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The best outdoor speakers
By Brent Butterworth This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and Engadget may earn affiliate commission. Read the full guide to outdoor speakers. Outdoor speakers bring the music, radio, and podcasts we most love to one of the places we most love: the backyard. We think the OSD Audio AP650 is your best choice in an outdoor speaker because it is built to tolerate harsh weather and ward off invasion by dust and bugs, it mounts easily in all sorts of situations, and it can play loudly even when connected to a small, low-powered amplifier. The OSD Audio AP650 is the best value we've found in an outdoor speaker. Its clarity beats anything we've heard from other models priced under $200 per pair, and it has a full, powerful sound that can easily fill a typical suburban backyard. It has enough bass for R&B, hip-hop, and rock music, and its relatively high sensitivity lets it deliver loud volumes when paired with a small amplifier. Because it's a fully sealed design, there's no concern about water, dust, or bugs getting in. It's also better made than most affordable outdoor speakers, with a thicker enclosure and a sturdy, powder-coated mounting bracket. If you want decent outdoor sound but want to spend a little less, the Yamaha NS-AW294 is ideal—as long as you don't live in a place where blustery rainstorms are common, because the ported design may allow water to get in and damage the speaker. The NS-AW294 doesn't sound as clear as our top pick, but it does have a decent amount of bass and can play pretty loud.
Bing Fund taking shape to help Microsoft search for the next big thing in online services
Microsoft's Online Services Division (OSD) hasn't exactly had a lot of good news to share lately, most painful being the recent $6.2 billion write-down thanks to the aQuantive acquisition, so it's turning to a higher power for its next bet. The company appears to be creating an angel incubator called the Bing Fund, which would foster startups that could "bring a wave of innovation to OSD" -- which currently includes MSN, adCenter and, of course, Bing. While the company is being slightly coy about the details of Bing Fund, hosting only the tangerine teaser shown above at BingFund.com, some digging by ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley has revealed that Rahul Sood will be the chief cherub of this angel fund, stepping away from the Entertainment and Devices Division (aka the Xbox Division). Who better, we say, than the open-minded Voodoo PC founder who famously cut his chocolate birthday cake with a MacBook Air and later said: "Every executive in the PC industry should use an Apple notebook."
Boxee Box v1.1 update includes improved browser, playback controls and more
Early previews of a new update for the Boxee Box mentioned a couple of different version numbers, but now the company has settled on v1.1 for the software update (sorry, still nothing for PCs) it's rolling out over the next few days with a slew of new features. VP of Marketing Andrew Kippen confirms the "huge browser update" he'd mentioned earlier is included with the following features: favorites, history, a better UI to show more of the picture and include more options, plus expanded HTML5 capabilities that should fix login problems for HBO Go. There's no mention of iPad support, but the whole on screen display has been trimmed with a new seek bar for more precise FF/Rewind action, along with support for customized local metadata and NFO files, a new MLB.tv app and two new content partners including the worst TV channel ever and SnagFilms. One thing that's been removed? Volume controls, which Boxee says "improves consistency" and makes it the same as any standard Blu-ray player. As usual, the update will be issued automatically, but if you just can't wait you can force it manually, check the source links for details, more screenshots and a full changelog.
Neuros OSD 3 in development, makers want your input
Neuros has earned significant kudos with techies for its hackable OSD media player / recorder and its commitment to open source software. It's no surprise then to see the company reaching out to its loyal community for input on what should be found in the third generation of the device. Yes, technically the OSD 2 isn't even out of the developer kit stage yet, but Neuros is planning well ahead of time, with the 3.0 model unlikely to be seen for another 18 months. Founder Joe Born has confirmed a continuing partnership with Texas Instruments on an ARM-based unit, which should be able to play and record at 1080p / 60 with support for all the relevant formats and containers. There'll be a minimum of 2GB DDR3 RAM, as well as a HTML5- and Flash-compliant browser, but the rest of the specs are up to you -- if there's some killer feature you simply must have, hit the read link and let Neuros know.[Via Slashgear]
Neuros OSD hardware out in beta, let the hacking begin!
Ah, so this is what you get when you take a hardware platform "open-source" -- the Neuros OSD. This infinitely hackable Linux-based media recorder / player beta unit is on sale now. Yeah, beta, 'cause this ain't no ordinary hardware offering. See Neuros is willing to pay you cash-money "bounties" to code new features into the open source firmware: YouTube or Google video ($1000), Flickr photo browsing ($600), wireless remote capabilities from a WiFi handheld device such as a PDA ($500), TiVo-style radio recording when connected to an FM/AM or satellite receiver ($700), and VoIP capabilities when a USB phone is connected ($500). Not bad for something you'll likely do for the fun of it anyway right? Out of the box, you get a standalone media player which can record from any external analog audio/video source and then automatically encode it for playback on PSPs, mobile phones, and iPods in popular formats such as MPEG-4, AVI, ASF, MP3, OGG, WMA, and AC3. And with a dual-core ARM9 / TI DSP, multi-card memory slot, USB host capability, Ethernet, recording up to 720x480 resolution at 30fps, IR Blaster, and S-Video in and Composite audio/video in/out, well, you still might be tempted to plunk down the meager $230 to take this baby home. Hurry though, only 200 beta units left!
