Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

There’s no doubt a lot of you are spending quite a bit of time these days in your quest to take over Liberty City. And when you’re sitting in front of a TV for 22 hours a day (what? I can’t be the only one) you’ll want to make sure you’re as comfortable as you can be. So while the Ozone Inflatable Lounger doesn’t look like it will do any favors for your posture, it does look incredibly comfortable. It’s made from ultra-durable PVC so it should withstand a few marathon gaming sessions, but in the event it does start to leak there’s a puncture repair kit included. Oddly enough the Ozone Lounger also features a set of stereo speakers molded into the lining which sit on either side of the head rest. They connect to any audio source using a standard headphone cable so you can listen to your MP3 player or even patch it into your entertainment center with the right adapters.

It’s available from Gadgetshop.com for just under $40.

[ Ozone Inflatable Lounger ] VIA [ Cribcandy ]

By Luke Anderson

Many of us in the younger generation love to pile gadgets on our desks. It’s not uncommon to see a pair of monitors, nice speakers, an iPod dock and a few others all set up at our workspace. What is interesting is that when I see someone’s desk that is a generation or two older, they tend to have more pictures, trophies and other personal objects in place of the technology. If you know someone like that, you might show them this pair of speakers that also act as picture frames.

This cool convergence device allows someone to free up a little desk space by hiding away their computer speakers behind a pair of picture frames.  I’d say they were a good buy at $50 for the pair.

[ BrookStone ] VIA [ EverythingUSB ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Even though their own ZEN line of MP3 and media players have been well received, it’s obvious that Creative is not willing to miss out on the opportunity to profit from the incredibly popular iPod. The TravelSound i80 for the latest generation iPod Nano is pretty similar to the company’s i50 model, which was designed for the iPod Shuffle. However, the i80 Nano model only appears on the Creative ASIA website at the moment, which is kind of odd.

It’s basically a portable speaker that serves as a hand-held dock for the Nano. On the back you’ll find the decent sized speaker itself, which is powered by 4 micro drivers and a Class D digital amplifier. Since it’s a powered speaker it will probably be as loud as you’ll ever need, but that also means it’s limited to about 15 hours of use with the rechargeable battery. But as an added convenience there’s a USB port which can not only be used to recharge the battery and the Nano at the same time, but can also be used to sync with iTunes without having to remove the iPod.

It should be available before the Summer for about $130, and I can only assume it will be getting a worldwide release.

[ Creative TravelSound i80 ] VIA [ Gizmos ]

By Andrew Liszewski

While the Phonofone II might appear to have closer ties to the RCA brand, it’s actually designed to complement your iPod with its sleek, white, ceramic finish. Designed by Tristan Zimmermann, what’s truly unique about this speaker is that it doesn’t contain any electronics whatsoever, but relies on your iPod’s earbuds as its analog audio source.

Instead of connecting it directly to the headphone jack like with most speakers, you actually leave your earphones connected and place them in the Phonofone’s resonance chamber. Using the virtues of horn acoustics, the speaker promises to boost the audio output coming from those earphones up to 55 decibels, or roughly equivalent to the max volume on a pair of laptop speakers. But instead of getting “trebly buzzing” as the website accurately describes it, you get warm, resonant sound.

The speaker should be available sometime in April from Unica Home for the tidy sum of $500.

[ Phonofone II iPod Speaker ] VIA [ GeekSugar ]

By Andrew Liszewski

There are countless miniature speakers designed for cellphones, MP3 players and even laptops that claim to produce ‘big speaker’ sound. While I’m skeptical of their claims, if there was one company that I thought could pull it off it would be Yamaha. Their NX-A01 Cubic Design speaker is only about 3.5 inches on each side, but uses their Swing Radiator Bass technology to boost the low-end. I’m not entirely sure what SR-Bass is, but here’s the description from the Yamaha website:

The is a method of efficiently producing bass by causing a panel-shaped diaphragm with one side completely immobilized to function as a passive radiator. Causing it to move by the vibration mode of the rumbling of the diaphragm itself efficiently increases bass energy.

The speaker unit itself is a 3cm titanium cone that’s capable of reproducing the entire frequency range all on its own. But besides appealing to semi-audiophiles, the NX-A01 should also catch the eye of the design conscious since it comes in either black or white and has a set of backlit controls on top. (Orange backlight for the white version, green backlight for the black version.) Unfortunately since the audio player connects to the speaker with an analog cable there’s no device control options available, so the buttons on top only allow you to control or mute the volume and put the speaker into standby mode.

You can get it directly from the Yamaha online store for $69.95.

[ Yamaha NX-A01 ] VIA [ productdose ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Besides the sleek aluminum finish, the LINX B-Tube speaker should appeal to the design conscious because you can place it anywhere in your home and not have to worry about unsightly wires. That’s because the speaker uses Bluetooth A2DP to stream stereo music from a cellphone, MP3 player or even your computer. It has a range of about 32 feet and can even be used to receive calls from a Bluetooth equipped phone thanks to a built-in microphone.

As for power, the B-Tube uses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that provides about 6 hours of playback time, so you will occasionally need to connect the included AC adapter. And if you none of your devices have bluetooth, the speaker also includes a standard 3.5mm jack for connecting your equipment the old fashioned way.

You can get it from Amazon.co.uk for about $80.

[ LINX B-Tube Speaker ] VIA [ Shiny Shiny ]

By Evan Ackerman

I’ve never thought that the iPod earbuds were that great, but I guess they’ve become something of a tech fashion statement. If you’d like to leave people in absolutely no doubt that you’re cool enough to be listening to an Apple product, consider getting yourself a pair of these desktop size iPod earbud speakers, which are supposed to be 500 times larger than the originals. They have a built-in amp and they’ll run on USB, AC, or battery power, so you can in fact attach them to your iPod and wander around, trying to stuff them into your ears. They’ll be available soon from Perpetual Kid for $40.

[ Fred 500XL Speakers ] VIA [ Uberreview ]

By Luke Anderson

Sometimes when I need to relax I get out a good book and listen to some tunes. (for those wondering, yes, I always have to be multi-tasking) Since I use my earbuds I rarely have any issues getting comfortable with my headphones on. For those that might want to lie down and relax without reading and perhaps forgo the headphones, this mpillow might be an interesting choice.

The mpillow is filled with a translucent plastic gel known as technogel which hopefully makes it rather comfortable. It has a small offshoot with a speaker in it, and it will pick up the wireless signal from your MP3 player and play it out loud. The really interesting part is that it features lighting that will change colors and intensity based on your music.

Unfortunately, this is only a concept for now. I think it would be an interesting product for some people, however, I don’t think the lighting would work out well for people trying to read like me.

VIA [ Yanko Design ]

By Andrew Liszewski

A Korean company by the name of MIRAEPLASMA has just released a set of super thin stereo film speakers called the MP-170. The speakers use a special plasma technology, which is presumably what allows them to be so thin. They’re also designed to be used with a desktop computer and can be made to blend into your workspace by customizing them with a photo of your choosing.

So whether it’s an out of focus shot of your wife on your wedding day, or a horizontally squished version of the Mona Lisa, at least you won’t be staring at some boring speaker grills all day. The MP-170 speakers will be available in the Korean market initially for about $33, but could eventually make their way to North America.

[ MIRAEPLASMA MP-170 ] VIA [ Ubergizmo ]

By Luke Anderson

I’m sure you’re wondering what in the world that cool little ball is. Don’t worry, I had no idea either. This MBS-100 is Sony Ericsson’s answer to a portable cell phone speaker. The best part about this little guy is that it will actually stream music wirelessly from your phone via Bluetooth.

The internal battery will net you roughly 5 hours of music playback, which isn’t too bad considering that it runs off of Bluetooth. Unfortunately, the MBS-100 is only slated for an early 2008 launch in select Asia-Pacific markets.

[Sony Ericsson] VIA [Crave]