Whether you’re looking for some calming white noise to help you drift off to sleep at night, or you just moved to the desert and desperately miss the sound of falling rain, this unique piece of vinyl should fill that void in your life. On one side of the endless rain record you’ll find a long track of, you guessed it, falling rain, while the other side features looped grooves that play a continuous stream of more distinct rain drops. $39 from the designboom shop, or free if you just move to a rainforest.
Wannabe DJs with a bit more money in their pockets now don’t just have to settle with DJ Hero to get their ‘wheels of steel’ fix. Vestax Japan has just announced the ‘Spin’ which is a turntable-esque USB console/controller designed specifically for the Mac.
It’s got a set of touch sensitive scroll wheels allowing you to scratch or backspin in real time, and while I can’t imagine it’s anywhere near as accurate or realistic as the real thing, the Spin at least allows you to play and mix songs directly from your iTunes library. In other words you don’t need to spend money on milk crates full of vinyl. It’s expected to be available in Japan come December for about $330 which gives me a glimmer of hope that it might not actually suck.
This morning Blue Microphones announced their new Yeti model which is apparently the world’s first THX certified microphone. But what’s more useful is the mic’s ‘triple condenser capsule array’ which allows it to be switched between four different pickup patterns including stereo, cardioid, omni-directional and bi-directional. It’s also got a high quality built-in analog-to-digital converter (it does connect to your PC via USB after all) as well as its own headphone jack for zero-latency monitoring of what you’re recording. With an MSRP of $149.99 it might not be the most affordable choice if you’re just going to use it with Skype, but if you’re spitting out podcasts on a weekly basis or doing any kind of prosumer recording with your PC it sounds like it could really up your game.
If internet radio is your thing, and you often find yourself befuddled by buttons, dials and knobs, design and development firm Cambridge Consultants has just the thing for you! Their recently unveiled Q2 Cube Internet Radio features no visible controls, but instead relies on gravity to change its settings. To select from one of four preset stations, you just turn the cube onto one of its four sides, and to adjust the volume up or down, you just tilt it forwards or backwards. At the moment pricing info hasn’t been revealed, but the company expects to at least have the Cube Radio available in the U.K. in time for Christmas.
Designed by Alyce Santoro and Julio Cesar, these rather dapper Sonic Fabric Neckties are made from 50% colored thread and 50% recorded audio cassette tape which means you can sacrifice an old Walkman to make a ’sonic fabric reader’ (see the video below) allowing you to hear remnants of what was originally on the tapes.
The Sonic Fabric Neckties are available from Supermarket in black, dark brown and grey for $90 a pop, plus the cost of a Walkman if your curiosity gets the best of you.
If you’ve yet to make the move from analog cassette tapes to digital audio files, the Tape Express from ION Audio will make the transition a bit easier for you. First of all, the device looks like an old-school Walkman, and if you’re still listening to cassettes on a daily basis, there’s a good chance you’re a master of that technology. Converting your tapes to MP3s is as easy as connecting the device to your PC via USB and hitting play. The included EZ Tape Converter software will take care of the rest.
And if you’re having a difficult time transitioning to this futuristic circa-1995 digital MP3 technology, the Tape Express also works like a regular tape player, allowing you to listen to your music the old-fashioned way. IWOOT appears to have it for just over $80, though they’re sold out at the moment.
Last month I showed you guys the Livio Radio, and gave you an in-depth review of the device. If you’re into listening to music all day long, then it really is one of the coolest radios out there. However, what if music isn’t really your thing? If you like talk radio, then Livio has something just for you.
I’ve never listened to NPR, but if that’s your thing then you might want to check out the NPR Radio by Livio. This device is very similar to is Pandora-playing brother, however you’ll be tuning into more than 1,000 NPR station streams. You’ll also have access to over 800 podcasts and audio archives of NPR programs. If you do feel like a little music, then you can tune into one of the 16,000 various internet radio stations through Reciva. You’re not going to find more talk radio without a PC or some sort of HD radio. You can pick the NPR Radio now for $199.
If you find yourself using the Voice Memos app on the iPhone a lot, or capture a lot of videos, this tiny pseudo-shotgun mic for the iPhone 3G and 3GS claims to provide “10 times better audio reception!” for just $14. It plugs into the iPhone’s headphone jack and can be pointed in any direction for capturing audio directly from the source, and according to Brando it gains 25+ db over the iPhone’s built-in mic.
If you play PC games with other people online, there’s a good chance that you use some sort of voice chat. When playing WoW, our entire guild would use Ventrilo in order to stay coordinated in raids, or just to chit-chat. I never cared for free-standing mics, so I would always be wearing a headset. Sometimes it can be hard to find one that sounds good, picks up your voice properly and feels comfortable during long-term gaming sessions. This is why I love getting to review new headsets, so you don’t have to figure out the hard way whether or not one is worth buying. Well today I’m going to be sharing my thoughts on the Logitech Gaming Headset G330.
First Look
The G330 headset is of the behind-the-head variety, making it smaller than more traditional headsets. You’ll see that the width is actually adjustable on these, which is a welcome feature not often seen (on behind-the-head styles). The mic extends from the left ear and is adjustable. You will find in-line controls and your choice of standard stereo jacks or a USB adapter for hooking the device to your computer.
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