The Sony PFR-V1’s are actually two mini speakers which are said to mimic an extravagant audio setup. There’s a whole bunch of tech-specs which supposedly justify the $540 price but whatevs, at the end of the day these kinda ruin the premise of headphones. Last we checked headphones were meant for private listening. Not to mention you’ll look like a total douche rocking these on the subway.
We can’t imagine these working at all in a noisy environment so if you decide to shell out the cash make sure your daily commute doesn’t include skydiving. Or, you know. The train. Oh yeah the mini plug is gold-plated. Whatever that means.
Sony PFR-V1 Personal Field Speakers via [Uncrate]
With the announcement of the new fleet of Zune’s the price of the aged version begins to fall. A lot. The player is still great and will receive all the fancy new functionality in the form of a software update that includes syncing via Wi-Fi. Woot just released a special hush-hush deal in which they are selling a limited number of factory refurbished units for only $100, that means you get the whole shebang including box and accessories. We don’t know what devilish tactics Woot had to use to get their hands on these, but it is probably better that we don’t even ask.
Woot: Zune $100
For those unhappy over the iPhone’s inability to play nice with headphones, V-Moda just released a pair of Vibe Duo buds that not only work with the weird recessed headphone jack, but also feature inline call controls and a hidden microphone. Just like the standard iPhone headphones. Three pairs of ear-cushion-things are included to ensure a snug fit for the best possible sound.
As any other V-Moda product, the headphones are a steep $100 but it’s totally worth it for the snazzy design and cloth wrapped cables. Hit the link to get the full technical mumbo-jumbo.
Product Page [via Press Release]
Samsung’s attempt at hitting middle ground with the BD-U5000 –instead of siding with either HD-DVD or Blu-ray– has recently been delayed to December in the U.S, and early 2008 for Europe. The claims aren’t confirmed as Samsung wouldn’t be too proud of missing the critical holiday shopping time-frame, but don’t hold your breath if you want this under your treenorah this Chrismakkah.
Similar offerings are already available from the likes of LG so if you really want to get your High-Def on, a little Googling and a credit card should do the trick.
Samsung delays dual-format Blu-ray, HD DVD player? [Reghardware]
A few TV manufacturers and broadcasters have joined forces to develop 10 minutes of boredom as a standard way of measuring energy use. Apparently energy consumption varies based on the genre so the clip combines all of them into one including soap operas, sports, and nature programs. It would be assumed that porn uses up the most energy and as a result we encourage everyone to cut back and go outside. You know, for the sake of the environment and all.
The clip will become an International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard and will be used to measure the efficiency of TV’s world wide.
World’s most boring TV show to measure energy use [Reuters]
The Pioneer AVIC-HRZ009G is a sweet all-in-one GPS and entertainment solution for the drab center console in your Civic. In case you can’t tell by the catchy name, the system sports some awesome features like DivX playback and iPod compatibility. The AVIC also packs a 40 gig HDD, analog TV tuner, and a standard DVD disk drive .
Don’t hold your breath if you’re in the United States though, as this unit is only available in Japan and –like all cool things tech– probably won’t ever be here.
Pioneer AVIC-HRZ009G [NaviGadget]
The conceptual P’gasus wheelchair provides a cool look into what the future of personal transportation for people with disabilities will be like. It it based on technology similar to that of the Segway as movement is controlled by shifting the riders weight. Best of all, the chair can be adjusted into an upright position which would help the rider accomplish every day tasks. There are still a few problems to work out such as effectively balancing the chair in the extended position.
A similar chair is already available but it doesn’t look nearly as cool.
Pegasus WheelChair Concept [tuvie]
After getting three dodgy iMacs in a row, some guy decided to email the big man himself: Steve Jobs. Obviously the CEO of a multimillion dollar hardware company has nothing better to do than sit in his basement and respond to random guys who feel that they are important enough to contact him, but I digress. He reached one of Steve’s minions who seemed extremely concerned about the issue and even offered him a free iPod in exchange for his soul.
This is pretty cool on Apple’s side considering that lately they haven’t been doing a lot of nice things for their customers. What with locking them out of their own hardware and all.
The office of Steve Jobs called me today…
The irony here is extraordinary, check out this pic captured just moments after a giant Razr 2 crashed through a Benz on a busy corner in Moscow. Looks like Putin didn’t see this coming when he began enforcing strict cellphone use laws. We have to admit the marketing here turned out awesome, who wouldn’t want a car crushing phone?
For those of you who haven’t figured it out yet, this is a marketing stunt. Don’t feel bad though I had it confused at first too.
RAZR 2 cuts off the mighty Merc [TechTicker]
So apparently there is a new clause in the AT&T terms of service which says that they have the right to shut down your interwebz if you complain about the service or billing publicly. Now, we would usually discourage anyone from trying to anger a conglomerate with lots of money and legal resources. But this is just ridiculous, folks. Go out and vBlog about them sucking to your hearts content.
They don’t really go into details other than that you aren’t allowed to do anything which would damage the already excellent reputation of AT&T.
Update: My deepest apologies for misspelling a word, sorry for any confusion and/or pandemonium it may have caused. The necessary changes have been made thanks to the dedicated community we have established here at CrunchGear. Please feel free to correct any other mistakes you may have found. Or not.
AT&T T.O.S via [BoingBoing]
This is a neat present for that person in your life who seems to have been swayed into submission by pictures of the Loch Ness monster and ghostly ladies at the side of the road.
The point and shoot single-use camera adds a ghost into every picture so you don’t have to invest in film editing equipment to get that perfect shot of the Jersey devil. All the fame and fortune of being a ghost hunter is yours for only $10, Spectre Snare and Dematerializer not included.
Ghost Finder Camera via [NerdApproved]
Ah, acronyms. The downfall of society. It started with “lol” and now this backpack for Geniuses, Artists, and Innovators is continuing the tradition. OK, so it’s really the Booq Boa, a bag which has won multiple awards for being totally awesome but that’s beside the point.
I mean is this thing gai or what? It has a whole lot of James Bond-y features like a rain proof coating and plenty of pockets to conceal even the largest bag of whatever you are trying to smuggle into the country. Oh and it’s also good for carrying MacBook’s and MBP’s unfortunately however, this model is incompatible with PC’s. Sorry. It’s available right now for $165.
Boa backpack by Booq
We’ve told you about the Armani phone a few times in the past but this weeks launch of the device revealed some sweet details. The phone sports an innovative “help, I’m being taken against my will!” alarm which sends a text message to five preprogrammed numbers after the volume control is rapidly pressed four times. We suggest you choose wisely though as your room mate might not always be the person you’d entrust your life to. Said people can assess the situation and notify authorities who will then track you down via the phones GPS beacon. Just in time to collect your remains.
Mr. Armani even included an anti-theft system which texts you when a new SIM is inserted. The phone will run you a cool $760 and is apparently a very sought-after accessory.
Armani launches mobile phone with built-in ‘rape alarm’ [DailyMail]
The University of Portsmouth has just unveiled a $13,000 system to help protect your crappy bike. Obviously, a bike is hard enough to replace to warrant such an extravagant security measure. The system requires a special bike rack and a motion sensor on the vehicle itself. It is then engaged via a text message to the security office. Once motion is detected the system sets off a silent alarm and directs campus CCTV cameras towards the site of the crime. Security cameras never have anything interesting to capture anyway.
Of course, $15 snake lock is out of the question when it comes to bike security. Hopefully the system will migrate to things that actually need some sort of protection. You know. Like cars?
High-tech bike lock turns cameras on thieves [24dash.com]
When the first one was released a few months back everyone went crazy for the small form factor, innovative touch interface, and slow as hell processor. The new Touch Slide improves on the non-slide model by adding a BlackBerry Pearl-like sliding QWERTY keyboard, 3G data, and the industry standard 400mhz Qualcomm processor.
The device is slightly thicker now but the keyboard and faster processor make it a worthy sacrifice. There are no details as of yet regarding which carrier will get this first or when but we’re assuming it is going to be AT&T some time in October.
Hit the jump for more shots.
Read More
Looks like everyone with a Gmail account has something new to worry about. The unreleased, proof of concept vulnerability discovered by some security specialist can set filters on your inbox to block and/or automatically forward any email you receive. Weak.
Although the threat is labeled as serious at the moment, don’t worry. Google patches up vital holes pretty efficiently and there are no documented accounts of anyone actually falling prey to this. I’d say just check your filters every now and then.
Serious cross-site request forgery vulnerability found in Gmail [Arstechnica]
Possible results of updating your iPhone.
Over the past few weeks Apple’s stance on hacked and modified iPhone software has drastically shifted from “do as you please” to a full on blow to the nuts earlier today. Although the iTunes WiFi music store is included in the update, users are reporting SIM errors when the device is used with anything other than AT&T. There are some worthy updates for those of you who have kept your iPhone un-messed-around-with, such as a louder speaker phone, updated keyboard features, bug fixes, and of course the music store. The quick music controls of the iPod Touch are also included and can be accessed by double clicking the home button.
1.1.1 is also available for the iPod Touch but, aside from improved interface and accelerometer responsiveness, doesn’t sport any noteworthy features.
Apple update summary
Gizmodo update summary
One of you guys just tipped us off about the Tilt info on the AT&T support page and for that, we thank you. If you want to try it out for yourself just type “tilt” in the search box on the support section of the AT&T Wireless website. The two results regarding signing on and sending messages via the Yahoo! messenger include some screenies of the app’s interface. Overall the App looks pretty smooth however, Yahoo! isn’t that popular amongst our circle of friends. Might as well have included Gtalk.
Hit the jump for more pictures, or check out the direct links.
1st Result
2nd Result
Read More
Alright so it’s not actually a media player but more of a client which interfaces with your computer and the internet to stream music and other media directly to your Wii. The software is designed to be easily navigable via the Wiimote and features access to over one thousand TV channels and radio stations. A PC based server type application is packaged with the software which allows for easily streaming any movie, audio file, or photo you may have on your computer. There is no word yet of whether a Mac based version of the software will be available or if the media player will be able to connect to multiple sources on the network at once.
X-OOM’s Wii media player will be available somewhere in October for about $60. This is a step in the right direction as people were somewhat disappointed when the rumored DVD playback of the Nintendo Revolution was omitted to keep the price down.
Nintendo Wii to become media centre in Oct [Tech.co.uk]
Apple just released a statement saying that it has found several iPhone unlocking applications which can cause “irreparable” damage to the device. Although they’re not doing anything as of yet to directly deter people from modifying the phones software (aside from voiding the warranty of course), Apple said that future updates might brick your phone due to conflict with the hacked software. Wow, it took this long for Apple to figure out that there were fubar unlocking apps. I don’t blame them I mean it’s not like this has been all over every blog on the internet for the past month.
This is basically Apple saying “we’re pretending to like you so you aren’t pissed when we kick you in the nuts later this month”.
Apple today released the following statement: [Yahoo]
Left to right: AT&T 8925, Verizon XV6800, Verizon i760
Check out these shots of the hottest new smart phones for Verizon and AT&T by way of Mobility Today. The phones are really nice looking and all sport WinMo6, slide out QWERTY keyboards, and beautiful screens. The release details on these bad boys aren’t set in stone as of yet but we’ll keep you posted. In the mean time hit the link to bask in some technological beauty.
EXCLUSIVE: Photos AT&T Tilt, Verizon XV6800 and Samsung i-760 [MobilityToday]
We can only imagine the stifled giggles brought on by this pic taken at an authorized T-Mobile reseller in Newport Beach, CA. This isn’t nearly as funny though considering it isn’t at an actual T-Mobile store but if this isn’t a kick in the nuts I don’t know what is. Apple and AT&T won’t be very happy. Are they ever?
Oh Look, T-Mobile Unlocking iPhones! (PIC Included) [iPhoneMatters]
Everybody’s been talking about the so called $100 for about two years now and finally you can get your hands on one. Just as long as you send one to a no good kid as well. Besides the fact that you can get a fairly decent Compaq for about the same price, this is a great idea. It’s a good way for OLPC to get their little green notebook into the hands of technologically deprived kids in developing nations. The premise kinda wears off as the price climbs though considering the upcoming Asus EeePC packs better specs for only $50 more.
You can’t help but wonder if that $200 would be better off providing food and medical care. Then again a life without blogging and lolcats is not one worth living.
OLPC Give 1 Get 1 Program: XO-1 Laptop USA Sales!!!
Ever feel the need for a power-up after a long days work? Fighting ghosts, collecting coins, and going down pipes sure takes a hell of a lot out of you. Whether you’re in need of a boost or a 1UP, these three dollar ’shroomz will take care of it. Alright so it’s actually just candy in a really cool plastic container with flavors corresponding to the color of the mushroom, but that still wouldn’t stop me from making the famous power-up sound every time. Best of all the container is resealable so after the contents are gone you still have a neat place to store junk.
Product page
Via a small slip-up in information security Google has clued everyone in on some new features which are being developed for the popular Gmail service. Google had a good idea what with letting normal users translate bits of text in order to save themselves the time, money, and effort, however they should probably stick to translating company information by themselves. Lest phrases such as “Newer Version” regarding “Gmail UI” fall into the hands of bloggers. This is a small hint but a pretty neat forecast into what’s in store for Gmail in the near future.
Two more similar translation pages were found which suggest some possible Google Gears integration, and an account history feature. Hit the link to get the full scoop.
Read More
