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Spotify Finally Makes Its Australian Debut 
Top 10 Pervasive Tech Myths That Are Only Wasting Your Time As a member of the iPod generation, you’re probably used to the feeling of tiny plastic speakers being jammed into your ear canals. MadCatz decided that some consumers might be tired of that vaguely invasive practice and, after acquiring In Air Technology, went on to develop the AirDrives, a new hybrid style earphone that fits gently over the ear and places the earbud just outside the entrance of the ear.
Designed with both safety and comfort in mind, the AirDrives meet OSHA standards for all-day listening because of the distance they put between the ear drum and the audio source. MadCatz also claims this unique design drowns out less ambient noise than traditional earbuds or over-the-ear headphones, making them realistic for office workers, joggers or other users who don’t want to zone out entirely while enjoying their music. Available in September, a kid-sized set will cost $70 while the one-size-fits-all adult version will be $100. [MadCatz AirDrives via Electronista]
The Making of David Pogue’s iPhone music video, with Gizmodo shoutout. [NYTimes]
We show you a lot of videos of stuff breaking, and it’s all cool but it’s all ugly. Well, here’s some breaking news that’s as pretty as it is shattering. Take a look at these photos by master photog Steve Strawn, who not only knows exactly when to release the shutter, he’s probably pretty good with a broom, too. The prize-winning photo above is entitled “Breaking Primaries.” After you check out a small sampling of more of his beautiful breakage in the gallery below, be sure to see the rest of his remarkable body of work at his website. How did he do this?
galleryPost('strawn_photos', 4, 'Steve Strawn Photos');
[Splutphoto, via Neatorama]
I really wanted this game to be fantastic. Take most of the previous Final Fantasy crew—Hironobu Sakaguchi, Nobuo Uematsu especially, but even manga artist Takehiko Inoue and former Square employees—and throw in the Unreal Engine 3, bake for a couple years, and what should you come out with? In theory, a revolutionary RPG. In practice? A “Final Fantasy” game for the Xbox 360. Which is, I think, okay in the end.
In addition to having the fantastic Wii Party Station, Nyko also had a bunch of other accessories for all three consoles. First, a wireless Xbox 360 Guitar Hero guitar, which is still in the prototype stage and may not even make it to market. Their guitar may hit a whole three months sooner than the official Guitar Hero III wireless guitar, but there are a couple caveats. One, you need a wired controller to hook the whole thing up.
galleryPost('nykoe3', 12, 'Nykos E3 Accessories');
galleryPost('', 8, 'Commodore PCs');Remember those Commodore gaming PCs with custom Art we saw in Europe? They’re finally heading stateside starting at $1700.
AU: No surprises that there is little news on a local release for these beasts. They’re boutique high-end games machines, so I doubt the shipment costs would make them a serious proposition in the Aussie market. But if you have to have one, I suppose you can drop even more cash by getting one shipped from OS via a re-shipping service. -SB
The iLive iHTD8817DT Flat Panel Docking System is a virtual surround sound bar that uses magnetically shielded 2 full mid/high range drivers and twin internal woofers. You can pretty much hook up whatever you want—DVD players, TVs, computers via USB, other audio players—but considering it has a specially built motorized tray that fits an iPod, we’re guessing that’s what iLive had in mind. The unit also has a headphone jack. Weird.
News from New Zealand, and featured in the Sydney Morning Herald, is that it seems current social networking flavour-of-the-month Facebook has banned the use of the word Gay as a name – a resounding piss off to anyone who happens to have such a name.
The stories cover the use of Gay as a surname. Well we ran a few tests here this morning and found Gay was blocked as a first name as well, which means I won’t be bumping into one of my university lecturers on Facebook anytime soon.
We had no problem with the common surnames Cocker and Raper. The not so common Gaydar was fine too. We were even able to register an account as Donkey Dick (Cock doesn’t get a pass, though). So little doubt it is ‘Gay’ that has been blacklisted, even though it is a lot more common than many other innuendos and jokes you can slip past the system. Anyone spot other real names that are barred? -Seamus Byrne
Check out this transforming cellphone concept found over at Parkoz Hardware. It turns into a little bi-pedal bot, complete with twin miniguns. Definitely reminiscent of scenes from Michael Bay’s Tranformers, with a little bit of Batteries Not Included, Short Circuit, and Robocop (ED-209, anyone?) Koreans get the coolest cellphones, so it figures their concepts are going to be kick-ass, too. Video of the miniguns chewing up a desk, post jump.
Using SimplifyMedia will allow you to add 30 of your friends’ iTunes music libraries to your own and access them no matter where they are physically located. Right now the beta software is a free download and only works on PCs and Macs. If you do decide to give SimplifyMedia a whirl, be warned—the software sounds a little sluggish right now and includes one unforgivable pop-up.
