Hasta La Gadget!

There are two types of people in this world — those who need absolute silence to sleep, and those who need background noise to carry them off to sleepy land. Unfortunately, when these people share a room or, worse yet, a bed, wars can ensue. Sleeping with a pair of headphones on is, at best, uncomfortable. That is, unless you happen to own a pair of Bedphones — or so its creator Eric Dubs claims. These ear-hook style buds are extremely thin and held in place by a length of moldable memory wire. There’s even a Bedphones app that can turn the screen of your Android phone into a giant play/pause button, slowly lower the volume as a timer counts down, or shut off completely when you fall asleep (as determined by how much you move) in “smart mode.” We wouldn’t expect this tiny pair of phones to produce the greatest sound, but they’re probably more than adequate for drifting off to an audiobook or podcast. They’re available at the source link for $30.

Bedphones put tunes in your ears, won’t come between you and your pillow originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Aug 2011 09:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I’ve always wanted a job that gave me a super high security clearance that required facial scans to make sure it’s me. Sadly, I’ll probably never be that important. INSTEAD, I’ll make myself feel important by programming my phone to unlock by scanning my freaking face. More »

As we close in on the purported release date for Best Buy’s Insignia cTV, more details have come to light about the TiVo menu system (but not DVR) powered HDTV. Zatz Not Funny reports the 32- and 42-inch models available initially will cost $599 and $999, respectively, with a pretty standard list of features including built-in 802.11n WiFi, 4 HDMI ports, etc. More interesting however are these box shots that reveal unannounced apps on the way including Chumby widgets — destined to replace the late FrameChannel? — as well as Twitter and Facebook, which were integrated via the iPad app but not the box, yet. So far we still don’t know for sure if these TVs will be able to serve as multiroom extenders and stream video from a TiVo Premiere (whenever TiVo brings the feature back) but until there’s some official word you can get more pictures and details at the source below.

Box pics, price and features leak out for the Best Buy Insignia cTV with TiVo originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jul 2011 18:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey Vonage customers, your VoIP service of choice is about to get a bit of a mobile value-add. Announced today, the company’s new Extensions service links your existing home internet calling plan to extra phone numbers — like a cellphone– for free, so you can make that long-distance call to Tante Lulu in Gstaad on-the-go. Okay, so the feature isn’t exactly gratis — you’re still required to sign up for an unlimited international calling plan, but the bucks literally stop there. All it takes to get started with this “virtual calling card” is an access number and some foreign digits. Sound too complicated for you? Don’t fret, official iPhone and Android-compatible apps are scheduled to hit their respective markets in the coming weeks. So, go ahead and ring ol’ Lu for her 89th birthday. She’ll be glad you called.

Continue reading Vonage Extensions makes mobile international calling a free-of-charge affair

Vonage Extensions makes mobile international calling a free-of-charge affair originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jul 2011 17:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Piano Apprentice is a different kind of external keyboard for your iPad

Here’s one for all the luddites who whine that “the iPad doesn’t have a proper keyboard.” Piano Apprentice is an external keyboard for your tablet, only instead of adding QWERTY, it brings do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do.

The keyboard comes with a free iPad companion app which plugs in via the 30-pin dock connector. With these two parts, you can learn how to play the piano by following the on-screen instructions and/or pressing the keys as their internal LEDs light up.

But that’s not all. The 25-note keyboard is also Core MIDI compliant. This means that you can use it as a controller for other MIDI-aware apps on the iPad — Garage Band, for example. The keys are even touch-sensitive, so you won’t lose Garage Band’s excellent velocity-sensing when you use it.

The Piano Apprentice will go on sale in September, ready for the cool days and early nights of Autumn, and will cost around $100. The companion app will be free.

Piano Apprentice [Ion Audio via Oh Gizmo!]