Hasta La Ideas

Two lithium-ion powered boards that cruise up to 20mph

Nestled among the many iPhone gadgets and advanced home accessories at this year’s CES were a couple of companies taking a less conventional approach in the realm of outdoor activity. We spotted a pair of electric skateboards for those seeking the thrill of riding one without exerting the necessary physical effort.

The soon-to-launch ZBoard might be the closest thing to riding a regular skateboard, with an intuitive, hands-free electric motor that accelerates and decelerates as the rider adjusts their body weight forward or backward. The weight-sensing Pro board is powered by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, and can reach upwards of 17mph with a range of more than ten miles.

The Classic boasts a more modest set of specs, reaching 15mph with a range of five miles on sealed lead acid batteries. Both boards are kept under control by regenerative braking. ZBoard aims to launch their electric boards on 1 March 2012 with an impressive sticker price of $800 for the Pro and $500 for the Classic. Pre-order is now available with a $100 deposit.

The more customizable Metroboard offers the rider the choice between shorter cruiser-style boards and standard long boards. By going with a 27″ or 32″ board the rider gains agility, while the longer 36″ and 41″ boards are more stable, but limited in their maneuverability. Metroboard equips all models with rechargeable lithium batteries that support a max speed of 19mph.

Unlike ZBoard, Metroboard requires a wireless remote control to adjust speeds. This remote—closely resembling those for the Nintendo Wii—uses Bluetooth signals to communicate with the board beneath your feet. If you drop the remote while riding, the regenerative brakes automatically engage once the board is separated by more than 10 feet to prevent runaway boards. Depending upon the size, Metroboards are now available online for between $545 and $500.

An interactive narrative about the birth of the alphabet in a world of numbers

A charming interactive story app from Moonbot takes a pre-linguistic dystopia as the setting for a adventure tale about the invention of the alphabet. Following Moonbot’s first story “The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore,” Numberlys also takes a literary angle of a more cinematic quality. In part an homage to Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis,” the goose-stepping society of the Numberlys is less than intimidating as its citizens waddle across the frame.

The combination story-game-film app teaches a pseudo-history of the birth of the alphabet. Five friends set out to create something new in a world that relies entirely on numbers for communication. Their “number speak” is comically translated by our narrator, a European of ambiguous origins. In a factory reserved for number production, the friends cut, crank, twirl, bounce and bazooka all 26 letters into shape. In doing so, they unleash a new means of communication, bringing names, sunsets, jelly beans and Technicolor into their drab world.

While the high-brow references to film history and the curse of industrial capitalism may soar over the heads of little ones, the games and story are clearly aimed at young children. The mini games are entertaining enough, though really serve to keep the reader engaged as the story progresses. Closer to a film than a picture book, the story still makes good use of an alliterative vocabulary: “They were giddy! Glad! Gleeful! They would go forwards with grace, gallantry, and gusto!”

While there remains room for growth in terms of alternative story paths and better gaming, Numberlys represents a new standard in the development of interactive narratives.

Numberlys is available on the iPad and iPhone through iTunes.

A new app curates mood-based music playlists

A mammoth music library should inspire pride, not anxiety. The problem is, how do you begin to sort through tens of thousands of tracks? Shuffle functions are too dumbed down, and there’s no time to create a custom playlist for every occasion.

Enter HABU, the mood-based music app that auto-generates playlists from your library based on how you feel, designed by Gravity Mobile leveraging music mapping from Gracenote. The emotional interface is all about intelligent entertainment, filtering information to enhance the user experience. “HABU was created for people who’d rather spend their time discovering new music than creating custom playlists,” says Jeff Benson, director of product management for Gravity Mobile. “With the average customer listening to 17 to 19 hours of music per week, we saw the need to design and develop a music app that could surface highly targeted playlists and music recommendations.”

HABU comes with an intuitive “mood map,” a circular visualizer that groups songs based in their position on two axes. Songs are plotted between “positive” and “dark” on the y-axis and “calm” and “energetic” on the x-axis based on their classification by Gracenote, which takes a range of variables into consideration when assigning them a specific emotional tag. The results get placed into 25 mood groups with 100 individual moods. That way, your gloomy, energized, yearning and upbeat personas are never without a constant stream of music. The intensity of a mood’s plot signifies the quantity of content for that mood, and users can share their maps with friends over Facebook.

The app uses Gracenote’s “sonic attribute technology” to create mood profiles for more than 30 million tracks. This allows HABU to generate tailored playlists at the touch of a finger, empowering the user to browse even the most prolific music collections. Reading user tastes, HABU finds similar tracks and lets you preview songs before downloading them. According to Benson, the app “is set up to interface with a customer’s own content as much as it is to discover new content via song recommendation and mood-based discovery.”

HABU is currently available in the Android Market for 99 cents; the iPad app is set to drop this Spring.

The cell phone that holds its charge for 15 years on just a single AA battery

Relying on just one AA battery, the newly launched SpareOne mobile phone holds its power for an astonishing 15 years, with 10 hours of consecutive talk time on a single charge. Developed by industry giant XPAL Power—which also makes the combined battery pack and phone case PowerSkin—SpareOne’s basic interface may not have the bells and whistles of an iPhone, but it works well for kids or seniors who need to carry a phone in case of emergency.

The SpareOne works optimally with an Engergizer Ultimate Lithium AA battery—another XPAL Power product—but will operate with any alkaline, NiMH or Lithium power source. The lightweight, compact design is also ideal for outdoor adventurists who want to stay in contact, but without the bulk of a smart phone or the worry of losing a more valuable device.

Premiering this week at Las Vegas’ CES, theSpareOne will soon be available online for a moderate $50, with various versions created specifically for the U.S., European and Asian markets.

Over four years in the making, the new flagship DSLR promises to deliver

Just announced, the Nikon D4 is an update to the brand’s flagship DSLR, over four years in the making. Boasting a 16.2MP full-frame sensor capable of low-light capture at ISO levels as high as 204,800 as well as high speed shooting of up to 11 frames-per-second, this professional camera promises the versatility to cover everything from action-packed sporting events to candle-lit moments. While those improvements might be incremental, perhaps the biggest leap forward is the new metering sensor with is 100-times more sensitive than its predecessor. This greater level of detail detection offers features beyond simple light metering—face detection for up to 16 people, subject tracking in still and video mode and dynamic white balance adjustment are just a few benefits.

Offering Canon serious competition, the D4 has several new features making it a video powerhouse. Full HD recording at 60, 30 and 24 frames-per-second, clip recording times up to 20 minutes and professional audio in and out bring DSLR recording features closer to what should be baseline. To increase creative control, the shutter speed, aperture and ISO can be manually adjusted while recording. Though most shooters will still prefer to focus by hand, there are four modes of auto focus available during video recording—normal, wide area, face detection and subject tracking.

As a Nikon shooter since I was 8 years old, I can’t wait to check out the D4 in person at CES next week. In the meantime, DPReview has already posted an initial hands-on. The Nikon D4 will retail for $6000 beginning in late February 2012.