Kickstarter find – SPLIT: The World’s Only Earbuds with no Strings Attached

split wireless ear bud mp3 player kickstarter greenwing audioThe ironic thing about most “wireless” earbuds is that while they don’t connect to your phone via a wire, they probably connect to EACH OTHER via some kind of wiring. Kinda betrays the concept when cables get caught behind the neck or on things like scarves…

Well, Greenwing Audio is looking to cut the cord, actually ALL the cords with SPLIT. SPLIT is a standalone music player which uses a low power radio signal and internal clocks to time left ear and right ear buds for playback. Greenwing is estimating radically less power consumption and radiation absorbed by the body that traditional Bluetooth wireless headphones.

Form factor is  about as minimal as you can get, pretty much just the size of a traditional earbud driver. This leaves about zero room for controls, but the SPLIT uses accelerometers to detect bite motions from your jaw to skip tracks and control volume. I’m not sure how SPLIT will determine between “control” bites and  say “eating” bites, but it’s a novel solution for keeping the earbuds as small as possible.

Greenwing has 27 days left to fund its project. Pricing looks like it’ll fall around $150 for a 256MB version of SPLIT. Check out the project video below. These things are teenie…


SPLIT on Kickstarter

Blue Microphones now offering Amazon exclusive colors for SnowBall USB Mic

blue microphones snow ball usb mic colors purple amazon somegadgetguyIf what was holding you back from buying a Snowball was the limited number of color options, Blue Microphones might just have the trick for you now.

Available today, the Snowball comes in a variety of colors, now on offer in Black, SIlver, Purple, Green, Pink, White, and Blue. Now while recording your podcasts or voice overs, you’ll have something a little more colorful to look at.

$99.99 out the door for those of you wanting to improve your home recordings, and Blue’s reputation here is pretty much second to none.

Blue Microphones’ Snowball on Amazon

(Video) Looking back at the Jawbone Jambox – Review and Audio Quality Test

jawbone jambox bluetooth wireless speaker audio quality test somegadgetguyMoving forward, I’ll be testing more accessories like I do smartphones.

You can find a collection of videos where I test the speakers on phones for example, using the same audio and video clips, so you can see and hear the differences between different phones. Bluetooth speakers are becoming very popular, and now I’ll be building that same audio test into my reviews. Starting with a speaker which really helped to popularize wireless audio, the OG Jawbone Jambox.

Coming soon, reviews on the HMDX Jam and Nokia Play360
Shop for the Jambox on Amazon.

Review: Blue Microphone’s Yeti Pro USB Microphone

Screenshot (88)An oldie, but a goodie.

Let’s take a look back at one of the best USB microphones currently on the market. The Yeti Pro is still chugging along as a great solution for those wanting to improve their home recording or podcasting capabilities.

Time to go hands on with this multi-pattern wunder-mic!

Open source audio editor Audacity updated with new reverb, bug fixes & improvements.

Audacity-logo-r-450wide-whitebgIf you like to record audio, music, podcasts on the cheap, chances are you’ve heard of Audacity. This program actually stands as one of my favorites, and has a feature set which rivals many paid audio editors. Plus if once you learn how to use it, it doesn’t matter what computer you use it on. Mac, PC, Linux it’s all the same.  You can even run it from a USB flash drive.

Well Audacity has received a nice little update. Focusing mostly on stability and bug fixes, there are a couple neat little new features included in 2.0.4. First a new reverb plug in will help you add all the echo you might want. Also, for Windows users, you can now record your computer’s playback by choosing the WASAPI host.

Grab the newest version from SourceForge, and check out the Audacity Wiki for the full list of fixes and improvements.

Review: The AfterShokz Sportz M2 Bone Conduction Headphones with Microphone (video)

Aftershockz spotz m2 bone conduction headphones with mic somegadgetguy reviewIt’s like listening to the future.

Bone conduction is a fascinating tech which is starting to work its way into the consumer space. The ability to interact with audio without blocking or covering your natural sense of hearing is like having a super power. Plus this tech should encourage safer behavior from people who use headphones while jogging or (cringe) operating a motor vehicle.

Plus they’re even cheaper on Amazon than when I originally shot this video: http://goo.gl/6PgjVU

Harvard researchers craft transparent audio speaker using ionic conduction

Now the science of this is just a touch above my pay grade, but this is apparently a proof of concept for the use of ionic conductors to carry electrical charge instead of electrons. These ionic conductors can be soft, stretchy, and completely transparent, things most electronics aren’t good at doing. This breakthrough could open all kinds of doors for “soft” electronics, and as the human body uses ions to transfer information (think signals from nerves to the brain and heart), we could be looking at the beginnings of better bio-engineering. A new generation of artificial organs and limbs could be on the horizon.

As it stands now, we have one really interesting commercial application on display in the attached video. Speaker systems which are completely transparent. Might not be a ton of practical application for such a design, but I’m sure there are folks out there who would prefer their audio set up blended in with the more modern aspects of their home’s interior decor.

I guess we might see a new industry arise featuring “Consumer Ionics” instead of electronics?

(via Harvard Gazette)