Philips have released a nice looking iPod dock with integrated clock radio. The AJ300D/37 may not have the most appealing name, but it certainly looks the part. It sports a dual tuner, gentle wake, sleep timer, and delivers 12 watts of power. It is not yet showing on the UK website, but will retail for $80 in the US.
iPod update Tuesday? Touchscreen?
An unconfirmed tip points to the possibility of an iPod update as early as tomorrow, with a touch-screen iPod taking center stage. The timetable contradicts tips passed on from more reliable sources, which have said not to expect a 6G iPod until later this year at the earliest, but... via thinksecret
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Griffin Technology Air Dock for iPod
Griffin Technology Inc., today announced their AirDock, a charge/sync/play docking station for the iPod, which has been designed to position your iPod as the centerpiece of any home entertainment system.
Griffin's AirDock is much more than just another dock for iPod. AirDock provides the output connectors for integrating your iPod with your TV and home stereo. Connect the included AV cable, and soon you are enjoying your music, audiobooks, TV shows, movies and music videos, and your own photo slideshows, direct from your iPod to your TV and sound system. Living up to its name, AirDock even includes a RF remote control, so you can control playback from your couch. It also lets you connect your iPod to your computer for data synchronization and charges its battery while you work. Just connect AirDock to your computer with the included USB cable.
AirDock features:
- Connect AirDock to your computer's USB port to sync or play your iPod while it's charging
- Connect AirDock to your home entertainment system to share your iPod with the whole room
- Included RF remote controls audio and video playback from your iPod
- Works with 4th & 5th generation iPod, 1st & 2nd generation iPod nano, and iPod mini
AirDock for iPod (9803-AIRDOCK) is priced at $69.99, and is available from Griffin's website and most major retailers nationwide.
Apple iPod Prices Reduced in UK
Apple have done all us UK buyers a favour today, by reducing the prices of the 5th Generation iPods. The 30GB model is now £10 cheaper at £179 and the 80GB is £20 cheaper at £239. This is a welcome reduction, thanks Steve.
GEAR4 Blu-Tooth - future of audio technology
GEAR4, today announced Blu-Tooth, a specially adapted crown with revolutionary Bluetooth technology that when planted into the third molar, allows you to listen to music or make hands free calls on your mobile without the need for a headset.
The Blu-Tooth is the latest in GEAR4’s line of Bluetooth related products following the BluEye and BluPhones and continues the company’s policy of pushing technological boundaries. Just larger than the size of a normal morlar, the Blu-Tooth is specially designed to clip securely onto the third molar and pick up vibrations in the jaw using patented “vibro-denture” micro technology that can be picked up by the inner ear.
It doesn’t stop there either, the device can also work as a hands free kit, pairing with any Bluetooth enabled mobile phone, allowing users to make and take calls much like the GEAR4 BluPhones. You can answer a call by clicking your jaw twice and end a call buy clicking it three times. The state of the art technology acts as a microphone, picking up vocal vibrations in the teeth, projecting this to the person you are calling.
Dr. H Tootulb, Dental advisor, GEAR4 Russia, commented, “The Blu-Tooth is a groundbreaking device that solves many problems in one go. It will work with any Bluetooth music device with A2DP protocol and lets you make and take calls without needing a handsfree kit, in turn making our roads safer as fewer people will have their phones glued to their ears.”
Tootulb continued, “The device needs to be taken out and charged over night on the special tooth shaped charging dock (pictured above). We believe this will become a routine activity much like taking out and washing your dentures or cleaning your teeth before you go to bed.”
Tom Dudderidge, Managing director, GEAR4, commented, “We are very excited about the Blu-Tooth. After 2 years in development, the product is finally here and we believe the possibilities are endless. If the soft launch of the device goes well on the 1st April 2008 we hope to role out drop-in clinics with Carphone Warehouse where customers could get the device fitted. Carphone is an obvious choice as it is a leading iPod/phone supplier and currently sell the GEAR4 range.
Dudderidge continued, “I have been using one of the first prototypes and I must admit, it feels like a part of me now and I don’t know how I lived without it! My dentist was a bit shocked the last time I had an appointment and couldn’t believe something like this was possible. We are also developing a dongle for your iPod so you can interrupt the music on your iPod when you receive a phone call and see who is calling on your iPod’s screen just like the GEAR4 BluEye. You can now answer your calls without decay (or delay!).
Pricing and availability
The Blu-Tooth will be available online from www.gear4store.com on April 1st 2008 and from Carphone Warehouse two weeks later. GEAR4 Blu-Tooth is £119.99 inc VAT and customised professional installation.
Comic Relief ebay - David Walliam's iPod
Comic Relief did a marvelous job on Red Nose Day, with the good work still going on at ebay. Amongst the Comic Relief auctions are signed t-shirts, prints, and some rather cool iPods. You can choose from Suzy Murray's Missing iPod, David Walliam's or Alan B'stard's. At the time of writing this post David Walliam's was on £190 for a 4GB 2nd generation Nano. All with personally selected playlists.
Vibro Max now available in UK
The amazing follow up to the Vibro Blaster turns any flat surface into a speaker. No bigger than a rubix cube, the Vibro Max is the ultimate portable speaker – all it needs is a flat, solid surface, the patented electro acoustic technology does the rest, transforming sonic signals into sonic mechanical vibrations to produce 20 watts of sound quality to rival some of it’s bigger, bulkier competitors. The Nimzy Vibro Max is available now for £79.99 from Widget.
XtremeMac Luna for iPod in UK
XtremeMac's Luna alarm clock and speaker system for the iPod is now available in the UK via Pulse Technology. This new speaker combo certainly looks the business with it's nice styling, large LED display, and two precision speakers. It can be yours for just £119.99.
Belkin TuneCast 3 - legal in car MP3
We all know by know that FM transmitters are now legal in the UK, with this in mind Belkin make some fantastic solutions for getting music from your MP3 player (hopefully an iPod), onto your car stereo. Today, Belkin announced their TuneCast 3 (now with a colourful OLED screen), which will be available soon for £39.99.
The new Belkin TuneCast 3, is a universal FM Transmitter that lets you listen to your music through any FM stereo receiver. As an enhanced version of its predecessor, the TuneCast II, the TuneCast 3 is even easier to use. The status indicator tells you when your memory presets have been saved, when it’s processing a request, or when the unit is powering off/on.
The TuneCast 3 streams audio from any device with a 3.5mm headphone jack, such as MP3 players, portable DVD players, PSPs, CD players, and laptop computers. With a new sleek design, TuneCast 3 features cable management and a status indicator on the OLED screen to let you know when your presets have been saved.
We are big fans of the previous TuneCast, so will definitely be bringing you a review of this new model as soon as it becomes available.
Belkin TuneStudio - mix to your iPod
Belkin today announced TuneStudio, a device for mixing and recording music onto your iPod. Whether you are a novice podcaster or an experienced musician, TuneStudio integrates the iPod with the first full-featured, four-channel mixer, making it easy for you to create high-quality recordings.
It is suitable for iPod 5th generation (video) is the first four-channel audio mixer that lets you create high quality digital recordings directly onto your iPod. This mixer allows the input of up to four different instruments or audio sources, and records the audio onto your iPod for instant playback. TuneStudio also acts as an external USB sound card, allowing the input of audio from a PC source as well as output to a PC from any of TuneStudio’s connector inputs.
Sennheiser to Launch new PXC450 NoiseGard Headphones
Sennheiser have released details of their new high end PXC 450 NoiseGard 2.0 headphones, which should hit the shelves in April for £299.99.
Using new technology and their High-end Hi-fi design skills, Sennheiser leapfrog the competition to deliver the World's best noise-cancelling headphones. Built to deliver the highest quality sound possible, the PXC 450s allow travellers to privately enjoy their own music, wrapped in a virtual 'Cloak Of Silence' however noisy a train or plane might be. And no sound leaks out, so fellow passengers stay happy.
In addition Sennheiser has analysed the problems afflicting other noise-reduction headphones and fixed them;
- PXC 450s work as headphones even if the batteries die
- One tiny and globally available AAA battery gives 20hrs use
- No charger to carry or expensive spare batteries to buy
- TalkThrough button lets you hear conversations and announcements, without having to rip the phones off your head
- The sound is clear and balanced with no heavy bass or muffled vocals
- Sennheiser NoiseGard 2.0 electronically removes 90% of noise (more than ever) taking out the drone and roar of engines, rails etc
- Exceptional passive noise-reduction from the closed-back design takes out voices, kids, mobile phone shouters and general noise
- Electronics and battery all inside the headphone, nothing dangles
- Ideal for planes, trains, tube and other noisy environments
- Noise leakage OUT is eliminated - stop irritating fellow travellers
Arcam Launch rDock iPod Dock
Arcam today launched their rDock, the first 'audiophile' dock for iPod worthy of the name. The rDock integrates totally with Solo; however, the remarkable sound quality makes rDock ideal for anyone with any form of decent Hi-fi system who wants to get the very best possible sound quality from their iPod.
The rDock is friendly to your iPod battery, whilst most docks leave the iPod charging all the time, which can damage the battery. The rDock uniquely features a programmable 'charge-off' setting. During research, it was discovered that the sound quality took a major leap when running off the iPod battery alone, with no charging going on. This is akin to some audiophile pre-amps that run on a rechargeable battery to achieve independence from mains noise. The improvement in sound was so marked, that the rDock now has 'charge off' as the default setting. With iPod battery life over 14hrs and more, this means that the longest listening session can be carried out at the highest quality.
The feature list is very impressive
- Uses the iPod's line-out connector, bypassing the headphone amp to achieve best quality
- Built-in audio pre-amp with high performance op-amps & low noise double regulated power supplies
- Highest quality line-level audio with buffered RCA phono audio outputs enabling audiophile cables to be used
- Massive die-cast anti-vibration base that uses Apple universal dock inserts supplied with all new iPods
- Full iPod remote control using the Solo or Solo Movie's handset remote - no extra handset needed
- Displays iPod music info on Solo or Solo Movie scrolling dot-matrix front-panel display
- S-Video and Composite outputs to television or screen (for Video iPod) to show photos or movies