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Latest Gear Live Videos
Redesigned iPod shuffle: 4GB, Buttonless, VoiceOver Text to Speech, $79
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Design, Music, Portable Audio / Video,
This morning Apple unveiled a brand new, re-imagined iPod shuffle. The new shuffle hits you with 4GB of storage space, which equates to about a 1,000 song capacity, and is half the size of the previous generation iPod shuffle, which in and of itself was pretty freaking small. Another new feature is VoiceOver, which is basically a text-to-speech technology built into the shuffle. Since there is no screen, sometimes it’s hard to know what’s playing. With VoiceOver, you press a button and the shuffle will tell you the name of the song and artist, as well as the name of the playlist, if applicable. VoiceOver is available in the following languages: English, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.
The downside? For some reason Apple thought it best to move all the controls on the shuffle to the headphone cable. You simple cannot control the iPod shuffle from the actual device. This immediately limits the number of headphones available, because even if you own a pair of fantastic $150 headphones, if those headphones don’t have controls, you are screwed and left with the crap Apple headphones that ship with the device.
Gallery: Redesigned iPod shuffle: 4GB, Buttonless, VoiceOver Text to Speech, $79
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Cool8800C Cell Phone/Gaming System
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smartphones, GPS, Music, Video Games, Wireless / WiFi,
The Cool8800C works like an ordinary cell phone with touchscreen until you unfold it and it becomes a mini-gaming system with a second screen with audio/video/NES compatibility. Other features of the 120 x 55 x 23 device is dual-band GSM with GPRS, Bluetooth and e-book capability, an FM tuner, 1GB memory and microSD and TF card slots. We dig the idea and the $140.00 price, but we are thinking that you might have to practice to get the hang of the gaming aspect.
Read More 
| Solo Mobi
Gallery: Cool8800C Cell Phone/Gaming System
ColorWare now offering custom-painted Beats by Dr. Dre Studio headphones
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Design, Music, Portable Audio / Video,
By now, you probably know that we are big fans of the Beats by Dr. Dre Studio headphones. We are also fans of ColorWare, the peeps that custom paint just about every popular gadget. Well, now ColorWare is offering custom-painted Beats by Dre Studio headphones, and they look hot. We’ve previously shown you a few custom ColorWare Beats headphones, including the Ron Herman white Beats, LeBron James red Beats, and Charlie Hamilton pink Beats. As you can tell from those three features, ColorWare does some amazing work on these headphones.
If you’ve got a pair of Beats that you wanna send in for a paint job, that’ll cost you $249—otherwise, you can buy a new pair direct from ColorWare, with design, for $525.
We’ve got a video showing off a few pairs of ColorWare Beats for you, after the break.
Click to continue reading ColorWare now offering custom-painted Beats by Dr. Dre Studio headphones
Read More | ColorWare Beats by Dr. Dre
Gallery: ColorWare now offering custom-painted Beats by Dr. Dre Studio headphones
Music Rising Auctions Off Celeb iPods
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Music, Portable Audio / Video,
Music Rising is hoping to “rebuild the musical heart and culture of the Gulf” hit by Katrina by auctioning off 61 iPods from celebs on the site tonic, each signed and loaded with favorite playlists. Included in the collection are songs from Gwen Stefani, Scarlett Johansson, Will i.am., Metallica, Bono and Sean Penn. Some of the auctions have not started yet, but currently the front runner Bill Clinton iPod has 7 days left for bidding. It features 11 tunes from Van Morrison, Willie Nelson, Sarah McLachlan and others, and has a current bid of over $750.00.
Read More | tonic
Gallery: Music Rising Auctions Off Celeb iPods
Yamaha has created a digital piano that sounds like an acoustic one with the same key, level and hammer mechanisms. They say that their Avant Grand, with 4 embedded speakers, even feels like a real piano. At about 4 1/2 feet, half the size of an ordinary Grand, it has upgradeable software and the company’s TRS (Tactile Response System) that reproduces reverb to make it sound and feel more like the real thing. The Avant Grand will set you back about $20,000, about one hundred grand cheaper that Yamaha’s CFIIIS concert grand. Look for the debut in July.
Read More | gizmag
Gallery: Yamaha Avant Grand Piano
TokyoFlash Juke Tower MP3 Player
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Misc. Tech, Music, Portable Audio / Video, USB,
It’s been a while since we have heard from TokyoFlash and it seems that they have expanded their product range beyond their strangely cool line of watches. Their Juke Tower is a waterproof MP3 player that features a red LED digital clock, volume and track skip control buttons and a built-in downward facing speaker. Available in black or white, the player needs a USB memory stick with music and 3 AA batteries that will offer about 12 hours of play. At a size of 18.3 x 7.8cm, the Juke Tower is available for $135.44. Enter the coupon code “KM63” for a ¥600 discount (~$6.00.)
Read More | TokyoFlash
Gallery: TokyoFlash Juke Tower MP3 Player
LG’s Versa will be available on Verizon Wireless as of March 1. It features an animated 3-inch touchscreen interface, an HTML browser with Flash and RSS feed support, a built-in accelerometer and the ability to keep open 3 windows at once. Best of all, the phone features a removable QWERTY keyboard. The Versa comes with V CAST Music with Rhapsody and V CAST Video and a USB cable to download content. You can pick one up for $199.99 after a $50.00 rebate and 2-year agreement.
Read More | MobileCrunch
Gallery: LG Versa Cell Phone
More Cable Media to Appear on Internet?
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Movies, Music,
Several media companies are considering releasing programming on the Internet for paid subscribers. Such channels as HBO, MTV, Discovery, TLC, and Turner Broadcasting stations are included. Cable TV operators that pay networks a per-subscription fee each month have begun to complain that a lot of that content is free online. President of NBC UTG Jeff Gaspin said that it is important to “find ways to do business that protects that business model.” He added that it would involve a small fee or perhaps be a freebie. Should that be the case, it might mean that you should consider buying a better monitor as opposed to that new HDTV you were considering.
Read More | USA Today
Gallery: More Cable Media to Appear on Internet?
HTPC Building Series: The Final Tally
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Music, PC / Laptop, Software,
Check out out HTPC on a Budget series and join us in building a great HTPC for under $1,000.
The challenge presented at the beginning of this process was for us to build a great home theater PC while sticking to a budget of $1,000. We knew we were up for the challenge, and wanted to walk you through that process with us. Here’s what we’ve done, as a refresher:
- Let’s Build a Budget HTPC
- Selecting Our Hardware
- The MSI 7411 Motherboard, and Why It Rocks
- Achieving Great 5.1 or 7.1 Surround Sound
- Driving multimedia content to the HTPC
- The ATI TV Wonder 650
- Laying Out All The Components
So, now that we have reached the end of this process, we need to take a look at how we did, right? Were we able to stick to our budget? Let’s see how we did…
Click to continue reading HTPC Building Series: The Final Tally
Gallery: HTPC Building Series: The Final Tally
Grace TAPE2USB Puts Cassettes on Computer
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Accessories, USB, Music, Portable Audio / Video,
Now you can skip the middle man
gadget and record your old cassette tapes directly to PC or Mac. The Grace TAPE2USB is fully functional and has a built-in 2.5-inch speaker with volume adjustment. The plug and play device has a counter, RCA connections for plugging into your home stereo and Audacity software included for editing. Once you download, you can listen to your tunes via any media player, burn them on a disc or upload to your MP3 player. The TAPE2USB has a $129.99 price.
Read More | Grace
