You can connect anything you want—MP3 players, guitars, bass guitar, your tongue—then plug it into any regular electrical outlet, and start rocking with glorious tin-can sound. [Etsy via 7Gadgets]

The Anytime dock (pictured above) has probably the worst speakers of the three, but comes with an integrated alarm clock which uses motion-sensing to light itself up or hit the Snooze button at the wave of a hand. The Express Dock features omnidirectional acoustics to transmit sound evenly in all directions, a remote control, and can run on either AC or battery power.

The Z-5 is more of a portable laptop speaker and can be powered completely through USB. It also boasts omnidirectional sound and comes with a remote control.

The Next Evolution of PC-Speaker Acoustics: Logitech Introduces Omnidirectional Speakers for PC, Mac Computers

Logitech Z-5 Omnidirectional Stereo Speakers

Deliver Great Sound Throughout Your Room

FREMONT, Calif. – Sept. 16, 2008 — Attaching speakers to a PC has always improved on the sound quality of built-in PC speakers. But now, Logitech (SWX: LOGN) (NASDAQ: LOGI) introduces the next evolution in PC-speaker acoustics, unveiling the Logitech® Z-5 omnidirectional stereo speakers – for PC and Mac® computers – which deliver great sound throughout your room.

Unlike standard PC speakers that focus sound in one direction, the Logitech Z-5 speakers use omnidirectional acoustics that create a substantially wider sweet spot – an especially helpful feature if you often move your laptop around your home or office. An innovative speaker technology previously found only in expensive home-theater systems, omnidirectional acoustics on the Logitech Z-5 speakers use forward- and backward-firing drivers to transmit sound evenly in all directions. Whether you’re listening to your favorite song or watching a video on YouTube™, you’ll enjoy rich, articulate sound and minimal distortion – from every corner of your room.

“We’re truly excited to offer omnidirectional speakers for the PC and the Mac,” said Mark Schneider, vice president and general manager of Logitech’s audio business unit. “We’re confident that the Z-5 speakers will provide a noticeable improvement to the PC-entertainment experience whether you’re listening to music or watching a movie. With omnidirectional acoustics, the sound is all around you no matter where you have your desktop or laptop computer.”

Delivering pure digital audio that’s easily moved with your laptop, the Z-5 omnidirectional speakers can be quickly connected to any PC or Mac via USB. There’s no need for an external power adaptor or batteries. And to let you wirelessly navigate and enjoy all your entertainment options, Logitech’s newest speaker system comes with a sleek remote control. Launch your favorite entertainment application, adjust the volume and change your selection from across the room.

Pricing and Availability

The Logitech Z-5 omnidirectional stereo speakers are expected to be available in the U.S. and Europe beginning this month for a suggested retail price of $99.99 (U.S.).

and

Dock, Rock and Roll (or Snooze): Logitech Introduces Two Speaker Docks for iPods or iPhones

Pure-Fi Express Plus Offers Omnidirectional Acoustics, Pure-Fi Anytime Makes the Perfect Nightstand Companion

FREMONT, Calif. – Sept. 16, 2008 — Whether you dock your iPod®, or your iPhone™, in the bedroom or crank up your favorite playlist in the living room, Logitech (SWX: LOGN) (NASDAQ: LOGI) has a speaker dock for you. The Logitech® Pure-Fi Express Plus omnidirectional speaker for iPod or iPhone delivers great sound throughout your room, while the Logitech® Pure-Fi Anytime™ premium alarm clock for iPod or iPhone is the perfect nightstand companion. Both speakers are compatible with the first generation iPhone as well as the new 3G iPhone.

“Our research revealed that as digital music players, and especially the iPod, become more integral to our lives, we look for accessories to optimize the experience,” said Mark Schneider, vice president and general manager of Logitech’s audio business unit. “Our latest iPod speaker docks are designed to suit each person according to their individual needs, whether what’s wanted is enhanced audio and portability or an alarm clock with innovative features such as motion sensing.”

Logitech Pure-Fi Express Plus Featuring Omnidirectional Acoustics

A first for iPod or iPhone speaker docks, Pure-Fi Express Plus offers omnidirectional acoustics. An innovative speaker technology previously found only in expensive home-theater systems, omnidirectional acoustics transmit sound evenly in all directions. If you love to dock, charge and listen to your iPod or iPhone when you’re at home, at work, or even in your backyard, now you can enjoy rich, articulate sound and minimal distortion – from every corner of your room.

Pure-Fi Express Plus provides more than just great sound. For added portability, Pure-Fi Express Plus can run on AC or battery power and includes an integrated handle, making it easy to take your music from room to room. The new Logitech dock also features a wireless remote. With a range of up to 30 feet (10 meters), the remote lets you instantly adjust volume, play, pause, fast forward, rewind, as well as offering Shuffle and Repeat buttons – all from the comfort of your couch or favorite chair.

Logitech Pure-Fi Anytime: The Perfect Nightstand Companion

If you commonly dock your iPod or iPhone in the bedroom, Pure-Fi Anytime offers a full set of features, such as advanced motion-sensing technology, that make it perfect for your bedside table – and ensure that you’ll have a fully charged iPod or iPhone when you wake in the morning. To avoid the inconvenience of waking a sleeping partner, the motion-sensing backlight makes it easy to set your alarm without having to turn on the lights. The alarm clock’s controls light up when you wave your hand over the speakers and the buttons automatically dim when you’re done using it. And when you want to get a few minutes of extra sleep when your alarm goes off in the morning, you can simply wave your hand over the speakers and the motion-sensing technology will activate Snooze.

Pure-Fi Anytime also features an easy-to-read display that is clearly visible during the day and night. A recessed dock helps prevent you from accidentally knocking over your iPod or iPhone. Plus, Pure-Fi Anytime offers a digital AM/FM radio for those times when you want to give your iPod a break and enjoy live music, news and sports.

Pricing and Availability

The Logitech® Pure-Fi Express Plus omnidirectional speaker for iPod or iPhone is expected to be available in the U.S. and Europe in October for a suggested retail price of $99.99 (U.S.). The Logitech® Pure-Fi Anytime™ premium alarm clock for iPod or iPhone is expected to be available in the U.S. and Europe beginning in October for a suggested retail price of $99.99 (U.S.).

FedEx says they are delivering it this monday. Oh. Yes. [Think Geek]

Honestly, it never ceases to amaze me the amount of stuff these kind of general consumer-oriented companies make. [More IFA 2008 Coverage]

The sound was clear and, watching the demo DVD, I could actually position things on the screen with the surround simulation. Designed to use during long periods of gaming, the Gamecom 777 is very light and the cushion does a good job to make them extremely comfortable.

The Dolby circuitry that does the sound magic is not in the headphones, but in an add-on dongle that connects directly to the USB port. The speakers are 40mm and the sound they provide is good, with clear bass and high tones. As you can see in the video, it also has a controller for adjusting the volume and muting the sound at any time. Overall, if you are looking for a nice cheap headset for gaming, with good quality sound and convenient design, this may be the ticket.

The Acoustic System Phase Corrector may look like a simple instrument grade maple block but its inner workings are more complex. When you walk around your listening room you will notice pockets of greater energy density. One of these energy pockets occurs between the loudspeakers and is concentrated at the interface between the floor and the front wall. From the listening position the result is a blurring of the phase coherency. The phase corrector, as its name suggests, attempts to correct this phenomenon by disrupting the energy pocket near the floor/front wall interface through a combination of resonance and diffusion. The degree of resonance can be altered by varying the distance between the phase corrector and the front wall.

Obviously, the system doesn't solve the blurry neuron connections of any moron with deep money pockets who actually tries to buy this—hopefully pranky—crap. [Pure Music Group via Boing Boing Gadgets]

YAMAHA INTRODUCES THE YSP-3050 DIGITAL SOUND PROJECTOR,

ITS LATEST SINGLE COMPONENT SURROUND SOUND SOLUTION

—New model to its market-leading line offers HDMI, video upconversion, iPod and XM Satellite Radio compatibility, FM tuner and advanced listening settings —

BUENA PARK, Calif.—Yamaha, the innovator in home theater and digital audio and video reproduction, today unveiled the YSP-3050, the latest in its award-winning line of Digital Sound Projectors which focus audio signals into precisely controlled and directed "beams" that provide true multi-channel surround sound from a single component. The YPS-3050 fits neatly underneath a flat-panel television and gives consumers a space-efficient option to installing multiple speakers throughout a room for immersive audio for watching movies, television and sports programming.

The new YSP-3050 features 21 beam drivers, and two woofers, 23 corresponding digital amplifiers, three Cinema DSP programs (movie, music and sports), analog to HDMI video upconversion, high definition video upscaling to 1080i/720p and a 1080p (24Hz and 60Hz) compatible HDMI interface with two inputs and one output to facilitate pure digital connections with the latest home theater components.

The YSP-3050 is XM Satellite Radio ready with XM HD surround sound powered by Neural Surround. The YSP-3050 also offers iPod compatibility via the new optional YDS-11 dock (more information on the YDS-11 below). Once docked, the iPod can be operated (song selection, play, etc.) via the YSP's remote control and on-screen display. Yamaha's proprietary Compressed Music Enhancer technology compensates for the lost detail of audio that is compressed during the "ripping" process, recapturing the essence of the original recording. An integrated FM tuner further broadens the user's entertainment choices.

The YSP-3050 creates a wide soundstage designed to fill the whole room with convincing surround sound regardless of where listeners are seated. Sound settings include 5-Beam, 3-Beam, 3-Beam + Stereo, 2- channel Stereo, My Beam, 5-Channel Stereo and My Surround modes. My Surround mode delivers surround sound to even the most difficult installation environments where walls may not be present or are covered with unsuitable materials. My Beam mode focuses the sound at a specific listening position, so the listener can hear all program audio clearly, including dialog, without disturbing others in the room.

Yamaha's proprietary IntelliBeam™ automated system calibration enables users to quickly and easily set up each system for the optimal listening experience and intuitive, multi-language on-screen displays.

The YSP-3050 offers full support for surround sound standards, including Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby Pro Logic II and DTS Neo:6, as well as CINEMA DSP technology, to create realistic soundscapes in any room. For late night movie and music enjoyment, a Night Listening Enhancer mode allows dialog and quiet passages to be heard clearly, even at low volumes. The TV Equal Volume mode prevents sudden startling bursts of sound from TV programs and commercials. The model also features SRS TruBass technology to provide exceptionally deep and rich bass response.

The YSP-3050 is currently available for a suggested retail price of $1,399.95.

One great thing about the set is that you can change the way it does sound depending on room size and TV placement using simple menu options. Oh yeah, and the picture on the 120Hz set wasn't bad either. The 149 comes in two flavors, a 46" for $3300 and a 52" for $3700, out soon. [Mitsubishi]

Dr Sánchez-Dehesa told BBC News that 200 layers of this material, formed by arrays of tiny cylinders, will shield an object from any noise, while thinner implementations will achieve insulation from certain frequencies.

At this stage, it's still too early to tell when we will see practical applications of this discovery, which has a precedent in microwave invisibility cloaks. It may find its way into military applications first, like making submarines completely silent. [BBC News]

We're not too sure why Creative wouldn't want their old products having proper cross OS support implemented. Sure, they do provide beta drivers, but word is they aren't to stable, plus we're guessing their newer, shinier and more expensive replacement devices have something to do with it. Frankly, those won't sell if some asshole is putting down his own, backward compatible drivers to bring old hardware up to speed. Checkout what Creative had to say below:

Daniel_K:

We are aware that you have been assisting owners of our Creative sound cards for some time now, by providing unofficial driver packages for Vista that deliver more of the original functionality that was found in the equivalent XP packages for those sound cards. In principle we don't have a problem with you helping users in this way, so long as they understand that any driver packages you supply are not supported by Creative. Where we do have a problem is when technology and IP owned by Creative or other companies that Creative has licensed from, are made to run on other products for which they are not intended. We took action to remove your thread because, like you, Creative and its technology partners think it is only fair to be compensated for goods and services. The difference in this case is that we own the rights to the materials that you are distributing. By enabling our technology and IP to run on sound cards for which it was not originally offered or intended, you are in effect, stealing our goods. When you solicit donations for providing packages like this, you are profiting from something that you do not own. If we choose to develop and provide host-based processing features with certain sound cards and not others, that is a business decision that only we have the right to make.

Although you say you have discontinued your practice of distributing unauthorized software packages for Creative sound cards we have seen evidence of them elsewhere along with donation requests from you. We also note in a recent post of yours on these forums, that you appear to be contemplating the release of further packages. To be clear, we are asking you to respect our legal rights in this matter and cease all further unauthorized distribution of our technology and IP. In addition we request that you observe our forum rules and respect our right to enforce those rules. If you are in any doubt as to what we would consider unacceptable then please request clarification through one of our forum moderators before posting.

Phil O'Shaughnessy
VP Corporate Communications
Creative Labs Inc.

The audio recording, a verse of "Au Clair de la Lune" sung by a woman/zombie/spirit/ghostard, was made by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. Scott was a Parisian typesetter and inventor who invented the phonoautograph, and died thinking Edison stole his idea for recording sound (just like he stole and ran Méliès out of the movie business).

However, while the fact is that Edison stole many things, this is not one of them, according to Giovannoni: "Edison is not diminished whatsoever by this discovery." Another scholar, Paul Israel, director of the Thomas A. Edison Papers at Rutgers University remarked that "what made Edison different from Scott was that he was trying to reproduce sound and he succeeded."

The phonoautograph is a device that only prints the sound it captures, but it can't reproduce it. Giovannoni and his team had to digitally process the recording, made on April 9, 1860, to create the version you can listen to here. [NYT]

"Being a guinea pig for a sonic ray was truly a whole lot worse than being a guinea pig for the pain ray. I would happily volunteer again to be hit by the Pentagon's pain ray. It was fun, like being Bugs Bunny dancing around when Elmer Fudd tries to shoot him. I never, ever again want to be hit by the Inferno" says Sharon, but while the sensation was unbearable, she actually didn't experiment the extreme reactions that this sound will cause if you are exposed to it for a longer time: vertigo, nausea, and pain in the chest.

The device is designed to work with security systems, making people leave a protected area immediately. Their site shows many different models, which can be installed inside or outside shops and cargo vans. Dr. Goldman told us that they "don't do home applications because of the potential headaches that this may bring from law enforcement agencies and customers." Apparently, "only homes that have special requirements, like a strong room" can be elegible to install one of these alarms. Too bad, because he pointed out that the cost of a typical system is only $1,800, which is affordable enough for me to want one.

If you are wondering if this is really a good deterrent against thieves, have no doubts about it. Apparently, Inferno is so effective that Swedish manufacturer Indusec just landed a contract with the Russian government to install the sound bars in nuclear weapon depots using the Inferno Mini (above) which is the same you can install in your own shop. Meanwhile, big companies like UK-based chemist super-chain Boots, are also installing the devices all through all their shops.

The good thing about Inferno is that, although it will stop anyone from entering an area, they won't injure them (or you.) According to a study on the Inferno by the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, only if you experiment repeated exposures to this kind of noise or if the sound pressure is more than 130dB, your ears could be damaged. Inferno, the paper concludes, doesn't have any risk of hearing loss since it's just 125dB.

Just in case, I won't try it. [Danger Room and Inferno]

The recording was made in 1949 by a student at a concert in Newark, N.J. When it was eventually found and played recently, the ancient magnetic wire had stretched and twisted and was so frail it broke often. It took 36 hours of work to just get the audio safely off the wire and into a computer, and even then the tracks were peppered with holes, slowed-down sound and missing high-frequencies.

By finding rhythmic sounds buried in the recording, and using mathematician Dr. Kevin Short's signal processing algorithms, the team carefully pieced together the tracks, interpolating holes and correcting for distortions and speed-shifts. The resulting album, The Live Wire, was nominated for the Best Historical Album category in the Grammys. You can listen to tracks showing just how nifty the processing was via the Science News link. [Science news and University of New Hampshire]

Introducing Pioneer's MEP-7000 Multi Entertainment Player, incorporating the SEP-C1 Software Entertainment Controller

16th January 2008: Pioneer today announces its new multi-entertainment player and controller, primarily for the mobile DJ and bar market, the MEP-7000.

The MEP-7000 offers a flexible high quality solution specifically with digital music in mind, being compact and easily to transport, yet inheriting the basic functions and features of the popular CDJ series CD Decks. The MEP-7000 enables users to play MP3/AAC files stored on various memory formats, along with playback of music from conventional media such as CD/CD-ROM/DVD-ROM discs. The system can also be setup to playback and mix music automatically using playlists, allowing the system to entertain when no DJ is present.

The MEP-7000 and SEP-C1 are a response to the trend of laptops being utilized by professional DJs. Recent developments have changed the way mobile and club DJs organise and play their music. No longer carrying boxes of vinyl or CD's full of music. Laptops, USB flash media and hard drives are becoming standard amongst the DJ community.

Key new features to this product type are the 4.3-inch colour LCD screen that gives clear accurate information, allowing intuitive and easy menu navigation. The MEP-7000 transforms into a Karaoke playback device when a CD-G disc is inserted, displaying the playback video on the LCD screen, but can also be fed to external monitors using the composite video output terminal.

The SEP-C1 (also available as a separate unit) works as a software controller when used in conjunction with compatible software such as the bundled "DJS" from Pioneer. This allows the user to manage and control playback of audio files stored on your computer, to give full scale DJ performance without the need for a mouse or keyboard.

Key Features
Dynamic digital media playback and MIDI-control via USB
The MEP-7000 allows USB control from either PC or Mac. So, besides music from CD/DVD, the MEP-7000 lets DJs play music files, such as MP3*1/AAC/WAV/AIFF*2, stored on USB keys, HDD, CD-R/RW and DVD±R/RW. The unit is also compatible via USB with Pioneer's DJS software*3 or applications such as Serato Scratch LIVE or Traktor*4- without the need for a time coded disc. USB connectivity furthermore means that the SEP-C1 can easily be used as a MIDI controller for MIDI-compatible computer applications.

Area-Colour OEL display/4.3-inch colour LCD for express music mapping
The innovative 4.3-inch colour LCD with high visibility, intelligent GUI (Graphic User Interface) and a rotary selector enables rapid track searches from huge music libraries. To achieve this, the MEP-7000 adopts an industry-first Area-Colour OEL (Organic Electroluminescene) display, ensuring that the user can see performance data in harsh lighting conditions.

Scratch-happy Jog Wheel and a wide range of effects
The high quality Touch Sensor Jog Wheel is capable of controlling various scratch sounds and these definitely broaden the scope of any DJ performance. The MEP-7000 carries 3 patterns of Scratch Jog Effects (SCRATCH, BUBBLE and TRANS) and 3 patterns of Digital Jog Break Effects (JET, ROLL and WAH), which vary depending on the DJ's choice and use of the Jog Wheel.

Effects lovers will be pleased to know there are also 8 patterns of DJS Effect (DELAY, ECHO, AUTO PAN, AUTO TRANCE, AUTO FILTER, FLANGER, REVERB and PITCH SHIFTER) available, and that these can all be synced with the BPM (Beat Per Minute), if required. Only when connected to DJS via the USB connectivity.

Auto Mix enables automatic mixed playback of tracks from the Play List
The MEP-7000 uses an Auto Mix function that allows auto mix playback of tracks registered on the Play List. There are then 4 patterns of Mix Mode (ECHO, ZIP, CUT IN and CROSS FADE), allowing music to be mixed in a selected style and played automatically.　

Other Features
1. Library Function: Select tracks from various categories, such as genre/artist.
2. Tempo Control Range: Choose from 4 maximum ranges for the tempo slider: ±6％, ±10％, ±16％, and WIDE ±100％. (WIDE mode is not available with MP3/AAC/WAV and AIFFs files.)
3. Pitch Bend Button: Achieve fine adjustment of track speed simply by pressing the button.
4. Seamless Loop: Repeats a loop without interruption. Loops can be set as small as approx. 0.013 seconds up to infinity.
5. Hot Loop: Return to a loop-in point during loop playback. Start over the loop playback by just pressing a button.
6. Memory Cue/Loop: The unit can memorise any CUE/LOOP point at the press of a button.
7. Auto BPM (Beats Per Minute) Counter: Automatically measures and digitally displays a track's tempo.
8. Digital Output and Monitor Out Terminals: Output audio digitally and select tracks using a large external display.
9. Keyboard Available: Select tracks swiftly and input characters directly.
10. Legato Link Conversion: Reproduces richer and more natural sound with WIDE range playback by up sampling, 44.1 kHz → 176.4 kHz, the audio information lost in a CD format.
11. Vibration Proof Construction: Shockproof memory plus floating mechanism used in Pioneer's Car audio components helps prevent skipping and resists vibration.
12. Rack-Mount-Ready: Ready for rack mounting, which is useful for club/studio installations. (EIA compliant)

*1　MPEG-1 Audio Layer3, MPEG-2 Audio Layer3 LSF.
*2　Available only on USB storage device; WAV/AIFF recorded on CD/DVD media cannot be played.
*3　 MEP-7000 can control DJS using version 1.6000 (download available from late April 2008). If you own the previous version, please download an update from Pioneer's site.
*4　 More DJ software applications pending, but Pioneer cannot guarantee performance of software on users' PCs. Scratch LIVE is a registered trademark of Serato Audio Research.

Price and availability
The MEP-7000 and SEP-C1 are available from Pioneer's distribution network, details of which can be found at HYPERLINK "http://www.pioneerprodj.eu" www.pioneerprodj.eu. The MEP-7000 will be available from April 2008 with a suggested retail price of €1499 (excluding VAT), while the SEP-C1 controller stands at €749 (excluding VAT). Images of the MEP-7000 / SEP-C1 will available shortly to download from HYPERLINK "http://www.prosvlink.net" www.prosvlink.net with the password PRO1007L.

About Pioneer Europe NV
Pioneer Europe NV is the regional European headquarters of the Pioneer Corporation, a global leader in electronics and audio/video products for the home, car, commerce and industry, particularly in the following core multimedia technologies - digital versatile disc (DVD), plasma display panels (PDP), and in-car navigation and AV systems. Its shares are traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Here's how it works: 960 of the little buds are speakers, collectively pushing buzzing sounds around the room, while the remaining 40 buds act as microphones to fuel the feedback loop. "Another unpredicted but welcomed sound source was some white noise from a fucked-up amplification circuit I built," says Avel s, who tells us he wants to stage the installation again in Amsterdam, where he lives. Below is a photo of Avel s putting the final touches on his project; he says audio and video samples of the event are coming soon.

[Make; Andr 's Flickr Gallery]

The device can take you through six different regimens for better sleep, improved concentration, memory improvement and relaxation, each running at about 15 minutes. The inventors say that doctors at University of Pennsylvania and Thomas Jefferson University—both in Philadelphia—have put the MC Square through real clinical tests. Some studies have shown a 14% increase in memorization after about a week. That is, as long as the thing doesn't give you a seizure: since it is a device that emanates light pulses, MC Square says those who have suffered from seizures in the past should stay away. Ditto for kids under 13. Everyone else should pay $400 for it, in their opinion. [MC Square]

Measuring 51 x 4.5 x 5.1 inches, the SurroundBar50 comes with a bracket that you hang either above or below your TV, and will cost $1099.95 when it is released in October. [OhGizmo!]

Phew. Snappy name, eh? So snappy there's no room on the headline for a bad pun. Lucky you, I say. Anyway, this is a new ExpressCard/54-compatible sound card that uses Creative's X-Fi Crystallizer and 3CMSS-3D technology to give your laptop surround sound. There's a 7.1-channel speaker docking module and all this creamy white goodness (which raises the question: if it's only Windows-compatible, why did they do it in white?) will cost you $106 from late May. – Ad Dugdale

Creative "XFi" of XCard/54 Correspondence [PC Watch through Google Translate]

Product Page [via GizMag]

Called by cops in England "the most effective tool in our fight against antisocial behavior," now stateside retailers can also unfairly discriminate against those aged 20 and younger. Because of age-related hearing loss that starts at about age 20, this thing really does sound obnoxious just to those people under that age. But what about babies? And dogs?

How will you know when one of these repellant boxes is installed? Just look for this cheap-looking gray speaker, and teens fleeing the scene. Just what we need: more noise. – Charlie White

Product Page [Kids Be Gone]

Ok, so the Ravezooka looks like one of those art school projects that kids do in order to express themselves. It doesn't have any megapixles of gigabytes to speak of, but the mere thought of shooting Travis with low frequency sounds is enough to get me very excited. – Nicholas Deleon

Ravezooka Project Page [ITP Winter Show 2006 via we make money not art]

The color light flash will be stronger and stronger when the detector is nearer to the suspicious transmit, then you can touch or hold the cap of a pen to reduce the sensitivity of the detector, until find the source of the signal

It apparently also scans money to see if it's counterfeit, but it's doubtful that you'll get an accurate read from a $17 toy. – Jason Chen

Product Page [China Vision via Red Ferret]

Griffin Firewave Krunker

FireWave [Griffin Technology]

AIW5 In-Wall Loudspeaker [Amina]

Product Page [Via Red Ferret]

Try as we might, we couldn't find an example of the sounds made by the Datasound even though the site teased us with the promise of downloading and hearing its noise music. Anyway, we're under the impression that you're able to perform musical songs by adding your own personal rhythm to the sounds coming out of it. The concept was created by Troika Design, a London-based group of artists who apparently have lots of free time on their hands. – Charlie White

Design Page [Troika Design, via OhGizmo]

Sound relaxer eyeshades - now in UK [ShinyShiny]

Now we've seen low-frequency sounds send someone into convulsions, but are also aware that 50% of the time, the placebo effect is responsible for the effects of any drug or technique. Now if you'll excuse us, we're going off to try a few of these.

Hack Your Brain with an iPod [forevergeek via digg]

Interview/Article by Jonah Brucker-Cohen

As an exponential amount of digital objects begin to permeate our daily lives, the tendency for manufacturers to combine multiple functionalities into one "mega" device seems to be a popular methodology. Taking this credo as a starting point with his hardware inspired projects is French media artist, Benjamin Gaulon. From combining the mechanism of a Paintball gun with an Ink-Jet printer in his almost absurdist "Printball" project to using the exterior of an office building as an interactive surface in "De Pong Game", Gaulon's projects attempt to challenge popular conceptions of how electronic objects and software should and could function in our daily lives. By examining the fragility of data transfer and transmission of files across the Internet with his "Corrupt" project, he is also attempting to comment on the seemingly delicate nature of our global communications networks. Gizmodo recently caught up with Gaulon to discuss his approach to infiltrating pop cultural icons through creative interventions in hardware hacking and how recycling outdated technology can lead to new forms of collaborative musical and visual expression.

Name: Benjamin Gaulon
Age: 26
Education: Masters at the Ecole Superieuredes Arts Decoratifs in Strasbourg (2002) , Masters (Interactive Media & Environment), Frank Mohr Institute, Groningen (The Netherlands, 2005).
Affiliation:Independent, but I have also created a European group of artist, designers, theorist, engineers, etc.. called Deponk (www.deponk.com).
URL(s): http://www.recyclism.com,
Recyclism is my general website, where I present my works. I started most of my projects with a site called www.digitalrecycling.com (a database for digital file recycling, where people can upload and download digital junk to create new works.

GIZMODO: Your project, "Printball", combines the mechanism of an Ink-Jet printer and a Paintball cannon. What were you attempting to discover by combining these two devices?

BG: The idea of the Ink-Jet printer is more conceptual than literal. So it's a Paintball gun (hacked to be automatic, because in Europe [we are] not allowed to have automatic Paintball guns, so you need to directly control the solenoid that triggers the gun) with a custom made Pan and Tilt [mechanism]. The idea was to create a "graffiti robot" that could shoot images, so instead of using a Paintball gun to play war games this machine can create images and text. I'm (in most of my projects) really interested by the idea of "detournement" (as Guy Debord as defined it in 1959) This project is a Deponk project (my collective) because it's an idea that we had with a friend and French artist (Geraud de Bizien: www.vastemonde.com). We had the idea together and I then realized the project during my Masters at the Frank Mohr Institute.

"Recycling Entertainment System" (Gaulon, 2004)

GIZMODO: The "Recycling Entertainment System" connects six Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) controllers to a computer to control a shared software synthesizer. Why did you choose these hardware devices as interfaces for collaborative music composition?

BG: First, after working on digital recycling with the digital recycling website, I wanted to explore hardware recycling. I also liked the idea of recycling the NES controllers, which are for me the origin of videogame controllers (the basics: directional buttons, select and start and the A and B buttons). Nowadays game controllers are a bit more advanced but basically they are based on those controllers. So it was a way to go back to the roots of the game controller (they are also the video games that I could play with as a kid, so part of my personal mythology). With this project I also wanted to make an interactive system for several players to play and create something together in real time. The digital recycling project is also based on that idea but it's not made for "real time" composition, but the structural concept is really close since both projects are using the concept of database jamming to create new and original works (sampling art). The RES has the structure of a band (with a bass player, a drummer, percussion, a loop player and a synthesizer) but it's like a DJ playing as a band (jamming with audio samples).


"Corrupt" (Gaulon, 2005)

GIZMODO: Your "Corrupt" project breaks down an image file into its binary equivalent and replaces some of this code with a random value from 1 to 20. What were you trying to accomplish with this project? And why are some of the results too damaged to show?

BG: I'm reading the binary of a file, swapping some bytes (randomly, from 1 to 20 swaps) and I save it again. Then another part of the code (done with Processing) is loading the saved file again (checking if it's still readable) and the readable files are "saved as" in a result folder. So I only keep the corrupted files that are still readable. This project explores the limit of digital technologies and tries to reproduce and control data corruption: this corruption normally occurs during data transfer (i.e. e-mail, ftp, etc. - see this link for a complete definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_corruption) As Kim Cascone write in his article ""The Aesthetics of Failure"" [accidents usually cause the most interesting things to happen].

"De Pong Game" (Gaulon, 2004)

GIZMODO: "De Pong Game" recreates the famous PONG game as a projection on the surface of a building. A custom modified joystick controls game play and the player must use the built-in elements of the building (windows, doors, etc) as elements in the game. What is your ultimate aim with creating these large-scale public interactive pieces?

BG: Well, this project came during a workshop where I was asked to create some media stuff in the "real world" outside my studio and outside the computer. At that time I had just discovered the concept of Augmented Reality and I was interested to find ways to explore that concept. My idea was first to use the windows as pixel, but since I found the "Blinkenlights" project (by Berlin's Chaos Computer Club), I had to re-think my idea. I'd liked the idea of an intersection between a projection and the real world, since I'm [into all things] "recycling". I see the creative process as an endless recycling process, such as the socio-cultural loop of creation. I thought that the PONG game was a really interesting thing to recycle when you talk about video games (since it's the origin of the video game).

GIZMODO: What projects are you currently working on? How are they similar or different than your past projects?

BG: Actually I'm working on different things, but one of those is the "E-Waste" workshop with a Dutch company called Blue Melon. Those workshops (and your "Scrapyard Challenge" workshops were an influence for that) are based on the idea of recycling (hardware recycling) and we are trying to combine the creative possibilities of hardware recycling and to bring some awareness to the participant about the issues of "E-waste" pollution. I think as an artist and as a human being working with electronics and computers, it's important to know what is happening to the equipment once it becomes obsolete, which occurs really fast for computers.

As with any medium, you can't make a masterpiece in your first five minutes, but with some practice, Jam Studio could render some pleasant soundscapes with a meaningful mathematical basis. The software has no practical use at the moment, but it could be a boon for artist relations and even work its way into artworks themselves.

Jam Studio is available for free beta testing on MacOS 10.3 or above. Plans for a Windows version are uncertain.

Jam Studio [Pixound]

This is one of the best little gadgets out there. This USB dongle plugs in to your laptop (or desktop) and instantly gives you 5.1 surround and microphone-in jacks. Got an iBook? Add line-in support with this baby. It all comes wrapped up in a beautiful green plastic shell, too. The price for adding 5.1 surround sound and line-in via USB? Only $9.95. Makes a great stocking stuffer for the geek of the house or a great gift for someone with an iBook who wants to record some things.

USB 5.1 audio adaptor [Red Ferret]

UPDATE - Reader Jeremy writes:

If you look at the product page it says "stereo 5.1 sound effects." Stereo, of course, is "2.0" not "5.1." I strongly doubt that this 9.95 dongle is a 5.1 soundcard replacement. The line-in is nice for 10 bux, though.

Jeremy - We never learned how to read!

Hearing Is Believing: Make It Sound As Good As It Feels

—now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I knew that sound well too. It was the beating of the old man's heart.

With the lights off and murder in the air, sound is the story in Edgar Allen Poe s classic The Tell-Tale Heart; groans, shrieks, and heartbeats paint a picture of sinister madness. 162 years after that story s publication, it is still sound that tells the story. It shapes how we interact in, feel about, and respond to our lit-up, digital world. As a result, aural aspects are key to establishing the identity, character, and emotional resonance of products. Yet sound too often remains a secondary consideration for designers, overshadowed by visual and tactile concerns. Unless sound is more fully understood and integrated into the design process, we risk ignoring its tremendous potential to create rich and meaningful user experiences.

Our brain pieces together a picture of the world from information delivered by our five senses. Sound provides an array of crucial information that helps us understand what we are seeing and experiencing, as well as what we cannot see. Reverberations from a round of applause, for example, tell us about the size and quality of space and materials, and about how the sound was made. The standing ovation of classical music fans produces a rich aural texture that describes the mid-sized, wood-paneled hall and the adult audience. The applause at a magic show in a grammar school cafeteria, on the other hand, fills the air with the tinny echo of little handclaps. Eyes closed, we still see both scenes clearly.

Sound also impacts how we feel. It carries emotional weight conditioned by lifetime experience and technical history. The original telephones rang when an electrical current triggered the tapping of a tiny bell—a sound that remains a figurative icon of the telephone call, and holds a visceral quality that elicits an emotional response. Whether it brings back the memory of a grandmother s kitchen, or simply recalls a clip from a favorite film, the ring sparks emotions in us conditioned by both its history and our own experience.

Today, our products are digital, portable, and pervasive. We live with them and around them, absorbing information and filtering noise at the periphery of our aural focus. We continually communicate with the devices in our lives, processing direct and ambient sounds in order to glean important information about the world. My mouse and I communicate, for example. Containing a Piezo speaker, Apple s Mighty Mouse emits subtle ticks and clicks when it is squeezed or pressed; these sounds augment the tactility of the mouse itself, and my interaction with it. They also integrate with and further define the product identity.

Music, for instance, has long been important in defining product identity. Microsoft wisely retained Brian Eno to create the 3 1/4 second long Windows startup piece, a composition Eno later referred to as a tiny little jewel. And in his recent book Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things, Donald Norman cites the implementation of sound in Richard Sapper s kettle with singing whistle by Alessi— it creates a chord of e and b when the water boils. Our history of musical literacy has conditioned us to an appreciation of musicality in sound. Its sophisticated integration into the design of products infuses the user experience with dimensionality and pleasure, and amplifies the product s emotional resonance.

Emotional resonance shapes both product and user identity; we wear the sounds of our products like audible badges. Our mobile phones, music players, and video games are as integral to our sense of self-expression as our clothes and hairstyles. A phone owner s ring tone selection, for example, is at once identifier and descriptor it tells us who the owner is and what she or he is like. The designers of the Hiptop (aka Sidekick), understanding this, enable users to roll their own ring tones by simply emailing sound clips in any format to the device. As the constraints of the medium shrink, the complexity of our audible identities will grow. Imagine spaces demarcated mostly by sound; we only hear the size, quality, and borders of rooms. The devices we carry or wear transmit history, preferences, and location information—even sound itself—shaping and shifting the aural environment. Future products that accommodate the need to express ourselves through sound will strike the deepest chord.

The immediacy of the visual obscures the power of sound, as well as the necessary role of sound in design. Yet sound is significant in shaping user experience, impacting a user s perception of a product. Without more careful consideration of sound as part of the design process, our experience with digital devices will suffer. More importantly, we will fail to design for a future where communication among people and devices is seamless, even transparent. After all, it isn t your imagination— It is the beating of his hideous heart!

Claudia Bernett is a Senior Design Analyst in frog s New York studio.

The frog Design Mind column appears every Monday on Gizmodo. Read more frog Design Mind.

Product Page [Sensitive Object via Module-Records]