Hasta La Gadget!

I always wondered what it must have been like for Han Solo when he was frozen in that block of carbonite by Jabba the Hutt. We know that he was cold and blind when he came out of it, but did he dream when inside of it? Was he imagining a life with Princess Leia during his cryonic sleep, or was his brain switched off too? And if he was so cold inside, was he dreaming about sleeping inside a sliced open Tauntaun to keep warm? Who knows. I digress, anyhow, because this USB hub has nothing to do with Solo’s REM cycles – just how he looked in carbonite slumber.

Pariah Burke created this Han Solo carbonite USB hub that’s perfect for any fan of the Star Wars saga. Also perfect for people into freezing the good guy just when the series was hitting its stride. While Solo sleeps the blackest of sleeps, you can connect up to four USB 2.0 gadgets to the side of his carbonite coffin, which is a feature that not even Jabba’s full-size version offered. Though I’ve heard that you could plug a maintenance droid to that one.

You can grab the Han Solo carbonite USB hub over on Etsy for $45(USD). Looks great with a Leia/Boushh action figure alongside it.

The second of Blue Microphone’s CES trio has broken cover. Mikey Digital, a mobile recording peripheral for the iPad and iPhone is now available at select retailers. If you’re in need of a refresher, the retooled version of the original Mikey tracking unit connects to you Apple smartphone or tablet via the dock connector. The mic houses the same two condenser capsules found on the more robust Snowball and Yeti USB mics while sporting built-in sensitivity control and CD-quality analog / digital conversion. A 3.5mm audio jack is included for monitoring or either stereo line-in or mic-in — if you’re looking to tack on a few more gadgets when recording with the 230-degree rotating kit. USB pass-thru allows for charging while in the midst of a session and a LED clipping indicator keeps tabs on volume levels to ensure the best results. If all of that sounds too good to pass up, the Mikey Digital will hit your wallet for $99.99 just as soon at you can enter your shipping info.

Continue reading Blue Microphones Mikey Digital portable microphone for iOS devices hits shelves, offers mobile tracking for $100

Filed under: Peripherals

Blue Microphones Mikey Digital portable microphone for iOS devices hits shelves, offers mobile tracking for $100 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Aug 2012 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TDK‘s Boombox rocked minds and windows alike with its modern take on a retro classic. Buoyed by its success, the casette-maker of old is back with new audio hardware at IFA. Three devices, again on the speaker front. First up is the Boombox Wireless, which is a similar, but updated, design from the original and features not only streaming sans cables via Bluetooth, but inductive charging, too. If you don’t want to cut the cord completely, there’s a 3.5mm aux input, USB slot for charging plus an FM radio and headphone output. Next up is the Wireless Weatherproof Speaker, which despite being described as “rugged” and boasting an IP 64 weather compliant design, looks like any regular device. It, too, has Bluetooth streaming and inductive charging, along with 3.5mm input and built-in microphone. If these two were all looking a little bit oblong, then the curious Wireless Charging Cube might be for you. Yep, it’s Bluetooth streaming and the same wire-free charging, but this time that goes both ways. Plonk your Qi induction compatible device on top, and it’ll juice that while you jam (there’s a non wireless charging / charger version also.) How much do these slabs of sound cost? The Boombox is $399, the Wireless Weatherproof is $250 while the Wireless Charging Cube is $399. Not a peep on availability at this time, we’ll connect you up though, once we get it.

Continue reading TDK introduces new wireless Boombox and two new weatherproof speakers

Filed under: Home Entertainment

TDK introduces new wireless Boombox and two new weatherproof speakers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 17:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Good lord! Is Sony back on track? No seriously we didn’t seen anything that cool since well, the UX? Anyway behold the VAIO Duo, a new convertible Ultrabook than can be either used as like a tablet and changed into a really capable laptop thanks to its slide-out keyboard! The Vaio DUO comes with a tiny full HD 11.6″ screen, Windows 8 or Windows 8 Pro, a Core i3, i5 or i7 CPU (i7-3517U), from 4 to up to 8GB of RAM 128 or 256 GB of SSD and an Intel HD Graphics 4000 for just 1.3kg! Man …

Want to record those epic Modern Warfare shootouts, but don’t want to impede your lightning fast reloads? Diamond Multimedia thinks its new GC1000 is just the box you’re looking for. The USB HDMI video capture device promises to let you preserve, share (via YouTube and Facebook) and edit your finest gaming moments in 1080i with zero lag, thanks to its video pass-through capability. There’s also the GC500, which Diamond refers to as a “lite” version of the GC1000. The main difference, it seems, being the lack of HDMI (both do composite and s-video also). If you’re jonesing for the full-fat version, then you can lay down $140 for one from today. Don’t need HDMI? Then you’ll save yourself $70. Scan the PR after the break for retailers.

Continue reading Diamond Multimedia intros GC1000 console-friendly real-time HD video capture device

Filed under: Gaming

Diamond Multimedia intros GC1000 console-friendly real-time HD video capture device originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Aug 2012 18:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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