Hasta La Gadget!

We’re suckers for wireless speakers, but they have to work. We’re not the least bit interested in streaming technologies that stutter from interference or compress the audio to preserve bandwidth. That’s why Libratone caught our attention here in Berlin with its new Libratone Beat — the “world’s first high-end active speaker with wireless technology,” or so they claim. The speaker features one 5-inch bass, two 3-inch midrange drivers, and two 1-inch ribbon based tweeters. In all we’re looking at 50W of bass output and 2x25W at the tweeter / midrange. There’s even a 3.5-mm mini jack to tether devices. The big question here is will they be worth the MSRP €595 / $655 when they start shipping across Europe and the US in January?

Well, we can’t say for sure. After all, we could only listen to the speaker on the very crowded (and noisy) floor of the IFA trade show. But what we heard sounded decent and did manage to stream audio over its proprietary transmission technology even at a distance of about 50 feet. Very impressive considering the high concentration of WiFi hotspots and other wireless devices in use within just a few feet of the Libratone booth. Here’s the catch: a dongle is required to communicate with the speaker — a small version for the iPod / iPhone / Pad or a larger USB stick for your laptop — both included with the purchase price. On the plus side, multiple Beats can play at once — just wander into range of one or multiple Beats and they’ll start (and later stop) playing automatically. Nice.

Libratone Beats wireless speakers begin playing when you enter the room originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 04 Sep 2010 11:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sorry, that’s not your cup of joe. While it looks very much like a travel mug, the Sony SRS-V500IP is actually an iPod player dock with a speaker.

The “mug” is a 360-degree Circle Sound Stage 16W stereo speaker. Designed so that everyone around you can enjoy the music, the speaker distributes sound evenly without sticking anyone “behind” the speaker.

When driving, pop the mug into the car’s cupholder, and use the in-car power adapter to keep treating your passengers.

The dock comes with a an iPod/iPhone cradle and a 3.5mm stereo audio input for non-Apple devices, whether it’s a computer or another MP3 player.  A remote control can switch between two input sources and adjust volume. Adapters for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS are also included.

Priced $239.99, the Sony SRS-V500IP is available in black, orange, or pink, from AudioCubes.

We know what you’re thinking: not another iPod / iPhone speaker dock. Maybe, but it’s way more than that if you listen to Logitech describe it. According to the boys from Cali, the $149.99 S715i “sounds like a beast” with 8 custom-designed, laser-tuned speaker drivers that deliver “next generation,” “professionally tuned acoustics” capable of “filling a room” with “bold sound.” So yeah, it’s just another iPod speaker dock, although that 8-hour rechargeable battery is nice. Full PR and video overview after the break.

Continue reading Logitech S715i rechargeable iPod / iPhone speaker unleashes next generation hyperbole

Logitech S715i rechargeable iPod / iPhone speaker unleashes next generation hyperbole originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Aug 2010 06:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The fabric of the future won’t be just plain chiffon, silk or cotton. Instead electroluminescent material, microprocessors and LEDs may be woven together with clothing fibers to create smart textiles.

“Clothing can be considered a second skin and by implementing technology in it, you are bringing it into your intimate space,” says Nicky Assmann, an e-textile designer whose work was part of a recent exhibition in the Netherlands. “You are not just carrying technology like a laptop or an iPhone, but wearing it constantly.”

The exhibition, Pretty Smart Textiles, which closed last week, gave a glimpse into what happens when technology meets fashion. Among the exhibits were a dress made entirely of circuit boards that could also be used to generate music, a garment that when worn takes the sound of a heartbeat and other sounds from the body and remixes it into music, and a trenchcoat that reads fabric punch cards and tells stories.

Electronic textiles are outgrowing their geeky reputation, says Melissa Coleman, who with Dorith Sjardijn curated the exhibtion.

“The open source hardware movement has allowed for quicker and easier development of electronics and made it accessible to artists and designers,” says Coleman. “The result is that smart textile applications have become more interesting conceptually and aesthetically.”

The exhibition, which ended last week, featured 16 works and seven interactive samples.

Most of the artists who showed their work were women. “Electronic textiles appeal more to women than men,” says Sjardijn. “Women who are already in technology find it a nice way to combine the stuff that they find appealing with the more clinical world of technology and programming.”

A Musical Circuit Dress

A dress with 35 old circuit boards stitched together is not for everyone. But Nicky Assmann, who built the dress over a four month period, says she chose circuit boards as the fabric for her dress because she liked their look.

“There’s a certain aesthetic about them — they have many details and are very systematic, like a grid or a city map,” she says.

The circuit dress is not just clothing but also a musical instrument. The dress is based on the idea of circuit bending, which involves deliberately short-circuiting electronic musical devices to get unexpected noise.

Twelve coils are incorporated into the dress, each of which is played by connecting it to one another through copper finger plates. The musical composition results as the fingers explore the dress. There are two speakers on the front of the dress, and the entire dress runs on batteries.

The straps on the dress are made from electric cables that are are used for rewiring the circuit-bended board from the back to the coils to the front. “It’s very functional,” says Assmann, since it solved the problem of where to leave the wires.

Overall, the dress weighs about 20 pounds. Assmann says if she’s practicing for a performance, she can’t wear the dress for more than hour because the straps hurt her shoulder.

Ultimately, the idea of the musical circuit dress is to display what many people consider ugly when it comes to technology: the innards of a device with its circuit boards, the wires and the chips. Assmann, an artist who’s studying for her graduate degree in Music at the Royal Conservatory and Academy in Hague, says the circuit dress put an aesthetic that’s normally hidden out in the front.

“The unwearability of the dress defines its performance,” says Assmann.

Continue reading Devotec rolls out updated Solar Sound 2 Bluetooth speaker

Devotec rolls out updated Solar Sound 2 Bluetooth speaker originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 May 2010 05:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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