Beats by Dre Executive are big, bassy, for busy businessmen
AccessoriesBeats by Dr Dre may be a down-with-the-kids brand, but there's no reason why besuited captains of industry shouldn't be in on the fun. Enter the Beats by Dr Dre Executive, a demure set of headphones that offer noisy sound and won't clash with your accent tie.
Available to pre-order today, Beats boasts these on-ear monsters are "designed to take you from the boardroom to the tarmac and everywhere in between". They come with a hard-shell carrying case and feature active noise cancellation, so your tunes won't be interrupted by jet engines or the moans of poor people as you fly past in your BMW. Continue reading...
Looper gets director's commentary MP3 for cinema listening
GadgetsLooper director Rian Johnson has recorded an audio commentary for his time-travelling jaunt, designed to be listened to in cinemas.
Nimbly skirting around DVD and Blu-ray release norms, Johnson has uploaded his commentary to MP3-hoarding site Soundcloud. The 38-year-old director hopes you'll download the track online, load it onto an MP3 player and listen to it while you're sat in the cinema. Continue reading...
B&O A9 is an AirPlay-enabled speaker, not an archery target
GadgetsOn the right in the picture above is the B&O A9, and on the left is an archery target -- or is it the other way round? Either way, the A9 is the latest product from Bang & Olufsen's Beoplay series of Wi-Fi equipped speakers that, to put it mildly, has a very distinctive design.
The main body is a 70cm circle, supported by three wooden tripod legs, making it look exactly like something Robin Hood would use to show off his bow-and-arrow skills.
Continue reading...
Amazon Cloud Player streams your MP3s online, in UK today
SoftwareAmazon's Cloud Player went live in the UK today, allowing users this side of the pond to store and play music over the web or via dedicated apps on smart phones -- a feature which has been available in the US for over a year.
The launch comes a few weeks after the retail giant announced its expanded range of Kindle Fire tablets are also heading our way, along with its Dropbox rival Amazon Cloud Drive -- a service which gives you 5GB of free online storage and is upgradable up to 1,000GB (for a hefty £320 per year). Continue reading...
Ed Sheeran top of the pirate pops for illegal UK downloads
SoftwareFolksy closing-ceremony invader Ed Sheeran has been pegged as the nation's most-pirated artist, with Manchester hailed the UK's biggest city for music sharing.
A new study, conducted by monitoring bods Musicmetric, looked at the approximate locations of surfers using BitTorrent to calculate which regions of our green and pleasant land were most rife with digital copying, and which artists were proving most popular. Continue reading...
New iPod touch and nano flaunt fresh design in hands-on pics 
MP3 PlayersWe've gone hands-on with Apple's spangly new iPods, both the supersized iPod touch and the new-look iPod nano. Click through the photos above to ogle Cook and co's highfalutin MP3 players from every angle.
Let's start with the new nano, which is -- as the name suggests -- absolutely tiny, thanks to a 2.5-inch touchscreen. It's incredibly light, so you'll hardly even notice you're holding it, and it's much easier to use than the slightly fiddly square nano that Apple was flogging previously. Continue reading...
Ping is dead, banished from iTunes after it updates
SoftwareThe Ping is dead -- long live Facebook and Twitter. Apple has given its doomed-from-the-start social network the Old Yeller treatment, replacing its features by integrating into iTunes services people actually use. iTuners will no longer be able to join the network from 30 September and it will be left out of the new iTunes software when it updates next month.
Speaking at a conference back in June, Apple head man Tim Cook acknowledged Ping's abject failure, saying, "We tried Ping, and I think the customer voted and said, 'This isn't something that I want to put a lot of energy into.'"
Continue reading...
New iPod touch has 4-inch screen and Siri, new iPod nano too
MP3 PlayersApple went back to its mobile roots at the launch of the new iPhone 5, unveiling two new iPod MP3 players: the iPod touch and iPod nano, the touch coming complete with multiple colours and Siri.
The iPod nano (below) shares the new nine-pin Lightning connector with the new iPhone 5. At just 5.4mm thick, it's 38 per cent slimmer than previous nanos, and has returned to the tall, slim look. Continue reading...
Apple tipped to ditch iPhone 3GS, redesign iPod touch
Mobile PhonesApple is poised to ditch the iPhone 3GS, reports suggest, with the maker of shiny smart phones tipped to make the iPhone 4 its new bargain-basement blower for beginners.
The Telegraph cites sources "close to retailers" who reckon Tim Cook and cohorts will soon be calling time on the iPhone 3GS, which went on sale in the summer of 2009. Continue reading...
Samsung Galaxy Player 5.8 dwarfs the iPod Touch, runs ICS
MP3 PlayersSamsung seems to be one of the few companies still doing battle with Apple's iPod Touch. So how do you take on the best? Go big. That's Samsung's reasoning, anyway.
The Galaxy Player 5.8 has a whopping 5.8-inch screen, which makes even the Galaxy Note seem small, SlashGear reports. Its resolution of 960x540 pixels isn't as sharp as the Note's though. Continue reading...
Audyssey Bluetooth speakers blast bass, take up little space
AccessoriesEstablished brands such as Sonos and Bose have been producing wireless speakers for donkeys' years, but relative newcomer Audyssey has popped up with a Bluetooth-powered pair of dinky desk dwellers, designed to take on the pitch-perfect big boys. Continue reading...
Cowon X9 MP3 player boasts epic battery, out now in UK
MP3 PlayersIf your smart phone just isn't cutting it for playing music and movies on long-distance journeys, the Cowon X9 could help -- it's packing three times as much battery life as the iPod touch, for significantly less cash money.
This not-so-little box of tricks is the follow-up to the X7. Cowon has not only improved the overall aesthetic of the X7, but measuring in at 73 by 115 by 12mm, the X9 is considerably thinner, slimmer and shorter than its bulkier predecessor, even if it's still a bit of a heifer in comparison to Apple's svelte MP3 player. Continue reading...
iXoost iPod dock made from an F1 exhaust costs £6,000
Mobile PhonesWould you spend £6,000 on an iPod dock? No? What if it was made from the back end of a Formula One car? That's what gives the iXoost its grunt, making each custom-made dock a "pleasure machine, coupling fine mechanical workmanship with the high-tuned nerves of a throbbing Formula One tailpipe".
This "orchestra of sound and metal" comes in three distinct forms: the 8-cylinder iXoost òt, 10-cylinder iXoost dês, or 12-cylinder iXoost dàdês. They stand 6.5 inches high and around two feet wide, with four 70W amplifiers and a 140W subwoofer. Continue reading...
House of Marley Bag of Rhythm stars at Amazon Christmas gig
MP3 PlayersIt's the month of July, and in tech journalism that means only one thing: Christmas! Due to the length of time it takes for magazines to assemble their Christmas supplements, this month is always chock-full of companies throwing events to show off what they will be pushing this yuletide. As Amazon sells almost everything these days, it's one of the better indicators as to what's going to be hot.
This year the tech side of things was all about the accessories, and the gear from the House of Marley was the best I saw there. The 'Bag of Rhythm' 40W iPhone/iPod dock pictured above was the standout product. With a nice green bag, carry handle, shoulder strap, rechargeable battery and curved wood design, it almost seemed worth the £299 asking price. Continue reading...
CNET global app now on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch
Mobile PhonesHaving been wildly enjoyed by Android users for a couple of months now, the amazing CNET global app today goes live for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch owners to join in the fun.
If your Apple device is running iOS 4 or later you can access the latest tech news, reviews and videos from the UK -- or Asia, Australia or France, should you be unfortunate enough not to live in Britain.
Continue reading...
Sony Music Unlimited iOS app looks to compete with Spotify
Mobile PhonesSony's new iOS Music Unlimited app lets folks with Apple gadgets access the company's streaming music service. But is Sony's offering worth considering instead of Spotify?
Music Unlimited is a subscription service that lets you stream tunes from Sony's catalogue of 15 million tracks. For £3.99 per month you get a radio-style service that plays random tracks based on your music preference, or for £9.99 per month you can listen to any track, whenever you want, Spotify-style. Continue reading...
Apple's Jony Ive knighted, discusses 'quest for simplicity'
Mobile PhonesApple's design guru Jonathan Ive has received a knighthood, with the 45-year-old British designer behind the iPod, iPhone and iPad opening up about Apple's design philosophy in an interview with the Telegraph.
"We try to develop products that seem somehow inevitable," Sir Jony told the paper. "That leave you with the sense that that's the only possible solution that makes sense."
The Chingford native says Apple's products are tools, "and we don't want design to get in the way. We're trying to bring simplicity and clarity."
If you tried to describe Apple's familiar design aesthetic, 'minimalist' might be the word you'd reach for. But Sir Jony says simplicity isn't as simple as just clearing space.
Samsung Galaxy S3 joined by iPod nano-rivalling S Pebble
MP3 PlayersStone the crows! Samsung has unveiled a cutesy MP3 player alongside the Samsung Galaxy S3, called the Samsung S Pebble.
The S Pebble has a similar curved look, feel and colouring as the S3, also announced today. It's a tiny clip-on music player measuring 32mm x 43mm x 13mm.
Continue reading...
iPod nano recall attracts 'over a million', Apple swamped
MP3 PlayersApple's seven-year-old first-gen iPod nano -- you know, the one that Steve Jobs pulled out of his jeans coin pocket -- has proved difficult to prise from tech lovers' fingers, with a million people taking up last year's product recall.
Or at least that's what one Apple customer service rep let slip to a nano owner, who told us he was warned his iPod replacement might take "a few weeks" -- because the programme was proving far more popular than the fruity one had bargained for. Continue reading...
Apple's iTunes Match to boost audio streaming quality
SoftwareApple is facing stiff competition from the streaming might of Spotify, but new rumours hint that iTunes could bite back with a move to HD audio.
According to The Guardian, iTunes Match will offer a new file format that streams music in the best available quality for your connection speed. Continue reading...
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