Hands-on with Liquid Image’s LTE-capable Ego LS action cam
Liquid Image revealed its 4G LTE Ego LS action cam just hours ago, so we made a dash to take a look for ourselves. In terms of size, the LS is a bit smaller than the popular Go Pro cams, but there’s no built-in battery and the 1,900mAh cell nearly doubles the thickness of the unit. It’s wrapped in a rather dapper matte black soft-touch coating that gives the gadget a nice feel. On the face, there’s a display for keeping tabs complete with a red light recording and connectivity indicators. There’s a play button up top, with power and connectivity buttons (the cam has both WiFi and Bluetooth options) around to the side. The requisite ports for HDMI, microSD card, USB and connecting to either power, the aforementioned battery or the 4G LTE module lie on the bottom edge.
Meanwhile, Liquid Image has partnered with Verizon for the cellular connectivity bit, which comes at the hands of a clip-in accessory complete with its own 1,900mAh battery to power the streaming. That LTE module will set you back an additional $199 on top of the two hundred bones that Ego LS costs on its own and nearly doubles the size (we’re talking width here) of the action cam alone. For a look at the whole lot, there’s a quick video walkthrough just past the break.
Filed under: Cameras
Weekly Roundup: 2013 in review, NSA iPhone hack, live at CES 2014 and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
The year in reviews
We reviewed more than 170 products in 2013, but rather than leave you to sift through them yourself, we’ve compiled our most memorable reviews into one simple package. Click on through for more details.
We’re live at CES 2014!
While you’ve been enjoying a restful weekend, folks at Engadget have been hard at work, prepping for the insanity to come. Click the link for a sneak peek of CES 2014.
2013 in review
Engadget takes a closer look at the biggest triumphs, breakthroughs and failures of the year gone by. From the Netflix explosion to the rise of wearables, we’ve got you covered. Click through to take a look.
Mac Pro teardown
Apple products aren’t exactly known for their serviceability, but according to iFixit’s latest teardown, repairing the new Mac Pro is a surprisingly straightforward affair. Click through for details on the repairability score.
Schwinn’s CycleNav bike navigation system points cyclists in the right direction
When you’re in a car, it’s easy enough to keep an eye on your navigation without moving your hands away from the ol’ 10 and 2 positions, but how do you manage your trips when you’re on a bike? Enter Schwinn’s CycleNav bike navigation system, a $60 Bluetooth device that clips onto your handlebar. The idea is pretty simple: download the product’s iOS or Android app, put in your destination, choose the best route and then let the CycleNav point which way to go, using one of three LED arrows. After your journey comes to an end, the app records fitness stats for you to track (such as distance, calories burned and duration). Fortunately, it doubles as a headlight for your bicycle as well. The navigator will be available at Walmart beginning in March, but you’ll be able to grab the CycleNav starting January 15th.
Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Mobile
Withings’ latest health gadget is designed to help you sleep
If you’re anything like us, then getting out of bed on a cold, dark winter’s morning is akin to raising the dead. Plenty of gadgets have promised to monitor our circadian rhythms and rouse us at the most biologically convenient time like the Zeo, but none have managed to totally win us over. That hasn’t deterred Withings, which is launching the Aura, a two-part device designed to help us with our shut-eye. The $300 Aura combines a movement sensor that sits beneath your mattress and an LED lamp that promises to relax you at night and gently rouse you in the morning. The unit also promises custom light-and-sound patterns that’ll help with power napping, getting over jet lag and chilling out with a good book. Naturally, all of this data will be fed into a mobile app, and we’re looking forward to comparing this against our Philips Wake-up Light when it arrives in the spring.
Filed under: Misc
Engadget is live at CES, here’s who to follow on social media
Here we are, #EngadgetCES. We’ll be your home for all things #CES2014, but what if you’re hungry for even more tidbits of information? Never fear, the unfiltered world of social media is here. Not only can you keep up with Engadget itself, but stalk our cracker jack team as they mill through events at the Las Vegas Convention Center, as well as the iconic Strip.
Also, have you heard of Engadget Mini yet? It’s our new app available now for iOS, Android and the web. Mini offers you the best of our headlines, photos, videos, picks for the best tech news from around the web and interesting things from the social media universe.
Here’s who to follow to keep up with us, after the break.
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Facebook & Google+
Hungry for even more social goodness? We update our Facebook and Google+ pages with the latest news on Engadget.
Instagram & Vine
When we’re out and about on the show floor and events, we’ll post pictures and videos to Instagram, as well as shorter videos to Vine.
YouTube
We post videos coming out of CES on Engadget first, but you also can subscribe to our YouTube channel to catch them there as well.
Pinterest & Tumblr
We’ll update our Pinterest and Tumblr pages throughout CES as well, although not as frequently as the above links. Still, if you’re more of a “pinner” than a “tweeter,” these are for you.
Liquid Image brings LTE to the action cam game with its new Ego LS
Snowy mountaintops and sheer dirt tracks are just a couple of locations fitting for an epic action cam segment, but they’re not places you’re likely to find a good WiFi connection. Without putting extra hardware at significant risk of destruction, livestreaming just hasn’t been possible in many desirable situations. At CES, however, Liquid Image is mixing things up with the introduction of its new Ego LS camera, which we believe is the first to feature LTE connectivity. It’s capable of transmitting WQVGA (400 x 240; bummer) video at 30 fps for up to two hours, or still images over 4G. Otherwise, the 8-megapixel cam has WiFi, Bluetooth, and can partner with iOS and Android devices via the Liquid Image app like the outfit’s other models. A microSD slot supporting up to 64GB cards keeps you recording at 1080p/30 fps or 720p/60 fps while disconnected, and like other members in the Ego line, it’ll be accompanied by various mounts. Two variants of the Ego LS, both with new motion detection and continuous-photo modes, but one with LTE and one without, are slated to launch in June this year with an estimated price tag of $200.
Filed under: Cameras
Moneual RYDIS H68 Pro ‘bot mops and sweeps at the same time
Why drop the cash for both a Roomba and Scooba when you can get a device that does it all? Of course, it’s far too early to say if the RYDIS H68 Pro comes anywhere near the efficiency of either of iRobot’s flagship lines, but Moneual certainly talks a big game. The sequel to the RYDIS H67 features a large water tank and is capable of capturing nearly all particles that are 0.3 micron or larger. There are 42 omnidirectional sensors on board and it uses something called Smart Vision Mapping to determine the best routes to cover a room as it mops and vacuums at the same time. The RYDIS H68 Pro is set to drop just in time for your spring cleaning.
Eton’s rukus Xtreme is a solar-powered Bluetooth speaker that loves the outdoors
Eton has a bit of a thing for music plus solar power. We’re not complaining though. Its latest eco-powered music machine is the rukus Xtreme, and brings potentially non-stop daytime jams to the great outdoors. The Bluetooth (4.0) device has five speakers (two main, and the rest for “bass radiating”) and has a built-in 6,600mAh battery than can be charged either by Mother Nature (in around five hours), or a good, old outlet (in three). Either way, you can use that juice for prolonged listening, or use that battery to power up your phone/tablet — so it’s effectively a solar charger too. There’s NFC for easy pairing, and you can even link up two units for, well, we imagine, Xtreme loudness. The IPX4 water-resistance rating also makes it good for those who like to dance in the rain, and frankly, who doesn’t? The rukus Xtreme will be ready to soak up those rays come springtime, costing $230. There’s also a rugged rukus II model for $130, if you don’t need quite so much onboard battery (1,600mAh instead).
Filed under: Home Entertainment
Qualcomm shows more of the Snapdragon 805’s camera and pen tricks (video)
Can’t make it to CES to see the Snapdragon 805 processor flex its muscles? You won’t have to. Qualcomm has posted a slew of videos showing what the chip can do for photography, including automatic close-ups through OptiZoom, continuous focusing on a subject through Touch to Track and natural-looking low-light shots through Chroma Flash. The CPU can even begin recording video as soon as a subject crosses a line, such as at a race. As a bonus, the company has also demonstrated Ultra Sound NotePad, a refinement of an earlier technique that uses microphones to translate a pen’s ultrasonic vibrations into on-screen handwriting. It could be a while before you’re trying any of these features on a shipping device, but the clips should at least prepare you for the real thing.
Via: Liliputing
Source: Qualcomm (YouTube 1), (2), (3), (4)
Evernote CEO pledges to refocus on core features and fix buggy, confusing apps
There are several people here at Engadget that might actually die (or at the very least be unemployed) if it were not for their Evernote accounts. Which makes it all the more painful when the service lets us down by failing to sync notes or falling prey to hackers. Jason Kincaid, formerly of TechCrunch, posted a rather lengthy tirade on his blog about such an instance, in which the iOS app produced corrupted audio notes that were completely unplayable. And during the troubleshooting process with Evernote support, Kincaid came across a bug that captured entire notes in plain text in its log files — the very files that a support person request when trying to diagnose a problem. Let’s just say the self-proclaimed power user was understandably incensed.
Well, the post caught the attention of Evernote CEO Phil Libin, who admitted that perhaps the company had focused too much on adding features and expanding its user base at the expense of the core experience. But those days are over Libin proclaimed. In fact, he says the staff quietly shifted its focus back to squashing bugs and improving stability a couple of months ago, but that there was still plenty of work to be done. In addition to boosting performance and fixing broken features, he says updates will be rolling out over “the next few weeks” that will greatly improve and simplify the user experience. He specifically said the engineers and designers will be targeting note editing, navigation, search, sync and collaboration features across all platforms.
2013 was a big year for Evernote, and it’s safe to say it endured some growing pains. Lets just hope that 2014 is the year it grows up — without getting too big for its britches.
Filed under: Software
Source: Evernote, Jason Kincaid
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