Category: Gadgets

Back in Oct. 14, 1957, they demonstrated the future of lawn mowing equipment with a beautiful bubbled model that sported its own air conditioning. The lucky driver is enclosed in comfort in a clear five foot sphere, and the device even had its own electrical generator powering the important life necessities, such a radio telephone and a chilled drink dispenser.

And if you tired of mowing the lawn in comfort, you could also use it for other gardening purposes as well as a completely radical golf cart. Just think – with the complete enclosure there would be no stray balls to worry about.

I just have one question – why don’t we have this today?

Most people know how a classic vinyl record player works – you place the record on a turntable, which turns the record around at the proper speed. Then a needle is placed on the turning record, which travels the vibrations encoded in the record groove and transforms those into sounds. But the record playing device known as RokBlok does it differently – it drives around the record while the record itself stays still. The end result is the same – music (or whatever audio is recorded on the vinyl disc).

The RokBlok is basically a block of wood and bamboo that is designed to chase the record groove under its own power. RokBlok has its own speakers built in, but it can also send the music over Bluetooth to your other devices. While having a block of wood spinning around on your favorite vinyl disc would seem like a great way to damage them, the maker Pink Donut assures us this is not the case.

RokBlok has been engineered to prevent damage to your records when in use. We do this by carefully balancing and distributing the weight of the player (3.2 oz) across its scratch-proof rubber wheels and not the needle. This makes it so the needle does not take the brunt of the weight out on your record’s grooves.

RokBlok can play both full size records and 45s, and it can provide music (and entertainment) for up to 4 hours – I would suspect that LPs, running at 33 rpm, would probably have the longer run time.  Recharge only takes a couple hours before you are back up making music and spinning around the vinyl disc.

 

 

RokBlok is on Kickstarter, and it has already surpassed its $50,000 goal. The campaign closes on January 24th, so if you want to get on the RokBlok circling bandwagon at a cheaper price than its retail launch you may want to check it out. In the meanwhile, just watch it go, chasing that groove and making music.

In the past I have worn triple sensor Casio watches with a host of features, and I really liked them. In my opinion, these were probably the first real smart watches that had a practical application. Of course, today a Smartwatch has a slightly different connotation, and it is great to see that Casio is bringing the lineup into the future. Now they have announced the latest in their lineup, the WSD-F20 PRO TREK Smart watch.

GPS Tracking and Mapping

The WSD-F20 is an update from the previous WSD-F10, adding GPS tracking with mapping. What you will still find is the big styling with a large multi-function timepiece and the ever present rubber feeling wrist strap. It even looks durable, all built in an enclosure that is waterproof down to 50 meters. You can even be confident in its durability when you are charging it, since the exposed magnetic port shares the same water resistant design.

The WSD-F20 fully utilizes Android Wear 2.0 with custom Casio extensions to make sure things work as expected. There you will find on the 320 by 300 pixel display custom screens for tide information, barometer, altitude and compass data, arranged in a conveniently accessible manner.

Smart Use Of Android Wear

But you will still find the typical Android Wear 2.0 accessories, such as Google Assistant, Google Music, and third party apps. And to make the watch easier on the battery than a typical Android Wear watch, the WSD-F20 cleverly arranges a low power lcd screen positioned directly behind the high resolution unit. To activate this secondary screen simply cover the watch with your hand for a moment – this could prove to be a valuable option if you are out in the woods for an extended period of time.

Shipping In April

The exact retail price for the Casio WSD-F20 is still unknown at this time, but it is slated to become available starting April 21, 2017.  Casio has developed its durable sensor laden watch line into  a serious competitor to other smart devices on the market, mostly by leveraging existing expertise with the best that Android Wear has to offer. This is one smart watch that really is a smart design.