Accessories

Neil Young Kickstarts iPod Rival

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Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young reveals his long-awaited take on audiophile-grade audio with PonoMusic, an online high-resolution music store paired with the PonoPlayer portable music player.

Pono Players"It's about the music, real music," Young says. "We want to move digital music into the 21st century and PonoMusic does that."

The system promises "the finest quality, highest-resolution digital music," with a desktop app allowing customers to download, manage and sync music with PonoPlayer devices and other high-resolution music players.

Meanwhile the player is a supposedly "no-compromise" number. The Toblerone bar-shaped casing and features control via LCD touchscreen, 128GB of storage (holds 100-500 high-resolution files according to Pono), Ayre Acoustics digital-to-analog conversion technology and "perfectly flat" frequency response from nearly any headphones.

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Heat Vision, iPhone-Style

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FLIR OneCustomers wanting Predator-style heat vision powers? The FLIR One should satisfy such needs-- a relatively affordable ($350) thermal imaging accessory for the iPhone seen at Mobile World Congress 2014.

Looking like a battery case, the FLIR One attaches to iPhones via Lightning port and allows users to check heat signatures from up to 100m away. It features a built-in camera, a battery promising 4 hours of continuous use and a companion app providing an easy-to-use UI.

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Health Tracking Via Smartphone Case

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Azoi Mobile Technologies claims customers will be able to track blood pressure, ECG, heart rate, blood oxygen, temperature, lung function and more "with clinical accuracy" using the Wello smartphone health tracker.

Wello "Over the last two years, we have focused our efforts on coming up with a technologically advanced yet easy-to-use tool to help you monitor health and facilitate better lifestyle choices," Azoi CEO Hamish Patel says. "We have effectively put health monitoring equipment, typically in large form factors, into a highly convenient and accessible mobile phone case."

The Wello looks like a regular smartphone case, and connects to devices via Bluetooth LE. Once paired with a companion app, users simply need to hold the device for a short time before hidden sensors provide "key data" about one's health in infographic form.

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Gesture Recognition for All Devices

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University of Washington researchers hope to revolutionise gesture-based control with AllSee, a gesture recognition technology using existing TV signals for control that's both low-power and low-cost.

AllSee“This is the first gesture recognition system that can be implemented for less than a dollar and doesn't require a battery,” UW assistant professor Shyam Gollakota says. “You can leverage TV signals both as a source of power and as a source of gesture recognition.”

AllSee consists of a small sensor one can place on electronic devices. It uses an ultra-low-power receiver able to extract and classify the amplitude changes specific gestures cause in wireless transmissions in the air, translating them into commands.

The same wireless signals also provide a power source, meaning the AllSee sensors run without need for batteries.

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Even the Toothbrush Gets Smart

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Mobile World Congress 2014 hosts more than smartphone and tablet launches-- Oral-B makes an appearance at the show with the SmartSeries 7000, a toothbrush with Bluetooth connectivity.

Oral_BThe toothbrush connects to smartphones equipped with an Oral-B app and, as the company puts it, guides users through fully personalised brushing routines. As one does.

Meanwhile the app monitors brushing progress in realtime, telling users to move to different parts of the mouth or whether they are brushing too hard. It also allows dentists program individual brushing programs according patient needs.

"It will guide you in terms of how to brush, and you will be able to fully personalize the brushing routine for you," the company tells Reuters.

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