Awesome Tech

A couple of years from now, you won’t need to touch or talk to your phone to interact with it, thanks to Elliptic Labs. The company came up with a technology that uses ultrasound to detect gestures made around a device.

The TomTom Golfer is a smartwatch designed to help you maximize your time on the green. It’s preloaded with the layout of 34,000 golf courses, with wireless updates on the way. It can also track the score, time and distance per round.

A power strip that reduces cable clutter. Boxtap’s five outlets are hidden inside a case. The front has buttons to toggle the outlets as well as two USB charging ports. It comes with stickers to help you label the outlets.

This concept by ÉCAL design student Alice Robbiani, is comprised of a magnetic smartphone charging case with a wall-mounted charging base. What makes it truly special is the interactivity, offering charging feedback and a clock display.

The Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Pro aims to be a kickass media consumption device. The Android 4.4 tablet has a 13.3″ 2560×1440 display, JBL front-facing speakers, a 5W subwoofer and a built-in projector that can beam up to a 50″ display.

The Blackout Buddy H2O is a small flashlight that needs only water to be activated, thanks to its magnesium-oxide battery. It can provide up to 72 hours of light and can be stored in its package for 10 years. Also available in singles.

Plastc works a lot like Coin – you swipe your debit, credit and other cards to your phone using the bundled card reader and Plastc will stand in for all of them. Unlike Coin, Plastc is rechargeable and has a big E-ink display.

Pronto battery packs recharge quickly. You can fully charge them in an hour; you can even get enough power to fully charge an iPhone 5 just by charging the packs for 5 minutes. Available in 4500mAh and 13,500mAh capacities.

It looks like a tacky iPod clone, but you’ll find it hard to find an equally capable lossless audio file player at this price. The FiiO X1 has a PCM5142 DAC chip, a 12-hour battery and uses microSD cards up to 128GB. More here.

The new Adobe Brush app lets you make custom brushes out of anything you can take a picture of: a line, a pattern or even your face. You can then save and use your brushes on Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC and Photoshop Sketch.

It may look like an old gramophone, but Gramovox is a Bluetooth speaker. Inspired by a classic 1920s horn speaker, this 18″ tall speaker has a steel horn and solid walnut base. Its battery runs for 12 to 18 hrs per charge.

Following up on their IllumiRoom concept, Microsoft’s RoomAlive tech surrounds users with video, and allows them to interact with content. Sadly, it requires multiple projectors and Kinects, so we doubt it’ll ever be produced.

Made by Georgia Tech student Jay Zuerndorfer, Captioning on Glass uses a companion Android app to translate speech into text in real time. Jay and his schoolmates are also working on a language translation software.

This waterproof wearable MP3 player has a ring-shaped Bluetooth remote control for on-the-go adjustments. Lasts up to 8h but can get 1h of use on just a 3min. charge. Comes with 4GB of storage (16GB version available in EU).

Formerly known as Jetpack, the slim desktop PC chassis is now on Kickstarter. It works with all TV mounts and with HDTVs between 37″ to 70″. Available in three hardware packages. The bare chassis reward is exclusive to the fundraiser.

An upcoming series of competitively priced 3D printers. The entry-level Rapide Lite 200 for instance has an 8000cm3 build volume, a precise 50 micron minimum layer height and can print in ABS, PLA, PVA, HIPS, nylon and laywood.

Another alternative to Chromecast. Matchstick will be cheaper and have better hardware than Google’s device. It’s also completely open source and should have more apps and devices that support its streaming function.

Coming in 2015, Windows 10 aims to combine the touch-friendly and versatile Windows 8 with the desktop-friendly and familiar Windows 7. For instance, you’ll be able to shift between a tablet and a desktop mode at will.

The Mophie Juice Pack for Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone has a 3000mAh battery, enough to fully recharge the Galaxy S5. You can still charge and sync the phone via the microUSB port on the case. It comes in black or white.

Nixie is a concept for a small and flexible camera-equipped quadcopter. The idea is that you’ll wear it as a bracelet, then when you want it to take a picture it’ll fly off your wrist, snap a shot and then come back to you.

The HERO4 Black is twice as powerful as its predecessor, capturing video in pro grade 4k resolution at 30fps, 2.7k @50fps or 1080p @120fps, and improved audio, while the 1080p HERO4 Silver has a built-in touchscreen display.

At about the size of a car key fob, the Chargerito is probably the smallest mobile device charger you can get. It also has a bottle opener. Available in microUSB and Lightning variants. The pre-order price is discounted by $20.

Unlike the FLIR One, Seek Thermal’s infrared camera is a dongle for Android and iOS devices. It has a 206×156 thermal sensor and a temperature range of  -40ºC to 330ºC. Available in microUSB or Lightning versions.