Everpurse-A Bag That Wirelessly Charges Your Smartphone All Day

Everpurse-A Bag That Wirelessly Charges Your Smartphone All Day

As a social worker constantly on the move, the last thing Elizabeth Ormesher Salcedo wanted to be was tethered to a power outlet charging her cellphone. Tired of running out of juice just when she needed it most, Salcedo tapped her husband, Dan, a serial technology entrepreneur, to develop a chic solution. Several prototypes later, the duo arrived at the Everpurse, an unobtrusive clutch or handbag insert that doubles as a docking station for an iPhone or Android smartphone. Its secret? A 2500-milliampere-hour battery—sewn into the lining and invisible to the casual observer—that takes your cellphone battery from 10 to 100 percent in 100 minutes. Filling up the tank on the Everpurse itself requires six hours, a feat easily accomplished by dropping it on top of the included charging mat overnight. Together with two Chicago designers, the Salcedos developed a sleek, minimalist design with both leather and cloth options. All bags will be built in the United States. (The leather versions will be made locally in Chicago.) “We are passionate about keeping as many jobs as possible in the U.S.A.,” they say.

All bags will be built in the United States. (The leather versions will be made locally in Chicago.)

The Everpurse is currently on preorder at Kickstarter for $129 and $169 for the cloth and leather clutches, respectively. Despite 18 days still to go, Elizabeth and Dan Salcedo have already exceeded their initial funding goal of $100,000.

The money, they say, will go to building Everpurses and Everpurse charging mats for “as many backers as possible.” The two are working on additional colors and phone-compatibility types, as well as options for every budget. Birkin, schmirkin. The Everpurse is poised to be the bag everyone will clamor for.

Read More

BitTorrent announces cloud storage and sharing service Sync

BitTorrent announces cloud storage and sharing service Sync

Cloud backup services are popping up everywhere these days, with even BitTorrent now jumping onto the cloud craze. BitTorrent has announced a new cloud backup service it calls Sync, and though it of course has plenty of similarities with other cloud services out there, Sync offers a couple key differences. By using Sync, you’re actually using BitTorrent’s servers to transfer files from one device to another. This has a number of benefits, as it means you won’t be subject to size restrictions like you are with other services. One of the major headaches with services like Dropbox and SkyDrive is that you’re limited in how much you can have in your synced folders – for Dropbox, for instance, you get 2GB of free space, and that runs out quick when you’re trying to sync multiple video files at once. Once you’ve hit that cap, you’ll need to shell out some cash if you want more space. That’s not a major complaint, as these are companies that exist to make money after all. BitTorrent’s Sync, on the other hand, is free to use. You won’t have to worry about limits on the amount you can transfer from one device to another, which probably sounds like a Godsend to those who constantly have to rely on cloud services to move files between devices.

As cool as it sounds, there’s one slight problem: BitTorrent Sync isn’t available to use just yet (unless you love pre-alpha testing). It’s currently in the testing stages, but it shouldn’t be more than a few months before Sync is available to BitTorrent users. What do you think of this new cloud service from the people behind BitTorrent?

Read More

Hyundai T7 Android Tablet Makes Its Debut

Hyundai T7 Android Tablet Makes Its Debut

The other day we managed to catch a glimpse of what looked like the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, and today we have managed to get wind of a device by Hyundai (not to be confused with the car manufacturer) called the T7, which based on the photo above, appears to have taken some design inspiration from Samsung. That and the fact that it packs the Samsung Exynos 4412 SoC (found on the Galaxy S3) makes it a pretty interesting device, not to mention its expected price tag of being less than $200 would make it somewhat of a steal.

Like we said earlier, the Hyundai T7 will feature Samsung’s Exynos 4412 quad-core processor clocked at 1.4GHz and will come with 1GB of RAM. It will also sport a 7” 1280×800 display, 8GB of internal storage expandable via microSD, a 2MP camera, a 3,300mAh battery and Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich on board. Considering that it shares some specs with the Galaxy S3, we expect that it should be more than capable of getting the job done, that and its sub-$200 price tag will make it a great buy for those shopping on a budget who don’t really care that much about branding. In any case it is expected to debut at MWC 2013 next month so check back with us then for more details!

Read More

'It's About Time'- Facebook Reveals New Search Feature

'It's About Time'- Facebook Reveals New Search Feature

Facebook has launched a new feature that will let its users search for more detailed information across the social network. Soon, you'll be able to find the restaurants and TV shows your friends like or see every picture they've taken at the Grand Canyon.

As much as users may like the new features, the company hasn't exactly been a Wall Street darling. So, the new feature may be less about you and me and more about Facebook's bottom line.

"It's about time," Nate Elliott, an analyst at Forrester Research, said about the new feature. "It should have been there all along."

The Two-Way

Facebook Unveils Graph Search, Adding A New 'Pillar' To Services

Elliott said that Facebook users have been frustrated for a while because they were unable to sort through all the content their friends put up. Unless you happen to be online when they posted, chances were good you were going to miss it. He called Facebook's previous search function "one of the worst search experiences online."

All Tech Considered

Why Are Investors In Like With Facebook Again?

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg demonstrated Tuesday what he calls "graph search" at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif.

He explained how one week he wanted to have a group of friends over to watch Game of Thrones. So, he typed in a query into graph search: "friends near Palo Alto like Game of Thrones." Their names popped up.

"This was great," Zuckerberg said. "I mean I just clicked on a bunch of them, invited them over, and we had a small Dothraki party."

Zuckerberg was joined by Facebook software engineer Lars Rasmussen, who showed off how the new feature can be used to search photos. It can sort them by place, names and even years. Rasmussen typed in a query for photos of his friends before 1990. He laughed as old school photos popped up.

"Suddenly, everyone is a child again," he said.

Facebook's Challenge

While Facebook may be catching up with this new feature, there are also strong economic incentives for getting it out. Analyst Elllott says the road to Facebook is filled with dead and dying social networks. Friendster and MySpace "got boring," Elliot said. People set up their social networks and there was nothing to do.

Elliott said that Facebook's growth is slowing. There's a limit to the number of new users it's going to draw. So, the future he says is keeping people more engaged.

"That's the constant concern for any social network is 'How do we make sure that people have lots of interesting things happening in their friend networks?'"

During the introduction of the new feature, Zuckerberg and his staff constantly referenced user privacy as if they were making a pre-emptive strike. Facebook has been dogged by privacy concerns since its inception. The company was investigated by the Federal Trade Commission and is still under an order that requires it to undergo an independent privacy audit every two years.

Facebook software engineer Tom Stocky explained how you can search for photos of yourself that other people have put up and tagged. He pulled up some photos of himself in a monster costume.

"Let's say for whatever reason I find these photos embarrassing," Stocky said. "Let's say I don't want them to appear in search ... I'd love to have them removed from Facebook altogether."

Stockly clicked on a feature that let him remove the tags and then another feature that let him send a note to the user who posted them, asking to have them taken down.

'Open A Lot Of Users' Eyes'

Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst at eMarketer, said this feature may actually help users really understand how much information they've been sharing.

"That's going to open a lot of users' eyes," she said.

She says she thinks it might actually make people more active in managing their personal information.

Facebook also showed off a partnership with the Microsoft search engine, Bing. If a user searches for a restaurant among their friends and can't find it, Bing will supplement with results from the open Internet.

For now most analysts don't see Facebook's new feature as a direct threat to Google. Williamson says 75 percent of U.S. searches go through Google, which has access to much more information about individuals across the many platforms it owns — Android, Google Docs. Google+ and so forth.

Facebook is rolling out its new feature slowly over the next few months. Although "graph search" is currently only available on desktop computers, Zuckerberg indicated the company is working on making it available on mobile devices. He also emphasized that the new feature is "in Beta." Improvements will be coming.

Read More

Denso Wireless Smartphone Charger For Vehicles

Denso Wireless Smartphone Charger For Vehicles

Denso Corp. of Japan is proud to announce that they believe they are first out of the blocks when it comes to the inaugural wireless smartphone charger designed for use in a vehicle worldwide. This charger is tipped for a rollout this coming spring, and will be available for those who have set their eyes and hearts on the “Toyota Avalon Limited” which will be sold to folks living in North America. At the moment, if you want to charge your exhausted smartphone’s battery when driving, you will need to hook up a charger and the smartphone via a cable, but with the new charger from Denso, all you need to do is place your device on the charging pad, and drive away cheerfully.

This wireless charging pad will play nice with smartphones that are compatible with the “Qi” wireless charging standard, but fret not if your smartphone fails to fall under such a criteria, as there is always a Qi-compatible cover to remedy that situation. Now, you just got to make sure that your smartphone does not go flying all over the place on the wireless charging pad especially if you tend to tackle those corners at high speeds.

Read More

Finger Scanning Door Loc

Finger Scanning Door Loc

Go keyless in your household with this finger scanning door lock. Perfect for locking down your home with nearly impossible to crack security, this clever deadbolt door lock will only open if your fingerprint has been authorized for entry. Buy here:

Read More

Ubiquiti Product Demo - Introduction to mFi

Ubiquiti Product Demo - Introducation To mFi

Randy Frei, Architect of the mFi platform gives us a tour of the revolutionary new M2M product and some of its potential applications.

To learn more about mFi, please go to http://www.ubnt.com/mFi.

Read More

Save Wi-Fi Devices In A Box

Save Wi-Fi Devices in A Box

This is what we call a Ubiquiti tower install!

- Rocket M5 Titanium & Titanium Sector

- EdgeRouter Lite

- TOUGHSwitch PoE Pro

- mFi mPort with Temperature and Current Sensors

Read More

Freelancing – A Boon Or A Bane

Freelancing_ A Boon Or A Bane

“Freelance” is a commonly used word these days. How is this different from a person who has a regular job? Although freelancing began in the medieval ages with mercenary soldiers, there are umpteen freelancers and freelancing opportunities on offer today. If you are a freelancer, you do not have a long-term commitment to a particular employer. As a freelancer you provide a particular service to your client and you can work from the luxury of your home at your own time.

You might ask your client to sign a written contract for the service you provide or else a verbal agreement will do. You can freelance as a filmmaker, actor, journalist, web designer, illustrator, editor … depending upon your skills, talent and experience. You can choose the project and the payment depending on the hours that you put in. There are two sides to freelancing as it can be a boon or a bane.

You, as a free lancer, will not find your boss looking over your shoulder while you work. There are several reasons to be a freelancer.

• As a freelancer you build a successful business with a reputation and a list of clients which can give you an income if you decide to sell. This is really an asset that you have created which provides for your present and future income.

• The best part of being a freelancer is that you can decide your workplace – your home or a resort while you are holidaying. You are also a master of your time and can find a suitable time to work. You are also free to take on the amount of work that you can manage. Thus, freelancing takes care of work-life balance, leaving you to enjoy quality time with your loved ones.

• If you are looking for global exposure, freelancing is for you. You can get work from any part of the world which means a window of opportunities. There are no confining geographical boundaries in this business.

• With no office politics and red tape to handle, you can look forward to a trouble-free work atmosphere. You can work alone or build a team as your business grows.

• Your income depends on your own efforts. You needn’t fear about not getting your bonus or an increment. Since the amount of work you do varies, so does your income each month.

• You can be sure of tax exemptions since you work from the confines of your home.

• You can cut out all the unnecessary expenditures on your attire that a traditional job entails. Since you work mostly at home, you can be dressed casually rather than spending valuable time and money on your appearance.

• Freelancing brings you in touch with several people and increases your client base. Freelancing also gives you an opportunity to pick up new skills.

Drawbacks

Although you know about the boons of freelancing, you should also know why it is a bane.

• As a freelancer, your pay depends on the number of hours of productive work that you put in. Since your income is not steady you must learn the art of budgeting.

• You can expect your clients to rouse you out of your bed at midnight with a project and you must adjust to different time zones. You also will find that you are working longer hours than a regular 9 to 5 job.

• Since you have decided to work on your own, your success and failure is your own business. You have to learn to work and survive alone and be your own guide or mentor.

• If you are looking for some time off for a holiday or a medical problem you will have to find a way of meeting deadlines. Since you work independently, you are not entitled to perks like vacation pay, health insurance and other benefits.

• It is your own business and you are responsible for all its aspects operations, management, accounts, marketing and client development. You must have enough knowledge about tax returns, accounting and licensing.

• Finding new clients is a constant challenge and you have to develop on your marketing and networking skills so that you always have work on hand.

• You may have to dodge numerous distractions while working in the comfort of your home.

Before you start on your own, think clearly if freelancing is a boon or a bane.

Read More

Canon PowerShot N

Canon Power Shot N

Canon PowerShot N

With the newest point-and-shoot in the PowerShot line, Canon veered away from the standard design of cameras like the S100 and S110, and decided it was hip to be square.

Okay, maybe slightly more rectangular than square. The PowerShot N measures 2.4 by 3.1 by 1.2 inches, and has a tilt-up LCD screen in the back that can be adjusted up to a 90-degree angle for better viewing. Canon has pointed out that it’s even small enough to wear around the neck using a lanyard (look, Ma, no hands!), but while it’s certainly lighter and more comfortable than a big-bodied DSLR, no one is going to mistake this for a fashion pendant.

The PowerShot N captures 12-megapixel images, has an 8x digital zoom and offers 58 different scene selections for the Instagram-lovers out there. And it has Wi-Fi capabilities for sharing photos to iOS or Android mobile devices using Canon’s CameraWindow app. It’s expected to hit the market in April, and will cost $300

Read More

TABLE PC replace your home computer (and your coffee table)

TABLE PC replace your home computer (and your coffee table)

Forget the tablet, meet the TABLE PC - a giant touchscreen that could replace your home computer (and your coffee table)

The modern homehas family members spread out over the house, each with a separate PC or tablet.

However, computer maker Lenovo has something it believes will get them back together: a PC the size of a coffee table that works like a gigantic tablet and lets four people use it at once. 

Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo unveiled the novel piece of hardware at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Sunday. The 17.8-pound, 27-inch Windows 8 Pro machine, which is called the IdeaCenter Horizon Table PC, should be available ‘beginning in early summer’ at a starting price of 1,298.33€ the company said.

‘Horizon makes personal computing interpersonal computing with shared, collaborative experiences among several people,’ said Peter Hortensius, president of Lenovo's product group, in a company press release.

‘Now many people can enjoy different photos, music and video on the same screen, and they can play games with our special accessories that blend physical and digital interaction’ he said.

The Horizon Table PC takes advantage of Windows 8's touch-based features to support multiplayer gaming among other activities.

The Table PC will include plastic 'strikers' for 'Air Hockey,' and joysticks that attach to the screen with suction cups for other games, including multiplayer shooter 'Raiding Company'.

It even comes with a virtual electronic dice so that board games can still be played. It runs NVIDIA GeForce graphics as well as ‘heart-pounding’ Dolby Home Theater v4 audio, Hortensius said.

The computer can transform into a 27-inch desktop for those who want to use it for solitary purposes.

There is one trade-off for all of those features.

The Horizon Table PC contains only two hours of battery life when not connected to a wall-socket. 

Lenvo is also getting ready to market a Horizon Multimode Table that will let users change the angle and height of the PC from lying down flat to facing the user like a normal monitor.

Hortensius said Lenovo is also getting ready to launch new editions of more traditional computers, including new IdeaPad and ThinkPad touchscreen Windows 8 notebooks. Microsoft Corp. pioneered the idea of a table PC with the Surface, a PC with a 30-inch (762-millimeter) touch-sensitive screen released in 2008. 

It was designed for store displays and other commercial applications. 

The concept is now called PixelSense, as Microsoft started using the 'Surface' name for an unrelated tablet computer last year. 

More recently, Sony Corp. released the Tap 20, an all-in-one PC that can also be laid flat. 

But it is smaller than the Lenovo model, at 20 inches (508 millimeters) diagonally, and doesn't have as much table-oriented software as the Table PC.

Read More

Sony launches water-resistant, dust-proof Xperia Z at CES

Sony launches water-resistant, dust-proof Xperia Z at CES

Sony has officially launched its flagship device, the Xperia Z, at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas. There has been several leaks and rumours about the Xperia Z ahead of the launch. The key features of the device are as follows:

• It has a 1.5 GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor.

• The device has a 5-inch full HD screen. The screen resolution is 1920 x 1080.

• The OS is a bit of a disappointment. The device runs Android 4.1 aka Jelly Bean. One would think that the Sony might have gone for the latest 4.2 version of Jelly Bean.

• The smartphone has 2GB RAM and up to 16GB of memory space. This is expanable to 32GB via a microSD card slot.

• Like the iPhone 5, the Samsung Galaxy S III and other high-end devices, this one will also support 4G/LTE band for high-speed Internet.

• The camera is probably the biggest advantage. The Xperia Z comes with a 13.1 megapixel rear camera and a 2.2MP front-facing camera. This is much more than both the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S III, each of which has an 8 megapixel rear camera.

• The device supports Near field communications (NFC).

• The device is water and dust resistant. 

Read More

Setting facebook app as home page

Setting Facebook App As Home Page

What you probably have there is a Facebook application with a configured tab page. As the owner or admin of a page you can add whatever tabs you want, and even make them the default tab for visitors who are not already fans or admins of your page.

So here's how to do it:

1. Create yourself a Facebook application, and make sure to set up a version with a max width of 520px.
2. In your application settings configure the tab page settings to point at the narrow version of your app.
3. Go to the Application's profile page, and from the links on the side select 'Add to my page'., select the page you want to add the app to.
4. In your page settings, set the default tab to the App tab you just added.

Read More

Samsung Galaxy Music Duos smartphone

Samsung Galaxy Music Duos smartphone

Samsung seems to have silently launched Galaxy Music Duos smartphone in the Indian market. The company had unveiled it internationally in October 2012 and begun taking pre-orders in India in the first week of December. The official cost of the device in India is Rs 9,199, though the street price is Rs 8,990. 

The all-new Galaxy Music Duos is a dual-sim smartphone aimed at music lovers and comes with two speakers in the front, a dedicated music key and audio technologies like Sound Alive and SRS. This device has a 3-inch LCD touchscreen with 240x320-pixel resolution and runs on an 850MHz processor with 512MB RAM. It has 4GB internal memory and supports 32GB microSD cards for expansion.

Read More

WiFi HotSpot / WiFi Tether

WiFi HotSpot / WiFi Tether

Description

You can enable the Portable Wifi HotSpot or Wifi Tethering.

You can enable the embedded Portable Wifi HotSpot with this app. This is a shortcut tool.

* Some users report Samsung S2 won't work with this app, but S3 works. If you use S2, please don't download this app.

* Call the embedded wifi ththering (Wifi Hotspot) settings, it can save some steps than traditional operations.

* Share your Internet to other device via wifi connection.

* App2SD support

*Some countries' wireless carrier will charge for the tether service. But some carriers won't do it. Please ask the call center of your wireless operator if you have this issue.

*You may wait for a while due to download the FAQ web data from the server.

Permissions
THIS APPLICATION HAS ACCESS TO THE FOLLOWING:

NETWORK COMMUNICATION

FULL NETWORK ACCESS

Allows the app to create network sockets and use custom network protocols. The browser and other applications provide means to send data to the internet, so this permission is not required to send data to the internet.

PHONE CALLS
READ PHONE STATUS AND IDENTITY
Allows the app to access the phone features of the device. This permission allows the app to determine the phone number and device IDs, whether a call is active, and the remote number connected by a call.

STORAGE
MODIFY OR DELETE THE CONTENTS OF YOUR USB STORAGE MODIFY OR DELETE THE CONTENTS OF YOUR SD CARD
Allows the app to write to the USB storage. Allows the app to write to the SD card.


NETWORK COMMUNICATION
VIEW NETWORK CONNECTIONS
Allows the app to view information about network connections such as which networks exist and are connected.
DEFAULT
TEST ACCESS TO PROTECTED STORAGE TEST ACCESS TO PROTECTED STORAGE
Allows the app to test a permission for USB storage that will be available on future devices. Allows the app to test a permission for the SD card that will be available on future devices.

Read More