Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

You can brag about your karaoke skills all you want, but if you want to prove you’ve got the chops when it comes to singing along with a bouncing ball you’ll need to take this karaoke machine for a spin. You see the microphone detects the pitch of each note you sing and compares it against how it’s supposed to sound, and the closer you are, the higher your score will be.

The Scoring Karaoke Game comes with 100 songs from the likes of Elvis, The Beatles and Frank Sinatra, but new songs can be downloaded and transferred to the base unit either via USB or its SD card slot. And while that base unit gets tethered to your TV with an included AV cable, the microphone is wireless, freeing you up to dance around and look as terrible as you sound. $199.95 from Hammacher Schlemmer.

[ The Only Scoring Karaoke Game ]

By Andrew Liszewski

When it comes to Star Wars it’s usually the visual effects that get all the attention, but the films’ sound design and foley work are just as impressive. So it’s cool to see a new book from becker&mayer that specifically takes a look at the sounds created for the ’science fiction’ saga.

The Sounds of Star Wars illuminates the audio universe of Star Wars by exploring the vision for an “organic” sound that George Lucas and sound designer Ben Burtt brought to the movies’ sound effects, as well as how these distinctive sound effects were achieved. The book features a state-of-the-art audio module that will easily allow readers to hear the sounds while learning the stories behind those sounds. Lavishly illustrated pages will include clear markers directing readers to listen to specific tracks as they view and read about the scenes.

There’s no release date or pricing info available just yet, but the 304 page book does include an embedded audio module loaded with more than 200 sounds from the films.

[ Star Wars: Sounds - The Stories Behind The Effects ] VIA [ TheForce.net ]

By Andrew Liszewski

You never have to worry about a party being ruined because the DJ cancelled at the last minute as long as you’ve got this Lecci Mini Mixer buried somewhere in your backpack. I can’t seem to find too many details about it online, so I’m going to assume it has the requisite connections on the back for hooking up a pair of MP3 players and some speakers. On top there appears to be a headphone jack, a cross fader and a couple of knobs that are probably volume controls for the headphones and the line out, and the whole package looks to be only slightly larger than your standard mint tin. ~$20 from Play.com.

[ Lecci Mini Mixer ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Unlike their Vaio P laptop, whose pocketability is dubious at best, Sony’s PCM-M10 digital audio recorder is small enough to be easily stashed in your back pocket without sacrificing functionality. Audio is captured as 96 kHz/24-bit WAV files (at the maximum quality setting) or as MP3s to max out the 4GB of internal memory, but that can be expanded with microSD or Memory Stick Micro cards. It is a Sony product after all.

Other features include a built-in electret condenser stereo mic and speaker, cross-memory recording, digital pitch and key control, a digital limiter, low-cut filter and a USB connection for easily transferring recordings to your PC. It also uses standard AA batteries instead of an internal rechargeable one, and can be yours for a somewhat hefty $399.99.

[ Sony PCM-M10 ] VIA [ Akihabara News ]

By Chris Scott Barr

You don’t exactly see a lot of innovation in the world of earbuds. Sure, a company might make some that sound particularly awesome, or feel a little more comfortable than others. Heck, in-line controls are probably the most advanced thing you’ll see these days. Well Sony Ericsson has created a new technology which they hope will revolutionize the way we use earbuds.

Sony Ericsson’s new MH907 earbuds allow you to control your music in a very unique way. Just pop in both buds and your music will automatically start playing. Take one (or both) out, and the song will pause. If you get a phone call, insert one of the buds to answer, and take it back out to hang up. The features only work with skin contact, so you don’t accidentally answer your phone while the earbuds are in your pocket or anything.

The MH907 earbuds are a little expensive (depending on the quality, as I’ve seen some pretty pricey high-end ones) coming in at $55 when they go on sale later this week. The biggest pitfall I see is  that you’ll need a Sony Ericsson phone with a fast port connector in order to use these.  Hit the jump for one of the craziest commercials I’ve seen in a little while, depicting these earbuds.

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By Andrew Liszewski

The upcoming DJ Hero game looks like a lot of fun, but unlike Rock Band where you can actually learn to play the drums, no one’s pretending a high score will earn you a DJ’ing career at your local clubs. The Discover DJ system from Ion Audio also isn’t a guaranteed ticket to DJ super stardom, but it looks like a cheaper way to see if you’ve got the mixing and scratchin’ chops before you drop the cash on a couple of real 1200s.

The faux turntables feature a couple of natural-feeling ’scratch’ wheels (though smaller than the real thing) as well as the mandatory cross-fader, bass & treble dials and pitch controls. It connects to your PC via USB and includes the MixVibes DJ software which allows you to scratch and mix with any song in your iTunes library. Pricing and availability to be announced.

[ Ion Audio Discover DJ ] VIA [ Acquire ]

By David Ponce

These handcrafted ceramic and cork speakers by Joey Roth claim better sound by virtue of their construction materials not absorbing any sound waves and thus more faithfully reproducing whatever it is the artist intended you to hear. Other features include:

Output – 15 W/ channel, Sensitivity: 89 dB, Frequency Range: 70 Hz – 20 kHz. System includes a dedicated amplifier based on the Tripath 2024 T-Amp, oxygen-free copper speaker cables with banana plug termination, and interconnects for RCA and 1/8″ sources.

The stand is made from maple plywood and the set costs $500. No stock right now, but you can head over to the product page to email and be notified whenever they’re back in stock.

Keep reading for a couple more pictures and links.

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By Andrew Liszewski

It’s hard to find a compact speaker that doesn’t, well, suck when it comes to sound performance. And I can’t say for sure whether or not the U-Tube i-Speaker from Brando continues in that tradition of non-excellence, but it at least includes a rechargeable lithium-ion battery so it’s not just relying on power from the headphone jack of an MP3 player or a laptop. The tube design might also be of some benefit when it comes to this speaker’s sound performance, but with a price tag of just $19 I have my doubts. It’s definitely compact though… I’ll give it that.

[ USB U-Tube i-Speaker ] VIA [ Datensklaven ]

By Andrew Liszewski

There, was that so difficult? I can’t tell you how long I’ve been hunting for a simple Bluetooth headphone adapter that will let me use my OWN headphones, not some crappy bundled pair. Well the Sony DRC-BT30P appears to do just that, complete with buttons for answering calls as well as volume and playback controls given the device you’re paired with supports those features. And if for some reason you don’t choose the black model, white, pink and blue color options are also provided.

[ Akihabara News - New Bluetooth Headphones from Sony ]