Weekly Daily Giz, Week of October 3rd, 2011, Netcast 1334

It's toy time on this episode of The Weekly Daily Giz!

Dexim makes a lot of Apple accessories. One of their newest is the AppSpeed, a Gyro Controlled RC Monster Truck. I just measured it, and this Monster Truck is about 4” long and 3” high, but it’s really big in entertainment value. The App Speed Monster Truck comes with a custom RF Transmitter that fits in the bottom of a ton of iOS devices. (They’re all listed on the company website, link below.) The transmitter doesn’t require batteries, because it’s powered by your iOS device. The first time you plug it in, you’ll be asked to download the app to control the AppSpeed Monster Truck. Power for the monster truck comes from an internal battery. The kit comes with a USB cord to connect to your computer. You can also use a USB AC wall adapter for charging, if you have one. A blinking red light tells you the truck is charging and it turns solid red when fully charged. My truck charged quickly, I’d say in about 15 minutes. For that amount of charging, you should get up to twice the run time, about 30 minutes. It also has a quick battery charger that requires 3 AAA batteries (not included) if you want to use the truck on the go. In Dexim video on the web the truck is seen running over grass and some roughish terrain, so you may be using it outdoors too. Once powered up, you can select gyroscope power or touch sensor mode to control it. In Touch mode you drive by swiping your finger across the screen. In gyro mode, tilting your iOS device controls your truck. There are also some menu presets that tells the truck to ZigZag, Spin, or – strangely, dance to music. Actually, I would have liked this feature better if you could select the music, but the truck only dances to the one built-in song. Dexin says you can control the Monster Truck from a distance of roughly 50 feet. As of now, the AppSpeed IOS Controlled Monster Trucks are the first to market (available in black or red), but various new vehicles (mini cars, sport cars, etc.) and devices (boats, helicopters, etc.) are expected to be available in the future. Surprise! In the past 24 hours (as I write this) Dexim has added two brand new race cars to the line. MSRP is $69.99, but do a web search for a lower price. I’ve seen it for $59.99 already.

http://www.dexim.net/us/products/Entertainment-1.html

See or hear this Netcast: http://twit.tv/show/weekly-daily-giz-wiz/1334

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