Wood Watch

The Grovemade Wood Watch gives you the essence of time

While most of us rely on our phones to tell us the time, there are a few that still enjoy wearing a wristwatch. In today’s world, there aren’t as many people spending a good deal on one timepiece, as an expensive one doesn’t play well with water or rough-and-tumble activities. If your lifestyle gives you the ability to not only wear a nice watch, but also afford a high quality option, then the only thing you’d need to do is pick which one you want.

Grovemade has been known to make wooden Apple accessories, and decided to try their hand at making watches. The Grovemade wood watch consists of a vegetable-tanned leather strap, and a high quality stainless steel casing with either a Oregon Claro Walnut or Eastern Hardrock Maple watch face. While the internal mechanism was made overseas, the rest was machined or finished by hand in the U.S.. That likely explains the $239 price tag.

The time is displayed in twelve circular windows. The red full circle will indicate your hours, and the white half-circle will show the minutes. Seeing that this is more of the essence of what time it is rather than the exact minute, you’ll still probably be pulling out your phone every now and again to get the particulars. Again, this is an aesthetic thing, and you’re going to have to have a fair amount of disposable income and a cushy job that doesn’t require you to use your hands much to justify this purchase.

Available for pre-order on grovemade, found via damngeeky

Headphones

Wearhaus Arc Adds Social Features To Headphones

Headphones are, by their very nature, an antisocial device. After all, you use it to listen to whatever's playing all by your lonesome while tuning out all other sounds in the immediate surroundings. That doesn't mean it couldn't benefit from a slight injection of social features, though, and that's what the Wearhaus Arc does.

A pair of headphones designed for sharing, it lets you sync whatever track you're got playing to other Wearhaus Arc headphones in the vicinity. No loud Bluetooth speakers necessary to enjoy a setlist with the rest of your friends (and annoy everybody else who aren't your friends) --just sync all your headphones and listen to the same tracks in unison.

Wearhaus Arc connects using a companion app on each user's phone, allowing you to create a small network of users who can broadcast and receive tracks within the group. Not only can you share music with other users, it comes with a mic for chatting with people in the network, too, turning the entire experience of using headphones a surprisingly social affair. Connections are made over Bluetooth, with the integrated battery powering it for up to 16 hours on a single charge (although that goes down to 10 if you're the one broadcasting your music).

The headphones come with a multi-color LED ring that light up to the beat of whatever music's playing, with a styling that looks like it will fit in well with the younger crowd. It comes with physical controls for playback, volume, join, and broadcast, so you can keep the phone in your pocket the entire time.

Slated for delivery in December, the Wearhaus Arc is available for preorder, priced at $149.99.

goTenna

Use The goTenna To Send And Receive Texts Without Internet Access or Cell Service

The goTenna is a radio antenna that can communicate with other goTenna units.   Designed to work with a mobile app, it lets you send text messages to other goTenna users even without cell service or internet access in the area.

Designed for off-grid use, it lets you have a way to communicate even with no access to cell towers, WiFi networks, or communication satellites in sight.  Need a way to text friends who split with the main group during a hike?  This will do it.  How about text-chatting with friends on the secluded private island while you take the Wally 55 Power Boat out for a ride?  This will work.  Basically, it’s a personal communication network open to anyone with a goTenna and a smartphone.

The goTenna is a bar-style piece of hardware that can be clipped to a belt loop or a bag zipper for easy portability.  To use, simply pair your goTenna with a smartphone (iOS and Android) over Bluetooth, launch the app, and you’re duly equipped to text anyone with their own goTenna in tow.  Since it’s a private network, texts arrive fast, with messages quickly transmitted via low-frequency radio waves in under a second.  All messages are self-destructing and come with end-to-end encryption for security.    It can send and receive messages from any goTenna within a 50.5-mile range.

The device has onboard memory that can store up to several thousand messages, in case it isn’t paired to a phone yet (it will immediately push messages as soon as it connects).  Onboard battery, however, is only good for 30 hours of active use, so you’ll have to find a way to keep replenishing the thing for use in the wild outdoors.

Slated to ship late in the Fall, the goTenna is now available for preorder.  Price is $149.99 a pair.

LG G Flex

LG has launched its first curved screen smartphone, G Flex, in India. With a price tag of Rs 69,999, it is the most expensive Android smartphone in the Indian market.

When sufficient force is applied, the smartphone’s screen bends a little as well. The G Flex is also the first handset in the world to feature a self-healing back panel, which repairs minor scratches and cuts on the back automatically.

The new LG G Flex has a 6-inch 720p display that curves across the vertical line and runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). Other key specifications of LG G Flex include 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB RAM, 13MP rear camera and 3,500mAh battery.