Lexar announces new 2-in-1 Micro-USB 3.0 Flash Drive

Lexar has released a fair number of USB flash drives in the past, but this particular model intends to stand out from the rest of the crowd. I am referring to the freshly minted Lexar 2-in-1 Micro-USB 3.0 flash drive that will target both Android-powered tablets as well as smartphones. Just what does this nifty USB flash drive bring to the table? For starters, it will enable one to transfer and share files between mobile devices – all without the need to carry a pesky cable around or to settle for the relatively slow speed of Wi-Fi data transfer. With the Lexar 2-in-1 micro-USB USB 3.0 flash drive, data transfers will always be quick and easy.

In fact, it is capable of achieving read speeds of up to 120MB/s, which in turn paves the way for the file transfer of a 3GB High Definition video clip in a matter of less than a minute. There is a thumb-slide design which can retract both micro-USB and USB 3.0 connectors, and depending on your needs, you will be able to select from 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB capacities. Fret not about it not working with older devices, since it is also backwards compatible with USB 2.0 hardware. Also known as the Lexar JumpDrive M20 Mobile, you can pick one up this coming October for $34.99 all the way to $64.99, depending on the aforementioned capacity.

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Amazon Kindle Voyage arrives

When we talk about hardware released by Amazon, one of the surefire topics that rise up would be their range of Kindle e-book readers, such as the Kindle Fire HD that offers plenty of bang for your hard earned buck. Of course, there is also the Kindle Fire smartphone which never really managed to take off in a big way, which could be why Amazon has continued to concentrate on their e-reader range, having announced the 7th generation Kindle which they have dubbed as the Kindle Voyage. How apt, considering the journey or adventure that Amazon has gone through over the years in the e-reader market.

The whole idea of the Kindle Voyage is to deliver what Jeff Bezos calls “the thinnest design, highest resolution and highest contrast display, reimagined page turns, and all of the features that readers love about Kindle—books in seconds, no eyestrain or glare, readability in bright sunlight, and battery life measured in weeks, not hours—Kindle Voyage is crafted from the ground up for readers.”

Hopefully that vision will be passed down from the engineering drawing board to the production line, and eventually to the hands of consumer with the Kindle Voyage as intended. Boasting of an all-new design, the $199 e-reader will sport a beautiful flush glass front and a magnesium back, where it measures just 7.6 mm thin and tips the scales at less than 6.4 ounces. This particular size would mean you can easily hold it with just one hand for a long time, without having to feel any kind of fatigue whatsoever compared to those hybrid notebook-tablets.

Amazon has equipped the Kindle Voyage with a brand new Paperwhite display, where it will sport the highest resolution, highest contrast, and highest brightness of any Kindle. We are looking at a pixel density of 300 pixels per inch, and the unique flush-front display stack relies on specially strengthened glass which can resist scratches. Not only that, the cover glass is micro-etched so that it can diffuse light for better reading under bright light sans glare. There is also new adaptive front light that automatically adjusts the brightness of the display based on the surrounding light, which can be further fine tuned according to your needs. Sounds like we have a winner here, don’t you think so?

Press Release

iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus drop tests

As a lover of technology, I personally find it a bit upsetting that people buy state-of-the-art gadgets, only to rush outside and intentionally drop them on the floor. Still, if you’ve just bought an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus, I guess it’s kind of helpful to know how rugged your device is — maybe it’ll help you decide whether to put a case on your new phone or not.

Anyway, here are two videos of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 being drop tested:

It’s obviously hard to proclaim any kind of authoritative result from two videos, but it does seem that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are pretty resistant to drop damage and smashed screens. The first video is particularly impressive — but the second video, where an edge impact smashes the screen, makes you wonder if the first guy just got lucky.

Also, I’m impressed at how high-tech drop tests are nowadays — look at the number of cameras that the first drop tester uses! Marvel at the apparatus that the second drop tester uses to ensure a fair and balanced meeting with its maker.

iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus Apple store lines around the world

Amusingly enough, the first iPhone 6 drop test was actually carried out by a “young bloke” in Australia, who unboxed his new fondleslab in front of a TV reporter — and then let it fall unceremoniously to the floor. You’ll be glad to hear that his screen did not smash.

MaKey MaKey DIY Invention Kit for Beginners and Experts

MaKey MaKey is an invention kit for the 21st century. Turn everyday objects into touchpads and combine them with the internet. It's a simple Invention Kit for Beginners and Experts doing art, engineering, and everything inbetween:

It comes ready to use out of the box with everything you see above: MaKey MaKey, Alligator Clips, USB Cable.

What Can I Make?

That's up to you! First, load up a computer program or any webpage (yes that's right, you're surfing the internet to invent). 

Let's say you load up a piano. Then, instead of using the computer keyboard buttons to play the piano, you can hook up the MaKey MaKey to something fun, like bananas, and the bananas become your piano keys:  

Or let's say you Google for an online "Pacman" game and draw a joystick with a pencil (yes, an actual ordinary pencil):

Then you can play Pacman by touching the drawing with your finger.

Or you could load up facebook or gmail and send a message on a custom-made alphabet soup keyboard:

How Does it Work?

Alligator Clip two objects to the MaKey MaKey board. For example, you and an apple.

When you touch the apple, you make a connection, and MaKey MaKey sends the computer a keyboard message. The computer just thinks MaKey MaKey is a regular keyboard (or mouse). Therefore it works with all programs and webpages, because all programs and webpages take keyboard and mouse input. 

Make + Key = MaKey MaKey! 

Who is MaKey MaKey For?

Artists, Kids, Educators, Engineers, Designers, Inventors, Makers... Really it is for everyone. Here is an 8-year-old girl in a Maker Space:

She invented a "knife-and-log" interface for cutting virtual wood in an online game

Another grad student made this working pressure sensitive switch by layering Play-Doh under a spring:

The workshop took place at Queen's University during a conference.

With MaKey MaKey, kids can start inventing right away, and experts can make working prototypes in minutes instead of days.

What materials work with MaKey Makey?

Any material that can conduct at least a tiny bit of electricity will work (if it doesn't already work, just rub it with bananas, spray it with water, or apply copper tape). Here are some materials people have used in our workshops including Ketchup, Pencil Graphite, Finger Paint, Lemons, etc.:

Other materials that work great: Plants, Coins, Your Grandma, Silverware, Anything that is Wet, Most Foods, Cats and Dogs, Aluminum Foil, Rain, and hundreds more...

Requirements?

MaKey MaKey works with any laptop or computer with a USB port and a recent operating system. How recent? We have tried it with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Mac OSX.

Software on your smartphone can speed up lithium-ion battery charging by up to 6x

 A startup in California, with the rather odd name of Qnovo, says it has developed a new way of rapidly recharging conventional lithium-ion batteries. With Qnovo’s technology, you can get six hours of phone life from just 15 minutes of charging — compared to just 1-2 hours from conventional charging. The secret, according to Qnovo, is that no two batteries are identical — and knowing exactly how much power you can pump into the battery without damaging it can significantly improve recharge times.



As you’re probably aware, lithium-ion batteries — as in, the battery in your smartphone, tablet, laptop — generally hold less charge as time goes by. There are many reasons for LIBs to lose charge and efficiency, but one of the most pesky is the creation of dendrites – mossy deposits of lithium that ooze out of cracks in the anode that form during charging (the sudden influx of ions caused by recharging causes the anode to expand and crack). These dendrites can reach out towards the electrolyte and cause short circuits, seriously reducing the battery’s capacity.



Now, device makers already know that charging a lithium-ion battery is pretty dangerous because of dendrite formation. So, to ensure the dendrites don’t form, the amount of current flowing into the battery is reduced to a trickle. This results in longer battery life, which is good — but also significantly longer recharge times.

Qnovo is offering a different solution. Rather than simply reducing the charging current to the “lowest common denominator” that definitely won’t damage the battery, Qnovo has designed an intelligent feedback loop that constantly checks the battery’s status to ensure that it gets the optimal amount of current. Apparently, simply by simply sending a pulse into the battery, and then registering the voltage response, Qnovo can work out the battery’s temperature, age, and other factors that affect charging. By continually polling the battery as it charges, the current can be constantly tweaked. The Qnovo website notes that this doesn’t just help batteries of different ages, either: Even two batteries made on the same day, at the same factory, can behave significantly differently.



The end result, according to Qnovo, is somewhere between three and six times faster charging — plus your battery stays healthier for longer, apparently. Qnovo is offering two solutions: A piece of software (that runs on your phone/laptop) that improves charging speed, or a special chip that manages your device’s charging circuitry. The chip is more effective, but obviously it’s easier to get device makers to install a piece of software on a phone, rather than redesign a circuit board.

Obviously, if there’s a simple software solution that can both speed up charging and increase battery longevity, then Qnovo could be onto something big. While mobile devices are still severely restricted by total battery capacity, faster charging would certainly give mobile computing another big boost (not that it really needs one, mind you).

Qnovo says its technology should be available on “some smartphones” in 2015.

Warburtons Heated Butter Knife

By this point, we get it, I’m fond of innovative ways to put butter on bread. It’s just so delicious when done right that it’s hard not to be excited when you see a new way of doing things. While you can grate your butter, heat it manually, or just sit it out and wait, there are very fast ways to get things done that will still give you an even spread. Everyone’s passionate about something, right?

Everyone handles the dairy aspect a little differently, but Warburton’s conducted a poll with a little under three thousand people and found the most common practices were using a microwave, heating a regular knife, putting butter on a plate on top of the toaster, or using a hairdryer to get the butter to the exact desired temperature. The Warburtons Heated Butter Knife is the best option, and is backed by scientific fact. The amount of knowledge they have about toast is astounding. They talk about the “butterability” of the bread, and how the perfect temperature that the butter should be at is 41.8 degrees Celsius coming at the bread at an angle of 24.5 degrees, and how you should use short strokes rather than long when spreading.

While I kind of doubt the information, the copious amounts of it on their site (which is about baking) is almost too thorough to not believe. The handle of this knife will remain cool while the edge of the blade can heat inside of 30 seconds to start spreading that dairy goodness. While this is a hilariously neat idea, it’s only a concept at this point, though it likely wouldn’t cost more than $20 should it hit the market. They certainly seem reputable enough to make this sort of device, but we will have to wait and see.

Dremel’s $1000 Idea Builder hopes to bring 3D printing to the masses

 3D printers are no longer gigantic DIY monstrosities that you have to assemble yourself, but they are far from being a consumer-ready solution — until now, perhaps. One of the biggest names in power tools is trying its hand at the future of manufacturing with a new 3D printer. The Dremel Idea Builder is intended to be the first truly mass-market 3D printer with a competitive price, compact design, and a name people know. The price is quite attractive  – the Idea Builder will be on sale soon for $1000.

The Idea Builder is a single-extruder printer, meaning you can only load a single color of plastic filament at a time. The printing platform is non-heated, so this printer is intended for use with PLA plastics only. PLA is by far the most popular material for 3D printing, but ABS is gaining ground quickly. However, it has a tendency to warp badly while cooling unless the printer has a heated bed to help lower the temperature more gradually.

One of the features that affects 3D printer pricing most is the size of the build area. This limits how large your designs can be, and in this case the build area is 230mm x 150mm x 140mm (9 inches x 5.9 inches x 5.5 inches). That compares favorably to more expensive machines like the $2800 MakerBot Replicator 2, which has a build volume of 11.2 inches x 6.0 inches x 6.1 inches. Printing resolution goes as low as 0.1mm, the same as the MakerBot.

Despite the reasonably large build area, the machine itself is rather compact and professional looking. Dremel worked specifically to minimize the footprint by placing the plastic filament holder inside the machine. After all, Dremel is going after more than the serious maker and DIY community — people who don’t have a whole room just for tinkering with 3D printers.

The Idea Builder is a polished piece of equipment, but Dremel didn’t conceive of and build it from scratch. The device was developed in partnership with Chinese manufacturer Flashforge and is based on that company’s Dreamer 3D printer. The Flashforge Dreamer is a solid entry-level alternative to the more pricey MakerBot at about $1300, so Dremel has managed to knock the price down considerably. Internally, the Idea Builder is based on the same ARM Cortex-M4, a low-power chip ideal for signal processing.

Good hardware is only half of the equation when building a 3D printer for regular people — the software is at least as important. Dremel’s 3D software was developed with AutoDesk. It works on both Mac and Windows allowing you to see a 3D rendering of the build file before it’s printed. You can move, rotate, and scale parts as well. Dremel says it intentionally left out some more advanced features like manual temperature control, rafts, and infill percentages. This makes the printer less intimidating to use, but Dremel may add some of these features for advanced users later.

Having a recognizable name like Dremel get into 3D printing is a big deal. At-home manufacturing is becoming a real technology, even if it’s still pricey. The sales channels are also notable: The Dremel Idea Builder will be available in Home Depot stores and on Amazon starting November 3.