This Android can go for a swim

I'm usually very careful with my cellphones, except for that time I left one outside for about six hours, overnight and in the rain. After its long bath, I dried the phone as thoroughly as I could. It carried on for a few days, but eventually stopped charging and I had it replaced.

If my phone had been the new Kyocera Hydro Edge, it would have toweled off and gotten back to work. At least that's what Sprint and Boost Mobile are saying about their latest Android offering. The phone has a waterproof rating of IPX5, which means it's good to go in the shower, in the rain, dropped in a puddle or even submerged in up to three feet of water for up to 30 minutes.

That's fresh water they're talking about, not saltwater, cola or a gin and tonic.

Also, the Hydro Edge is not a particularly rugged phone. It has a pop-up battery cover and a fairly ordinary plastic case. I don't know how they made everything waterproof.

Boost and Sprint have sold other waterproof phones from Kyocera, but this is the first time the carriers will offer one without a contract. The phone has a 1-GHz dual-core processor, a 4-inch scree, a 5-megapixel camera and the latest version of Android Jelly Bean 4.1.

For details on service plans, check Boost Mobile or Sprint.

By: Ric Manning On 7/31/2013

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Ion Air Copy will scan on the go

In our rush to convert everything on paper into a digital file, I've been seeing more types of portable scanners. Last year, I wrote about the IRIScan Book 2, which works like a wand passing over page in a book or magazine. And I checked out the Neat Receipts scanner that's designed to capture documents like business cards and sales receipts.

Now comes the Air Copy from Ion, a compact wireless scanner that's perfect for quickly capturing batches of photos. The scanner has a rechargeable battery and a built-in Wi-Fi transmitter, eliminating the need for cables or power cords.

The scanner is meant to be paired with a portable device such as a smartphone or tablet. Ion has free apps apps for Apple or Android smartphones and tablets plus one for Windows 8 devices. Once the two gadgets are linked, any snapshots fed into the scanner are captured in a few seconds and stored in the photo gallery on the phone or tablet. From there, you can post a photo on Facebook, send it by email or upload it to cloud-based galleries or storage services like Picasa or Dropbox.

The scanner's slot if wide enough to accept an 8x10 photo or an 8.5x11 document. Scan quality is 600 dpi, which is pretty good for a portable scanner and sufficient to produce a readable document. Another nice feature is the digital images are automatically cropped to the edge of the photo.

My only disappointment with the Air Copy is it won't scan photos done on thick paper, which rules out many old photos and postcards.

You can find the Ion Air Copy for $179 on Verizon's website and other online sources.

By: Ric Manning On 7/22/2013

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A look through the Google Glass lens

Matt Coddington

Louisville's Matt Coddington, the founder of MyMobileVille, is among the 8,000 people who were allowed to purchase Google Glass after pitching Google with an essay on how they would use the device.

Lately, he's been giving the local press a tour of his new toy. In today's Louisville Courier-Journal, Coddington gives reporter Matt Frassica a tour of his new specs.

"As he walked down Main Street from the Humana building, Coddington nodded to curious passers-by, looked up directions to Jimmy John’s, and sent a text message to his wife — all without pulling out his phone or diverting his eyes from where he was walking."

Here's more from Frassica's story:

Glass is a wearable computer that puts a transparent screen hovering in your field of vision, kind of like a smartphone that’s always at the ready.

If he wants to look something up, all Coddington needs to do is tilt his head up and say the words “OK, Glass.” The screen comes on, hovering like a hologram before him. From there, he can run a Google search, look up directions, send a text message or take a photo or video — all controlled using his voice and touch gestures on the glasses’ frame.

If he receives a text message or has a meeting coming up, the screen lights up and a tiny chime sounds, although only he can hear it.

Glass looks futuristic, with a continuous band of steel across the top and a thick right arm that holds the computer, a small camera lens, and the prism that contains the screen. It comes in black, gray and white, but Coddington chose a bright orange color called tangerine.

Earlier this year, Google encouraged people to enter to win a chance to get Glass by writing social media posts explaining what they would do with it. Coddington, a self-described “bleeding-edge technology addict” who has run a local meetup called MyMobileVille for 13 years, took to his Google+ page. There, he wrote that he would “shoot brief video examples of every conceivable way that Google Glass can improve life experiences, and post them on YouTube, to show the world the future.”

You can read the full story (until the newspaper puts it behind its paywall) at Courier-Journal.com. There's another report online at the Louisville BizBlog and a video at WHAS11.com.

By: Ric Manning On 7/08/2013

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