Nope, this wild glowy sphere isn’t some sort of newfangled plasma weapon. Actually, what you’re looking at is a combination speaker/light show that’s perfect for your next big dance party.
Inside the transparent red plastic orb of the Zumreed Flash Beat is a downward-firing speaker, surrounded by a rapidly spinning pink light. As your tunes kick in, the light reacts instantaneously to the beat of the music.
And even though it’s under 9-inches tall, it’s powerful enough to fill a large room according to the product description (Caveat Emptor, of course). Just connect the speaker to your iPod or even a video game system, and you’ll have yourself a self-contained audiovisual extravaganza.
Originally available only in Japan, the guys over at Audiocubes have brought in a limited number of these for you to enjoy stateside for $189.99 each.
Written by technabob on November 17th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Pink and acrylic and disco and home entertainment and japan and light and party and sound and speaker and strange and wonderful and zumreed.
Online video aggregator Veoh and Flash memory maker SanDisk launched the Veoh Web Player for ScanDisk. The application was released for ScanDisk Cruzer USB drives to allow users to browse and download content from Veoh.
The application was specifically designed to let customers watch videos while they’re offline, or “skirt the system” when they are restricted from browsing entertainment sites. The ScanDisk Cruzer USB will begin shipping with the Veoh Web Player. For those who already own the Cruzer, you may download the application from the ScanDisk site for free.
[Via AppScout]
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Written by Shawn Brown on November 14th, 2008 with no comments.
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Someone at Sling Media have been playing peek-a-boo with the company’s much-anticipated SlingLink Wireless adapter, the WiFi dongle that would let users cut the cord between their SlingCatcher and their router. The USB stick appeared overnight on Sling’s UK website but, when contacted for details, the company themselves claimed ignorance and promptly pulled the page; you can check out the cached page here.
It’s been over ten months since the SlingLink Wireless was announced at CES 2008, and while the company does have something of a habit of keeping users waiting (though, admittedly, they tend to deliver decent products when they finally arrive) it’s hard to imagine exactly what’s holding up a USB WiFi adapter. According to the yanked product page, setup of the device is straightforward: plug it into your SlingCatcher’s USB port, follow a few on-screen instructions (likely just scanning for the network and entering the encryption password) and you’re done.
Details on the page unhelpfully avoid suggesting release date or pricing. The former is a mystery - though you could presume that the existence of a new web page suggests release is sooner rather than later - while we only have initial estimates of $49.99.
[via Engadget]
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Written by Chris Davies on November 5th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Accessories and SlingBox and SlingCatcher and USB and archive and home entertainment and wifi.
Sonos have released their first official app for the iPhone and iPod touch, which adds controller functionality to the touchscreen devices and allows them to manage the company’s networked audio players. The software, which is a free download through the AppStore, brings not only the full functionality from the official Sonos controller but adds touch-control and text-driven media searching.
Full multi-room control is possible, with menu options for playing the same or different music in each zone, as well as silencing them all with a single touch, and there’s also Napster and Rhapsody access. Pandora custom internet radio has also been added, together with fifteen thousand radio stations and Last.fm integration in the new system firmware (version 2.7).
Since the Apple devices lack the proprietary wireless networking that Sonos uses, the iPhone or iPod touch relies on your home WiFi to connect to the Sonos system. The software should be available on the AppStore today; if these photos from Engadget have whet your appetite you can see a video demo here. As for the new firmware, v2.7, it’s also available today for all Sonos users.
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Written by Chris Davies on October 28th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Music System and SONOS and Software and archive and home entertainment and iPhone and iPod Touch and iphone 3G.
Crestron have announced the iServer, a home media server that, rather than using its own internal storage, relies on an iPod for content. Compatible with Crestron’s range of distributed audio and video systems, once an iPod is plugged into the front media connection it’s fully controllable from any of the company’s touchscreen and wireless remotes. USB-over-IP technology means the iPod can also be synchronized with iTunes on any PC or Mac on the network, without needing to remove it from the iServer.
The iServer is compatible with most iPod models, offering a variety of capacities, and of course the media playlists can be easily changed by swapping over to somebody else’s PMP. Full album, track, artist and coverart can be browsed from any connected Crestron touchscreen.
Outputs on the back of the iServer allow connection with local speakers, both audio and composite and component video. There’s also Crestron’s own “CH” CAT5 balanced connections are provided for total compatibility with Adagio and Crestron Home systems.
Available now, the Crestron iServer is intended for professional installation.
[via Krunker]
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Written by Chris Davies on October 24th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Apple and Crestron and archive and home entertainment and iPod.
Although the original Xbox has superseded by the 360, it’s still in demand for general hacking and media extender duties. Lurking under the TV, though, its ominous black bulk does nothing for your living room aesthetics; that’s why modder Coca627 broke out the Dremel and crafted a far smaller custom case for his Xbox, with a 60-percent reduction in volume over the original. He’s calling it the Xbox Slim.
More photos, plus a video demo of the Xbox Slim, after the cut
Out went the standard optical drive and in goes a slimline DVD/CD-R intended for laptops. There’s also a 60GB 2.5-inch hard-drive for local storage and the receiver for a Logitech wireless controller. New Iceberg4 Pro Chip Cooling fans reduce not only noise but bulk.
Software-wise, the XBMC media center dashboard project provides much of the new functionality, plus there are SNES, Sega Megadrive and NeoGeo emulators for classic gaming. In fact the one big omission, of course, is Xbox 360 gaming. No word on how much the project cost, but considering you can pick up an original Xbox including controllers and a number of games for well under $100 on eBay, it could come in for much less than the price of a new 360.
Click here to view the embedded video.
[via technabob]
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Written by Chris Davies on October 10th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Gaming and Microsoft and Mods and archive and home entertainment and mediaplayer and xbox.
Mitsubishi have been showing off their new HDTV, the LaserVue L65-A90, a 65-inch set with power demands of just 135W - that’s on average one-third the power of an LCD the same size and one-fourth of a plasma. The Tech Lounge pulled up a chair to check out the two sets on offer: one being compared to an LCD screen, the other set up for 3D viewing.
The 3D system requires special glasses which sync with an emitter on the HDTV itself. Demos of scenes from Star Wars were apparently “amazing”, but they might be pretty much all you can watch as even Mitsubishi admit there’s a dearth of 3D-encoded content.
Overall performance, though, has no such sting in the tail. Colors are described as “noticeably more impressive” than the Pioneer Kuro and Sharp comparison sets, with blacks almost as good as the Kuro and, in some cases, better able to maintain the details in the scene. $7k is a significant investment in home entertainment, but it should last you: according to Mitsubishi, because of the laser technology there’s almost zero color degradation over time.
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Written by Chris Davies on October 10th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on HDTV and archive and home entertainment and mitsubishi.
Sling Media’s SlingCatcher has only been officially shipping since this morning, but already Sling Community have their review posted. The SlingCatcher works a little like a SlingBox in reverse, displaying content either from one of the company’s own streamers, from a computer running the supplied SlingProjector software, or from an attached storage device. The review breaks down the media player into each of these three categories, and for its primary function of gobbling up SlingBox content it looks like the SlingCatcher is a winner.
Flexibility scores the SlingCatcher points, with a range of outputs and a lightweight design that means transporting it from room to room - or even taking it on holiday - is painless. Receiving SlingBox media is equally simple, and while initially the concept of streaming content from one part of your house to another seems bizarre, when you consider how expensive adding extra cable TV boxes to your subscription package can be, the SlingCatcher could be a far cheaper option.
SlingProjector is perhaps less clear a success: although no less useful, the lower resolution means you wouldn’t particularly want to watch a whole film with it. MyMedia similarly has some rough edges, with too many unsupported file types and limitations on what hard-drives you can use with it.
Still, for its primary purpose the SlingCatcher works very well. Whether it sells as well seems to depend on Sling Media themselves, and the sort of software and feature updates they offer over the coming months.
[thanks David!]
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Written by Chris Davies on October 9th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Review and SlingBox and SlingCatcher and archive and home entertainment and mediaplayer.
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