Since most faucets are nothing more than a metal tube, you rarely get a glimpse of the magic inside when cold and hot water come together to create warm water. So Philippe Starck designed the Axor Starck V, a crystal clear faucet that creates a vortex as the streams of water mix and bubble up and out.
Better known for the company’s hardware that reports the weather outside, Netatmo has teamed up with Philippe Starck to create a new device that gives you complete control over the climate inside your home from your smartphone. And unlike similar wireless thermostats from Honeywell
     |
Philippe Starck is known for designs that are as functional as they are beautiful. So it’s not surprising that when it came to designing a sofa, the results would include everything from privacy dividers, to accessible power outlets, to even a Powermat wireless induction charging pad. There’s probably a good reason it’s called the My World, because as long as your gear is charged, what else do you really need? More »
This man sure knows how to entertain photogs, but he’s much more than just a charming French poser. Meet Henri Seydoux, the founder, chairman and CEO of today’s multi-talented Parrot. While promoting the recently launched Zikmu Solo wireless speaker in Hong Kong, Seydoux sat down with us to share the amusing story behind himself and his company. Check out the video after the break to hear how Seydoux’s encounter with Roland Moreno, the inventor of the smart card, made him drop journalism in favor of software engineering, as well as his detailed explanation on why many Bluetooth audio products suck, and how Bluetooth will continue to rule the world “like Beyoncé.” Enjoy!
Continue reading The Engadget Interview: Parrot CEO Henri Seydoux
Filed under: Misc, Home Entertainment, Peripherals
The Engadget Interview: Parrot CEO Henri Seydoux originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Oct 2012 09:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Back in April this year, renowned designer Philippe Starck revealed that he was working on a revolutionary project for Apple, which was later revealed to be a project not for Apple, but for Apple’s late co-founder, Steve Jobs. The project was for a yacht and for those who are curious as to how the final product might look like, the yacht, dubbed Venus, has officially been unveiled in the Netherlands. As expected from Philippe Starck and Steve Jobs, the design of the yacht is very clean, sleek and minimalist. Roughly 80 meters long, the hull of the yacht is reportedly made from aluminum, huge plate windows, and unsurprisingly running on 27” iMacs complete with navigational and other seafaring software. In any case it seems like a pity that Jobs did not get to enjoy his yacht, but presumably he enjoyed the process of designing it according to a quote from his biography, “I didn’t think I would be alive when it got done, […] But that made me so sad, and I decided that working on the design was fun to do, and maybe I have a shot at being alive when it’s done.” In the meantime you can check out additional photos and coverage over at OneMoreThing.nl.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Philippe Starck reveals he was working on Steve Jobs’ yacht, Steve Jobs’ home burgled, suspect in custody at the moment,
Parrot has taken some time trotting out the Zikmu Solo speaker since we first saw it at CES, but those enamored with very vertical audio can rest easy now that the unit has a North American release schedule. Both Canada and the US can buy the Philippe Starck-crafted speaker in November, when it will cost $999 for Americans in its black and white guises (sorry, no red for now). While that’s a lot to pay for a 100W speaker, Parrot is counting on the unique acoustic design, a conventional iOS dock and a mix of Bluetooth, NFC and WiFi to tempt people away from the land of horizontal sound. It’s undoubtedly one of the easiest ways to make a speaker dock the focus of a room — and that’s part of the point, isn’t it?
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio/Video
Parrot Zikmu Solo reaches US in November, makes a tower of wireless sound yours for $999 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Oct 2012 14:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | 
Parrot | Email this | Comments
Welcome to Engadget’s back to school guide! The end of summer vacation isn’t nearly as much fun as the weeks that come before, but a chance to update your tech tools likely helps to ease the pain. Today, we’re taking our audio with us — and you can head to the back to school hub to see the rest of the product guides as they’re added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back — at the end of the month we’ll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides — and hit up the hub page right here!
With all of the studying and on-campus traveling you’re about to delve into, sometimes adding a bit of music to your step can spice up those mundane times in your daily routine. That’s why we’ve rounded up a selection of portable speakers and headphones that’ll not only help you rock out whenever the mood strikes, but also go a step further by letting you take phone calls without skipping a beat. It may not be audiophile-grade gear in the official sense, but it won’t matter when you’re enjoying good sound just about anywhere your smartphone-connected life takes you.
Continue reading Engadget’s back to school guide 2012: portable audio
Filed under: Wearables
Engadget’s back to school guide 2012: portable audio originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Aug 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
You do know that Parrot makes more than just the AR.Drone, right? It was at CES earlier this year that we first caught a glimpse of — and subsequently began geeking out about — the Parrot Zik by Starck. For those unfamiliar, these headphones are jam-packed with enough technologies to make even the geekiest audio lovers smitten. Priced at about $400, they feature Near Field Communication (NFC), Bluetooth connectivity, on-board capacitive touch-control, active noise cancellation, head detection, a jawbone sensor for speech and Parrot’s audio-enhancing DSP app for iOS and Android — not to mention a striking design by the renowned Philippe Starck.
This isn’t the first time Parrot and Mr. Starck have worked together, but this does mark their debut in the portable audio market (as opposed to home-based speaker systems). In the case of this review, not one, but two Engadget editors spent some time testing the product. So, do they impress? More importantly, are they worth the $400 asking price? You know the drill: meet us after the break where we’ll lay it all out.
Gallery: Parrot Zik by Starck review
Filed under: Wearables
Parrot Zik by Starck review: Is $400 worth it for the fanciest, techiest headphones around? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Aug 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Remember those cool-looking Parrot Zik wireless headphones we saw back at CES? Well, now we have a date and a price for you Philippe Starck fans out there. Announced at the Hong Kong launch event earlier today, these NFC-enabled, active noise cancelling Bluetooth cans will be available globally in August, with the US getting a price tag of $399 before tax (and for those who care, you’ll be able to nab one in Hong Kong for HK$3,399 or US$440). During our brief ears-on, we certainly enjoyed the Zik’s great audio quality, noise isolation and the intuitiveness of its swipe gesture input. While the battery is swappable, note that this expensive package only comes with one cell (accessible under the magnetic cover on the left can) that typically lasts for around five hours, so road warriors will need to chip in about $30 for a spare one. Alternatively, product manager Theodore Sean (whom we had the pleasure to interview at CES) pointed out a unique and handy feature that sort of bypasses this problem: you can still use the Zik as a pair of passive headphones using the included 3.5mm audio cable, but without any battery juice left, you obviously won’t be able to enjoy the noise cancellation function (on a plane, for instance) or even make phone calls.
Continue reading Parrot Zik launching in August for $399, free app included for iOS and Android
Parrot Zik launching in August for $399, free app included for iOS and Android originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Jul 2012 08:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
