Okay, so there are about a gazillion iPod speaker docks out there these days. And to be honest, most of them aren’t worth your time or money. Sure they allow easy playback of your iPod’s music over speakers, but most are ugly (or poor knock offs of other designs) and they rarely sound good. Of course there are exceptions. B&W’s Zeppelin is one good example of a great dock. Its styling isn’t for everyone, but I think it’s a great looker, and definitely a great sounder. Unfortunately that’ll set you back $600! Enter the Vestalife Lady bug.

Continue reading Cute as a bug, and sounds great to boot: Vestalife Ladybug

Filed under: Gadgets | Technology, Home Audio, Portable Audio — Santi @ 9:04 am

If you’re anything like me, you love the MagSafe power ports on the MacBook laptops as much for the cool factor as the lowered chance of pulling the laptop off the table when you trip over the cord in the middle of the night. Now you can have this same cool factor on stage, where the chances of violent cord removal are somewhat higher to boot. As a bonus, they remove the popping noises you get while unplugging from a live amp, and the connectors are gorgeous. The Belkin Breakfree releases in September 2008.

Filed under: Gadgets | Technology, Home Audio — Max @ 9:04 am

Whatever you think of the MacBook Air, you have to admit that producing one from a manila envelope was and is undeniably cool - trouble is, there’s not much reason to do so these days. Enter the Timbuk2 Steve Sleeve: Made from recycled PET (old plastic bottles!) on the outside with a biodegradable liner, this bag is definitely green. It’s sized to fit the Air snugly, so most notebooks won’t fit. Something like an Eee from Asus might, though - let us know if you’ve tried it.

If I had a MacBook Air to carry around, I’d carry it in this.

Filed under: Gadget Protection, Gadgets | Technology, Other — Max @ 7:59 am

This post is brought to you by the letter “H”.

“H” is for hiatus. It’s been awhile since I’ve posted and for that, I apologize. My last couple weeks have been busy with about 42.4% of that time spent calling every Apple store in the Los Angeles area daily for iPhone 3G availability. I’ve just never seen a product like this so hard to keep on shelves. I know that tech product shortages are nothing new, but everything about the iPhone makes it an odd device to still have 3 hour lines two weeks after launch.
Continue reading You’re Welcome, Steve Jobs.

Filed under: Phones — Roy @ 9:25 pm

If you’re not familiar with Etón, they make cool portable radios that are powered via battery, crank, and solar power. Radios have FM, AM, and NOAA (weather) tuners. They also include cables to attach your phone to the device, so you can use the solar cells or hand crank to charge up. Some of the fancier models have flashlights, sirens, and two-way walkie-talkies built in as well.

They have found maybe the best possible partner: The American Red Cross. Red Cross provides help to those in need after natural disasters. Etón radios provide the ability to keep up to date on news and announcements even if you have no access to batteries or wall-power.

I played with some of the Etón products when I was at CES, and I think these are solid products. They may be a bit pricey, but they are well constructed and provide features that others simply just don’t have. In addition, when you buy an American Red Cross by Etón product, a portion of your purchase goes to help rebuild communities that have been hit by natural disasters.

You can check out the Etón line at Amazon.com.

Filed under: Gadgets | Technology, Portable Audio — Santi @ 8:06 am

I’m all about breaking records, especially when they involve not choosing Internet Explorer. Tomorrow is Firefox Download Day. They’re releasing version 3.0 of the FF browser and want to break the Guinness World Record for ‘Most Software Downloaded in 24 Hours’. Firefox is a great browser; I switch between it and Safari and I’d like to think my browser situation is pretty well-covered. Anyway, pick it up tomorrow. Unlike most stuff on this site, it’s free. And you’ll be part of history. Just think, years from now, you can tell your grandkids that you and 1,460,148 friends helped break the world record for… Yeah, nevermind, your grandkids will have probably left the room by now.

Link

Filed under: Computers — Roy @ 9:11 pm

I’m a bit of a music nerd. Yeah, band camp and all…

Continue reading The Moog Super-Infinite-Hyper-Sustain-Awesimo Guitar

Filed under: Gadgets | Technology — Santi @ 9:47 pm

I told you there’d be more about this thing and I do not lie. Except when it is convenient for me.

So the hysteria has died down and more details are coming out and its no surprise that Steve Jobs didn’t kick off the keynote with these golden nuggets of info. Far from my initial high at around 10:45am on Monday, three things have me kind of bummed about Apple’s new toy.

1. You cannot activate the new iPhone 3G at home, it must be done in store.
2. The data plan is now $30 as opposed to the $20 price point of the year past.
3. The $199 price announced with much fanfare and applause is with new two year contract. Which makes recent AT&T converts, like myself, most likely ineligible for crazy Steve’s new low prices.

The first point is a letdown because I really hate having AT&T employees putting their hands and fingerprints all over my new phone before I even get to make a call on it. The second point is a letdown because I hardly have any money as it is. The third point is a letdown because I (and a lot of other second generation iPhone holdouts) will end up having to pay some higher unsubsidized price. (reference the previous sentence for why this is an issue)

In the end, I’m a sucker and I’ll probably end up jumping through whatever hoops I need to in order to get this thing. I just wish it weren’t so much trouble. No one talks to me anyway.

Filed under: Phones — Roy @ 9:46 pm

Sorry about the title, it’s been a good morning. Apple’s WWDC keynote was this morning and the news is cause for rejoicing. Right now, inside my heart, it’s like the end scene from Return of the Jedi. Only, instead of Ewoks celebrating a victory in a violent forest battle against a ruthless imperial force, I’m just really happy about the new iPhone. Or should I say, iPhone 3G. That’s right, Apple has finally brought 3G to the iPhone, along with GPS, longer battery life, some cool new apps and the new 2.0 firmware. Oh and best of all, it’s now only $199. Yeah, one hundred ninety-nine dollars. Just for a point of reference: the RAZR2 launched for more than that. The Blackberry Curve used to cost that much not so long ago. Really, once you remove the subsized mail-in rebate, almost every phone carried by one of the big four carriers cost more than $199. For God’s sake, the iPod Touch of the same 8GB capacity is $100 more and it is, most assuredly, not even a phone.

I’ve got more to say on the subject, but I’ll give everyone (myself included) some time to calm down. I keep trying to breathe slowly into a paper bag, but I’ve already tore through six hyperventilating.

Filed under: Phones — Roy @ 12:52 pm

We have witnessed the rise of YouTube as a method to savagely inflict your home videos on relatives without first trapping them in said home. Unfortunately, huge quantities of schlock never make it onto the internet because the arcane arts of video codecs and bitrates scare even the boldest of would-be directors. Flip Video has been changing that, though - their Ultra series camcorder delivers an incredibly simple experience, producing files that are ready to upload from an attractively small and affordably priced unit. Despite my deep love of high-definition video, I lusted after the Ultra for many moons, satisfied only when I convinced a friend to buy one so that I could play with it. Now that lust has been renewed, with a vengeance: Meet the Flip Mino.

Functionally, the Mino is very similar to the Ultra; video quality is the same (640×480 @ 30fps). The unit has storage for 60 minutes of footage. The device, however, is 40% smaller, and just generally looks sleeker - sleek enough to reignite my lust. This time, though, I think I’ll buy it myself.

Get a Flip Mino in black or white for $180 at Amazon.

Filed under: Gadgets | Technology — Max @ 10:00 pm