This week on WDD’s HotSpot:

• Kohler announces Numi, a feature-packed toilet that makes the bathroom the place to be. With a Bluetooth receiver that allows users to directly stream their music from a smartphone, the porcelain throne also features an SD card and slot for users to create playlists or program personalized greeting… Because who wouldn’t want to be greeted by their toilet before they sit down?
• The JamStik from Zivix is a compact portable practice/learning guitar made for the mobile generation. With a length of 15-inches, and a weight of 24-ounces, the JamStik features five frets and light gauge, user replaceable strings. It is designed to play on an iPhone or iPad that runs on an iOSCore MIDI app or two. Zivix has also developed a companion teaching app called JamTutor, which transforms the JamStik into a ready-when-you-are, always available guitar teacher that progresses at your own pace.
• Another interesting app for mobile devices is Touch Bionic’s iLimb; a robotic artificial hand that gives us another reason to say “There’s an app for that.” The iLimb is an upper-limb prosthesis that is controlled via a mobile app. With individual articulated fingers, and digit-by-digit grip strength, the device is compatible with iPad or iPhone, and can activate 24 grip options at the tap of the screen, including standard precision pinch open, pinch closed, thumb precision pinch open, grasp and handshake.
• N-trig, provider of the DuoSense pen, and multi-touch user interface, has released its upgraded active pen for mobile computing. The new pen provides a natural pen-on-paper feel for screen ink input. It’s complete with 256 distinct levels of pressure sensitivity, advanced palm rejection, a pressure mechanism that gives the feeling of a real pen, and much more. The intuitive, easy-to-use pen is a powerful tool for such applications as precise drawing and designing, on-screen editing, document signature, long distance collaboration, and quick searchable note-taking with hand recognition.

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