Archive

Regular readers will know that we love the functionality that comes with smartphone cameras, including inherent portability, powerful processors, and imaginative post-processing app solutions. However, what we supremely dislike -- with a vengeance -- are the little software-driven lenses that phone ...

Forget second-screen TV viewing with a tablet or smartphone -- so-called second screens are a kludgy, old-school method of extending a show. What's new? SeeSpace InAiR: The World's 1st Augmented Television. SeeSpace InAiR is a Kickstarter project that intercepts your TV content stream, analyzes it, ...

Traditional water heating equipment uses fuel as an energy source to heat a rod-like element in the water tank. The element then warms the water. If you've ever reheated a hot beverage by placing it in the microwave, you'll have an idea as to the alternatives. Microwave ovens heat liquids by moving ...

Having been asked by a neighbor to help haul her kayak onto her SUV one weekend morning last summer and finding it quite difficult -- that's with two of us doing the lifting -- I saw myLifter as an obvious choice for this week's Crowdfunding Spotlight. myLifter is a smartphone-controlled mini-winch ...

Small, lightweight and efficient solar panels coupled with lithium batteries are making inroads into the outdoor retail market as a solution for charging mobile devices. Flexible solar panels check many boxes, not least seductiveness. However, if you've tried them, you'll know there are drawbacks. S...

If you've ever had the opportunity to sit through a retailer's comparative demonstration of high-end audio equipment, you'll know that the more expensive the living room audio gear gets, the better it sounds. Amazing, but true -- they're not lying. The big problem, once you've sat through one of the...

Kubo is a cargo-carrying electric scooter now seeking crowdfunding on Kickstarter that offers potential far beyond the realm of personal transportation. Ask any e-commerce analyst what the hottest upcoming trend will be in e-commerce circles next year -- the Amazons and eBays of this world -- and yo...

Neptune Computer, founded by 19-year-old Simon Tian, has raised more than CA$250,000 since launching a 33-day Kickstarter campaign for its Neptune Pine smartwatch on Monday with a target of $100,000. The first prototypes have already been produced, and all parts of the design and engineering phase ...

Here's a new take on the point-and-shoot camera: It's the throw-and-catch camera. Called "Panono," this throwable, panoramic device contains multiple fixed-focus cameras that shoot simultaneously, allowing you to capture "everything in every direction," in the words of its creators, who are now seek...

If you think about the failings of existing game controls next time you're playing, you might come up with touch feedback -- the game's tactile responses to your actions. Video has improved over the years partly because of increased computer processing power; audio improvements have been due to impr...

We've looked at personal tracking products before, including stolen-phone locators and a breadcrumb-tracking, mugging-alarm combo for Google's Android mobile operating system. Where some of these kinds of products have disappointed is that they have needed daily user intervention to make them functi...

Back in 2011, in the dark, pre-tablet days of the netbook, Motorola introduced a phone and laptop combo called the "Atrix." The then-powerful 4G, dual-core AT&T phone slotted into a unique receptacle on the back of the optional laptop's clamshell hinge -- a bit like a game cartridge slides into ...

Many of us are about to face higher winter heating bills this winter. Some suppliers, like the predominant British Gas in the UK, are raising prices by up to 8 percent. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, meanwhile, reckons on a staggering 13 percent increase this year for those using mainly...

Do you remember the scene in an early Star Wars movie where R2-D2 and Chewbacca played a holographically generated, Jedi 3D board game while killing time in their light freighter? Full-color, three-dimensional game pieces were projected onto the board. Chewbacca wasn't a particularly good loser, and...

The Multipath Router -- a project seeking crowdfunding on Indiegogo -- could change the way we connect to the Internet. Remember when Internet service was delivered to the home and workplace through copper voice phone lines terminating in a squeaking analog modem? Speeds using that clunky old system...