DT’s ‘Better than Socks’ Holiday Giveaway: Quadrocopter

Micro Drone Quadcopter

For our last holiday giveaway, we're offering up something so incredibly awesome, even your kids will be jealous. And no, we won't tell if you don't want to share.

DTs-Better-Than-Socks-Holiday-Giveaway-Drop-Cap

It’s been a fun couple of weeks during DT’s ‘Better than Socks’ Holiday Giveaways, but all good things must come to an end. We thought we’d go out with a bang by giving away a freakin’ quadrocopter! That’s right; get excited. Our friends at Firebox have graciously offered to give one lucky winner his or her very own Micro Drone Quadrocopter (a value of $112).

Featuring four rotors and “automatic gyro control,” the Micro Drone is able to pull off sharp turns and 360-degree flips in midair. The quadrocopter has a flight range of close to 400 feet, and is just slightly larger than the palm of your hand. It also comes with a compact remote control with a digital display. The Micro Drone runs on four AA rechargeable batteries, and a full recharge takes about 40 minutes, which is a small price to pay for some sweet, sweet quadrocopter action.

Don’t believe that the Micro Drome is as awesome as we’re making it out to be? Check out the video from Firebox and see for yourself. 

Interested in winning a Micro Drone? Just tell us your favorite toy from holidays past in the comments below by December 31, and we’ll choose a winner on New Year’s Day. No entries submitted in 2013 will be considered, so good luck!

There’s still time to enter some of our recent giveaways, so check out DT’s Better Than Socks Holiday Giveaway page for more cool gadgets. 


Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Get your karaoke on with the new SongBooth iPhone app and you could net a record deal

songbooth screen shot

SongBooth, a music video recording app, wants to prove that a mobile platform can be the next YouTube of Myspace for up-and-coming artists.

The Internet and digital boom has led to many a star being born. YouTube was responsible for facilitating Justin Bieber’s discovery and metoric rise, while Myspace had a helping hand in jump starting Katy Perry’s singing career. Now, SongBooth wants to discover the next musical sensation by providing a social-mobile platform for collaboration and engagement among musicians.

The design of SongBooth’s mobile app echoes its musician-minded attitude. You could say that SongBooth, which launched to iPhone and iPod Touch devices earlier this month, sort of looks like a portable stage for impromptu concerts. 

There isn’t much here for the listeners — the, ahem, less-than-musically-gifted — among us. You might enjoy browsing through clips of performances published to SongBooth, but otherwise there isn’t much for you here. But if you’re a musician, SongBooth can be a haven away from YouTube, where audiences typically don’t take kindly to anything less than perfect performances. 

The app is still in its infancy so its community is tight-knit and willing to dish constructive criticism. Or if they’re appreciated, users can engage with musicians through feedback features that come in the form of likes and comments. And in-line with these features is the option to share a video through Facebook, SMS, or email. Twitter has yet to be integrated.

SongBooth’s videos run surprisingly fluidly without much interruptive buffering. Navigation is also easy to manage, and there are five simple buttons to help you dive into the app. The first two labeled, “Home” and “Popular” are for now filters that surface different types of user-uploaded content. The far right button labeled “Profile” is your personal profile page where you can view your own published videos, and see who is following you or liked your content. Next to this button is an “Activities” button which acts as a sort of news feed for Songbooth.

The central button, which looks like a mic, is what differentiates SongBooth from other video sharing apps. Users aren’t just uploading videos of themselves, they’re singing or playing an instrument with the expectation that the community will be judging them for better or for worse.

songbooth music track

When you click on the mic, a page opens up where you can select tracks. This is where you would tinker around with the instrumentals or pre-set songs that you’d like to accompany you. Right now you can only pull in a preexisting track from your iOS device, SongBooth CEO Gregory Lowe has every intention of adding additional instrumentals in a future update as an in-app purchase. Free music will also be offered.

There are a couple of incentives for musicians to pick up this app and start practicing their vocals. For starters, SongBooth is backed by YouTube singing sensation Ryan Beatty and renowned R&B singer Miguel, so there are at least a few industry leaders watching these videos. More importantly, SongBooth says that a yearly contest will be hosted, from which the most popular musician using the app could win a recording contract.

One piece of advice from us is that since SongBooth may be a sticky app among singers, we’d recommend that if you’re going to invest some time in it, go out and buy a mic for your iPhone. While the iPhone’s sound quality isn’t terrible, it’s far from the studio quality that makes a considerable difference — and if you’re trying to net a record deal with an app, any advantage can’t hurt. 


Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Kickstarter project integrates game controller into Bluetooth iPhone case

Kickstarter project integrates game controller into Bluetooth iPhone case

Bluetooth solar-powered gaming case his Kickstarter (credit: John C.)

An iPhone case which transforms into to a video game controller has hit the popular crowd-sourcing site Kickstarter this weekend.

The concept case is only 3mm thin, but contains the traditional directional pad and button configurations seen on many classic handheld games consoles.

To the naked eye, it looks like a regular iPhone case, but snapping it from the centre reveals the controls and alters the shape of the case to make it easier to grip for gamers.

The case connects to the iPhone via Bluetooth 4.0 and is charged by Solar power and indoor light sources.

Apple on board

The creator Justice Frangipane has been working on the controller for over a year and has now teamed up with the iDevices company to help make the project a reality.

Most importantly, Frangipane says the project also has Apple's support.

He said: "iDevices contacted Apple on my behalf and we are happy to announce that Apple is not only going to support us, but willing to devote a team to making sure that this controller works perfectly with Apple iOS devices!"

The project requires a $135,000 (UK£83,490, AUD$129,772) bounty to officially go ahead and you can see the latest prototype in the video below.


Source : techradar[dot]com

ZTE's Grand S 5-inch full HD smartphone leaked ahead of CES

ZTE's Grand S 5-inch full HD smartphone leaked ahead of CES

ZTE Grand S will join the 5-inch crowd at CES

A press shot of the heavily-touted ZTE Grand S smartphone has appeared online, two weeks before its launch at CES.

The handset will be competing for attention against a raft of fellow 5-inch, full HD 1080p displays when it officially arrives in Las Vegas in the second week of January.

The company has been teasing the arrival of the flagship Grand S by posting sketches on its Sina Weibo account, but Engadget has now picked up an official-looking shot from an anonymous tipser.

Not a huge amount is known about the other specs for the phone, beyond the display, but a note on the CES website refers to the as-yet-unnanounced Grand S as "the world's thinnest for 5 inch FHD smartphones."

Big trend

It seems that the trend towards 5-inch, full HD smartphones will dominate the annual tech extravaganza in the desert.

The likes of Sony, HTC, Sharp, Lenovo and Huawei are all thought to be preparing big-screen 1080p phones.

Which will reign supreme?


Source : techradar[dot]com

Huawei 6.1-inch 1080p Ascend Mate shown off before CES launch

Huawei 6.1-inch 1080p Ascend Mate shown off before CES launch

Can Huawei Ascend, mate?

It's a little over two weeks until the world gets to know the massive Huawei Ascend Mate smartphone, but one company exec has already given fans a sneak peak.

The company confirmed it would be launching the 6.1-inch, full HD 1080 Ascend Mate earlier this month, with an eye on taking down the 5.5-inch Samsung Galaxy Note II.

Now it has appeared in the flesh, courtesy of Richard Yu, Hauwei's chairman of devices, who couldn't wait to show off the behemoth at a company store in Guangzhou, China.

You can get a glimpse of the device in the video below.

Plenty of power

The Ascend Mate is also rumoured to boast plenty of power to complement that full HD, big-screen goodness, with a 1.8GHz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM.

It's also thought to measure up at 9.9mm thin.

We'll be at CES 2013 in Las Vegas for the official unveiling of this 6.1-inch titan, so stay tuned for our hands on (and we mean hands, not hand!) first impressions.


Source : techradar[dot]com

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