Awesome Tech

A throwback accessory for monitoring PC hardware. The VU1 pairs an analog coil meter with an e-ink screen, allowing you to edit its label and units. It also has LED backlights for visibility in low light. Up to three meters can be connected to a PC using its dedicated hub. Check out Devyn Johnston’s build for a great implementation using four VU1 meters.

Nope, it’s not April 1 and this is a real product. Teenage Engineering has spun off their EP-133 KO II with the EP-1320, a sampler filled with medieval-themed instruments such as bagpipes, the bowed harp, and coconut horse hooves. It also has a library of sound effects such as swords, peasants, witches (two of them!), and a dragon. Demo on Gear4music.

Synology simplifies wireless backup with the BeeStation. It has a 4TB capacity and can wirelessly backup files from both PCs and mobile devices, just like cloud storage but without the subscription fees and privacy woes. You can make separate spaces for up to eight people, potentially saving you a ton of money and family IT calls.

xBloom’s new coffee machine uses the company’s coffee pods to automate pour over coffee. The built-in grinder, brewer, and scale combined with its app lets it make specialty coffee at the touch of a button. But it also has semi-auto and fully manual modes for those that enjoy the process. The app even has a neat recipe sharing section.

Most of us stay connected via the Internet, but a radio can come in handy when you’re in a remote location or in an emergency. Etón’s fancy Elite Executive Radio receives all kinds of broadcasts in AM(MW), FM with RDS, LW, Shortwave (SW), VHF aircraft band, and Single Sideband (SSB). It has a bright orange LCD screen and runs on AC power or 4 AAA batteries.

Fancyleds’ Fancy Sync Box has everything you need to enjoy ambient LED lighting on your TV. The receiver is available in single or three-port variants, with the latest model able to sync up to three HDMI 2.1 devices to the included LED strip. It supports up to 4K/120Hz output, variable refresh rate, as well as HDR, Dolby Vision, and Atmos.

G1 glasses look and feel almost like traditional eyeglasses, but they’re lightweight smart glasses with an array of simple yet practical tools. A pair of tiny projectors display a monochrome interface to show navigation, live translation, note-taking, a teleprompter, and quick access to an AI assistant. Check out Jon Rettinger’s hands-on for more.

Higround pays homage to 2D animation with its Celshade Basecamp 65. It’s a pre-assembled 65% mechanical keyboard with keycaps printed to look like they’re cel-shaded. The symbols on the keycaps are side printed to further focus on the bold outlines. The keyboard has an ABS frame, RGB backlighting, and a USB-C connection. You can also get just the keycaps.

Performance artist Manuel Spectacles shows off the latest tech for presenting persistence of vision illusions. Sold in pairs, LightToys’ 240-pixel Visual POI V5 MAXI uses densely-packed RGB LEDs and circuitry that displays a line at a time to produce complete images when spun. Check out LightToys’ official demo video, too.

Viewsonic’s follow up to its beloved LX700 4K projector. The LX700-4K RGB uses a new RGB laser that can produce up to 5,200 lumens and 100% of the BT.2020 color gamut for vibrant and accurate output. It can project up to a 300″ image at 4K /60Hz, but it also has 1440p/120Hz and 1080p/240Hz modes for crisp and smooth big screen gaming.

This beautiful keyboard from Drop stands out from the crowd. Its stainless steel case has a Chroma PVD finish that reflects smooth hues that change in the light. Its hot-swappable board comes filled with 88 Drop Holy Panda X Clear mech switches, topped with Drop DCX Cyber keycaps. It also has per-key RGB lighting and is QMK, VIA, and VIAL programmable.

Obsbot has been putting established webcam brands to shame since they first came out. With the Tiny 2 Lite, they’re inching ever closer to an affordable webcam that doesn’t skimp on quality or features. The webcam has a 0.5″ CMOS sensor capable of capturing 4K/30fps video and a 2-axis gimbal that leverages Obsbot’s signature auto-tracking features.

The makers of TinyPod claim that their case can turn the Apple Watch into a modern incarnation of the iPod. Apparently, it has “mechanized components” that make contact with the watch crown, allowing you to use the iconic scroll wheel to interact with the watch. It comes in two sizes for Series 4 to 9 models and one size for the Apple Watch Ultra.

Look out, massage therapists — robots are coming for your jobs. We foolishly didn’t fight them when they started making cars, acting as security guards, and delivering sodas, but now there’s one that literally has us in its soulless clutch. Robotics start-up Aescape debuted automated robotic massages from a mantis-looking thing with two mechanical arms.

Not only does Llano’s cooling pad work, but its 14 cm fan and unique seal reduce laptop temperatures by up to a staggering 111ºF. Check out Salem Techsperts’ review for proof. It’s bulky and gets loud at max speed, but those are acceptable trade-offs for its performance. The V10 is for 13″ to 17″ laptops, while the V12 and V13 (no RGB) are for 15″ to 19″ laptops.

This little quadruped robot is a marvel of miniaturization. It can balance and walk around and also responds to your touch and other interactions. It plays games, can remind you to take a break from work, and even does tricks like a tiny robodog. The KT2 can also play in robot-on-robot battles and is programmable using an easy-to-use app.