| Ultimate Ears' Mini Boom Bluetooth speaker available soon Oct 1st 2013, 18:49, by Nate Swanner Ultimate Ears, a subsidiary of Logitech, recently announced an upgrade to their popular Logitech UE Mobile Boombox speaker. The all new Mini Boom is a powerful addition to the lineup, and packs a lot of the same great features as the original. With Bluetooth pairing, and an impressive battery life of 10 hours, you're sure to want one (or more) for every room. 
Keeping with the simple approach, the Mini Boom uses Micro USB for charging, so on those rare occasions where you actually do need to charge it, just about any Android device charger will do. Ultimate Ears also notes that pairing can be accomplished from up to 50 feet away, leaving you room to roam while listening to music or checking out a YouTube video on your phone or tablet. The Mini Boom also comes in a variety of colors — purple, orange, yellow, red, and black — and has a price tag as impressive as its sound. At only $99.99, the Mini Boom is competitively priced against the Jamboxes and JBL Flip‘s of the world. For additional fun, you can use the accompanying app and pair two speakers at once for a truer surround sound experience! With all the colors, big sound, and rugged design (rubberized shell around a metal frame), the Mini Boom has a speaker for all of us. Available starting October 13th, the Mini Boom can be found at a variety of retailers, or by ordering on the Logitech website. SOURCE: Business Wire |  | Qualcomm joins PMA in attempt to bring wireless charging standards together Oct 1st 2013, 18:41, by Nate Swanner Like contextual awareness in devices, wireless charging is fast becoming standard on many devices. The Nexus 4 had the functionality, as well as some Nokia Lumia devices. The Nexus 5 is rumored to have wireless charging as well, and third party devices like the powermat have had middling success. 
Part of the reason for OEMs dragging their feet to the wireless charging starting line has been the advent of two large, competing consortiums. The Power Matters Alliance (PMA), which concentrates on a field of energy to charge devices, is different from the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) and their Qi charging, which is the new normal for wireless charging. There is room for both, of course, but the race to set a standard is quickly taking shape. Qualcomm, like others, is straddling the fence when it comes to wireless charging. They currently sit on the board of the WPC, but have also taken a "senior leadership role" with the PMA. This is all in addition to their helping to found the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP), which aims to give direction to wireless charging technology. The A4WP is comprised of some powerhouse players in the world of technology, too. It boasts Samsung and Intel as members, and carriers such as T-Mobile and Verizon. The A4WP believes that wireless charging can become standard not only to wireless devices, but everyday items as well. Coffee tables and counters could have the ability to charge devices if the A4WP has their way, leaving fussy cables and cords a relic of the past. While the PMA currently has such furniture that charges devices, the lack of implementation of their standard hurts it's success. The A4WP is much more open about compatibility and design. The aim of the A4WP is a combination of the technology from the WPC and PMA, which is probably why Qualcomm has taken a stronger role with both alliances. By helping to guide two disparate parties in a singular direction, they help to achieve the overall aim of the A4WP. In an interview with EE Times, A Qualcomm representative had this to say about the goals of Qualcomm and the A4WP: "Qualcomm aims to provide the opportunity to standardize around a single global implementation of resonant wireless power technology by working more closely with other industry innovators."
The Qi charging of the WPA means a contact point with a charging mat or cradle, and PMA technology relies on a field of energy a device needs to be in. If Qualcomm can successfully merge the two standards, and remain an open standard for OEMs and carriers alike, we'll end up with a very narrow range charging field, and the A4WP lives on. SOURCE: Engadget | | Agent is a robust life companion app available for purchase in the Play Store Oct 1st 2013, 17:56, by Nate Swanner Agent, the new life companion app from the TagStand team, is now available for purchase in the Play Store. At only $1.99, it's worth the investment, considering the ease of use and seamless functionality. While you can certainly cobble together apps that will come close to the utility of Agent, nothing ties it together so beautifully or with such purpose. 
Agent is comprised of a myriad of settings and features, designed to act as a concierge of sorts. The goal is to make the technology disappear when you need it to, and come to life when you least expect it. Currently, you can choose from five "agents" — Battery, Sleep, Parking, Meeting, and Drive — and all have proprietary functions with the aim of assisting you in your day-to-day activities. Agent will let you sleep, silence your device for meetings, and even remember where you parked. Best of all, you can customize the settings to fit your lifestyle or habits. In diving through the app, we found plenty of tweaks and modifications to make life simpler for anyone, at any time of day. From setting the device to conserve battery at a given power level, to having it respond automatically via text to anyone who calls during the night, Agent is impressive. A really interesting feature is Agent's ability to silence your device when you're in a meeting. It automatically checks your calendar, and notices when you're occupied. No more embarrassing buzzes or awkward ringtones going off during a terse negotiation, or dinner date with the family. Perhaps the most useful feature is the parking agent, which uses GPS to determine when you've been travelling and stopped. When you park, Agent will earmark your GPS location and save it for you, and is available via a Google Map inside the app. You're free to wander around aimlessly through the city, and Agent will always know where you parked. Of course, the drive agent is also going to come in handy for many of us. Like the Moto X's read aloud feature, drive will read your messages to you while your hands are firmly planted on the wheel. You can auto answer calls, and select just who you want Agent to connect you to automatically. Agent will also respond to text messages automatically, letting needy friends and family know you're a bit preoccupied at the moment. For those of us who are a bit too busy to remember setting our device up at various points in our day, Agent is a great choice. Having Agent on your devices is like having an assistant who monitors your devices while you are getting things done, leaving you to think about real-life issues rather than if your phone or tablet is on silent. That alone is worth the price. | | Samsung Galaxy Gear review roundup Oct 1st 2013, 17:38, by Robert Nelson Samsung announced the Galaxy Gear smartwatch at an event in early September. That announcement also included the Galaxy Note 3 and 2014 Edition Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet, however the focus of the moment is the smartwatch. The Galaxy Gear had been available for pre-order with several of the US carriers, however given the $299 price point, we suspect some may have decided to hold back until they were able to read some reviews. So with that in mind, we are taking a look at the reviews that have surfaced around the web, beginning with the one recently posted from our sister site SlashGear. 
Smartwatches, while maybe not commonplace just yet, are beginning to gain some attention. The Pebble saw plenty of Kickstarter success and despite them taking quite some time to get units out, the watch received favorable reviews. We have also seen some others such as the Omate TrueSmart, which as the name would imply — offers a bit more. The TrueSmart is more of a smartphone on your wrist, while the Pebble and in this case, the Samsung Galaxy Gear are more companion devices. Though, the Galaxy Gear sits somewhere in between the Pebble and Omate in terms of features and hardware. For example, while the Galaxy Gear may not be like having a full smartphone on your wrist, it does have features to include a camera that captures still images and video as well as a built-in microphone for answering voice calls. Other features of the Galaxy Gear at this time include receiving notifications from your phone and being able to browse your contacts as well as a pedometer, image gallery and being able to control the music playing on your Note 3. Samsung had promised a dozen available apps at launch and mentioned how there was more than 70 additional apps already in the works. That brings the first point in terms of these Galaxy Gear reviews — limited functionality. Over on SlashGear, Chris Burns mentioned the Galaxy Gear is a “growing platform” noting how “at the moment it certainly has the basics.” It seems a big part of the success will likely come in terms of developer support and future apps. Not to mention, additional device support, at present the Galaxy Gear only pairs with the Galaxy Note 3. A video walkthrough of the Galaxy Gear sits below. The camera is more on the basic side, coming in at 1.9 megapixel and without any flash. Users will be able to capture 4:3 formatted images or 15-seconds videos in 720p. While we aren’t sure how many users would buy a smartwatch only for the built-in camera, the images and video are decent enough quality for some quick sharing. For some camera samples as well as the full review you should head over to SlashGear.    Taking a look at what others have to say and we are seeing a similar story. Brad Molen from Engadget closed things out by saying “the Galaxy Gear is a solid effort from Samsung, but it needs time to grow and develop.” Vlad Savov from The Verge on the other hand, was a bit more blunt saying “a smartwatch the Galaxy Gear is not” going on to say he expects the “Galaxy Gear will be looked back upon as a rough first draft.” NBC News didn’t seem to differ all that much. They offered a pro and con list with several of the pro points being in regards to the color selection and how well it tells time. On the con list they dinged the watch for the battery life, bad camera and price. Fox News was also down on the price noting that “at present, tied to the Note 3, with too few apps and too thick for most wrists, it’s hard to say this $300 smartwatch is a smartbuy.” Again, this all seems to go back to the Galaxy Gear having some potential, but just not being quite ready for primetime just yet. Needless to say, the reviews were not all together bad and in fact, Matthew Miller from ZDNet mentioned how after testing the Galaxy Gear with the Note 3, he “never hesitated in ordering” one.          | |
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