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Tag Archives: speakers

Motz Tiny Wooden Speakers Gain MP3 Playback Capabilities

By Andrew Liszewski on 12/21/10 • 1 Comment

Motz Tiny Wooden Power Speaker (Images courtesy Pyramid Distribution)
By Andrew Liszewski

The last time we saw the Motz tiny wooden speakers their technological prowess left something to be desired. It’s hard to knock their lovely apricot wood finish and aesthetics, but $50 for a minuscule speaker isn’t exactly the deal of the century. Its latest incarnation however ups the ante with a built-in MP3 player that can load tracks from a USB flash drive or an SD card. For just $10 more!

It probably gains a little bloat from the added electronicy bits inside, but the Motz is still adorably smaller than even the included wireless remote, so there’s not much to complain about. Its rechargeable lithium-polymer battery is still good for about 10 hours of playback with headphones, or 5 hours when using the speaker, and it’s available now from Pyramid Distribution for just $59.99.

[ Motz Tiny Wooden Power Speaker ] VIA [ The Gadgeteer ]

Griffin AirCurve Play Acoustic Amplifier For The iPhone 4

By Andrew Liszewski on 11/10/10 • 1 Comment

Griffin AirCurve Play (Image courtesy Griffin Technology)
By Andrew Liszewski

The iPhone’s built-in speaker has never been one of its strong points, nor has its battery life. So taking both of those issues into consideration Griffin has created yet another non-powered ‘speaker’ for the iPhone 4 with their AirCurve Play. But instead of using electromagnetism and paper cones, the AirCurve features an “internal engineered waveguide” made of polycarbonate plastic that promises to boost the volume of the iPhone 4′s own speaker by +10dB. The iPhone is held securely in place via a rubber gasket with the side buttons and dock port still accessible, and thanks to a built-in kickstand the acoustic amplifying ‘dock’ is able to sit in either a portrait or landscape hands-free orientation. $19.99 available directly from Griffin.

[ Griffin AirCurve Play ] VIA [ Gearlog ]

Be@rbrick iPhone/iPod Speaker System

By Andrew Liszewski on 11/04/10 • Leave a comment!

Be@rbrick iPhone/iPod Speaker System (Image courtesy Medicom)
By Andrew Liszewski

If you’ve got a penchant for vinyl ‘toys’ you’ll immediately recognize these Be@rbrick figures which are now doing double duty (besides making your cubicle/shelf/desk more hip) as large-scale iPhone/iPod docks. There’s not much to report on tech-wise, besides a set of volume control buttons, but because it’s a cute mashup of a teddy bear and a Kubrick figure, you might be dismayed to hear you’ll be dropping ~$183 (¥14,800) if you want one. That is of course if you can beat the vinyl toy collectors to it.

[ Hypebeast - MEDICOM TOY BEARBRICK Speaker System ] VIA [ ALBOTAS ]

iPhone 4 Bone Collection Speaker Amp

By Andrew Liszewski on 10/21/10 • 1 Comment

Bone Collection iPhone Portable Amplifier, Horn Stand (Images courtesy Cyberguys.com)
By Andrew Liszewski

Technically this horn amp is a ‘portable’ speaker solution for your iPhone in that you don’t need a team of roadies or tractor trailers to bring it with you, but on the other hand you can forget about cramming your phone in your pocket while this unique accessory is attached. It’s made of silicone and promises to boost your iPhone’s speaker by 12 decibels without draining the battery whatsoever. It also doubles as a stand working in a landscape or portrait orientation, and is compatible with every iPhone that’s been released. $24.99 available in black, green or light brown.

[ Bone Collection iPhone Portable Amplifier, Horn Stand ] VIA [ bookofjoe ]

Music Strap Backpack Speakers

By Andrew Liszewski on 10/05/10 • 1 Comment

Music Strap Backpack Speakers (Image courtesy Lucky Bums)
By Andrew Liszewski

Designed to let you enjoy music during a hike or camping so you can still hear what’s going on around you and make sure your fellow adventurers haven’t been abducted by a grizzly, the Music Strap attaches to the shoulder straps of any backpack and pumps out your tunes through a set of 1W speakers powered by a pair of AAA batteries. It includes 20 inches of audio cable for connecting your music player of choice, 27.5 inches of speaker cable and even a pair of velcro straps to keep everything looking neat and tidy. $29.99 available directly from Lucky Bums.

[ Lucky Bums Music Strap Backpack Speakers ] VIA [ 7Gadgets ]

Blast Your Beethoven Through Beathoven

By Andrew Liszewski on 09/10/10 • Leave a comment!

Beathoven Speaker (Images courtesy Urban Outfitters)
By Andrew Liszewski

I think more busts have been made of Beethoven than any other figure in history, and I’m sure it has something to do with his hair. At about 6 inches tall this one’s on the small side but manages to be far more useful than just a decorative element for a music studio. The holes bored into his chest facilitate a 2 watt speaker inside with volume, bass and treble controls located just below. He’s powered by 4xAAA batteries or your PC’s USB port, and includes a double-ended audio cable for connecting it to any device with a headphone or line out jack. ~$38 (£25.00) from Urban Outfitters.

[ Beathoven Speaker ] VIA [ 7Gadgets ]

Creative Sound Blaster Wireless Rock [Insert Hilarious Post Title Playing Up Rocks And 'Rocking Out' Here]

By Andrew Liszewski on 09/02/10 • 3 Comments

Creative Sound Blaster Wireless Rock (Image courtesy Creative)
By Andrew Liszewski

I usually only expect to find rock-disguised speakers in the pages of a Hammacher Schlemmer or Sharper Image catalog, built and designed in some name-less overseas factory. But this little monolith comes from Creative under their Sound Blaster brand. You can use it as a standard speaker if you feel like running cables to your backyard (not that you have to use it out there) or it will communicate with Creative’s Sound Blaster wireless music system, making things a whole lot more convenient.

Now since it doesn’t use wi-fi you’ll need one of Creative’s $99.99 USB wireless transmitters in order to send music to the speakers, but thankfully they’re currently throwing one in for free if you pony up the $199.99 for the Wireless Rock. Other notable features include a weatherproof design allowing you to leave it outside 24/7 and a removable rechargeable battery good for 6 hours so you don’t even need to run a power cable.

[ Creative Sound Blaster Wireless Rock ] VIA [ SlashGear ]

Motz Tiny Wooden Emotion Speaker

By Andrew Liszewski on 05/25/10 • 1 Comment

Motz Tiny Wooden Emotion Speaker (Images courtesy Pyramid Distribution)
By Andrew Liszewski

Like with the Lexon bamboo calculator I brought you last week, this wooden Emotion Speaker manages to overcome it’s some technological limitations (ie FM radio?) with a lovely design. Hand-made from apricot wood the speaker features a built-in rechargeable battery good for about 10 hours of playback and a 3.5mm headphone so it can be connected to any audio source. The inclusion of an FM radio is actually a detriment in my opinion, since you’re left with an unsightly telescoping antenna to deal with, but it’s made from wood so removing it probably only requires an afternoon of careful whittling. $49.99 from Pyramid Distribution.

[ Motz Tiny Wooden Emotion Speaker ] VIA [ The Gadgeteer ]

Resonance iPod Dock Is Vaguely Reminiscent Of Something

By Andrew Liszewski on 05/17/10 • 1 Comment

Resonance Speaker and iPod/iPhone Docking Station (Image courtesy Chinavasion)
By Andrew Liszewski

I guess if you’re an iPod/iPhone accessory maker, the easiest way to make your product appeal to the Apple crowd is to basically rip-off the design of another Apple product. In this case it’s an iPod dock/speaker that looks like it was constructed from a discarded iMac of yesteryear. But in its defense, this particular dock does bring something relatively unique to the table.

Instead of featuring a traditional speaker, it uses resonance to transmit the sound from your iPod, iPhone or anything you connect to the 3.5mm line-in jack, through a hard surface such as a wooden table, a marble floor or glass windows. The audio output is rated at 12W, though I have no idea how loud that translates to with a resonating object, but there’s a built-in amp as well which should help boost the intensity. The arm holding the actual dock does articulate if you were wondering, though at just a couple of inches in length I can’t see how that’s beneficial in any way. ~$42 available from Chinavasion.

[ Resonance Speaker and iPod/iPhone Docking Station ]

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