Wireless

Genius has announced the release of its Wireless Thumb Cursor Controller, or ring mouse for short. The clicking and scrolling action of the lightweight mouse replacement is thumb-controlled, its proprietary optical touch technology offers users 1000 dpi sensitivity and it's said to last a month between charges. Read More

By throwing a whole lot of camera wants into a pot, Seattle design house the Artefact Group has come up with a groundbreaking concept that combines all the connected usefulness of a smartphone with the interchangeable lens capabilities of a digital SLR. There's also a novel approach to using wireless technology for communication between the combined lens and sensor and the main body. Read More

Eye-Fi’s range of wireless memory cards have been giving photographers the ability to send photos from a digital camera to a computer over an existing Wi-Fi network for a few years now. That’s great if you’re close to your home network but what when you’re out and about and want to offload some of those captured pics and vids from your camera? The company’s latest Eye-Fi Mobile X2 Card answers the call with a new Direct Mode that allows the card to create its own Wi-Fi network so it can establish a direct connection and upload photos and videos directly to mobile devices such as a smartphone or tablet. Read More

There are now hundreds of dedicated music apps available for the iPhone and iPad, but these digital devices are not musical instruments in the traditional sense. Over a year ago, designer Massimo Battaglia set about bringing the electric guitar and the multi-touch interface even closer. His Hyper Touch Guitar concept is the result. It features a capacitive touchscreen neck with 24 fret positions, and either a small touchscreen pick zone or a version where the multi-touch interface continues down into the body from the neck. The guitar will also feature wireless technology that will communicate with equipment such as amplifiers and computer systems, and allow the player full freedom of movement. Read More

Earlier this month we featured some novel building blocks that help teach robotics to kids, and grew from a project at Carnegie Mellon University. Now it's MIT's turn, with the Sifteo Cubes – 1.5-inch gaming blocks sporting full color screens that respond to motion, and interact with the player and each other as they are moved around. Games and apps can be bought online and wirelessly transferred onto the cubes via an internet-connected computer or laptop. The current title catalog includes adult games, puzzles for kids, and challenges and games that people can play together. Read More

Many of us can now wirelessly stream images from a computer to a screen over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi without too much trouble, but the display is still inevitably powered by cables. At CeBIT 2011, Fujitsu is showing off a working prototype of a 22-inch computer display that receives both images and power wirelessly. The power transfer is made possible by magnetic induction technology – similar to Powermat chargers – that's concentrated into hotspots built into office furniture or conference tables. Read More

Got a problem with the various gear and brake cables winding their way around your bike frame? If you're riding a standard pedal-powered bike, the answer is probably 'no.' But if you're one of the increasing numbers of people getting around town on an electric bike than your answer may be different, with faulty wiring one of the most common sources of failures found in such vehicles. While some hide their electrical wiring away inside the frame, many e-bikes have wires running down the outside. Like so many of today's electrical devices, the new Shadow Ebike does away with this unsightly mess and potential point of weakness using wireless technology. Read More

The latest wireless technology finding its way into mobile phones alongside Bluetooth and Wi-Fi is near field communication, or NFC. It has taken a few years but the short-range wireless technology is gathering speed, with the number of NFC-enabled handsets on the increase and numerous trials of the technology being carried out around the world, mainly aimed at contactless payments and public transport ticketing applications. But if you’re worried you’ll have to throw out your current mobile phone to take advantage of the convenience of NFC then relax, because Simlink has teamed with Morpho to develop a key fob that brings NFC technology to any existing mobile phone. Read More

Whether it be over walkie talkies or Wi-Fi, wireless communication is a one way street, meaning radio traffic can flow in only one direction at a time on a specific frequency. To get around this limitation mobile phone networks use a workaround that is expensive and requires careful planning, making the technique not feasible for other wireless networks. Now researchers at Stanford University have created a full duplex radio that allows wireless signals to be sent and received simultaneously, thereby instantly doubling the speed of existing networks. Read More