News & Features

Mario Esposito Discusses Sensoria Fitness Game Development Projects

We recently talked with Heapsylon’s CTO Mario Esposito about impressive gear that can interface among the physical world and video. Esposito  also co-founded Heapsylon in 2009, which concentrates on wearable body sensing technology. Heapsylon, a Washington-based start-up, has launched Sensoria Fitness, which consists of mobile applications, the first e-textile pressure sensing smart sock, and Bluetooth anklet. The mobile application monitor and guide you through real-time audio cues. The smart sock, completely made of fabric, can be washed or dried like a regular sock. The anklet magnetically snaps on the cuff of the sock and sends commands. Sensoria Fitness recently completed two successful campaign on…


Lumia 925 Coming to AT&T

The Lumia 925 is, by all accounts, an excellent flagship Windows Phone. At least in the United States, it has been tied to T-Mobile since launch, but now that exclusivity has lifted, and it will be arriving on AT&T on August 28th, presumably to replace the Lumia 920! If you aren’t familiar with the Lumia 925, it is one of Nokia’s top-shelf Lumia devices. It has a 4.5in screen, a Carl Zeiss lens, and the latest update to Windows Phone, giving it access to amazing apps like Nokia Pro Cam. Unlike previous Lumias, the 925 also ditches the polycarbonate body…


Sugru Is the Grown-Up Play-Dough for DIY Projects

If you’ve ever dabbled in small home improvement projects, wanted to fix a damaged item or just mold something to a desired shape to hold something, Sugru might be just the thing for you. Perhaps falling somewhere between ubiquitous duct tape and super glue, Sugru is a moldable, self-curing rubber that can bond to a variety of surfaces and is electrically insulating, so clever techies can patch broken cable housings in sundry chargers, adapters and the like. Starting at $10 for a pack of 3 to $18 for a pack of 8, Sugru could be a MacGyver-wannabe’s new best friend. Check…


The NEX-5T Joins the Sony NEX Family of Interchangeable Lens Cameras

The brand new Sony NEX-5T is the newest member of the NEX family. It offers WiFi and now brings NFC connectivity for easy pairing with any NFC-enabled mobile device. Packed with features, it has a large, high-resolution 16.1 effective megapixel Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor similar in size to the sensors found in traditional DSLR cameras. Here’s a first look. The NEX-5T will look immediately familiar to any of us who have used Sony’s NEX line of interchangeable lens cameras. It is, in other words, an update to the NEX-5 line and will ship with the same compact SELP1650 motorized…


Back to School Time! Classrooms Have Definitely Changed

Summer is officially over in Texas! That’s right, back to school. The classroom you remember as a kid has greatly changed. An article at Edudemic discusses 5 big changes in the classroom. As a tech geek, I find the changes exciting, and I welcome new methods. These changes are coming slowly to my school, but the ball is rolling. The five items becoming outdated according to the author are: Paper Parent teacher conferences Impersonal professional development Attendance Traditional age based learning Today’s student will likely have a much different experience than most adults remember in their education. What are your…


Photo Sharing – An App that Makes Sharing Photos Simple

Looking for an easy way to send lots of pictures on your iPhone through email?  If so, Photo Sharing by Giacomo Guglielmi, is the perfect app for you.  It allows you to send as many pictures as you want, including full albums, directly from your phone to your friend’s inbox. If you’re anything like me, you’ve unofficially traded in your point and shoot digital camera for the camera on your iPhone.  With the quality of the smartphone camera increasing with each new phone, I almost never need to use my old digital camera, unless of course, I’m on my Honeymoon…


ProtectCELL Offers a New Kind of Cell Phone Insurance

Cell phone insurance usually covers the basics, like your phone taking a swim in a pint of beer. But ProtectCELL thinks insurance should be more comprehensive bang for your buck, with buyback offers and even identity theft protection plans! I keep a lot of information on my cell phone. Between banking apps, email, Facebook, and photos, you could recreate most of my life from my cell phone, and I am sure most people could say the same thing. I’ve always felt like cell phone insurance was a waste of money, but I am intrigued by the pitch I received from…


Coravin Help You Preserve That Fine WIne

If you’re a wine drinker that occasionally can’t quite finish that great bottle, you’ve probably been confronted by the problem of vino that just isn’t so keeno the next day. Luckily, Coravin is here with a novel new solution. Thanks to the manufacturer’s ingenious invention, it’s argon to the rescue! I recently got a note from a p/r agency that read, in part, “Don’t you hate it when you just can’t drink all of that bottle of great wine and worry that it will go bad before you can finish it?” Wait, what? “Can’t drink all the bottle?” I am…


Use JustDelete.Me to Disconnect Yourself Totally from the Internet

Have you ever thought – what would it take for me to completely delete my online presence? Over at Wired they just highlighted a new site called ‘JustDelete.Me’. The site, pictured above, places ‘delete my account’ direct links for popular sites in one easy to use array. Just click and you are gone – simple and painless. I remember years ago signing up for an ‘AOL over broadband’ account to check it out when they had free trials (already had a ISP when AOL originally arrived), and recall how hard it was to cancel the account. It was clear they…


Scout Comes to Windows 8!

I love my Lumia, but I will be honest — Nokia’s HERE Maps and HERE Drive are not my favorites. They are perfectly fine, but they lack many bells and whistles. It was hard giving up Scout when I left the iPhone, and I am thrilled that Scout is coming to Windows Phone 8! For those who aren’t familiar, Scout is an amazing navigation service powered by Telenav. It helps you map your routes, find points of interest, and monitor multiple choices for the best traffic flow. It also offers additional features like traffic alerts, voice commands, and voice guidance…


Ubuntu Edge Fails to Meet Funding Goal: I Told you So!

The Ubuntu Edge failed to meet the lofty 32 million dollar crowd funding goal that Canonical set.  I hate to say I told you so, but I did back when the campaign first started. Is this a success for Canonical and Mark Shuttleworth or a failure?  Read on for more. The campaign ended a few days ago, and there are many different opinions swirling around the net about this.  Some say that it set the crowd funding record.  I say it didn’t.  Why?  It didn’t fund! They raised 12.8 million dollars which is impressive, but because of how they set…


Roccat Unleashes the XTD Cave 5.1 Gaming Headset at GamesCom!

Gamers love great sound when playing – whether to hear the music of the latest jRPG or the explosions of the cool new shooter, a great headset provides immersion and a detailed experience that cannot be duplicated in a portable system. For years gamers were stuck with inferior audio in headsets, but now we can get great sound thanks to products like the newly announced Kave XTD 5.1 Digital Gaming Headset from ROCCAT. Here is what ROCCAT says about the new headset: The Kave XTD 5.1 Digital includes a fully equipped desktop remote with a built-in premium 5.1 sound card….


EA Offers ‘Great Game Guarantee’ Refund System on Origin

Imagine you bought the recent Realms of Arkania game, and within an hour you were horrified at the bugginess. Steam and GoG.com are good about refunds in these cases – but what if it was an acclaimed game like Skyrim, and you just couldn’t connect? Tougher sell for a refund – so now EA’s Origin has a ‘Great Game Guarantee’. The ‘Great Game Guarantee’ is fairly simple in theory: you can return EA full game downloads (PC or Mac) purchased on Origin for a full refund–within 24 hours after you first launch the game, within seven days from when you…


When to Use the Command Line and When to Stick to a GUI

Back in the early days of computing there was DOS, and DOS used what we call a command line. A command line or shell is a text interface for interacting with your computer. Today graphical interfaces rule the day, but the command line is still useful … in fact, sometimes it might even be better. Read on for more on how to improve your computing life with the good ol’ command line. When I bought my first IBM compatible PC, as we called them back in the day, DOS was the only way to interact with the PC. We launched programs…



Plantronics Gaming Throws Down with Their New RIG Headset

Plantronics has a message to gamers: “If you’re into your games AND your mobile devices, we’ve got the headset for you!” The RIG headset and mixer audio system let you play interactive video games, take calls, and listen to music from your smartphone or tablet. It’s the first member of the RIG family of gaming devices, and it is coming this fall for $129.


Windows Phone and Gmail Finally Learn to Play Better

Thanks to the latest Windows Phone update, Windows Phone finally syncs properly with Gmail — bringing along all of your shared calendars and properly formatted emails. No more shredded MIME-reformatted emails! One of the common objections to Windows Phone is the lack of Google services integration. There are some obvious areas where there’s a large Google-shaped hole (the drama around the official/not official/official youtube app is an excellent example), but the biggest sticking point for me as a user of both has been the Gmail experience. However, the latest Windows Phone update has completely revamped how Gmail syncs with Windows Phone…


JOBY Goes Small With the GPod Mini Magnetic and MPod Mini Stand

I’ve long been a fan of JOBY’s various flexible tripod offerings. Their GorillaPods are a mainstay in my gear bag. Now JOBY has announced their new JOBY GPod Mini Magnetic and JOBY MPod Mini Stand. The GPod works with cameras. The MPod works with smartphones. Each weighs less than two ounces. Shipping soon you can learn more here.


ContourRoam2 Action Camera Accessories Video Look

The ContourRoam2 action camera is a great way to catch life on the go. (We reviewed it here.)The small video camera is waterproof, tough, and it takes good video. Add in a few key accessories like a headband, universal mount, and a waterproof case, and it does even more. The ContourRoam2 action camera impressed me when I reviewed it at the beginning of the summer. The small camera is simple to use, and it will shoot video at a number of settings. Full HD » 1080p (1920 x 1080) @ 30/25fps Tall HD » 960p (1280 x 960) @ 30/25fps…


DRACOdesign ONE Aluminum Bumper for HTC One – Sexy Curves for My Favorite Android

I absolutely love my HTC One. Unfortunately, it is not the most popular Android phone (even if I think it should be), so my case options have been limited to bulky, plastic, and ugly … until now. I recently received DRACOdesign’s gorgeous $79.99 ONE Aluminum Bumper, and it is now somewhat permanently attached to my phone. Here’s why … I’ve reviewed plenty of aluminum bumper cases over the years, but the majority of them were for various iPhone incarnations, and quite a few of those cases interfered with the iPhone’s antenna causing reception issues. Even so, I really like the…


My Workspace: 50 Year Old Desk Mixes Modern and Old School Tech

One of my favorite set of posts on Lifehacker is the “Featured Workspace” posts.  Your workspace is important.  It’s where things get done. Each and every workspace is different because we are all different. My workspace utilizes a 50 year-old desk and a mix of tech from old to new. Read on for more on how I have set this up. The desk is one I picked up many years ago on Freecycle.  Freecycle is a Yahoo group in our area that people list stuff for free.  This desk’s previous home was a local church here in the Columbus area,…