Tatum and Denim blog

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video, Transportation, Wireless

Hey all you Sportster fans out there, don’t think we forgot about you in the midst of all the Stiletto 2 excitement. Sirius let us snap a few shots of this latest iteration in their popular line of dock-and-play radios, but frankly, you’ll probably get a better feel for its color screen in the professionally done press photos here than from the handful of shaky pics we managed to fire off. A little more exciting are the live shots we got of the upcoming SCV1 backseat tuner and kid-friendly remote, along with a sample of the video feed — none of which were in the press material sent out today. Also of interest to Sonos owners out there will be the screenshots of Sirius doing its streaming thing over the multi-zone system — and while the GUI is certainly tight, we weren’t paying enough attention to really attest to the quality of low bitrate audio they’re offering. Click below for all the hands-on goodness…

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Portable Audio

Looking to one-up the well received EVOKE-1XT is the EVOKE-1S, the latest DAB radio to fly out of Pure Digital’s doors. This device supports the optional ChargePAK, features an OLED display, and is compatible with textSCAN and Intellitext as well. Furthermore, the 3.5-millimeter auxiliary jack enables your favorite DAP to get some play time through this too, and the built-in FM tuner is always around for backup. Most notable, however, is the uber-green approach Pure took when designing this unit, as it arrives in packaging made from a minimum of 70-percent recycled material, consumes just one-watt of power in standby, is finished with water-based varnish, and includes documentation printed on 100-percent recycled paper. The EVOKE-1S will be available in real maple or cherry veneer, and will only run you £99.99 ($202) this September.

[Via T3]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Portable Audio

A touch screen on a stationary radio may seem a touch overkill, but that evidently hasn’t stopped Bush from creating a DAB radio with one on the front. The ridiculously code-named TR04DABBLK has touch buttons in the place of physical buttons, and has up to 10 preset DAB stations, and 10 regular FM station presets. Other than that it features two line scrolling text on an LED display — oooh, ahh — and costs £45 (around $90). Move along please, nothing to touch here.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Portable Audio

And we thought these folks claiming that random electrical / WiFi / RF waves could turn you into a toad were off-kilter. Recently, a push has reportedly been going on in content guardian circles which would force anti-stream-ripping DRM software to be latched onto internet radio feeds everywhere, presumably to combat the elusive cash-stealing epidemic going on across the globe. As you’ll recall, the RIAA has already demanded that XM-Sirius pay higher royalty rates because of (wait, we’re still searching), but thankfully, the Digital Freedom Campaign stepped into action and proclaimed that “requiring webcasters to implement mandatory DRM technologies to prevent any personal recording of internet radio streams is an imposition on both webcasters and consumers.” ‘Course, this statement came after Mitch Glazier (of the RIAA) purportedly stated that there was no need to wait until the aforementioned ripping became “a big problem to start addressing it,” insinuating that we should all just blindly deal with another restriction regardless if there’s actually a problem that needs to be solved. Interesting logic, indeed.

[Via CreateDigitalMusic]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Home Entertainment

Tivoli, well known for its iconic Model One table radio, has commissioned Scandinavian designer Per Sundberg to re-envision its simple radio design — and boy has he come up with a winner. For the extremely affordable price of 39,000 SEK (or about $5,866), you can buy one of these limited edition little radios covered in handcrafted crystal. Of course, the Model One normally sells for $119, but it’s not like you’re investing in just any old tuner — this one gets AM and FM stations.

[Via technabob]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Portable Audio

In the unceasing feud between the RIAA and satellite radio, the agency has rekindled the fire by encouraging the FCC to “require the merged companies to pay higher royalty rates to the record industry.” Reportedly, the RIAA argued that the firms were “no longer new, struggling companies that could get away with paying below-market rates,” and further salted the wound by insisting that the FCC “make clear that its approval of a merger was conditioned upon the continued protection of sound recordings from unlawful infringement.” Of course, a number of senators have already voiced their concern for more limitations on satellite radio streams, but unsurprisingly, it seems like the RIAA wants these lofty wishes to become reality (and in a hurry).

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: GPS, Transportation

Sanyo’s taking a break from releasing all those projectors to focus on its in-car lineup, as it introduces a well-spec’d double-DIN navigation unit dubbed the NVA-HD1700DT. The head unit sports a seven-inch QVGA display, built-in DVD player and 30GB hard drive, and even a 1Seg TV tuner for catching up on sitcom reruns whilst stuck in traffic. Additionally, you’ll find an FM tuner, 43-watt x 4 amplifier, and an integrated GPS antenna to keep you headed in the right direction. Unfortunately, there’s no word on whether an Americanized version of this system will make its way over, but those in Japan can pick one up later this month for a staggering ¥285,600 ($2,332).

[Via Impress]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Portable Audio, Wearables

Oppo most certainly is accustomed to cranking out digital music players with eye-catching designs, and the pendant-styled UP-9 is no exception. Showcased in Korea, this wee DAP sports a jeweled exterior, diminutive display for showing track names, time remaining, and battery life information, a built-in FM / AM radio tuner, recording functions, equalizer settings, and an obligatory lanyard for tossing around your neck, arm, or other extremity. The unit will reportedly come loaded with 1GB of internal capacity, and while there’s no sign of an American release, those in South Korea can snag one for ₩79,000 ($85).

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio

If you’re feeling a little constricted by the relatively limited amount of digital download venues out there (especially across the pond), Imagination Technologies and UBC Media Group are on the rescue wagon. Recently, the duo has announced plans to create a service which will “allow listeners to purchase music directly from DAB digital radios.” The system will reportedly combine Imagination’s new DAB and internet digital radio platform with UBC’s Cliq instant music purchase technology, which will satisfy the desire for instant gratification by providing a “buy now” option on select DAB radio stations. Exact terms remain undisclosed at the moment, but we do know that those oh-so-attractive Pure Digital systems will be among the first to sport said purchasing technology whenever it goes mainstream.

[Via RegHardware]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation

If you’ve found yourself tempted by other interesting DIY aerial photography rigs, but spent all your dough on the Nokia N95 instead, you may still be able to make a lifelong (or momentary) dream come true. A pioneering lad over at the N95 Blog has suggested that nearly unlimited high-resolution aerial photography can be yours if you’re willing to strap your precious handset to an RC plane and get savvy with Pict’Earth software. The application allows users to create a theoretical Google Earth of their own if the existing imagery isn’t up to snuff with their personal standards. Still, we’d have to mull this one over mighty hard before attaching such a valuable communicator to a potential death bed, but feel free to let us know how things go if you can muster the courage.

[Via AllAboutSymbian]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Looks like Summer Infant has a whole lot of explaining to do after one of its baby monitors has reportedly been able to “pick up black-and-white video from inside the space shuttle Atlantis.” A Chicago-based mother probably had uncomfortable flashbacks to Signs after her newly purchased monitoring system chose to broadcast video of the mission right on the screen, but a NASA spokeswoman has already deflated hope that it was somehow coming directly from the shuttle. Apparently, a live feed is also available on NASA’s website, which is leading investigators to focus on more earthly origins — the mom, however, will probably just cancel her cable and keep on watching intently “to see what happens next.”

[Thanks, Joe]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Portable Audio, Wireless

Eleksen’s newest “Common Interface” technology doesn’t do you much good without modules to interact with it, so the company has introduced a bevy of accessories that play nice with the next-generation embeddable ElekTex sensor. Up first is an FM radio add-on, which offers consumers access to FM broadcasts either from a commercial radio station or FM transmitter, and is fully controlled by an ElekTex fabric sensor integrated into any garment or knapsack. Next up, we’ve got “updated electronics modules for iPod and iPod+Bluetooth devices,” and while details are certainly slimmer on this one, we do know that the sensor is “programmable and compatible with a range of electronics including iPods, smartphones and other personal digital devices.” Now, let’s see some end products with this stuff in it, capiche?

Read - Eleksen’s FM Radio module
Read - Eleksen’s iPod, Bluetooth modules

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Portable Audio

Although the most recent buzz surrounding satellite radio as a whole has focused more on the unexpected outages (and furthermore, the lame excuse for an apology), a mysterious FCC document piqued the interest of those paying close attention to the sat radio realm. A Korean company dubbed i-Sirius Co., Ltd. had somehow snuck onto the scene, and without much to go by aside from the intriguing name, speculators began to run wild with visions of potential partnerships and new radio devices, but it seems that the whole fiasco has ended with a thud. The inspection of a SAR test report has apparently revealed that the company’s latest offering has nothing to do with Sirius or the satellite radio industry at all, as the application is for a GSM 850 / 1900 dual-band phone branded as the Motorola FX-850P. Hate to burst any not-yet-popped bubbles out there, but don’t count on this being the last time an FCC find doesn’t exactly live up to unsubstantiated expectations. [Warning: PDF read link]

[Via Orbitcast]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Portable Audio, Wireless

For the XM Radio subscribers who haven’t patiently waited to hastily cancel your subscription just yet, we’re sure you’re well aware that the outages from yesterday are still lingering on. Reportedly, “software problems resulted in the loss of one of the network’s four satellite signals,” and while it expected to have everything back to normal by last night, sometime today is looking more likely. The company stated that “the problem occurred during the loading of software to a critical component of the satellite broadcast system,” and while XM has urged listeners to tune in online if possible, we all know this doesn‘t solve much. Notably, analysts are already pondering just how much loyalty (and cashflow) XM will lose from such an outage, and while we won’t bother to guess, each passing minute of dead air won’t do the customer satisfaction surveys any favors.

Update: XM is claiming service is back to normal.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals

We’ve got Bluetooth headsets that cancel noise, amplify voices, and make you look good not entirely cockamamie, but Sound ID’s latest iteration actually gives you one less reason to ever take it off. The minuscule earpiece sports compatibility with handsfree Bluetooth profiles, around eight hours of talk time and 72 hours of standby, auditory and visual low battery warnings, dual omni-directional silicon microphones, and a trio of modes to fit your situation. It also touts a NoiseNavigation feature that magnifies and cancels appropriate sounds automatically, and just in case you get tired of only hearing face-to-face conversations out of one ear, the “Environmental Mode” actually brings in ambient noise in order to make you forget about the critter hanging off your eyeglass holder. Notably, the $129.99 SM100 even features a One2One mode that enables “Bluetooth communication between two modules” without the use of a cellphone, which should definitely appease the anti-social social crowd.

[Via Slashphone]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio

Joining the hordes of other fine music servers out there that have caved to the silent iPod demands, Terratec’s latest has ponied up the ten-percent in order to boast about iPod compatibility. The NOXON 2 music streamer sports a stylish white, silver, and black motif, a top-mounted iPod dock, USB host port for connecting flash drives and external HDDs, optical audio output, headphone jack, streaming internet radio sans a PC, FM tuner, a wireless remote, built-in in Ethernet, and WiFi to boot. The device also supports OS X, Linux, and several flavors of Windows, 802.11b/g, 802.3(u), UPnP, WEP, WPA / WPA2, and a plethora of audio formats including MP3, M3U, PLS, OGG, AAC, WAV, and WMA. Notably, this unit actually packs its own 2.1 speaker system if you’re on the go, which consists of a three-inch “subwoofer” and a pair of 1.5-inch tweeters, leaving us all to wonder where the integrated mids are. Still, such a convenient little streamer won’t run you cheap, as Terratec apparently feels this thing is worth a whopping €349 ($473).

[Via Slashgear]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Hey, we can’t all live in the pimped out mansions or nicely appointed lodges, but an NYU graduate student is making it her personal mission to do something substantial about it. The living portable project has yielded a cardboard-based Shell House contraption that requires just $35 worth of material, a bit of time, and a hearty dose of generosity. The DIY project allows interested citizens to build collapsible houses for homeless individuals, and moreover, gives them an opportunity to experience ubiquitous computing by way of an integrated radio network. Moreover, you can couple this with a homegrown solar heater, and you’ve got yourself a date with nature.

[Via Core77]
Read - Instructions on building a Shell House
Read - Shell House homepage

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Portable Audio

Streaming internet radio through the home most certainly isn’t new, but Tables Turned is making good use of its name by flipping the sequence in reverse and allowing users to create their own radio stations and blast them back to the web. The aptly-named Audiobot Pro is a Linux-based device which enables customers to “distribute audio to radio stations and music venues.” Made for those who adore simplicity, you simply connect up an audio source and it “automatically records, formats, and uploads MP3 recordings to any website.” Moreover, it can also broadcast an actual internet radio stream for others to tune into, and each Audiobot operator can control the device by inserting their own “uniquely encoded USB key into the front of the device.” Don’t expect to crank up your own pirate station without a bit of up-front costs, however, as the Audiobot Pro will set you back $1,200 right from the start.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Wireless

Sure, there’s quite a few way to circumvent the effects of asthma, but a new development coming out of McMaster University in Canada suggests that radiofrequency treatment can actually curb the amount of asthma attacks suffered by asthmatics. The device, which “uses radio waves to heat the muscle lining of patients’ airways,” is used to administer a trio of sessions, and while the actual root cause is still unknown, it seems to cause a reduction in the smooth muscle lining the airways, subsequently making breathing less of a chore. The probe isn’t the most comfortable, however, as it must first make its way through your nose or mouth in order to reach the lung airways, after which the tip is “heated using radio waves.” The procedure is known as bronchial thermoplasty, and while the funding company (Asthmatx) has yet to elicit a thumbs-up from the FDA, it could certainly become a viable alternative for asthma sufferers. It’s about time these free-flying transmissions made up for the harm they’ve caused, eh?

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Peripherals

We know, energy without wires has always seemed like one of those novel concepts that sounds terrific in theory, but remains a tad difficult to imagine hitting the commercial scene for some time to come. Apparently, all that is about to become nonsense, as a Pennsylvania-based startup is set to capture the wireless-loving hearts of, um, everyone when it tackles contactless power products. Powercast has already “signed nondisclosure agreements to develop products with more than 100 companies (Philips, for instance), including major manufacturers of cellphones, MP3 players, automotive parts, temperature sensors, hearing aids, and medical implants.” The firm’s radio-wave-receiving miracle device trumps existing attempts by “adjusting to variations in load and field strength while maintaining a constant DC voltage,” essentially ensuring that only low wattages (read: the stuff that garners FCC admiration) are flung around. The system basically consists of two parts — a wall-plug transmitter and a “dime-sized receiver” that handles the real magic — and energy is instantly transmitted whenever that disc comes within a yard or so of its tag-team partner. Incredibly, the receiver only costs “about $5″ to produce, yet the outfit has already secured upwards of $10 million in private funding, which translates into one less American that desperately needs to win the lottery. Get ready folks, if all goes well, Powercast will be shipping “many millions of units” by the end of 2008 — and maybe even sooner.

[Via TWW]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Portable Audio

Just about the time that XM Radio was finally able to sit down and hammer out some figures for the upcoming merger, the poor satellite radio firm has hit yet another legal snag, and this time it’s care of the NMPA. The National Music Publishers Association have officially filed suit against XM, claiming that the “XM + MP3″ music service bypasses copyright laws by giving users the ability “to make permanent copies of on-air tracks” with units like the hotly-debated Inno. Quite similar to other gripes brought against the outfit in the past, this dispute claims that XM’s service “constitutes pervasive and willful copyright infringement to the overwhelming detriment of copyright holders, legitimate online music services and, ultimately, consumers,” but we’re still scratching our heads on the “consumers” bit too. Nevertheless, the NMPA is requesting demanding a maximum of $150,000 in “damages” for each work purportedly infringed by XM, but the sat radio company seems to be brushing this one aside as it claims that “the lawsuit is without merit.” These guys just can’t do anything right, eh?

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Portable Audio

Don’t look now, but it appears that Sagem is taking a brief break from kicking out Bluetooth accessories and smartphones to delve into the oft ignored world of internet radio boomboxes. The Sagem My Dual Radio 700 touts a lopsided design, a very noticeable antenna, and a built-in LCD screen to keep you in the know. Feature wise, it plays nice with internet radio signals (via WiFi or Ethernet) and FM radio, while also supporting RDS and MP3s via the integrated USB port. Additionally, you’ll find a 3.5-millimeter headphone jack, wireless remote, RCA stereo outputs, two-watt amplifier, and an obligatory alarm clock function to get you all cranked up in the AM. Sure, we have our doubts about the sound quality here too, but if you’re looking to cover most of your audio bases in a single device, and are hoping to keep it all under €150 ($200), you can look Sagem’s way when this thing reportedly lands next month.

[Via TRFJ]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Portable Audio

We already know just how “priceless” the XM / Sirius merger will be, that your current radio will probably still function just fine, and that both firms are still facing legal heat in one way or another, but we hadn’t heard just how the newlyweds would handle the pricing of the new service — until now. In a decision sure to make a few people elated while giving a hint of suspicion to most others, the merged company will offer customers a package that includes “less channels” at a monthly price lower than $12.95, one that seems “substantially similar” for exactly $12.95, and finally, a third option that touts even more channels for “a modest premium.” We can only assume that the pricey third alternative will boast a nice mixture of both companies’ existing lineups, but unfortunately, it also leaves open the possibility that the cheaper two options might exemplify the “you only get what you pay for” tagline.

[Thanks, Frankenstein B.]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!