Article and photos by Marcus Siu
SAN FRANCISCO, NOVEMBER 2, 2016 – Editors, journalists, reporters, and bloggers from top-tier tech blogs, national dailies, influential magazines, lifestyle media, and local TV and radio affiliates got together at the exclusive second annual getgeeked SF press event that took place at the Terra Gallery. Over forty companies showed off their latest products just in time for the holidays. Unfortunately, I was unable to spend as much time as I wished at each of the booths, and there were great items throughout the show, but here are a few of my favorite things that definitely caught my “geeky” eye.
SENGLED: What a brilliant concept! Taking an everyday product like the light bulb and incorporating it into an internet of things device, such as a bluetooth or wi-fi speaker or even a HD camera that monitors your home. “Smart” lighting is what Sengled has been doing for awhile, which is why they are “light years ahead” of those in the industry. Thanks to the longevity of LED technology, bulbs will last up to 25,000 hours, or over 21+years. Because of that, bulbs now outlive cats and are now a much more permanent part of your home just like your pets, so why not incorporate a high quality speaker into them, such as JBL’s? Just download the app and you can equalize the sound and dim the lights for your particular mood. The Sengled Pulse kit includes two and can expand for a total of eight, instantaneously making it an in-ceiling speaker system! If you’re looking for light and sound, then the Sengled Pulse is the way to go.
EON: Eon Scooter looks like a winner. There are two different versions of these electric scooters; one for students that go around college, and one that is extremely powerful that can go up the hills of San Francisco. The Pro version goes for about 30 miles a battery charge, which takes about two hours, and the lighter version goes for about 15 miles a battery charge. The price is $399 for the pro version, and $199 for the light version. The speed is about 25 miles an hour and it seems like it was engineered for getting around crowded and traffic congested areas like San Francisco. Especially along the Marina and Embarcadero, this would seem like the way to travel anywhere in the city.
Game 7 of the World Series being streamed through the smartphone, thanks to SlimPort’s HDMI adapter. Photo by Marcus Siu.
SLIMPORT: There are times when I wished I was at two different places at the same time. This night was no exception, as I wished I was at home watching the historic Game 7 of the World Series to watch the Chicago Cubs win their first World Series since 1908, as well as attending this great show. Luckily, SlimPort was demonstrating their HDMI adapters, which uses a single cable to deliver high-definition audio (8 channels of audio) and video (4K, 1080p and 3-D) from a smartphone, tablet or other mobile device to a wide range of external displays, including projectors, PC monitors and HDTVs. Besides HDMI, the adapters also support DisplayPort, DVI and VGA connected devices. They do no require power and are able to charge your smartphones in the meantime while it’s in playback. One caveat, is not all mobile devices manufacturers support SlimPort, like Apple and Samsung, since they have their own proprietary adapters. However, at $30.00, they make great stocking stuffers.
http://www.slimportconnect.com/
Harman’s JBL line of waterproof bluetooth speakers, including the JBL Xtreme, JBL Charge 3, JBL Clip 2, and the interactive light show JBL Pulse 2. Photo by Marcus Siu.
JBL: Who hasn’t seen that great TV commercial that Harman put out for their JBL waterproof speakers involving dancing dolphins on the water? They really do sound pretty good coming from a smartphone as demonstrated by the rep at the booth. The JBL Xtreme’s earth shaking-sound comes from its four active transducers and two visible bass radiators. The speakers include built-in rechargeable Li-ion battery supports up to 15 hours of playtime and charges devices via dual USB ports. A pretty sweet package for a list price of $299.95. For those who like a smaller compact size, the Charge 3’s has a built-in rechargeable Li-ion battery supports up to 20 hours of playtime and charges smartphones and tablets via USB, as well. The list price is $149.95. Both speakers wirelessly connect up to 3 smartphones or tablets to the speaker and takes turns playing powerful stereo sound. More importantly, when an incoming call comes to your smartphone, the music turns off and you will be able to hear your caller with crystal clear sound from your speaker with the touch of a button thanks to the noise and echo-cancelling speakerphone.
Lenovo’s Yoga 910 latest ultra slim and powerful laptop is perfect for your media. Photo by Marcus Siu
LENOVO: I just love the gorgeous Yoga 910 Lenovo laptop that also can be folded any which way and used as a tablet and a viewing device. It’s all metal unibody design with its watchband hinge, and ultra slim and sleek design allows you to fold up, down, backward, forward, vertical tent style, horizontal tent style, sideways, or anyway you prefer for your optimal viewing pleasure. It’s not only extremely lightweight and the slimmest available laptop on the market, but it’s a powerhouse Ultra book, as well, featuring the latest Intel i7 7500U GPU processor, with 8GB of RAM memory, a 256GB SSD drive, and a backlit keyboard display. With it’s 4K (3840X2160) resolution and HD audio featuring JBL speakers and Dolby Premium Audio, it basically has the best resolution and picture for viewing media for any laptop, as well. If you’re an audiophile or videophile who likes to carry their entertainment like I do, then I’d go for this. It comes with a micro HDMI video out, which means you can connect it to any monitor or TV that uses HDMI inputs and use it as a high quality media player. That makes it portable perfect for showing vacation pictures that are loaded on the computer to show to family and friends. From $1049.99. I wouldn’t quite recommend it for a student or businessman though, as it would be too distracting to get any work done, because it’s too entertainingly immersive. For that, I’d recommend the Lenovo ThinkPad or IdeaPad, unless you’re extremely disciplined.
Meet Yumi the A.I. Robot. Photo by Marcus Siu.
OMATE: Meet Yumi – the World’s First Home Robot powered by Android and Amazon Alexa Artificial Intelligence created by Omate. Yumi can hold a conversation with anyone in the family, kids and adults alike. Yumi has been built on AI from the ground up; it is an incredibly smart and cute robot, a personal assistant, a music hub and a smart-home control point all in one. Instead of talking to something impersonal, like Amazon’s bluetooth speaker housing for Alexa, Yumi puts a face and personality into the home, and makes a great additional member to the family household, much like the family pet. Sounds like a great gift for the holidays for the entire family.
OZOBOT: Speaking of robots, Ozobot, the robot creator, integrated an all-new action-packed adventure with their first partnership with Marvel. Transforming the smart and social Evo into the ultimate super robot, Evo Marvel Action Skin are harnessing the powers from Stark Academy’s mightiest heroes (Hulk, Iron Man, Black Widow, Captain America, and Ultron) to provide an epic learning and gaming experience that teaches kids to code while connecting them with friends. It’s smart meets super as users call on the power of The Avengers to train in Stark Academy to master the field of robotics. Wish I had these when I was a kid. The street date when these go on sale is November 22nd List price is $124.95 each for the Ironman or Captain America Master Pack, and $29.95 for Black Widow, Hulk, Ultron, Ironman and Captain America individual action skins.
Meet the latest Ozobot Avengers. Photo by Marcus Siu.
POWEREYE: This Powereye Drone, which comes with a 4K UHD camera is especially useful for those needed overhead shots for the film-making professional. It has a maximum 3.1 miles video stream range, which you can control and monitor with your smartphone. There is an optional thermal light and natural light switchable camera that comes in one attachment, so you can switch cameras while still airborne. It also comes many optional interchangeable lens with it. It’s only 8.8 pounds and can fly close to 30 minutes. As a filmmaker, this seems like a great alternative compared to getting aerial shots from a helicopter or airplane. The list price is $3,988.00. The price for the optional special order camera option (2-in-1 thermal light and natural light switchable camera) has not been determined yet, but can be inquired by e-mailing us@powervision.me.
This is the Powereye drone you’re looking for. Photo by Marcus Siu.
ACRONIS: Last, but not least, is the importance is having a good backup software, whether it’s in the cloud or not. As a user of Acronis over the years, they have saved my back many times, being able to mirror hard drives that others cannot do. Acronis prides itself as being the fastest and easiest backup software, being three to six faster than it’s Windows based competitors. Nowadays, this speedy software not only backup your PC’s, but also iPhones, iPads, and Android mobile devices. It even backs up all of your Facebook media, in case you get hacked by someone from Eastern Europe or from your jealous ex-girlfriend/boyfriend, or if you don’t have access to your account for any other reason. There’s a data protection status can be reviewed remotely by you or any family member at any time, regardless where you are. You can even archive anything to the Acronis cloud for those files that are hardly accessed. If you ever lose your data on your computer, don’t tell me that I didn’t tell you so.
Acronis, along with the Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula 1 Racing Team, puts its technologies to the test in workloads demanded by the most technologically advanced sport. Photo by Marcus Siu.
To the people who attended the show and to geeks everywhere; get geeked and prosper!
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