My Gadgets Blog

Mobee’s inductive Magic Charger for Apple’s Magic Mouse really is magical

Thomas Ricker — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:19:00 +0000

If you look deep enough into the halls of IFA, if you can see through the 3D television murk and tablet hype, you might be lucky enough to find a few gems. Like the Mobee Magic Charger for Apple's Magic Mouse making it's worldwide debut today. So, what's the "magic?" Well, if you own a wireless Apple Magic Mouse then your biggest complaint is without a doubt battery life. That means you're either purchasing (and tossing) alkaline after alkaline or you're constantly swapping in a fresh pair of rechargeables to keep the juice flowing. The Mobee Magic Charger does away with that nonsense with its inductive charging mini-USB base station and battery pack that slots into Apple's mouse -- no special sleeve or bulky appendage required unlike many after-market inductive charging solutions. Oh, and the 1.30oz / 37g battery pack -- developed in-house by Switzerland-based Mobee -- is actually lighter than a pair of AAs thereby reducing the overall weight of the mouse.

Regarding specs, we're told that a Mobee charged Magic Mouse will last for 6 days under constant use. After that, it requires 6 hours to reach a full charge. Otherwise, the idea here is to park the mouse on its dock when not in use. While the company has considered an inductive charging mouse pad, they opted against it so that people can mouse on the surface of their choice and to keep the whole package portable and inconspicuous. The Magic Charger itself matches the materials, look, and feel of Apple's Magic Mouse perfectly. Oh, and the blue charging light you see above will be green once the product ships worldwide in mid-October for €49.90 (with tax) / $49.90 (before tax). At that price, it offers a 6-8 month break-even for the typical Magic Mouse user relying on disposable batteries. Honestly, the Mobee Magic Charger is an idea so good that it makes you wonder, why didn't Apple think of that?

Expect to see a "few more" Mobee products launch for Apple products before the end of the year and into 2011. While Mobee wouldn't tell us exactly what products are coming, it did admit to looking at Apple's new Track Pad, the iPhone 4 (we expect to see a case), and wireless keyboard. We look forward to it.

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Mobee's inductive Magic Charger for Apple's Magic Mouse really is magical originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Canon’s PowerShot S95 gets reviewed, found to be worthy S90-successor

Donald Melanson — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:27:00 +0000

Canon's PowerShot S90 managed to attract a considerable fan base with some stellar image quality and professional-level features, but it did have a few drawbacks -- most notably a lack of HD video that's hard to overlook these days. The new and improved PowerShot S95 promises to address that and other complaints, however, and according to PhotographyBlog, it succeeds on most counts. Not only does the camera maintain the same high image quality as its predecessor, but it offers some added flexibility with an improved lens Control Ring, improved image stabilization, a new HDR mode and, last but not least, 720p video recording. Despite those newfound HD capabilities, however, video still seems to be this camera's main shortcoming, as you'll have to make do without autofocus or optical zoom during recording. That wasn't enough to prevent it from getting a 4.5 out of 5 rating from Photography Blog, though -- hit up the link below for the site's full review.

Canon's PowerShot S95 gets reviewed, found to be worthy S90-successor originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Skype 5.0 beta brings 10-way video calling to the world

Vlad Savov — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 08:03:00 +0000

Skype's Windows client is showing a bit of ambition today as its latest beta version now boasts a mighty 10-way video calling implementation. The earlier v5.0 beta threw up five-way vidchat, but it'd seem Skype kept its software engineers working through the summer and now we've got double the visual fun. Which would be awesome if we actually had nine other people we cared to see while talking to them. This update also brings a UI makeover, your typical stability and call quality improvements, and a neat automated call recovery feature. Download away, if you must.

Skype 5.0 beta brings 10-way video calling to the world originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sharp releases slew of new Quattron TVs at IFA 2010

Ben Bowers — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:39:00 +0000

Just in case those George Takei commercials didn't clue you in that Sharp was serious about Quattron, the company has announced four new TV lines at IFA sporting yellow as a fourth subpixel color. At the top of the list, the Quattron 3D-enabled LE925 line will be available in 60-inch or 46-inch sizes and feature Sharp's proprietary high-speed FRED LCD signal processing technology along with side-mounted scanning LED backlighting -- which like the LV Series -- is touted to produce 1.8x better brightness than competing sets and reduce 3D crosstalk. Aquos Net+ connectivity is thrown in too, along with 2D-to-3D conversion, a digital triple tuner and 8GB of built-in flash memory for timeshift recording. Playing second fiddle to this overachiever are the 2D-only LE924E, LE824E and LE814E series, which will also feature Aquos Net+. Pricing details for all of the new lines are still unknown, but they're slated to be available in Germany and Austria later this month. Here's hoping Sulu gets his jaw checked out before then.

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Sharp releases slew of new Quattron TVs at IFA 2010 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NES controller pressed into service to Android overlord (video)

Vlad Savov — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:07:00 +0000

Perhaps the worst, and least repairable, shortcoming of touchscreens is their failure to act as viable game controllers. Keyboard-equipped smartphones alleviate that pain a little (particularly if you pair them with a Game Gripper), but ultimately we'd all prefer real controllers for our real games. Such was clearly the thinking behind the homebrewed setup here, which combines an HTC EVO 4G -- with Android and an NES emulator inside -- with an Arduino board, a BlueSMiRF Bluetooth module, and a classic NES control pad. The result might look like a mess of wires, but who cares when you can rock Super Mario 3 the way Nintendo surely intended?

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NES controller pressed into service to Android overlord (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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