IFA

Safera Sense Smart Cooking Sensor Can Help Distracted Cooks

What are three things a distracted cook needs to remember to do when preparing dinner? Setting a timer, turning on the vent hood, and watching over a hot stove come to mind, and the Safera Sense can help with all of those and more. Designed to monitor what’s happening at your stove, Safera Sense can help prevent kitchen fires.


Gear Diary’s Best of IFA 2018 Awards

The annual IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin covers about 160,000 square meters and almost 2,000 exhibitors. Whether it was on the floor, at a press conference, at the media-only Showstoppers event, or in private meetings, we scoured IFA to find the latest and greatest to make up Gear Diary’s Best of IFA 2018 list.


Alcatel Proves Small Tablets Aren’t Dead Yet

For a market that’s supposedly dying, tablets are getting an awful lot of attention again. There’s still demand for a screen that’s bigger than a phone, smaller than a computer, and able to entertain you or be productive. Alcatel’s new 3T 8 isn’t flashy, but on paper it’s a solid workhorse tablet for a very good price.



Lenovo’s Star Wars Jedi Challenges Embraces Its Dark Side

Lenovo knows that deep down, we all want to be Jedis. Who doesn’t look good with a laser sword and a bathrobe? They’ve already tapped into that primal desire with their Star Wars Jedi Challenges Augmented Reality game, and now they’re adding more features, plus a chance to play as everyone’s favorite moody emo darkside guy, Kylo Ren.


Lenovo Unleashes an Army of Computers on IFA 2018

If you’re in the market for a laptop this fall, you’ll want to pay close attention to what’s coming out of IFA, especially from Lenovo! They’ve got Yoga, Thinkpad, and Chromebook updates, meaning something is likely to fit your needs and your budget.



Samsung Gives Us 8K Resolution Televisions with the New Q900FN!

We have more and more ways to enjoy cinematic experiences right at home. Streaming services are offering better and better content, soundbars and other speaker system enhancements bring the audio to life, and televisions just keep improving. Samsung is intent on taking this to the next level with their new Q900FN TV with an absolutely futuristic 8K resolution.



Casio Blazes a New Trail with Their Updated Pro-Trek WSD-F30

There are a lot of fitness trackers/smartwatches out there that claim to fit any scenario, but if there’s any niche that needs special attention, it’s the outdoors. You need to be conscious of battery life, feature availability without internet, and of course, ruggedness. Casio has been nailing it with their Pro-Trek WSD line, and the newest WSD-F30 looks eye-poppingly good. 


Dell Releases a Slew of Updated Computers at IFA 2018

Dell has been busy pumping out gaming computers lately, they haven’t forgotten those of us who think Super Mario 2 was the height of gaming technology. They’re at IFA this week, and they have a full suite of Inspiron, XPS, and other software and hardware improvements to make it faster and easier to get things done!



Can Buerer’s Snore Stopper and SleepQuiet App Really Stop Snoring?

Buerer is a European company that’s been around for almost 100 years; their focus is health and well-being. At the IFA GPC, their Managing Director, Georg Walkenbach, mentioned that they currently have 12 apps and 60 connected devices. Georg mentioned several of their health-focused device and app combos, but the one I really took note of was their SleepQuiet app.


Sharp’s 8K TV Makes Your New 4K TV Seem Dated

At the IFA Global Press Conference in Rome, Sascha Lange, Vice President Marketing and Sales at Sharp, was present to announce that their AQUOS 8K LV-70X500E television will be available in Europe at the end of April. This television offers an insane 7680×4320 pixels, and it was previously only available in Asia.


Netatmo Integrates Homekit into Their Cameras

Apple is getting very serious about competing in the smart home business, and more and more companies are joining in with Homekit compatibility. Netatmo is making sure their cameras stay competitive with new firmware updates for their outdoor and indoor cameras. Homekit compatibility means that in between mangling dictated text message and giving you oddball links for simple questions, Siri can also give you a peak at parts of your home using your watch, iPhone or iPad. If you’re not familiar with Netatmo, they offer a number of devices, but their main security cameras are Presence and Welcome. Presence is…



JBL Boombox Makes Portable Sound Epic

If you love the idea of a portable speaker, but the little bottle-sized ones just aren’t giving you enough oomph, you’ll want to check out the new JBL Boombox. Available this fall for $449.95, it is practically begging to be the center of your next party.



LG V30: A Small-ish Phablet with Huge Features

There are so many interesting Android phones available now that choosing a new one can be daunting. Have you considered the new LG V30? It has a beautiful screen, an exceptional camera, and lovely thin bezels. But what more does the V30 have going for it?


Acer Unleashes a Huge Lineup at IFA 2017!

Acer has been very, very busy at IFA 2017. They announced quite the lineup of products, so if you use anything remotely electronic there’s probably something there for you. (And if you don’t use anything electronic, please let me know in the comments how and why you’re reading this!)