Hotware
01 Book One
$3500 • Porsche Design www.porsche-design.com If the relative success of Microsoft’s Surface has taught us anything, it’s that there’s a market for 2-in-1 style laptop-tablet thingies. So Porsche Design has decided to throw its name out into the market as a contender in this area. POWERED UP: The usual Core i7-7500, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD arrangement. Approximately 14 hours battery life. 10-finger multi-touch 3200x1800 IPS display. Anodised aluminium casing. And USB type C connections. PLAYED OUT: Is listed on the Porsche Design site under the “Men” category. Sorry ladies, you may not use this laptop, it seems.
02 The Frame
$TBA • Samsung www.samsung.com We don’t know art, but we know what we like, and we like this attempt from Samsung to make a television look like art. POWERED UP: When turned off, instead of presenting a lifeless black screen, The Frame will display something from an internal library of over 100 items featuring everything from action scenes, to drawings, architecture, or landscapes. It also has interchangeable bezels and an optional studio stand, so you can do your utmost to make it fit in with your art collection. PLAYED OUT: We don’t have price but it seems like it will be expensive, especially with extras like bezels. We also can’t help wondering what the impact to our power bill will be, running a screen full time.
Beoncam 03
$180 • Beoncam bit.ly/2nQmk06 A camera you wear on your wrist? Might sound odd but people obviously dig it because it’s clocking in at 178% of its IndieGoGo funding with over a week to spare (at time of writing), and is due to ship in August this year. POWERED UP: Designed with ease of use in mind, Beoncam hopes to capture those impromptu moments that happen too quickly to be caught with a phone. It has 360 degree photo and video capability, a waterproof casing, a microphone and speaker, and will work for 4 days on a single charge. PLAYED OUT: 720p at around 15fps
Caavo 04
$550 • Caavo www.caavo.com How many HDMI devices do you have? How many with streaming apps? Netflix, Stan, Hulu, Amazon? Caavo centralises all your TV content so you don’t have to care about which app, on which device you need to load, you just tell it what to watch and it does the rest. POWERED UP: 8 HDMI inputs which auto detect and switch, ethernet and Wi-Fi connectivity, voice control, and the ability to recognise existing device remotes. PLAYED OUT: Limited to 5000 units on initial release run.
R2-D2 05
$10,000 • Sideshow www.sideshowtoy.com It’s hardly a Hotware without something Star Warsy, so here, have a life-sized R2-D2 that will set you back 10 large! POWERED UP: Lights up and makes the appropriate noises (via remote control). This is the droid you’re looking for… PLAYED OUT: …unless you don’t have 10k burning a hole in your pocket, in which case, you can go about your business. Move along. Speaking of which, this is a stationary display, so that’s a little disappointing.