When you think of robot music, your mind probably drifts to something like dubstep, but this robot band rocks out in a far more traditional sense. This is Compressorhead at practice, jamming out to Ace of Spades. They’ll be playing at Big Day Out 2013, but before then they’ve got to practice, though it looks like their precision is already pretty robotic. [Reddit] More »
Tesla coils are one of scientists’ go to tool for making science appealing to kids. As if producing your own lightning wasn’t enough, tesla coils can also be used to produce music by pulsing its sparks at appropriate frequencies. You can do all that and more with the oneTesla DIY kit. Although you might not like the “more” part.
The oneTesla was conceptualized by Bayley Wang, Heidi Baumgartner and Daniel Kramnik. All three are members of MITERS, a student-run tinkering shop at MIT. Which brings us to the catch of oneTesla: you have to build it yourself. Even the inventors admit that it’s best left to people with advanced skills in soldering and electronics. But that’s partly the point of the kit. I’m sure you’ll learn a lot about electronics even if you just watch or assist in assembling the oneTesla. And once it’s built, you can do this:
Flight of the Bumblebee or Attack of the Mosquitoes? The oneTesla has been such a hit at Kickstarter that its cheaper pledges have already sold out; as of this writing you’ll have to pledge at least $299 (USD) to reserve a unit, and you’ll have to wait until May to receive yours. I say it’s worth it.
[via oneTesla]
We’re not sure how many Brits use Spotify to actually buy individual tracks, considering that the service is mainly known for streaming and “offline” playback, but the question has suddenly become academic. Anyone in the UK who tries to use the desktop app to buy new music will now be confronted with the message above. It offers little explanation of what’s going on but does at least link to a help page that reassures those who already possess unused download credits or gift cards. Spotify sent us the following statement, which is pretty abstract but makes it clear this is more than temporary:
We recently updated Spotify to further simplify the service and pave the way for new features announced at the end of last year. In-app purchases aren’t part of this update but we’re not ruling out their return. Credits/gift cards already purchased are still redeemable.
Update: We hear from a reader in Sweden that the same thing has happened in that country — so it probably applies internationally, wherever the download option was originally available. Spotify in the US was already streaming-only, so American users will likely notice no change.
Filed under: Internet
Source: Pocket-lint
The brand known at the moment as “Ferrari by Logic3″ have revealed their next-generation Bluetooth-connected speaker dock, the GT1, ready for action at CES 2013. This machine is a high-powered 2.2.1 speaker system works with an integrated 6.5-inch subwoofer, works with Class HD patented technology for high efficiency delivery of “ultimate power”, as they say, and you’ve got a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) built-in as well. A DSP, in this case, is described as a feature giving you control over the crossover and equalization of the music so you’re able to create a “natural musical tone”.
Along with that lovely tone you’ve got with this fancy beast, you’ll have extended low frequency response. We’re expecting this speaker to blow us away, essentially, with solid sound that’s unlike any we’ve heard from a comparably priced set. You’ll be able to work with this machine with Android devices, the iPhone, and Windows Phone smartphones as well – anything able to connect with Bluetooth, really.
This beast also connects to your new Scuderia FS1 and/or Cavallino GT1 machines from Ferrari by Logic3 to offer added controls you might never have known were possible! There’s a Ferrari by Logic3 app for control of this new system, too. This app works for iOS only and will be available early this year, allowing users to display a clock, set an alarm, control the music on their device (sending it to the speaker dock, of course), and hit up 4 GT car sounds from Ferrari – meant for your alarm, to be sure.
This is just one of a massive barrage of devices you’ll be seeing over the next full week as we head into the biggest set of tech events of the year – the Consumer Electronics Show! Head to the CES 2013 tag to follow SlashGear all around the floor, up, down, and back again until you have so much device coverage, you wont know what to do with yourself.
Ferrari by Logic3 GT1 Bluetooth speaker dock set for CES 2013 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Few bands have so fundamentally affected the American music scene—with a single song, no less—as Nirvana did in 1991 with the debut of Smells Like Teen Spirit. The Beatles did it in 1964 with “Please Please Me” and set off the British Invasion, Grandmaster Flash did it in 1981 with “The Message” and brought Hip-Hop to the masses. More »
Tinkerers looking for a way to make their old speakers play nice with Apple’s AirPlay technology can now do so on the cheap, thanks to the Raspberry Pi, a neat hack made by Cambridge Engineering student Jordan Burgess and some free software.
The key component for Jordan’s hack is James Laird’s Shairport, an open source Airport Express emulator. Jordan also used the free Raspbian OS provided by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Here’s the hack in action:
The tinny sound isn’t just YouTube’s compression; Jordan reminds us that the Raspberry Pi wasn’t built with audiophile level technology, so you might want to get a USB sound card as well. Head to Jordan’s website for more details on the hack. I’m still hoping the AirBridge gets produced.
[via TechCrunch]
Even though wireless speakers have come a long way, there’s still a need for audio docks. I’m guessing that this spherical dock from Samsung will most likely be announced at CES 2013. It’s already been spotted for sale on Amazon Germany.
The Samsung ESP-30B Music Dock was designed to work with almost any device that Samsung has made, including the Galaxy devices as well as Windows Phone models. They will be able to dock on it using the microUSB port. It will also juice up your device at the same time. It will also support playback via an auxiliary jack or Bluetooth. Due to its size, the dock won’t be able to dock any tablets, but there aren’t many docks that can do phones and tablets very well anyhow. There haven’t been many other specs announced, but I’m sure that it will be adequate for what’s it’s supposed to do.
It’s listed for €129.90 (~$172 USD), but there’s no word on how it will be priced outside of Europe as of yet.
[via Ubergizmo]
The Kenner Close n Play was a modest gadget from the outside: you put in a vinyl record, closed the lid, and it would play. It looked like a lunchbox. It was simple. But above all, it was for kids. More »
When music streaming app Audiogalaxy announced its acquisition by Dropbox earlier this month and closed signups we feared the worst, and now it’s been confirmed: the service is shutting down entirely on January 31st, 2013. It had previously announced subscribers would have access to their mixes until the end of this month, but after another month they’ll have to move to a service like Google Play Music, or possibly self hosting with Subsonic or something similar. The original blog post mentioned a desire to bring “great new experiences” to Dropbox’s 100 million plus users so we may see some of those features again, soon. As for the service itself, Founder Michael Merhej relaunched it just over two years ago after version 1.0 — a web-based music file sharing service that eclipsed its competitors during its run from 1998 to 2002 — was squeezed out by RIAA pressure, so we figure anything is possible in the future.
Filed under: Software
Source: Audiogalaxy (Facebook)
A few months ago we saw how a smart guy figured out how to make small 3D printed records that could be played on a toy turntable. Instructables employee Amanda Ghassaei has trumped that hack: she figured out how to 3D printed records that can be played on any turntable, just like an ordinary vinyl record.
Whereas the audio on the 3D printed toy records had to be input note by note on a custom software, Amanda was able to write a program that automated the process in a very precise manner: “It works by importing raw audio data, performing some calculations to generate the geometry of a record, and eventually exporting this geometry straight to the STL file format (used by all 3D printers).” Sadly, even the high-end Object Connex 500 printers at the Instructables office were unable to encode the geometry at a resolution high enough to create a high quality record. But the fact that even this is now possible is still nothing less than mind-blowing.
Wow. 3D printing hardware’s only going to improve in time, so I’m sure Amanda can eventually recreate professional grade records should she pursue it. Once again we’re seeing people using current technology to go back to a more physical and tactile interaction with gadgets. 3D printing is the bee’s 3D printed knees. Check out the links below for more details on Amanda’s project.
[via Instructables & Amanda Ghassaei via I Heart Chaos]
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