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The pocket-sized Boss Katana:Go headphone amp doubles as an audio interface
The Boss Katana:GO headphone amp features 13 tones and 60 effects, in addition to doubling as an audio interface. It costs $120.
Lenovo made a gaming chair with a built-in katana
Only five of the Demon Slayer-themed chairs exist, unfortunately.
Boss’ guitar amp headphones are clever but pricey
There are very few objective truths out there that everyone can seem to agree on. But one of them is most certainly the fact that playing guitar through headphones sucks. Whether you're using a dedicated headphone amp (which often look like relics from the 1980s) or just plugging your trusty over-ears into a tube amp that would wake the neighbors even at the lowest settings, the experience is underwhelming at best. A number of companies have tried different things to try to improve the situation, but Boss' Waza Air are probably the most novel I've seen. For one, this is the first time I know of that a company built a guitar amp directly into a set of headphones. And secondly, the Waza Air includes some pretty unique features that make it feel more like you're listening to an actual amp in a room, rather than just blasting a raw guitar signal into your ears.
Boss’ new Katana guitar amps offer more tones than ever
A few months back a reader asked us what the best connected guitar amp was for beginners. And there are a few solid options, including Yamaha's THR line. But, one amp topped the rest: Boss' Katana 50. And now Katana line is getting major refresh that makes it an even better bang for your buck than before. This most immediate change is the number of amp simulations available. The original Katanas had five, the Katana MkIIs add a variation of each, for a total of 10 amp models. You can also use more of the built in effects simultaneously now. Where as before you were limited to three, the MkII line lets you chain up to five together. And it's still pulling from the same library of over 60 excellent Boss effects (after all, Boss is better known for its effects pedals than its amps).
Boss Katana-Air is a compact wireless guitar amp you can use anywhere
Guitar players wanting to liberate themselves from long instrument cables that tether them to a spot on stage (or clutter up their practice space) usually have to buy a whole system with transmitters and receivers and such. Now, however, Boss has just announced a new compact stereo practice amp called the Katana-Air with wireless built right in, available now for $399.99.
Facebook for Android update going live today, promises UI tweaks and faster photos (update: live!)
We already knew a much-needed update to Facebook's Android app was close at hand, but we finally have the confirmation from the horse's mouth that the upcoming refresh will go live at some point today. The new version of the app will offer photos and albums at double the speed, a new menu on the left-hand side, and the ability for messages to "float" above the rest of the screen rather than exiting the page you're currently viewing. And while the social networking app technically works on devices running Ice Cream Sandwich, plenty of concerns have arisen regarding its lack of integration with the new OS; fortunately, it shows the update as it would look on a Samsung Galaxy Nexus -- we're crossing our fingers that this is some type of hint that we'll see contact syncing for Android 4.0 included as part of the download, but it's all wishful thinking. We'll keep you posted if it actually happens. Update: As of 9:30PM ET or so the updated version is live on the Android Market. The description is still lagging as of this writing, but feel free to snatch the new version on the mobile device of your choice and let us know how it's working. Unfortunately contact sync in ICS is still a no-go, but at least the settings are actually accessible now. If you're having trouble (blank screen when launching the app, etc.) we're hearing clearing the cache may resolve any issues. [Thanks, Thomas]
Facebook for Android refresh, dedicated Places app on the way?
Now that the folks in Palo Alto have finally churned out that long-awaited iPad app, they'll be focusing on other things, we'd surmise. Apparently, high on the to-do list is a refresh of Android's Facebook app. Code-named "Katana," the version 1.8 release candidate (see up top, or the gallery below) shows off updated navigation, menu and search functionality. There's a seemingly standalone "Nearby" application icon present as well -- perhaps a Gowalla-esque Places app mirroring its recent Messenger offering? Keep in mind, nothing is final until ol' Zucks gives his seal of approval, so what you see here is only what the app may look like when it hits the Marketplace. Until it drops, go ahead and pull back that curtain. %Gallery-141105%
SolidAlliance's Crazy Earphones v2: because ear fungus sells
Japan's SolidAlliance earned a warm place in our collective nerd bosom long ago for the sheer lunacy of the products it creates. Today it's offering round two of its Crazy Earphone collection that includes some kind of mushroom (that is a mushroom, right?), the ol' Katana blade or arrow through the head trick, and a parasitical, conjoined ear if you want everyone to think you've been subjected to a tragic cloning experiment. Spec-wise your ¥2,000 (about $22) will take home a pair of in-ear buds with 20 ~ 20,000Hz frequency range assisted by a 10-mm driver. Not that it matters: there's no chance in hell that you're buying these for performance reasons.%Gallery-86590%
Sanyo Katana Eclipse hands-on
Sanyo handsets are like cats: you either love them or you just really, really loathe them with every fiber of your being. Sprint and Sanyo both seem to be pretty okay with that; clearly, not every phone in Sprint's lineup is going to be for everyone, and the Katana Eclipse is no different. Sanyo fanatic or not, though, our gripe list added up pretty quickly with this one, so would-be buyers might want to put it through a good workout in store before taking the plunge.The phone's hinge design causes the upper half of the phone to rest behind the bottom half; that is, the intersection of the planes containing the two halves is not the center of the hinge (think MacBook, for example). We thought that felt a little weird against our face and made it more difficult to get a good seal between the earpiece and our ear. Also, the front of the phone -- arguably the most attractive of any Katana to date -- isn't the most user-friendly. The tiny external display was difficult to read even in a moderate amount of shade, and the music controls are nearly flush with the shell which makes actuating them trickier than it should be. Speaking of displays, the primary one is pretty small, leaving a huge gray bezel with no function whatsoever (don't be fooled by the white dots at the bottom, they serve no function other than to make you think that they're touch-sensitive soft buttons, which they're not).It's not all doom and gloom, though. The dedicated speaker key is a nifty parlor trick, you've got a 1.3 megapixel cam in there, and it does stereo Bluetooth. Plus, it's a Sanyo, and we know that for a few of you out there, that's all that matters. For you guys, you'll be able to pick up the Katana Eclipse immediately for $99.99 with a new two-year contract.%Gallery-29860%
Sanyo's Katana Eclipse in all its glory
Relax, take your shoes back off and put down your car keys -- the Katana Eclipse still isn't released, so there's no point in running down to your local Sprint kiosk just yet. We do, however, have a full range of photography that should temporarily keep would-be buyers' heads from exploding for a dearth of information about Sanyo's latest American clam. The phone looks like it might be the most attractive Katana to date, and Sanyo owners tend to be among the most fiercely loyal around, so we think this one should get some good play at the cash register. Check out the gallery, and keep the drool off your keyboard for once, will ya?[Thanks, Opie33]%Gallery-29373%
Sanyo Katana Eclipse does the FCC mating ritual
Well, there you have it: the very real-looking Katana Eclipse pictured in that leaked Sprint roadmap is, in fact, real. The upcoming clamshell flew right on through the FCC recently (filed under new parent Kyocera's name, no less) bearing the expected external music controls and an evolutionary design that's kinda sorta reminiscent of everything that makes the Katana series, the Katana series. We've got EV-DO in here, too, so if we had to guess, this will end up slotting in somewhere toward the bottom of Sprint's midrange when it goes on sale -- which may or may not be August 17 depending on the accuracy of said roadmap.[Via Cell Phone Signal, thanks Marco]
Leaked Sprint roadmap reveals slew of releases through September?
Though the document doesn't exactly look magazine-quality, this is a case where we'd argue that it doesn't have to be to be real; it's clearly for internal use only, for one thing, and secondly, we don't know where else the picture of that new Sanyo Katana Eclipse would come from. The Eclipse is just one of several pretty nifty releases claimed to be lined up between now and September, with the Motorola VE20 Vegas and a pair of data cards joining it on August 17. September should bring the Motorola i365 and V950 Renegade, Samsung m220 and m320, and the HTC MP6950 -- which we assume to be either the Touch Diamond or Touch Pro -- clearly in desperate need of an actual name by the time it launches. Go-go gadget, product marketing team![Thanks, Owen]
Sanyo Katana LX now available on Sprint
From rumor to sale in about two months' time -- not bad. The Sanyo Katana LX is now available through Sprint, offering a worthy replacement to the aging Katana II at the same price point, $49.99 on contract after rebates. Fashion is the name of the game here, thanks to a trendy see-through front cover revealing an external display underneath and availability in three collect-'em-all colors: Liquid Graphite, Pacific Blue, and Elegant Pink. You're also going to get GPS, Bluetooth, and a VGA cam -- but one thing you aren't going to get is EV-DO, so steer clear if you have a need for speedy bits.[Thanks, Chuck and Jorge]
Sanyo Katana LX for Sprint rears its shiny head
So that's where the external display is! From the FCC documentation, we couldn't really make out what was up with Sanyo's Katana LX -- a phone that's allegedly destined to replace the lowly Katana II -- but it turns out that the display is hidden under a semi-translucent casing. This is a trick we've seen employed by various manufacturers in the past, often with lovely results, and it's looking pretty solid this time around, too. With any luck we'll see this one in the flesh next month. Follow the break for another glamor shot, if you're so inclined.
Sprint's Sanyo Katana LX gets the FCC rundown
That rumored Katana II replacement, the creatively-named Katana LX, is looking more real than ever now that the FCC's labs have put it through the ringer. If the remainder of the rumor ends up checking out, the LX ended up passing the federal checkpoint just in the nick of time en route to an April launch. One thing that concerns us just a tad is that we're having a hard time finding an external display or a camera, though we imagine it's possible that one or both are crammed into that black area near the hinge; if not, this bad boy's going to make a pretty miserable Katana II successor since the older model carried both features. Needless to say, EV-DO isn't in the cards either way.
QChat phones, others launching on Sprint mid-April?
Word on the street is that customers might be getting their first crack at Sprint's QChat wares rather soon -- April 16, to be exact. The news comes from phoneArena, which reports that the LG LX400 (pictured) will be launching alongside Sanyo's PRO-200 and PRO-700 on that fateful day, presumably along with the Direct Connect tech (and iDEN heir apparent) itself. The LG is rumored to be coming in at an SRP of $279.99, while the two Sanyos check in at $249.99 and $269.99, respectively. Also slated for April launches are the BlackBerry Curve 8330 in "titanium" along with Sanyo's Katana LX, a replacement for the Katana II that'll presumably keep its slim profile but carry over the forgettable VGA cam.
WRUP: The last weekend with heroes edition
This weekend will have many heroes. There will be the firefighter that saves a kitten from a tree. There will be the courteous driver who waves on another driver at a four-way stop. There will also be the middle-aged man who eats in his local diner alone, sad and contemplating suicide. How is he a hero? Well, he found his mashed potatoes to be too cold, but he didn't send them back. What does this all mean? It means that next week we'll all be playing No More Heroes. Yes, all of us will. If you don't pick the game up, we'll find you and [insert violent threat here] to you. In the meantime, however, there's still some time to kill this weekend.So, what will you be playing?
Samurai Warriors benefits from Samurai Waggle
Koei held a surprise media event yesterday, during which journalists got to try out some of their upcoming games, including Dynasty Whatever and Other Dynasty Game. Game|Life's Chris Kohler tried out the Wii permutation of their Japan-based Samurai Warriors, called Samurai Warriors Katana, which replaces the usual Musou-series gameplay with an on-rails swordfighting experience like Dragon Quest Swords.What's most surprising to us (and probably to Kohler as well) is that it sounds pretty great! It's still based on the idea of mowing down thousands of identical soldiers, but in first-person and with some unusual controls. Rather than using a direct-motion-based system, you select enemies with the pointer and then click on them, then finish the combo with a swing. We're skeptical about non-representative waggle, but we're very enthused about the idea of inventing a new paradigm for button combos. If that makes any sense.
Sanyo fesses up to Katana DLX for Sprint
Sprint has yet to make any official mention of this phone's existence, but we've seen just about enough evidence to convince ourselves that the Katana DLX is the real deal. Positioned as a slightly higher-end rendition of the Katana II, the DLX mercifully adds the EV-DO data that both the II and the original Katana are sorely lacking. How do we know? Well, there's the FCC filing of course, but Sanyo has now seemingly admitted that the Katana DLX is the real deal and promises a near-term launch (think July) on Sprint. Other features include a microSD slot, 1.3 megapixel camera, and Bluetooth with A2DP, making this one a solid midrange offering if flips (or Sanyos) are your thing. Check it in "Platinum Ice," "Pink Satin," and "Champagne" -- pictured in that order -- when it hits shelves.Update: It's on Sprint's site, all official-like. $129.99 on contract after rebates.
Sprint releases Sanyo Katana II
Looks like Sprint has dropped the drapes on Sanyo's Katana II handset, as it is showing on Sprint's website as of now. The SCP-6650 Katana II makes a few decent strides over the EV-DO-less original Katana from last year, including a refined design and a more RAZR-esque profile, but with the Katana II sportin' a positively ancient VGA digicam and lacking EV-DO data of any kind, this apparently-minor refresh to the Katana design may not win many converts from the original or otherwise. But hey, at under $100 with a new two-year contract, we can't complain too much -- although $50 seems like a more appropriate price right off the bat.[Via Phone News]
