PLUGHITZ Live Presents (Video)

The products that are a part of your smart home ecosystem can connect to each other and work together. How does that happen? The simple answer to that question is Z-Wave.

Todd spoke with Mitch from Z-Wave Alliance at CES 2018. Mitch gives an easy to understand explanation of what Z-Wave is and what it does. The internet of Things (IoT) is powered in part by Z-Wave. Consumers can look for products that have a little Z-Wave logo on them, which means that the product is going to work with all your other IoT stuff.

In addition to explaining what Z-Wave is, Mitch and Todd discuss some of the ways it is currently being used. They also talk about how Z-Wave might influence products in the future.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

Are you sure those leftovers are still safe to eat? You may have forgotten how long the food has been in the refrigerator. This causes us to throw away food - that might still be good - because we are afraid of getting sick from it. Ovie solves this problem with their smart food storage products.

Todd spoke with Stacie from Ovie at CES 2018. Ovie created Smarterware: smart food storage that is designed to help you track, remember and use the food that is in your fridge before it goes bad. It is a system of smart tags, containers, clips and bands.

Put the tag on your food container and push a button. Tell your favorite digital assistant (Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri) to tell Ovie what is in the container. This will trigger Ovie to track the food for you for four days. A green light on the tag indicates that the food is still safe to eat. A yellow light indicates the food should be eaten soon. When that happens, you will get a notification on your phone reminding you to eat that food before it goes bad. In addition, you will get a recipe recommendation that uses that food and that is based on the foods that you already have at home. Ovie makes any fridge into a smart fridge.

The Smarterware tags will retail for $59 for a set of three, and $89 for a set of three tagged containers. A Kickstarter campaign is planned to launch soon, and you can signup to be notified when the campaign is ready on their website. The planned delivery date for the product is Fall 2018.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

Panoramic cameras are interesting because they can record in ways that other cameras cannot. The Pilot Era is a professional level panoramic camera from Pisoftware. They estimate it will be priced at approximately $3,000 after it becomes available.

Don spoke with Adler and William from Pisoftware. They discussed the Pilot Era panoramic camera. The device they brought to CES 2018 was a prototype. Those who are interested can request a trial of Pilot Era. There is potential you will be selected to test the Pilot Era panoramic camera.

The Pilot Era can provide 8K panoramic video and image, at a quality that works quite well with VR goggles. It is an all-in-one machine. You don't need a PC to do the post-staging of your video. Instead, you can interact directly with the camera through the screen. Your video finishes inside the camera.

There are four cameras on the device, one on each side. The lenses are slightly tilted up so they can see what is above them, allowing the lenses to stay in focus. The Pilot Era does real time live streaming with 4K or 6K stitching.

Interview by Don Baine, The Gadget Professor.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

Diabetes is a disease that affects increasing numbers of people in developed countries where obesity, lack of exercise and genetics are causing epidemic levels of the condition. Simplistically, the pancreas becomes unable to manage blood sugar levels as it (usually) can't to produce the right amount of insulin. Don and Nicholas discuss the problems facing diabetics and how DiabiLive's new app can help manage the disease.

Winner of a CES Innovation Award, DiabiLive have a developed a smartphone app which calculates the correct amount of insulin to inject based on three parameters (physical activity, diet, sugar level). In addition, the app plans ahead based on past history to warn of possible low sugar levels. The app's algorithms are based on medical science and protocols: the app is awaiting FDA approval, hopefully within 2018.

Interview by Don Baine, The Gadget Professor.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

Having friends round to your house for multiplayer games is always fun, but the more there are, the smaller each player's screen becomes as they share part of the TV. Split even a big screen into quarters and the immersive effect is lost. But what if all the players had the same large screen? MirraViz have got it covered. The MirraViz projection screens are highly reflective but brightly reflect the light back in a tight cone, rather than scattering the light widely as a nomal white screen would do. When used with a video projector, this means that only someone sitting close to the projector sees the image. Think of the screen like a reflective street sign in the distance lit up by headlights: only the driver and passengers see the bright reflection from the sign.

As light beams don't interfere with each other, the screen can reflect light back from multiple sources without distortion, so several projectors can be used with one screen. As a result, each player sees only their gameplay, but on the full sized screen. Whoa! It's kind of hard to imagine, but think of walking around in front of the screen. Only one gaming screen is seen at a time but as you walk round the screen changes between players. Don't worry, it takes Don a little time to get his head round it too. It's similar in concept to the old PlayStation TVs, except you don't need glasses to make it work. The screens are entirely passive - there's no electronics - and the video projectors don't have to be massively powerful because the reflectivity is so good. Personal or pico projects with less than a thousand lumens are fine.

MirraViz sells combinations of hardware and screens for home entertainment or gaming setups, and they sell the screens on their own too. A 52" screen costs $699, 75" is $899 and 94" is $1299. They also offer full experience setups.

Interview by Don Baine, The Gadget Professor.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

When it comes to PC computers, there are basically two styles to choose from: a plastic box, or a flashy case with LED lights for gamers. What if neither of those two options fits your personal style? Monkey Bidouille has an aesthetically pleasing solution for you.

Don spoke with Antoine from Monkey Bidouille at CES 2018. The company is made of just two people. They have created a PC case that is made of wood and aluminum. It uses noble materials, and is handmade in France. Their PC case is designed to sit horizontally. You can put whatever components you want to inside the case.

Monkey Bidouille brought a prototype of their PC case to CES 2018. They launched a Kickstarter shortly before CES 2018, with a limit of 50 units. Their plan is to eventually make it possible for people to customize the design of the PC case when they place their order on the website. The wood can be screen printed, in a similar way to how the designs are placed on skateboards.

Interview by Don Baine, The Gadget Professor.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

Our shoes protect our feet from the environment. E-Vone has created a smart shoe that can provide a different kind of protection. These shoes send an alert when the wearer has fallen down and enables a rescue team to find that person.

Don spoke with Anne from E-Vone. They have created a smart shoe with technology that can detect when the wearer has fallen. The shoe instantly sends an alarm through the secure cloud to a rescue team. After that, the smart shoe vibrates to let the wearer know that a rescue team is coming to help them.

The shoe was designed for more than one population. There is a version designed for workers who work in isolated situations. This shoe is durable and has a steel toe. Another version of the shoe was designed for older people who want to stay in their own homes instead of in an assisted living situation. E-Vone makes comfortable smart shoes in styles for women and styles for men.

To make this work, E-Vone is selling a service. It requires a service fee (of 30 Euros a month). The person pays for the service and leases the shoes. They receive a new pair of smart shoes each year. E-Vone will start selling this service in France and Europe in September of 2018. They intend to release the service in the United States and Japan in two years.

Interview by Don Baine, The Gadget Professor.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

Mobile gaming is fun, but there are limitations. While some video games are specifically designed to be played on a smartphone or tablet, most are not. This leaves gamers with the frustrating problem of trying to play a game that doesn't function very well with touchscreens. Gamevice solves this problem by turning your smartphone into a console device.

Todd spoke with Rob from Gamevice at CES 2018. Gamevice is the name of the both the company and the product.

Gamevice is a controller that hooks onto the lightning port on your smartphone. It gives immediate feedback on any game you are playing. It turns games that are really poor on a touchscreen into games that actually have a chance to be played on a mobile device. Gamevice lets you easily play Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto, MOBA's like Lineage, Street Fighter, and more video games on a mobile device. They have about 1,000 games in their catalog.

Gamevice can be tightened up in the back. It fits anything for a iPhone 6 to an iPhone X, is compatible with Android phones, and can be used on iPads and iPad minis. You can purchase Gamevice for $79.99.

Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

OWC is one of the stalwarts of the Mac world, bringing enhancements and accessories to Apple devices year after year. Let's be honest, this is the team that gives you back the ports that Apple takes away. This time round, OWC is expanding its range of Thunderbolt 3 products. Don finds out what's new with AJ from OWC.

Incredibly, OWC is celebrating its 30th anniversary: the company started when Apple launched the iMac - remember the ones with the fruitcoloured cases? Today, OWC offer products for both Windows and Mac, and in particular, there's a new Thunderbolt 3 dock out with support for both OSes. The new dock "offers 12 ports including dual Thunderbolt 3, five USB 3.1, Gigabit Ethernet, S/PDIF, combo audio, Mini DisplayPort, SD Card Slot, and supports laptop charging". Sadly, there's no Firewire but if you need that, check out the older version. Available in Q1 2018, it's priced at either $279 or $299. Video says one, press release says the other.

Also of interest to speed freaks is the ThunderBlade v4, which is the fastest external drive on the market today, shifting an astonishing 2800 MB/s read and 2450 MB/s write. It's pricey with MSRP from $1,199 (1 TB) to $4,999 (8TB), but you get what you pay for and I'm sure it'll be in demand from video producers. Again, there's a difference in price between video and press release.

Interview by Don Baine, The Gadget Professor.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.

Converting a house into a smart home shouldn't mean replacing every electrical device for a new smart model. A cheaper and greener way is to add smart features in with wireless accessories. A good example here is Skylink Nova which adds smart capabilities to automatic garage doors at relatively low cost. Don and Frank take a closer look at Skylink Nova and its accompanying ecosystem.

The Skylink Nova is wired into an existing garage door opener using the standard connections used for the interior open/close button. Once connected up, the Nova can be remotely controlled with the Skylink smartphone app (iOS and Android). Nova is also compatible with If This Then That (IFTTT) platform and Alexa so the garage door can be opened (or closed) by talking to an Echo.

The Nova itself looks like an LED light fixture and works as a smart home hub too, communicating with up to 100 smart devices. In addition, it can detect sirens from smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in the house. When one of those is heard, Nova will automatically open your garage door to aid in ventilation in the case of an emergency. Skylink's Nova will be on sale in the spring for under $100.

Interview by Don Baine, The Gadget Professor.

This episode was originally published on Geek News Central.