And a refresh this certainly is, as this is the same product, but with audio output. Specifically, audio output in 3.5mm analogue and embedded HDMI. The $US219 piece of kit is also compatible with both Windows Vista and Windows 7. [Engadget]

[Noise for Airports via NotCot]

Appropriating channels aside, I actually really like the look of this HL-B54S soundbar from LG. On top of its 4.1 surround sound, it incorporates a slot-loading Blu-ray player, Wi-Fi for BD-Live access and streaming clips from YouTube, and an iPod dock built-in. It plays back all the lossless audio codecs, connects to your TV via HDMI 1.3, supports DLNA for accessing your content on your network, and has USB slots that support playback of DiVX and MKV files.

The unit does look to be quite deep though, which might mean it’ll stick out a bit far under your TV, but if you need the convenience of an all-in-one unit, don’t have a Blu-ray player and can’t wire up your house with proper 5.1 audio, I reckon this could be worth checking out. $1499 is even a pretty good price…

[LG]

The last time I visited Disney World, I was a bit distracted by the nausea that followed one too many rides after five too many scoops of ice cream. The visits before that though, I was entirely clear headed. Yet not a single time did I notice the always present background music switch tunes.

Mr. Q would be laughing maniacally if he read those words. That’s because those words mean that his baby, the project he worked on in the 1990s, grew up to be a success.

Apparently the original Disney World speaker system, set up in 1958, had an unnoticeable flaw: minuscule variations in sound volume along pathways. As someone walked closer to a speaker, music would seem louder than a few steps away. Despite not a single visitor ever complaining about this common sound effect, 20 years later good ol’ Mickey decided to do something about it. Some work and a team-effort later, they had Mr. Q’s system and algorithm:

The system he built can slowly change the style of the music across a distance without the visitor noticing. As a person walks from Tomorrowland to Fantasyland, for example, each of the hundreds of speakers slowly fades in different melodies at different frequencies so that at any point you can stop and enjoy a fully accurate piece of music, but by the time you walk 400 feet [120 metres], the entire song has changed and no one has noticed.

So how is a system which strives to be unnoticed manufacturing emotion? According to Mr. Q, the “life is sucked out of” the park when the speakers fail. An even slightly flawed speaker system could lead to frowns, while perfect music ambiance only leaves Goofy’s creepiness to achieve that. [Dustin Curtis via Boing Boing]

The design is basically one sealed sound chamber filled with enough speakers for an authentic surround sound experience: four 2.6-inch flat speakers and two 4.5-inch passive radiator speakers. You’ll find a 2×10W Class D amplifier squeezed in that shell as well.

Plugging in or operating off a built-in lithium polymer battery, the i24R3 has no inputs, instead receiving signals over 2.4GHz wireless USB or A2DP Bluetooth — yes, from software like iTunes and devices like iPhones.

And while we have no idea how it actually sounds or how much it actually costs, we have too many regularly intoxicated friends with too good access to aerodynamic implements to ever invest in one of our own. [Michael Young via The Design Blog]

The headphones themselves have a 40mm speaker driver, a closed design and a 24k gold plated plug. But the point of difference about these cans is the design element – they come with four different designs from Philips, but you can literally create your own, print it out and stick it on the cans. Whether that’s worth the $130 RRP is totally up to you…

[Philips]

It’s all bullshit, of course. Like Monster Cable and that $US500 Denon Ethernet cable, there’s more snake oil flowing through this “premium” socket than anything else.

And as with that Denon Ethernet cable, the comments from “satisfied users” are what really make this product worth “investigating”. Buyer beware. [Parts Express via Boing Boing]

Lame jokes aside, TerraCycle actually has a decent little business plan going on. Put simply, they recycle the world’s garbage into electronics, bags and other knick knacks, and sell them on the cheap.

These Frito-Lay Cheeto speakers, for example, sell at Radio Shack for $US20. They won’t melt your face, but I can see them finding a comfortable home on the desk of some undergrad. [TerraCycle CNET]

This isn’t to say the so-called Polk HitMaster doesn’t have a bunch of extra features, which it does. There’s 60 watts packed in the unit’s 5.9kg frame; a pair of 5.6 x 6.4cm horns; and two 2.5cm tweeters. Top it all off with a 16.5cm sub and you have yourself an impressive faux stage monitor. Oh, and there’s also iPod support should you want to listen to some real musicians.

Arrives in early 2010 for $US100. [Polk Hot Hardware via Engadget]