Portable
Zoom H2n Handy Recorder boasts five microphones and Mid-Side recording
By Darren Quick
23:56 July 12, 2011

Since its launch in 2007, the Zoom H2 Handy recorder with its ability to record high quality digital audio has become popular for everything from recording personal memos and band demos to sticking in the faces of politicians. Zoom has now given its portable “studio on a stick” an update in the form of the H2n Handy Recorder that ups the number of microphones to five and, according to Zoom, is the first handheld recorder to offer Mid-Side recording. Read More
iCruiser battery pack juices up mobile devices
By Paul Ridden
14:12 July 5, 2011

Smartphones, tablets and media players have helped to make our mobile existence so much more tolerable - but they all suffer from varying degrees of the same problem. Battery life is always a nagging concern for regular travelers, leading many to carry some form of external portable power source like the Juice Pack Powerstation we reviewed recently. Even though Mophie's external battery pack proved its worth in our tests, we may just have to trade it in for the New Trent iCruiser IMP1000 - which offers over three times the battery capacity in a similar-sized format and claims compatibility with almost every device in the market. Read More
The three-ingredient inflatable portable pavilion
09:24 June 21, 2011

This eye-catching pavilion is the result a collaboration between architectural firms Frentes and PAX.RQ, designed for this year's Mobilizarte Design Competition. Architects were given the challenge of creating a mobile cultural space that could be easily assembled, disassembled and transported for five years of use in ten different Brazilian cities. Comprised of three simple elements (scaffolding, prism towers and inflatable membrane) and transportable in two containers, the Mobile Cultural Mobilizarte takes five days to install and features an area size of 1,000 square meters (1,196 sq. yds.), expandable to 3,500 sq.m. (4,186 sq.yds.) – that's nearly as big as a football field. Read More
Portable microreactor to produce hydrogen from everyday fossil fuels
By Darren Quick
01:23 May 24, 2011

With up to 80 percent of the weight of a soldier’s gear attributable to batteries, the U.S. Army is obviously interested in replacement technologies that deliver a reliable, reusable power source. Chemical Engineering students at Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey believe their invention of a microreactor that can convert everyday fossil fuels such as butane and propane into pure hydrogen for fuel cell batteries might be the answer. Read More
New portable camera sees inside solid materials and structures
By Paul Ridden
09:29 March 4, 2011

A research team from the Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) has succeeded in creating a portable scanning system that's capable of looking inside objects or structures and revealing hidden secrets. Using technology similar to that used for full body scans at airports, the new transmission mode camera system can detect, collect, process and display millimeter-wave and microwave signal information in real time and at adjustable focus points between the transmitter and collector aperture. The whole setup is powered by a single laptop-sized battery, with the results being displayed on a notebook screen. Read More

Sony unveiled the successor to the PSP at its PlayStation Meeting in Tokyo today. While Sony spokespeople continually referred to the device by its codename of Next Generation Portable (NGP), it's not yet clear whether this will be the name of the device when it is brought to market. Read More
Ultra low-tech scale accurately weighs small items
By Ben Coxworth
13:04 January 26, 2011

Although we hear about amazing advances in high technology every day, it’s often the really low-tech ones that most cause us to say “Why didn’t I think of that?”. A case in point is the MP4000 Personal Post Office portable scale – a product that's been around in its current incarnation since the 70s, but that we still thought was worth a mention. Designed primarily for weighing letters in order to determine postage, the non-digital, non-electronic, and barely even mechanical little gizmo is nonetheless accurate enough that its use has been approved by the US Postal Service. Read More
Synthesizer, sequencer, and multitrack editor squeezed into one handheld unit
By Paul Ridden
09:11 January 4, 2011

Japan's CyberStep has announced its expansion into the music business, with the development of the KDJ-ONE portable digital audio workstation (DAW). The device brings a synthesizer, sequencer, and multitrack audio editing into one unit, which sees user interaction via a touchscreen, a keypad, arrow pad and jog control. The mobile DAW is powered by an Atom processor, has included SSD storage and microSD expansion, and benefits from USB and Wireless LAN connectivity. Read More
Juice your iPhone on the go using this "iconic" charger
By Rick Martin
21:24 November 3, 2010
We've covered a number of iPhone portable chargers in the past, ranging from the well-known Mophie Juice Pack to the environmentally friendly iCharge Dx. There are countless solutions that will ensure that your green battery indicator icon stays fully green, the difference with this iPhone charger is that it's been designed to resemble that very same indicator graphic. Appropriately, it's called the Icon. Read More
As Breast Cancer Awareness month draws to a close, some promising news has emerged from the University of Manchester's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Professor Zhipeng Wu has developed a portable breast scanner that offers concerned patients real-time video images that clearly show the presence of a tumor. The lunchbox-sized scanner uses similar radio frequency technology as mobile phones, but at a fraction of the power and lends itself to being used in doctor's surgeries for instant screening or even continued monitoring at home. Read More
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