Hasta La Gadget!

Back when I had time to go to the gym one of the things that seemed to happen all the time was that I would end up getting the cord to my headphones caught on some of the equipment and jerk my iPhone right out of my pocket. I always expected to pick it up with a shattered screen, but luckily that never happened. I bet I’m not the only one that has a problem with their media player falling out of the pocket when they are being active.

A new project has turned up on Kickstarter for an media player that promises to be perfect for the active user.

With the ITreq, there are no long cables to get in your way or to become tangled up on something. The entire player hangs off the back of your ear using a medical grade silicone ear hook. The enclosure itself is certified IP53 water resistant so it should handle sweat and the occasional downpour just fine.

The player has an attached earbud that sticks into your ear canal and a 3.5 mm port allowing you to run another earbud around to your other ear for stereo sound. Music is stored on MicroSD cards so you can upgrade the player to as much as 32GB of storage. It’s compatible with audio files in MP3. WMA, secure WMA V7, FLAC and Ogg Vorbis formats. Battery life is estimated at eight hours per charge.

Assuming the project hits its funding goal, a pledge of $59(USD) or more will get you your own ITreq when it ships this September.

ntel’s media box is coming and it may be the 4K device we’ve been waiting for.

It looks like Amazon is getting ready to enter the set-top box market. If so, the online retailer needs to go big or go home, because the competition is simply too intense for anything less than amazing.

There huge number of people all around the world who enjoy bike riding as a way to get from home to the office and just for fun. There are also a large number of people that like to bike ride and listen to music at the same time. The problem with wearing headphones is that it makes it difficult to hear what’s going on around you, and that can be dangerous.

Scosche has announced a new portable wireless Bluetooth speaker that’s designed specifically for bike riders called the boomBOTTLE. The Bluetooth speaker is designed to fit into the water bottle holder on just about any bicycle on the market. It’s also designed to be small and portable so you can take it with you to the pool and anywhere else you might go. The speaker is splashproof and weatherproof so it’ll hold up to whatever you might throw at it while riding.

Its wireless Bluetooth range is 33 feet and the speaker charges via USB. The speaker promises 10 hours of continuous playback and has 40 mm drivers along with a large passive subwoofer.

The boomBOTTLE speaker is available now in gray for $149.95(USD). Several other colors will be available in May.

Last year we heard about how Teague Labs was able to make a pair of headphones with 3D printed components. While that’s revolutionary in and of itself, that proof of concept still used store bought and manufactured parts. Industrial designer J.C. Karich set out to try and make a pair of headphones that anyone with access to a 3D printer and basic electronics raw materials can make.

Karich succeeded in his task. He was able to make a plug, a headband and bases for the speakers using 3D printed parts and a fabric ribbon for the cord. As for the “speakers” themselves, Karich used nothing but copper wire and magnets.

As you can imagine, the sound coming from the headphones is quite weak and of low quality, hence Karich’s clever name for his creation – Low-Fi, High-Tech. But hey, it works!

If you want to try making your own headphones from scratch, head to Karich’s Thingiverse page for the instructions as well as the 3D files.

[via Damn Geeky]