Hasta La Gadget!

Despite the off-putting product shots and video, the SoundJam looks like a great fix for the iPad’s crappy speaker

SoundJaw is a small plastic widget that fixes one of the worst things about the iPad 2 — its stupid, tinny backwards-facing speaker. It clips onto the bottom of the iPad 2 (and also the iPad 1) and bounces the sound back towards you, greatly increasing its volume.

The original iPad sounded pretty great for something so small. The curved back and decent amount of space inside probably accounted for the surprisingly bassy output, and the good-enough volume. The iPad 2 has a speaker grille so ugly I still can’t believe it was designed by Apple, and so easy to cover with your hands (or a folded-back Smart Cover) that it can be all but muted at any time.

Matthew McLachlan’s SoundJaw fixes this by scooping up the sound and sending it towards you and your ears, and not letting it get muffled in your lap. The clip-on plastic scoop can be seen in action here in his otherwise obnoxious video (Trains! Shaky camera! We’re so cool!), and appears to make quite a difference. You can actually test this yourself by cupping a palm over the speaker and redirecting the sound waves. Try it.

Pretty effective, right?

The SoundJaw is yet another Kickstarter project, and a $20 pledge will get you one of them if the $7,000 target is reached. If you pledge $225, McLachlan will meet you for lunch and bring along 8 SoundJaws, and if you pledge $750 you’ll get an iPad 2 and ten SoundJaws “to pass out to your friends.”

Or you could make your own. I’m currently experimenting with household junk and will report back if I have any success.

SoundJaw – iPad 1 and 2 Sound Booster [Kickstarter via Brownlee]

Hey, do you like things that sound good? That’s funny, we do too. In a world jam-packed with mass-produced, perfectly adequate home-theater-in-a-box solutions, it can be really hard to differentiate between speaker solutions for your computer, TV, or stereo system. It takes a lot for small-scale, high-quality systems to stand out and justify their costs, especially when entire surround kits can be had for under a hundred bucks. But like that song said that one time, you can’t put a price tag on love. Orb Audio’s eponymously constructed speakers are little works of art that you can rearrange to suit your taste, budget, and decor — but are they a good solution for you? It’s a good question! Read on to find out just how the Orb family might or might not be the best decision you’ve ever made.

Continue reading Orb Audio modular stereo speaker systems review

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Orb Audio modular stereo speaker systems review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 May 2011 16:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Air review

Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Air review originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 May 2011 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If steampunk wasn’t, like, totally over, then we might be tempted to use the label for this iPhone speaker dock — fashioned from brass, cogs and tubes. As it is, we won’t insult Christopher Locke’s amazing “Analog Tele-Phonographer.”

As you quite clearly see, the horn speaker is fashioned from an old trumpet and a selection of discarded machine parts. We have seen horn speakers for cellphones before, but never one that used an actual trumpet. Since the horn is likely the hardest part to make yourself, this is a rather sensible design decision.

So how does it sound? Well, it’s hard to say, as I’m listening to the video soundtrack through my MacBook’s speakers. What’s clear is the before-and-after difference as the iPhone is dropped into and lifted from the dock. The sound which is channeled through pipes and horn is certainly louder and clearer than from the iPhone’s speaker alone.

Have a listen:

Chris will sell you a trumpet speaker for $400. I’m not sure I have the space for such a thing, but it sure would match my brass typewriter-style keyboard, my Pac Gentleman game and my Victorian-style 3D spectacles.

Analog Tele-Phonographer [Heartless Machine]

See Also:

• Steampunk Keyboard MkII: Now with Built to Order Option
• The Opti-Transcripticon Steampunk Scanner
• Datamancer Goes Deco with Hot New Keyboard Mod
• Steampunk Star Wars Figures
• Steampunk Blaster Gun

First, Alienware’s M17x got a bit of spit and polish with a new Sandy Bridge CPU and a 3D display, then the M11x got Intel’s speedy new silicon too. Now, the middle alien child appears to have gotten a similar makeover. Christened the M14x, rumor has it that Alienware’s newest portable rig packs an Intel Core i7-2820QM 2.3 GHz CPU, up to a 750GB 7200RPM HDD, 256GB SATA2 or SATA3 SDD, a robust NVIDIA GT555M GPU, LTE or WiMAX connectivity, and your choice of 14-inch screens: either a 1366 x 768 display or a Full HD 1920 x 1080 LCD. Following its big brother’s lead, the M14x also rolls with a pair of Klipsch speakers for hi-fi fragging. No word on when this mothership lands, but with those specs, we wouldn’t mind making first contact — would you?

Alienware’s M14x revealed: classic middle-child overachiever, none of the simmering sibling resentment originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 04:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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