January 2019 – SoFun

iRobot brings Roomba technology to your lawn

NEWS – Who doesn’t love coming home to find nice lines in the carpet and the debris from last night’s reverie, or the pet’s ongoing hair exodus all tidied up? iRobot, probably the best-known name in home cleaning robotics, is bringing Roomba technology to your lawn.

The Terra robot mower promises to make lawn care work a thing of the past. Terra differentiates itself from competitors like Husqvarna’s Automower 315X in a few ways. First, the Husqvarna, and others, requires you to bury perimeter wire around the boundary of your lawn to prevent the mower from going cross-country. The Terra will use a new wireless communication system based on standalone beacons to define the cutting perimeter, eliminating the need to dig mini-trenches all around your yard.

Second, it will use iRobot’s smart mapping technology to define the cutting area. Other mowers cut in essentially random directions, more or less continuously. This is based on the theory that over time, the mower will cut the entire yard. The Terra will mow the entire yard in one mow. If it needs a recharge, smart mapping will allow it to go home to charge, and then just pick up where it left off, completing the job. The Terra will mow in nice, straight lines, in a more efficient, and aesthetically pleasing pattern, making the OCD sufferers among us happy.

If you have a Roomba, you already know how to use a Terra. Both robots are controlled via iRobot’s HOME app. You can change cutting height, and cutting start times right from the app.

The Terra is ruggedized and weatherproof, which is a good thing, given that it will live outside all the time.

Terra will be available for sale in Germany later this year and enter a beta program in the United State later in 2019 or early 2020. Pricing has not been announced. For more information go to iRobot’s mower page.

Filed in categories: News

Tagged:

iRobot brings Roomba technology to your lawn originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 31, 2019 at 10:00 am.

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Bittboy Game Boy and NES handheld game console review

REVIEW – Back in the day I was obsessed with handheld game devices. I had the original Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Atari Lynx, and the original Sony PSP. I still have several of those units but sadly, I no longer have an original Game Boy. But now I have a handheld gaming device that looks like a smaller version of the original Game Boy, but it’s superior to that iconic device because it can play Game Boy games, Game Boy Color games, and NES games. Let’s check it out.

What is it?

The Bittboy is a small handheld game console that can play Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and NES ROMS.

What’s in the box?

Bittboy
Micro USB charging cable
RCA video cable
Instruction sheet

Design and features

At first glance, you might mistake the Bittboy from the original Nintendo Game Boy if you haven’t seen one in a while. But while the Bittboy is very similar, it’s significantly smaller (shorter).

The handheld gaming device has a beige plastic shell with a 4-way D-pad and a variety of buttons below the 2.4″ IPS color display that has a resolution of 320×240.

The lower right corner of the device has a built-in front firing speaker.

The back of the Bittboy has the battery compartment.

Inside is a removable and replaceable (if you can find a replacement) rechargeable 700mAh lithium battery.

The top edge of the Bittboy has the power switch and a micro SD card slot which is the pseudo game cartridge slot. A micro SD card isn’t included with the device, and neither are the games. It’s up to you “find” Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and/or NES ROM files. Hint: Google is your friend.

On the bottom edge is a 3.5mm headphone jack and a micro USB port. The headphone jack is used for audio (duh), but you can also use it with the included video cables to connect the device to a TV to play the games on a large screen. The micro USB port is used to charge the battery.

The sides of the Bittboy don’t have any buttons or switches.

The Bittboy game console is nicely compact, which makes it a perfect travel companion since it will easily fit in a pocket or a gear bag.

Look, it’s a partial family photo showing the Bittboy beside a Game Boy Color and a Nintendo DS.

Let’s play a game!

The first thing you need to do is get your hands on a micro SD card and fill the root of the card with Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and NES ROM files (file format “.gb”, “.gbc”, “.nes”). Then with the card inserted into the Bittboy, you can turn it on. You’ll be greeted with menu page for each platform: Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and NES. You have to press the A button to go into each menu to see the list of games.

The list page is basically just a scrolling text listing of the ROM files you copied to the micro SD card, but the list gives you enough info to see the game title. Then you can scroll up and down the list to pick the game you want to play and press the Start button to load it.

Games load surprisingly fast and the display on this little gaming device is just fantastic. It’s bright and crisp which makes it a joy to play these old games. Remember the Game Boy Color display? UGH! The Bittboy’s display is so much nicer because it’s so bright and vivid. And if it’s a bit too bright for you, you can use a key combo to adjust the brightness level.

I don’t know if it was the default setting or if I changed it while I was looking at the options, but you can set the display to either fullscreen or default which is a square display like the original Game Boy. Setting it to full will stretch the screen and it can make some games look weird.

You’ll also want to figure out how to adjust the volume on the Bittboy because by default it is way too loud. No worries though as the Select-A/Select-B key button combo can be used to turn the sound up and down.

I tested a half a dozen Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and NES games on this device and it was a true and happy trip down memory lane. I should admit though that I didn’t have an NES back then, so I can’t really comment on how those games compare on the Bittboy to the actual console.

I will say that the Game Boy games both look great and play/feel like a real Game Boy from the good old days of handheld video game devices. The DPad and buttons are smaller than the original Game Boy control buttons, but that didn’t cause me any problems as the buttons are responsive and didn’t stick or jam.

There’s even a feature that will let you save your game to the micro SD card. There are only 3 save game slots, so choose wisely.

The only Bittboy feature that I didn’t test was the AV out using the RCA cables. That’s because I only have one TV and it’s mounted to the wall. I’m just not that dedicated to take my TV off the wall in order to connect the Bittboy to it. Anyway, who really wants to use RCA jacks these days? The Bittboy needs to use an HDMI port! Am I right?

What I like

Authentic Game Boy experience
Small size is pocket-friendly
Bright crisp display
micro SD card (not included) can hold 100’s of games

What needs to be improved

Use an HDMI port for video out

Final thoughts

If you want an authentic Game Boy experience, the Bittboy will do it for you. It’s a well-built handheld game console that will let you relive all those fun games from back in the day before there were iPhones, the Xbox, or the PS4. Get one and thank me later. Just don’t blame me if your boss catches you playing Super Mario Bros. when you should be working!

Price: $39.99
Where to buy: Amazon and Aliexpress
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Bittboy.

Filed in categories: Reviews

Tagged: games

Bittboy Game Boy and NES handheld game console review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 31, 2019 at 9:00 am.

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Casper introduces Glow a light designed for better bedtime

NEWS – Casper is best known for making mattresses and pillows, now they’re getting into the bedroom lighting game with the introduction of their latest product the Glow. The Glow is a self-dimming light designed to help you wind down naturally for a better, deeper nights sleep.

When you turn the Glow on it begins a 45-minute drift pattern that starts out with warm, bright light and gradually dims like the sunset. You can use the Glow app to schedule a wake-up time, so in the morning it will gradually fill the room with soft, warm light to gently wake you up.

The Glow is gesture activated and can be turned on or off just by flipping it over. A built-in gyroscope lets you dim or brighten the light with just a twist. And the Glow is portable so you can use it in the middle of the night to light your path to the bathroom just by wiggling it.

Glow can be used with or without the Glow app. The app allows you to set wake-up times and sync and manage a group of Glow lights together. Once synced up, when you interact with one light all the other lights in the group do exactly the same thing.

The Glow is cordless and comes with a small base for easy charging.

The Casper Glow Light can be purchased from their website for $89 for a single light or $169 for a double. And just like with their mattresses you get a 30-night risk-free trial to try it out.

Filed in categories: News

Tagged: Home lighting, Sleep

Casper introduces Glow a light designed for better bedtime originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 31, 2019 at 8:00 am.

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Gerber’s ComplEAT is a like a spork multi-tool

NEWS – Backpackers, tailgators, preppers, and others will want to check out the ComplEAT cutlery set from Gerber which includes a spork, a deep basin spoon, spatula, and a food prep multi-tool. The multi-tool has a built-in bottle opener, veggie peeler, serrated package opener, and a can opener.

But wait, there’s more! The spoon or spork combines with the glass filled nylon spatula to convert into a set of tongs and when you’re done cooking and eating, everything nests together for easy transport.

The Gerber ComplEAT is available in several colors and is priced at $28. Visit gerbergear.com to buy one.

Filed in categories: News

Tagged: Cooking, Cutlery, EDC, Food

Gerber’s ComplEAT is a like a spork multi-tool originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 30, 2019 at 1:11 pm.

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The Cosmo Communicator is every mobile device you will need in one compact package

NEWS – As a self-confessed nerd, everyone that reads my news stories knows that I am a sucker for gadgets. I am also pretty much “tied” to my smartphone and tablet, and my entire home runs on some sort of technology for most tasks that can be handled by technology. Every day on my commute back and forth to work, I carry my iPhone and iPad in my backpack and during the commute, I am on one or the other. While the apple environment does integrate devices and allows you to answer a phone call on the iPad, I wonder if there is a newer technology device that marries both devices into one much like a device I once saw called a Phablet.

The Cosmo Communicator is touted as the complete mobile communication tool that provides a pocket computer, mobile phone, and camera all in one compact device. It features a keyboard, a world-wide dual-SIM mobile phone and can be used for emails, messaging, editing documents, making calls and taking photos. Its specifications include a dual-display: an external 2″ touchscreen when the device is closed and large 6″ touchscreen when the device is open, a high-resolution 24MP camera, 6GB of ram and 128G of flash storage, along with NFC for payments, a fingerprint sensor and a smart toggle button for security and control.

The crowdfunding for the Cosmo Communicator ended on December 6th, 2018, and managed to raise 453% of the intended fundraising goal. You can read more about this device on their Indiegogo page. It should start shipping in June of this year(2019) and should retail for around $570.

Filed in categories: News

Tagged: Crowdfunded, Smartphone

The Cosmo Communicator is every mobile device you will need in one compact package originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 30, 2019 at 12:00 pm.

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