What’s not to love about the latest technology and the hottest trendy products? Our Cutting Edge section keeps you on the vanguard of electronic wizardry with our featured gallery of gadgets that are newly launched or coming soon to a store or website near you.
MOUSE CUBED
The Logitech Cube ($70) certainly doesn’t look like your typical computer mouse, but that is precisely what this box-shaped peripheral is. This mouse is extremely portable with a shape and size that will fit any pocket. Scrolling is done by sliding your finger just as you would on your smartphone screen. When you lift the Cube into the air, it switches to presenter mode, allowing you to click to advance to the next slide and turn it over in your hand and click again to go back.
THE PHONE THAT KEEPS ON GIVING
The ASUS PadFone is a smartphone that can become a tablet, which can transform into a notebook, and also has a stylus that can double as a Bluetooth headset. For starters, the phone itself is an Android 4.0 smartphone with a 4.3-inch AMOLED display. It can be placed inside the PadFone Station to essentially give you a 10.1-inch Android tablet. The PadFone Station can also become a full-fledged notebook with the QWERTY chiclet keyboard mobile dock. Finally, the PadFone Stylus Headset can be used to scribble, draw, and write on the PadFone Station or pick up calls. Pricing and U.S. carrier details were not available at press time.
ENJOY THE VIEW
Sony’s newest addition to its line of NEX cameras is finally here. The Alpha NEX-7 ($1350), originally supposed to arrive this past November, will finally hit store shelves this month. The 24.3-megapixel camera provides a suitable alternative to DSLRs with the same APS-C sensor size and the always attractive feature of interchangeable lenses—yet the NEX-7 is about half the size and weight of a typical DSLR. The camera also features the Tru-Finder OLED electronic viewfinder with 2359K dots for amazing resolution and high contrast ratio for incredible depth.
GET EXCITED
If thin is your thing, then you should be excited. Toshiba’s Excite X10 ($530 for 16GB and $600 for 32GB) will be the thinnest 10-inch tablet on the market when it’s released sometime in the next couple of months. The Android tablet also has all of your favorite ports conveniently built-in, including micro-USB and HDMI ports as well as a micro-SD slot to share content and files with other devices. The Excite X10 is powered by a dual-core processor and has front- and rear-facing cameras.
PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE
Pivothead’s video recording sunglasses capture your memories hands-free from your own point-of-view. There are four models: Aurora, Durango (pictured), Moab, and Recon. Each is available in multiple colors and costs $349. The glasses can record 1080p HD video or take 8-megapixel still images. While these sporty designs are great for adventure seekers looking to get a first-hand view of their trip down the slope or climbing a mountain, the company envisions more practical applications as well. For instance, marketers could use the glasses to personalize the patient experience with tutorials, educational videos, and testimonials all seen through the patient’s eyes.
