By Evan Ackerman

Short on speakers? How about you try a K-box, a speaker that turns anything you stick it to into a better speaker using some kind of “patented ‘gel-audio’ technology.” Things like this have been around for a little while, but the K-box is supposed to put out clean, powerful bass (that is “guaranteed to deafen your neighbours”) all the way down to 40 hz, something that other stick-on speakers are notoriously lousy at. It’s about the size of an iPhone and comes with a 20 hour battery that recharges via USB.

Although you can supposedly buy this right now, there’s only one picture, and it’s very render-y… There are also no specs on what the audio output power actually is, or even what inputs it accepts. So, I’d maybe hold off on this until someone actually gets a pic of a real one or something. It sells for about $60 from Kerchoonz.com

[ K-box ] VIA [ Pocket-Lint ]

If your iPod Nano is too small for you, you should ask yourself why on Earth you bought an iPod Nano. You do know what “nano” means, right? It means “tiny,” except about a million times smaller. The iPod Nano Converter TV won’t solve your problem, but it will help mitigate it by enlarging the Nano’s screen up to 2.8 inches (after you shove it up inside) and playing audio through built in stereo speakers. As retro sexy as the TV/VCR combo styling is, its bulkiness does have the side effect of de-nanoing your Nano, and without any obvious Apple branding on the outside, you’ll probably start to ask yourself why you’re bothering to use this thing at all. It’s about $23, with free shipping.

[ iPod Nano Converter TV ] VIA [ RFJ ]

By Evan Ackerman

This is Mashimaro. It’s supposed to be a rabbit, but it’s called Mashimaro because it looks like a marshmallow or something. It is, I guess, Korea’s defense against Hello Kitty, in that it supposedly has some kind of anime series behind it (that “puts a humorous light to toilet habits”) but it’s most often seen on products of dubious quality and usefulness. And here you go, it’s a Mashimaro MP3 player.

Measuring 54 x 38 x 38mm (about matchbox sized, just fatter), the 19 gram MP3 player comes with 2 gigs of storage. It has light-up ears that also serve as a five way controller. There’s a butt-jack for headphones as well a USB connector in there somewhere that charges an internal battery for up to 9 hours of playback. the Mashimaro MP3 player costs about $45, comes in white, sky blue, or soft pink, and you may or may not be able to get it at the partially translated website below.

[ Sorikom ] VIA [ PMP Today ]

By Evan Ackerman

Hey. Psssst. Are you listening to good music? You should be listening to eeeeevil music. At least some of the time. You know, to maintain a healthy spiritual balance. Ideally, you want to be listening to half good music and half evil music to keep yourself centered. And these are the headphones to do it with, boy howdy. The Angel – Devil earphones don’t have stellar audio quality, to be sure, but they’re awfully cute, aren’t they? And you can remix all your music to have Black Sabbath playing out of the eeeeevil ear, and Miley Cyrus playing out of the angel ear.

Or, wait, do I have that backwards? I think I have that backwards. Well, either way, it’d probably give you a heck of a headache. The Angel – Devil headphones come in 5 color combinations, include the little stand, and cost only $35.

[ Geek Stuff 4 U ] VIA [ InventorSpot ]

By Evan Ackerman

Electronics are often pretty sterile in nature. Slick and shiny is certainly a cool look, but it’s not very organic or tactile or, honestly, pleasant to hold a lot of the time. The Music Balloon takes a little portable speaker and wraps it up in what looks like a Nerf ball. Inside the 2″ round and squishy case lives a 0.7 watt speaker, a rechargeable battery that lasts about 2 hours, and an audio in jack that doubles as a USB charging port.

You won’t get a lot of oomph out of the Music Balloon, but it’s certainly colorful and, as I like to keep saying, OMG squishable. I’m not sure that makes up for the price, though: $76. For one.

The Music Balloon is available from GeekStuff4U in pink, black, blue, red, or yellow.

[ GeekStuff4U ] VIA [ Newlaunches ]

By Evan Ackerman

The ocean is a big place. It gets boring. So, you might as well bring along some music if you’re going to go exploring the murky depths. Whale songs, Under the Sea on endless loop, that kind of thing. The H2O iDive 300 is designed for the serious scuba diver, able to keep your tunes high and dry 300 feet down. An integrated dock and microprocessor allow for control of touch wheel and even touch screen iPods through external buttons. The headphones can be tucked under your dive hood, or clip directly onto your mask strap.

The coolest part, I think, is that since you can get cases for the iPod video and the iPod touch, you can watch movies underwater. Underwater movies! The future is here, man! It’s the perfect accessory to have along for decompression dives and safety stops as long as you have Finding Nemo queued up. The $350 retail price seems like a lot, but it shouldn’t surprise you that much if you’ve ever bought any dive gear. Oh, and if anyone knows of any music that’s likely to attract charismatic macrofauna, be sure and let me know.

[ H2O Audio ] VIA [ Gizmodo ]

By Evan Ackerman

I’m told that it’s not the greatest idea to wear headphones while riding a bicycle. ‘Cause, you know, you might get distracted or something and slam into the side of a bus. If you’re not the type to bungee a boombox to your bike, you might be interested in the Cy-Fi wireless sports speaker, which allows you to continue listening to Le Tigre while weaving in and out of traffic and ignoring stop signs. The Cy-Fi stereo speaker system is completely self contained, weighing in at a mere 4 ounces including the integrated 6 hour battery. It comes in either an iPod version (with a wireless transmitter attachment for your iPod) or a A2DP stereo Bluetooth version. The iPod version even lets you change volume and tracks from the speaker unit itself.

Although you can use the Cy-Fi just about anywhere, it was originally designed for bikes, and that seems like what it’s most appropriate for. It mounts on your handlebars, with the directional stereo speakers pointing back toward you. The Bluetooth version is also great for hands-free phone calls; you can yell at it if your cell phone supports voice dialing and hold a windy conversation up until you slam into the side of a bus, which should be most entertaining for whoever is listening on the other end.

The Cy-Fi speaker systems should be available online October 1; the Bluetooth version should retail for $179, with the iPod version going for $199.

[ Cy-Fi ]

Someday bluetooth equipped headphones will be indistinguishable from regular models, but unfortunately today is not that day. And that’s why these new DR-BT160AS ‘Active’ stereo headphones from Sony feature a large pod on either side to accommodate batteries as well as the bluetooth reciever. On the plus side, if you’re a runner or like to listen to music during physical activities, you won’t have to deal with a pesky cord bouncing around and can instead stream music from a bluetooth friendly MP3 player or cellphone. The headphones also includes a built-in mic allowing you to make or take calls if you are using it with a phone, and a set of playback buttons for remotely skipping tracks or adjusting the volume. The soft elastomer hangers feature a sliding earpiece shaft ensuring a secure and comfortable fit, and the whole thing is splashproof meaning sweat won’t hurt it, but you’ll probably want to keep it out of the rain. Expect it to be available from the Sony website sometime in October.

[ Sony DR-BT160AS ] VIA [ Digital Drops ]

The only thing worse than someone who has their MP3 player turned up too loud in a public place is someone who also thinks I want to hear them sing along to whatever crap they have playing. So needless to say I’m glad this new Hi-Kara portable karaoke device from Tomy will probably never catch on in North America.

It features a 2.4″ color LCD screen which displays the song’s lyrics allowing whoever’s holding it to sing along and at least get the words right. It also comes with a headset microphone which makes me worried that the Hi-Kara is also able to amplify someone’s voice. Hopefully it’s just fed back into the headphones. For some reason the device uses prepaid cartridges which allow you to connect it to the Hi-Kara website and download songs and lyrics. Thankfully it won’t be out until October of this year, which gives us plenty of time to burn down the Tomy factory to ensure it never actually hits the street.

[ Akihabara News - Tomy Hi-Kara ]

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 ]