Hasta La Gadget!

Koichi Futatsumata’s Elekit tube amplifier first showed up on Gadget Lab in October last year. The monolithic block was like a prevision of the newest Mac Mini, hewn from aluminum with a minimal set of controls and ports. Now, it has gotten a name change and is finally ready to go on sale.

The Elekit is now the “22 [tu: tu:]” and will be available to buy in October for ¥73,500, or around $860. For that you get an almost willfully simple piece of audio kit, with just two knobs (volume and tone), a single pair of RCA jacks for input and four binder-posts for hooking up the speakers. There’s also a power cable, of course, from which the electricity will be lovingly funneled through the circuitry and tubes to produce the warm, full sound that is the hallmark of the tube amp.

A new site will also go live tomorrow, September 17th (as of today it is still password protected) and you’ll be able to pre-order soon. One word of advice: don’t pair this up with the terrible Crosley Radio Revolution portable, battery operated turntable I wrote up this morning. That would be like splattering ketchup on oysters.

22 tu tu product page [22tutu via Spoon Tomago. Thanks, Snackfight!]

See Also:

• Beautiful Japanese Valve Amplifier Is a Metal Monolith

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If a gadget is on sale in Urban Outfitters, it’s a fair bet that its a piece of junk. The curious combination of good clothes and crappy novelty gifts is obviously aimed at ironic impulse-buyers, but the Crosley Radio Revolution is possibly the weirdest thing yet.

The Revolution is a small, portable, battery-powered turntable. Yes, a turntable for playing records. It comes with the requisite retro-styling and 1950s colorways, but just who will buy it? At $180, it is too much to buy as a joke gift for a friend who maybe still has a couple of LPs on the shelves. But it’s doubtlessly tinny built-in stereo speaker and lightweight tonearm aren’t going to do it for the real vinyl junkie: if you’re still buying grooved disks then you’re probably an audiophile or luddite. Either way the Revolution is not for you.

The Revolution does at least come with a USB-cable and software for ripping records to a computer. I imagine scouring rare-record dealers’ stores with one of these and a netbook or even iPad and quietly copying tunes in the listening booths.

Even if you do want this, you should avoid Urban Outfitters anyway. They might have an exclusive on those muted colors, but they also have an exclusive on that price. Buy on the web or slip over to JC Penny and you can have the black one for $30 less, at $150. Coming “soon”.

Revolution product page [Crosley. Thanks, Jenny!]

See Also:

• And Vinyly Presses Your Ashes Into Vinyl When You Die
• Vinyl May Be Final Nail in CD's Coffin
• Numark NS7 Turntable
• McIntosh MT10 turntable
• With IPod, Who Needs a Turntable?

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

This article was written on December 04, 2009 by CyberNet.

Windows only
Coming across a good free screenshot application is a rarity these days. I used to be a big fan of FastStone Capture, but once they went from free to paid it felt like my money would be better spent on SnagIt (in the event I decided to purchase an app). The free Windows program PicPick, however, is a pretty sweet mix of screenshot and web developer utilities all rolled up into a single no-install-needed package.

What’s nice is that the image editor that accompanies the app is actually really nice, and when it comes down to a program like this it’s the editor that will make it or break it. It’s similar to Microsoft Paint in Windows 7 in terms of the interface, but it adds a little bit on top of it (yep, tabs is one of the bonus features). As you can see in the screenshot the app resembles Office 2010 with the ribbon design which may or may not be something you’re fond of. You can also apply affects (like blurring) to either the entire screenshot or just a portion of it, and then spruce up the final result with a drop shadow or other colorful border.

There are a few other free screenshot programs out there that have more features, but none assemble them in such a fluid and easy to navigate interface. And I can’t forget to mention the fact that this does more than just take screenshots:

• Captures
  • Full Screen (Support for Dual Monitors)
  • Active Window
  • Window Control (Scroll a page automatically)
  • Region, Fixed Region
  • FreeHand
  • Repeat Last Capture
• Image Editor
  • It’s very similar to Microsoft Paint, but you can do more.
  • It provides an effect like selection opacity, blur, sharpen, brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, flip, rotate and etc.
• Color Picker
• Color Palette
• Magnifier
• Pixel Ruler
• Protractor
• Crosshair
• Whiteboard

Give PicPick a whirl if you’ve been looking for a better screenshot utility that doesn’t make you open your wallet.

PicPick Homepage [Windows only; freeware]
via Digital Inspiration

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You might not know the company by name but you’ve almost certainly taken advantage of Skyhook‘s WiFi location-based services if you’re a smartphone nerd. And let’s face it, as an Engadget reader, you are. Now the company is suing Google for anti-competitive practices and patent infringement claiming that the ad giant used its control over Android to “force device manufacturers” to not only integrate Google’s location technology instead of Skyhook’s “superior end user experience,” but also terminate contract obligations with Skyhook where they existed. Specifically, Skyhook says that Google wielded its power against handset manufacturers by “threatening directly or indirectly to deny timely and equal access to evolving versions of the Android operating system and other Google mobile applications.” Boston-based Skyhook filed two lawsuits after negotiations with Google broke down, a business interference lawsuit filed in the Massachusetts Superior Court and a patent infringement lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts. According to Skyhook CEO Ted Morgan, “The message that Android is open is certainly not entirely true. Devices makers can license technology from other companies and then not be able to deploy it.” Meow.

Skyhook sues Google for business interference and patent infringement originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 04:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What’s this? The best of both worlds, wrapped neatly into one elegant mobile router? Sure looks that way, as Netgear‘s HBR1210 looks to have support for HSPA+ mobile networks as well as traditional 802.11n WiFi for the home. Based on the FCC filing (which seems down at the moment), there’s a foursome of gigabit Ethernet jacks, a SIM card slot, an external antenna port and a chassis that looks to be around 9.8- x 7.9-inches. In other words, we wouldn’t expect a Rover here, but we suppose “mobile” can mean lots of things to lots of people. We’ll keep you posted once an official release date and price falls into our lap.

Netgear’s HBR1210 HSPA+ / 802.11n mobile router pings the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Sep 2010 03:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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