Brookstone Big Blue Media Tower looks to dominate your living room’s skyline

The Big Blue Media tower from gadget-guru Brookstone packs 2.1 audio into a vertical sound bar solution.

Brookstone recently introduced its new Big Blue Media Tower, the third entry in a line of Bluetooth-enabled speakers. It’s described as a 38-inch tall vertical sound bar and supports streaming from phones, tablets, computers, and any other Bluetooth devices you might possess. Despite its focus on wireless technology, however, the Big Blue includes a analog audio inputs, an auxiliary output jack and a digital optical audio input. Brookstone has even tossed in a six-foot optical cable as well.

The new kid on Brookstone’s block features dual 1.5-inch tweeters and 3-inch mid-range drivers. The tower also houses a ported, 30-watt powered subwoofer. Brookstone has designed Big Blue’s speakers so that they are aimed at different angles, a move which is said to produce an omnipresent sound. We saw speaker orientation make a difference with Boston Acoustics’ MC200air, and if the tower can produce a similarly immersive sound, we’d be excited to check it out.

The Big Blue Media Tower will be available online and in Brookstone stores on December 5th and is set to retail for $400

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Beluga whale can mimic human speech with surprising accuracy

A recent study uncovered that a beluga whale had the ability to mimic the sound of human speech -- but it might not be what you're expecting to hear.

Move over, parrots. There’s a new animal in town that can mimic the sound of humans talking, and it’s NOC, a male Beluga whale who was residing National Marine Mammal Foundation in San Diego in 1984 before he died five years ago. A recent study published by Current Biology in the latest October issue found that “spontaneous human speech mimicry by a cetacean” was possible thanks to recordings by NOC.

The story of NOC’s talking is actually quite adorable: Initially, divers claimed they’d always hear strange noises underwater but thought NOC’s voice was the sound of two people chattering in a distance. But when a group of divers trained outside of NOC’s enclosure and thought they heard someone telling them to get out, they realized it was NOC “speaking.” After the incident, divers began studying the series of sounds coming out of NOC’s mouth, and discovered that the white cetacean was mimicking the sounds of humans talking.

“[The] team recorded NOC’s calls, and found that their acoustic features were very unlike typical whale sounds, but not unlike those of human speech,” Discover Magazine reports. “The rhythm was comparable, with vocal bursts that lasted for around three seconds and gaps of less than 0.5 seconds.”

The study goes on to further find that it was unlikely that NOC learned how to speak, but was simply “interested” in the sounds heard around him. Which wouldn’t be surprising, given that whales are also pretty vocal animals, and closely related to its Cetacean sibling, the dolphin. Eventually, the study ended as NOC began to slowed his speech after four years, and passed after 30 years at the NMMF.

So I bet you’re dying to hear how a beluga whale interprets the way we talk. Hold on to your hats, the accuracy is going to blow your mind.

Not what you were expecting, huh? Yes, his voice sounds a bit like a kazoo, but to NOC’s credit, he’s pretty on par with an average Ke$ha song — and it’s honestly not too far off from the typical city chatter or a person fighting on the phone with a telemarketer. Had this discovery been around just a couple of years earlier, he would have been a great candidate for a collaboration with Beyonce and Jay-Z’s baby for a record-breaking single, featuring baby Ivy Blue and NOC the talking Beluga. Ah, the possibilities. Rest in peace, NOC, and thanks for wonderful human depiction.

Image Credit: Flickr/Lars Plougmann

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

First Felix Baumgartner head-cam footage hits the Earth

Felix Baumgartner, the Austrian who happens to be the first person to break the speed of sound without mechanical gizmos, holds the record for highest manned flight in a baloon and highest free fall jump and fastest descent, filmed the whole extravaganza on his head-cam.

The video is now available to watch but it is pretty sickening if you’re the faint of heart – the whole earth is literally spinning ike crazy.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, or you know, somewhere out of touch with under the social networks, and you’ve missed Felix Baumgartner’s feat – he ascended about 38 km in a baloon and then jumped feet-first back to Earth. It’s quite astonishing, really.

And in case you missed the live feed from the jump itself, you can have a look at the mission highlights video.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Yamaha’s new Digital Sound Projectors target your ears

Tweet

September 7, 2012

Yamaha's latest Digital Sound Projectors may be expensive, but they deliver some pretty nifty features and impressive sound.

Yamaha has incorporated some genuinely useful, slick features into its recently announced Digital Sound Projectors — AKA sound bars — that successfully distinguish them from the ballooning sound bar market.

We especially liked the elevated design, which allows the sound bar to slide over most flat-panel TV stands, and we think Yamaha’s decision to revisit its targeted sound technology is a smart one. In this video from CEDIA 2012 show floor, Erika from Yamaha explains some of the finer points of the YSP-3300 (due in December for a suggested $1,600) and YSP-4300 (due in December for a suggested $1,900).

As usual, the show floor was too noisy to make a decent assessment of sound quality, but we can vouch for the subwoofer’s capability to get plenty loud and the almost unnerving ability for the sound bars to target sound in one particular direction with almost a 30db drop in volume outside its intended listening area. 

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Yamaha’s new Digital Sound Projectors target your ears

Tweet

September 6, 2012

Yamaha's latest Digital Sound Projectors may be expensive, but they deliver some pretty nifty features and impressive sound.

Yamaha has incorporated some genuinely useful, slick features into its recently announced Digital Sound Projectors — AKA sound bars — that successfully distinguish them from the ballooning sound bar market.

We especially liked the elevated design, which allows the sound bar to slide over most flat-panel TV stands, and we think Yamaha’s decision to revisit its targeted sound technology is a smart one. In this video from CEDIA 2012 show floor, Erika from Yamaha explains some of the finer points of the YSP-3300 (due in December for a suggested $1,600) and YSP-4300 (due in December for a suggested $1,900).

As usual, the show floor was too noisy to make a decent assessment of sound quality, but we can vouch for the subwoofer’s capability to get plenty loud and the almost unnerving ability for the sound bars to target sound in one particular direction with almost a 30db drop in volume outside its intended listening area. 

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

NuForce DDA-100 digital amp ditches DAC for smoother sound

By removing the digital analog converter, the DDA-100 creates a more direct path from amplifier to speaker, resulting in smoother sound.

Now that the novelty of the MP3 has worn off, lovers of digitally delivered music have come to realize that low bit-rate music files sound terrible. The good news is that, as a result, there is more high-resolution digital music available than ever before. But a problem remains in that high-res digital music files don’t translate into excellent-sounding tunes if the digital to analog converter (DAC) destroys the information on its way to our ears (we’re looking at you, iPhone!). That’s just the conundrum NuForce is targeting with its new DDA-100 Direct-Digital Integrated Amplifier. The DDA-100 gets rid of the DAC in an effort to deliver high-res digital music in all its glory, all at a price that makes this kind of technology available to more people than ever before.

Traditional amplifiers need information in analog form, and the conversion from digital can affect audio quality in a big way, for better or worse. The DDA-100 yanks the DAC from the signal path and converts the audio at the speaker outputs. Since the audio signal travels through fewer parts, following a more direct path to the speaker, the sound should be cleaner.

That luxury comes with a price. The DDA-100 has an MSRP of $550, but for Direct-Digital Integrated Amplifiers that’s actually on the cheap side, with competitor’s prices in the thousands, not hundreds. This is one way to clean up audio without cleaning out a bank account at the same time.

The DDA-100 can handle four digital sources – a USB 2.0, a coaxial and two optical inputs line the rear of the amp. It drives speakers via a 75-watt RMS/250-watt peak (per channel) amplifier. Also included is a remote control to change inputs and volume while lounging comfortably and a pretty sleek design just nine inches wide.

The DDA-100 looks promising for computers, Blu-ray players and anything with digital audio outputs. But it’s not compatible with the most popular digital music devices in use today–specifically,  iOS devices. To get a digital stream from your iOS device, you need a  something like NuForce’s Icon iDo, which bypasses an iOS device’s built-in DAC and extracts the stored audio data in its original form via USB host mode. The DDA-100 simply isn’t designed to do that. 

On paper, the DDA-100 seems like a quality product, but we’ll be reviewing NuForce’s latest to see if it can deliver on all its promises. Check back with Digital Trends for the full review.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Video Game Review: ‘Sound Shapes’ for PS Vita

                                                                                          (Image Credit: Sound Shapes/Sony)

Let me start right off by saying that “Sound Shapes” is one of the most satisfying games I’ve played in a long time. There is no story, and there are no long-winded cut scenes. Nothing blows up. The game is platforming at its simplest, combined with a musical component that is raw unadulterated fun. If you own a Vita, you must own this game.

As I mentioned, “Sound Shapes” is a classic side-scrolling platformer at its core. The player controls a round ball as you navigate past dangerous objects and maniacal little creatures. It’s simple. The ball can touch anything as long as it isn’t red. If you touch anything red, your avatar disintegrates and you start back at the last check point. Check points are never far apart, so most likely you’ll have to repeat the last few seconds of game play.

As your little ball scrolls across the landscape, you can stick to most surfaces, or hold down the square-right triggers to lose your stickiness and speed up the ball. Pressing another button causes the ball to jump. In some cases you can float through the screen, making sure to avoid any evil obstacles. That’s pretty much it. Stick, run, float and jump. You don’t get any more basic than that.

                                                                         Let the Music Move You (Image Credit: Sony)

Every action you take in the game results in a beautiful musical arrangement. The levels start off with a couple beats, but then your actions cause more beats, and then more. Soon, everything you touch sets off more notes, and a whole symphony is born. Each level contains a specific amount of “coins” one must collect. With each coin, new beats are added to the musical experience, adding yet another fantastic dimension to the game.

All the music in the game is original and has been written by I Am Robot and Proud, Jim Guthrie, Deadmau5, and Beck. That’s right, even Beck has contributed three original tracks to the game, and they’re amazing.

Let’s stay on the whole Beck thing for a minute. “Sound Shapes” contains three previously unreleased full-length tracks from Beck. Each track is its own playable level within campaign mode. Once you beat the levels, you can then use these original Beck titles or any other tracks you’ve obtained to create your own world. I’ve played through all three of these levels and I can honestly say the tracks are awesome.

                                                                Hit the Red and You’re Dead (Image Credit: Sony)

The artwork of each level is beautiful. All of it is original and done by notable artists Capy, Queasy, Pixeljam, Superbrothers and Pyramid Attack.  You’ll find yourself immediately pulled in by how simple the level design is, but amazed at the beauty of it all.

Completing each level unlocks the tools players need to build their own “Sound Shapes” levels.  Players can compose full levels and music easily with the touch-screen interface and back-touch panel.  Players can upload their levels and share with friends as well. There is no limit to what one can create. The campaign mode might only contain 20 levels, but it’s the ability to create your own that gives “Sound Shapes” infinite replay value.

“Sound Shapes” is one of the most beautifully creative games I’ve played in a very long time. I marveled at its simplicity and brilliance as I played. The music you create as you complete each level is magnificent, and being able to use that music to create your own world is exceptionally fun. Like the game itself, I’ll end this on a simple note. Of all the games I’ve played over the years, this is the first one to genuinely make me smile.

“Sound Shapes” was developed by Queasy Games and is available for $14.99.

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com