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Filed under: Portable Audio, Wearables

Remember that Body Trainer headset unveiled by Sega Toys earlier this year? If not, there’s hardly a better time to refresh your memory given that it’s coming to US soil via ITAMI. The rebadged FiTrainer comes equipped with a heart sensor and built-in one-liners to keep you going when your muscles are just dying to return to the couch. ITAMI also has the nerve to claim that “Wii Fit is history, while the FiTrainer is the future.” At any rate, the headset packs a trio of exercise modes — walking, jogging and aerobics — and by utilizing proprietary algorithms and subliminal encouragement from a variety of Pokémons, it tells you exactly how to exercise in order to “achieve maximum results.” We’re only told that the device is “coming soon,” but you can certainly procrastinate signing up to hear more so that you completely avoid ever bringing this nuisance / assistant into your life.

[Via I4U News, thanks Chris]

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Portable Audio

“Sonoro” and “absurdly expensive” have always gone hand-in-hand, but even we’re a bit taken aback by the sticker on this one. The company’s latest example of extravagance is the elements stardust, an “exclusive” AM / FM / MP3 clock radio that’s smothered from one end to the other in Swarovski crystals. This thing’s not all looks, though — it’s got a LED-illuminated metal ring for quick-touch control of tuning and volume, a full-range speaker, and an integrated bass reflex tube. Too bad you’ll have to sashay down to Saks Fifth Avenue with $2,500 and an evil grin in order to take one home.

[Via Blast]

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio, Wireless

Samsung already loosed a 3-channel Bluetooth speaker earlier this year, but apparently, one just isn’t enough. The company has now introduced its YA-SBR510 over in South Korea, which streams audio from BT-enabled players and includes a 3.5-millimeter auxiliary jack for hooking up just about everything else. A tad pricey at €150 ($222), but it’s a total bargain should it come bundled with that oh-so-furry rug. Sammy, care to comment?

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Home Entertainment

Look out, Yamaha / Polk / Vizio / et al., you’ve got another rival heating up the surround bar game. Destined to hit CEDIA 2008, soundmatters’ SLIMstage40 checks in at a luscious 3.3- x 3.4- x 39-inches in size and features 170-watts from eight internal amplifiers. The device houses four Linear Magnetic Drive main / satellite speakers and a trio of down-firing Extreme-Energy subs that are assisted by six mass radiators. Furthermore, you’ll find three digital audio inputs (two optical, one coaxial), three analog inputs, a headphone jack, LED-backlit panel, an RS-232 port and an IR remote. Folks interesting in dabbling in faux-surround can snag one now for $899 to $1,199, depending on whether you spring for the bundle including the SUBstage100 subwoofer.

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio

It has been a solid tick since we’ve seen a good FairPlay hack, so it’s with great pleasure that we pass along El Tunes for Ubuntu 8.04 users everywhere. Tested to work on Hardy Heron using RhythmBox (but assumed to work on any modern Linux Distro with GStreamer and a media player that utilizes GStreamer), said plug-in enables open-source aficionados to play songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store. As for limitations, the current version has no Pause / Seek support and cannot de-authorize a machine for playback, but a future version should hopefully cure those two quirks and add support for purchased video content and audio streaming to an AirTunes device. Give it a shot and let us know how it treats ya.

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Gaming

Just when you think Pong can’t be played any other way, yet another creative soul emerges to prove the notion wrong. Mike McCracken has managed to remove all visual aspects of the game yet still maintain the core goal by enabling one’s head to make the motions typically assigned to the hands. Essentially, a sound is emitted from the headphones on one side or the other, and the gamer has to tilt his / her head just so until the noise is centered. This back-and-forth sequence speeds up to intensify the challenge, and if you can’t manage to keep the ringing front and center, an unpalatable buzzer sounds and a light turns on to alert you of your defeat. Really, it’s way more clear how all this works in the video below, so have at it.

[Via MAKE]Continue reading Audio Ping Pong lets your ears, noggin do all the work

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Home Entertainment

Ever had the itch to construct a surround sound system of your very own? Do you have an embarrassingly large stockpile of four- to five-liter wine jugs? If you answered yes to both of the aforementioned inquiries (and you’re at least halfway sober), Carlo Rossi has just the thing for you. Apparently, it felt the need to dish out DIY instructions for converting a number of its Sangria containers into a 6.1-channel surround system, and as with most projects, we’d also recommend you not take this one on while under the influence — ironic though that may be. Ready to get started? Put down (or pick up?) the brown bag and hit the links below.

[Via UberReview]
Read - The Sangria Surround Sound System [PDF]
Read - Carlo Rossi’s JugSimple

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Portable Audio

From iriver and the house The Mouse built comes this limited edition Mplayer. Gold plating and a Philips PNX0103ET audio processor create what iriver calls an “assassin’s mace” of a device. Sure, Cute. Simple. Friendly. Now add Opulent to the tagline too — at ?888 Chinese Yuan (about $123) you’ll be looking at a 100% or so markup over their standard 1GB Mplayer.Continue reading iriver’s limited edition Mplayer for Mickey assassins

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Source: Thomas Ricker

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