Hasta La Gadget!

Apple is right now the most valuable company in the world, and their stock price has certainly grown by leaps and bounds over the years. The thing is, what goes up must come down, but it does seem as though it will take some time before Apple is subject to the laws of gravity and fall back onto Newton’s proverbial head. One of the upcoming innovations from Apple include the possibility of Apple kicking off their very own streaming service in order to offer consumers yet another choice in an already crowded market that has players such as Spotify, Pandora, and Zune amongst others.

Whispers on the street do seem to point towards the possibility of an Apple online radio service being introduce to the masses sometime in the first quarter of next year. I guess only time will tell whether this ad-supported online radio service is capable of taking on the likes of Pandora. What do you think of Apple’s prospects in this area?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: iPad mini shipments slipped to 2 weeks now, Apple apologizes without apologizing,

Zap-happy channel-surfers could soon control a lot more than cable TV from their remotes. Michael Ossmann, co-founder of Great Scott Gadgets, is developing HackRF, a software-defined radio (SDR) that lets you switch between radio frequencies on the fly. More »

Is your tabletop radio jealous of all the attention you lavish on your smartphone and tablet? Now everyone can play nice. Announced earlier this year, Tivoli’s finally offering its Model One BT up for purchase, bringing Bluetooth device streaming to the fancy table-tap AM/FM radio. That $260 unit is joined by the PAL BT ($300) radio and Blucon Music Receiver ($150), which brings Bluetooth functionality to your home audio system. The latter two, up now for pre-order, are set to ship by the end of the month.

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Tivoli’s newly Bluetoothed radios up for order, bring your smartphone into the mix originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Oct 2012 18:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s a brand new wireless Bluetooth speaker and FM radio on the block, and it’s name is HiddenRadio – and we’ve got one right here to take a look at, as it were. This device works in several different ways, the first and most important of these being via Bluetooth 2.1. You’ll be connecting to your smartphone, tablet, or whatever other device you’ve got that has the ability to work with Bluetooth and cranking out the tunes will be as easy as twisting the device’s top.

This device was funded by a Kickstarter project initially, and it’s certainly made the rounds since then – it’s up and running! The simplicity of this device is truly its most endearing feature – you’ve got an extremely light device weighed down only by its inner components to the tune of 430g – just under a pound. The top is plastic, the speakers under the 360 degree grille create an all-directions sound atmosphere. You can fit this device in your backpack or purse with no trouble at 3.4 x 3.4 x 3.8-inches, and it comes in three colors – metallic silver, graphite black, and pure white.

You can use this device’s Bluetooth connection as we do in the demo hands-on video above, or you can use the built-in FM radio (along with included plug-in antenna if you wish). You can also connect in a more traditional hard manner with the included 3.5mm speaker cord to whatever device you’ve got that’ll blast out sound. The final sound quality is essentially the same be it through the audio jack or via Bluetooth, and it’s certainly not perfect – but it can get loud enough to fill a generous sized apartment room without a problem. While its not for audiophiles, HiddenRadio is going to sound more than high quality enough for the general public.

The audio you’re blasting here is brought forth with a proprietary 360 degree sound diffuser and is summoned from your device with Bluetooth 2.1 and EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) for your hardcore wireless audio lovers. Turn the device on by twisting the cap, then continue to twist and watch the top rise and the audio amp up. The turning of the cap doesn’t just reveal more speaker grille, it also actually does act as a volume knob in a very real way.

There’s also a built-in rechargeable battery (lithium-ion) that’ll last you the whole party long – the creators of this device say it’ll last 15 hours, we’ve found that that’s actually extremely accurate, having used the device straight through a work day no problem. Charging occurs via the microUSB port at the bottom of the device – there’s no data abilities through there, mind you, just power.

This device is available for pre-order now at a price that’s lower than the final market price (which comes into play on September 30th.) You can grab all three units on pre-order now, the silver and the black editions coming in at $149.95 or $189.95 after September 30th. The Pure White edition will cost you $179.95 now on pre-order or $219.95 after September 30th. Check it out!

HiddenRadio wireless speaker Review is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

While I rarely switch my phone off, (i.e. never) I do like to make it shut up when I’m busy. That means that I had to adjust all my push notifications, because I don’t want an update whenever you like a cat on Facebook. That being said, with iOS 6′s Do Not Disturb, do you still need a pouch to block signals?

The answer is yes, because some apps just manage to get through without being blocked, like WhatsApp. So if you don’t think Do Not Disturb is good enough, and don’t want to switch on Airplane Mode – which is my favorite way to shut my phone up, then check out this pouch that will block all signals. The Blokket Signal Blocking Phone Pocket will allow you to easily find a quiet moment, without fiddling with your settings.

The woven silver and nylon fabric works as a pocket-size Faraday cage, blocking up to 99.7% of radio frequencies. It’s a great place to keep any sensitive RFID-enabled cards as well. This portable dead zone sells for $24.99(USD) from ThinkGeek.

[via Geek Alerts]