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Black and Decker's connected batteries tackle projects for $69
Back at CES, tool company Black and Decker unveiled its Smartech batteries that use an app to keep tabs on power levels and more. Just in time to help with those summer projects, the accessories are ready for use. If you're looking to give them a go, there are a couple of options for putting them to work. First, you can add the Smartech batteries to any 20V Black and Decker Max power tools and small vacuums that you already own. Each of the Bluetooth-equipped packs will set you back $69.
Black and Decker screwdriver senses your hand movement to adjust speed, direction (video)
Were you feeling the need for new tech to replace the switches that control direction and speed on your cordless screwdriver? Us neither, but we're not the braintrust at Black & Decker, which just launched the Gyro 4V Max, the "world's first motion-activated screwdriver." The company put an InvenSense MEMS gyroscope in the new model, so all you have to do to change the direction or speed is rotate your drilling hand one way or the other in varying amounts. After you've polished off that Ikea shelf, it should be ready the next time you haul it out of the toolbox, with a Lithium-ion battery that stays juiced for as long as 18 months. Judging by the video below the break, it actually looks pretty clever, and at $40, why not start dragging your tools out of the stone age?
