Review: Withings Smart Baby Monitor

Did you know you can use your iPhone or iPad as a baby monitor? Neither did we until we came across the Withings Smart Baby Monitor.

It connects over Wi-Fi, and via the free app, streams video of your little one from anywhere you can get an internet connection – even over 3G.

The app doesn't just stream video though. It tells you all sorts of other things, such as the humidity, temperature and noise levels in the baby's room. And you can get it to issue alerts for all these different readings.

The camera can take a picture, and you can play a lullaby or speak to your child to soothe them back to sleep with the sound of your voice. The 3-megapixel camera also has an essential night-vision mode.

The setup procedure was refreshingly easy and we were soon up and running. The picture quality isn't particularly high, but it was good enough for its intended purpose, and the night vision worked well.

We also really liked the ability to talk through the unit from our iPhone. The app keeps the audio going in the background, so you can keep listening even when you're using your email client or browsing the web.

But the main problem is that if you start playing with more demanding apps on your iOS device you can interrupt the stream coming from the camera, and a restart of the app is required. You could use the Withings unit as a security camera to keep an eye on your home while you're away, but there are cheaper options available if that's all you need.

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Review: Withings Smart Baby Monitor

Did you know you can use your iPhone or iPad as a baby monitor? Neither did we until we came across the Withings Smart Baby Monitor.

It connects over Wi-Fi, and via the free app, streams video of your little one from anywhere you can get an internet connection – even over 3G.

The app doesn't just stream video though. It tells you all sorts of other things, such as the humidity, temperature and noise levels in the baby's room. And you can get it to issue alerts for all these different readings.

The camera can take a picture, and you can play a lullaby or speak to your child to soothe them back to sleep with the sound of your voice. The 3-megapixel camera also has an essential night-vision mode.

The setup procedure was refreshingly easy and we were soon up and running. The picture quality isn't particularly high, but it was good enough for its intended purpose, and the night vision worked well.

We also really liked the ability to talk through the unit from our iPhone. The app keeps the audio going in the background, so you can keep listening even when you're using your email client or browsing the web.

But the main problem is that if you start playing with more demanding apps on your iOS device you can interrupt the stream coming from the camera, and a restart of the app is required. You could use the Withings unit as a security camera to keep an eye on your home while you're away, but there are cheaper options available if that's all you need.

Intel ditches smart TV division

Chip giant Intel is to drop out of the smart TV market due to a lack of demand for internet-enabled flatscreens.

The company will fold its TV-based Digital Home Group, and move the engineers onto tablet, smartphone and Ultrabook development.

Intel's Atom CE4100 chip currently powers D-Link's Boxee Box and Logitech's Revue digital media players, as well as Sony's Google-powered televisions. But it's set to be the last chip of its kind, with competitor ARM likely to fill the void Intel leaves.

"This is a business decision where we're taking those resources and applying them to corporate priorities," Claudine Mangano, an Intel official, told Bloomberg.

TV Go Home

Those priorities look increasingly like tablets and smartphones, where the Digital Home Group's knowledge could be harnessed to create portable devices with smart TV functionality.

The CE4100 will continue to be sold and supported by Intel, and it will also remain - albeit more anonymously - in set top boxes.

By all rights Google TV should have followed in the lucrative footsteps of Android, but we were less than impressed when we reviewed it.

Although there's still potential in the smart TV format, the massive popularity of tablets makes it seem like Intel is doing the right thing.

Acer Iconia Smart Mobile Product

Last November we present an attractive and more impressive terminal of 4.8 inches display screen designed by the Taiwanese Acer, at this time had no name, now I can present as Acer Iconia Smart mobile product. Initially we thought it was a prototype, but this device has been confirmed after months without knowing anything more about him. For those who walk a mini lost I remind him that it was an Android cell phone with 21:9 panoramic screen ratios and new 1024 x 480 pixels resolution.

New acer iconia smart mobile product includes an 8-megapixel main camera and 2-megapixel front. Other feature arriving WiFi, DLNA and HSDPA, it’s a certified Dolby mobile product. That has been confirmed not easily that we know no cost or launching date, but we will look at more advance. VIA

Smart phone cases monitor health, test for bad breath

Given that Japan is one of the most health-conscious nations in the world, it was no surprise that this year's CEATEC had a number of health-monitoring devices on show.

DoComo had by far the most interesting health checker, with the technology built into a number of mobile phone smart cases.

In all there are three cases that have been built, each monitoring a specific aspect of your health.

The first was like a breathalyser, with the unit hooking up to your phone and testing your breath for halitosis and also if there's any alcohol in your system.

Being that this was the third day of a tradeshow, we were convinced we would break the device when we blew on to it.

But the monitor – to our astonishment – told us that our breath had a count of one, which is good. The monitor goes from one to five, with five being that there is something wrong with the odour emitting from your mouth.

The second health-checking mobile phone we tried out monitored how much radiation was in the air.

Given that Japan has recently had a nuclear scare, this is a piece of kit that could be potentially life saving for its user.

The demo we saw showed off how much radiation was coming from some irradiation balls – lucky it wasn't enough to cause us any problems.

The final case was a fitness monitor. Equipped with sensors on the side, the device took a measurement from your fingers, then came back telling you how much muscle mass you had and other things like fat content.

Although the cases were bulky, the idea that you can transform your mobile into a health monitor is an interesting one, and we're betting that more of this technology will be shown off at CES 2012.

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