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Stressing young love and personal connections, Taylor Swift expands country music’s audience.

Source: By JON CARAMANICA

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MTV Networks is expected to announce a licensing arrangement with the Beatles that may bring the band’s songs to the company’s popular Rock Band video game.

Source: By BRIAN STELTER

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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: Desktops, Laptops

When Dell started pre-loading digital copies of Iron Man in new systems for $19, we didn’t think that was very enticing, but at least it was a pretty good movie, right? Quite possibly encouraged by thousands of accidental purchases (we kid, sort of), Dell’s announced two new content pre-loading partnerships — Universal Music Group and CinemaNow. The music comes in 50 and 100 song bundles starting at $25, but at least it’s DRM-free, so if you don’t mind a mega mix chosen entirely by Dell it’s not all evil. CinemaNow, though, offers $25 and up bundles including (among other flicks) world-renown classics like The Fast and the Furious and the Matrix sequels. Fear.

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Read - CinemaNow

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Source: Samuel Axon

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Nearly a month after Line 6 treated bedroom guitarists everywhere with the brilliant BackTrack, along comes a few new tools for the more serious musicians. Or, at least the ones that think they’re serious. The newly announced POD Studio family of USB recording interfaces feature the POD Farm plug-in and 44.1/48kHz, 16-/24-bit recording. The no-frills GX unit boasts a single 1/4-inch guitar input, while the UX1 adds a balanced XLR input with preamp and two 1/4-inch analog outputs; the top-end UX2 (pictured) offers two 1/4-inch inputs (one normal, one pad), two balanced XLR inputs with preamps and phantom power, S/PDIF digital output and a pair of assignable VU meters. Each box comes packed with Ableton recording software, though Line 6 doesn’t bother to share the costs for these.

[Via Electronista]

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals

No two ways about it, Mad Catz has a winner on its hand with this one. The Rock Band Portable Drum Kit for Xbox 360 is a complete skins kit designed to be shoved into most any backpack and played on nearly any solid surface. The rubber pads are designed to handle over a million strikes, though that antique coffee table you lay these on may, in fact, not be designed to withstand such abuse. For those not exactly kosher with a full-fledged kit consuming the den, this seems to be the perfect compromise. And hey, it’s only $59.99 to boot. Ships “soon,” but not “soon enough.”

[Via OhGizmo]

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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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