Tag Archives: boombox

Mirror Boombox is a Bluetooth Speaker in a Mini Cooper Mirror

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If you are looking for a gift to give a guy or gal on your Christmas list that likes cars and music, the Mirror Boombox is the ticket. The company behind the Mirror Boombox is called Iui Design and it crams the Bluetooth innards from a portable speaker into the shell from a Mini Cooper mirror.

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If you have ever seen a Mini running the streets, you may know that the company makes a number of interesting mirror cap designs. The Mirror Boombox can be had in the traditional red, white, and blue Union Jack or a black, grey and white Union Jack. For fans that like to win, you can also get the Mirror Boombox in a checkered flag motif.

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It connects via Bluetooth 3.0 technology and supports NFC pairing. The device also has a mic so it can be used as a speaker phone. The speaker has 8W of power and supports AAC over Bluetooth. The speaker also has the ability to connect to two devices at once and a 3.5mm input. The portable speaker has a battery good for eight hours of playback. And yes, doubles as a mirror.

The Mirror Boombox is available now for $149.99(USD). Mini Cooper sold separately.

Rocketcases Give Your New School iPhone 5S Old-School Style

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I always get a kick out of the juxtaposition of something new and high-tech along with something very old and retro looking. When you take the new iPhone 5S and cram it in a case that makes it look like an old-school boombox, cassette tape, or retro game gear, you have my attention. That is exactly what Rocketcases has done.

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My three favorite cases the company offers (for every iPhone back to the 4) are the Nintendo themed Retro Gamer line. The cases can make your iPhone look like either a black or white Nintendo Game Boy or an old-school Nintendo game controller.

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I also really like the two Ghetto Blaster cases that make the back of the phone look like an 80s boombox you would’ve carried on your shoulder. The VHS and cassette tape cases are also really cool. All of these cases are available online for $14.95 and will be perfect for the high-tech geek who still remembers the good old days.

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Compact cassette turns 50, puts a tear in Soundwave’s eye

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Compact cassette turns 50, puts a tear in Soundwave's eye

Forget the MP3 player, or even the Walkman -- the real instigator of the portable audio revolution is the compact cassette, which just marked its 50th birthday. Philips formally launched the format on September 13th, 1963, bringing recorded sound to a truly portable (and more accessible) form factor. The technology didn't just kickstart the markets for media players, field recorders and boomboxes; it led to bootlegs, mixtapes and other ways to shake up the audio status quo. The cassette has largely disappeared outside of nostalgic reissues and transforming robot toys, but its effects are still visible after half a century of progress.

[Image credit: Tony Unruh, Flickr]

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Source: Philips

Berlin Boombox Now Available: Paper Power!

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This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen the Berlin Boombox. The device turned up on Kickstarter about a year ago when it was seeking funding for production. We lost track of the device after the Kickstarter campaign and it has now turned up again, and this time you can buy it outright.

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The DIY Berlin Boombox is a cardboard papercraft kit that requires you to fold and stuff tabs into slots. Other than the cardboard shell for the boombox, it also comes with speakers and other hardware required to make the audio work.

Berlin Boombox

The Berlin Boombox has a pair of small speakers that slot into the little cardboard slots inside the cardboard shell, a volume knob, and a battery pack that holds three AA batteries. Once built, you simply connect your audio device to the speakers using the 3.5 mm plug. This would probably be the perfect ghetto blaster to go with your 80s music collection and giant sheet of cardboard for breakdancing.

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The Berlin Boombox is available from Bitemyapple.com for $79.99(USD).

Berlin Boombox is Made of Cardboard

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cardboard boombox Berlin Boombox is Made of Cardboard
Cardboard electronics are not new (in fact we reviewed a Cardboard Radio a while back) but we really like the design of this Berlin Boombox. The bold black and white graphics harken back to the days of carrying a giant boombox on your shoulder while your buddy hauled in a rolled up sheet of linoleum. Except it’s a lot lighter than an old-school boombox since it’s cardboard (and only requires 3 AA batteries instead of a boatload of D’s). And since nobody breakdances anymore, you can skip the linoleum. But it doesn’t ship like that- it ships flat:
cardboard boombox flat Berlin Boombox is Made of Cardboard
The boombox is essentially just a powered smartphone/iPod speaker dock; you slip your phone into the slot, hook up the stereo jack and control the volume and power through the single knob. The die-cut cardboard structure and minimal electronic parts all assemble quickly and easily without tools. Here’s what the back looks like:
berlin boombox back Berlin Boombox is Made of Cardboard
Berlin based designer Axel Pfaender created the Berlin Boombox (hmmm, I wonder how he came up with the name). It even has a handy carrying handle. Another neat aspect is that since it’s made of cardboard, you can paint, doodle, or marker it up any way you want.

Berlin Boombox is Made of Cardboard

DIY Solar-powered Boombox: The Boominator

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Redditor anders202 built a boombox that’s perfect for summer parties. It’s called the Boominator, a solar-powered boombox that was designed by diyAudio member Saturnus back in 2007. Unlike its battery-devouring ancestors, the Boominator not only runs on free energy, it also gathers and converts enough solar power to charge mobile devices.

boominator by anders202

Anders202′s Boominator is powered by an Indeed TA2020 2 x 12W amplifier and two 10W solar panels. It has two P.Audio HP-10W subwoofers and two Monacor MPT-001 piezo-electric tweeters on each side, so it can make people sweat whether it’s behind or in front of them. Anders202 says that with eight hours of sunlight, the Boominator can play for six hours at 100% volume and still have enough power left in its 12v battery to fully charge an iPhone 3 times. The only downside to the Boominator is that it weighs about 66 pounds Then again, I weigh over twice as much as the Boominator and I’m not even half as useful.

Check out the Boominator Wiki, Saturnus’ original guide or anders202′s image-filled walkthrough if you want to make your own Boominator.

[via Hack A Day]

UE Boom: a splash-resistant, Bluetooth-enabled speaker for overzealous rioters

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UE Boom a splashresistant, Bluetoothenabled speaker for rioters

You know what'll go perfectly with that waterproof Bluetooth speaker ball that a Billy Corgan doppelganger recommended a few years back? That odd tube you're undoubtedly fixated on above. That's the Ultimate Ears UE Boom, and those people underneath are presumably blitzed from a day of raving at [insert EDM festival here]. Parent company Logitech is calling this thing the "world's first social music player," but last we checked, it's not capable of tweeting whatever you're listening to. Instead, it's seemingly engineered "to help you rage, riot, party and play the music you love, out loud." Seriously -- that's in the description.

In order to do so, there's a Bluetooth radio within, NFC support, a 15-hour rechargeable battery and an exterior that'll turn away light splashes. Of note, you can wirelessly link two UE Booms together using an associated Android or iOS app to play them in either stereo-to-stereo mode or traditional left / right stereo mode. It's expected to hit US and European shores later this month for $199.99, which means you too can take weird shots of yourself holding it at frat parties in the very, very near future.

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Source: Ultimate Ears

Sony prices its 2013 home and shelf audio lineups, clarifies availability dates

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Sony prices its 2013 home and shelf audio lineups, clarifies availability dates

Given Sony's heritage, it's no surprise that the company loves its audio -- but we can imagine that some might be overwhelmed when the company has priced and dated the cores of its 2013 home and shelf audio lineups in one sitting. Don't worry, we'll break it all down. On the home audio side, both the BDV-N7100W and BDV-7100W home-theaters-in-a-box (N8100W shown above) are already shipping at respective $599 and $699 prices with 1,000W 5.1-channel output, internet-linked Blu-ray players and both Bluetooth as well as OneTouch NFC pairing. TV watchers who can wait until June will also see the STR-DN1040, a $599 7.2-channel receiver with 4K upscaling, Bluetooth, WiFi and 165W per channel; the $449 STR-DN840 receiver, which scales back to 4K passthrough and 150W per channel; and the $399 HT-C660 soundbar, which adds NFC pairing to the same wireless mix as the receivers.

Shelf audio is simpler, with every new entry arriving May 27th. Both the LBT-GPX55 (below) and LBT-GPX77 mini stereos offer a respective 1,600W and 1,800W of output alongside Bluetooth, NFC, a CD player (!) and dual USB ports at a $499 starting price. Those who don't need their walls rattled quite so thoroughly can spring for the $349 RDH-GTK37iP boombox, which puts out a still-substantial 420W on top of Bluetooth, NFC, an iOS dock and attention-getting strobe lights. That's a lot to process, we know. If you're not satisfied even after that deluge of information, however, Sony's pressers await after the break.

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Source: Sony

Boompack Boombox Backpack: Wear the Party on Your Back

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We’ve featured a couple of designs for backpacks with speakers built in, but I have to say the latest concept design looks like the best of the bunch.

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Designer Massimo Battaglia’s Boompack backpack not only has a boombox built in, but it includes a tiny projector too. Basically, this thing is a portable rave on your back.

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The design calls for 100-watts of power, with 8 speaker drivers, a built-in rechargeable battery – good for at least 6 hours, a 200-lumen pico projector, and Bluetooth wireless connectivity for your smartphone. The pack is also designed to be impact and water-resistant, and could stand on its own if you set it down on the ground or on a tabletop.

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It’s even got a hidden compartment for docking your smartphone, as well as an SD card slot and USB port, as well as audio connections for external devices.

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As is so often the case with these sort of things, the Boompack is merely a design concept at this point, and there’s no indication if or when it will be produced.

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[via Klonblog(DE)]