Awesome Tech

We recently were given the unique opportunity to fly to Japan to visit Tohoku Pioneer Corporation’s factory. We learned how they design, engineer, and build some of the world’s best sounding speakers, from affordable car speakers to high-end audiophile equipment.

One of the more entertaining robotic groups we’ve heard was built by FT Mechatronics, whose electronic band consists of a variety of stepper motors, solenoids, hard drives, oscilloscopes, a robot xylophone, nixie tubes, and a tesla coil. Here, it plays Hello by OMFG.

China’s WL Intelligent Technology gathered up 1,069 of its Dobi robots and arranged them into a massive grid, then programmed them to perform a synchronized routine, which landed them in the record books as the largest ever gathering of dancing robots.

Microscopic computers and batteries. Wireless power. Affective computing. Isaac Arthur compares the typical day of someone from 1717, 2017 and 2077 to guess what emerging technologies will fundamentally alter our daily routines. Skip to 7:07 for the future.

Part lamp, part art, part air. Ingo Maurer’s Blow Me Up is a packable LED light. It has a lightweight inflatable case, so you can use it in a variety of ways. You can hang it, lean it against the wall, or carry it around.

The D850 rocks a full-frame 45.7mp, backside-illuminated sensor designed to capture incredible dynamic range and detail. It also shoots 8K and 4K time-lapse movies, as well as 4K UHD at 30fps and 1080p video at 120fps. Shoots stills at up to 7fps at full resolution.

The makers of the Luminoodle made a doubly useful USB power bank. The Pronto has 13 dimmable LEDs wrapped around its edges, so you can use it as a lantern in a pinch. It has a 10,000mAh battery and two 2.4A USB charging ports.

Both the Galaxy Note 8 and its stylus are water-resistant, and the latter now has text translation and editable off-screen memos. The phone has two 12MP rear cameras that can shoot at the same time for adjustable background blur. Then there’s that immersive 6.3″ AMOLED display.

The Cinemood Storyteller is a portable projector that is pre-loaded with over 100 hours of kid-friendly media, including videos, games and books. It can also stream from YouTube and play videos from a USB source. It also has a blue light filter to reduce eye strain.

Ruin ears and days with ThinkGeek’s tiny and magnetic noise machines: the Annoy-a-tron, the Ringtone Annoy-a-tron and the Eviltron. Sadly, their batteries are non-replaceable, but they’re good for a month of continuous havoc. We hope it never comes to that.

Did you know that “Wi-Fi” doesn’t stand for anything and is actually a trademarked term? Or that using your microwave could slow down wireless Internet connections? All that and more in Nat & Friends’ trivia video about our beloved technology.

The Waylens Secure360 dash cam watches over your car even when you’re not driving. Not only does it capture 360º video, it has GPS and movement sensors that can send alerts and footage via a mobile app. It will come in Wi-Fi or 4G-capable variants.

Nintendo made a cheesy commercial bursting with the spirit of the ’90s to enumerate the Super NES Classic’s features. Learn about some of the included games, rewind, save anywhere and more. Now you’re playing with power. Super power.

The latest version of the pocket-sized electronic guitar tuner. Unlike its predecessor, Roadie 2 doesn’t need its app to tune your guitar (and other stringed instruments). It also vibrates to let you know when it’s done. The app provides extra features like custom tunings.

BioCarbon Engineering is developing a semi-automated large scale reforestation system. It uses aerial drones to map and analyze land, plant seeds in a biodegradable pod, and monitor the plants’ growth. The planting drones can dispense up to 100,000 seeds per day.

Shonin’s Streamcam is a flat palm-sized wearable camera. It records up to 720p video for up to 2.5h per charge. It can store video to a microSD card, stream it online, or do both at the same time. It can also store and encrypt video to Shonin’s cloud service.

A waterproof portable light that’s designed to fire light straight down while leaving room for your hands underneath. Its foldable legs automatically snap open when you take it out of its carrying case. It has three brightness settings and lasts up to 50h per charge.

Retrobright is a homebrew solution for restoring yellowed ABS plastic, which is usually what the cases of old computers and other gadgets were made of. The 8-Bit Guy tried out variants of the solution for science. TL;DW? Go with salon developer cream, water, and sunlight.

Costing just as much as the standard Xbox One X, the console’s limited Project Scorpio Edition has a graphic pattern on the exterior and “Project Scorpio” printed on the console and the included controller. It also comes with an exclusive vertical stand.

Focal takes their already very good over-the-ear headphones and cuts the cord. They offer crisp, clean, and natural sounds, and a snug fit that keeps out background sounds. Battery life is great too – up to 20 hr per charge. Read our full review on Technabob.

Anker’s new flagship projector. The Nebula Mars can project up to a 300″ screen at 1280 x 800. It has built-in dual 10W JBL speakers and a battery that lasts up to 3h. It can connect via HDMI, USB 3.0, AirPlay and Chromecast.

We’ve been using graphic design tools like Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for years, but we still suck at using the pen tool. If you find it as challenging as we do, check out this online game, which will turn you into a curve-drawing master in no time.

One of the cooler bits of mobile tech from the 1990s was the Psion personal digital assistant. The Psion 5 offered a 5.6″ monochrome display, and a physical keyboard. Oldtech81 dusted off one of these relics to see if it still could serve a useful purpose in 2017.