GearDb.com

3M_SmartPen

If you were in the right place at the right time at the 3M booth at CES you’d get one of these conductive touch screen 3M Smart pens.  Well we were and we did.  Bottomline – it works like a dream on the iPhone – better than the finger in our opinion.  That’s the good news.  The mild downside is that it is currently not sold in the US but it is available in Asia (and online)  for about $20 – $30.  It was developed by 3M Korea.  I am told that Korea is where the notion of using a sausage as an iPhone stylus during the Winter was conceived -  gloved fingers don’t register on the touch screen.  Totes-isotoner.com makes a conductive glove but the fit must be OJ Simpson snug.  Heck, we want to use the Smart Pen all the time – hot or cold so the main advantage of gloves would be for multi-touch operations.  If you are a chopstick ace, you can do multi-touch with 2 Smart Pens.  Perhaps in the future there will be either a hinged dual tip “Gemini” pen or a finger tip attachment with a low profile conductive nub.  One on a finger and one on the thumb and multi-touch away!

Anyway, 3M USA was gathering usability/ user feedback at CES and they certainly must have also run comparative testing against the Pogo Stylus. I can’t help but think the overall reaction was very positive and it will soon be distributed directly in the US.  We’ll be doing some long term usage testing of the Smart Pen to see how it holds up.  The tip is a conductive fabric and there’s a spring-loaded rod behind it – the body of the Smart Pen feels like aluminum.    So if you’re tired of mis-typing or smudging up the touchscreen with finger oils, you’ll probably enjoy using a stylus.   www.3M.com

Trojan Tri-phoria Vibrator assembled & resting on black satin storage sack.

Trojan Tri-phoria battery compartment and top cover

Trojan Tri-phoria with 3 tips and top cover interior view

Trojan is probably the best know condom brand in the world and it looks like they are  growing even larger.  They’ve expanded their product line into vibrating accessories.  Pictured above is their “tri-phoria” whichs comes with 3 different screw on tips and has 8 different pleasure settings.  It is powered by a single AA battery.  You turn it on and off and cycle through the 5 speeds and 3 pulse patterns by pressing the ” – ” or ” + ” buttons on the top cover.

It’s a good thing we photographed the Tri-phoria before we passed it out to our female reviewer because she now asserts that she has misplaced it but promises to return it as soon as it turns up.  Now we didn’t just fall off the washing machine but who are we to question the  www-ww-w-words of a lady.  We bet she also misplaces the latest vibrating Trojan unit, the Twister, which was released to an eager pubic public on the first day of CES.  Her review www-ww-w-will be coming soon as well as an interview with The Good Dr. Condom.  www.trojanvibrations.com & www.trojancondoms.com

Moovida Audio Video Organizer Player

Have a bunch of video and audio files scattered on your computer? Turn Moovida loose and it will not only find all these files on your computer, it will match them against the Moovida database so you’ll have a nice display icon and important info like genre, director or artist, year, actor and other filters you specify. Then you can search on this data to find the movie or music you want. And Moovida can play every major video or audio format as well as many minor ones. Next up for Moovida is social networking so you can share comments on what you are watching with just your inner circle or the whole wide world.  It’s a free download. www.moovida.com

iTwin Secure Remote Access Keys

Do you want to travel light yet have secure access to all the data on your home or office computer? Then take a look at the iTwin encryption key system.  It consists of 2 USB dongles that share the same 256 bit encryption key.  Plug one into the host computer and the other your remote client. (both have to run Windows)  You can then access the host and all data transmitted is encrypted.  Should you lose one of the twins, you can remotely deactivate the keys.  You can also require a password to initiate the connection session.  www.iTwin.com

Looxcie Wearable VideoCam and BlueTooth Earbud

It’s a wearable camera! It’s a BlueTooth earbud! It’s the Looxcie!

This 480p color ear cam constantly stores the video & audio stream and when you want to save the previous 30 seconds just tap the Instant Save button. You can also answer phone calls via BlueTooth without interupting the capture. It can store up to 5 hours and you can interface it with iPhone or Android to send clips to social media sites. It weighs about an ounce and you recharge it via a micro-USB port. We’ll be doing a detailed review soon! www.looxcie.com

Hauppauge_WinTV_aero-m

If you were wondering why there were no small or portable TVs when OTA (over the air ) TV went digital here in the US the reason was because the technical specification was still being finalized. Delivering a TV signal to a moving TV set requires additional signal processing.  We are now seeing TVs and receivers coming to market that conform to the ATSC A/153 spec aka ATSC M/H  (Mobile/Handheld)

The Hauppauge WinTV aero-m Dual Mode USB Receiver recieves both the ATSC M/H signal and the regular ATSC signal (A/53) for stationary TVs.  So you can watch TV on your laptop out by the pool, in a moving car or any place the ATSC M/H signal is broadcast.

If you’re on the move, you’ll use the ATSC M/H mode.  If you’re stationary, you can use either ATSC M/H or HD.    The aero-m has both a telescoping antenna and a terminal for an aftermarket antenna.  A remote control and antenna cable are included.  We’ll be doing a detailed review very soon.   www.hauppauge.com

Sennheiser CXC 700 Noise Reducing Earbuds

The Sennheiser CXC 700 is a compact, high quality ear bud with 3 NoiseGard/digital modes to cancel high, medium and low frequency noise.  The mid-cord control unit is used to set the volume, the specific NoiseGard mode, and to activate the TalkThrough function which allows conversation without removing the earbuds.  The control unit also contains a single AAA battery to power the NoiseGard and Talk Through functions. Without this battery, the CXC 700 will still play your audio.  It has a 4.5 foot long cord and comes with an in-flight adapter, a 1/4″  stereo plug adapter, a cleaning tool, diaphragm protector and carrying case.  Suggested retail price is $319.95 with availability in early 2011.
www.sennheiserusa.com

Xi3 Modular Computer

The Xi3 Modular Computer measures less than 4 inches tall and deep but packs a 64 bit dual core processor,  RAM, SSD hard drive, USB and other connector ports on 3 removable boards.  The extruded aluminum sides lock together and also mate with a variety of mounting plates and clips.  Power consumption is very low – under 20 watts.  Low energy consumption also means low heat generation and cool running.  The end covers on the Xi3 are perforated so air just flows right through – making the Xi3 cooler still.  Suggested retail price is $849 with a market release date of early 2011.  www.Xi3.org

The Consumer Electronics Show opens in Las Vegas later this week and the GearDb staff will be there searching out compelling new products and services for both initial mentions and also for actual usage testing.  We’ll then post in-depth reports of our findings here on GearDb.com.   Happy New Year!

Rover 4G WIFI Hotspot

Here are exterior and interior pictures of the new Rover Puck 4G mobile WiFi hotspot from Clear Wireless.  The Rover Puck can connect up to 8 WiFi laptops or smartphones to the internet.  How fast is it?  Well the Clear Wireless Rover 4G service is based on the WiMax protocol and can do up to 1 Mbps upload and 3 – 6 Mbps (million bits per second) download.  If you don’t know what a Mbps is, then just think of the Rover being about as fast as a pretty good home broadband connection – yes, this means you can watch video.

How well does it work in real life? Well 4G is very new – it rolled out this Summer and even in major markets, coverage is still being improved and expanded.  I tried out a Puck in Las Vegas and when I was able to get a 3 or 4 (max) bar signal things were great.  However, when moving at highway speeds things weren’t as consistent.  I am told that when moving at “high speed” the connection quality can fall to 1/10 of stationary levels.

In my empirical testing, I’d be watching a video (somebody else was driving!) and then after certain turns or bumps the video would stop.  I also tried the Puck while walking around and it performed about about the same as when stationary.  When walking around tall buildings I did find a few “dead” spots just a few feet wide in some of these urban valleys.

Clearwire is offering the first 2 days of service for free so if you get it I’d suggest you test out your most likely spots and routes right away.  I really like that there is no service contract with Rover – you buy the Puck ($149) or the USB single connection Stick ($99) and then pay $5/day, $20/week or $50/month for the service.

There are just 2 buttons on the Puck, an on/off switch and a signal strength button.  There’s a USB mini connection to power and recharge.  Battery life is about 3-4 hours depending on intensity of usage.  My Puck ran pretty warm when it was plugged into USB power and not in an air conditioned space.  It came complete with a USB power/recharge cable, AC to USB adapter, 12 volt cigarette lighter to USB adapter and a nice “rover” sticker.  There is no external antenna connection.  More information about the Rover service, coverage area and devices at Rover.com