Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

Here’s a relatively cheap solution if you want to enjoy your MP3s in the shower or by the pool without jeopardizing your expensive portable player. The Juke Tower from Net Japan is a completely waterproof speaker that plays music from a removable USB flash drive. That way when you want to load new songs onto it you can leave the Juke Tower in the bathroom or outside and just connect the flash drive to your PC. It’s powered by 3 AA batteries which provides about 12 hours of playback and features an embedded red LED display on the side that’s used to show the time as well as what track is currently playing. It’s available from AudioCubes.com for $129.99.

[ Net Waterproof Juke Tower MP3 Speaker ] VIA [ BallerHouse ]

By Andrew Liszewski

There’s a lot of great reasons to live in the ‘great white north’ known as Canada, but plenty of downsides too. On one hand there’s an abundant supply of Salt & Vinegar or Ketchup flavored potato chips, you can drive 100 (kph) on all the major highways and believe it or not, I actually like traveling by dog sled to work. But on the other hand, things aren’t always so great if you’re like me and have a fondness for gadgets. Most of the time we get new gear at the same time as our southern friends, but other times we’re not so lucky. I mean it’s still a few days until I can ‘officially’ buy an iPhone here.

Such was the case with the Microsoft Zune as well. While the player has been available in the US since November of 2006, it wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago that you could actually walk into a Canadian electronics store and pick one up. Over the past few weeks I’ve had the opportunity to put the 8GB model through its paces, and if you’ve been looking for a non-Apple MP3 player, you can read my full Zune review after the jump. (And I won’t feel slighted if our American readers decide to skip this particular review.)

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By Andrew Liszewski

Given how many songs are ‘illegally’ downloaded from the internet every day, it’s kind of hard to claim you’re a rebel when so many other people are doing exactly the same thing. And even though this clock radio from Intempo ’steals’ music it in a slightly different way, I still don’t think it deserves the ‘Rebel’ moniker. Instead of grabbing music online, the Rebel records the most-played tracks from any FM station and then converts them to MP3 files which can be offloaded to a memory card or USB flash drive. It does seem to be a slightly easier way to discover new music, as long as you’re happy with the quality of FM radio, which is far from CD quality. The Rebel also automatically removes DJ banter and commercials from the recordings, though I have my doubts as to how effective it is given that DJs will usually talk through the entire intro of a song.

Other features include a headphone and line-in jack, AC adapter, slots for MMC, SD and Memory Stick cards, a USB jack and enough on-board memory to store up to 40 recorded songs. You can get it directly from the Intempo website for about $136.

[ Intempo Rebel ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

By Evan Ackerman

Despite Apple’s best efforts, portable electronics are still stuck in a fairly boxy and geometric phase that I’m sure will be looked back upon with some measure of contempt. The S2 MP3 player from Samsung breaks the mold with a smoothly organic yet functional form that looks like it would be soothing to carry around in your hand or pocket. There are minimal yet functional controls on the bottom (or side or whatever), and it’ll play MP3, WMA, and OGG in capacities of up to 2 gigs, starting at about $50. They’re only available in Korea so far, but hopefully we’ll see them skip across the pacific sometime soon.

VIA [ Engadget ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Don’t be fooled by the retro looks of this alarm clock. While it does feature a set of real metal bells, it actually wakes you up by playing an MP3 file of your choice. Hidden in the back of the unit is a 22 inch USB cable that allows you to connect the clock to your PC. Using the included software, you can configure the alarm using a small selection of sounds, or upload any MP3 file you want to wake up to. And by ‘any’ MP3 file I mean any file that’s under 45 seconds in length. It seems like a big limitation, since I maybe have a handful of MP3s that are under 45 seconds long, and I’ll probably never go to the trouble of downloading an MP3 editor just to make a particular song compatible with my alarm clock.

It’s available from ThinkGeek for $19.99. And as an added bonus they’ve preloaded a special ThinkGeek Monkey Song for waking up in true geek fashion.

[ DIY MP3 Alarm Clock ]

By Evan Ackerman

I should probably not continue to be surprised by the weird combinations of concepts that come from China, but here we are again. These fruit shaped pillows have integrated speakers that I assume are either passive or battery powered; plug your MP3 player in, lie back, and relax to some tasty tunes. If that wasn’t enough of a fruit experience for you, the pillows also smell like fruit, thanks to some kind of integrated perfume. Personally, I have a thing for green apple, and I’d be seriously worried about eating one of these pillows (speaker and all) in my sleep. Yummy.

The pillows are about $10 each, but it appears that they’re only available directly in bulk. So, you’ll either have to devote an entire room in your house to scented speaker pillows (not that that would be a bad thing), or see what you can dig up on eBay.

[ Made-In-China ] VIA [ Technabob ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I wasn’t exactly thrilled when I discovered there was a device that allowed people to use the same annoying ringtones they have on their cellphones, for their land line phones. But mankind seems adept at finding new ways to annoy each other, and the latest weapon in that arsenal would have to be the iChime. It replaces the standard ‘ding-dong’ of your doorbell with a pre-recorded song, sound effect or message of your choosing.

The device easily integrates with your existing wired door chime system and features a 2 wire ‘no mistake’ installation process that I’m sure people will still screw up. The control panel/speaker is where you actually make the recording, either through the built-in microphone or a line-in jack for hooking up an MP3 or CD player. It’s limited to just storing six-custom chimes at a time, but you can re-record them whenever you need. A USB connection and the ability to upload sound files directly to the iChime would have definitely been preferred, but their website actually spins that con as a pro, claiming it doesn’t need complicated USB software. So your potential clients can’t handle a USB connection, but they can install and properly wire their own doorbells?

You can order the iChime directly from the manufacturer’s website for $89.95. It also supports auxiliary speakers that can be installed in other rooms, and they run $24.95 each.

[ iChime Digital Doorchime ] VIA [ UberReview ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I still think it’s a slick piece of hardware, but the original MobiBLU Cube and the Cube2 never really became the iPod Shuffle killer that many people predicted. Even though it trumped the Shuffle by including a display at nearly the same price. However, it’s not like the MobiBLU Cube and Cube2 were dismal failures, and the fact that the Cube3 is just around the corner means that the company is still behind the product.

The Cube3 supports MP3, WMA and WMA(DRM) files and is ‘PlaysForSure’ certified making it compatible with many non-iTunes online music stores. The full color OLED display can be used for squinting at digital images and videos, but is probably better suited for navigating through playlists. It will only be available in a 2GB model, but you can supplement your music with FM radio since it even includes a built-in FM tuner and recorder. You can also expect to get about 10 hours of playtime with its rechargeable lithium polymer battery.

Come May 1st you’ll be able to pick one up for $99.

[ MobiBLU Cube3 ] VIA [ Ubergizmo ]

By Andrew Liszewski

This H4 ‘Handy Recorder’ has a lot of things going for it. Not only does it look cool with its wire cage protected dual electret condenser mics, but it’s also extremely compact, especially when you consider they’ve managed to cram in 2 combination XLR-1/4-inch input jacks complete with phantom power. But it’s the H4’s feature list that has me reaching for the ‘Add to Cart’ button.

You can record 24-bit/96 kHz digital audio or up to 320kbps MP3s directly to an SD card or to your computer’s hard drive when connected via USB. With a 2GB SD card you can capture about 380 minutes of CD quality sound, or up to 34 hours of stereo MP3s. Unfortunately that’s considerably longer than the 4 hours of continuous recording time you’ll get with a set of 2 AA batteries, but an AC adapter is also included. I’m particularly impressed that the H4 can even be used as a 4 track recorder when capturing CD quality 16-bit PCM, 44.1 kHz audio. While the 128×64 pixel LCD display is pretty basic, it’s more than adequate for monitoring levels and is probably easy on the batteries.

You can get it from ThinkGeek for $299.99.

[ H4 Pocket-Size Digital Audio Recorder ]