Accessories

LAS VEGAS -- Just when you thought you'd seen all the smartwatch contenders, enter the Sonostar Smartwatch. I spotted this wrist-strapped number tucked away in a far-flung hall here at CTIA 2013.

Like many of its ilk within the emerging smart-timepiece category, such as the Pebble, MetaWatch, and Martian Passport, the Sonostar device promises to link to phones and give access to handy info. I have to put a heavy emphasis on the word promise since the gadgets I placed my hands on were all nonfunctioning prototypes.

Still, the Sonostar reps I chatted with swear that the gizmo links … Read more

LAS VEGAS -- The 2013 CTIA kicked off today. The last event of the wireless show season, CTIA tends to be a bit quieter than Mobile World Congress and CES. Yet, there are plenty of new handsets, hotpots, and accessories on display at the Sands Expo. Keep on clicking in this gallery to join CNET's team of reporters as they search the show floor and capture the best of CTIA on video. And as we shoot more videos we'll be expanding this list.

Starting Friday, Samsung will sell the second version of its NFC stickers, called TecTiles 2.

The main difference between these tags and the first iteration, which launched almost a year ago? Unlike the originals, the second TecTiles generation works with the Samsung Galaxy S4 as well as Samsung's other NFC-ready phones.

TecTile stickers use a small NFC receiver that trigger your smartphone into completing certain tasks when you tap them.

You can program TecTiles to turn on Wi-Fi and turn off Bluetooth, for instance, set an alarm, or send a text to someone that you've arrived home or … Read more

For the snooze kings and queens of the world, an even more annoying alarm clock is a must. Well, here's a droid with a "hilarious personality" that looks like it needs a good kick.

Tim-e is an iPhone dock with arms and legs. It wriggles and dances and is generally annoying. But that's the whole point.

The subject of a Kickstarter campaign that's aiming for $150,000, Tim-e (pronounced "Timmy") uses your iPhone screen as an animated face.

In the promo video below, it has a blue, animated mug and puts on a snarky routine. It recalls the genie from Disney's "Aladdin." … Read more

QR codes haven't exactly set the world on fire, yet most people know what they are, and most phones can scan them, either out of the box or with a third-party app.

The Findables Case takes that idea to heart by emblazoning a unique QR code on each hard-plastic shell, the idea being to use that code to share information about yourself or help recover your lost phone.

In other words, your case can now take the place of your business card, while at the same time offering good Samaritans a means of contacting you (that doesn't involve poring through your address book).

When someone scans the code, they'll see one of three profiles (chosen by you via a companion app or the Findables Web site): Business, Social, or Lost.… Read more

Last year, Google I/O -- Google's annual event for the developer community -- treated us to skydiving, arena-cycling Google Glass wearers, and a whole crazy landscape of wearable tech. This year, Glass is finally in the hands of thousands of developers, tech journalists, and other early adopters, but as we head back to another Google I/O, there's a lot about Glass that's yet to be discovered.

The present of Google Glass is intriguing, embryonic, and very bare-bones. Here's what I hope we see in the near future, starting this week.

Apps, apps, apps There … Read more

When the Pebble watch unveiled its first Kickstarter videos, it seemed like a magic device. Some features, like health-tracking apps, played a major role in that perception. They haven't been available, however, until today, when RunKeeper finally updated its iOS and Android apps to support the little wearable device. It's a small moment for RunKeeper, but a big moment for Pebble.

I reviewed the Pebble smartwatch about a month ago. I was a little hard on it. Why? Because, for all the hype the Pebble watch had received, the actual device couldn't really do all that much. … Read more

In my ideal universe, all meals are pizza, all pizzas make you lose weight, and every smartphone comes with some kind of kickstand.

That's because I like to read or watch videos while eating my magical weight-loss pizzas. Alas, very few phones can be propped up at comfortable viewing angles -- not without some kind of DIY stand.

Or this: The Keyprop is a smartphone stand that rides shotgun on your keychain. Or it will, if developer Alison Wong raises enough funds.

The Keyprop looks like your average plastic key, save for two small "teeth" that protrude … Read more

You can take notes on meetings or lectures on an iPad, or you can record videos of meetings or lectures -- but you can't have it both ways.

Kickstarter project MirrorCase aims to solve that dilemma. It's an iPad case that uses mirrors to point the camera lens forward, while at the same time raising the tablet to a comfortable typing angle.

For students and business users alike, that's potentially a big deal. It means you can sit in a conference room or lecture hall, typing or sketching on your iPad while at the same time recording … Read more