Phonebloks concept challenges smartphone customizability

Smart televisions have started to tackle the idea of customizability by offering kits that can upgrade a TVs software without changing the set itself. What if you can do the same thing to your phone? Take away the parts that no longer work or upgrade those that need to be upgraded. Dutch designer Dave Hakkens’ Phonebloks is a concept smarphone that has Lego-like blocks for the different smartphone parts. You need a battery upgrade, you change that block. You want a new camera phone, you swap that block. 

Aside from being most likely cost effective in the long run, Phonebloks will help reduce waste. And it can keep up with the constantly changing trends in the mobile industry. It is currently just an idea but it’s an idea that has been gaining a lot of support through the site Thunderclap.

Lensbaby now ships Composer Pro with Edge 80

Likening it to things that are made to go together—like peanut butter and jelly—the Lensbaby Composer Pro can now be bought together with the Edge 80 Optic. As seen in the video above, it gives you a multitude of camera effects that can work for shooting portraits, miniature images, landscapes, and a lot more. It is available for both Canon and Nikon cameras. You can find out more information here.

Google Maps for Android update includes sponsored hotel results, improved navigation

A quick update of Google Maps for Android features improved navigation with better traffic and route information and improves monetization capabilities of the app by tweaking hotel search results by including sponsored rate and booking links. A new side menu has also been called “Tips and Tricks” that opens up to the Maps help page on your gadget’s browser.

Piper adds Smart Sound Detection tech, notifies users of unusual sounds heard at home

Piper, home security and automation device, gets one more new piece of tech before the product starts shipping in November. Blacksumac added Smart Sound Detection technology that detects sounds in your home and performs secure cloud-based analysis on these. It has been created to recognize sounds such as crying babies, barking dogs, phones ringing, door knock or doorbells, and smoke, fire, and carbon monoxide alarms. The system will send you alerts on your mobile device if the sound is anything significant.

Piper is still up for pre-order on Indiegogo until September 20, even after it has exceeded its $100,000 goal (it’s now at over $165,000), and will have the Smart Sound Detection feature as a software update by the end of the year.