Her GadgetMatch

Xiaomi takes over selfie smartphone brand Meitu

What could this mean for the future of Meitu’s selfie phones?

Published

November 20, 2018

Isa Rodriguez

Meitu and Xiaomi have just inked a deal.

If you like taking selfies, you’ve probably heard of Meitu. Worldwide, the brand is synonymous with selfie-enhancing beauty apps. In China, where selfie culture is big, it’s a smartphone brand that markets luxury selfie phones.

The Meiti V6: A luxury selfie phone with four cameras, calfskin leather, and gold rivets

Today, Meitu announced a Strategic Cooperation Agreement with Xiaomi which gives the latter control over the brand’s hardware. This effectively gives Xiaomi control over the design, research, development, production, business operation, sales, and marketing. Meitu, on the other hand, remains in control of image-related algorithms and camera technologies. The agreement entails Xiaomi pay Meitu 10 percent of the gross profit from each phone sold in the next five years.

This comes as no surprise as despite the selfie craze, Meitu smartphones have catered to a very small niche audience — they’ve only sold 3.5 million smartphones since their launch in 2013. Even getting hold of a device outside of China can be pretty hard as they’re only available there. The same cannot be said for Xiaomi as the smartphone brand steadily conquers Asia.

According to Meitu, it has always been the group’s mission to “to inspire more people to express their beauty.” The statement continues with the group saying that they “realize that working with a partner who has a scalable smartphone business can significantly accelerate [our] pace in realizing the vision of putting [our] smartphones in the hands of tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of users.” With this partnership in place, they explained they can instead focus on the next image processing tech.

What could this mean for the coming Meitu phones? I guess we’re going to find out. I, for one, am deathly excited. At the very least, we can expect to see more Meitu phones in the market.

Apps

Prepare your meals through your phone, fridge using Samsung SmartThings

The kitchen, simplified

Published

January 14, 2021

Leez

With everything going on in the world, it’s no surprise that people are spending more time in the kitchen and looking out for new recipes.

The good news? Samsung has just the thing to get it sorted quickly and easily. They’re bringing in Family Hub features into mobile users through the SmartThings app.

Samsung’s SmartThings Cooking service helps bring all of your Samsung kitchen appliances together. How? It lets you search, plan, purchase, and meal prep seamlessly through your phone or fridge through the SmartThings app.

On top of that, it recommends customized recipes based on your taste and preferences while considering ingredients available to you. You can scroll through recipe collections when you’re undecided or quickly zero-in on meals that suit your cravings.

SmartThings Cooking, powered by Whisk, is accessible through Samsung’s SmartThings. If you’ve got the Family Hub in your smart kitchen arsenal, there’s no need to fret.

The fridge keeps tabs of what you have and don’t, adding missing ingredients directly to your online grocery cart for at-home deliveries. Not to mention, you can shop through Walmart, Kroger, Instacart, and Amazon Fresh, using the Whisk network.

With SmartThings added to the Family Hub smart fridge, you get to enjoy all the cool features and more! You get to access your other smart kitchen gadgets through widgets on the screen, prioritize most used apps, and feature family photos, notes, and recipes.

And, if cooking is what you’re worried about, Samsung has you covered for even that. SmartThings guides you through easy cooking steps and lets you control cooking modes, temperatures, and time settings with one touch. Leaving you with little room for error.

So, with all that in mind, was it really a surprise to see Samsung’s Family Hub win its sixth consecutive CES Innovation Award this year? For us, not quite.

CES 2021

ColdSnap is a machine that makes you ice cream at home

It’s a mood

Published

January 13, 2021

Leez

Last year and this upcoming one has been a downer. So, when the daunting reality of our world taking its time keeping us all in misery hits you, a treat to numb the pain helps. I mean, we could also curl up into a ball and cry but ice cream while curled up into a ball while crying is the way to go.

Meet ColdSnap: an ice-cream-making gadget by Sigma Phase at CES 2021. It works like coffee pod machines but instead of coffee, it serves ice cream and other frozen treats from recyclable aluminium pods.

From frozen cocktails, fruit smoothies, and classic ice cream, this gadget has all the chill in its arsenal to keep you happy or the very least, sane. The pods look like slim cans that have built-in QR codes to make the liquid mix freeze to the perfect consistency in about 60 to 90 seconds. And, if you’re lactose intolerant, there’s no need to have your gut on the line. ColdSnap offers non-dairy options like oat milk ice cream.

ColdSnap is still in the prototype stage and won’t be available until 2022. When it hits retail, it’s expected to cost somewhere between US$ 500 and US$ 1,000 with the pods costing somewhere between US$ 2.50 to US$ 3.

Health

Lora DiCarlo brings in innovative, heated vibrators at CES 2021

Inspired by the human warmth

Published

January 12, 2021

Hër

Sex tech company Lora DiCarlo showcased a new lineup of innovative, heated vibrators at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2021. Meet Drift, Tilt, and Sway, dubbed as “The Warming Collection”.

Inspired by human warmth, the new model mimics the heat we experience from our partners’ bodies. Lora DiCarlo used a nylon-based thermally conductive polymer and its WarmSense Technology, simulating body temperature.

Through this innovation, these gadgets internally heat up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit and use three vibration patterns with seven intensity settings for one-of-a-kind pleasure. Despite the heating technology, these devices are completely waterproof up to one meter.

Drift

Perfect for beginners, Drift is a curved, handheld bullet vibrator with an ergonomic design, ideal for G-spot and clitoral exploration.

Tilt

Next in line is the dual vibration plug Tilt. It’s the versatile, middle child in the new lineup, designed to please all genders and anatomies. It simultaneously stimulates your G-spot and clitoris, or your P-spot and perineum.