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50 Cent talks up two new headphones in his SMS Audio line (video)
We'd be lying if we told you that we fully expected to be hanging out with 50 Cent when we traveled around the world to Berlin, but earlier today we grabbed a moment with the Queens-based emcee to discuss his venture into the world of high-end headphones. In particular, we wanted to ask how his products, including the new Street On-Ears and Street DJ Pros, stack against some better known rapper-endorsed audio technology -- namely Dr. Dre's gimmicky Beats and his tie-in with HTC. For starters, 50 was keen to stress that this is no plain endorsement: Studio Master Sound (SMS) Audio is his company and he's invested in it. Regarding the products themselves, he reassured us that they have nothing in common with the Beats / HTC marketing about bringing hardware and software together to create some kind of eardrum wizardry. Instead, he just wants to bring together all-round qualities like durability, comfort, and "professionally tuned" 40mm drivers, alongside fresher styling than you'd get from companies like Bose or Sennheiser. The booth at IFA was too hectic for us to give the new 'phones a fair run-through, and in fact 50 Cent didn't have a great deal to say about them at this point either. As you'll see in the video after the break, he preferred to hold up his slightly older flagship wireless set, called SYNC, as evidence that SMS Audio has audiophile credentials to justify its high price points. Speaking of which, we're not sure how much the latest models will cost or when they'll become available, but for guidance the SYNC headphones cost $400 while regular Street wired headphones will set you back around $250.
Distro Issue 50: the travel edition packs geotagging and offline navigation
Here at Engadget HQ, we're looking to take a bit of a breather after a long week of analyzing last quarter's numbers. With that said, a road trip or weekend respite of some sort is definitely in order and this week's edition of our e-magazine offers some insight into getting just a bit more out of that next excursion. Front and center, the globe trotting Darren Murph offers some tips for geotagging your shots from that next Blue Ridge Parkway trek and also takes Nokia Drive's offline navigation for a spin on a Lumia 900. The super thin $1,400 Acer Aspire S5 and the sub-$100 Motorola Atrix HD each get in-depth reviews while "Hands-On" is overrun by some new shooters -- including the much anticipated Canon EOS M. Fable: The Journey designer Ted Timmins takes his turn with Q&A, "Switched On" takes a look an Ouya, "Reaction Time" chats about pre-release secrecy and "IRL" has our personal gadget arsenals. That said, we're taking some Friday solace in one of the download links below, where you can grab a brand spankin' new issue of your very own. Distro Issue 50 PDF Distro in the iTunes App Store Distro in the Google Play Store Distro APK (for sideloading) Like Distro on Facebook Follow Distro on Twitter
CableWiFi ties up 50,000 WiFi hotspots for cable subscribers to share
When it comes to supergroups, The Traveling Wilbury's haven't got anything on these guys. Bright House, Cablevision, Comcast, Cox and Time Warner are teaming up to share around 50,000 metro WiFi hotspots for their customers, under the banner of "CableWiFi." New York City and the Tri-State area, Los Angeles, Tampa, Orlando and Philadelphia will be among the first to get the service, with growth to more cities pledged for the future. If nothing else, it should be a good way to stick it to the man when he snatches your unlimited data plan.
Netflix pushes max number of registered Watch Instantly devices to 50
We're not sure when this happened, but those keeping a close eye on the number of device activations tied to their Netflix Watch Instantly account will notice the max number of devices has recently gone up to 50. While that will be pleasing to hear for those that switch between computers / consoles and set-top boxes frequently, a quick look at our account listed 16 activations, half of which appeared to actually be just one PC and browser. Either way, with the streaming service ubiquitous on so many devices being able to activate and forget it without having to bump something else from the list will be helpful going forward -- as long as you don't share it too widely. [Thanks, Edwin]
Sleek Audio terminates agreement with 50 Cent, puts over-the-ear plans on hold (updated)
You may remember our brief run-in with 50 Cent back at CES, where he announced a partnership with Sleek Audio for Sleek by 50, a pair of "wireless hybrid" headphones with built-in Kleer technology. Today the company revealed that it has terminated its agreement with G-Unit Brands, 50's licensing company, and that it will be "re-evaluating our Wireless Hybrid over-the-ear headphones at a later date." There's no word on why the collboration went awry, and the company only indicates that it has decided to focus on its in-ear offerings instead. Of course, we've got way more than 21 questions about what made the relationship go sour, but hate it or love it, Sleek by 50 is no more. Disheartening PR after the break. Update: Looks like it was 50 Cent who terminated the deal, after all. According to XXL, our man told the magazine that he has "established a new company that is developing a complete line of audio accessories, including wireless headphones." Well, too bad for Sleek Audio. Thanks Matt!
The laser turns 50, we hope to still be that cool at that age (video)
On May 16, 1960, Theodore Maiman did something totally awesome at Hughes Lab: he fired the first functional laser and sent the future of arena rock and the rave scene well on its way. Hughes Lab has since moved on to become the military skunkworks Raytheon and the laser has moved into history as one of the coolest things to ever come out of a laboratory. Not a week goes by that we don't see someone doing something amazing with the things, whether it's blowing up ballistic missiles or just beaming your home movies on the wall. So, to everyone involved in the creation of the laser (including the great Albert Einstein himself), we salute you with this commemorative video embedded below.
OCZ bids for solid state throne with new Vertex 2 and Agility 2 SSDs
For the past nine months, Intel's X25-M G2 has been the solid state drive to beat, and manufacture as it might, rival OCZ hasn't been able to mass produce a SSD capable of matching its fantastic all-around performance. The original Vertex 2 Pro might have done the trick, but the company scrapped it after the speedy SandForce SF-1500 controller was found wanting, and only 5,000 of the 270MB / sec, 15,000 IOPS drives were ever produced. But now, OCZ's back with SandForce's cheaper SF-1200 chip, and surprise of surprises, the drives it power are even faster -- at least on paper -- than before. The new Vertex 2 and Agility 2 SSDs boast maximum sequential read speeds of 285MB / sec and 275MB / sec writes, and can perform those all-important 4K random writes at up to 50,000 IOPS on a Vertex, or a very respectable 10,000 IOPS for the budget Agility line. The company expects both drives to ship in the next few weeks in usable capacities of 50GB, 100GB and 200GB (provisioning an extra 14GB of overhead for each 50GB of storage) with 400GB SSDs planned further down the road. Now then, OCZ, how about that price tag? Update: Though we believe Intel's X25-M G2 is still considered the front-runner in the consumer space, it is worth noting that OCZ's new SSDs still have catching up to do in order to match the superb numbers generated by the more expensive enthusiast drive, the Crucial RealSSD C300. We'll have to see which incumbent OCZ is actually competing with (if not both) when it announces price points. [Thanks, SSD!]
"Leading the Cavalry" achievement lowered to 50 mounts
Looks like our little survey of mounts available for the Leading the Cavalry achievement found some ground at Blizzard -- they've lowered the number of necessary mounts from 75 to 50 in the latest beta build. Seventy-five mounts is a lot, and even though, yes, we didn't actually count any of the mounts coming in Wrath of the Lich King (surely there are plenty there), Tauren especially would have trouble coming up with that many things to ride around.And as you can see, the prize for having way more mounts than you'd ever need is... another mount. You can nab an Albino Netherdrake (a few commenters say it's just a drake, but that model looks like a netherdrake to me) for completing the achievement. We can say this: it'll definitely stand out in a crowd. But the green and the white together? The skin may change before launch, but maybe we don't actually need to bother getting those 50 mounts after all...
50 Fun Things To Do With Your iPod
Ok, so the list only hits 44, but still, who couldn't use a few more things to do with their little white gadget? I mean, only playing music on an iPod is so... 2001.Anyway, kottke.org has put together quite the creative list of *other* things you can do with your iPod. Notable alternatives include cooking a nice dinner (# 24), listening to text (# 14) and making free phone calls (# 37). Check out the full list of Fun Things To Do With Your iPod if you've been looking for that *special something* to spice up your iPod's usefulness.[via digg]
