Hasta La Gadget!

Oh, sure — you’ve got at least 893.1 options (at last count, anyway) when it comes to noise cancelling headphones for your iDevice, but do any of those plug directly into the dock connector instead of requiring a separate battery? Exactly. That’s the claim to fame for Blackbox’s i10, a new set of earbuds that rely on power from your iPod or iPhone in order to achieve that active noise cancelling action that the youngsters are so crazy about these days. According to the company, these will filter out 92 percent of background noise using Phitek Systems’ ANR technology, and the inline remote makes it easy to adjust volume and the like. They’re available today for £79.99 ($123) over in the UK, but only heaven knows when they’ll mosey over to North America.

[Thanks, Sharmee]

Continue reading Blackbox i10 noise cancelling earbuds tap into iPod / iPhone dock connector for power, pleasure

Blackbox i10 noise cancelling earbuds tap into iPod / iPhone dock connector for power, pleasure originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gear4, an audio company from the United Kingdom, is bringing a truckload of gadgets to the U.S. on October 1, and it’s trying its best to build up excitement ahead of time. Today it’s announcing it’s lineup of iPod and iPhone devices. The biggest is the Explorer-SP ($149), a lightweight iPod/iPhone speaker with a sleek design and rich sound. It includes a lithium-ion battery with a fast-charge feature. You’ll get 10 hours of play after 2 hours of charging.

Other members of the lineup include the StreetParty Size 0 ($99), a backpack-friendly speaker dock; the StreetParty 4 ($69), a dock that folds flat for storage; and the StreetParty Compact ($49), a diminutive and inexpensive portable speaker.

Piezoelectric materials work quite simply, in theory — motion in, electricity out, or vice versa — and since that’s just how speakers and microphones transmit their sound, it’s not much of a stretch to imagine someone would figure out audio on a micron scale. That someone is MIT’s Yoel Fink, who’s reportedly engineered a marvelous process for producing fibers that can detect and emit sound. Following up their famous work on flexible cameras, Fink’s team discovered they could keep piezoelectric strands rigid enough to produce audible vibrations by inserting graphite, AKA pencil lead. Better yet, the lab process can apparently make the threads on a fairly large scale, “yielding tens of metres of piezoelectric fibre” at a single draw. The potential for fabric made from such fibers is fantastic, of course — especially combined with this particular scientist’s previous research into camera cloth.

MIT’s piezoelectric fibers can act as speaker or microphone, don’t mind auto-tune originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 13 Jul 2010 07:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amateur and professional DJs are more than familiar with Pioneer and their line of digital media players, mixers, and DJ gear. The company just announced the Pioneer CDJ-850, a mid-level digital media player aimed at small clubs, music studios, or at-home DJs that want professional-level gear to practice and record sets with. The deck supports CD playback, and the 206mm jog dial on the top of the deck can be used for pitch control, song selection, and search/seek control on CDs and digital music files on a connected device.

The CDJ-850 supports digital music in MP3, AAC, WAV, and AIFF formats from any attached USB device or burned to a CD, and comes with Rekordbox, Pioneer’s jukebox application that can help organize your music library by genre or type. The app also helps you organize your collection by BPM and tempo, which are valuable if you’re prepping for a mix or need help beatmatching two songs in your music library. Track information (including BPM) is also displayed on the CDJ-850’s built-in display. If your DJ setup at home is begging for an upgrade, you can get your hands on the CDJ-850 for $999 when it’s released in August.

Say hello to the high end of Onkyo’s receiver line, now refreshed with the newest tech already featured in its lower end and midrange receivers earlier this year. Beyond the eight 3D-capable HDMI 1.4a inputs, DLNA 1.5 (Windows 7 Compatible) and streaming support that we’ve come to expect from any 2010 home theater equipment, the TX-NR3008 and TX-NR5008 receivers include THX Certification, 9.2 channel audio, two HDMI outputs, HQV Reon VX video processing and powered audio output for up to three different rooms. Still, the best information from the press release (after the break) is that the upgraded components haven’t increased prices from last year — the TX-NR3008 has an MSRP of $2,099 while the TX-NR5008 will add on upgraded transformers, capacitors and extra USB for $2,699 when both ship this August.

Continue reading Onkyo’s top of the line receivers get a HDMI 1.4a makeover this fall

Onkyo’s top of the line receivers get a HDMI 1.4a makeover this fall originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Jun 2010 08:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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