2014
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Power strips don't have to be ugly, just ask Powerdrobe
Yes, power strips aren't the sort of thing we usually discuss on this august periodical but sometimes we spot something at a trade show that simply demands attention. Normally, it's the sort of gear that you tuck behind or under your desk, but Korean designer Sangki Kim wanted to make something a little more stylish. That's why he built the Powerdrobe: a box that sits beneath your display (or all-in-one) to keep everything nice and tidy. Kim, who also designed the Desk Phone Dock we reviewed a few years ago, gave the box a classy rounded look and chrome toggle switches, so turning on your computer makes you feel like you work at NASA, circa 1965. On one side of the unit, there's a pair of USB ports for charging mobile devices, while on the other side you'll find either a US or European mains socket, depending on which version you buy. The back offers up either four or six further mains sockets to satisfy your lust for power, with all the mess hidden behind a solid plastic screen. The four-socket model will arrive in April and set you back $40, with the bigger unit coming later and costing a few dollars more.
Archos' octa-core smartphone is surprisingly quick for the price
When it comes to smartphones, hugs and all-you-can-eat buffets, more is better, right? That's why we had to sit down and play with Archos' 50c Oxygen. The gassy, Jelly Bean-running handset is one of the first to use MediaTek's 1.7GHz octa-core MT6592 CPU, housed behind a 5-inch 1,280 x 720 IPS LCD display. Archos has found room for dual-SIM slots, 1GB RAM, 8GB of onboard storage and a microSD card slot, while the 2,000mAh battery should last you at least a day.
An e-reader that makes calls: InkPhone promises two weeks on a charge
When we reviewed the dual-screen YotaPhone, some of you thought it'd have been better if the device simply skipped the LCD and relied on a single E Ink display instead. Well, that's exactly the approach taken by Onyx (via its Polish distributor, Arta Tech) which is showing off a prototype of the MIDIA InkPhone here at CeBIT. Packing a 4.3-inch front-lit E Ink display (no LCD here), the device is designed as a back-to-basics device for people who need really long battery life or simply those who are looking for an e-reader that can also make calls. Part of the appeal, of course, is that E Ink displays sip power, and the company promises that the InkPhone will last for more than two weeks on a single charge of its 1,800mAh battery.
Fujitsu's latest all-in-ones don't need to be turned off
With all of the talk surrounding smartphones and tablets, it's sometimes easy to forget that desktops still occupy most of our working days. Fujitsu hasn't forgotten them, however, and is wheeling out a pair of all-in-one units that'll accompany you on the 9-to-5. The Esprimo X923 comes with a 23-inch 1,920 x 1,080 IPS LCD and a wide variety of build-to-order options, including a choice of Core i3 - i7 CPUs, HDD or SSD and up to 16GB RAM. It's so far, so Fujitsu, but the company is also trumping low power active mode, a sleep state that'll keep the hardware on and connected to your network, but drawing so little power that you don't actually need to turn it off. The other model that's been outed today is the X923-T, which, as you can guess, is exactly the same as the 923, but with a touchscreen. Both are available from today, so it's high time that you started sending flattering emails to your company's purchasing manager.
Fujitsu's palm-scanning laptops won't be fooled by severed limbs
For all the popularity of fingerprint scanners, Fujitsu believes that it can go one better. The Japanese company has been working on palm-based systems for the last few years, and we've already seen turnstiles, wallets and tablets that are accessed from your hand. Fujitsu believes that palm vein sensing is around a thousand times more secure than conventional biometric methods and it's implementing the technology in its next range of business-focused laptops due out this week. We've been shown around some of these models, which have the new sensor fitted into an area that is roughly the same size and position as the company's existing fingerprint scanners, just below the bottom right corner of the keyboard. Using it is simple: Hold your hand a few inches above the sensor and the hardware will quickly scan the unique arrangement of your veins. If it judges you to be the real deal, it'll open up its secrets for your enjoyment.
We're here at CeBIT 2014!
If you don't count IFA, and for this week at least, we don't, then CeBIT is our favorite German tech show. It may be aimed squarely at business and infrastructure types, but we live in hope that there's some gems lurking between the server racks and point of sale units. Hannover's Deutsche Messe is currently full of burly scene-movers and covered by a hazy cloud of sawdust and smoke, but by Monday, it'll become one of the world's biggest trade shows. Naturally, we'll be cherry-picking the most interesting of what's on show and delivering it straight to your eyeballs via this wonderful thing called the internet.
Samsung's thing for (faux) leather continues with the ATIV Book 9 Style
Samsung's clearly been listening to Venus in Furs a lot recently, which explains why it's gone a bit crazy on the faux-leather all of a sudden. After covering both the Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Tab Pro and Chromebook 2 in the stuff, the company has now sought to do the same to a member of its Windows notebook family. Having taken the recently refreshed ATIV Book 9 that we found at CES, this new model gains the fetish-friendly backing and, erm, not much else. We spent a few seconds with an engineering sample of this unit, and felt compelled to share our impressions with you.
BlackBerry could turn BBM into a payments platform
BlackBerry's showing off its plans to woo back all of the customers who ditched it during the BB10 transition. In addition to two new handsets, the Canadian outfit is also considering turning BBM into a mobile payments platform in the emerging markets where it still has traction. In a chat with Re/code, enterprise chief John Sims said that BlackBerry is meeting with partners and "exploring the market." It wouldn't be the first time the company has waded into the mobile-money lake either, considering that it teamed up with an Indonesian bank to test BBM-based peer-to-peer fund transfers back in 2012. As long as it'll enable us to split the dinner bill without looking up from our phones, we're up for it.
Panasonic's newest Toughpad isn't a smartphone, except when it is
When Panasonic said that it was done making smartphones, it meant it. The 5-inch Toughpad FZ-E1 and FZ-X1, you see, are very small tablets that just happen to make calls, okay? Both come with a 5-inch 1,280 x 720 LCD display, 2GB RAM, 32GB of on-board storage and a microSD card slot. Another way in which these devices aren't smartphones is in the connectivity stakes. After all, you wouldn't see a smartphone with 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, HSPA+, WCDMA, EV-DO, 3G and LTE radios, not to mention HD Voice, GPS and GLONASS, would you? Since these are Toughpad devices, they're both ruggedized to withstand drops, dust and water to MIL-810G, IP65 and IP68 -- so you can use the device's 8-megapixel camera and 1.3-megapixel front-facing lens in any conditions. There's also a staggering 6,200mAh battery tucked inside, which the company promises will keep you trucking for 14 hours of continuous use and up to 1,000 hours of standby. The only real difference between the two smartphones small tablets is the choice of operating system, with the E1 running Windows 8 Embedded and the X1 packing Android 4.2.2. There's no specific word on pricing, but we could expect 'em to retail for around 130,000 yen ($1,300) when they both drop later in the year.
ZTE's 6-inch Grand Memo II LTE arrives with bigger display, slimmer body
ZTE, like fellow Chinese ODM Huawei, is hoping to become more famous for the hardware that it makes under its own flag, instead of the gear it makes for other people. A year after the Galaxy Note-troubling Grand Memo, the follow-up has made its public debut here in Barcelona. Beneath the 6-inch HD display, you'll find a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, paired with 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, LTE radios and a 13-megapixel f/2.2 primary camera. Selfie enthusiasts, meanwhile, will be pleased to see their faces are captured in five glorious megapixels with the forward-facing lens. Android 4.4 (KitKat) has been squeezed into the handset's 7.2mm frame, coated in a thick skin of the company's MiFavor 2.3 user interface. ZTE is promising that you'll get a few days of normal use out of the phone's 3,200mAh battery, and that it'll last for a full 16 hours playing HD video. It'll start out in China at some point during April, with Europe, North America and Asia Pacific to follow, and while the company hasn't talked pricing, we assume it'll undercut its rivals in the 6-inch market.
Nokia reveals the Nokia 220 and Asha 230 budget handsets
Here in Barcelona, Nokia's press shindig is all about showing off the handsets that are destined for emerging markets and the oft-cited "next billion" phone users. The first piece of hardware on show is Nokia's Asha 230, designed for those who want to move from a feature phone to something a little bit smarter. The quad-band GSM handset is available in single or dual-SIM variants and has Nokia's Xpress browser to help sip scarce mobile data. Hardware-wise, there's a 2.8-inch QVGA display, will accept 32GB microSD cards and is priced at just 45 euros. It'll roll out today across all the regions that Nokia currently does business in. At the same time, the company is also unveiling the Nokia 220, an "aspirational" feature phone that comes with a 2.4-inch display. Available in single or dual-SIM versions, it'll connect to 2G internet, enabling users to take advantage of the pre-loaded Twitter and Facebook apps, as well as the aforementioned Xpress browser. It'll retail for 29 euros and is launching from today in Asia-Pacific, Europe, India, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.
Fujitsu plans to launch feel-o-vision haptic tablets by 2015
Back in 2012, we were all excited at the idea of haptic technology -- touch screens that fool you into thinking that you can feel what's on display. As quickly as we saw Senseg and NEC's implementations, however, haptic fell out of the mainstream. Now, however, Fujitsu is working on an ultrasonic system, that varies the friction between your finger and the glass, which could be ready for prime time. In the demonstration, users are apparently able to pluck the strings of a Japanese harp, turn a combination lock and even stroke an Alligator. The company has knocked together a prototype in time for MWC, and Fujitsu has a goal to get the tech into commercial hardware by 2015 -- assuming, of course, that realistic lizard stroking is the one feature you've been waiting for.
Broadcom's new chip brings GPS to smartwatches without killing the battery
Mobile World Congress kicks off next week, so it's high time that the behind the scenes players showed off what'll linger beneath the aluminum and Gorilla Glass of next-generation devices. Broadcom is unveiling the BCM4771 GNSS SoC, a wittily named slab of silicon that promises to make the GPS units of smartwatches less power-hungry and more accurate than before. Thanks to its 40-nanometer construction and a new sensor hub that integrates everything into one package, the chip also claims to be much cheaper than the existing tech. It's pencilled in for a launch at the end of March, so hopefully we'll see wearables in the Fall boasting of a battery life that's longer than, say, an hour.
Sprint still struggling despite growing subscriber base and smartphone sales
Sprint has just revealed its Q4 2013 earnings, and despite increasing its postpaid subscriber base to a record 53.9 million, it still managed a net loss of $1 billion -- nearly four times worse than last quarter. That continues the US carrier's recent losing streak, and is especially notable during a holiday period when AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile all had gangbuster quarters. On the plus side, it managed to hit its LTE coverage goal of 200 million people, but that figure is still the lowest of all the major carriers. It also sold 5.6 million smartphones compared to 5 million last quarter, with 20.5 million sold for the year. That accounts for 95 percent of postpaid subscriber sales, which tops its main competitors. With few other financial bright spots, though, new owner Softbank might be wondering what it got itself into.
With one day to go, the official NBC Olympics app is a bit of a mess
The 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics begin tomorrow, and if you haven't already seen the coverage from journalists who have arrived in Russia for the festivities, well, let's say there's a lot of work that clearly won't be done in time for tomorrow's opening ceremony. And it seems that same "unfinished" theme carries over to the official Olympics highlights and results app from NBC as well. The app is designed to be a one-stop shop for news from the games, and while I can't judge it on its promptness -- since there have been no results yet, of course -- the app has a number of issues. For starters, some of the images for the columns and video content are incorrectly cropped, leading to some squashed faces and otherwise ugly graphics. That's not really a deal-breaker, so we'll overlook it. Then there's the matter of the content itself not showing up after following a link from the front page of the app. Some stories seem to load fine, while others are simply nowhere to be found. You can click a teaser on the "What's Hot" list and get a blank page. That's a problem. On top of those two issues, there are all kinds of errors that pop up randomly on the top and bottom of the screen. I don't know what an "SSI file" is, but the app seems to have problems processing it. Oh, and there's a yellow bar at the bottom of the screen that reads "Base mobile - from 320px (20em) to 480px (30em)" which seems like some sort of formatting guide for the developers that was never taken out or cleaned up. All in all, it's kind of an embarrassing effort on NBC's part and definitely not worth downloading despite the fact that it's free. Unless they release the actual finished version, it'll remain a major disappointment.
The Road to Mordor: My 2014 wish list for LotRO
A lot of us Massively writers like to take the first column of the new year to lay out a wish list for our favorite MMOs. Of course, the other writers are total copycats because I've been doing this for years now and I think that they owe me royalties. Lord of the Rings Online faces a challenging year in 2014. We already know that it's going to be an expansion-free year with a different focus on development. In April, the game will be seven years old, which certainly puts it into middle-age in MMO years. And with some uncertainty over the future of the game's IP rights, some disgruntlement over the store and aging character models, and no word as to how populated or profitable LotRO is, it's made a few folks nervous. But it could be a tremendous year as well, full of possibilities for Turbine to make good choices. I'm still as in love with this game world as ever. I wouldn't be playing LotRO if I didn't find tremendous fun and value in it, and I have hope that 2014 will see the game get its second wind and strengthen as a whole. So without further ado, here is my wish list from last year to see what was fulfilled and what was denied, along with my 2014 wish list for features and changes that I'd like to see.
This case turns your iPhone into a night vision camera
Thermal cameras are expensive, which is why they're mostly used by firefighters, contractors and psychotic aliens. Fortunately, that's all about to change thanks to the FLIR One, which is an iPhone case with a tiny thermal camera stuck on the back. All you have to do is strap your iPhone 5 or 5s into the dock and, once you've downloaded the app, you're ready to go. Using multi-spectral dynamic imaging, it can create hybrid images, adding extra detail to the thermal pictures, or plain-ol' thermal pictures in the dark. When you point it at a subject, the FLIR will also give you a temperature reading of what you're pointing the device at.
Hyperspace Beacon: Star Wars: The Old Republic predictions for 2014
Knowing my luck, when I finish writing this, the marketing team for Star Wars: The Old Republic will release a huge announcement about 2014 that no one saw coming. And it wouldn't be hard for BioWare to release something unknown to the community at large because it's said next to zero about what we should expect for 2014. Normally, BioWare promotes the upcoming features to death. We knew about the Cathar coming at least a year before they actually hit the live servers. Players and fans (and enemies) of SWTOR have speculated wildly as to why the developers have remained silent on the subject, my favorite being that BioWare has run out of content to produce, which kind of reneges on the 10-year plan it touted before launch. Whether or not BioWare has new content in the works, we do know a few things that will be coming, and we also have some super-secret things we can speculate on thanks to some intrepid SWTOR fans. So let's talk about what we do know, what we don't know, and what we think will happen.
All Intel microprocessors shipped in 2014 will be conflict-mineral-free
Intel has announced that its entire 2014 line of microprocessors will be conflict-mineral free (tin, tantalum and tungsten), in its CES keynote address. Previously, the company joined the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition and its Conflict-Free Smelter group in an effort to separate itself from the blood-for-materials market. This looks like the logical next step in those efforts. If you're at the show and want to learn more, the outfit is holding a discussion panel at its booth on Wednesday.
GameStop rings in the new year with savings on GTA 5, more
Did you make it through the holidays with some spare cash? Well, GameStop wants it, and kicked off a new sale to celebrate the new year to get it. The retailer's deals, which stretch from January 3 to January 5, include $50 savings on both the Wii U Skylanders console bundle ($249.99) and the 250 GB Xbox 360 Holiday console bundle, which includes both Halo 4 and Tomb Raider for $249.99. The games on sale for the next few days, some of which carry over from GameStop's last sale, are as follows: Grand Theft Auto 5 and NBA 2K14 for $39.99 each, Gears of War: Judgment ($19.99), the Xbox One and PS4 versions of Lego Marvel Super Heroes for $49.99 and Wii U, Xbox 360 and PS3 versions for $39.99 as well as the 3DS version of Angry Birds: Star Wars for $19.99 and the DS, Xbox 360 and PS3 versions for $29.99.
