Mar 01
This week on the Gadget Lab Show, the gang checks out the Sony RX-1 camera and the V-Moda M-100 headphones.
Mar 01
I’m not sure about you guys, but I love my speakers and I have invested a fair bit of money in setting them up. That being said I would never consider using my speakers as a snack tray, but then again why would anybody, right? Well spotted at MWC 2013 were a set of speakers called the Josiah by Kwamecorp. These are a set of speakers made from ceramic and pair with your smartphone/tablet via Bluetooth. It features a clean and minimalist design and the fact that it is made from ceramic should fit in nicely with your kitchenware. In fact it even comes with a pair of cutouts at the top where you could fit things in, peanuts, jellybeans, cookies, coins, keys, etc.
There’s a version that comes with a DAB radio that features an exotic wooden top, but that will cost you slightly more. So much will the Josiah speakers set you back? Well the wireless Bluetooth version will cost around $481, while the version with the DAB radio will go for around $511. More information on these speakers can be found on Kwamecorp’s website.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Steel Series Unveils Real Racing 3 Headset For $100, Sony MDR-X05 Headphones Announced,
Mar 01
A couple of days ago Real Racing 3 was announced for both iOS and Android. This is the third installment in the Real Racing franchise and the graphics in the game has definitely been taken up a notch. Now if you’ve enjoyed the franchise and you’d like to show how much you’ve enjoyed it, Steel Series has announced the Real Racing 3 headset. Priced at $100, the Real Racing 3 headset is painted a stark white with the Real Racing 3 logo on the side in a shiny chrome-like finish. The ear plates have also been designed to resemble a speedometer as well and the headset will feature 40mm driver speaker units.
The headset will also come with a detachable cable for those who accidentally tug on the cables during gameplay or walking, an in-line microphone that allows the headset to double up as a hands free piece, and if your friend would like to hear what’s going on while you play the game, the headset will also come with an additional port that your friend can plug their headset into. Steel Series has typically been known to create gaming peripherals for computer and consoles, so it’s a little odd that they have decided to create one for a mobile game. Either way with it being priced at $100, it does seem a little steep, but to each their own, right?
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: These Ceramic Speakers Look Great, But It Will Cost You $481, Sony MDR-X05 Headphones Announced,
Feb 28
Sony MDR-X05 Headphones Announced
Posted in: Today's Chili
Sony has just announced that they have expanded their X headphones range with the Sony MDR-X05. This new pair of headphones is said to offer music lovers what Sony calls a “premium audio experience in a more compact and lightweight design”. How true that is remains to be seen, but when you have Simon Cowell working together with Sony Music Entertainment, surely the new MDR-X05 will some sort of pedigree to back up its performance claims, doing that while looking good, too.
The MDR-X05 was specially engineered with an efficient acoustic design, where you will find precision 40mm drivers that deliver a crisp, full-range audio experience which is capable of optimally reproducing today’s bass-heavy music. Apart from that, there are also pressure-relieving memory foam ear pads which allows the X Headphones to conform to each user’s unique ear shape, resulting in a highly effective acoustic seal while preventing any kind of sound leakage. Other features include stylish color-accented headbands, swivel mechanisms and end caps. You will be able to choose from red on silver, black on silver, white on silver, black on red, and red on black color variations, with it arriving on the Sony Store for $199 this coming March 22nd. [Product Page]
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: These Ceramic Speakers Look Great, But It Will Cost You $481, Steel Series Unveils Real Racing 3 Headset For $100,
Feb 28
Pandora has been the choice for many people who want to listen to radio stations across a number of genres such as artists, decades, and even seasonal. Pandora offers a premium subscription service called Pandora One that allows users to listen without any ads, at a higher audio quality and other perks. The problem is a good majority of Pandora’s users listen to the service’s free service, and as a result, the company is announcing some changes the majority of Pandora users probably won’t be happy to hear.
Pandora is announcing they will begin limiting the amount of time a free Pandora user can listen to their tunes to 40 hours a month on mobile devices. The reason for this change in service is due to the rise of royalty costs, although Pandora’s founder Tim Westergren says only about 4 percent of its over 65 million regular customers will be affected by these limits as the average user listens to about 20 hours of turns a month. (more…)
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Spotify Gradually Rolling Out New Social Network Features, iPod Engraving Might Not Have Gone The Way This Customer Planned,
Feb 27
Late last year, Spotify announced it would be adding some new content to its service in the form of new sections called Discovery, Collection and Follow. The new sections were expected to start rolling out to its users by early 2013, one of which is starting to make itself available.
The Follow tab will allow Spotify users to follow their friends and celebrities to help better discover what they’re currently listening to as well as their feedback on certain tracks. Think of it as Spotify’s own personal network that revolves squarely around music available on the service.
Spotify’s other tabs Discovery and Collection have yet to roll out, but their Follow tab should be making its way to your account in the near future. All three tabs were are still expected for an early 2013 release, which we hope now that the Follow tab is starting to surface means the other two should be releasing relatively soon.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Billboard Incorporates YouTube Viewership, Raspberry Pi works as an Audiobook ,
Feb 22
Modded Nexus 7 shows why some phone and tablet loudspeakers are better than others (video)
Posted in: Today's Chili 
We never used to take the speakers in phones or tablets very seriously. Frankly, we’re not sure manufacturers did either. But the old assumption that tiny = tinny is starting to seem a bit unfair. Last year, Dutch chip-maker NXP released a new type of mobile audio component — the TFA9887 — that allowed a mobile device to monitor its speaker system in real-time in order to max out volume without risking damage to the driver. Although NXP is way too modest to confirm it, we happen to know that this chip made its way into a number of HTC devices, including the new One, One X+ and 8X, where it’s been described as “feedback” speaker technology.
The extra voltage delivered to speakers by this generation of component hasn’t been especially wild — just a couple of volts above the industry norm of around 3V. But what you’re about to hear after the break is the next-gen TFA9890, which is expected to appear in devices around the middle of this year, and which racks things all the way up to 9.5V. This promises to be a much more audible leap relative to traditional no-feedback speaker systems, and you should be able to spot the difference for yourself after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops, Tablets, Mobile
Feb 21
The Meridian Explorer takes the digital audio from your computer’s USB port, puts the code through some very fancy electronics, and spits out an analog signal to to your headphones or stereo. Yes, your computer’s sound card already has a built-in digital-to-audio converter that does this, but the Explorer is made by one of the most sophisticated manufacturers in the world. So in theory, it’ll make your music sound so good you’ll maybe almost forget the price tag. More »
Feb 21
YouTube views are now more valuable than ever before, as they have been incorporated into Billboard charts. This ought to see musicians take a more serious approach in seeing just how technology does wield a rather strong influence in the future of the music industry. To put it in a nutshell, YouTube views of a song will be placed on the same pedestal as that of digital downloads, physical sales, and streaming, amidst other metrics, in order to make sure just which song will rise up to the top in the US. If one were to apply this sort of metrics retro-actively, does this mean that Psy’s Gangnam Style would come up tops, with over 1 billion views?
Billboard, however, has its own strict rules where YouTube data is concerned, limiting it to “all official videos,” Vevo clips, and user-generated videos which use “authorized audio.” In plain English, legitimately used songs are the only ones to be included in the charts. I am quite sure that many a tech-savvy music enthusiast will finally heave a sigh of relief, as YouTube has turned into a place where more and more folks listen to music.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Raspberry Pi works as an Audiobook , Xbox Music announced by Microsoft, Apple iTunes and Amazon Cloud Player to watch out?,
Feb 21
Billboard has been offering up charts that show which songs are the most popular in the country and around the world for decades. The company has had its Hot 100 chart for 55 years and the formula used to determine which songs go on that chart has now been changed. Billboard has announced that it now takes a number of plays a song has had on YouTube into account when figuring Hot 100 rankings.
This change in the formula will have significant impact for a lot of artists and their music. For instance, the song Harlem Shake from Baauer has become a YouTube sensation with thousands and thousands of users each day uploading videos of themselves dancing to the tune. Thanks to the change in the Hot 100 formula, Harlem Shake will debut at number one this week on the chart.
According to the New York Times when Harlem Shake was first released last May as a free download the track received little attention. However, the song and videos of people dancing to it have gone viral via YouTube and its popularity has exploded. Reports indicate that over 4000 videos of people dancing to the song were going up on YouTube every day.
Reports also indicate that download sales and people listening to this track on streaming on services like Spotify have increased massively. According to the New York Times, the incredible online activity for Harlem Shake is what led Billboard to quickly move forward with changing how it ranks songs on the Hot 100 chart. Apparently, Billboard had been talking with YouTube for nearly 2 years on integrating metrics from the video sharing service into its Hot 100.
[via NYT]
Billboard now takes YouTube views into account in its Hot 100 formula is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
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