GORE-Tex Professional

Archive for the ‘Gadgets’ Category

Tactical Fanboy – CES 2012 – G-Shock GB-6900

Saturday, January 14th, 2012

We sent Tactical Fanboy out to Las Vegas early this year to cover the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show. This article is on the upcoming G-Shock GB-6900. To see all of TF’s coverage visit www.tacticalfanboy.com/category/ces/

Casio’s latest offering in the G-Shock line of watches is the GB-6900. It’s the first in the line to use Bluetooth Low Energy Wireless Technology, which is really Newspeak for this thing will be studying your daily habits to better plan the eventual machine takeover. All joking aside, it’s a pretty useful bit of hardware.

It connects to most smartphones to automatically adjust and correct its own display time and includes an alert signal that notifies the user of incoming calls and messages. Any ring alerts and vibration can be stopped by tapping a button on the watch. Similarly, phone alarm and vibration functions can be activated with a button press if the phone is misplaced. The Bluetooth signal features a data transfer rate is abound 1 Mbps with a signal range of 2m and a 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard.

As a watch, the GB-6900 isn’t too shabby either. It has five independent daily alarms, a stopwatch, countdown timer, and display options for 35 time zones in 100 cities, including Coordinated Universal Time and the option to enable Daylight Savings Time. Like other G-Shock models, it has a shock-resistant body and is rated for immersion up to 200 meters of water. A battery life of approx. 2 years is provided by a single CR2032 disk battery, assuming the communication function is used for only 12 hours per day. It’ll be available in Japan in March. The USA, and presumably everyone else, will get it by the end of the year.


http://www.gshock.com/

Cold Steel Sharkie

Friday, January 6th, 2012

At SSD, we LOVE Sharpies, so when we found about Cold Steel’s new Sharkies we were pretty excited. Made from the glass-reinforced plastic, Grivory, the Sharkie’s walls are four times thicker than a standard marker. This means that it is going to be pretty hard to break.

www.coldsteel.com/sharkies

SOMA After Action – S.O.Tech and DynGlobal

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

Apparently S.O.Tech drew quite a crowd at the recent Special Operations Medical Association conference in Tampa, Florida. This was in part due to their work with DynGlobal on tactical solar power and water filtration technology. We’ve actually given you a sneak peek of their collaborations during our Summer OR coverage.

Utilizing S.O.Tech’s new “VIPER” Plate Carrier, DynGlobal produced a “solar harvesting” panel to provide USSOCOM with significantly higher levels of “renewable” energy from the sun. In addition to the use of solar power and a lightweight battery system that integrates into the VIPER Plate Carrier and S.O.Tech packs, they also displayed a hydration pack filtration system that removes bacteria and other impurities including radioactive isotopes, a portable blood warming and cooling pack, an MBITR solar powered radio charger, and a portable micro air conditioning unit for vehicles and tents.

The center point of the display was a set of light weight foldable high output rugged solar panels that can power individual tactical electronics, medical encampments, FOB’s and command centers. As a reference to the importance of DynGlobal’s innovations, a typical solar panel available on the market today can generate energy to power a cell phone after 10-12 hours (less than 10% conversion efficiency), DynGlobal’s proprietary panels are so efficient that they can power a laptop in less than one hour at greater than 40% efficiency. These technology improvements mean solar power is now efficient enough to be deployed into the tactical environment. S.O.Tech and DynGlobal have been working with SOF over the past year to develop S.O.Tech’s new VIPER plate carrier and load carriage system integrating DynGlobal’s solar and power technology. Their system allows the Soldier to drop his MBITR radio into a S.O.Tech radio pouch which integrates a radio charger. It will charge the radio’s battery while in the pouch using power harvested from the solar panel and battery pack. Essentially, anything with a battery (GPS, cell phone, laser range finder, NODS, flashlight, tablet PCs, Sat Phones and survival beacons) can be similarly charged, reducing the need for heavy and costly batteries. SOTech’s Jim Cragg and Neil Trusso are pictured above wearing the VIPER Vest system and holding the vest mounted solar panel with a light weight 60 or 120 watt battery. Rob Hill, DynGlobal’s solar engineer and kit integrator is pictured holding a representation of warrior and camp-supporting solar power and water filtration system. Make sure you visit S.O.Tech at next month’s SHOT Show where they will be exhibiting this technology along side DynGlobal.

Lytro Camera

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011

Lytro is another interesting camera technology. It is a focusless camera. To explain this, we’ll share an explanation from their website:
Unlike a conventional camera that captures a single plane of light, the Lytro camera captures the entire light field, which is all the light traveling in every direction in every point in space.

There are two advantages to this. First, it allows you to focus in on individual objects in the frame after the fact. Additionally, since there is no focus, images are captured instantly, without any delay for an auto-focus feature to adjust the lens.

This photo gives you a good idea of the size of the camera.

This type of camera could prove most useful as a vacuum-style collection system. Turn it on and let it run in a wide area surveillance mode, shooting photo after photo after photo. Later, the imagery could be analyzed in a forensic mode to spot individual phenomenon. The fact that such technologies are becoming more widely available at the consumer level makes them great candidates for disruptive technologies.

www.lytro.com

Looxcie

Monday, December 19th, 2011

This is pretty amazing. Looxcie is a video camera that you wear on your ear like a bluetooth headset earphone. Once turned on it records everything in a POV (Point of View) format. It can store data in its buffer, send clips to your email and social media, or stream it live through a wireless connection to viewers of your choice. The possibilities are pretty exciting. In fact, Looxcie is already in use with Kenya’s Rangers who protect wildlife from poachers.

To share clips with your friends using Flashbax, “When something cool happens, simply press the instant clip button to get the last 30 seconds. Press the button longer and the instant clip is immediately shared to your social network.

Looxcie Live is your opportunity to broadcast what you see discreetly with those you choose via different smartphone app. The broadcast is also available on the Looxcie Live server for up to 24 hours for review with full archiving coming soon. Additional features include text chat and Push-to-talk voice cues to provide feedback to the broadcaster.

This isn’t science fiction or government-only, TLA tech. It’s available now.

looxcie.com

TacHacker – Switch Modular Pocket Knife

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

We first mentioned the Switch from Quirky a year-and-a-half ago. At the time, it was only available for pre-order. Time went on and we had forgotten about it, until the Think Geek catalog arrived in the mail and there it was nestled between a multi-color LED flashlight of no particular note and a pocket chainsaw.

Featuring 17 different tool attachments, you can configure the tool for your specific needs and this is great news for the TacHacker who wants to customize his gear.

Standard Knife, Pliers, Scissors, Nail File, Tweezers, Thin Flathead Screwdriver, Phillips-Head Screwdriver, Eyeglass Phillips-Head Screwdriver, Eyeglass Flathead Screwdriver, Wood Saw, Serrated Blade, Corkscrew, Combination Bottle Opener/Flathead Screwdriver, Combination Can Opener/Wire Stripper, Pen, Magnifying Glass, LED Flashlight

You can purchase it directly from Quirky but it’s actually quite a bit less expensive from Think Geek.

Contour Picatinny Rail Mount by Strikemark Targets

Friday, December 9th, 2011

Strikemark Targets has added a Contour Picatinny Rail Mount to their lineup of camera mounts we mentioned during New Breed of Warrior. Manufactured from a single piece of aluminum, the mount features a Black powder coat finish. It comes with an Allen key for installation and is held in place with a nylon tipped set screw. Installation is simple. You slide it on the rail, adjust its position, set the screw, and attach the Contour to the mount.

strikemark.com/products/contour-picatinny-rail-mount-strikemark

DSPTCH Camera Wrist Strap

Friday, December 9th, 2011

We were alerted to this camera wrist strap by DSPTCH. It’s a good looking item and an excellent concept. In fact, we’re surprised no one has done it before. Since it loops back through itself it is adjustable for the whole gamut of wrist sizes. Just be careful, your wrist is going to give long before that braided 550. But, the handy SR buckle should break away before you do. Available in Olive, Black, and Coyote.

www.dsptch.com

Thanks NH for the heads up!