iCade Houses Your iPhone in the D-pad Dock of Your Dreams [IPhone]

iCade, the iPad accessory that started as a April Fool’s Day joke evolves into an all-new form just announced at CES 2012. iCade Mobile lets you slide your iPhone or iPod Touch into a d-pad style sheath that provides physical inputs for your on-the-go gaming. You’ll get four face buttons and two shoulder buttons. Now all this thing needs is a heap of developer support so you can stop trying to look through your fingers when playing on your iPhone. It’s out later this year for $79.99. Head on over to ionaudio.com for more info. More »

More:
iCade Houses Your iPhone in the D-pad Dock of Your Dreams [IPhone]

Motorola’s New Droid 4 Is the Phone to Get for People Who Still Love Physical Keyboards [Android]

Verizon just made the long expected Motorola Droid 4 official today, announcing the slider phone with a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, 1GB RAM, 4G LTE, 8-megapixel camera, 5-row keyboard and 16GB of memory in its half-inch thick shell. More »


See the original article here:
Motorola’s New Droid 4 Is the Phone to Get for People Who Still Love Physical Keyboards [Android]

Smartphones and tablets to get MicroUSB 3.0 ports, just in time for it to seem old

Is it impatient to wonder why our phones’ MicroUSB ports are still just measly USB 2.0? The USB Implementers Forum just acknowledged the omission at CES, but said we’ll have to wait until the end of 2012 or even the start of 2013 before we see the new standard reach handsets and tablets. It also warned that transfer speeds will be nowhere near the port’s raw 5Gbps capability, maxing out at something like 800 megabits instead. The main reason for the upgrade might actually be faster charging, since 3.0 can transfer more power, but with other port standards and even wireless charging gaining ground, it’s hard not to regard this as a year too late. Make it a host port, however, and that might be a different story.

Smartphones and tablets to get MicroUSB 3.0 ports, just in time for it to seem old originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Jan 2012 04:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | sourcePCWorld | Email this | Comments

Visit site:
Smartphones and tablets to get MicroUSB 3.0 ports, just in time for it to seem old

Powertech Ultra Slim outlet expander brings USB ports to your wall outlet

There’s always a few unexpected devices to be found, and we just caught a glimpse of one such device at CES Unveiled this evening from an OEM called Powertech Industries. Called the Ultra Slim, it’s an outlet expander that gives any regular electrical outlet a pair of USB power sockets — without the wiring required of more permanent solutions like FastMac’s U-Socket. The Ultra Slim is just that, as it’s only about half inch thick, and has a unique folding collapsible plug on the back to keep its trim figure. Its thin profile is also able to accommodate the depth of regular plugs with extending sections in the back. The adapters we saw were prototypes, though production will begin in earnest this July and Powertech plans to find a retailer willing to rebrand and sell them to the public for an as-yet-undetermined price. A full gallery of pics of the adapter awaits below.

Gallery: PowerTech Ultra Slim outlet expander brings USB ports to your wall outlet

Sean Cooper contributed to this report.

Powertech Ultra Slim outlet expander brings USB ports to your wall outlet originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Jan 2012 01:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments

View the original here:
Powertech Ultra Slim outlet expander brings USB ports to your wall outlet

iCade cuts the fat for CES, introduces handheld brother (update: video and iCade Jr.)

The iCade has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a ThinkGeek April Fool’s gag. After trading out a fictional 30-pin dock connector for a very real Bluetooth radio and well, actual existence, it even spawned a (notably competitive) copycat product. This week, ION is unveiling a pair of new iCade products at CES, streamlining the original nostalgic tablet dock, as well as expanding its tactile toggles to iPhone and iPod touch owners.

The iCade Core faithfully recreates the original rig’s control setup, Bluetooth connectivity, and passthrough charging cable, but kills the cabinet motif in favor of landscape support. Although there’s no word yet on pricing for slimmed down arcade dock, ION says it should launch sometime in 2012. The new iCade Mobile, on the other hand, is penned in for a Q2 launch; it’ll set you back $80 and score your iPod touch / iPhone four shoulder buttons, four face buttons and a classic D-Pad. The gamepad dock also swivels your device into landscape and portrait modes. Stay tuned for our hands on, or read on for the official PR.

Update: While glancing at Ion’s booth, an impressively small, phone-sized arcade cabinet caught our attention. Dubbed the iCade Jr., we’re told it’s essentially an iCade for the iPhone. The unit we saw wasn’t a working model, and there was nary a mention of pricing or availability, but you can catch some close-up shots of the tiny little number in the gallery below

Gallery: Ion iCade Mobile and iCade Jr. hands-on

Joe Pollicino and Amar Toor contributed to this report.

Continue reading iCade cuts the fat for CES, introduces handheld brother (update: video and iCade Jr.)

iCade cuts the fat for CES, introduces handheld brother (update: video and iCade Jr.) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Jan 2012 19:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments

Taken from:
iCade cuts the fat for CES, introduces handheld brother (update: video and iCade Jr.)

Tobii’s Gaze interface lets you use your eyes to move a cursor, perform gestures in Windows 8 (video)

We’ve seen gesture control, but how about an input device that lets you stare your PC into submission? That’s the basic gist of Tobii’s Gaze UI, an early version of which is on display here at CES, and which will eventually help doctors and other professionals skim through data just by looking at it. When this becomes available, likely in a year or so, customers will need some requisite hardware (read: that conspicuous eye tracking strip you see up there) and, of course, software that can take advantage of it. Got it? Good. Here’s the elevator pitch: using your eyes, you can move the cursor around the screen, select objects, scroll and pinch to zoom. But if you imagined looking at your Firefox shortcut and blinking twice to open it, you’d be sorely disappointed: though you can use your eyes to drag the cursor, you’ll still need to keep a finger on your touchpad. For instance, once you direct your eyes to a certain part of a webpage, you’ll need to use two fingers to zoom in, as you normally would. Really, then, this is saving you from having to bear down on your clickpad, so for now, at least, your fingers can keep their day job.

Continue reading Tobii’s Gaze interface lets you use your eyes to move a cursor, perform gestures in Windows 8 (video)

Tobii’s Gaze interface lets you use your eyes to move a cursor, perform gestures in Windows 8 (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Jan 2012 21:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments

Read this article:
Tobii’s Gaze interface lets you use your eyes to move a cursor, perform gestures in Windows 8 (video)

iCade cuts the fat for CES, introduces handheld brother (update: video)

The iCade has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a ThinkGeek April Fool’s gag. After trading out a fictional 30-pin dock connector for a very real Bluetooth radio and well, actual existence, it even spawned a (notably competitive) copycat product. This week, ION is unveiling a pair of new iCade products at CES, streamlining the original nostalgic tablet dock, as well as expanding its tactile toggles to iPhone and iPod touch owners.

The iCade Core faithfully recreates the original rig’s control setup, Bluetooth connectivity, and passthrough charging cable, but kills the cabinet motif in favor of landscape support. Although there’s no word yet on pricing for slimmed down arcade dock, ION says it should launch sometime in 2012. The new iCade Mobile, on the other hand, is penned in for a Q2 launch; it’ll set you back $100 and score your iPod touch / iPhone four shoulder buttons, four face buttons and a classic D-Pad. The gamepad dock also swivels your device into landscape and portrait modes. Stay tuned for our hands on, or read on for the official PR.

Gallery: Ion iCade Mobile hands-on

Continue reading iCade cuts the fat for CES, introduces handheld brother (update: video)

iCade cuts the fat for CES, introduces handheld brother (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Jan 2012 19:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | | Email this | Comments

See the original article here:
iCade cuts the fat for CES, introduces handheld brother (update: video)