Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

In recent years the headphone market has seen quite a boom, most likely thanks to the iPod and the hundreds of others of MP3 players now available. And I’m sure we’re all aware of the dangers of having your headphones (or particularly your earbuds) set too loud which can damage your eardrums. (It makes you wonder if the hearing aid market will also be seeing a boom in about 20 years.) So as an alternative to using headphones, Orbitsound would like you to consider their new T3 portable speaker which is actually designed to be worn hanging around your neck.

The T3 is roughly the same size as a smartphone, weighs about 115g and will apparently provide you with “your own personal stereo aura around your head.” The built-in rechargeable battery is good for up to 10 hours of playing time, and the amplifier supplies 8 watts of audio power to the airSOUND speaker array crammed into the T3’s enclosure. I’m not entirely sure if the company expects you to wear this speaker while going about your daily routine, or just in the privacy of your own home. I know I’m already concerned about disturbing other people when I’m wearing headphones, so I don’t think I’d personally be comfortable walking around with one of these blaring my music all day. But if you’re more concerned with protecting your hearing than disturbing others, it’s available from the Orbitsound website for about $170.

[ orbitsound T3 ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Since it’s Monday morning I’m going to avoid any and all ‘rock’ puns when it comes to these outdoor speakers from Klipsch. The AWR-650-SM speakers are designed to blend into your yard or garden while providing full-bodied sound and bass response. They feature a “true two-way design that employs a 6.5-inch dual voice coil polymer woofer and dual ¾-inch polymer dome tweeters” which allows the speakers to play both left and right stereo signals with precision and clarity.

While the photo tends to make the speaker seem somewhat large, it’s actually only 17 inches tall and comes in a granite, sandstone or red rock finish. It also has a durable UV-resistant enclosure so the finish won’t fade after sitting out in the sun all Summer long, and is weatherproof which means the party can keep going even if it starts raining.

[ Klipsch AWR-650-SM Rock Speaker ] VIA [ Uncrate ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Unless your ‘pool’ happens to be a lake or other large body of water, I don’t understand why you’d need to have a speaker floating right next to you while you swim. Even a basic radio is loud enough to fill an entire backyard with music, so why add yet another item to a pool that’s probably already overcrowded with inflatable toys? On the other hand, when it comes to buying gadgets who really needs to ask why? Particularly when this floating speaker can wirelessly connect to and stream from an iPod dock ensuring your MP3 player doesn’t have to go anywhere near the water. For some reason I can’t find any info about the range of the wireless signal (besides that it operates at 915MHz) so I’m going to assume it will accommodate an average sized pool or backyard.

It’s available from Brookstone for $129.95.

[ Wireless Floating Speaker ] VIA [ Freshome ]

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 ]