CES Unveiled 2012 – The Verge

MyCharge external battery packs offer clever charging options

2012-01-09T07:02:56-05:00

Gallery Photo: MyCharge Explorer, Scout, Quest and Flex external battery hands-on pictures

MyCharge was showing off a full lineup of battery packs for charging smartphones here at CES. Our favorite of the bunch is the MyCharge Explorer, which combined a 3,000mAh battery with an integrated AC plug so that it can act as a wall-wart for your devices. Actually, it can perform that duty for up to three, by dint of an integrated 10-pin connector for iOS devices, integrated microUSB cable, and a lone USB port as well. It retails for $79.99.

Stepping down a notch from that is the MyCharge Quest, which is a 2,000mAh battery that charges off USB and can power either an iPhone, microUSB device, or both and also can serve as a small dock. It …

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Fulton’s eCoupled wireless power now charges devices without direct contact

2012-01-09T00:01:18-05:00

Fulton Wireless Charging

Fulton Innovations has shown off its eCoupled wireless power technology at CES for several years, and this year's biggest advance is spatial freedom while charging. eCoupled can now charge a cell phone even when it isn't directly placed on a charging surface - As long as its in the general area of a wireless power transmitter, the phone charges, even if it's inside a purse or bag. There's no word on the specific range, but direct surface contact is no longer a requirement. We'll be able to check this technology out at Fulton's CES booth and see how effective it is in practice.

This new technology isn't just for charging small gadgets, eithe …

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BiKN locater for iPhone tracks RF-tagged objects around the house (hands-on and pictures)

2012-01-08T23:31:35-05:00

Gallery Photo: Bikn iPhone locator hands-on pictures

Scheduled for release this month, BiKN uses 802.15.4 - the basis for ZigBee, among other low-power wireless network protocols - to pair up your iPhone to a bunch of tiny tags that can be used to locate objects that you attach them to. The system is facilitated with a special RF-enabled case that you slide your iPhone 4 (or iPhone 3GS) into; after installing the BiKN app from the App Store, you can choose tags that you've paired and find out how far they are from you with a range up to several hundred feet. The tags themselves, each the size of a matchbox, are rechargeable (they're supposed to last a few weeks) and can beep so they're easier …

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Kivic One streams audio and video to nearly any screen via AirPlay / DLNA

2012-01-08T23:23:38-05:00

Kivic One

The Kivic One is a neat little device, about the size of a MiFi, that can stream audio or video to nearly any display via AirPlay, WiFi direct, or DLNA. Kivic tells us that it's pushing for the eponymous device to appear in vehicles - it demonstrated it alongside a Pioneer car monitor - but conceivably it can stream video to any display that uses HDMI. There's no firm release date yet, but the company says the Kivic One should land sometime in March for around $200.

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Goal Zero Sherpa 50 battery pack (hands-on pictures)

2012-01-08T23:23:21-05:00

Goal Zero Sherpa 50

We just looked at Goal Zero's version two of the Sherpa 50 here at CES Unveiled 2012. At about the size of about four CD cases stacked together (and way smaller than its predecessor), this 50 watt lithium ion rechargeable battery pack powers devices on the go using its AC, DC, USB 2.0 and traditional laptop-charger ports. The pack itself charges in about four hours using a traditional outlet (and in about five hours using the solar panels) and can fully power something like a Macbook Pro, or recharge multiple cell phones. Priced at $249.99, it'll be available in June as a standalone pack, and for $400-$500 bundled with a 3-panel solar charge …

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Pure announces Contour 200i AirPlay speaker, Sensia 200D internet radio (hands-on pictures)

2012-01-08T22:33:08-05:00

Gallery Photo: Pure Radio at CES 2012

Pure is showing off some of its speaker wares at CES Unveiled today, including two new speakers we got to take a look at. The coolest of the bunch is the Contour 200i, an AirPlay-enabled speaker system that at $329 is a lot less expensive than some of its competitors. It's a nice-looking device, heavy and reminiscent of a 21st-century Egyptian headdress, and it supports docking iPads as well as iPhones and iPods. We also got a look at the Sensia 200D, a round little internet radio with a touchscreen on the front. It hooks into the Pure Music service to stream internet radio, and can also be a speaker or an alarm clock. It'll be available in …

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Qooq culinary tablet: recipes and videos in a kitchen-safe enclosure (hands-on video)

2012-01-08T22:24:45-05:00

Qooq tablet

The Qooq (pronounced "cook") culinary tablet is a slate designed specifically for the kitchen. The device has a heat- and water-resistant enclosure with a kickstand around back, as well as an SD card slot, Ethernet port, USB port, and headphone jack under a protective cover. Its 10.1-inch display has a 1024 x 600 resolution, which runs atop a 1GHz Cortex A9 dual-core processor.

The OS is a customized version of Linux with a heavy emphasis on cooking; it's essentially a souped-up digital cookbook and more. Qook commissions chefs to produce recipes for the device, and offers up preparation steps, ingredient lists, and videos of the items being …

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Dish Remote Access app updated, now streams on-demand video on iPad

2012-01-08T22:05:39-05:00

DIsh Remote Access iPad 2

At the Dish booth here at CES Unveiled 2012, the company showed off its updated Remote Access app, which now streams on-demand video to the iPad. If you're a Dish customer currently subscribed to Blockbuster @Home or premium channels like HBO and Cinemax, you'll now have access to thousands of movies and TV shows (like Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm) right on your iPad.

Additionally, Dish announced a partnership with Google TV and an application called Thuuz, which we're told will track a specific sports team and use special algorithms to alert you when that team is playing an exciting game. The app will also record that team's games au …

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3M’s 46-inch multitouch table supports 20-point input (hands-on pictures)

2012-01-08T22:05:03-05:00

3M Multitouch Table

3M has a monstrous 46-inch multitouch table on display at CES 2012 that reminds us of Microsoft's Surface. The display has a 1080p resolution, and currently supports up to 20 concurrent touches - though it's theoretically capable of tracking up to 60. Similar to Microsoft's take, 3M sees the technology being put to use in retail stores, military applications, and governmental offices. The software we saw was running off a Mac Mini, with basic Twitter and photo viewing clients. The table is smart enough to ignore palm and arm input, but that shouldn't be an excuse to put your elbows on it.

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Tobii Gaze controls Windows 8 with eye tracking (hands-on video)

2012-01-08T21:53:29-05:00

Tobii Gaze

We just had the chance to sit down with Tobii's Gaze eye tracking technology, which the company hopes will eventually be a mainstay in consumer electronics and be adopted by PC manufacturers in the years to come. The project is a direct result of research conducted in 2001 at Stockholm's Royal Institute of Technology. Tobii had numerous Windows 8-based demos on hand to exhibit its futuristic tech, including a photo gallery that allowed us to navigate through pictures by shifting our glance and enlarge a chosen photo by focusing on it. A web browser demo scrolled automatically as our eyes read through the text on screen. That space-themed Eye …

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