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CES 2011: iHome Airplay Speaker, Eye-Fi Direct, Fling Game Controller

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Apr 12, 2001
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The 2011 Consumer Electronics Show officially kicks off this week, and the press releases and events have started. Here are a few interesting Apple-related products that have already appeared. We'll provide limited CES coverage over the week.

iHome Airplay


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iHome Audio has unleashed more information about their iW1 AirPlay wireless speaker system. The wireless speaker supports Apple's AirPlay technology to stream music throughout the house from iTunes.
Using AirPlay, users can wirelessly stream music from iTunes, iPhone, iPad or iPod touch over Wi-Fi to the iHome iW1 speaker system and enjoy music in any room of the house. AirPlay requires iTunes 10.1 or later and iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 4.2 or later.
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The iW1 comes with a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery, allowing you to place it anywhere in the house. Multiple speakers are supported to play music in several locations and it also doubles as an iPhone dock that allows local playback.

Eye-Fi Direct Mode


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Eye-Fi announced an upcoming "Direct Mode" for their Wi-Fi enabled storage cards that will allow you to transfer photos directly from your camera to your mobile device.
With Direct Mode, photos taken with your digital camera can immediately be sent to your smartphone or tablet. They can be viewed, used with myriad apps on the device, or uploaded and shared.
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Eye-Fi cards are regular SD cards that fit into your digital camera, but also incorporates Wi-Fi to transfer your photos to your computer. The Direct Mode will presumably bring this support to wirelessly send photos to your iPhone or iPad in realtime rather than to your computer.

Fling Game Controller for iPad


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TenOneDesign announced their game controller accessory for the iPad that allows you to place an analog stick directly on the screen. TouchArcade took a first look at the device:
The Fling is a cleverly designed device with two suction cups on one side connected to a plastic ring. Inside of the plastic ring is a spiral that suspends an electrically conductive joystick in the center. This spiral works like a spring, always returning the joystick to the center, and providing more resistance the closer you get to the edge of the plastic ring.
....
If you're playing a game with floating virtual joysticks like most dual stick shooters, all you've got to do is position it wherever is most comfortable to you, press down both suction cups, and you're ready to roll.
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Fling is expected to ship in late January and costs $24.95 for one, and $38.00 for a two-pack.

Article Link: CES 2011: iHome Airplay Speaker, Eye-Fi Direct, Fling Game Controller
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/01/04/ces-2011-ihome-airplay-speaker-eye-fi-direct-fling-game-controller/
Last edited by a moderator:
I was hoping that my next digital camea would have built in WiFi rather that Eye-Fi cards!

As for the game-controler, not sure if I like or hate this. There are a number of psudo-joystick controls on some iOS Apps and I really find them hard to use, so this may help. (But it defets the whole ethos of the iPad in a way.)
 
I don't even own an iPad but I want those suction cups!

I wonder if an iPhone/iTouch version is possible. I would buy them.
 
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goobot said:
how does that sd card work anyhow?
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It works with a built in wifi access point the wirelessly transfers newly written images TL the card to a supporting app on your pc waiting for the images. I can only imaging that Eye-Fi will release a iPhone and iPad app when it's released. That app will need to be running and waiting for the images coming from the card as they are taken.

I have an old eye-Fi card and it was ok. I'm excited about this new card/app.

LanPhantom
 
It's nice to see all these Apple-created technologies coming together to make our lives easier. AirPlay is truly a great thing, and this is just one of what I'm sure is going to be many speaker systems that will support it.
 
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But wouldn't iOS restrictions make it impossible for an outside vendor to get pics into the ipad photo library?
 
goobot said:
how does that sd card work anyhow?
Click to expand...

I am wondering the same thing. I am curious what kind of limitations it would have. The iPhone/iPad can't act as a Wi-Fi hotspot, so I have no clue how you would get the Eye-Fi card to connect up. It seems like it would be limited to APs that you programmed into the card and/or public APs.

I don't know how it would work out in the middle of nowhere unless the Eye-Fi card could somehow act as a hotspot, but I doubt that's possible given the battery constraints, etc.

It would be much better to just use bluetooth for this kind of thing. Oh well.
 
OrganMusic said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

But wouldn't iOS restrictions make it impossible for an outside vendor to get pics into the ipad photo library?
Click to expand...

No, it wouldn't be too complicated. It would have to connect to the card via WiFi, then transfer the files from it, then put the files in your library. It's perfectly doable. But does it break the rules? I doubt it.
 
Expensive controllers

I like the controllers, but $25 each? Wow. That's 10x the cost of the games I'd play with them. I think I'll do without.... :(
 
I bought some iHome speakers recently and was pleasantly suprised at the sound quality that came from them, and the portability with the built in battery made it a must own. Bought one for my mom for Christmas, and it was so cool I ended up buying one for myself.

The Airplay speakers look cool, but I'd still like something I can dock. Since speakers w/ just music is more for longer uses that could drain the battery, rather than say airplay to put a YouTube video on the TV for somebody to watch real quick.
 
I'm patiently waiting for a car stereo with airplay. I only need audio but audio/video airplay would be nice for people with monitors in their vehicles.

It is pretty interesting to see this conference featuring so many innovations for Apple products without Apple even attending.
 
Interesting Controller

That looks like an interesting controller. I'll be willing to give it a try. Tactile sensation in playing games is necessary for alot of shooter like Geometry Wars. I have the iPad and that game, and its cool. The controller is pretty good, but tactile sensation is missing. Seems to be reasonably priced also.

- Cory Cowgill -
 
CoryCowgill said:
That looks like an interesting controller. I'll be willing to give it a try. Tactile sensation in playing games is necessary for alot of shooter like Geometry Wars. I have the iPad and that game, and its cool. The controller is pretty good, but tactile sensation is missing. Seems to be reasonably priced also.

- Cory Cowgill -
Click to expand...

Welcome to MacRumors, Cory. Having just created an account today, this is a very interesting first and only post...






I'm just sayin'... :)
 
MrSmith said:
Wonder how much that speaker will cost. Will want.


What about the millions who want to transfer photos to a C-O-M-P-U-T-E-R?
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Did you bother to follow the link?

The eye-fi card already supports wifi downloads to your computer or a photo sharing website.
 
wackymacky said:
I was hoping that my next digital camea would have built in WiFi rather that Eye-Fi cards!

As for the game-controler, not sure if I like or hate this. There are a number of psudo-joystick controls on some iOS Apps and I really find them hard to use, so this may help. (But it defets the whole ethos of the iPad in a way.)
Click to expand...

EXACTLY! What was it Mr. Jobs said? if you design an OS and find you need a stylus, then you've already failed.

Stop trying to port old games and control styles/controllers to the iOS! I can't wait until we have devices that build an induction style field around the screen of the device and then use NEW, NEVER BEFORE USED GESTURES to control the apps/games/whatever! Now THAT'S revolutionary!
 
mambodancer said:
Did you bother to follow the link?
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Of course not. I expect others with more free time to. I come here so I don't have to trawl the Internet myself. It wouldn't have hurt for the article above to list existing functionality, would it?
 
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