter a PIN number. Barclays contactless payment option is currently available in the United Kingdom. It is not yet available in the United States. Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today! Support our coverage sponsors The post Barclays Contactless Payment Possibilities at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

Personal digital assistants are useful, but they have their limits. Some have difficulty understanding a person who has an accent. There are tasks that personal assistants are simply not ready to do yet. This can lead to frustration. Wiidii solves this problem with the first hybrid personal assistant. Todd spoke with Anissa from Wiidii at CES 2018. Wiidii (pronounced “weedy”) is a personal hybrid assistant. It is an application on your phone that combines an artificial intelligence with human personal assistance. Wiidii has a machine that is able to understand human language. No matter how you ask a question, the way you talk, or the accent you have – Wiidii is going to understand what you are asking. The machine personal assistant knows its limitations and is able to turn your request over to a human personal assistant who can complete tasks such as making a dinner reservation at a restaurant for you. Wiidii currently understands French, English, Chinese Mandarin, German, and Spanish. Wiidii sells their service to partner companies who either use it internally or sell it as a service to their customers or providers. The service is not directly available to individual consumers. Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today! Support our coverage sponsors The post Wiidii is the First Hybrid Personal Assistant at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

When I watched Don’s interview with Raphael, I was transported back to my school days in the early 1980s and adventures with a BBC Micro ‘B’, Logo and a Turtle. While the user interface is definitely better, the patterns on the paper look just the same! To be fair to Raphael and Root Robotics, their turtle does do a bit more – it has over 50 sensors and actuators. Root’s approach is to use the robot as a fun way to introduce coding to children and young adults. The coding environment has three modes, with simplest using big colourful blocks, through to the most complex which uses Swift, Python and JavaScript. The robot itself retains the pen for drawing patterns but today’s turtles are magnetic for sticking to white boards and have a dry eraser to wipe off pen trails. The robot has over 50 sensors and actuators so it can move and draw, but it can also sense touch, measure light levels and feel edges and walls. It’ll play music, respond to button presses and flash lights. Very impressive. The Root robot will be shipping in June 2018 for US$199. Pre-orders are open. Don Baine is the Gadget Professor and gives lectures at TheGadgetProfessor.com. Become a GNC Insider today! Support our coverage sponsors The post The Turtles are Back with Root Robotics at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

Today, families stay connected to each other through smartphones and the internet. We post family photos and videos on social media websites, and our family members who live far away can see it. Grandparents who don’t use the internet or a smartphone miss these moments. Hopen Family has a solution that will bring grandparents back into the center of the family. Todd spoke with Nelly from Hopen Family at CES 2018. They created a smart device that bridges generations and distance. Plug the Hopen Family smart key into your grandparent’s TV. You can send photos, videos, and short messages to their TV. Your grandparent can view and watch those photos and videos right from their TV. The content will scroll for them. The grandparent can control the device with a TV remote – which they already know how to use. This makes it extremely easy for older family members, who are not internet savvy, to stay connected to the rest of their family. The Hopen Family smart key can connect through Wi-Fi (or 3G in some countries). In the United States, it is priced at $79. Hopen Family offers three service plans: Discovery, Family, and Tribe. Visit their website for more details about each plan. Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today! Support our coverage sponsors The post Hopen Family Bridges Generations and Distance at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

Smart watches have become popular. There are several brands and styles that you can purchase, based on your personal style and preferences. One61 Studio makes superhero smart watches that geeks will find appealing. Todd spoke with Anand from Know Things at CES 2018. Know Things builds development tools that accelerate IoT and connected devices development. They partnered with One61 Studio to help them solve problems that developers face while creating a smart product. One61 Studio has created a superhero smart watch line. They started with the Batman smart watch, which is based on the Batman played by Adam West in the ’60s. The Batman smart watch can be used to take calls, get text messages, and everything else you expect from a smart watch. Know Things managed the Bluetooth layer to extend battery life, so you get 18 to 24 hours of battery even while actually using it. In addition, they added some gamification. They call the Step Counter “Crime Fighting”. Take a certain number of steps, and the first villain Batman catches is The Joker. The Batman smart watch is available now on the One61 Studio website for $124.99 A smart watch based on The Flash is also available now at $124.99. The Wonder Woman smart watch will become available in April for $149.99. It is a round smart watch that includes heartbeat detection (which is not a feature of the square smart watches.) Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today! Support our coverage sponsors The post One61 Studio Superhero Smart Watches at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

There are plenty of smart home devices on the market to choose from. The difficult part is getting everything to work together in your smart home. U-Finder provides a solution to this problem. They have a professional smart home system. Todd spoke with Mark from U-Finder at CES 2018. U-Finder Technology Limited focuses on smart home automation. Their smart home product is called the U-Finder System. It can be used by hotels, offices, nursing homes, and in the homes of individuals and families. U-Finder helps you create a smart new life. The U-Finder smart home solution is completely modular and easy to set up. It is ready for plug and play not only in new environments but also in existing buildings. In addition to the professional smart home system, U-Finder has over 200 products that can become part of that system. U-Finder’s newest smart home solution makes use of 3D and VR technology. Use their app to turn on your lights by touching the light in the app. You can also turn products off or on by voice command. Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today! Support our coverage sponsors The post U-Finder Professional Smart Home System at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

The nature of work today is often one of multi-tasking. An hour on this project, a teleconference with some clients, a few hours on a proposal and by the time it gets to the end of the day, it’s tricky to get the billable time down. TimeFlip have a simple and effective answer to this in the shape of a large gaming dice. Todd and Ilya spend some time understanding the solution. The TimeFlip is a dodecahedron* about the size of a coffee mug. The shape is hollow and has a Bluetooth-enabled circuit board inside that’s really good at figuring out which way up it is. On the sides of the dice are symbols or words representing work activities. To accurately record time spent on a project, it’s simply a case of making sure that the particular activity is uppermost. At the end of the day, sync via Bluetooth to the TimeFlip app for a complete record of work activities and durations. Aiming at both B2C and B2B, the TimeFlip can come in a couple of different polyhedrons, and there are versions available for download and 3D printing. The consumer version retails for US$49.99 and can be ordered from TimeFlip. * Of course, a dodecahedron has 12 sides. Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today! Support our coverage sponsors The post Track Time with TimeFlip at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

The gaming experience has steadily improved since Pong. Each generation of console and processor brings more detailed graphics, faster framerates, improved sound, force feedback vibration, VR, AR…. They’re all designed to make games more immersive and realistic without actually injuring the player. The latest addition to the gaming word is Vortx from Whirlwind FX: Todd takes the heat with Timothy, Founder and CEO. The Vortx brings greater realism to the player by blowing hot and cold air in reponse to on-screen action. Imagine a demon throwing fireballs. As the player dodges a fireball, the Vortx blasts hot breath at the player as the ball slips past. Or imagine an adventure game, climbing through frozen mountains. The Vortx chills the air as the player climbs higher. It’s impressive. About the size of a desktop speaker (9″ tall), the Vortx connects to a PC via USB and works with the Whirlwind FX engine. It uses object recognition and analysis to automatically trigger heat or cold, so Vortx can be used with any PC game without modification. The Vortx is available for pre-order now at US$119, with shipping expected soon. Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today! Support our coverage sponsors The post Feel the Heat with Vortx from Whirlwind FX at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

There are a variety of hubs on the market for people who have Smart Homes. Those hubs are specialized to coordinate with the products that make up your IoT. You need another device if you want to make use of a digital assistant, a smartphone for calls, and a computer for games and music. SmartBeings puts all this together – and more – in WooHoo. Don spoke with Joe from SmartBeings at CES 2018. WooHoo is the first truly artificial intelligence smart home hub. It is the next generation of AI assistants. The device can identify users by facial recognitions through its HD cameras, and through voice authentication based on voice print. This allows WooHoo to differentiate between users. The camera has motion sensors that will allow it to turn 360° to face a user that is behind it. It also has an infrared camera inside it for low light situations. The devices knows who you are based on information stored within the device. WooHoo also has a smart hub inside it what has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigby, and Z-Wave. It also has 4G LTE. You can hook up your HDMI TV to WooHoo. It is also possible to surf the internet on Woohoo. You can communicate with WooHoo verbally (like you would with other digital assistants), through its dashboard, or with a gesture. WooHoo will be on the market in April of 2018. You will be able to purchase it through a telco. Don Baine is the Gadget Professor and gives lectures at TheGadgetProfessor.com Support our coverage sponsors The post WooHoo Next Generation of Smart AI Assistants at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

Up to now, drones have been little more than toys and camera platforms, promising much but delivering little. Working with Directorate General for Civil Aviation, Azure Drones‘ Skeyetech provides “100% autonomous and 24/7 operational drones” as a “security drone solution“. Antoine and Todd talk about the new security guard. A market leader in France, Azur Drones has developed an airborne surveillance system for the remote monitoring of industrial properties. The system, called Skeyetech, is composed of a smart drone equipped with HD and thermal cameras, and a smart (weather) station which recharges the drones, monitors the weather and provides protection for the craft. Skeyetech drones can be programmed and undertake automated flights, before accurately landing on their docking stations to be recharged. The docking stations aren’t just power outlets but relay instructions and information from the drones. Consequently, the drones can be controlled remotely making them capable of operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without any human intervention. It comes at a fraction of a cost of traditional video surveillance. Technically, the drones can fly for 35 minutes before needing recharged for 30 minutes. Top speed is 50 mph and they’re waterproof to IP56. The drones can be configured to patrol premises on a regular basis, or respond to alerts generated by motion sensors. This isn’t the kind of drone found on the shelves of Best Buy or Fry’s. Interested parties will need upwards of US$100,000. Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today! Support our coverage sponsors   The post Azur Drones Spy in the Sky at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

There are massage chairs and then there are BodyFriend massage chairs. With these chairs, it’s not so much getting a gentle pummelling from a recliner as putting on Iron Man’s exoskeleton with Jarvis as your masseur. Todd gets a sensational experience with Roy. The premium BodyFriend chairs provide full body massage including shoulders, arms, waist, legs and feet, with more than a dozen massage modes (depending on model) including brain concentration and digestive massage. The brain massage uses sound waves to soothe the grey matter. There’s built-in heating, stereo speakers and Bluetooth. Most recently, BodyFriend has partnered with Lamborghini for a new chair which is expected to ship in spring 2018. Other BodyFriend chairs are on sale now in the US with prices from US$5000 to $9000. BodyFriend have partnered with Marvel for themed hugchairs including Spiderman and Captain America. Priced at US$1580, these are aimed at children and grown-up kids while providing a massage experience in a smaller, friendlier chair. Todd Cochrane is the host of the twice-weekly Geek News Central Podcast at GeekNewsCentral.com. Become a GNC Insider today! Support our coverage sponsors   The post Marvel-lous Massage Chairs at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

People want to protect their privacy online, but some are not certain about how to do that. Other might know how to do it, but the process can be tedious and time consuming. InvizBox makes a variety of products to help people keep their privacy online. Don spoke with Paul from InvizBox at CES 2018. InvizBox makes products that are easy to use for cyber security and privacy protection. Connect your phone, laptop or other device to any InvizBox product over Wi-Fi and all your internet traffic is encrypted before it is sent across the internet. InvizBox will take care of the rest. InvizBox Go can be used at home, abroad, or on public Wi-Fi anywhere in the world. In addition to functioning as a VPN, an ad blocker, and a Wi-Fi hotspot extender, it also functions as a power bank so you can charge your phone. The InvizBox 2 and InvizBox Pro connect to your home router. Simply connect your laptop, phone, smart TV and other devices over Wi-Fi or a wired connection. All of your internet traffic will be encrypted. InvizBox Go is available now. The price ranges from $199 to $279 depending on how many months of VPN you want to purchase. InvizBox 2 is priced at $149, and InvizBox 2 Pro is priced art $219. Each comes with 12 months of VPN. It is estimated that those products will start shipping in April of 2018. Don Baine is the Gadget Professor and gives lectures at TheGadgetProfessor.com Support our coverage sponsors The post InvizBox Simplifies Online Privacy and Security at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

People who want to have a healthy lifestyle might change their diet or increase the amount of time they spend exercising. Romy Paris helps you extend your health awareness to your skin with a cosmetic formulator called Figure. Don spoke with Ann from Romy Paris at CES 2018. The Romy Paris Figure is a personal cosmetics lab that creates your own healthy, fresh, and personalized skin care. You can place it in your bathroom. It connects to the Romy App, which analyzes data relating to your environment and recommends the care that best meets your skins needs in real time. The Romy App can be downloaded for free. The Romy App identifies the best Romy Paris capsules to add to your formulator for a fresh, tailor-made, healthy skincare product in just a few seconds. The Figure formulator can be used by women or men. Figure is priced at €890,00. It comes with primary face care, washing solution, and each of the ten active ingredients. Each package of capsules costs between €12,00 and €15,00 and includes ten capsules. Don Baine is the Gadget Professor and gives lectures at TheGadgetProfessor.com Support our coverage sponsors The post Romy Paris Formulator Keeps Your Skin Healthy at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

The IoT devices you have in your home are designed to make your life easier. Connecting them all together can be very complex. Products from one company might not work well with products from another. Otodo simplifies your IoT with their smart home solution. Don spoke with Eric from Otodo at CES 2018. The Otodo smart home solution uses two products: the Otodo One, and the Ugo. The Otodo One is a hub that allows you to manage many commercial connected objects, and also older remote controlled devices (such as lamps and thermostats) from different brands. It functions as the bridge between your internet provider and all your home IoT objects. The Ugo is an astethically pleasing smart pebble remote that helps you to interact with all your connected devices at home. The Ugo stays in your house. You may want to put near your door. Use the app to pre-program a specific location and associate it with one IoT device (for example, a light). Pick up the Ugo pebble and tap it twice on that location. The light will come on. The Ugo pebble can only be used by the people in your family. The Ugo will not function if an unidentified person picks it up. It is very specific, so you won’t have to worry about accidentally turning off your neighbor’s lights. Otodo is expecting to have these products in the United States later this year. Otodo One will be priced at approximately $30 to $40. Ugo will be priced at $69. Don Baine is the Gadget Professor and gives lectures at TheGadgetProfessor.com Support our coverage sponsors The post Otodo Simplifies Your Home IoT at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

When a person becomes injured, or gets very sick, they need to see a doctor. This might involve an expensive ride in an ambulance and a big bill to pay. A person who lives in a rural area might not have a local doctor. Telemedicine is a way for a remote patient to be assessed by a physician. Nomadeec has created a solution that is the future of telemedicine. Don spoke with John from Nomadeec at CES 2018. Nomadeec is the first integrated, connected and mobile solution for clinical examination for all field practitioners. They are based in France, where their system is already being used. Nomadeec will arrive in the United States in the beginning of 2019. John explained how the Nomadic solution works. A person requires medical attention. An EMT is sent out. The EMT is wearing a specialized headset that has holographic functionalities and video conferencing. The headset is hands free, which allows the EMT to keep their eyes on the patient. Everything that the EMT sees is sent to a physician – who is not at the scene. The patient receives an expert opinion on their medical situation. Nomadeec works in a business to business capacity. Their entire platform is $15,000. Don Baine is the Gadget Professor and gives lectures at TheGadgetProfessor.com Support our coverage sponsors The post Nomadeec Brings Mobile Telemedicine Platform to CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

What’s on your USB drive? You might have a mixture of work related information, personal photos, and other things that you wouldn’t want to get into the wrong hands. USB drives are small, and that makes them easy to lose. Kingston Technologies has encrypted USB drives that can keep your data secure. Don spoke with Ruben from Kingston Technologies at CES 2018. Ruben brought several encrypted USB drives that showcase Kingston’s latest technology. Some are designed for individuals to use. Others provide the enhanced security that is needed by the government, corporations and financial institutions. Kingston’s encrypted USB drives require the user to put in a password before they can access the data that is on the drive. The DataTraveler 200 has buttons on the USB drive that you use to enter your password. Put the DataTraveler Vault Privacy 3.0 encrypted USB drive into a computer, and it will immediately put up a window and ask for the password. All of Kingston’s USB drives have hardware based encryption. The board is dipped in epoxy before it is put in the case. The higher end USB drives also have the case filled with epoxy. All of Kingston’s products have brute force protection. If you enter the password more than 10 times incorrectly, it is going to wipe the drive clean. The retail price of encrypted USB drives range between $40 and up to $600. Don Baine is the Gadget Professor and gives lectures at TheGadgetProfessor.com Support our coverage sponsors The post Kingston Encrypted USB Drives at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

Cameras offer a level of home protection that many people find comforting. Outdoor cameras can show you who is at your door, who has been in your yard, and if your package has arrived. Panasonic has a HomeHawk line of smart home monitoring cameras. They provide safety and peace of mind. Don spoke with Etsuko from Panasonic at CES 2018. They discussed Panasonic’s HomeHawk line of outdoor cameras. One is a dedicated front door camera with a very wide view. Another is a small outdoor camera which you can place wherever you need to. The cameras are powered by batteries that last three to four months (if you record two minutes per day.) These HD cameras are weather resistant and have LED lighting. They offer a super wide view in full color during the day and in color night vision when it is dark outside. The front door camera allows for 2-way talk, which means you can speak with delivery person – or dissuade a thief from stealing your package. Don Baine is the Gadget Professor and gives lectures at TheGadgetProfessor.com Support our coverage sponsors The post Panasonic HomeHawk Smart Home Monitoring Camera at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

Ozobot is on a mission to prepare kids for the future with the ability to collaborate with and control robots. They believe robots will be a huge part of almost every profession. Ozobot has created a fun way to teach kids how to write code that will make a pocket-sized robot do something. Creativity is encouraged. Don spoke with Joby from Ozobot at CES 2018. Joby demonstrated some of the things that the Evo robot can do. Each Evo has optical sensors. Right out of the box, without being app connected, a child can start playing with Evo. First, a child draws a line on a regular piece of paper with a marker. Evo will follow any line a child draws. Kids can learn some simple programming skills by creating a line that includes colored dot sequences that tell Evo how to move. In addition, Evo can be used to make music or to play games. The little robot can follow your finger around, and can play an “Escape” game where it tries to avoid your hands. In addition to the robot, Ozobot gives kids the codes for all of Evos tricks and encourages them to hack it. They can earn points by making Evo do different things. The points can be used to buy avatars. Evo is available now from Amazon and the Ozobot website. It costs $89.99 and comes in Crystal White or Titanium Black. Evo comes with instruction cards, markers, a free iOS/Android app, and access to OzoBlockly Programming. Don Baine is the Gadget Professor and gives lectures at TheGadgetProfessor.com Support our coverage sponsors The post Ozobot Teaches Kids to Code at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

Skincare is very personalized. We all have different skin problems, and each requires an individualized solution. Lululabs created LUMINI, an AI skincare assistant, that can scan your skin and identify your skincare needs. Don spoke with Yougjoon from Lululab at CES 2018. Lululab is one of the Samsung Electric spin off companies. The signature product of Lululab is the LUMINI AI skincare system. It is composed of two things: hardware, and software. There is a three step process: scanning, analyzing, and recommendations. The hardware can scan a person’s entire face in five seconds. After the scanning, it will analyze up to the inner skin. It examines a person’s skin and focuses on pores, wrinkles, acne, sebum, melasma, and redness. Based on the analysis, it will recommend the best possible skin solution for each user. All of this information, including detailed images of a person’s skin problems, can be viewed on an app. Lululab licenses its LUMINI AI skincare assistant to businesses (such as cosmetic companies and dermatologists) at a monthly payment of $150. Don Baine is the Gadget Professor and gives lectures at TheGadgetProfessor.com Support our coverage sponsors The post Lululab Brought LUMINI AI Skincare Assistant to CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

It can be very difficult to get through your work day when you haven’t had enough sleep. Sleepace can help you! They launched their Dream Life solution at CES 2018. Scott spoke with David from Sleepace at CES 2018. Sleepace focuses on sleep monitoring and sleep improvement. Their Smart Sleep monitor fits across a mattress underneath the bed sheet. The Smart Sleep monitor can be secured by a belt. It is not a wearable device. When you lay down on the bed, the Smart Sleep Monitor captures and records your heart rate, breath rate, and body movement. In the morning, the Sleepace app gives you a sleep report and some tips on how to improve your sleep. The Sleepace Dream Life Solution includes the Smart Sleep Monitor ($149), the Nox Smart Sleep Light ($149), and the Nox Aroma Therapy device ($129). All are available on Amazon and the Sleepace website. Scott Ertz is a software developer and video producer at F5 Live: Refreshing Technology. Support our coverage sponsors The post Sleepace Launched Dream Life Solution at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

The Amazon Echo Show might be getting all the headlines, but it’s not the only show in town. Here we have the Clazio Spark, the most powerful smart speaker on the market – it’s a mini-media centre with both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. Todd and Dake discuss getting the right colour for the rear of the device. Previously known as Clarity, the Clazio Spark is an all-in-one smart speaker that combines a 7″ Android Nougat tablet with a professionally developed speaker and both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice services. The HD screen (1920 x 1200) is set into a retro-modern design and when combined with a 4K HDMI out, creates a lovely media centre that can play music, show films, make video calls. If you can do it with an Android tablet, you can do it on the Spark with the additional benefit of Alexa. The Spark isn’t tied to a power cable as the 4,800 mAh battery gives around 5 hours of music and about half that for video. There’s a 5 MP front facing camera for video calls and a microSD card slot for more storage. Is there anything the Spark can’t do? After successfully crowdfunding on Indiegogo in early 2017, the Spark is preparing to go into retail with an expected price of US$269. You can still contribute to the Indiegogo campaign with “pre-orders” to get some good deals but the usual caveats regarding crowdfunding apply. I’m with Todd on the colour. Become a GNC Insider today! Support our coverage sponsors The post Clazio Spark Shows Off at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

Having friends round to your house for multiplayer games is always fun, but the more there are, the smaller each player’s screen becomes as they share part of the TV. Split even a big screen into quarters and the immersive effect is lost. But what if all the players had the same large screen? MirraViz have got it covered. The MirraViz projection screens are highly reflective but brightly reflect the light back in a tight cone, rather than scattering the light widely as a nomal white screen would do. When used with a video projector, this means that only someone sitting close to the projector sees the image. Think of the screen like a reflective street sign in the distance lit up by headlights: only the driver and passengers see the bright reflection from the sign. As light beams don’t interfere with each other, the screen can reflect light back from multiple sources without distortion, so several projectors can be used with one screen. As a result, each player sees only their gameplay…..but on the full sized screen. Whoa! It’s kind of hard to imagine, but think of walking round in front of the screen. Only one gaming screen is seen at a time but as you walk round the screen changes between players. Don’t worry, it takes Don a little time to get his head round it too. The screens are entirely passive – there’s no electronics – and the video projectors don’t have to be massively powerful because the reflectivity is so good. Personal or pico projects with less than a thousand lumens are fine. MirraViz sells combinations of hardware and screens for home entertainment or gaming setups, and they sell the screens on their own too. A 52″ screen costs US$699, 75″ is $899 and 94″ is $1299. Available now. Don Baine is the Gadget Professor and gives lectures at TheGadgetProfessor.com. Become a GNC Insider today! Support our coverage sponsors The post Get the Whole Screen for Multiplayer Gaming with MirraViz at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

The adult entertainment industry has a strong influence on what type of technology survives. Naughty America is the only adult entertainment company that is allowed to showcase at CES. This year, Naughty America showcased a refinement of their VR adult entertainment and introduced an AR app. Scott spoke with Ian from Naughty America at CES 2018. Naughty America has refined their VR adult entertainment. Their VR rig has been improved from a 4K resolution to a 5.6K resolution. The rig is also smaller, which enables it to be used in more enclosed spaces. Their directors have become more comfortable with Naughty America’s VR technology and this results in more creativity. Naughty America is also including an alternative point of view in their VR entertainment. Naughty America has over 200, 45-minute, VR videos and 8,000 2D videos – many of which are in 4K. A subscription costs $24.95 a month. In addition, Naughty America premiered their safe-for-work augmented reality app (AR). It has not yet been released. They are currently seeking beta testers. The app will be free to download, with some avatars included. They will release additional avatars as in-app purchases. Scott Ertz is a software developer and video producer at F5 Live: Refreshing Technology. Support our coverage sponsors The post Naughty America Showcased their VR at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

Avid anglers who enjoy participating in fishing competitions are typically not allowed to use live bait. Instead, they must use an artificial lure. Econet has created Eco-Popper, the world’s first digital popper. Scott Ertz spoke with Dani from Econet at CES 2018. Dani presented the Eco-Popper, a new category of smart lure. (The one demonstrated at CES 2018 had its hooks removed, for safety.) Anglers use a lure to entice fish. The fish think the lure is food, and they bite it. Eco-Popper is unique. It has a small computer inside of it, and a camera at the back of the lure. The Eco-Popper can show a live stream of what is happening under the water. The video can be instructive for those who failed to catch a fish. They can watch the video later and learn what to do differently. The Eco-Popper also has sensors that record the water’s temperature and salinity. The video can be put on YouTube. The app becomes an automatic social media network for people who fish. Eco-Popper can be purchased from the Econet website. The retail price is $239, but they currently are offering a pre-order price of $179. Scott Ertz is a software developer and video producer at F5 Live: Refreshing Technology. Support our coverage sponsors The post Eco-Popper is the World’s First Digital Popper at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.