Hasta La Gadget!

Memorex recently had a study carried out on its behalf, which found that roughly 70 percent of women feel “underserved” by electronics companies. Women, who buy about 40 percent of electronics, think (according to this study) that most products are made and marketed for men. Memorex ingested that data, and decided to offer up some new options for the ladies… and they came up with a neon pink, purse-shaped iPod dock. The miniMove Boombox would be just another crummy looking piece of gadget noise, had it not come swaddled in such a spate of condescending mumbo jumbo. Kasia van Hall (a woman!) of Memorex told the Times of London that “women want to know about technology, but only just enough to get a taste of it,” adding that the majority “simply don’t have time or energy to read long instructions and play with cables.” The device, in similar, less-pink form, has been on shelves since last December.

Now, it’s true, we of the Engadget nerdom are possibly in the minority, but it seems like a crappily designed iPod dock painted pink is hardly the answer to the conundrum of women’s gadget needs. Then again, we have been known to try to insert our BlackBerry into the VCR. Were we not supposed to do that? The miniMove Boombox will be available in the next two weeks in the UK for a totally cute £59 (that’s $96 for all you mathematically-challenged gals).

[Via Jezebel]

Filed under: Portable Audio

Memorex hears the cry of underserved female gadget hounds, delivers the pink originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not often that a remote control becomes the centerpiece of a product launch, but man, would you look at that. That’s the remote for Sony’s NAS-Z200iR, a WiFi-enabled shelf audio system with slot-loading CD and iPod dock. The Z200iR is DLNA-certified so it works with any DLNA device in your home including NAS boxes and of course, your PC or Mac. The re-chargeable remote features a 3.5-inch LCD display that gives you full control over sourced media including Internet radio, integrated AM/FM tuner, or devices connected via the Z200iR’s USB or audio-in ports. The sound comes courtesy of a pair of independent, 20-watt speaker enclosures with double neodymium magnets used to drive the bass. A simpler, WiFi-less CMT-Z100iR system will launch first in July with the Z200iR headed to Europe in mid September. Sorry, no prices announced so no joy.

Update: Ready for the pricing? The German press release has the Z200iR at €699. That’s nearly $1,000 for a compact sound system that sits on a shelf. Way to go Sony, way to go.

[Thanks, Daniel O.]

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Sony’s newest remote control ships with a Z200iR compact music system (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you haven’t been following this phenomenon in geek culture, you’ve truly been doing yourself a grave disservice. Not quite an Obama-level disservice, but we digress. Just a few months after refreshing its SATA HDD dock to bring along multicard support, the outfit has done the multimedia crowd one better by offering up an HDMI-equipped version. As expected, the device supports 2.5- and 3.5-inch SATA hard drives and can connect to one’s PC via USB 2.0; from there, just hook up your component jacks or HDMI cable and enjoy crystal clear playback of whatever content you’ve got slammed in there. Too bad all this fun will set you back $79, but we suppose it’s still a wee bit cheaper than an unadulterated media streamer.

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Brando’s latest SATA HDD Multimedia Dock does HDMI, the ancestors proud originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re not what you’d call audiophiles — we’ve stood dangerously close to a 128kb MP3 or two in our lives, and even tried internet radio once — but we still seem to prefer things that “sound good.” That cuts out most iPod docks on the market, which due to price, size and know-how constraints tend to do few favors for the low-bitrate music they usually serve up.

Enter the new iP1 dock from iHome, which kicks off a new “Studio Series” for the manufacturer, and features “Bongiovi Digital Power Station processing” to bump up the quality. Tony Bongiovi, audio engineer and cousin to Jon Bon Jovi, developed the DPS technology to improve sound in “compromised” environments like cars (it’s currently used by JVC in car stereos), planes and low-quality speakers, and is specifically tuned for its output device. The upshot is that the iP1 brings volume and clarity to the low and high end of the audio, especially in older recordings that haven’t already been compressed to high heaven, where details and oomph would be absent given the limited hardware. Sure, the result isn’t an “accurate” picture of what was recorded — you still need studio monitors to do that — but it makes most things sound “good” without adding the ruination of many digital audio enhancement techniques, and we even picked up a couple details in a favorite song of ours that’s received heavy rotation on our home system. It also had the unfortunate effect of turning a Bob Marley song into a bit of a banger (a “Could You Be Loved In The Club,” if you will) but can thankfully can be deactivated at the press of a button.

The dock itself packs a 100 watt amp, two 4-inch woofers and two 1-inch tweeters. The included remote can handle custom EQ in addition to switching Bongiovi on and off, and there’s also component video out and full iPhone support. It should be hitting stores in the middle of July for about $299.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio

iHome iP1 isn’t bad for an iPod dock, packs a Bongiovi punch originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 May 2009 13:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Dexim “Premium MHub Dock” is at heart an iPod dock, but it adds a whole lot extra to the mix and, unlike Griffin’s effort, the mis-named “Simplifi”, it does it without uglifying your desk.

Along with the dock connector, which will fit pretty much any iPod except the various Shuffles, the MHub gets three USB ports (and comes with a universal set of AC adapters so you can power them) and a card reader to further ease up on your desktop USB needs (although it doesn’t accept CF cards like the Simplifi). There’s more! With the included cables, you can hook up a Blackberry, too. The only problem is the price. $100 is a little steep for a dock/hub, even if it is neat looking and crafted from Mac-matching aluminum.

Product page [Dexim. Thanks, Patrick!]

See Also:

• Google Simplifies Olympics Calendar on Cell Phones