Category Cool Things

Entries 38 Total Description

Select new and emerging products that rank very high in many of the aspects and FACTORS (such as design and style) that determine these products to be considered as really COOL.

Tired of all the Smartwatch Rumors

Mar 22, ’13 5:03 PM

Everyday some company or other leaks that they MAY produce a Smart watch. The latest comes out of Motorola. Last week we heard grumblings from Apple, Samsung, and Google.
Much of this grows out of the high expectations set for People that have yet to be fully realized although last we heard of manufacturing and shipping estimates.

It would not be foolish to think that there are smart watch skunk works projects being carried out in the labs of every aggressive computer company.

If they take the watch as a platform approach and inspire developers to design and build upon it it can happen, big time.

It will be a new when a high quality product actually makes it onto our wrists. Many bet that Apple will soon move to dominate this new space as soon they shoehorn iOS into an innovative smart watch form factor. In the meantime some analysts are certain that unless Apple move quickly or Pepple proves to be dominate others will soon beat them to the party and eat their lunch.

 

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Our Forth Anniversary

Dec 10, ’12 9:04 AM

It is a bit hard to believe that we have been working The Coolness Factor for over four years. Especially consider I too this on at what seemed at the time the lowest oint in my life. There I lay in a Berkeley, CA hospital recovering from a massive hemoragic stroke and TCF was what I worked to get back to. Four years later I am still recovering and trying to regain lost skills.

I have been forced to retire from my daily work as a program administrator of an urban computer training center in Oakland. Now my life is spent hunting down information for this publication. I hope you enjoy it and will continue to utilize it in the coming years. THANK YOU!

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Best Kept Secret: Paper.Li

Oct 9, ’12 2:19 PM

Would you like to become a web publisher with the minimum amount of muss and fuss? Within in a few quick clicks you can build an important piece of your publishing empire!

Even high powered industry gurus, pundits and analysts are using Paper.li. You owe it to yourself to take a moment and check it out. Paper.Li.

Paper.Li service even allowed me to generate a secondary online publication to supplement “The Coolness Factor”. I have been jotfully using it for over a year (online newspaper) without any expense, And it just got better with UI improvements it didn’t brag about nor hype It does its magic by gathering some of my Twitter info and then automatically crafting and aggregating content based on the sources I follow and things I am interested in or involved with.

I first found Paper.Li by viewing Alltop founder Guy Kawasaki’s own paper. I figured if it was cool enough for him with all the resources at his command that It might also work well for me. And lo and behold, it has!

Once I completed a basic setup process the service sent me a slick email confirmation pointing me to my new edition. If you have a moment give it a try and get back to me and let me know where to find your publication.

The following is excerpted from their site:

“Paper.li is a content curation service. It enables people to publish newspapers based on topics they like and treat their readers to fresh news, daily.

We believe that people (and not machines) are the ones qualified to curate the content that matters most. We also think that these same people can greatly help their own communities to find their way through this “massive content world” we live in. We’re here to help!

Every day, around the world, millions of articles are featured on Paper.lis, benefiting millions of readers. We are just at the beginning of an exciting new adventure and we think we’re on to something good.

We love the semantic web, we respect our content creators, we strive for simplicity, and we thrive on feedback.

Read their blog, follow them on Twitter: @smallrivers, talk to them feedback@paperli.com  or join them, they’re hiring …”

Paper.Li is a very compelling vehicle for maintaining you very own timely publication utilizing the posts and tweets of those sources you follow. Some prominent folks such as Guy Kawasaki have turned to Paper.Li to get their work done more effectively. If you have a free moment take that time to check Paper.Li out for yourself!

To read the latest edition of The Coolness Factor FREE CLICK HERE!

Paper.Li is very cool stuff!!

Check it out! Don’t let it be just  another “Best Kept Sercret”

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The Next Samsung Galaxy Note

Aug 6, ’12 3:57 PM

The rumor mill has it that the next Galaxy Note may indeed burst on the mobility scene just ahead of IFA. This smart “Frankenphone”  or phablet as it has come to be called is definately a looker and a keeper especially if you like or need something a bit bigger than an iPhone or SIII. Until Apple figures out whether they really want to defy Steve Jobs’ last declarations and offer a 10″ iPad the Galaxy Note is the clear leader in the oversized smartphone or small form factor tablet market categories it has created.

I took a moment to stop into Walmart to take a peek at a Samsung Galaxy Note and at first glance I was impressed and found it quite compelling. Enough so that I will drop hints that it wouldmake a good gift for my upcoming birthday rather than the iPhone I suggested previously.

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Welcome Summer 2012!

Jun 19, ’12 9:05 PM

Summer 2012

We’ve made it all the way through the cold and wet months and days of 2012 and earned our way to a brand new Summer which just started officially and will wrap Sept 21st. We all hope for a Summer full of sunshine and sweet fresh-ripened fruit.

Elsewhere, In the world of technology we should be planning to attack the grounds of our great parks and beaches in search of Mother Nature with our cool connected ultrabooks, tablets and super slick smartphones in tow. Don’t forget to charge them up!

I am not alone in stating that Summer is my very favorite season of the year, although I really do enjoy all the other seasons about as much.

- “Boat Drinks!”

boat drinks

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The Pebble e-ink Watch is WAY COOL

May 3, ’12 7:59 AM

Pebble e-ink watches

 

I was wondering what all the excitement and fluster over the Peeple e-ink watch was all about. Then I did what a reporter should I went a level deeper and began researching it. Being a hard critic I was actually quite inpressed by the quality of design. Background: I am a watch fanatic. Starting with an early Bulova Accutron I own well over 57 slick watches. My latest is Apple’s Nano coversion to watch form factor through the addition of 3rd party watch bands and programmed watch faces and features.

I thought I was finished chasing my watch fetish having recently given away my now obsolete and unsupported Microsoft Spot watch (after failing to neet promises and potential and once thought to be the future of watches)

Lo and behold, the Peebble watch looks quite good. The real story here is that it is not the darling of big investors or deep pocket manufacturers or the offspring of some skunkworks. It is a $9 million dollar success of the Kickstarter program.

Enough for today! Over the next few weeks I will be researching the Pebble story and plan to do a deep review of the product when it becomes available.

The deeper level story is how good design can still add up to successful product in many overlooked sectors and how motivated consumers can support and invest in such development. Pebble is aimed at Android & iphone and is Kickstarter supported with currently 9 million dollars committed buy users.

“Hey tech industry, WAKE UP!  Apple has no corner on good design”.

I have to admit as a proponent of wearable technology I really want one and am willing to plunk down hard-earned cash. This should be proof that great design should win everytime. It should also put to shame the knuckleheads and lame brains that blew money on things like spot watches and all that other crap that pretended to be forward-thinking next generation watches and devices.

See the Kickstarter site for more info on Pebble

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Cool feature: Create your own custom search engine

Dec 4, ’11 9:45 AM

 

Now you can easily build a custom search engine on your blog or website tailored specifically to topics and your areas of interest.

Google has launched the Google Custom Search Engine.

CSE provides Access to the Google search platform, and customizes it to make it their own.

  • In minutes  create a search engine of your knowledge/interests;
  • It looks and feels like your own
  • make money from traffic with Google’s AdSense (if you choose)
  • Invite friends and community to add to and help build your CSE.
  • Custom Search Engine is not just for businesses
  • Finding specific information has never been so easy
  • No programming knowledge or cost involved.
  • Theres great power is in CSE’s customization features.
  • Include one or more websites, or specific webpages
  • Host the search box and results on your own website
  • Customize the look and feel of the results to match your site

Examples:

  1. Check out the search engine RealClimate.org built to better connect their users to the environmental science information they are looking for. Intuit created a search engine for their JumpUp.com site,
  2. Shashi is passionate about wine, he created a “wine search engine” and put it on his wine blog so his friends can search for wine-related topics from there.

Build a Custom Search Engine on any topic you like. Give it a try and let us know where to find it.

NOTE: Since Google has recently been very busy trimming (rather, lopping off) services it might just be a good idea to start using CSE real soon just in case it is in any danger of going away.

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Moto RAZR: I’m Convinced, It’s COOL!

Dec 2, ’11 4:09 PM

 

Motorolla Razr

Motorolla Razr

I was conferring with a tech savvy friend with astrong Moto leaning, fancy and background. I wanted to know which Droid device to go with. To my surprize and delight he informed me that the new Moto Razr is hands-down the best Motorola Android Smartphone out there. This came in time for me as I am pursuing viable alternatives to truly great Apple’s iPhone 4S.

Specs:

  • Verizon $299.99
  • 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution)
  • Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread
  • 4.3″ SuperAMOLED Advanced qHD screen
  • 960X540 resolution
  • Gorilla Glass & KEVLAR
  • 8 megapixel camera
  • 1080p HD
  • 16GB internal Memory
  • 32GB microSD
  • Docks to Motorola stations
  • 1,780mAH battery
  • Thin 0.28″
  • 1.2GHz processor
  • 1 GB
As you can clearly tell the new Motorola Razr is a specification feature packed monster of asmartphone. Worthy of any well provisioned techno geek waiting for a Star rek-like Tri-corder. Get your handson one and make your decision.
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Cool Search Engine: Blekko

Nov 7, ’11 2:50 PM

Blekko

I reserve using the word cool for select things and seldom attach it to obvious or overly simple solutions. I recently ran into an intriging rediscovery at BlogWorld in L.A. that reminded me of the first the I saw and used Google. The service just coming out of Beta called Blekko and was founded in 2007 and is only now ripening to full blossom in the fall of 2011.

Blekko’s motto is “SLASH THE WEB” It has the potential to reveal data that you could not normally search and find using only keywords. So exactly what does that mean? Blekko is in at its core a search engine, with frills. Check out this video to see what this can do for you. http://blekko.com/ws/+/press-videos

The biggest thing about Blekko is the concept of / slash tags that you create. Slash tags modify your search results and help you zero in and tune out the relevant from the irrelevant and spam. Blekko also helps SEO and site analysis.

Being an instructor who teaches students best practices for searching the web I welcome new players to the Search Engine game. Google has ruled the roost too long and Bing doesn’t have much new to offer.

The service is compelling and powerful once you get your arms around slash tagging. The chosen name on the other hand is dreck, bad choice. Do yourself a favor. Give Blekko a shot and get back at me and let me know what you think. Be sure to try the slashtag creation capability,

Investors foreign and domestic are lining up to cop a piece of the action in case it is a hit or turns out to be the coolest Search Engine You’ve Never Heard.

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What’s Next: Wearable Computing?

Nov 3, ’11 10:37 AM

I have been waiting for the advent of Wearable Computing for close to two decades now and it remains an unfullfilled promises inching close thanks to Apple’s iPos Nano and WIMM.

Embedded technology has long been married and integrated into almost everything from our cars to our refrigerators. There have been other valiant attempts mainly built for military purposes, but few have been for “peaceful” non-military commercial purposes.

WIMM has presented a developers plaform with tremendous promise. Innovative types should look it over and come up with new solutions to drive technology into the future.

I feel that the visionary Dick Tracy device era has still yet to arrive. It might not be so very far away. Enter WIMM Labs. a Los Gatos , CA company with keen design sense and sensibilities to actually pull it off. Visit their site and check out their many slick concept devices. When they hit the market I will be first in line.

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PocketStudio: GarageBand 1.1 now an app on iPhone/iPod

Nov 1, ’11 10:07 AM

garageband

Apple’s superb Mac and iPad app is now miniaturized and works on your iPhone, iPod and iPad. This is really cool!

Innovation sometimes works in reverse. Apple’s masterful Garage Band application usually running on iPad and Macs has been converted for use on the iPhone and iPod touch. It is gratefully consistent with prior implementations  and brings display options for smaller devices.

Oh yeah…You can plug your electric guitar into either of Apple’s more bantam iOS devices to record through classic amps and stompbox effects, or record your voice or any acoustic sound using the built-in microphone.

The app enables users to record and mix up to eight tracks and then share the finished product with friends or send it to your Mac to keep working on it in GarageBand (the “real one”) or Logic Pro.

Garage Band App costs new users $4.99. (WOW)

Works on:

  • iPad
  • iPad 2
  • iPhone 3GS
  • iPhone 4
  • iPhone 4S
  • iPod touch (third and fourth generation)
This could be a huge next step in both amateur and professional studio recording.
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COOL CAMERA: Leica Titanium Special Edition D-Lux 5

Oct 18, ’11 12:50 PM
Leica Titanium Special Edition D-Lux 5

Leica Titanium Special Edition D-Lux 5

 

If you are an old school photographer ever nostalgic for that good old brand and classic look that was the mark of the elite in your field you would be happy to find a new Leica Titanium Special Edition D-Lux 5 camera in your Xmas stocking.

Leica once the sentimental standard of the photography industry is just launching the new Titanium Special Edition version of their compact D-Lux 5 camera, available for purchase at the end of October for around $1350.

This cute little baby comes with a smart looking anodized silver-grey finish presented in a special premium grade leather case and presentation set. Nice!

Other than the finish and special edition presentation accessories which are really nice, the specificationd for the new Titanium Special Edition D-Lux 5 camera are about the same as the standard but less fancy and more affordable Leica D-Lux 5.

Addendum: One friend who is a professional photographer and a long-time classic Leica owner suggests that for value and resale purposes going for the Special Edition version especially if you have both the opportunity and means.

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Innovation: Siri Vocal Personal Assistant

Oct 6, ’11 11:21 AM
Siri

Siri

Many don’t seem to understand the sheer power of Siri one of Apple’s few recent iPhone feature announcements. If you don’t know or understand it. This voice driven personal assistant has the potential to  redefine the very way we use our smartphones, tablets and eventually our computers. In one fell swoop it zooms past and ahead of all the attached and detached Qwerty keyboards and touchscreen virtual keypads. Something like this has been a long sought personal desire of mine ever since I suffered a debilitating stroke that impaired the use of my left side. For me this was truly catastrophic because I am a proud lefty and my overall productivity was affected to the point of keeping me from being able to continue working. In my recovery I have come to rely on Dragon Dictate to navigate my laptop and to input data into my MacBook,  but in general my mobile capability has not caught up to my needs until now. For the fully-abled Siri may not be such a big deal, although it should be. For us differently-abled folk it most certainly is a big step towards wellness and into the future.

So while many complain about the iPhone 5 that didn’t come this week and the tragic loss of Steve Jobs, please let us stop and take a moment to congratulate the team at Apple on launching the innovation of Siri.

I do not really know who invented it or whose intellectual property or patent it is, but I feel that it absolutely can and will drastically change the mobile device landscape now and forever.

The gotcha may be that it will only be available initially on the iPhone 4S. That will seriously limit market adoption to only those that can affort an iPhone 4S and are in a position to go all-in.

It will be interesting to see exactly what plans Apple has for Siri’s future and how all the smartphone and tablet competitors will respond to this challenge. This might also be a good time to consider Nuance’s (Dragon) place in this emerging market.

Siri supports:

  • Device Navigation via Voice commands
  • Message entry and retrieval
  • Dictation and general data entry
  • Make calls
  • Set reminders
  • Perform complex context sensitive searches

More Apple Information about Siri

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Sony Walkman Reborn: NW Z1000 Media Player

Sep 20, ’11 10:54 AM

 

sony-walkman-nw-z1000

Sony Walkman NW-Z1000

In 1978 my trusty Sony Walkman allowed me to carry my favorite music with me and listen to it through high quality lightweight headphones. Now, Sony extended the brand by attaching the Walkman moniker it to their NW Z-1000, Sony’s first Android-based media player.

If you are a retro style fancier and your tastes harken to the 70′s and 80′s when a Walkman was the ultimate device of the hip and cool (exactly what the iPod and iPhone is today). You might want to look at or listen to one.

So, it is a very smart move for Sony to leverage their way back into contemporary device relevance by offering a cool new product that addresses the needs of the terminally cool. This effort starts with a recognizable brand name, and is followed by a slick device. Look for the Walkman media player to hit the marketplace in Japan first then eventually make its way stateside a bit later.

Sony’s iPod touch rival comes especially well featured and provisioned.

Sony NW-Z1000 Features:

  • Runs Android 2.3 (Gingerbread),
  • 4.3-inch WVGA (480×800) touchscreen
  • NVIDIA Tegra 2 1GHz dual-core CPU platform
  • 512MB RAM
  • S-Master MX” sound processing
  • Digital noise-cancellation
  • Dedicated “W” button for the music player app.
  • Additional apps via Android Market
  • Digital compass
  • G-sensor
  • Built-in mono speaker
  • FM radio
  • Lithium ion battery (20+ hours of music, 5 hours video playback)

 

File support: 

  • MPEG-4
  • AVC
  • WMV (Full HD 1080p video playback at 30fps available)
  • MP3
  • ATRAC
  • ATRAC Advanced lossless
  • AAC
  • HE-AAC
  • WMA music file formats.

Connectivity:

  • WiFi 802.11b/g/n
  • GPS
  • DLNA
  • Bluetooth 2.1 (with EDR, AVRCP, A2DP, OPP profiles supported)
  • HDMI output.

Dimensions: 

  • 134.4 × 70.9 × 11.1mm (5.29 x 2.79 x 0.4in)
  • Weighs: 156 g (5.5 oz)
I do not have a release date nor pricing info but I will be on the lookout.
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The Coolness Factor on Paper.Li

Sep 9, ’11 10:56 AM

Paper.Li

Would you like to become a web publisher in a few quick clicks? Sure you would!

Well, I just stumbled onto a really cool web service called Paper.Li.

This new service allowed me to generate my own online newspaper without any expense, fuss and nor muss and then did its magic by gathering some of my Twitter info and crafting together content based on the sources I follow and things I have been interested in or involved with.

I found Paper.Li by viewing Alltop founder Guy Kawasaki’s own paper. I figured if it was cool enough for him with all the resources at his command that It might work for me as well. And lo and behold, it was. Once I completed a basic setup process the service sent me a slick email confirmation pointing me to my new edition. If you have a moment give it a try and get back to me and let me know where to find your publication.

The following is excerpted from the provider’s site:

“Paper.li is a content curation service. It enables people to publish newspapers based on topics they like and treat their readers to fresh news, daily.

We believe that people (and not machines) are the ones qualified to curate the content that matters most. We also think that these same people can greatly help their own communities to find their way through this “massive content world” we live in. We’re here to help!

Every day, around the world, millions of articles are featured on Paper.lis, benefiting millions of readers. We are just at the beginning of an exciting new adventure and we think we’re on to something good.

We love the semantic web, we respect our content creators, we strive for simplicity, and we thrive on feedback.

Read our blog, follow us on Twitter: @smallrivers, talk to us feedback@paperli.com  or join us, we’re hiring …”

This is very cool stuff! Check it out!!!

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COOL: Sony’s Next-Gen Binoculars

Aug 19, ’11 1:52 PM
Sony Binoculars

Sony Digital Binoculars

Every spy, sports enthusiast and horse race fan, girl watcher or bird watcher will definitely want a pair of Sony’s new DEV-3 and DEV-5 digital binoculars with the features of a camcorder with a variety of digital add-ons.

It is capable of snaping 7.1-megapixel stills and recording 1080p HD video in either 2D or 3D with Optical SteadyShot stabilizationThe DEV-5’s 20x zoom is twice that of the DEV-3.  The DEV-5 also comes equipped with an on-board GPS receiver, allowing watchers to know the exact location of what they spot without the need for a separate device.The price is not for the faint of heart or the timid at $1400 and $2000, respectively they are the state-of-the-art. Expect them by November.
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Apple’s New Mothership

Aug 14, ’11 12:39 AM
The Apple Mothership

The Apple Mothership

What do you do when you have more money than Exxon Oil and 1 Infinite Loop in Cupertino is not enough of a statement? Well, with the focus of the world Apple the company is making a statement in architecture by building what many are calling “The Mother Ship”. I hear George Clinton and the P-Funk gang chanting “swing down sweet chariot, come and let me ride”

This new exciting state-of-the-art campus goes a long way to propels Apple into the forefront of Silicon Valley success stories. If there is a Gattica 2 in the works I have no doubt they will use it as a primary location site as will many other futuristic movies.

The above picture is a visualization projected to be realized very soon.

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Samsung White Galaxy S2 in Sept.

Aug 6, ’11 8:35 AM
Samsung Galaxy-S2 Whitet

Samsung Galaxy-S2 Whitet

Could it be true? Will there be an iPhone 5 competitor on the scene before the iPhone 5? Well, according to the usually trusty CNET, Samsung is planning to release a cool white version of the popular Galaxy S2 in early September 2011. Just ahead of the much anticipated release of Apple’s anticipated iPhone 5.

Hardware and software wise, Samsung’s white S2 is exactly the same as the black S2, that has already hit 5 million sales before it’s even reached the shores and stores of the US.

Samsung is already in a bit of a sticky spot  with Apple who views Samsung’s Galaxy line as flagrant copies of erstwhile Apple products and is agressively attempting to halt the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the US.

For Korean’s Samsung all of this will be no small task. A September release will put the white S2 in direct competition with the current and next version of Apple’s iPhone.

A worthy Android iPhone competitor is desired by many consumers but some industry insiders seriously doubt whether companies like Samsung can actually overcome the legal and creative hurdles before them. Let’s all revisit this sizzling topic in September and see then exactly where we are.

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Lenovo 23″ Tablet or Apple MacBook Air?

Aug 5, ’11 10:51 AM

All I really want is an amazing 23″ Tablet. Surprise, surprise! Lenovo is promising to answer my device desire. I don’t want or need lightness or thinness but that would be a plus, I want screen real estate space, pure OS power, and dazzling fast performance. I want expansive connectivity, multiple high-end ports and an optical or Thunderbolt hard disk, toss in a cool  full keyboard.

Wait a second!!! That actually sounds like what I really want and need is a new Macbook Air or maybe a similar styled state-of-the-art notebook.

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SUPER COOL: Google Product Search

Jul 17, ’11 8:34 AM

Google Product Search Beta

If you are a consumer contemplating a significant purchase anytime soon there is a site you must visit. It is Google Product Search.  It is coming through Beta and has benefitted from Google’s failed experiment with Froogle and the result is a service that can prove essential for the enlightened diligent shopper. The site can also be a boon to sellers in ways that no online mall can match. Their policy of no fees or ccommissions permits every manufacturer to list their products free. The lantern result should be the ultimate buyer’s resource.

There are times when the big player cannot even understand or play a game they helped invent. create. or propel into success. Such is the cast of Google in the world of Product Search.  After several attempts at  price comparison services namely Google Products and Froogle, is a price comparison service by Google Inc. They are in beta test stage.

Google Product Search is different from most other price comparison services in that it neither charges any fees for listings, nor accepts payment for products to show up first. Also, it makes no commission on sales. Any company can submit individual product information

 

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