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ANTVR is a Full HD Virtual Reality Kit that Connects to Your PC or Game Console via HDMI or WHDI (Crowdfunding)

I must have heard about virtual reality for many years, even since I was a kid. But during that time, progress was slow, but it seems the time is ripe for virtual reality kits targeting consumers. The cheapest way to get started is with a smartphone adapter such as vrAse or Opendive, but if you want a possibly better experience using the power of your PC or game console you’ll want a more expensive kit such as Oculus Rift, or for developers, Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 that sells for $350. One possible downside of such kit is that it requires USB, HDMI and power cables, so it limits your mobility. ANTVR, a Beijing startup, will soon launch a virtual reality kit of the same name that will be available either with an HDMI cable, either without cable using WHDI (Wireless Home Digital Interface) with less than 1ms lag. The […]

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Fin is a Bluetooth Ring That Let You Control Your Devices with Your Fingers (Crowdfunding)

We’ve already seen smart rings with NFC rings that can be used for authentication and share small amount of data (e.g. business card data) with smartphones. Fin is a completely different type of smart ring that fits onto your thumb, and let you control Bluetooth enabled devices by tapping different phalanges on your fingers, and/or the palm of your hand. Here are some of Fin smart ring specifications: MCU – N/A Connectivity – Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, and 4.0 Sensors – No details, but Fin can track accurate movement of your thumb on the palm and detect each phalanx of your finger where you are touching. IP Rating – IP67 (Dust and Waterproof) Battery –  Li Po custom battery with micro-USB charging dock ; One charge will last for 1 week; more than one year durable. Misc – LED indicator The ring will work with Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and Windows […]

Khadas Edge2 Arm mini PC
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What to Expect from AllWinner, Rockchip, Mediatek, and Other Silicon Vendors at CES 2014

CES 2014 is coming soon, and it will take place on 7 – 10 January, 2014, and we can expect some interesting SoC news. Samsung suggested they will unveil their 64-bit ARM SoC (Exynos 6?) at CES 2014, Nvidia will hold a press conference to “showcase new NVIDIA Tegra mobile technologies, gaming innovations, and advanced automotive display technologies”, and Qualcomm has been quiet for now. However, several Chinese SoC vendors, namely AllWinner, Rockchip, and Mediatek, have already announced what they will showcase at CES 2014, albeit with few details. AllWinner at CES 2014 Allwinner announced will showcase their OptimusBoard based on their Ultra Octa-Core A80 SoC, as well as 4G tablets powered by Allwinner A31/A31s, and dual-SIM phablets sporting A23 dual-core. Allwinner A80 is an Octacore processor featuring four ARM Cortex A7 cores, and four Cortex A15 cores @ 2.0GHz together with an unnamed GPU offering 2x more performance over previous […]

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Droid Translator Performs Live Translation of Skype and Mobile Calls and Chats

When you go to a foreign country, you may end up staying in places where nobody can speak the languages you know. TIW (Technology Improves the World), an IT company based in Czech Republic, is trying to problem a solution to this problem with Droid Translator, an Android that leverages Google’s Android speech-to-text, voice recognition, and translation technology to translate live text or audio chats or even Skype or mobile calls. I gave it a quick try. First you need to have Skype installed on your device, and a Skype, as Droid Translator will import your Skype contacts. There’s the Free version linked above, and a PRO version for about $6.5. The free version only support DT chat (text and audio chat), and the paid version adds Mobile, and Skype calls (Audio and Video) support. The following language are said to be supported: English, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Czech, Chinese Simplified, […]

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$39 86Duino ZERO is an x86 Arduino Compatible Board that Supports DOS, Windows, and Linux

Intel Gallileo Development Board with a Intel Quark processor, and Arduino software and hardware, now gets some competition with DM&P Electronics’ 86Duino ZERO board powered by the company’s Vortex86EX processor and 128MB RAM, that is said to support DOS, Windows, and Linux. 86Duino ZERO Specifications: Processor – DM&P Vortex86EX 32-bit x86 processor @ 300MHz System Memory – 128MB DDR3 Storage – 8MB SPI flash, and microSD card slot Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet (at the back of the board, not RJ45) USB – USB host connector, micro USB port for development Arduino Leonardo compatible headers Misc – Reset button, PCIE bus Power Supply – DC-IN 7 to 12V, or via microUSB port. The board is comprised of a daughter board (DM-222) and a System-on-Module (SoM) either called DM-205 and or Vortex86EX SOM-128-EX which the following specs (some of which are not accessible in 86Duino Zero): Processor – Vortex86EX @ 300MHz System […]

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Coin is a Smart Card that Replaces All Your Other Cards (Credit, Debit, Loyalty…)

You may have a few cards in your wallet: credit cards, debit cards, gift cards, membership cards, … and it’s just convenient to carry them around all the time. There will soon be a solution with Coin, a smart card where you can store all your other cards data, and use this smart card instead. In order to register your physical cards (up to 8 cards for one Coin), you’ll need to install an application in your Android smartphone, or your iPhone, take a picture of both sides of the cards, and swiping the Coin though a small device provided with the card. Then, when you want to make a purchase, you just click on the button of the Coin to select the card to use, and carry on with your purchase are you would normally do. You may worry about security concerns, but the company behind the Coin has […]

Rockchip RK3568/RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs
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Pandora TV Box is an All-in-One Android Media Player, Game Console, DVB Receiver, Video Chat System, etc…

This morning I received an email from DealExtreme with a link to a teaser video about an upcoming Android device to be available on June 10, that comes with a game controller (PS3 type) to play games. After some research, I finally found this “Android-on-TV” device which is based on Rockchip RK3066 with 1GB RAM, 8GB Flash, lots of ports (USB, HDMI, Ethernet), a webcam, and more. Beside the game controller, it also comes with a remote control, so the device can be used for a whole lot of applications including gaming, video chat, media player, web browsing, and more. It’s something you can already do with existing devices, but it may require some efforts, and this one seems to come all included. Here are the specs of the “beast”: SoC – Rockchip RK3066 dual-core processor @ 1.6GHz +  MALI 400 MP4 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – […]

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Coocox Embedded Pi is an STM32-Based MCU Board That Connects to Arduino Shields and Raspberry Pi

Embedded Pi is a platform capable of interfacing the Raspberry Pi with 3.3V and/or 5V Arduino shields, based on an 32-bit ARM Cortex M3 STMicro STM32 MCU. It can also be used in standalone mode as an Arduino compatible ARM MCU evaluation board. Embedded Pi Hardware Specifications: MCU – STMicro STM32F103RBT6 Cortex M3 @ 72MHz with 20KB SRAM and 128KB flash. Raspberry Pi Connector with I2C, SPI, UART, PWM and GPIOs Arduino Interfaces – 1x SPI, 1x I2C, 4x PWM, 1x UART, 6x Analog Input Extended Interfaces – 1x SPI, 1x I2C, 1x UART with flow control, 2 pairs PWM, 6x Analog Input, and 1x CAN 3 Power Sources – Micro USB port, external DC adapter, and 5V from the Raspberry Pi Depending on the jumper placement on the Embedded Pi, you can select each of the three modes of operation: STM32/Standalone Mode – The Embedded Pi works as an […]

Khadas VIM4 SBC