We probably should have seen this one coming.

The Department of Homeland Security is researching ways to hack into gaming consoles to access private data, ostensibly for use as evidence in tracking credit cards, passwords, and other sensitive information. Armed with this technology, investigators could probably recover data even from a system that had been wiped – so be careful if you intend to sell a used console, particularly if you’re outside the United States.

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Google announced Project Glass, its new augmented reality project, today on the Google+ social network.

Though details are scarce at this point, Google included a promotional video with the announcement demonstrating some of the potential uses for Project Glass. Like many other such projects, the goal of Project Glass is to integrate social media and sharing functions into everyday life with needing to pull out your smartphone, supported by a wide variety of scanning, media, bulletin and other application functions. The potential device in design photos is a nifty little headset reminiscent of nothing so much as Garrus’ visor eyepiece from the Mass Effect series.

Augmented reality is always an ambitious undertaking – so if you ever wanted to live like a video game character with your very own HUD, this would be your best shot. (No word yet on money counters or extra lives, though.)

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We met with Able Planet at CES 2012 and got a quick preview of their upcoming BT400 True Fidelity® Bluetooth Sport Headset. Recently, Able Planet sent me a unit to test for myself.

The BT400 is an ultra-light, compact headset using Bluetooth for its audio connection. There are no other inputs aside from the port to charge the device via USB (included) or USB AC adapter (not included). After charging for three hours, the BT400 should last up to eight hours depending on which functions are in use: audio only, microphone, etc. When not in use, the BT400 can be folded up and stored in the included cloth bag.

The BT400 is expected to retail for $125 when released in March.

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Join me on this horribly imaginary journey. The most important thing in the last 12 minutes of your life just happened and you just have to post it on facebook! You reach for your phone only to find that the battery is dead! You could use your computer to provide your information-ally starved facebook friends of the cute cat video you found or the copy and pasted chain mail/status that just arrived, but who uses computers anymore?!? They are archaic machines used by old fogies who think the internet is made of tubes! Whatever shall you do?!

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Trauben’s Overall

The Consumer Electronics Show is one of the largest and most daunting conferences to cover, and the menagerie of high-tech gadgets and gizmos is staggering. After a day at CES the scope and scale of the electronics industry is unmistakable.

The variety, however, is sometimes a little more in question.

The electronics industry is a pack of hungry companies and developers fighting over finite market share. Much of the time a company presenting a product has their competitors right next door presenting a similar-but-not-quite-the-same product, and the two rivals each assure the consumer or reporter that theirs is the Unique Solution with Innovative Design and High-Quality Material and any number of other perks rating capitalized titles which the discerning customer will surely appreciate. The alternative is monopoly, of course, but I’d rarely realized, for example, just how many companies boast about their mobile device cases or headphones or television designs.

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Nyko, a steadfast name in the 3rd-party gaming peripheral market, has been busy expanding their business focus this year.  At this year’s CES, they unveiled their Yo Gabba Gabba! line.

The first, flashiest item that caught our eye was the Yo Gabba Gabba! Muno Time combination clock/radio with integrated portable charger.  Looking somewhat like an animated red pickle, the charger is listed as supporting iPod, iPhone, Nintendo DS and 3DS devices.  The alarm feature can play songs off the connected portable device or one of the included songs like “Don’t Bite Your Friends”.

The second Yo Gabba Gabba! product is the Brobee Hip Pack.  Primarily designed as a mobile device carrying case, the Hip Pack has multiple internal pockets to keep cords and other peripherals off of your portable device screen.  A screen cleaner comes included in the pack.  Both products will be released in the summer and prices have yet to be released.

Nyko also had a few of their new portable device offerings as well.  The PlayStation Vita received a lot of love with the Power Grip, Speaker Stand, and Game Case Pro among the more interesting offers.

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SteelSeries invited us up to their suite at the Aria during CES to show off a few new products that will be coming on the market this year.

The Flux demonstrates SteelSeries’ desires to get into more mobile technology. While not as large and bold as their other audio offerings, the Flux does have portability and potential for customization on its side. The headset folds down to a compact form-factor so you can drop it in a bag or pocket. The Flux has an audio jack on each ear, so that you can plug in on whichever side you prefer. In addition, the other jack can be daisy-chained to another headset to share your tunes.

Currently there are two base models planned, in black/grey and black/purple, with ear cups and outer plats being able to be swapped out for other colors. Coming ion Q2 of 2012, a customization tool currently dubbed the “Flux Capacitor” will be released to allow you to customize a Flux to your liking before purchase. No pricing information was available for the Flux.

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Maxell Corporation and Wearable Inc. demonstrated the second-generation AirStash wireless thumb drive at the Consumer Electronics Show.

The AirStash 2′s press release calls the AirStash the “first and only wireless flash drive.”  It uses a built-in web server and media streamer to share data with up to eight devices wirelessly within 50 meters and has a storage capacity of either eight or sixteen gigabytes. The AirStash can operate for up to seven hours without being charged via its USB connection and can be accessed wirelessly by any device with WiFi b/g/n 2.4GhZ capability and a WebDAV or web browser application.

For more information on the AirStash, check the official site.

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Razer took some time during CES 2012 to show off the latest prototype of their Project Fiona tablet.

This tablet runs on an Intel Core i7, and is essentially a higher end laptop. Combine the underlying Windows 7 OS and add accelerometers and a touch screen to the already obvious controller rig around the main screen and you have a system with more potential inputs than a comparable tablet or laptop. Razer boasts that Project Fiona offers “the most immersive gaming experience on a tablet.”

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Award-winning peripheral manufacturer iLuv displayed a wide selection of tablet and smartphone accessories at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show.

Newest on iLuv’s list is its WorkStation Series, a lineup of combined docking stations seeking to fill the niche normally occupied by stationary desktop or netbook PCs. The iMM517 WorkStation Pro includes speakers and a mounting stand and is compatible with a Bluetooth keyboard, while the WorkStation iMM737 incorporates a built-in laptop-style keyboard. The Professional WorkStation Portfolio iCK826 combines a tablet case for the iPad and iPad 2 with an incorporated kickstand and a detachable Bluetooth keyboard. These models are compatible with a range of Apple products (including the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Nano), while the similar iSK912 and iSK914 are equivalents of the iCK826 for the Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 and 8.9 respectively. The iSM527 WorkStation Pro is compatible with both Samsung products as a parallel for the iMM517.

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