Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Music
Tension Labs EAP03 Earphone Audio Processor Sweetens Those ‘Phones
11:57PM Charlie White | Here’s something you didn’t even know you needed: a Tension Labs EAP03 Earphone Audio Processor, taking that crappy sound you get from earphones and attempting to somehow improve it. The credit-card-sized unit is powered with a lithium battery, and attaches to your portable music player with Velcro. It’s designed to give you lots of control and multi-band equalization of your audio with its multichannel audio processor, and can also tell you just how loud that music is you’re listening to. Sound useful yet? Besides that sound sweetening, It has another feature that might actually make your life easier. More »
Random Stuff
New Frontier Hotel Imploded Before Your Eyes, Now a Nondescript Pile of Rubble
11:21PM Charlie White | If you want to see a building imploded with 1000 pounds of high explosives, Las Vegas was the place to be early yesterday morning. That’s when demolition experts finally got rid of the 16-story New Frontier Hotel in grand style, as only Las Vegas would be sleazy enough to do. Anyway, we never get tired of seeing them bring down the big buildings, but found all the fireworks just distracting. Just blow the thing up already. By the way, this was the hotel where Elvis made his big Vegas debut back in ‘56. In the place of this pile of ashes, by 2011 a phoenix will rise in the form of the Plaza, an $8 billion luxo-palace complex on the Vegas strip that will specialize in fleecing those who don’t understand the difference between possibility and probability. [Metacafe and LA Times] More »
Gadgets
Sharp’s iPod Dock is Triangular, Black, Fugly
11:09PM Addy Dugdale | Sharp’s DK-AP2 iPod dock looks like the result of a quick bunk-up between Darth Vader and a vacuum cleaner (laugh all you want, but I bet the nights are long and lonely when you’re Dark Lord of the Sith). Compatible with just about every iPod ever made (including the new nanos) as well as other MP3 players, it’s comes with a credit card-sized remote control and costs around $165. It’s also available in white, meaning that any Princess Leia wannabes with Stockholm Syndrome should consider getting one. [Crave at CNET.co.uk via New Launches] More »
Entertainment
SACD player from TEAC Esoteric Rocks Minimal Style, Maximal Price
10:33PM Addy Dugdale | Teac Esoteric is celebrating 20 years of semi-high end stuff with the VRDS X-05, a Super Audio CD player that boasts all sorts of sexiness—well, the sort of sexiness that only comes with CD players. For example: More »
Gadgets
Laser-Cut Perfect Pizza Slices One Giant Step for Mankind, College Students
10:15PM Jesus Diaz | Giving further proof that there’s no problem that technology can’t tackle (and that Addy and me should have stayed for another week diving in the Maldives) some guys have recorded on camera how you can use a laser cutter machine to perfectly slice a pizza with mathematical precision. No pepperoni was harmed in the production of the following video. More »
Music
Tok Tak MP3 Player Looks Like Audio Jack, Comes with Base Station
9:38PM Addy Dugdale | Ah, holidays. Spend a couple of weeks on a faraway island, where the words “internet” and “connection” are met with baffled stares, and it’s easy to forget what one’s purpose in life actually is. And then you come across a concept gizmo like the Tok Tak and it all comes flooding back: The Giz! Her readers! Hot Verdommer and Eek-a-poos, I’d better get back to work before the editor realises that I didn’t just nip out to get a packet of fags from the store. Designed by Tae-won Kim, the Tok Tak looks like an audio jack but is actually a basic MP3 player concept that comes with a base station — which, judging by the photo below, looks a bit like Tae-won got his inspiration from gazing at a smoke detector. More »
Online
Google and Yahoo Want Your Inbox to Get Social
6:25PM Haroon Malik | With social networking sites being as hot as Jessica Alba’s behind, everyone is understandably clamoring for a piece of the pie. Google and Yahoo are attempting to muscle their way in, and they hope to do this by creating a semi-social environment right within your inbox. More »
Hardware
RCA DTA800 Digital Converter for Analog TVs Updated, Delayed
1:40PM Matt Buchanan | We kinda forgot all about this little box for old folks with old TVs that was announced way back at CES and promised by the end of this year. It’s got a fresh paint job and later street date (January), presumably because analogue support’s been somewhat extended through 2012, with cable operators performing the conversion voodoo themselves or giving you a free box. If you’re not getting the freebie, or rolling down to Best Buy, you can knock $40 off the DTA800 and keep on trucking with your grandma TV. More pictures: More »
Home
Monster iSonicast Turns Your iPod Into a Wireless Remote
1:33PM Wilson Rothman | Sometime late this year, Monster (yes, that Monster) will roll out the iSonicast, a two-piece system that turns your iPod into a wireless remote control that streams music to the base station, located at your stereo. It’s a simple system, and at $100, a pretty low price, especially for Monster. It uses 2.4GHz RF to transmit, and though it’s currently spec’d to get a range of 30 feet, Monster’s Noel Lee tells us they might try to jack up the range, though the downside may be less battery life. I know what you’re thinking: I’ve seen this before. Logitech had something like this about two years ago, using Bluetooth. Not sure what became of it, but the sound quality back then wasn’t great. Here’s hoping Monster can live up to its reputation and get some decent sound. [Monster] More »
Screens
