Hasta La Gadget!

The Rocki concept has been floating around for a bit, but now the company’s ready for the hardware startup rite of passage that is the Kickstarter campaign. The idea’s a pretty straightforward one: a module that plugs into the back of an existing sound system via audio jack or RCA, essentially turning it into a wireless speaker system. The little hexagonal Play device streams music over your home network via 802.11b/g/n, which has some notable fidelity and range advantages over Bluetooth. Assuming you’ve already got some speakers lying around, it’s also a fair bit cheaper than investing in a new Bluetooth or WiFi versions. The company is developing an Android app for the Rocki, letting you stream your music to multiple devices (assuming, of course, that you’ve got multiple Play modules throughout your home), with iOS and HTML5 versions on the horizon. Get in early, and you can snag one for a $45 pledge.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Wireless

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Source: Kickstarter

A couple of months ago, Spotify Connect was announced for iOS — a feature that allows you to wirelessly control (via your home WiFi network) music playing on Connect-compatible speakers with your phone. Good news for Spotify users with Premium accounts and Android devices today, as their version of the app has now been endowed with all of Connect’s powers. Of course, the number of devices currently compatible with the feature is fairly slim, as Pioneer and Bang and Olufsen are Spotify’s only official partners. But, ’tis the season and there are some quality, if pricey, Connect-enabled speakers and receivers to be had — remember, kids, Santa only brings you what you ask for.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio/Video, Software, Mobile

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Via: Android Police

Source: Google Play

Looking for a place to hang out and chill? Look no further than the Everything Chair. This comfy, inflatable easy chair has everything you need to maintain your state of slothfulness, and is the perfect gift idea for the lazy man who has everything.

Simply blow up the chair with the included foot pump, and get to relaxing. The 36″ x 36″ x 36″ chair offers a pair of built-in can holders in the arm rests, pockets in the arms for storing your magazines, game discs, and remote controls, as well as a pair of speakers in the headrest. While you could just hook up your media player to the 3.5mm jack, I’m thinking you could hack the speakers to function as inexpensive, but effective surround speakers for a media room too.

There’s really not much to dislike about the Everything Chair – unless you’ve got a cat that hasn’t been declawed. At least they’ve been kind enough to include a puncture repair kit to help deal with unintended leaks. And you could always just put your cat in the box that the chair comes in.

The Everything Chair is available from IWOOT for £49.99 (~$81 USD) or from Convenient Gadgets & Gifts for $89.95(USD).

At last, the will-it-or-won’t-it drama surrounding Apple’s rumored acquisition of PrimeSense is over. The iPhone maker has confirmed the deal with AllThingsD, issuing its now familiar statement that it buys smaller companies “from time to time.” The company isn’t discussing its plans or the terms of the deal, but ATD‘s sources claim that PrimeSense sold for about $360 million, or more than the $345 million that Calcalist reported a week ago. Whatever the value, it’s clear that motion control will play a role in Apple’s future — the crew in Cupertino now has access to 3D sensor technology that works in everything from living room devices to smartphones.

Update: PrimeSense has confirmed the acquisition to us, stating “We can confirm the deal with Apple. Further than that, we cannot comment at this stage.”

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Tablets, Mobile, Apple

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Source: AllThingsD

Granted, $2,700 is still a pretty steep price to pay, but if you’ve already bit the hi-fi bullet and picked up Bang & Olufsen’s satellite dish-inspired BeoPlay A9, you’ll probably be happy to learn that the speaker just got Spotify Connect. If you’re a premium subscriber to the streaming service (more money, we know), you can hit play on the speaker to stream your music from the cloud, the minute you get home. You can control the music from your mobile device, but you don’t have to worry about pairing it with the speaker. Hey, no one ever said convenience was cheap.

Filed under: Home Entertainment

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Source: Spotify