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â–º For more from 914INC’s Q2 2013 Issue, click here.
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- Taking a taxi in an unfamiliar city doesn’t have to mean being taken for a ride. Taxi Turvi applies your iPhone’s GPS tracking ability to map a hack driver’s route, comparing it to the shortest way possible and recommending an appropriate tip or complaint. Best of all, it’s available for only $0.99 on iTunes; itunes.apple.com
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- Monitor four-legged family members’ whereabouts and wellness with a collar-sized advanced GPS tracker. You can keep dogs or cats from getting lost while gauging their daily physical activity—wirelessly reported to any computer or mobile device. Tagg Tracker from Snaptracs, Inc., costs an initial $99.95, plus a $7.95 monthly service fee after the first three months; $89.95 per added pet and an additional $0.95 monthly added to the service fee; pettracker.com
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- A sleek, programmable wrist timepiece showcases the first monster hit for crowdfunding (online fundraising to support creative projects). The Pebble, financed by more than 68,000 backers on Kickstarter (for a total of 85,000 orders), features a crisp, power-miser e-paper display and fast-growing library of watch-face designs and apps, with smooth Bluetooth connectivity to Android phones and iPhones. Available in five colors from Pebble Technology, $150; getpebble.com
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- Never get rattled on the links again by some blabby biological golf-bag carrier. The non-talkative, battery-powered CaddyTrek robot can follow a player for up to 27 holes on a single plug-in charge. It climbs hills easily, a comfortable six paces away from a belt-worn homing device—or closer, if you use its remote control. Available from FTR Systems, $1,995; caddytrek.com
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- Express your individuality by selecting a two-tone custom exterior for an already impressive compact muscle cam. The palm-length Pentax Q10 qualifies as the world’s lightest mirrorless interchangeable lens camera (ILC), with versatile pro-style imaging and editing. Now available from Pentax’s online Q10 Studio in a bright palette of 20 different body hues and five grip colors, $599.95; pentaximaging.com
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- As HDTV saturates our living rooms and eyewear-bound 3D proves annoying, TV makers are touting their newest home-viewing advance: four-times-sharper-than-HD Ultra TV. Neither cable nor Blu-ray can deliver such vivid video images yet, so Sony bundles a media server to stream movies in this super-watchable format with its platinum-priced, 84-inch (seven-foot-diagonal) debut Sony 4K Ultra HD TV model, XBR-84X900. Available from Sony, $24,999.99; store.sony.com
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- Leave it to our Gallic cousins to create the first spill- and heat-resistant, WiFi-connected, gourmet kitchen tablet. In chic red, the 10-inch touch-screen QOOQ (pronounced cook), from Paris-based Unowhy (oui, you know why), includes sophisticated diet- and meal-planning functions, 1,000 chef recipes and videos, and full multimedia Internet access. Available from Unowhy US, Inc., $399; storeus.qooq.com
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- Want to share a business presentation or family snaps with a roomful of viewers from your palm-sized screen, without another device? Samsung’s GALAXY Beam shines its smart- phone-stored images up to TV dimensions on a nearby wall or ceiling with a built-in Digital Light Processing (DLP) projector. The stylish, yellow-banded phone is available from Samsung $559.99; samsung.com