Join and get Coolest Gadgets sent to your PC (by email or RSS)


Get the Coolest Gadgets daily digest delivered free to your inbox, signup now.


Hello! It’s SONICLIVING! Who’s playing nearby,, in your playlist!

December 5th, 2006 by Fred in Audio/Video Gadgets, Miscellaneous Gadgets, iPod gadgets

That’s right, you can find out what groups are playing near you simply by delving into your itunes playlists with sonicliving!!

I found out from a good friend, they’re just now opening up to the public (the private beta is over). So it’s all for one and let’s show up at the show where that local band we like is playing a gig with that band that’s blowing up all over and watch a show!!!

I’m sure you’re wondering, what’s this, is it magic? Sorcery? Evil Doings? How could someone know what bands I like?! Well its right there in your playlists silly, these geniuses have found a way to put you where your ears have been for years, live and up front (ok, they don’t pay for tickets but they do let you know when you can get them!)

It’s worth a check and a signup to see what this great new app has to offer.

Most importantly they’ve got a ton of listings for London, which, if I take my bike to the bart station, where I will take a $3.95 ride to the airplane. Then get on a plane and fly to london, in 6 to 10 hours I could be there jamming with all of you!! Then again, maybe I’ll just stay here in the bay area and watch any one of the measly 2,490 shows listed (not the whopping 11,501 events listed for London!)

Either way this looks like the next wave in live music finding (is that a term?!)

It works with a bunch of calendar programs and blogging too: MySpace Profile, Yahoo/Google Calendar, iCal, Mozilla, so like everything! Can’t wait till they link to alerts on your mobile too!
See you at the show!!!

Thanks Dan for the heads up!

  • email to friend Email to a friend
  • Leave a comment Leave a comment (1)
  • Share Share

JBL Encounter Speaker Review

December 5th, 2006 by methodshop in Audio/Video Gadgets, Gadget Reviews

In a world of boring shelf speakers that are as fascinating as the wires that connect them, the JBL Encounter draws people towards it with its innovative tongue-in-cheek design and then lavishes them with deep warm sound. JBL proves once again that they know how to box up a brilliant set of speakers. They appear as though they were intended to be fine decor while at the same time hold nothing back when it comes to pure crisp sound. Where most speakers seem to be designed to be hidden, the Encounter defies you to ignore them.

Space Monkeys, prepare for blast off. We took JBL Encounter into orbit and although we didn’t reach Warp 11, the volume at least went that high.

Here’s our full JBL Encounter 2.1 speaker review.

digg it | methodshop

  • email to friend Email to a friend
  • Leave a comment Leave a comment (3)
  • Share Share

Europe confirms the victory of LCDs

December 5th, 2006 by Dan in Audio/Video Gadgets, Tech News

samsung.jpgThe Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) technology seems to be living its last days. Samsung Electronics just released some statistics confirming the healthy growth on the sales of Liquid Crystal Display television sets and, to a lesser extent, of plasma screens.

The estimated sales of LCD televisions for 2006 is 42 million units, but in 2007 this number will jump to 66 million units, an year over year increase of more than 55%. Plasma screens will also grow annually almost 35%, passing from 10 million units in 2006 to 13 million units in 2007.

It appears that LCD televisions were outselling the old CRT televisions for a long time already, but the surpass materialized only in the third quarter of 2006. All the statistics are coming from the research firm DisplaySearch, and if we analyze the numbers quarter by quarter the growth rates are even greater. Read the rest of this entry »

  • email to friend Email to a friend
  • Leave a comment Leave a comment (4)
  • Share Share






TuneView for iPod finally arrives

December 5th, 2006 by Edwin in Audio/Video Gadgets, iPod gadgets

tuneview.jpgThe TuneView iPod dock is not as ordinary as its other brethren which flood the accessory market at the moment, as it enables you to remotely manage both your music and video on your iPod once it is docked. All you need to do is to connect the TuneView dock to a stereo and/or TV (depending on your iPod’s capabilities) while being connected to an electrical outlet as it doesn’t have hamsters running around in a wheel to generate electricity. Once you’re done, you can then use the included TuneView remote control that uses the 2.4Ghz radio frequency signal to transmit commands as long as you are within the radius of 150 feet.

Read the rest of this entry »

  • email to friend Email to a friend
  • Leave a comment Leave a comment (1)
  • Share Share

iPod Chargers Outselling Zune

November 30th, 2006 by methodshop in Tech News, iPod gadgets

The demand for everything iPod is so high that even an iPod accessory was outselling Microsoft’s new MP3 media player on Amazon.com. Microsoft’s new Zune media player, despite heavy marketing, came in only at No. 75 on Amazon’s list of 100 best-selling electronics this week. The Zune was trailing many iPod accessories such as Apple’s $29.99 iPod USB power adapter, at No. 65.

But in the time since CBS Marketwatch first reported this story on Monday, the Zune has managed to gain some ground on the iPod charger. Amazon updates their sales ranks hourly but when I last checked this morning the score was 59 to 73 with the Zune in the lead. Apple fanboys will probably be disapointed to hear that the Zune is now outselling iPod chargers but some things just take time, effort, and money. Microsoft has at least one of those.

Pete Mortensen from Wired.com has this to say in his blog about these super selling iPod chargers:

“Apple is dominating digital music in a way that they’ve never owned a category. And what’s funny is that I can’t really understand why the Mac never had the same kind of runaway success. The limitations of the iPod are similar to those of the Mac, its closed architecture, cheap clone knock-offs, everything. But for some reason, Windows bowled over Apple, while the iPod continues to get more popular by the day. It’s a little wonder.”

I wonder if Bill Gates knows that a power cord was beating the latest “iPod Killer” from Microsoft.

digg story | methodshop

  • email to friend Email to a friend
  • Leave a comment Leave a comment (2)
  • Share Share

Promoting the Plasma

November 29th, 2006 by Dan in Audio/Video Gadgets

plasma.jpgThree large electronics manufacturers joined forces to promote the plasma technology across Europe. Matsushita (Panasonic), Hitachi and Pioneer are driving the initiative which started with a market research to discover how the consumer perceive LCD and plasma screens.

Most of the results of the market research can be found on the site http://www.plasma-lcd-facts.eu. The tagline of the website is “We are not saying plasma TV is better. You are.”. Check out some of the statistics that they highlight: Read the rest of this entry »

  • email to friend Email to a friend
  • Leave a comment Leave a comment (2)
  • Share Share

Nike Amp+ coming our way

November 28th, 2006 by Edwin in Audio/Video Gadgets, Sport, iPod gadgets

nikeamp.jpgWhen Nike and Apple first went to bed together, the product of their union was the Nike+iPod Sports Kit which was able to gather various data such as the distance, amount of calories burnt, running time, and pace of the user thanks to a wireless Bluetooth module that was inserted under the heel of a Nike+ compatible sports shoe that communicates with the transceiver plugged into an iPod nano. Both companies aim to add yet another offering to their exercise line-up by bringing us the Nike Amp+, a wireless wristband device that empowers runners to control their iPods without staining the Click Wheel with their sweat-soaked fingers.

Read the rest of this entry »

  • email to friend Email to a friend
  • Leave a comment Leave a comment (1)
  • Share Share

Canon HV10 HD - a very small camcorder

November 28th, 2006 by Tiago in Audio/Video Gadgets

Canon HV10 HD

I love how the creative PR people get to always call “world’s first” at every product a big company launches which is what Canon did, it is kind of cool and marks a difference from the rest of the products (not).

Anyhow, the new (launched last week) camcorder from Canon is named HV10 HD and since the size is what really matters, lets just say the camera measures 2.2 x 4.1 x 4.2 which is actually pretty small indeed, but consequently this smallness makes the camera have a small LCD screen inside, measuring only 2.7-inches. Read the rest of this entry »

  • email to friend Email to a friend
  • Leave a comment Leave a comment (3)
  • Share Share

Get the Coolest Gadgets daily digest delivered free to your inbox, signup now.




Kwik

New Arrivals at Hammacher Schlemmer
  • Signup because it's Friday

  • Add to Google Reader or Homepage
  • RSS
  • Bloglines
  • MyYahoo
  • MyMSN
  • newsgator
  • or via email
  • Coolest Reviews The latest addition to the coolest network, independant hands on reviews of all the latest gadgets and technology.
  • Game Addicts Reports on all the latest news in the gaming industry along with reviews on the latest addictive games
  • Say No To Crack A cool and funny humor site for all ages
  • Self Made Minds A blog about business and making money on the web
  • SoftSift News and reviews on the latest software releases