Oh! Gizmo

By Evan Ackerman

It happens all the time: you’re rocking out under a pair of headphones, practicing your kickboxing routine or ballroom dancing moves at 3am, and just as you’re in the middle of a jab/uppercut combo or a pirouette, your headphones are rudely ripped from your skull thanks to the cord attached to your computer. Or worse, your iPod gets tossed into the next county. You’d think there would be a simple solution to this problem, and there is… A magnetic headphone connector. It’s much like the magnetic power plug you find on newer Macs: if the cord gets jerked, the magnets simply separate, sparing your electronics and head a lot of grief. The Replug is an adapter that sits right between your headphones and audio jack, and will fit just about any 3.5mm connectors.

It’s genius. So why interim? Well, I’m pessimistic about cables in general, or rather, I’m optimistic about the progression of wireless tech. Whether or not it breaks away without jerking you around, cables are still an annoyance, and they’re so close to being obsolete what with bluetooth, high bandwidth WiFi, and wireless power all on the verge of being universally practical. In the meantime, though, Replug can be yours before the end of the year for an undisclosed price (but probably cheap).

[ Replug ] VIA [ Engadget ]

By Ryan Nill

This pair of Lederhosen, on display at IFA 2007, comes with a set of controls for your iPod. Made by all-weather wear German company Lodenfrey, these lederhosen will let you listen to music with a distinct lack of style. Made of high quality layered suede, the controls are unobtrusively located down the left side of the pants and the MP3 player is integrated into the pants.

Lodenfrey is apparently the leader in the design and production of lederhosen and other pieces of high quality traditional garb. The company also seemingly refuses to acknowledge the existence of these devastatingly ethnic pants on their home site, therefore further purchasing information is scant.

[ Lodenfrey ] VIA [ Gizmodo ]

By Evan Ackerman

Maybe it’s not actually edible, but the Lobster multimedia concept is still quite tasty, as far as I’m concerned. It’s called Lobster because of its segmented design (resembling a lobster tail, I guess), which is the heart of the functionality of this device: each segment is a quasi-independent module, and by clipping them together the Lobster can take on whatever configuration you desire. The core of the device is a base module (the big bit with the screen) containing a cell phone. Other modules clip onto the base module, and could include an MP3 player, a GPS, a digital camera, and even a cardiometer. Another obvious module might be an extended battery, or a bluetooth module. And according to the designer, each module can also be used completely independently. Of course, it’s easy to say all sorts of things since it’s a concept, but I don’t care, I’m hooked anyway. The renderings do have a teeny little LG logo, but it’s too much to hope that there’s an actual prototype on the way. More pics after the jump.

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By David Ponce

Remember a few years ago when everything looked like an iPod? Well, the iPhone’s the big daddy now, and what do you know… stuff is hitting the market that bears more than an uncanny resemblance. In this case, Samsung’s YP-P3 DAP has taken more than a few design clues from the Jesus phone; from the touchscreen interface, to the icon-based navigation menu. Of course, it’s not actually a phone, but it is a capable media player with 8GB of flash memory and Bluetooth. Oh, and built-in speakers, which we kind of like on a music player.

There’s no word on price or availability yet, but we do have one more picture after the jump.

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By Ryan Nill

The Eco Media Player is a wind-up MP3/video player. It can play MP3, WMA, ASF, MP4, WAV and comes with an FM radio, a photo-viewer and an analog recorder. Similar to winding a fishing reel, one minute of winding gives you up to 40 minutes of playback. Alternatively, you can charge the media player through the USB port of your computer. It accepts SD cards and has an internal memory of 2GB. It can even be used to charge your cellphone. Not particularly cutting edge or even very useful, as one might argue, but it is certainly very eco-friendly.

In stock 22 August, 2007, for £169.99 or about $230 US.

[ Ecodigital ] VIA [ Boingboing ]

By Evan Ackerman

The Thomson A1 is being billed as the world’s smallest personal media player with a 3 inch diagonal screen. Aside from that single (and dubious) claim to fame, it’s fairly unremarkable (16:9 TFT, plays movies and pics, FM tuner) except for the actual dimensions, which are about 3.2 inches by 2 inches, i.e. larger than the 3 inch screen. The A1 will be shortly available in China in 8 gigs for $120 and 4 gigs for $106, but by the time they come out in the US, an actual world’s smallest PMP with a 3 inch screen (or something in the same size with a larger screen) will undoubtedly be available.

[ Thomson Audio ] VIA [ PMP Today ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I think iTeddy and Teddy Ruxpin should have a battle royale. It would be kind of like Terminator 2 where the old-fashioned Schwarzenegger T-800 model (Ruxpin) would be fighting the high-tech Robert Patrick T-1000 model (iTeddy). But since Teddy Ruxpin isn’t the star of the movie I’m pretty sure iTeddy would destroy him with his superior features.

You see instead of a cassette player mounted in his chest iTeddy has a personal media player with 512 MB of built-in memory that’s also expandable VIA an SD card slot. The media player can be used to listen to MP3s, watch videos and view photos and can even be removed from iTeddy’s chest once the child feels they’ve outgrown the whole teddy bear thing. There’s even a companion website where you can download content and parents can record messages and stories for their kids to listen to. But I have to ask, they couldn’t have come up with a more original name than iTeddy? That’s just lazy iMarketing if you ask me.

iTeddy should be available come August 6th from Argos.co.uk for about $120.

[ iTeddy ] VIA [ Shiny Shiny ]

By Ian Chiu

There’s a bewildering array of choices in the digital music player market, yet everyone seems to pick the iPod nano. We think the iriver clix gen 2 is a great alternative, one that has finally caught up to and in some areas surpassed the market leader. To sum it up, the Clix has has a truly original minimalistic design, starting eith an effective D-Click navigation and not some iPod wheel knock off. It supports both MTP and UMS, plus the ability to rebuild ID3 DB from files - something that is extremely handy for those who prefer to drag and drop their music into the player. With Flash lite support, you’re guaranteed there will be a decent selection of free games. The downsides are the lack of AAC, line-in recording and slow music transfer. If the iRiver still doesn’t impress at least you’ve still got other nice choices, like the Meizu M6 SE. From the review:

Simple navigation, killer sound quality, smooth video, vibrant photos and the brightest, most vivid display I’ve ever seen on an MP3 player put the new iRiver Clix 2 ahead of the competition in most regards. Free games, FM radio and text capabilities sweeten the deal, but what really sets the Clix apart is its ability to operate in either MTP or USB Mass Storage modes with automated database rebuilding. At last, the freedom to switch between Rhapsody, Windows Media Player, WinAmp, iTunes, Mac and Linux without hassle. The only things that could really use improvement are the transfer speeds for music and the bundled headphones. Still, the Clix gen 2 is highly recommended, and finally succeeds in stealing the limelight away from the current market leader.

[iRiver Clix gen 2 4GB Review @ Everything USB]

By Andrew Liszewski

Portable TVs always fascinated me as a kid and as far as I was concerned having one as small as a watch was the pinnacle of that technology. Sadly it’s taken until just recently for video watches to become a reality. And by that I mean something that doesn’t look monstrous on your wrist giving away the fact that you’re watching a video when you probably shouldn’t be.

Well Epoq who already has a few MP4 video watches on the market will be releasing the EMP-CVWD model sometime in July of this year. What sets it apart from previous models is an all metal case and strap disguising it as a dress watch as opposed to something more suited for the wrist of your company’s IT guy. This way even the suits can get away with wearing a video capable watch without anyone knowing it. As cool as this sounds though looking at the product shot I can’t believe anyone would want to watch the new Transformers movie on a 1.8 inch screen. In fact I can’t believe anyone would want to watch the new Transformers movie period.

The EMP-CVWD watch will be available in 2GB and 4GB models starting at $199.

[ Epoq EMP-CVWD-2 Video Watch ] VIA [ I4U News ]