Archive for January, 2009

JVC debuts wall-mountable 2.1 channel system

Posted in Home Theater by Nino Marchetti on January 13th, 2009

JVC-NXT10

A stylish new JVC home theater system is coming in May for around $600 that will fit the need of urban loft dwellers. It is called the NX-T10.

The NX-T10 is a 2.1 channel system which can be hung on a wall or placed on a table. It consists of a low-profile main unit, two compact omni-directional main speakers and a powered subwoofer. The speakers can be hung on the wall as well.

Montegiro’s Legno luxury wooden turntable

Posted in Turntables by Conner Flynn on January 13th, 2009

Montegiro’s Legno luxury wooden turntableIsn’t it ironic that some of the most beautiful turntables have shown up long after the days of vinyl? If only we had had such beauty back in the days of records. Germany based company, Montegiro, has a new high-end audio system in the form of the new Legno turntable.

It uses bamboo as well as high-grade steel to produce beautiful music from your old vinyl collection. The company decided to use a bamboo chassis because of the wood’s stabilizing and resonance-damping properties. There are also four adjustable and high-grade steel feet with rubber O-rings. The Montegiro’s Legno luxury wooden turntable is now available for a mind-blowing $13,240.

Troll Touch adds touchscreen to Apple’s 24-inch LED display

Posted in Apple by Conner Flynn on January 13th, 2009

Troll Touch adds touchscreen to Apple’s 24-inch LED displayIt may still be a while, with the MacWorld just concluding, before Apple comes out with its own version a touch version for their display, but there is a solution. Troll Touch has announced a touch panel integration kit that converts the 24-inch LED display into a touchscreen.

It’s powered internally via USB. And the custom touchscreen overlay design doesn’t alter the panel’s form factor in any way hankfully. But adding touch functionality is going to touch you in the wallet. Starting from scratch, you can order a touch-enabled version now for $2,299, but those looking to simply upgrade their own can ship it to California with $1,399.

Shifter faucet lets you change gears

Posted in Home by Conner Flynn on January 13th, 2009

Shifter faucet lets you change gears from hot to coldIs your faucet a stick or an automatic? Well, now you can have a stick shift on your sink thanks to this classy-looking design. That’s right, you can now change gears on your faucet. It’s pretty stylish and will leave other faucets in the dust.

The idea is that it would allow you to shift up the amount of water coming out of the faucet. Or down. Which is great for people looking to conserve water by staying in lower “gears,” but we can’t see how the temperature is controlled so this may be a big bust. Sure, it looks awesome, but that doesn’t count for anything if all you get is cold water.

BlueBerry clone surfaces

Posted in BlackBerry by Conner Flynn on January 13th, 2009

BlueBerry clone surfacesThey say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. The Blackberry must be feeling very flattered right now. After all, BlackBerries are everywhere, and even President Elect Obama is addicted to using it.

Meet the latest and I believe first BlackBerry clone, so creatively named the BlueBerry L900i. This quadband GSM handset looks just like a BlackBerry from a distance, featuring a QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth connectivity, a digital camera and leather backing. It’s only $164.99 so don’t expect it to function like the real thing.

Lego announces gadget line for kids

Posted in lego by Conner Flynn on January 13th, 2009

Lego announces gadget line for kidsLego’s just announced that they will be teaming up with Digital Blue to bring out a line of digital cameras, PMPs, and walkie talkies for kids. Modders have been making gadgets out of Legos for awhile now, so I guess the company figured they would do the work for people. Kids at least.

The products feature the familiar “Lego” look, but they are not constructed out of actual bricks. We don’t have any specs yet, but these Lego gadgets are said to be arriving this summer, prices ranging from $19 – $60.

Sanyo Debuts Bedside Internet Radio

Posted in internet radio by Nino Marchetti on January 12th, 2009

Sanyo R227

Everybody seems to be getting into releasing Internet radios this year. Even Sanyo. The company is getting set to release this month the R227, priced around $170.

The Sanyo R227 is designed to deliver, either through wireless Wi-Fi or Ethernet wired connectivity, thousands of Internet radio stations and podcasts. The product has the look somewhat of a regular clock radio, even sporting a FM tuner with alarm clock functions for those that desire.

Contests

WTF – MTV/Flip camcorder Giveaway Contest

Posted in Camcorders,Contests,Digital Video by Darrin Olson on January 12th, 2009

What The Flip? video camcorder MinoFlip video recently teamed up MTV and gave away 100 of these little Flip camcorders to 100 college students around the country and asked them to create footage based on different themes provided by MTV. They then uploaded these videos, along with many others to MTV’s What The Flip? site.

Anyone can get in on the action and upload their own videos based on the different themes, including “Worst Date”, “Last Dream”, “Bridges, Rhinos, Chandeliers”, and “If I Could Change 1 Thing About The World” to name a few. MTV and Flip Video are also giving one of these Flip Mino camcorders away each day by registering at the What the Flip? website (see the bottom of the About page).

To help spread the word, SlipperyBrick.com is also giving away a Flip Mino camcorder that have a good chance at …

JVC gives us 80s audio system flashbacks

Posted in Micro Audio Systems by Nino Marchetti on January 12th, 2009

JVC UX-GN6

It’s big, it’s kinda cool looking and it definitely gives us a bit of the 80s spin back. It is a new micro audio system from JVC called the UX-GN6 and it prices around $200.

The UX-GN6 has a sweet motion sensing technology which fires up when waving a hand in front of it, illuminating all of the controls and the LED display. Also highlighted by JVC are the laser touch control strips – one for volume and one for song navigation – which are operated by running a finger along them.

New high end PC speakers from Sony

Posted in Speakers by Conner Flynn on January 12th, 2009

New high end PC speakers from SonySony introduces a new high-end PC speaker line-up with superior sound quality. The design is pretty interesting too. One of the high-end PC speakers is the SRS-DF30, which is a 2.1 Speaker for your PC with a built-in FM Radio Tuner. Other models include the SRS-D25, SRSZ50 and SRS-Z100.

The slim size Sony SRS-Z50 is a pair of speakers that feature a bass reflex duct, while the three-way SRS-Z100 speakers feature bass boost. The Sony SRS-D25 2.1 speaker system sports a subwoofer for strong bass.

Eos Converge wirelessly streams media around

Posted in Media Streamers by Nino Marchetti on January 12th, 2009

Eos Converge

One of the countless new wireless audio systems to emerge from CES this year is the streaming happy Eos Converge. This multi-unit system begins pricing around $90 per component and will be available come March.

The Eos Converge is designed to stream audio, via one of its wireless transmitters, from a connected audio source to other points in the surrounding area. It has a wireless range of around 150 feet and is said not to interfere with other wireless networks created by the likes of Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

Panasonic SC-ZT1 full wireless theater system

Posted in Panasonic by Conner Flynn on January 12th, 2009

Panasonic SC-ZT1 full wireless theater systemPanasonic has unveiled its new Wireless Home Theater System, the SC-ZT1, which is specially designed to do away with the trouble of speaker cables. The system sends uncompressed audio data over a wireless 2.4-GHz frequency band to ensure high-quality sound.

The SC-ZT1 will give you a lifelike virtual Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD 7.1 channel surround sound from its four ultra slim antenna looking speakers, which come with an integrated subwoofer for generating sounds from the low-frequency range. You can purchase the Panasonic SC-ZT1 when it is released in Spring 2009.

Pentax preps some compact cameras for early 09

Posted in Digital Cameras by Nino Marchetti on January 12th, 2009

Pentax Optio P70

Pentax was showing off at CES last week two new compact digital cameras. These are the Optio P70 and Optio E70, priced around $200 and $140, respectively.

The Pentax Optio P70 is a 12-megapixel shooter available in three body colors in February. It has a 4x optical zoom plus a wide angle 28mm lens. A 2.7-inch LCD panel allows for photo viewing and the camera features shake reduction technology, face recognition and HD movie captures.

Robotic Labyrinth Wii Fit game

Posted in DIY by Conner Flynn on January 12th, 2009

Robotic Labyrinth Wii Fit gameSome DIYers from the Cowtown Computer Congress used some servos and an Arduino processor to connect a wooden Labyrinth game to a Wii Fit. Why? Is there ever a reason? It just had to be done. Simple as that. Basically it makes the game more difficult.

It’s an inexpensive project at just $60 total (That does not include the Wii Fit), and it seems like a simple process. It also looks like a lot of fun. What could be better then taking a simple game and adding a high tech way of playing it? Check out a video below.

Dell Inspiron 15 looks good for the dough

Posted in Notebooks by Nino Marchetti on January 12th, 2009

Dell Inspiron 15

The hum of the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show is over but we still have plenty of gadgets announced during the show to write on – so hold on as we dump out the press release mail box and see what we have around. One such goodie announced earlier in the show last week was the inexpensive and stylish Inspiron 15.

The Dell Inspiron 15, with a starting price of around $600, features a 15.6-inch LCD display with a 16:9 aspect ratio. It can be configured with a variety of highlighted features, including up to 4GB of RAM, up to 320GB of hard drive storage, a Web cam and a Blu-ray drive.