H2O Audio has launched a pair of waterproof headphones to do exactly what’s said on the tin: deliver music to your ears while you’re immersed in the pool, the ocean or a hot tub.

The Surge headphones use 8mm neodymium drivers and work to a depth of 3.6m. The cans are also noise cancelling, so you won’t have to put up with the cries of screaming kids during your breaststroke.

Five different sizes of earpiece are also thrown in, so you’re guaranteed of a secure lughole fit. The headphone’s 3.5mm jack is even gold-plated.

Of course, waterproof headphones are useless if your iPod isn’t wrapped up in a waterproof case. So H2O Audio’s also launched the Amphibx, which is guaranteed to provide a 100 per cent watertight and secure seal around a selection of players, including the Nano and iPhone. Continue Reading…

Reader tip-offs have alerted blog Engadget to the existence of mysterious 4GB Apple iPod nanos appearing on retailer’s shelves and sites.

The new nano is only available in 8GB and 16GB models so the appearance of the smaller capacity model is being reported as a mystery.

With pricing said to be around 119 euros, at least from one Dutch shop, Apple’s UK and US sites don’t list the smaller models – but we have been able to get to the bottom of why this is.

An Apple spokesperson has told Pocket-lint: “We made a limited number of 4GB iPod nanos for some international markets, but this is not one of our main configurations.”

JVC's new LCD TVs feature integrated iPod dock

The impact of MP3 and MP3 players on the way we consume music has been massive – more people now listen to music than ever before and there has been a fundamental mindset shift about the portability and accessibility of music. Video too seems destined for the same mindset shift and the latest pointer to this is that JVC’s latest LCD Tvs all feature JVC’s new TeleDock®, a flip-down iPod dock at the base of the set, providing a direct connection for playback through the TV.

The new JVC P-Series includes the 32-inch LT-32P679, 42-inch LT-42P789, 47-inch LT-47P789 and the 52-inch LT-52P789. The LT-32P679 is a 768p model, while the others offer 1080p resolution.

When an iPod is docked, a menu appears on the TV screen for selecting music, music shuffle or video playback. iPod can be controlled from the TV’s remote, which includes a circular keypad with a control scheme that mimics the iPod’s control wheel. Photos can also be displayed as a slide show along with music. During music playback, song title and artist name are displayed on the TV screen. During video playback, low resolution files, such as internet videos, can be displayed in a small screen mode. Higher resolution video can be shown in nine aspect modes at full screen. There’s also the option to play music files while the TV displays television programming. In addition, the iPod will charge while docked whether the TV’s power is on or off. Continue Reading…

Directvoxx muso

DirectVoxx has introduced its muso Voice Control for iPod. The muso is a small dock-connecting accessory that allows users to access their music with natural voice commands. According to the company, the device “synchronizes with the user’s iTunes library directly on first use and requires no training to understand requests such as ‘Play me some Led Zeppelin,’ ‘How about some Rolling Stones,’ ‘Gimme jazz’ or ‘Go to My Broadway Tunes playlist.’”

With current support for a wide variety of English phrases, DirectVoxx says non-English multilingual support is coming in 2009. The device is self-powered by an internal rechargeable battery offering ten hours of use under “normal operating conditions.” It includes a sync/charge cable and a remote control, and will be available for the iPod nano in December for $159, with a future iPod/iPhone compatible model planned for release “as soon as possible.”

You want an Apple iMac, but don’t have either the space or funds for one. What do you do? One Japanese manufacturer has designed a dock that gives the iPod Touch the appearance of a miniature iMac.The so-called iClooly is simply an aluminium stand that, unsurprisingly, measures just slightly larger than the Touch – allowing Apple’s portable music device to slot horizontally inside. The stand doesn’t boast as much processing power as the 3.06GHz iMac, but is much more portable because the dock weighs just 55g. It’s even got a circular hole in the back, for cables.

The Touch dock can also rotate through 90°, enabling you to use the music and movie gadget in either a portrait or landscape orientation.

Presumably there are several advantages to slotting your Touch into an iMac-alike dock, although most probably centre on aesthetics. For example, it’ll make the player look much sleeker when sat beside your MacBook Air.

UK specific pricing details or availability haven’t been announced yet – the unit was released in Japan today – but more details are available online. Continue Reading…

As part of its recent Zune update, Microsoft has revealed that it has sold two million of the music players since their launch in November 2006, revealing relatively flat growth for the device lineup. Although the company originally promised and slightly exceeded a target for its first million sales between the original launch date and June 2007, the company has largely remained silent on its data for its players in nearly a year.

The sales still give Microsoft a slight gain in overall US marketshare from three to four percent, according to figures published by the NPD Group.

However, the figures also indicate fragmentation in Microsoft’s sales in the wake of the company’s second-generation Zune players. The electronics maker had sold its first million using solely the pioneering 30GB model but since November has been selling two inexpensive flash-based models as well as two hard drive players, with the Zune’s slow growth indicating little effect on the market for its broader product range.

Such slowdowns have been partly attributed to current and predicted drops in spending on MP3 players triggered both by a US economic downturn as well as saturation of the market, as few purchases are being made by first-time buyers regardless of the brand. Continue Reading…

We didn’t realise it, but an MP3 player can kill you. According to Australian police, that is, who have launched a series of hard-hitting posters designed to stop people crossing roads while changing tracks.

Created on behalf of New South Wales (NSW) traffic cops, the ads show lifeless bodies lying in roads. Each iCorpse is outlined with a white headphone cable, instead of the traditional white chalk mark.

Does this mean only iPod users are at risk, we wonder?

John Hartley, NSW Chief Traffic Services Commander, said that an increase in the use of portable media players and mobile phones demands a greater awareness from pedestrians and drivers.

Hartley didn’t detail any MP3-related road-death stats, but his general opinion seems to be that it’s not wise to cross the road while listening to AC/DC and air guitaring away in imitation of Angus Young.

The adverts are set to appear across NSW over the next few weeks.

Created by stand manufacturer Copulare, the iCoral is the priciest, and probably the ugliest and the most useless iPod dock you can get for the outlandish price of $2,350. So, what made the makers think they can actually sell THIS thing for THAT price? The ‘real’ artificial coral thrown in along with the bonus features like USB, S-Video and stereo analog outputs of course. The cone feet and the resonance-reducing corals apparently also added to the genuine two and a half grand worthiness of this silly goose.

Nice try Copulare…

Source: UberReview

Gone are the speaker cables; instead, you get a base unit that beams music to the speaker boxes wirelessly.

Two three-inch aerials do the beaming. Thanks to this clever development, you can take these speakers (either one or both) into the kitchen with you, then pick a speaker up and carry it into the garden – anywhere, in fact, within 150 feet of the base unit.

Blare you iPod anywhere

It’s a very flexible way to spread music around your house, and the first time we’ve seen this technology properly executed. You dock your iPod in the base and use a remote to browse tracks.

The remote is very simple, and doesn’t have a screen, but worked well at basic browsing. Speaker signal reception didn’t appear to deteriorate the further we walked away from the base unit.

We walked over 120 feet from it and then stood behind a wall before we could just start to hear the signal breaking. That seemed reasonable. We didn’t notice any network chatter during the test. Continue Reading…