New Year Gift Guide 2013
Before the new year only half a month is left, and if you are the same brake thoughtful person as I am - that is the very time to choose gifts. We, in the Box Overview edition, found, tested, and compiled a list of the most topical gifts for you this year.
So, let's see, what are the habra users will do during the winter holidays? When you don’t have to go to work for 10 days, and the refrigerator is full of food from the New Year’s table, there’s no better entertainment than dealing with a new gadget that smells deliciously new.
Pebble Smart Watch
Rightfully occupy the first place in the ranking of gifts for developers. This is not just a smart watch that shows the time, calls and SMS. This is a great gift for programmers who are bored on New Year's holidays. All the champagne is drunk, there is nothing new on the habr, and here the clock is tucked under the arm! By the way, developers in the second version of the SDK, which they promise to roll out at the end of December, promise to make a full-fledged app store inside the program - it's time to write and upload apps. To keep you from being bored, I wrote a couple of lessons as an introduction: Programming under Pebble. Lesson one: Stupid watches , Programming for Pebble. Lesson two: Pebble giving answers, dice and sex cubes . There are applications for iOS and Android.
Cost and where to buy: In Russia for 7490r , on Amazon.com for $ 120: black / red / orange or on the official website for $ 150 .
Keep in mind that delivery to Russia from the official site is impossible, and you will have to use the services of intermediaries, such as parcels .
')
Smart watch Z-Watch from the Chinese company SmartQ
Suddenly, the not very well-known Chinese company SmartQ has released a smart watch. This would not have been anything particularly interesting, if not a few facts - the watch costs $ 100 (Samsung Gear misses a beat!), They work on a full-fledged Android 4.1 (Pebble envy the opportunity to install any software for android), and are able to work without charging for up to a week ( SGear knockout!). Such work time was achieved by using not a “classic” ARM, but a processor on the MIPS architecture. The last time this processor in mobile devices showed itself well in the Ainol Paladin tablet, which was really quite economical.
Of course, for low power consumption you have to pay with not too high speed, but here either remove the cross or put on your underpants - for those who like to play on the clock, you will have to come to terms with the need for sockets nearby.
Cost and where to buy: in the PandaWill store for $ 100 . In Russia, not yet sold.
Fitness tracker that does not need to be charged: Shine
Want to keep track of how many calories you spend per day, but do not want another gadget that needs to be charged every day? Yota brought a gadget from Misfit Wearables , a start-up of former Apple CEO John Scully, to Russia. Shine raised $ 800,000 in its crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo.
According to the manufacturer, the gadget will be able to work up to six months from a single CR2032 battery. The secret of this time is the lack of a screen, backlight, display of measurements, constant communication with the phone, WiFi and everything else that other manufacturers are proud of. He simply considers your activity. Of course, in order to see your results, you need to synchronize it with the phone, but you don’t have to do it every day - there is a memory in the device for 30 measurement days. There are applications for iOS and Android.
Cost and where to buy: on the website yota.ru for 5490 rubles, or on the official website Misfit Wearables for $ 145 (including $ 25 delivery) .
Wrist Heart Rate Monitor Alpha Mio
Calling MIO Alpha a simple clock with a pulse measurement will not turn the tongue. Those people who do not just run around the stadium in the evening have an understanding of cardio workouts and know that good cardio monitoring has three characteristics: it is constant, accurate and comfortable.
Before MIO Alpha, heart rate monitoring was able to “choose two out of three” - either the clothespin on the finger, which constantly measures the pulse, but easily flies during the run, or a watch with a contact sensor that cannot measure the pulse continuously - to do this you need to stop and put your fingers on the sensor, or a two-component system - a monitor on the wrist and a chest sensor, which delivers a lot of inconvenience.
The creators of MIO Alpha were the first to successfully implement a medical technology in a heart monitor that allows you to determine the rhythm of the heartbeat by the intensity of the pulsation of blood vessels on the wrist. The device is compatible with the most popular fitness apps for smartphones, so the data about your workouts will be supplemented with information about the cardio loadings. There are applications for iOS (many) and Android (only two). However, one of them works more than well, and allows you to output data in XML.
Cost and where to buy: in Russia for 7990 rubles or on the official website for $ 200
Posture Monitor Lumoback
If you are reading this text, it means that you are either sitting at the computer, or bending over the screen of your smartphone or tablet. In any case, you slouch with a probability of 99%. What, already straightened out? Well, how many times during the day do you remember this?
In the life of those who stooped, a ray of hope appeared - Lumoback. Wearing a monitor posture on the lower back, get ready for the fact that at the end of the day he will mercilessly give you the whole truth about how much time you spent a day in a crooked state. Lumoback can not only observe and inform. Its main purpose is to periodically remind you that correct posture is simple, but requires constant monitoring. Bend your back? Vibration will make you sit up straight.In the next issue, we will tell you how to change the vibration signal for an electric shock. There are applications only for iOS.
Cost and where to buy: in Russia for 7490 rubles or on the official website for $ 150
Smart scales Withings WS-30
Wi-Fi scales WS-30 is more than silent numbers under your feet. They will not be able to dismiss the results “yes, they just stand crookedly, do not pay attention” - the scales will tell you if the uneven floor interferes with the measurements, or if you stand not exactly in the center. The scales themselves can recognize up to 8 users, and keep a schedule of changes in the weight of each user, discarding the results of each measurement via WiFi to your server or via BT to your phone. In the official app, you can see the results of each weighing and assess the trend of weight change. When other health monitoring programs are connected, it will be possible to compete with friends and colleagues who have eaten the most at the New Year's table, and who are the fastest to lose weight after that. There are applications for iOS and Android.
Cost and where to buy: in Russia for 4,990 rubles or on Amazon.com for $ 100 .
Smart scales Withings WS-50
The WS-50 is the highest model in the Withings smart scale range. Naturally, it has all the same functions as the younger model, but in addition, the WS-50 can still measure the ratio of adipose / muscle tissue, pulse, carbon dioxide percentage and temperature in ambient air. Scales will add to your daily weighting the BMI, the percentage of fat mass and your pulse, and tell you when to open the window to air the room.
Cost and where to buy: in Russia for 8,690 rubles or on Amazon.com for $ 150 .
Sphero 2 Robot Ball
Tired of the games inside the phone? Sphero - entertainment that goes beyond the phone screen. By tapping the screen or tilting the phone, you control a nice glowing ball that rolls around your room. Arrange a race with friends, play golf at home, entertain a child or drive a cat to exhaustion. RGB backlight, shockproof and waterproof case, wireless charging, an open API, and over 25 free apps on the AppStore and Google Play.
Cost and where to buy: in Russia for 5490 rubles or on the official website for $ 130 .
iHealth Wireless Pulse: Pulse Oximeter
A pulse oximeter is a device that measures the pulse and oxygenation - oxygen saturation of the blood. This parameter is important for athletes who monitor the amount of oxygen in the blood during training, and people who have breathing problems. If you often feel that you do not have enough air - perhaps there is a reason to check the level of oxygen in the blood. Or carbon dioxide in the air .
Cost and where to buy: in Russia for 2990 rubles or on the official website for $ 70 . True, they do not deliver to Russia.
The external lens for the phone from Sony
We wanted to make good shots, but you have a bad camera in your phone, but the SLR does not fit in a backpack? There is a way: an external lens that clings to your smartphone and transmits photos via Wi-Fi. The phone also acts as a viewfinder.
We wrote a review of the younger model of the series - QX-10 , but in addition to it there is also the older one - QX-100, you can read about it, for example, here . There are applications for iOS and Android.
Cost and where to buy: unexpectedly, the price in Russia and in the USA is not much different. The younger model will cost 8490r on the Sony.ru website, $ 245 on Sony.com, which is a little cheaper. The older model is 18990r and $ 500, respectively.
Leap Motion - gesture interface for any computer
Throw away the mouse and control the computer with hand movements, like in science fiction films - what could be more effective and more fun? A device that is useless as much as cool. You can read his review or see what's inside .
Cost and where to buy: in Russia for 3990 rubles or on the official website for $ 80 . In Russia do not deliver.
BT-column with kickstarter: Hidden Radio
Frankly, I do not quite understand, and here Hidden. But nevertheless - the speaker (the speaker doesn’t turn its language on is too powerful), with a good and loud sound, a very interesting design and an original volume control system. The first concepts of this kind were drawn back in 2008, but it was not until three years later that the kickstarter began collecting funds for the implementation of the idea. Very successful collection, I must say - the guys raised almost a million dollars.
Now they are collecting money for the second version , among which they promise chips: a touch panel, a speakerphone, NFC and the ability to work several speakers together.
Cost and where to buy: in Russia for 4790 rubles or on the official website for $ 80 . In Russia do not deliver.
Wi-Fi Marlight Light
Want to control the light without getting up from the sofa, but do not want to do everything with Noolite ? The solution is - an LED lamp with a conventional E27 chuck, controlled from a remote or through an application on the phone. The four-color LED - red, blue, green, white at the same time illuminates the desktop with a bright white light and changes color when you need it.
Cost and where to buy: 1490 rubles for a lamp, 699 for a control panel, and 890 for a router, with the help of which a light bulb can be controlled from a phone or computer. Manufacturers sell only in batches.
And finally, let's talk about what will be relevant for New Year's gifts in a year.
Oculus Rift virtual reality glasses
At the end of the summer, Oculus VR promises to present the Oculus Rift Consumer - a version of glasses "for everyone", and not just for developers. The developers say that it will have a resolution of at least 1920 Ă— 1080, and cost about $ 300.
MYO sign interface
If Leap Motion detects gestures by the reflection of light from a hand, then MYO does this by reading electrical potentials from the arm muscles.
Declare support for all popular operating systems - Windows, Mac OS, iOS and Android. The official site already has pre-order for $ 150
Neurointerface Emotiv Insight
Emotiv Insight is the interface between your brain and the computer. It reads the brain's EEG and converts it into commands for a telephone or computer. The text can not be entered, but now turn on the light with a thought - completely.
Neuroon - mask for polyphasic dreams
Polyphasic (or multi-phase) sleep, as its name implies, is when a person sleeps several times during the day.
Neuroon mask helps to develop an optimal duration of short sleep. The mask contains eeg and accelerometer sensors that monitor sleep and wake you up at the optimum moment. The difference from existing sliptrekers is that the mask is “sharpened” for polyphasic sleep.
So, let's see, what are the habra users will do during the winter holidays? When you don’t have to go to work for 10 days, and the refrigerator is full of food from the New Year’s table, there’s no better entertainment than dealing with a new gadget that smells deliciously new.
Pebble Smart Watch
Rightfully occupy the first place in the ranking of gifts for developers. This is not just a smart watch that shows the time, calls and SMS. This is a great gift for programmers who are bored on New Year's holidays. All the champagne is drunk, there is nothing new on the habr, and here the clock is tucked under the arm! By the way, developers in the second version of the SDK, which they promise to roll out at the end of December, promise to make a full-fledged app store inside the program - it's time to write and upload apps. To keep you from being bored, I wrote a couple of lessons as an introduction: Programming under Pebble. Lesson one: Stupid watches , Programming for Pebble. Lesson two: Pebble giving answers, dice and sex cubes . There are applications for iOS and Android.
Cost and where to buy: In Russia for 7490r , on Amazon.com for $ 120: black / red / orange or on the official website for $ 150 .
Keep in mind that delivery to Russia from the official site is impossible, and you will have to use the services of intermediaries, such as parcels .
')
Smart watch Z-Watch from the Chinese company SmartQ
Suddenly, the not very well-known Chinese company SmartQ has released a smart watch. This would not have been anything particularly interesting, if not a few facts - the watch costs $ 100 (Samsung Gear misses a beat!), They work on a full-fledged Android 4.1 (Pebble envy the opportunity to install any software for android), and are able to work without charging for up to a week ( SGear knockout!). Such work time was achieved by using not a “classic” ARM, but a processor on the MIPS architecture. The last time this processor in mobile devices showed itself well in the Ainol Paladin tablet, which was really quite economical.
Of course, for low power consumption you have to pay with not too high speed, but here either remove the cross or put on your underpants - for those who like to play on the clock, you will have to come to terms with the need for sockets nearby.
Cost and where to buy: in the PandaWill store for $ 100 . In Russia, not yet sold.
Videos, photos and reviews
Fitness tracker that does not need to be charged: Shine
Want to keep track of how many calories you spend per day, but do not want another gadget that needs to be charged every day? Yota brought a gadget from Misfit Wearables , a start-up of former Apple CEO John Scully, to Russia. Shine raised $ 800,000 in its crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo.
According to the manufacturer, the gadget will be able to work up to six months from a single CR2032 battery. The secret of this time is the lack of a screen, backlight, display of measurements, constant communication with the phone, WiFi and everything else that other manufacturers are proud of. He simply considers your activity. Of course, in order to see your results, you need to synchronize it with the phone, but you don’t have to do it every day - there is a memory in the device for 30 measurement days. There are applications for iOS and Android.
Cost and where to buy: on the website yota.ru for 5490 rubles, or on the official website Misfit Wearables for $ 145 (including $ 25 delivery) .
Videos, photos and reviews
Wrist Heart Rate Monitor Alpha Mio
Calling MIO Alpha a simple clock with a pulse measurement will not turn the tongue. Those people who do not just run around the stadium in the evening have an understanding of cardio workouts and know that good cardio monitoring has three characteristics: it is constant, accurate and comfortable.
Before MIO Alpha, heart rate monitoring was able to “choose two out of three” - either the clothespin on the finger, which constantly measures the pulse, but easily flies during the run, or a watch with a contact sensor that cannot measure the pulse continuously - to do this you need to stop and put your fingers on the sensor, or a two-component system - a monitor on the wrist and a chest sensor, which delivers a lot of inconvenience.
The creators of MIO Alpha were the first to successfully implement a medical technology in a heart monitor that allows you to determine the rhythm of the heartbeat by the intensity of the pulsation of blood vessels on the wrist. The device is compatible with the most popular fitness apps for smartphones, so the data about your workouts will be supplemented with information about the cardio loadings. There are applications for iOS (many) and Android (only two). However, one of them works more than well, and allows you to output data in XML.
Cost and where to buy: in Russia for 7990 rubles or on the official website for $ 200
Videos, photos and reviews
Posture Monitor Lumoback
If you are reading this text, it means that you are either sitting at the computer, or bending over the screen of your smartphone or tablet. In any case, you slouch with a probability of 99%. What, already straightened out? Well, how many times during the day do you remember this?
In the life of those who stooped, a ray of hope appeared - Lumoback. Wearing a monitor posture on the lower back, get ready for the fact that at the end of the day he will mercilessly give you the whole truth about how much time you spent a day in a crooked state. Lumoback can not only observe and inform. Its main purpose is to periodically remind you that correct posture is simple, but requires constant monitoring. Bend your back? Vibration will make you sit up straight.
Cost and where to buy: in Russia for 7490 rubles or on the official website for $ 150
Smart scales Withings WS-30
Wi-Fi scales WS-30 is more than silent numbers under your feet. They will not be able to dismiss the results “yes, they just stand crookedly, do not pay attention” - the scales will tell you if the uneven floor interferes with the measurements, or if you stand not exactly in the center. The scales themselves can recognize up to 8 users, and keep a schedule of changes in the weight of each user, discarding the results of each measurement via WiFi to your server or via BT to your phone. In the official app, you can see the results of each weighing and assess the trend of weight change. When other health monitoring programs are connected, it will be possible to compete with friends and colleagues who have eaten the most at the New Year's table, and who are the fastest to lose weight after that. There are applications for iOS and Android.
Cost and where to buy: in Russia for 4,990 rubles or on Amazon.com for $ 100 .
Smart scales Withings WS-50
The WS-50 is the highest model in the Withings smart scale range. Naturally, it has all the same functions as the younger model, but in addition, the WS-50 can still measure the ratio of adipose / muscle tissue, pulse, carbon dioxide percentage and temperature in ambient air. Scales will add to your daily weighting the BMI, the percentage of fat mass and your pulse, and tell you when to open the window to air the room.
Cost and where to buy: in Russia for 8,690 rubles or on Amazon.com for $ 150 .
Sphero 2 Robot Ball
Tired of the games inside the phone? Sphero - entertainment that goes beyond the phone screen. By tapping the screen or tilting the phone, you control a nice glowing ball that rolls around your room. Arrange a race with friends, play golf at home, entertain a child or drive a cat to exhaustion. RGB backlight, shockproof and waterproof case, wireless charging, an open API, and over 25 free apps on the AppStore and Google Play.
Cost and where to buy: in Russia for 5490 rubles or on the official website for $ 130 .
Discounts
Coupon BOXOVERVIEW will reduce the price by 500 rubles (the total price - 4990) on the site MadRobots. Valid until 23:00 December 20
Videos, and Reviews
iHealth Wireless Pulse: Pulse Oximeter
A pulse oximeter is a device that measures the pulse and oxygenation - oxygen saturation of the blood. This parameter is important for athletes who monitor the amount of oxygen in the blood during training, and people who have breathing problems. If you often feel that you do not have enough air - perhaps there is a reason to check the level of oxygen in the blood. Or carbon dioxide in the air .
Cost and where to buy: in Russia for 2990 rubles or on the official website for $ 70 . True, they do not deliver to Russia.
Video
The external lens for the phone from Sony
We wanted to make good shots, but you have a bad camera in your phone, but the SLR does not fit in a backpack? There is a way: an external lens that clings to your smartphone and transmits photos via Wi-Fi. The phone also acts as a viewfinder.
We wrote a review of the younger model of the series - QX-10 , but in addition to it there is also the older one - QX-100, you can read about it, for example, here . There are applications for iOS and Android.
Cost and where to buy: unexpectedly, the price in Russia and in the USA is not much different. The younger model will cost 8490r on the Sony.ru website, $ 245 on Sony.com, which is a little cheaper. The older model is 18990r and $ 500, respectively.
Leap Motion - gesture interface for any computer
Throw away the mouse and control the computer with hand movements, like in science fiction films - what could be more effective and more fun? A device that is useless as much as cool. You can read his review or see what's inside .
Cost and where to buy: in Russia for 3990 rubles or on the official website for $ 80 . In Russia do not deliver.
BT-column with kickstarter: Hidden Radio
Frankly, I do not quite understand, and here Hidden. But nevertheless - the speaker (the speaker doesn’t turn its language on is too powerful), with a good and loud sound, a very interesting design and an original volume control system. The first concepts of this kind were drawn back in 2008, but it was not until three years later that the kickstarter began collecting funds for the implementation of the idea. Very successful collection, I must say - the guys raised almost a million dollars.
Now they are collecting money for the second version , among which they promise chips: a touch panel, a speakerphone, NFC and the ability to work several speakers together.
Cost and where to buy: in Russia for 4790 rubles or on the official website for $ 80 . In Russia do not deliver.
Video
Wi-Fi Marlight Light
Want to control the light without getting up from the sofa, but do not want to do everything with Noolite ? The solution is - an LED lamp with a conventional E27 chuck, controlled from a remote or through an application on the phone. The four-color LED - red, blue, green, white at the same time illuminates the desktop with a bright white light and changes color when you need it.
Cost and where to buy: 1490 rubles for a lamp, 699 for a control panel, and 890 for a router, with the help of which a light bulb can be controlled from a phone or computer. Manufacturers sell only in batches.
And finally, let's talk about what will be relevant for New Year's gifts in a year.
Oculus Rift virtual reality glasses
At the end of the summer, Oculus VR promises to present the Oculus Rift Consumer - a version of glasses "for everyone", and not just for developers. The developers say that it will have a resolution of at least 1920 Ă— 1080, and cost about $ 300.
MYO sign interface
If Leap Motion detects gestures by the reflection of light from a hand, then MYO does this by reading electrical potentials from the arm muscles.
Declare support for all popular operating systems - Windows, Mac OS, iOS and Android. The official site already has pre-order for $ 150
Neurointerface Emotiv Insight
Emotiv Insight is the interface between your brain and the computer. It reads the brain's EEG and converts it into commands for a telephone or computer. The text can not be entered, but now turn on the light with a thought - completely.
Neuroon - mask for polyphasic dreams
Polyphasic (or multi-phase) sleep, as its name implies, is when a person sleeps several times during the day.
Neuroon mask helps to develop an optimal duration of short sleep. The mask contains eeg and accelerometer sensors that monitor sleep and wake you up at the optimum moment. The difference from existing sliptrekers is that the mask is “sharpened” for polyphasic sleep.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/205166/
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