While I’ll only be impressed if they release a Bluetooth adapter the size of a Tic-Tac, you folks might enjoy looking at this amazingly tiny little monster from Zoom. This is a 2.1 Bluetooth adapter that is about as big as U.S.B. plug. The 4322 sticks right into your U.S.B. port and hangs out, innocuously, waiting patiently for the Bluetooth mood to strike and strike it will, friends. Strike it will.
These new ladies watches, dubbed the MBW-200, come in multiple styles and pair with most Sony Ericsson phones. They have a mini OLED display and buzz when your phone is ringing and also let you control music playback.
I played with the first generation of these a few years ago and I just couldn’t understand what they were trying to offer here. It’s a watch that buzzes. Why can’t your phone just buzz discretely? Which consumer, man or woman, is so concerned about discreteness that he or she needs to see who’s calling on the face of their watch? Is this some sort of Japanese thing, like the toilets that play birdsong when you poop? What is going on here?
…OK. Not the greatest sounding speaker of course, but you can use it outside. Or rather, you can keep it outside. It’s being marketed as a Bluetooth sports speaker, and with a compact water resistant form factor, I won’t argue. Besides look at it, all aerodynamic and shiny. I bet this thing can bike faster than I can.
Comes is two versions, $179 for Cy-fi for Bluetooth and $199 for Cy-fi for iPod. Both should be available October 1st. We first bought this to you, here. A couplea more photos after the jump, including the iPod version.
Read More
Interesting. Well, I guess there is a difference between the old Touch and the new Touch — although Apple’s been mum about it. The chip iFixit found supports Bluetooth 2.1+EDR+FM. What do you think, people? Secret ripoff or secret surprise? Reminds me of the secret 3G in Dell Inspiron Minis.
[Thanks for the tip, Staguave!]
Is this the first Bluetooth speaker ever? No. Is it the world’s first Bluetooth sports speaker ever? Apparently, yes. See, all you have to do is add an extra word to your product and you, too, can have the world’s first something or other.
Fancy wordsmithery aside, the Cy-Fi speaker weighs four ounces, is “slightly larger than a deck of cards,” is good for about six hours between recharges, features standard control buttons, and pushes out music in stereo by using the A2DP standard. It also doubles as a speakerphone, possibly the world’s first sports speakerphone.
ABI research analyst Douglas McEuen believes that a new technology named “Blued Tooth” will become an important part of the technical landscape between now and 2050. The new standard, released by Nokia and named after a Finnish pirate, adds wireless connectivity to many devices includes “cellular telephones,” computing devices, and potentially pocket televisions, calculators, and future personal data devices AKA PDAs.
The market for Mobile Internet Devices – the new class of Internet-connected products offering “always-on” Web browsing, photography and video, navigation, games, social networking and voice communications – is forecast to grow at a spectacular compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 167% over the next five years.
That impressive growth will be paralleled by the penetration of several wireless technologies that are integral to the MID’s functions: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and eventually ultra-wideband (UWB).
Yesterday Panasonic Communications Japan unveiled a new surveillance camera [JP] that links to Bluetooth-enabled cell phones, PCs or car navigation systems. The BB-HCM547 is the first model from the company that can be installed on ceilings.
Panasonic says users are not required to wire the camera as one Ethernet cable is enough to operate it. It has a field of vision extending 350 degrees horizontally and 82 degrees vertically. In case the camera detects a person, it zooms in on his or her face (via its 2.3x optical zoom/2x digital lens).
Users just have to switch on their cell phone or car navigation to check the activity in the controlled area. Footage will be recorded either in JPEG or MPEG4 format.
The BB-HCM547 is Japan-only at this point and will be available in this country September 25th (MSRP: $1,160).
Wired.com has a list called Five Antisocial Gadgets That Should be Banned. While I don’t necessarily agree with the final two items – e-books and satellite navigation – I definitely agree with the first three: speakerphones, Bluetooth headsets, and custom ringtones. Custom ringtones, especially.
Enough already. We get it. You like bad music. I’m all for melodic variations on the standard ring-ring sound, but let’s stop short of actual songs. It’ll never, ever happen, though, as long as there are A) kids in middle school and high school and B) wireless companies that care about turning a profit.
A case could be made for the usefulness of speakerphones and Bluetooth headsets, I suppose, and it’s up to you if you want to appear to be talking to yourself like a schizophrenic and/or broadcast both sides of your conversation out loud in public.
What about you, dear readers? What gadgets would you add to the list?
I’m not sure what the idea is here. You wear this ear-thing while you’re playing the regular sound over your speakers? So do you hear the other people’s voices in the headset or in the speakers? Or both? Is this item really necessary? Someone enlighten me.
I guess you can buy one if you feel incomplete without one on your ear, like some people I know. Used to know, anyway. They’ve all been cut up and fed to the pigs gone to Chuck E Cheese!
Like the Rubik’s Cube, do you? Also like booty-thumping bass in your face? Then you, my friend, are the ideal marketing segment for Elac, maker of the Rubik’s Cube-inspired MicroSub 2010 BT subwoofer.
It’s not as huge as it looks in the above photo, unless the lady in the photo on the right has serious issues with her pituitary gland. She’s holding the standard, non Rubik’s Cube version of the the MicroSub 2010 BT subwoofer in one dainty (or gigantic) hand.
From a technical standpoint, the 2010 BT is a 2.1 Bluetooth-enabled speaker system (there are two small satellite tweeters that go along with the subwoofer).
The whole setup isn’t NEW new (announced about a month ago), but it was supposed to be available in June/July of this year according to the company’s marketing PDF. It’s not out yet, though, so pricing and availability seem to still be up in the air.
[via Shiny Shiny]
Philips has expanded its Active Crystals product line with a few new items. Above you see Naughty Raymond and Happy Laura, two cute accessories for your digital life. Simply pull off their heads to reveal the 2 GB USB key buried within.
BlueAnt has been showing of this headset since CES ‘08 but they are finally make the first Bluetooth 2.1 headset available. The V1 key feature, besides the small size, is that users can control their headset via voice commands. We’re not just talking phone controls like dial John Biggs, but rather pairing and volume control as well. Best of all, there is a ‘Teach Me” mode for some on-the-fly learning action. So if this headset strikes your fancy enough to pick one up, the MSRP has been set at $129 and it should be available at the end of this month.
Holy crap, these gloves are $500. In their defense, though, they’re the FUTURE! Made by Swany, the “g.cell” gloves have a “fully integrated Bluetooth adaptable cell phone in a totally functional ski and winter sports glove.” That almost sounds like the glove is a phone itself and requires no actual phone in your pocket somewhere.
Whatever the case may be (we’ll find out when these things are released nearer to the holiday season), when you get a call, you’ll feel it vibrating around your wrist. Hit the back of the glove to answer and then hold it up to your face. There’s a mic built into the thumb and a speaker built into the palm. It’s all powered by a rechargeable battery good for 12 hours standby time or 4 hours talk time.
[Swany Gloves via Switched]
Good ‘ol FCC. You are peering at the MOTOROKR S7-HD Jay-Z headphones. Clearly, this ugly set is not after the same market as Sony’s new stylish digs, but at least these have bluetooth work’n for ‘em. Plus, Moto managed to stuff a microphone in the headset somewhere. Too bad they couldn’t stuff some style in ‘em too. No word on price or availability; the FCC doesn’t know anyways.
My goodness. Look at all the sexy the Jabra SP700 sports. Bluetooth has never looked so good. Touted as a desktop or car Bluetooth speakerphone, this little guy is going to turn heads. The clip allows it to rest on your desk or clipped to your car’s sunviser.
Of course the $99 speakerphone is loaded with a FM modulator and the most impressive goodie piggybacks off it. When a call comes in while the radio is tuned to the GM modulated station, RDS-compatible stations display the caller ID right on the radio.
The SP700 should ship later this month with a USB charger (got to love USB chargers), car charger, and that sexy visor clip.
If someone was anticipating an amazingly updated PSP, the PSP-3001 isn’t it. The supposed updates of GPS, 802.11n, Bluetooth, and a mic were nowhere to be found in the PSP-3001 FCC report.
So after all the hype, it certainly seems the new PSP-3001 is just a simple hardware refresh. Perhaps meant to keep hackers on their toes and challenge them to crack the new hardware. At least we now know there is an update coming sometime soon and I smell an official announcement right around the corner. (or is my neighbor cooking bacon again)
For $62 you can now stream music from your iPhone/iPod to your A2DP enabled headphones. Hmm. Me thinks you should save that money and put it towards a high quality set of over-the-ears or in-ear buds.
California Best Buy stores are offering $9.99 Bluetooth pairing for those too fried on cocaine and hearty Cabernet to be bothered with connecting their new iPhones to the Bluetooth. Our take? Give us a call. One of us will walk you through pairing your headset for a mere $7.99. Nicholas can do it in Portuguese, Doug and do it in a hearty Boston Southie accent, and I can do it in High School Russian, so we’ve got all bases covered.
SOCOM Confrontation for the PS3 will include a nice looking Bluetooth headset. From what I can see in the pictures it looks like a decent headset, but of course I’d have to hear it to say for sure. If you are not a fan of SOCOM but still want the headset, Sony also plans to sell it separately. Two big features of the headset are a Mute button and a USB charging station.
The price of the headset has not been set yet, but Sony says it will be priced “competitively.” Also worth noting is that the design is not yet set in stone, so the final product may change before it hits the market. If it’s anything major, we will be sure to keep you posted.
