Posts in Music & Play
Total 2 pages : [1] 2
LG's iPod washing machine: Convergence gone mad
Nate Lanxon, CNET.co.uk | May 30, 2007
Of all the things you shouldn't build an iPod speaker system into, a washing machine has to be up there with the chainsaw. Why in the world would anyone think they need to build a music system into an appliance designed to be left alone for great lengths of time? And that vibrates loudly?
Well, despite the obvious conceptual flaws of building a product that quite simply has no use whatsoever, LG has patented designs for the world's first washing machine/podcessory hybrid.
The docking system is built alongside two speakers, which are mounted into the machine's top. We can't speculate just how good this would sound, but if you're familiar with the sound a washing machine makes when it's working, you'll understand our prediction that this would sound truly horrible, and perhaps be more offensive to the ears than a Roy Chubby Brown witticism screamed after 10 pints of gone-off lager.
Unless the machine itself vibrates according to the music being played, to produce a subwoofer effect, we're distinctly unimpressed that someone, somewhere, was paid for designing this.
Thankfully, this design is just the concept art that accompanies a patent filed by electronics maker LG. We're sincerely hoping that this is just a case of patent squatting--the act of registering a potential invention on the off-chance that someone actually builds one in the future. Tut tut, LG. You should know that no one with even the scarcest ounce of common sense would ever build something so hopelessly doomed to failure.
Click here for a larger image.
Via CNET UK Crave
Thinner Meizu Mini
John Chan | May 29, 2007
The original Meizu Mini is what you might call a sleeper hit. It's a slim MP3 player with a large display. And even with hardly any marketing, it has a loyal following from many users. Well, the China-based company has an updated music player, the M6se, which is even slimmer than the original Mini.
This MP3 player is just 6.9mm in thickness and comes with features that don't differ much from the earlier Mini. This includes a QVGA display and it's capable of playing back a host of different video formats. It is 3mm thinner than the Mini, which makes quite a lot of difference even though its design at the front has not changed much from the original.
The M6se is expected to be available in Singapore from Q4 2007. Its price has not yet been announced. Its availability in other Asia-Pacific countries is also unconfirmed.
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Via dapreview.net
Waterproof MP3 Juke Tower
Juniper Foo | May 22, 2007
Launched just last month in the land of weird and wondrous gizmos, this journo had the opportunity to hop into creative life store Tokyu Hands in busy Shibuya to ogle all the tech toys not coming to the rest of Asia. One of these is the Juke Tower. Limited only to Japan, this N-et Corp device is a sleek cylinder that would blend in on the shower mantel with the rest of your toiletries. That is until you hit the On switch. Its gut packs 2GB of RAM and, despite a mono speaker, a sound reflector dispenses happy tunes equally in the shower. A display shows time, folder and track number as there's no ID3 tag support. We'd have preferred mains to the three AAA batteries, though that's not such a smart idea so close to water. Still, at 12 hours of continuous playback, that's longer than you need to primp yourself in the little room.
See various profiles here
Price: 10,500 yen (US$88)
Availability: Japan
Device: MP3 player for the shower
Specs: 55mm mono speaker, output 0.5W × 1ch , 78 x 183mm, 300g
Samsung YP-U3: Hunting down the shuffle
Nate Lanxon, CNET.co.uk | May 15, 2007
A new week and a new MP3 player. This time it's Samsung causing our saliva glands to work more overtime than a Chinese sweatshop, with the unofficial announcement of the YP-U3. The U3 is a flash-based MP3 player and is the successor to the YP-U1 and YP-U2.
It comes in 1GB, 2GB and 4GB capacities and supports MP3, WMA and good old OGG-format music files. There's a built-in RDS FM radio (very nice indeed, Samsung), a built-in USB plug (less nice) and it still sports a trippy blue LED on one end (oh dear).
Samsung told us this morning the YP-U3 is definitely going to be coming to the UK within the next two months, at the same time as the US release, but no price point has yet been announced.
The U3 is going after a similar audience as Apple's iPod Shuffle, but it does so with a significantly larger body and, like previous models, by having a non-color screen. However, we get the feeling that while this is a nice-looking little guy it's just not outstanding enough to make a significant impact on the market, unless it a) costs significantly less than the Shuffle's £55, or b) comes with an 8GB capacity--the latter being a definite no-chancer.
We'd love to have seen an 8GB version and feel such a capacity would do very well in a player of this size. We guess we'll just have to wait for the YP-U4 for that. Either way, it looks lovely and if it's cheap enough it'll do alright. Watch this space, Samsungites.
Via CNET UK Crave
Cowon Q5: PVP exploding with features
Nate Lanxon | May 07, 2007
Cowon has recently announced a snazzy-looking PVP called the Q5, and it's exploding with features--much like a large pigeon explodes after eating rice, although much less hilarious.
PVPs have become much more common over the last couple of years, thanks to improvements in battery technology and more efficient media-compression methods. Cowon's Q5 has arrived at this time of opportunity, as if by prophesy, and expands on the basic feature set expected of a PMP by hosting a multitude of pimped-out features.
As well as the typical MP3 and video playback functions, the Q5--running on Microsoft Windows CE 5.0 and powered by a 500MHz AMD CPU--also includes the ability to receive digital TV broadcasts. In fact, connectivity tomfoolery will be frequent, thanks to the Q5's inclusion of HSDPA, Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth.
Documents, such as Word files, can be opened on the Q5 and navigated around using the 127mm (5-inch) touchscreen display, but don't think the fun ends there. The Q5 will also get you from A to popular destinations such as B, thanks to GPS functionality.
The 40GB version costs US$499 (S$755.79) and the 60GB version costs US$549 (S$831.52), though no launch date has been announced. We'll keep you so posted on updates you'll want to glue a stamp to your face and sit in a mail box. We're that excited about this lovely gadget.
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