It's hard to guess why one would consider this device over that Lego-inspired alternative we peeked last Spring, but those obsessed with Elecom or born with an innate fear of stackable blocks can certainly opt for the Soundblock. Designed specifically for the fourth generation iPod nano, first generation iPod touch and any other iPod that ships sans an integrated speaker, this here speaker clicks into the dock connector and can be ordered in one of ten different colors. The pain? ¥4,000 ($42), which seems about a Jackson and a half too steep for our tastes.

[Via Coolest-Gadgets]

Without a doubt, Sonos makes an excellent wireless distributed audio system. If we had to nit pick (and we do), then its massive controller, the CR100 is easily the first thing to complain about. For starters it's a $400 remote control that does one thing, it controls your Sonos audio system. Granted, the CR100 is rugged, splashproof, and turns on in an instant thanks to a built-in accelerometer; features that can't justify the price, however, in light of the solid Sonos did its user base when it released a free Sonos controller app for the iPhone and iPod touch. The app even one-ups the CR100 with its on-screen QWERTY since the CR100's scrollwheel isn't exactly the best interface for typing out the name of an artist search. So imagine our intrigue when we saw a new CR200 Sonos Controller pass through the FCC. The new controller appears to prefer a portrait orientation (instead of landscape like the CR100) and was tested across 802.11g WiFi frequencies with a 24Mbps fixed data rate. While that doesn't give us much to go on, at least it passed the tests meaning we could be close to an official announcement. Considering the controller's physical design hasn't changed since its launch in January of 2005, a few more days or weeks of waiting shouldn't be a problem.

Sonos has been sitting pretty at the top of the wireless audio distribution space for quite awhile now. Today Yamaha is fighting back with a totally refreshed (and very Sonos-like) Musiccast2 system that supports up to 32 rooms of WiFi-based distributed audio from sources such as Rhapsody, Internet radio, or tracks stored on your Mac, PC, USB sticks, Bluetooth devices, or networked shares. iTunes support is enabled via a bundled TwonkyMedia Server in the $500 MCX-RC100 Network Music Commander remote control (above) with 3.5-inch LCD, touch-sensitive trackpad, and GUI that displays details such as album art and song information from all your MP3, WMA (no lossless or PRO), AAC (no Apple lossless or FairPlay DRM), FLAC and WAV audio files. To distribute the audio, you'll need a $400 MCX-A300 (amplified, just add speakers) or $400 MCX-P200 (non-amplified for AV connection) Network Music Player placed in each room where audio is desired. The MCX-P200 can also function as a universal IR remote with multiple IR outs to control other devices in the AV rack via IR flashers or the MCX-RC100 remote control. So yeah, it gets expensive, but it's easy and quick and won't require a sledgehammer, wiring, or sheetrocking skills. Our only reservation is with Yamaha's choice of straight-up 2.4GHz 802.11b/g to link the audio compared to the rock-solid, customized-802.11n mesh created by Sonos -- nobody wants a microwave to harsh their mellow, dig? More component pics after the break.

We know you're struggling to take it in, but you really have just stumbled upon this week's episode of Ask Engadget. Fascinating, the timing, yeah? Now that you're here, we're going to ask you to stick around, answer Chris' question below and then send in one of your own to ask at engadget dawt com. First things first, though:

"My desktop is wired through my home theater, so everything sounds great when I listen to music at home, but when I'm at the office I only have little Harman/Kardon speakers that came with my Dell. I work in an office that is music friendly, but no one has any decent speakers. I was hoping the Engadget community might have some good suggestions for reasonably priced computer speaker sets that sound good. You know... so I can share my extensive Matchbox 20 bootleg collection with the rest of my colleagues. Thanks!"

First off, congrats on working in a "music friendly" environment. And for everyone else, why not give this guy a little advice before hitting him up for job opportunities?

Toshiba already showed us what its freshest line of HDTVs looks like, and now its Mitsubishi's turn. The outfit was on hand in NYC to showcase a few of its now-shipping sets, including the 3D-ready Home Theater line and its speaker-infused Unisen crew. We won't bore you with the specs (which can be found here and here, respectively), but we will confess that the 82-inch WD-82737 has us squirming uncontrollably. Have a peek yourself in the gallery below.

Gallery: Mitsubishi's 3D-ready and Unisen HDTV lines in the flesh

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It's been quite some time since Sleek Audio introduced its first set of custom tuned earphones, but now that folks are growing anxious for a true SA6 followup, it has gone and done the right thing by introducing the CT6. If you'll recall, Sleek decided to add Kleer's wireless technology to its original SA6 buds back in October of last year, and evidently that went over extraordinarily well. To that end, the CT6 packs Kleer's tech right from the factory, and they can even go back to wired mode thanks to the removable swivel cables. Improving upon the prior model, these boast up to 35dB of noise reduction as well as a custom tuning option that tweaks 'em to your preferences before you buy. Just think -- you can take that whole "equalizing" thing into your own hands today for just $350 (sans wireless) or $450 (with Kleer).

Tired of listening to more than just your music? Not down with handing over any of your hard-earned cash to the specification-hiding folks at Bose? Have a look at Sony's latest, the MDR-NC300D. These flashy earbuds boast an in-line noise-canceling module with three separate modes: a general mode, airplane mode and one for trains / buses / cars. Granted, we get the idea that those selections are a bit of marketing hype, but whatever the case, Sony asserts that these buds will eliminate up to 99 percent of undesired jibber jabber. All that's required is a single AA cell, which should provide right around 20 hours of noise suppression. Interested? Pony up ¥40,900 ($415) and prove it.

[Thanks, Waroxy]

Are you just now coming to the stark realization that you've nothing whatsoever to do this weekend? Calm down, there's no need to freak out. Thanks to Jeff Keyzer over at mightyOhm, you can now get to work on your very own DIY WiFi radio. In one of the most elaborate how-to guides we've ever had the pleasure of gawking at, Jeff has detailed exactly how to turn an ASUS WL-520gU router, a few spare pieces of wood and a couple of unwanted knobs into an open source internet radio streamer. Sure, there's always Pandora for those who aren't inclined to get their elbows dirty, but seriously, what fun is that? Roll up those sleeves, grab whatever tools your pop gave you when you left for college and hit the read link. Pronto.

[Via Hacked Gadgets]

We don't know a single soul who hasn't wanted to hear Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness from start-to-finish whilst swimming off the coast of Phuket, but seriously, who's going to tune in on a $40 waterproof Bluetooth speaker ball? Then again, maybe Billy's secretly more concerned with his choice of swimwear and lack of sunscreen than the clarity of Iha's riffs.

When we had the downright magnificent opportunity to toy with Philips' latest PMP line here in the States, we immediately noticed that the GoGear Opus stood out among the rest. The crew over at TrustedReviews recently spent some quality time with the 8GB version of that very unit, and while they found the audio quality to be "excellent," they seemed rather disappointed -- if not irked -- by everything else in the package. For starters, the whole solution just felt boring, with critics noting that its biggest problem was a lack of "excitement." Granted, none of this would matter at a rock-bottom price point, but for $100, there's an awful lot of competition. As we found during our short time with the player, these folks also noticed that the user interface was simply "old-fashioned," and that video playback was nothing to write home about. The bottom line? Unless you score some kind of spectacular deal, your PMP dollars are probably best spent elsewhere.

There's been no direct confirmation just yet, but Fortune has it that Palm's hotly anticipated Pre actually syncs with iTunes. Yeah, iTunes. According to the report, the Pre works "seamlessly" with iTunes on a Mac, with the only notable limitation being that it can't handle older DRM-laced files from the sad, sad days of our past. Even wilder, we're told that the iTunes Store "treats the Pre just as it would an iPod or an iPhone" save for the aforesaid exception, which leads us to wonder how Apple will react. There's little doubt that this factoid sweetens the Pre value proposition for diligent Mac users, but is this functionality kosher with the software's creator? We already saw Tim Cook glance sternly at Palm while uttering that if anyone else "ripped off its intellectual property, it would go after them," and we highly doubt he plans on backing down if push comes to shove. If true, this could definitely trigger an interesting chain of events -- we'll know soon enough, now won't we?

[Via TUAW]

This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn't want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back -- so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We'll be handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff / companies stop sending things. Today we've got three sets of Radius Atomic Bass Silver Aluminum Earphones for iPhone W/ Built-in Mic ready to rock your skull and let you chat it up. Read the rules below (no skimming -- we're omniscient and can tell when you've skimmed) and get commenting! Hooray for free stuff! Oh, and for those who miss out, coupon code 'engadget' will net you 20 percent through Google Checkout at Radius' site.

Huge thanks to Radius for providing the gear!


The rules:

• Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for "fixing" the world economy, that'd be sweet too.
  
• You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)
• If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine.
  
• Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
  
• Winner will be chosen randomly. Three (3) winners will receive one (1) set of Radius Atomic Bass Silver Aluminum Earphones for iPhone W/ Built-in Mic. Approximate retail value is $49.99.
  
• If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
• Entries can be submitted until Monday, May 25th, at 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
• Full rules can be found here.

We've got to say, we're guessing both Survivor and Prince would approve here, as this is easily one of the most impressive uses of a heart rate sensor yet. Anaid Gomez Ortigoza, a bright young lass at NYU, has whipped up what she's calling kokoro, which translates into "the heart of things" in Japanese. Put as simply as possible, this prototype project allows for iPod playlists to be shuffled depending on one's current heart rate; if your heart is pumping some kind of fierce, the device will likely cue up a little M83, and if you're at rest, you just might get to hear a smooth jam from the likes of Copeland. Don't believe us, though -- hop on past the break for a demonstrative video.

[Via talk2myshirt]