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Courtesy Motorola
Moto Z: Swappable Phone Features
If you’ve ever wished your phone had more memory, a massive zoom
lens, beefier battery life, or improved speakers, the Moto Z makes it
possible—all without having to buy a new phone. Any of five accessories,
called MotoMods, magnetically attach to the back of the Android
handset. The phone’s 0.2-inch-thick design manages to keep heft
down—even when it has a Pico projector modded to its back. $624 (mods from $60)
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Courtesy Acer
Acer Switch Alpha 12: Liquid-Cooled Laptop
Many ultrathin laptops pack a punch but have no room for fans,
leading to overheating. So Acer turned to liquid cooling in the Switch
Alpha 12, a laptop-tablet hybrid with Intel’s latest processors. As the
system heats, so does coolant moving through a circular pipe; as the
liquid condenses, the CPU cools down. In tests, the underside of the
computer remained a comfortable 85 degrees after 30 minutes of video
playback. $600
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Courtesy Jibo
Jibo: An A.I. Bot for the Countertop
Query-answering virtual assistants are nothing new. (Right, Siri
and Alexa?) But an A.I. that can recognize who’s talking, swivel in
response, and emote with humanlike features is rare. Add on top of this
the ability to take messages, video chat, shoot family photos, and serve
up calendar reminders, and you have Jibo. A developers’ kit allows
third parties to create skills for the foot-tall device. Welcome to the
era of the social robot. $749
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Courtesy Pebble
Pebble Core: Apps On Your Keychain
When dashing out the door for a quick run or to grab some eggs,
the Pebble Core, announced in May and launching in January, lets you
leave your phone behind. Equipped with cellular, GPS, 4 gigs of storage,
and the ability to play Spotify songs stored on the device, the
1.5-inch dongle keeps the essentials in tow. Fire up Amazon’s Alexa
voice assistant to hear the weather, get a news briefing, or to summon
an Uber or Lyft to whisk you away. $99
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Courtesy Samsung
Samsung Gear Icon X: In-Ear MP3 Player
Samsung’s wireless, heart-monitoring fitness earbuds are a
completely self-contained music system. Four gigabytes of onboard
storage hold your workout playlist—go for a run without your smartphone.
$200
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Sam Kaplan
Eora 3D : Portable 3D Scanning
DIYers looking to copy parts have had a tough choice: Buy an
expensive industrial scanner or settle for a low-res scan of
stitched-together photos. The Eora 3D is a quality, compact scanner that
connects a phone via Bluetooth. The soda-can-size device uses a laser
to capture 8 million depth readings, while the phone’s camera takes over
1,000 images. Eora 3D’s app merges both into formats compatible with
CAD software and 3D printers. $319
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Courtesy Almond
Securifi Almond 3: Wi-Fi For Huge Houses
Most wireless routers struggle to deliver consistent, fast Wi-Fi
to every corner of our McMansions. The Almond 3 can blanket an entire
5,000-foot house with powerful Wi-Fi. With one unit set up as a base and
establishing the network, two additional Almonds act as Wi-Fi
extenders. The router also doubles as a smart-home hub, communicating
with connected devices like lights and thermostats. $399 (set of three)
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Courtesy Doppler Labs
The world is a noisy place. And traffic, jackhammers, planes, and
trains aren’t only annoyances, they can also do real harm to your
eardrums. The Here One earbuds let listeners tune out the noise. Paired
with a smartphone app, the ’buds allow users to raise or lower specific
sounds from the environment around them and better hear exactly what
they want. Turn down the roar of the subway and crank the Kanye to 11. $299
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Lenovo
Lenovo Phab 2 Pro: A World-Altering Phone
Augmented-reality apps have had a breakout year, but as
satisfying as it is catching Pikachu, experiences can fall flat. The
Phab 2 Pro phone uses new software from Google, called Tango, to give AR
extra depth. Three imagers (a 16-megapixel sensor, infrared sensor, and
fisheye lens) let your phone create a 3D map of the world—for apps that
produce engineering schematics or superimpose video-game worlds onto
the actual one. $500
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Sam Kaplan
Canon 1DX Mark II: Fast-Snapping 4K
Recording 4K video means filming at frame rates that outpace most
memory cards. The 1DX Mark II is Canon’s first consumer camera that
keeps up. Support for the new CFast 2.0 card means capturing video at a
blazing 350MB per second. $5,999
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Sam Kaplan
Project Fi: The United Nations of Mobile Networks
Inconsistent service is the great Achilles’ heel of our
ultra-connected lives. In urban canyons, signals can be fickle; abroad,
staying online can be fruitless and costly. Google’s Project Fi, an
experimental cellular network that rolled out this past spring, fills in
those connectivity gaps. Instead of relying on one carrier’s towers,
Project Fi connects to the strongest signal from among T-Mobile,
Sprint, US Cellular, and a number of international partners. When the
connection from one of Google’s 1 million trusted Wi-Fi hotspots is
stronger, the call—or webpage or video stream—will go from cellular to
Wi-Fi completely uninterrupted. Google hopes other carriers will one day
adopt similar service-jumping schemes, but for the time being,
data-hungry consumers can try it out on one of the company’s flagship
Nexus phones. From $20 Per Month
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