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When you think MIDI, you think musical keyboards, but what about wind instrument players? Saxophonists rejoice, there’s a new MIDI wind controller from Akai that s shaped like some kind of futuristic spacecraft. The Akai EWI400S lets wind instrument players add that special expression that comes with lung power, and then the musical results can…
The gay community has so much of its own culture at this point, so why not a music channel on AOL? No reason at all, it seems. Looks like AOL has launched a site called “G-Sides, Music for the GLBT Community,” which features all the “gay and lesbian artists we love.” Obviously, lots of Boy…
A quick recap: Hitachi put up some .wav files with the sounds of hard drives gone bad. Gizmodo is offering a sweet Tokyoflash Equalizer watch to the person who uses those sounds to create a song that makes the whole world sing. https://gizmodo.com/tokyoflash-equalizer-watch-reviewed-verdict-flashy-127409 The first batch of entries is in. You can give them a…
One-segment broadcasting is a service that allows you to watch terrestrial digital broadcasts from mobile phones and other devices. It will be available in Japan starting April 1. And Hitachi has produced a mobile phone to capitalize on this, it’s the W41H, and will be supplied by au. It has a 2.7-inch LCD display that…
It seems someone absconded with a PowerBook during a recent daylight heist of an Apple Store. The security cable was apparently cut and the thief slipped under the radar. Perhaps Apple Store employees missed the giant neon sign the culprit was wearing: Will Steal Merchandise if Left Unattended. Daylight Robbery at the Apple Store [The…
So our half-brothers out-of-wedlock twice-related, Kotaku, received a tip this morning saying that today the Xbox manufacturing would be stopped—most likely to pave way for the 360. The tip mentioned that Microsoft had no intention to keep the Xbox v1.0 any longer and would turn it into a bargain bin console. http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/xbox/the-xbox-is-dead-150209.php The Kotaku sleuths…
This is a concept phone that uses E-Ink. The idea is that the user can customize the front face, phone pad, turn it into a QWERTY keyboard, MP3 player or whatever. I think the thinness of this device is a bit much to expect given the proposed functionality, but not outside the realm of the…
The SCH B500 should be considered a camera with some phone functions. This is obviously more importantly a camera than an actual phone. The camera is 7.7 megapixels and it even has an optical zoom. With the lens retracted it is nearly an inch thick and with the lens out it easily pushes two inches.…
The Thecus Y.E.S. Box is an all-in-one music server great for any home with multiple PCs all wanting to share music easily. There are a variety of different models—a barebones unit that comes with no hard drives, a base 120GB model and lastly a model featuring two 500GB SATA drives for 1TB of completely legal…
Here’s a variation of the Sleep Tracker Watch, the device that wakes you up depending on your sleep rhythms. The aXbo Sleep Phase Alarm Clock takes that design a step further, and substitutes a comfy sweatband-encased sensor instead of that clunky watch you have to wear to bed. The aXbo wrist band communicates wirelessly with…
Yes, that’s right, not only was there a text messaging world record, but now it’s been broken. Obviously by someone really, really bored or just unable to speak words to other human beings. Whatever the case, Kimberly Yeo, a 28 year old Singaporean business student has smashed—yes smashed, I say—the Guinness World Record, making the…
You must already be wondering how a simple device like an ashtray can be USB powered. This device requires USB power to properly suck all of the delicious tar out of the air. When I’m sitting around at my computer smoking I would hate the thought of possibly getting smoke in or around my computer…
Here’s one weird cooking idea: a sandwich pan that’s shaped like a devil. And it’s not like one of those super cool and easy panini makers where you plug it in and stick a sandwich inside. This is old school. You actually have to put it on the stove, which is kind of a bummer.…
Europe’s cellphone carrier Vodaphone has announced a laptop card that will support High Speed Data Packet Access (HSDPA), helping you boost your bandwidth and upgrade to 3G networks. Part of its Mobile Connect Card Broadband, it’s based on Option’s GlobeTrotter HSPDA card and can bring you download speeds of up to 1.8Mbps—which is 5 times…
Gil Kuno has designed an instrument to be played by his band—composed of six musicians—each of which responsible for their own sound. It is just a big-ass guitar and each musician has one string to play. It does create a new and unique sound that could be appealing to people in certain drug-induced trances. Follow…
The Himawari Sunlight System is a solariffic way to light your house that won’t add a cent to your electric bill. There’s a solar collector you put on the roof (on left above) that tracks the sun all day, and distributes that light via fiber optic cable to any room in the house. You can…
Normally, modifying cheap ballpoint pens is reserved for the prison tattooing systems, but this is a handy mod to boost the signal of a laptop wireless card with some tools. This process is done with the help of 1 foot of rg58 cable, a pen knife, ruler, wirecutters, masking tape and a soldering iron and…
This week at TreeHugger: A Toronto architect proposes an infrastructure of elevated cycle tracks called “Velo-city” that creates a totally tubular bicycle network across the city. We drool over a jaw-dropping new three-wheeled hybrid concept car that gets 330 mpg and will cost less than $20,000, and debate the plausibility of such a concept ever…
Here’s a heartwarming story for you this morning. Seems a Botswanan company called Godisa Technologies has found a way to make a low-cost hearing aid for the developing world called the SolarAid—using a solar charger. Strangely enough, Godisa is Africa’s only hearing aid manufacturer, and the SolarAid uses what the company calls “the first No.…
Here are two companies that need to make more money. And to do that, they may just be joining forces to bring you iPod MP3 download stations in Starbucks stores. Now you won’t have to deal with those silly themed Starbucks CDs they sell with the packaged coffee. You’ll be able to just download the…