Hasta La Gadget!

Last summer, Pear promised to make pairing iDevices via Bluetooth to an Apple-compatible speaker dock easy, but caught a trademark snag that put it on hold shortly after. The adapter seemed destined for a release under a different moniker, but it’s met an impasse. According to the folks behind the hardware, the device wasn’t approved under Apple’s MFi (Made for iPad / iPhone / iPod) program since Cook and Co. don’t bestow the seal of approval upon products that leverage the 30-pin female connector in conjunction with Bluetooth. Pear’s creators note they could move ahead without Apple’s blessing, but say that the development “officially kills this product” since Cupertino could put the kibosh on the operation. Despite dashed hopes for the dongle’s reincarnation, its creators are pushing forward with another product — though it’s unclear if it’s an iteration of the ill-fated connector — and expect to have more details within three to four weeks.

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Tablets, Apple

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Source: PairWithPear

Unless you own a pair of AirPlay speakers or audio devices, docking your iPhone/iPod to  a speaker dock is probably one of the ways you resort to in order to stream songs from your device. While there’s really nothing wrong with that solution, it does hinder your ability to make calls, reply text messages, surf the web or play games. Depending on what kind of user you are, it might not really matter, but for those who’d like the freedom to do all of that while listening to their music, a Kickstarter project for a device called Pear might be looking to change that.

The Pear dongle essentially attaches itself to your speaker, providing you the ability to stream your music via Bluetooth and letting you text, surf, play games and etc while listening to music. Unfortunately this will require your audio device to feature the 30-pin dock connector in order for it to work. The device itself is rather small and comes with a glowing Pear logo (reminiscent of the glowing Apple logo) and has exceeded its funding goal by $40,000 (at the time of writing). You can still pledge your donation by heading to its Kickstarter page, or you can pop on over to its mini-site for more details and photos!

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Bodies and Beats lets you mash up dancing people and music, The Swipe Case for iPhone comes with a built-in screen cleaning feature,

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What a lovely set of speakers. Let me just dock my smartphone right th…

Or perhaps you happen to own one of the thousands of devices not equipped with a proprietary Apple dock connector. Well, when it comes time to slide your Android or Windows Phone into place, the only sound you’re likely to hear is the screech of a 30-pin plug scratching up the case. If the speaker rig packs Bluetooth, you can use that instead, but if you own one of many that don’t, you’ll probably want Pear. Drawing some name and design inspiration from an arguably more popular fruit, Pear brings Bluetooth connectivity to any dock connector-equipped speaker set, drawing power from the port so it can pair with virtually any smartphone or tablet, letting you play your tunes while keeping your handset in hand. It offers a range of 30 feet indoors or up to 75-feet outside (there’s a video proving the feat at the source link below), and works with any apps and devices that offer Bluetooth output.

The wireless gadget’s designer is turning to Kickstarter to raise the funds necessary to launch Pear into production. The team has already developed a working prototype, so there’s proof that you’re not backing vaporware, and a $30 pledge can net you one of 250 early bird devices. After that initial run, you’ll need to hand over 40 bucks (which also happens to be the expected retail place) for an arctic white or jet black Pear. The developers are hoping to raise $40,000, to cover their prior investments and push the device to the manufacturing stage (no, it won’t be “made in the USA“), so if you want to see Pear pop up in a speaker dock near you, hit up our source link below to make your pledge. You can also jump past the break for a quick intro video, and an update on a previous Insert Coin project.

Continue reading Insert Coin: Pear brings Bluetooth to your Apple-compatible speaker dock

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Household, Wireless

Insert Coin: Pear brings Bluetooth to your Apple-compatible speaker dock originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jul 2012 13:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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