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Airtame wireless screen-mirroring dongle shipping in October for $99
Airtame, the Danish startup that received our Best of CES 2014 award for its awesome wireless video dongle, has confirmed that it will be shipping its first lot to its beta users this month in July. Better yet, the device has since been upgraded from a single-core Freescale chip to a dual-core version, along with dual-band WiFi and hardware acceleration on all three PC platforms: Windows, Linux and Mac. Over 15,000 Airtame dongles have been pre-ordered so far, and these will start shipping in May or June October after some tweaking based on the beta feedback.
Epson launches wireless iOS projection app
Epson has released a slick little iOS app called Epson iProjection (free), which allows iPhones, iPads and iPod touches running iOS 4.2 or later to connect to certain Epson projectors wirelessly. Epson says the app is ideal for business users who need to travel light yet maintain the capability of presenting with a full-featured projector. The app also should be of use to teachers in the classroom. Epson iProjection is compatible with applications like Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Apple's Keynote, plus JPEG and PNG image files. As for compatible projectors, you'll find a full list here. One disadvantage of the app is the inability to play either animations or video. It might have been nicer if Epson had simply decided to support AirPlay in their projectors, but that would require additional hardware in the projector. Perhaps it is something we'll see in the future from Epson or others.
Mobiola Webcamera adds iPad 2 support and recording features
We took a look at the WebCamera iPhone app last fall. It's a clever piece of software that turns your iPhone into a portable webcam on a Wi-Fi network. Since our review, the price has dropped to US$2.99, iPad 2 support has been added, and you can now record the streaming audio and video right on your computer. Setup is easy. Install WebCamera on your iPhone or iPad, and download a free app for your desktop or laptop computer. Both Mac OS and Windows are supported. Run the app on your phone, select the computer running the app, and whatever your iOS camera sees shows up on your computer. It's nice for keeping an eye on kids or pets, or use it with any messaging app just as if you had a USB camera plugged in. On the iPhone or iPad 2, you can choose the front-facing or rear camera, mute the audio and use the flash on the iPhone as a light to brighten up the scene. Just beware of battery drain if you're not connected to a power source. The new recording feature allows you to grab a still or a movie with sound from your iPhone. The resulting video clip is a standard .mov file. The video doesn't work with iChat, unfortunately (it's an Apple issue). WebCamera worked fine on Skype, but of course you can run Skype directly from your iPhone rather than your computer. Running the app keeps your iPhone 'awake' so it does not time out and lock in the middle of a session. WebCamera is a good app made better with the updates. iPad 2 support is welcome, and the ability to record the webcam sessions on your computer is a nice feature. The app was stable in my tests, and if you have ever wanted a portable cordless webcam this might be a great solution. The app also runs on the 4th generation iPod touch. %Gallery-134579%
Olion's Moov caught on video beaming an iPhone to a TV using a little WHDI and a lot of magic
Chubby DIY iPad cases aside, there aren't too many options if you want to bring video wirelessly from a mobile device to a wall-mountable TV. The Moov from Olion is one of the few, but sadly it doesn't really exist just yet. Don't be thrown off by a name shared with a windshield-mounted GPS, this is a battery-packing case for iPhones. Slot one in and you get instant, wireless streaming of data to a WHDI-compatible receiver. Video resolution is fair at 1,024 x 768 while latency is said to be less than 1ms at up to 30-feet in range. That's quick enough to get your Need for Speed on, as shown after the break, while the internal battery is said to provide enough juice for three hours of video streaming. Olion doesn't have a shipment date or price in mind right now, still searching for partners of the manufacturing kind. If you have the requisite means of production maybe this could be a match made in silicon -- and in love. [Thanks, Aviram]
App review: AirView
We just came across a neat little iOS app called AirView which, as you can probably tell from the name, transforms your iOS devices into AirPlay video receivers. And since iOS can also output video via AirPlay, this means you can use AirView to either grab AirPlay streams from your computer's iTunes, or you can stream videos from one iOS device to another (provided that they are both running iOS 4.2 and above, of course). Theoretically, little work is required to get the ball rolling -- just launch the app, then play your desired video clip from the source, and finally pick your client device using the AirPlay button. We say theoretically, because it took us awhile to figure out that none of our purchased videos worked, even though AirPlay supports DRM content -- the assumption is that AirView lacks the component for receiving authorization key. Alas, we stuck with our, ahem, homemade videos which actually worked very well over both iTunes-to-iOS and iOS-to-iOS connections, although sometimes we had to relaunch AirView and the iPod app to start a new stream. Perhaps some folks will have better luck than us, so feel free to give this app a go -- it is free, after all. Video demo after the break.
Toshiba Satellite E205 is first laptop with Intel Wireless Display (WiDi) technology
Toshiba seems to be the first out the door with Intel's just announced Wireless Display technology. Actually the $999 Satellite E205 seems like one big group hug between Intel, Toshiba and Best Buy. Exclusive to Best Buy and actually designed by those Best Buy customers (okay, they just gave Toshiba feedback), the 14-incher is powered by an Intel Core i5-430M processor and has a 320GB hard drive. But its most impressive spec is its Intel Wireless Display technology (or WiDi) which lets you wirelessly connect your laptop to your HDTV to stream video and audio with an HDMI adapter. Check back soon for a hands-on, but full specs after the break.
Netgear PTV1000 Push 2 TV WiFi video card hits the FCC
We've long said that wireless video streaming direct from a laptop is one of our dream gadgets, and while most of the gear we've seen is based on Wireless USB, it looks like Netgear's trying something a little different: this PTV1000 Push 2 TV Adapter just hit the FCC database, and it looks to send video from your laptop to your TV over WiFi. It's apparently built on an upcoming Intel standard called Wireless Display that requires a Core i3, i5, or i7 processor with integrated GMA graphics and Windows 7, but nothing's been officially announced yet -- and what little info we have isn't great, as the docs warn users that Wireless Display is unsecured and won't play all DVDs or Blu-rays. That's not a huge problem, we suppose -- all we want to do is beam a Hulu window to our TV simply and easily. We're assuming we'll find out a lot more at CES next week, stay tuned.
Hitachi's Ultra Thin LCD lineup to boast Tzero's UWB technology
We knew Hitachi's Ultra Thin HDTV family would boast ultra-wideband technology, and while little was said about this aspect during CES, we've now learned that Tzero will be responsible for handling the aforementioned UWB duties. As expected, the UT HDTVs will "be able to receive high-definition video wirelessly from any HDMI equipped audio / video component," as Tzero promises that users will see transmission speeds of up to 480Mbps. Interestingly, we're told that the UWB-equipped sets are available in Japan right now, but only time will tell if those luscious wireless abilities will make the trip stateside in Q2.
