Val Kolton has a lot of ideas. I know him first as the man who runs V-Moda, but he's also a hotshot DJ. I met with him in NYC last week for a sneak preview of his brand-new Crossfade M-100 over-the-ear headphones. Kolton had just received the first production batch and hadn't actually listened to the completed headphones yet. I had the honor of listening first, even before the V-Man, and the M-100s totally knocked me out. It has a closed-back 'phone design, but the sound was remarkably open and spacious, a rare feat for a closed design. … Read more
We'd totally understand if you were too busy hiding from robot mules and cyborg cockroaches this week to keep up with Crave. We're pretty sure the coast is clear now, though, so please come out and catch up on what you missed.
With the launch of the Apple iPhone 5, a legion of excellent Android handsets, and the rise of Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 operating system, choosing the right smartphone has never been more difficult.
On the bright side, all these options mean greater choice, which is a good thing -- if you're armed with the knowledge necessary to make smart shopping decisions. Sit tight as we break down what you need to know to choose the right mobile platform and model to fit your needs.… Read more
We're now in the second week of the NFL football season, and if you're a fan of the game you probably already know when and where you're going to watch your favorite team play this weekend. But when it's not game watching time in the middle of the week, or even at halftime, I found some great games that make you a part of the action without getting too involved.
There are full American football game options at the App Store like Madden NFL 12 and Gameloft's NFL series, but neither are nearly as good as what you would find on a console and the touch-screen interfaces leave a lot to be desired. That's why instead of talking about those games here, I went with easier to pick up and play arcade-like football games that won't keep you glued to your iPhone for a long time.
This week's collection of iOS apps let you focus on playing as specific players on a football team. The first focuses on running, letting you dodge tackles, and even showboat as you run into the end zone. The second lets you play as a kicker, sending the football through the goal posts or trying to get the perfect punt right by the goal line. The third puts you in the shoes of a quarterback as you swipe to make perfect passes to moving receivers.… Read more
The aesthetics of the modern keyboard reminds me of the U.S. car industry several years ago: uninspired.
Enter the Orée wooden keyboard, nearly made in full out of Mother Nature's greatest asset. French entrepreneur Julien Salanave came up with Orée and works in collaboration with a small design team in southern France to produce the wooden Bluetooth 3.0 wireless keyboard. … Read more
You wouldn't know it from the sales numbers, the monstrous profits and the insidious hype, but the decline of iOS, the iPhone and perhaps even all of Apple 2.0 (the 21st century iteration) is now in progress.
This week's Apple media event to introduce an iPhone 5 utterly devoid of any new innovations for the first time ever confirms to me something that I began to suspect at WWDC 2011 -- the Cupertino juggernaut has reached its zenith and has since begun to coast back to earth (although very slowly, with the help of a parachute made of billions in cash). To put it more simply, Apple and the iPhone have jumped the shark.… Read more
Robot chefs can prepare everything from pancakes to sushi, and now a California startup is trying to put droids to work on farm produce as well.
Blue River Technology this week announced $3.1 million in funding for its plans to develop robots that can automatically kill weeds and thin out plants like lettuce that need adequate room to grow.
Both tasks can require large human work crews, driving up the cost of the produce.
The startup's prototype Lettuce Bot uses a camera to image the plants beneath it. Machine learning algorithms then identify which ones are desirable and … Read more
Zoom lenses sell cameras these days, so it's no surprise that manufacturers are doing everything they can to get longer lenses into increasingly smaller bodies.
A 3x or 5x zoom lens used to be the standard for ultracompact cameras -- those measuring 1 inch thick or slimmer -- but in 2012, you can easily find a skinny point-and-shoot with a 10x optical zoom.
The frontrunner here is the sub-$250 Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX150 thanks to its excellent features, fast autofocus, and the quality of its pictures and video (though its color accuracy could be better). Most of the category consists of sub-$200 cameras, though, so there are options if you're just looking for a simple pocket camera with a long lens.… Read more
Target has just painted a bull's-eye on the back of the iPhone 5, and that's good for customers looking to reserve Apple's latest flagship ahead of its September 21 shipping date.
Customers can head to select Target stores -- the nearly 1,500 outlets with Target Mobile centers, to be specific -- to preorder the device. While Target hasn't shared how many units it has to sell, expect their stock and carrier choice to be limited.
Apple is selling the iPhone 5 in 16GB ($199.99), 32GB ($299.99), and 64GB ($399.99) capacities, and in … Read more
