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The Tech Authority

Four High Tech Devices for Teenagers

This year marks the release of hundreds of innovative, high-tech devices. Here are some of the most interesting devices, which will hopefully make a great birthday present for your teens.

It looks like junk food is here to stay, so what should we do to keep our teenagers healthier? Just buy them a fitness tracker, pair it with a smartphone, and then have them install the companion application. Misfit Ray is a new device that uses a silicone band which wraps around your arm, or can be attached to your teenagers’ most prized bracelet. It tracks sleep and motion, just like the other wearables do, but it’s got a few welcome additions: it incorporates a motor that vibrates, and an LED that lights up when the phone receives a notification.

misfit-ray

And since we’ve talked about junk food and the weight loss problems that it attracts, what’s better than a scale when it comes to weight monitoring? Well, it looks like the Polar Balance Scale is the better option. Sure, it’s got all the bells and whistles you would expect from your everyday scale, but it also incorporates a huge array of unique features that will help your teenager achieve his or her weight-loss goals much faster.

First of all, it works in conjunction with one of Polar’s activity trackers, helping your teenagers monitor their calorie intake and activity levels each day. As an example, if your teenager eats more food Monday, the intelligent scale will suggest higher activity levels Tuesday. The only drawback I’m seeing with this product is the fact that it will only work with one of the Polar wrist trackers, because many of us have already purchased one from a different manufacturer. Well, if weight-loss is important for your family, it makes a lot of sense to spend about $150 for the Polar and one of its own, 100% compatible fitness trackers.

polar-balance-scale

Your teenagers need a Bixi! They just don’t know it yet. Bixi is a small gizmo that allows your teens to control their phones and the installed applications… without touching their phones! The device allows them to program hand gestures like up, down, left or right, and then uses these hand gestures to control everything that’s happening on their phones. As an example, if they are reading an e-book, a simple left or right hand gesture will move to the next or previous page in the book.

bixi-gesture-controller

Teenagers are lost without having access to the Internet. I know that for sure, because I’m the father of a teenager as well. So what can they do when their favorites Internet provider doesn’t provide Internet access in the woods, for example? Well, they could build a high gain antenna, use a non-conventional Wi-Fi signal amplifier, and a DA cable. But there’s a new, innovative solution to this problem: goTenna. It’s got a strange name, I know, but the device itself can be quite useful.

goTenna will allow your teenagers to text their friends without needing an Internet connection, provided that they’ve got a goTenna themselves. Basically, the device creates a private wireless connection, with an advertised range of 4 miles outside the city and 1 mile in the city. With goTenna, your teenagers’ close friends have the chance of becoming the closest friends 😉

gotenna-texter

 

Three Innovative Products We Simply Loved at CES 2016

There are so many cool products at CES this year, so it is easy to overlook some of them. Here are several gadgets that didn’t manage to gather the press’ attention, but have impressed us.

Spin Master’s Air Hogs Connect is an innovative drone. And with so many drones on the market, you may be wondering what’s could be so innovative about this new one. Well, Air Hogs Connect allows you to play a game while flying the drone. It’s “a drone meets augmented & virtual reality”, if you will. The game consists of several engaging missions, asking you to complete various tasks such as shooting down aliens, or controlling and then extinguishing fires. Here’s a video that shows it in action.

The package includes an augmented reality mat that has to be placed on the floor. Then, you use your tablet to complete as many missions as possible, as fast as possible. Why hurry, I hear you asking? Well, the drone will only fly for about 10 minutes before needing to be recharged. That is actually the only major drawback of this fun gadget, but I’ll have to agree that it’s one that will prevent many people from purchasing the drone. It’s a pity, because the device has a lot of potential. Who knows? Maybe things will look much better with the second version of the drone.

Emicro One is an electric scooter like no other. What is so exciting about it? First of all, it’s lightweight. At only 16.5 pounds, it weighs about 50% in comparison with its competitors’ weights.

emicro-one

Emicro One can travel at speeds of up to 15 miles/hour and has a range of about 10 miles per charge. It’s a set of impressive features indeed, and the big range is also achieved by using the scooter’s own motion to recharge the battery – the back wheel incorporates a power generator. This means that if your battery is dead, you could recharge its – or at least a small percentage of it – by simply running down a heel. The longer the hill, the larger the percentage, of course 😉

Activeon Solar X is an action camera that may not have innovative CMOS sensors, but it’s got a unique feature: it recharges its battery using the light emitted by the sun. Actually, its video recording abilities are quite advanced! The Solar X can record 4K videos and comes with the X Station, a docking station that includes the solar panels on its sides.

activeon-solarx

Just place the camera in a well lit area, and then watch it recharge from 0 to 100% in just one hour. Of course, if you’ve got things to record right away, you will be pleased to find out that the camera battery can be recharged at 80% within 30 minutes. And the good news doesn’t stop here! The camera has got a decent two-hour battery life, but you can get an additional four hours when you connect it to the docking station. Rumor has it that the camera will cost about $400 – a fair price for a solar powered, 4K camera. Just think how much money you will save on electricity and / or batteries!