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Accessories

An Official Case for the Raspberry Pi

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An Official Case for the Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi Foundation launches an official case for the popular Raspberry Pi micro-computer, one the foundation says has "the kind of real beauty and design that our products try to encompass."

Designed by Kinneir Dufort, the Rapberry Pi case has a removable top and sides to accommodate particular deployments or environment. It also hackable, with features specific areas of weakness allowing for drilling or mounting.

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An Elite Controller for the Xbox One

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An Elite Controller for the Xbox One

Microsoft shows off what it describes as a "an elite controller for the elite gamer" at E3 2015-- the Elite, a redesigned Xbox One wireless controller with hot-swappable components and customisable builds.

Users can replace thumbsticks, paddles and D-pads with multiple options included in the package. The controller also features 4 interchangeable paddles on the back to add even more game controls, while the triggers can be set to hair triggers via lock switches.

Further fine-tuning comes through a companion app (Xbox One and Windows 10) allowing users to adjust thumbstick sensitivities, button assignments and the like before saving as multiple user profiles on the cloud. Users can even load up to 2 profiles on the controller itself, and switch between one or the other via built-in profile switch.

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How to Add Touch-Sensitivity to Keyboards

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How to Add Touch-Sensitivity to Keyboards

The humble keyboard might get a touch-sensitive upgrade in the near future through the SpaceBar, a piece of Synaptics technology allowing OEMs to add "unique gesture features" to keyboard space bars.

The SpaceBar essentially turns the space bar into a touch-sensitive surface complete with customisable gesture controls, such as thumb swipes (for word selection) and touchscreen-style double-thumb pinch zooming. Also included are 5 "logical buttons" users can program via macro editor to provide further shortcuts for desktop functions or game controls.

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The Ricoh "Power-Generating Rubber"

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The Ricoh

Ricoh reveals what it calls "Energy-Generating Rubber"-- a flexible material able to convert pressure and vibration into electric energy with "high efficiency."

The company says the material combines the best properties of two current piezoelectric (as in able to convert mechanical strain into electrical charge), ceramics and polymers. Ceramics generate "relatively high" electricity but are fragile and heavy, while polymers are flexible but only produce "very slight" power.

On the other hand the Energy-Generating Rubber promises to be a better solution, being a soft and flexible sheet with the electrical output of piezoelectric ceramics. The flexibility also allows for easy processing, the company adds.

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The Modular Smartphone Case

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The Modular Smartphone Case

A startup takes inspiration from the Project Ara modular smartphone to provide a means for customers to add further functionality to their current smartphones-- the Nexpaq, "a truly modular smartphone case.”

Like the Project Ara, the Nexpaq concept consists of swappable physical modules one can slot in a case clipping to the smartphone's back. The case features a built-in 1000mAh battery and space for up to 6 modules, which come in 12 varieties. These include an additional battery, amplified speaker, SD card reader, LED flashlight, 64GB flash drive, thermometer, air quality monitor and breathalyser.

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An Initiative in Universal Stylus

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An Initiative in Universal Stylus

A number of OEMs, stylus and touch controller makers announce the Universal Stylus Initiative (USI), an organisation with the aim of developing and promoting an industry specification for an active stylus.

USI founding members include Atmel, Hanvon, Intel, Lenovo, Sharp, Synaptics, Wacom, and Waltop (at the Promoter level), as well as Dell, eGalax_eMPIA, Elan and Focal Tech (at the Contributor level).

The organization's plan is to create a cross-platform stylus standard allowing for seamless communications between active styluses and touch-enabled devices from multiple vendors. It hopes to publish an initial USI specification by Q2 2015.

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A HydraDock for the New MacBook

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A HydraDock for the New MacBook

Accessory maker KickShark takes to Kickstarter to provide customers with a means to add more ports to the new 12-inch MacBook-- the HydraDock, a hub providing an array of no less than 11 ports.

The recently launched new MacBook replaces all ports with a single USB-C adapter.

The 11 ports within the HydraDock include a 4 full-size USB 3.0, two USB-C, HDMI, mini DisplayPort, ethernet, SDXC card slot and 3.5mm jack. One curious omission is Thunderbolt 2.0, which is found in the MacBook Pro.

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MIT Presents the Smallest Trackpad

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MIT Presents the Smallest Trackpad

MIT Media Laboratory researchers present what is probably the smallest trackpad out there-- the NailO, a thumbnail-sized wireless input device one can wear on their, well, thumbnail.

The tiny device packs a battery, Bluetooth radio, multiple processor and a capacitative trackpad, and according to the makers allows control of smartphones, laptops and other wearable devices while the user has their hands full. It can also augment other interfaces (such as toggle between symbol sets while typing) and even allow for subtle communications of the sending a quick text during a meeting variety.

“It’s very unobtrusive,” researcher Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao says. “When I put this on, it becomes part of my body. I have the power to take it off, so it still gives you control over it. But it allows this very close connection to your body.”

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WSJ: Google Takes on Battery Research

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WSJ: Google Takes on Battery Research

According to the Wall Street Journal Google has a team of researchers creating the batteries powering the CE of the future, including improved lithium-ion batteries and cutting-edge solid-state alternatives.

The four-man team is led by ex-Apple battery expert Dr. Ramesh Bhardwaj, and makes part of the secretive Google X research lab. According to the WSJ Google has "at least" 20 ongoing battery-dependent products, ranging from self-driving cars, wearables and even disease-diagnosing devices.

Particularly relevant to consumer devices are solid-state batteries, which transmit current over a solid thin film, rather than a liquid. This allows for thinner, flexible batteries ideal for small mobile devices-- even if researchers doubt whether the technology can be mass produced cheaply.

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