Infotainment

BRAVEN is looking to stand-out from the Bluetooth speaker crowd with a new line that offers the versatility of integrated phone charging plus speakerphone and daisy chaining functionality. The BRAVEN SIX Series comes in three flavors - two aluminum models and a ruggedized unit - which boast between 12 and 20 hours charging time. The sleek 6.25 in. x 2.5 in. x 1.75 in. (15.9cm x 6.4cm x 4.5cm) enclosures contain two HD audio drivers, left and right channel passive sub woofers and a duplex microphone for hands-free calls. The speaker output is 3 watts and there's an option to connect via an audio cable if your want to bypass the Bluetooth link. The cheapest of the three models - the US$150 BRAVEN 600 - is made from aircraft-grade aluminum and promises up to 14 hours of playtime. At the other end of the scale is the $190 BRAVEN 650 which looks just like the 600 but gets aptX and AAC audio encoding, more playback time - rated at 20 hours - and comes in a red or "Mountain Ash"

Sony Europe has unveiled a new addition to its E Series VAIO laptop range which allows users to flick through web pages, play music and adjust volume by waving a hand in front of the unit's webcam. The 14-inch VAIO 14P also features a backlit keyboard for twilight hours typing, a USB charging port to keep mobile devices topped up, and both discrete and integrated HD graphics. The new Sony VAIO E Series 14P is powered by an Intel Core i3-2350M processor running at 2.3GHz on an Intel HM76 Express Chipset, that's supported by 4GB of DDR3 1333MHz SDRAM memory and 500GB of 5400 RPM HDD storage. As the name might suggest, it benefits from a 14-inch VAIO Display at 1366 x 768 resolution and 16:9 aspect, with onscreen action provided by AMD Radeon HD 7670M graphics with 1GB of dedicated VRAM memory and integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000. The system automatically switches between the two, depending on detected need for efficient energy use. Other power-saving features include a DVD Super

Japan’s Tokyoflash has made a name for itself with numerous weird and wonderful – or maybe baffling - ways to tell the time. Now, bringing to mind Homer Simpson’s quote of, “From now on Honey, we'll be spelling everything with letters,” when Marge is impressed by a house that has its street number spelled out with letters, German design agency Biegert & Funk is set to release a wristwatch that fancies things up by telling the time in words. Essentially a shrunk down version of the company’s QLOCKTWO wall and desktop clocks, the QLOCKTWO W features a square face measuring 35 x 35 mm (1.37 in) that contains a grid of 110 letters. Press the button on the right hand side of the watch and the relevant letters will light up to reveal the time in readable text – “It is half past ten” or “It is a quarter to seven”, for example. Additional presses of the button will reveal the calendar day, and then the seconds. Biegert & Funk will release the QLOCKTWO W in the northern autumn in st

Maybe putting your shoes on seems like a reasonably simple task, but for some people it is impossibly difficult. Those who are disabled or have back pain or arthritis might be completely unable to bend down and pull on even a simple slip-on pair of shoes. A group of designers fashioned this odd-looking solution as an entry in the 2011 Red Dot design competition. Aptly named Topless Shoes, the invention is – for lack of a better comparison – sort of like sinking your feet into twin tissue boxes and walking around with them on. There are small gripping parts inside each shoe that hold onto your feet and keep you from walking right out of the shoes. The interior of the shoes is flexible enough to expand slightly to allow the foot in, then it contracts around the foot to hold it securely. However, it doesn’t look like the interior material comes across the top of the foot completely, leaving it exposed. This fact may make the shoes unsuitable for certain weather or

Finding your car in a huge parking facility can be a pain even when you have a remote fob to flash the lights and beep the horn. You usually have to be in the correct level of the garage to notice the light and horns, after all. The Car Compass is a concept for the absentminded among us. It’s a small device that guides you right to your car with a series of arrows on its tiny display. Unlike the standard method of wandering around clicking the “lock” button and trying to follow the sound of the horn and flashing lights (which is even harder when you aren’t the only forgetful soul there), the Car Compass would give you a definite route to follow to get back to your car. The concept, developed by AhhaProject as a case study for BMW, doesn’t say whether it would guide you up and down to different levels of a parking garage, but pushing the button and following the resulting directional light would at least get you to the right section of the facilit

In-car DVD players and handheld game consoles have proven a godsend to parents looking to avoid the regular cries of "are we there yet?" from kids in the back seat. Similar to Toyota's "Window to the World" concept, GM's "Windows of Opportunity" (WOO) project looks to advance back seat entertainment even further. The project saw the automaker giving researchers and students from the FUTURE LAB at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Israel free reign to design applications that rear seat passengers would interact with through their side windows, which act as interactive displays.     To inspire the students and let their creative juices run free when creating their applications, GM made it clear that it didn't have any immediate plans to put interactive display windows into production vehicles. However, the company said if they were to be put into production, they would likely use electronically charged "smart glas

Although it can't be denied that smartphones are ... well, that they're really smart, the fact is that not everyone wants to play games, shoot and watch videos, surf the web or use apps every time they step out their door. For many people, the ability to make and receive phone calls is all that really matters. It was for minimalists like these that Austrian electronics company emporia designed its very basic, large-keyed mobile phones. While they were previously not available to North American consumers, that changed with an announcement last week at CES. There are two phones scheduled for release in the new market - the emporiaCLICK and the emporiaSOLIDplus. The CLICK has a clamshell design, and incorporates features such as: Digital camera One-touch Call for Care emergency function - push to dial emergency services or up to five stored numbers until someone picks up SMS and MMS texts LED flashlight Incoming call alert with LED light, high-powered vibration