Apr 03
Audiophiles will go to their graves praising the audio superiority of vinyl. And yes, vinyl sounds great, but you can’t enjoy it in the car or on the bus. Until now. Well, sorta. Amazon announced today that its AutoRip service …
Mar 12
How Records Are Made
Posted in: Today's Chili
While 8-tracks and cassettes are as relevent to the digital world as wax cylinders, the vinyl LP is still being steadily produced and collected despite, or perhaps thanks to, their imprecise warm analog acoustics. Here’s how LPs get their unique sound. More »
Mar 05
MP3s, compact discs, and even cassette tapes made our music portable, but before they arrived, vinyl records were pretty much the medium of choice. And with a little help from Sharp, people were still able to enjoy those giant (relatively speaking) twelve-inch discs wherever they went with this impressive old-school vinyl bombox. More »
Feb 07
Here’s something that should have an obvious answer for most people (some crusty folks like me who avoid large crowds and loud sounds would beg to differ), is listening to MP3s and vinyls better than listening to live music? LIVE MUSIC DUH! If you don’t listen to live music, you don’t love music. If you don’t go see a show, you have no soul. Stop being a slave to the mainstream, man. Whatever. But what if it’s… not better? More »
Feb 05
Bizarre human being and Butthole Surfer Gibby Haynes has the honor of creating the next installment in Jack White’s record label’s, Third Man Records, fantastic Blue Series. The coolest part, though, is that some of the 7-inch, three-song singles are going to be printed on old medical x-rays. More »
Jan 12
How can you not like Domo-Kun? He’s the cutest little monster we know. And now, he’s been reincarnated in a variety of superhero and supervillain egos thanks to the guys at Funko.
This series of 2.5″ tall Domo/DC Comics figures are quite possibly the best vinyl desk toys I’ve ever seen, and I must have them all. They were recently revealed by Funko, and will be hitting shops at the end of February. The series includes multiple versions of Batman, a couple of Robins, Clark Kent and Superman, as well as The Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Shazam. On the evil side of the Justice League, you’ll get the Riddler and Two-Face.
Since these are part of a Funko Mystery Minis series, they’re each individually blind-boxed, with certain toys being more rare and collectible than others. Here’s the rarity scale in case you were wondering:
You can preorder them now over at Entertainment Earth in either 4 packs, or a complete display case. There’s also a line of larger POP! Heroes coming out at the same time, but I don’t think they’re as cute.
[via Toy People and TOYSREVIL]
Jan 06
Ion reveals digital conversion turntables for iOS, PC and Mac, we go hands-on
Posted in: Today's Chili 
Vinyl may be the format of choice for discerning audio connoisseurs, but those harboring love for both digital and analog options may have their interest piqued by Ion’s latest lineup of turntables. The iLP Lightning takes a traditional turntable, replete with RCA outputs, and adds a 30-pin dock connector that’s compatible with Cupertino’s Lightning to 30-pin adapter. Leveraging a free app, the table converts a record’s audio to MP3 files, separates it into tracks and saves it to docked iOS devices. If you’d rather not have songs sent to your iDevice of choice, the rig also includes a USB cable for routing tunes to a Mac or PC with a gratis desktop app. Ion is also serving up the Pure LP, which removes the 30-pin dock from the equation. As for availability, the iOS-compatible tables are expected this summer for $99.99 in white, red, blue, black and a woodgrain finish. Analog diehards can have some fun too with the Live LP table, which packs stereo speakers, standard RCA outputs, a natural wood finish and nothing in the way of digital conversion. Click on to the break for photos and the full press release.
Gallery: Ion digital conversion turntables
Gallery: iLP Lightning hands-on
Continue reading Ion reveals digital conversion turntables for iOS, PC and Mac, we go hands-on
Filed under: Misc, Peripherals, Portable Audio/Video
Source: Ion (1, PDF), (2, PDF), (3, PDF)
Dec 28
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 »
Nov 30
While I’m still waiting for that killer app before I run out an purchase a Wii U for myself, you still have to hand it to Nintendo for the innovative thinking with their dual-screen gaming console and controller combo. If you’ve already got a Wii U or expect one under the tree this year, then here’s a fun way to adorn your controller.
I spotted these cool New Super Mario Bros. U skins over on Japanese game import site NCSX, and they look great. They really add life and color to the otherwise bland white or black Wii U GamePad. They’re made by Hori, and come in a set that includes both the Wii U controller decal and a decal for your regular Wii remote. They also come with a protective overlay for the LCD screen on the Wii U controller. I especially like the red/yellow/green/blue design – it reminds me of that old electronic game Simon.
You can pre-order these decals over at NCSX for $13.90 a set, and they expect to start shipping them around December 8th.
Nov 25
These are awesome action figures of the player’s avatar in Minecraft. If you play the game then these are also action figures of yourself. Although you can’t customize Steve’s skin, he – or she – does have a ball-jointed head and poseable arms.
Steve comes in two variants, both 6″ tall. The simpler version comes with Steve in his default clothes, along with his trust pickaxe and a 2″ dirt block. Then there’s the more experienced and battle ready Steve, who’s wearing diamond armor along with removable diamond sword and diamond helmet.
You can buy both Steves from J!NX for just $30 (USD) each. The store also sells the Creeper action figure seen in a couple of shots in the gallery above.
[via Gamefreaks]
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