STACK #232 February 2024

FEATURE TECH

We may need to take a shower after the rigours of a gaming session in future! The weird and the wacky Cappella Baby Cry Translator app: The

Measuring 17.3 inches (diagonally) and delivering QHD resolution – that’s 2560 x 1920 pixels – it comes in a form similar to a book that can easily be carried about in your laptop bag and brought out to expand your screen space when desired. Featuring a “waterdrop” style hinge, the ASUS folk promise a flawless fold in a surprisingly lithe unit that’s just 9.7mm thin (when unfolded) and weighs just 1.2kg. Lenovo Magic Bay: Keeping a friendly eye on you Last year, Lenovo unveiled their Magic Bay concept, which is a range of peripherals designed to snap onto the tops of their laptops. Many of these are purely practical, such as the Magic Bay Studio, which adds a 4K webcam and extra two speakers to your setup. Lenovo also demonstrated such handy ideas as snap-on SSD drives and extra screens. But this year, we also met a little smiley face “robot” accessory that sits atop your laptop and watches you. As it does so, it changes expressions, blinking, winking, and smiling away as you go about your business.

Razer Project Esther: Feel the gaming action!

By now, we’re used to haptic feedback from our game controllers, but Razer are taking the concept to the next level with their Razer Sensa HD Haptics. They’ve demonstrated the technology in their Project Esther, which is a chair cushion that allows players to feel in-game action through their bodies.

Simpsons did it! Way back in 1992, The Simpsons episode Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes? saw Homer’s half-brother Herb Powell - voiced by Danny DeVito - invent a baby monitor that interpreted infant Maggie’s cries. Now, decades later, there’s an app for that, thanks to the people at Cappella. They claim that their app can translate the various cries of babies, helping you work out whether they’re hungry, distressed, or even if they've soiled themselves. They’re claiming an approximate 95% accuracy rate, whereas parents apparently have an average hit rate of around 30%. The app also records and tracks baby’s routine, including sleep patterns, and is available now for Apple and soon for Android. Samsung Ballie: Your plastic pal, who’s fun to be with? Possibly the cutest thing that we spotted at this year’s CES, Ballie is an AI-driven smart home companion that may be a great alternative for those who can’t have – or don’t want – living, breathing pets. We've seen earlier iterations of Ballie at CES previously, but it has now been revamped with additional features – and smoother lines - to make it the perfect personal home assistant. Ballie can be connected to smart appliances throughout the home and then manage them and even learn from the user’s habits to be a better helper. Be it playing music, sending texts or videos from home when you’re away, feeding a real pet, or projecting things onto walls, Ballie sounds like a very handy helper. And yes, it’s a rather cute one, too.

While in the concept stage currently, the software is available for game developers to incorporate into their titles to deliver a wide range of haptic sensations to enhance the gaming experience. We may need to take a shower after the rigours of a gaming session in future!

That’s about it for now, however Lenovo plan to look into expanding the concept into an AI-enabled assistant with voice, which could be really useful. Gaming

MSI Claw A1M: Windows 11 power in your hands The handheld Windows PC gaming space is expanding rapidly, and MSI are entering the fray with an exciting new option. Unlike its current competitors, the ergonomically designed MSI Claw A1M features an Intel processor at its heart, specifically the Core Ultra 7 155H. It’s a beast for everything from gaming to content creation, and coupled with a 53Whr battery, that means a lot of action on a single charge. Gaming-wise, there are niceties like programmable RGB lighting, asymmetrical thumbsticks, hall effect triggers, and 120Hz vision on a Full HD seven-inch screen.

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