magazine
21
3
Drive de luxe
Bring a little luxury to your desktop with
the LaCie Sphère silver-plated hard drive
designed by Christofle. Combining a
highly reflective surface with a spherical
shape, this beautiful object is made to
stand out in an environment dominated
by hard edges and dark colours. The 1TB
drive is powered by a USB 3.0 cable and
features a blue LED status light. The
£370 price tag includes Backup Assistant
for automatic backups and Private-
Public software for password protection.
A smartphone-enabled bicycle lock that emits
an alarm and alerts when it is tampered with
is being introduced globally with funding from
crowdfunding site Kickstarter.
LOCK8 protects bicycles using six sensors
for motion, light, temperature, position and a
‘hot-wired’ cable. If triggered, they activate a loud
alarm and send an instant alert to the owner.
Alerts can also be sent to friends and the broader
cycling community.
With integrated GPS and GSM technology,
Lock8 allows a bicycle to be located and tracked
by a smartphone app that is also used for locking
and unlocking. For convenience, the e-Key can be
programmed to unlock automatically when the
owner is just a few feet away.
The e-Key and the bike’s location can be
shared with a family member or friend who can
then find, unlock and use it. This feature also
makes it possible for a company or individual
to rent out bikes out through the app or via
Facebook.
Turn your phone into
a tablet
The Phonepad from EICUS turns a
Samsung smartphone into a tablet
or games console. The smartphone
docking unit has a 10.1in LED
touchscreen so you can view
smartphone content, including games,
films, web pages, presentations
and video calls on a larger display
in portrait or landscape mode. The
£149.99 unit uses the smartphone’s
tariff and connection plan and its
3G/4G andWiFi connectivity.
Beauty and brains
CSR has developed connected
jewellery to demonstrate how
Bluetooth Smart chips can be used in
wearable technology. The necklaces
contain integrated electronics that
enable the wearer to adjust the
pendant’s colour or brightness to suit
a mood or outfit. They can also alert
users to new notifications on their
smartphones.
CSR recently surveyed consumers
for their views on wearable technology:
more than two thirds agreed that it’s
important for wearable technology
devices to look good (72%) and suit
their personal style (67%).
Paul Williamson, Director of Low
Power Wireless at CSR, said: “Many of
the wearable technology devices hitting
the shelves today offer great features
but don’t take into consideration that
consumers want beautiful, cutting-edge
devices that complement their personal
style. If wearable technology is to reach
its potential it needs to appeal to more
than just technology lovers.”
CSR’s jewellery is powered by the
Bluetooth Smart CSR1012, which has
been engineered specifically for the
wearable technology market and small
form factors. It enables the jewellery to
connect to smartphones using a fraction
of the power of standard Bluetooth.
Wave goodbye to coins & plastic
From this spring, shoppers in the UK will be able to pay
for goods and services with a wave of their smartphone
instead of coins or plastic.
VodafoneWallet uses Near Field Communications
(NFC) technology and equivalent EMV-compliant payment
technologies to send encrypted data over short distances,
allowing it to support secure transactions in both payment
and non-payment environments.
As well as allowing users to buy goods, VodafoneWallet
can hold travel cards, loyalty cards, gift cards and vouchers.
Over time, as adoption grows, VodafoneWallet could replace
plastic cards and wallets completely.
The first mobile payment app available for the wallet is
Vodafone SmartPass, developed in conjunction with Visa.
The pre-pay solution enables shoppers to pay for goods with
a smartphone at any Visa contactless payment terminal,
including more than 1.2 million in Europe.
To encourage wider adoption of VodafoneWallet,
Vodafone has used the GlobalPlatform open standard, which
is claimed to make it easy for banks, retailers and transport
companies to host services in the wallet.
VodafoneWallet will initially be available on NFC-enabled
smartphones from Samsung, Sony and HTC3. Customers
who don’t have an NFC-compatible smartphone can still use
Vodafone SmartPass by downloading the app and applying
for an ‘NFC tag’ that can be attached to their device.
01732 759025
A smarter bicycle lock
