cube
Latest
CES 2012: headphone and speaker roundup
Audio-wares may not be on the forefront of many geek's minds during CES, but that doesn't mean you won't find a bevy of sound-pumping gizmos while traversing across the crowded show floor. From giant AirPlay and iPod dock systems to premium audiophile headphones (and a bevy of dinky iDevice-compatible buds), we've picked out a few of our favorites. Whether you're focused on getting great sound or something packed with technology, jump past the break to visualize it all for yourself.
Logitech Cube looks to reimagine the mouse, converts to a presenter should the need arise
If you've been mid-presentation and longed for a presenter over an optical mouse, you're about to get another option. Logitech has just announced the Cube, a wireless mouse / presenter hybrid in the same small package. As a mouse, the Cube scrolls via swipe gestures across the main panel via the company's Flow Scroll software with performance similar to scrolling on your touchscreen smartphone of choice. To engage presenter mode, all you'll have to do is pick the device up off your desk and the switch is made for you. The pocket-sized accessory connects to your PC using a diminutive Logitech Unifying receiver with 2.4GHz connectivity. Looking to take one for a spin? You'll be able to pick one up this month for $69.99. For now, hit the full PR after the break or scope out the two color options in the gallery below. Update: We grabbed a quick hands-on with the Cube. Check it out below. Note the size -- this thing is tiny.
Fifth Avenue Apple cube being revamped, here it is
Apple announced plans a little while ago to revamp the glass cube that sits on top of New York's iconic Fifth Avenue Apple Store, and Gothamist has the first pictures of the new design, as seen above. As you can tell, it's simpler and cleaner, representing a smooth and sleek entrance that's even more stylish than what's there now. The change mostly consists of consolidating most of the glass panes currently sitting on the store's entrance, dropping that number from 90 all the way down to 15. There aren't any known issues with the former design; it's possible that Apple's architects & engineers were originally worried about how the glass would perform in a stressful New York environment, but having the structure up over a number of years has probably taught them a lot about how it all goes together. As Steve Jobs told the Cupertino City Council, Apple has plenty of experience in making these giant pieces of glass for architectural purposes. The reconstruction is set to cost $6.6 million, which is of course pennies to the most valuable company in the world. The new Cube design is supposed to be done by November.
Looking back at Apple's Cube, ten years later
The Register has an excellent writeup posted with a look back at Apple's Power Mac G4 Cube (affectionately referred to as "The Cube"), which was released to the public 'suspended' from production 10 years ago this coming weekend. At the time, back in 2001, the Cube drew a lot of jeers, mostly from PC enthusiasts who enjoyed making fun of Apple's whimsical and somewhat pretentious designs. For a number of different reasons, the Cube never really took off in the way that the iMac or, later, the iPhone did. Nevertheless, the Cube has its followers, and the idea -- a powerful computer put into a form very different than anything else seen at the time -- remains intriguing even today. Perhaps that's why even today, modders are trying to push the limits of what the Cube can be. User Marcelo over at CubeOwner.com is actually building an "All Apple 10th Anniversary Cube" right now, which will rock an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, two 100 GB SSD drives, a dual-layer DVD drive; the finished product will even support Mac OS X 10.7 Lion when it's released. That's a spicy meatball of a computer, all squeezed into that same floating box. We have to be careful not to look back too fondly on the Cube itself -- I used one back in the day and there were some issues with the hardware and the way it all worked, no matter how you felt about the case. But the Cube came right near the end of the Think Different campaign, and in some ways, even before the iAge changed the form of computing completely, the Cube was the last word on what Apple Computers was trying to accomplish with the PC itself. Thanks Laurie D.
UCube speakers run off USB, are coming to an Amtrak quiet car near you
You can use these USB-powered UltraLink UCube speakers on a bus, on the beach, or on the table at your favorite McDonald's, but please -- for the love of god -- don't. Remember: with great convenience comes great responsibility, and if these speakers are as impressive as the dramatic marketing video below implies, disruption of the peace is about to know no bounds. At $150 per pair, these sleek sound machines aren't cheap, but each speaker is able to pump out 15 watts of peak power -- you won't be filling a large room with crisp, distortion-free sound, but they're probably loud enough to play your tunes or flicks for a group of friends, or to annoy strangers in a park. UltraLink claims that the speakers use DSP-controlled power supplies to "store energy during quiet passages," allowing the 3.25 inch cubes to reach their 15 watt peak output with 170-degree listening angles. We haven't had a chance to go hands on, but if these speakers sound half as good as they look, we may have a better solution for playing music in the CES trailer next year.
DIYer builds his own CNC mill, fabricates a Weighted Companion Cube to show off
So you've built your own homebrew CNC mill and want to test out some recent modifications? That's a question few ever have to ask themselves, but DIYer Jamie Nasiatka recently did, and came up with the bright idea of making his very own Weighted Companion Cube. As you can see above, things turned up pretty well, and you can check out the complete build process at the source link below -- yes, it lights up, and changes colors. Let's just hope no one tries to throw this cube through a Portal t-shirt.
iPad 2 line watch: the few, the proud, the soaking wet (updating)
Last night you couldn't walk down the street in New York City without becoming seriously soaked and breaking your umbrella, but you didn't really think that would stop those crazy Apple fans, did you? Oh yes, the iPad 2 lines are in full effect in NYC and around the country -- we're hearing there are already close to 150 at The Cube in Midtown Manhattan and scores of others in line in Austin, Fort Lauderdale, Palo Alto and more. And with reports of online orders not shipping for 2 to 3 weeks now, we're assuming those queues are only going to grow in the next few hours. It is, of course, our time-honored tradition to bring you photos of those incredibly brave line-sitters, and we'll be doing just that this afternoon and evening. We'll be heading out to grab some shots of our own soon and bring you the smiles and tears, but until then hit the break for a few we've been sent so far. Oh, and good luck everyone!
Teradek Cube brings livestreaming to any camera, just don't tell Charlie Sheen
Livestreams have become a part of daily life here at Engadget, and the Teradek Cube aims to make any camera livestream-capable without additional software or materials. It's is a card deck-sized box that docks in your camera's hot shoe and connects to the net for instant streaming to the company's Livestream.com -- way more practical than some bulkier alternatives. All told there are six Cube models to choose from with varying quality / connectivity capabilities, but you get a free month of Livesteam.com service with any purchase, making the $1,490 starting price a little more palatable. The higher end models can even connect to Verizon 4G when paired with the Pantech UML290, and the Cube is said to work with any camera. Of course, you could go the UStream route if quality isn't your highest priority, but we only recommend that for the lowest of low-budget films.
One Shots: Supernatural spam
How precisely does a hero face off against a ghost in the machine? Well, if you're lucky, you'll never have to face one in Paragon City, but once in a great while, one still slips through. Take, for example, this oddball "haunting" that recently occurred on a fairly innocent corner in City of Heroes. Reporting in today is Cube, who believes he may have figured out what the source of this particular anomaly is: "This is me on my tanker, Blood Brother Eldred. With me are Alisha Shatogi (the lovely lady in the trenchcoat), and DJ Aerial. There have been a few issues with Paragon City's mail system over the past few days, and I think we've found out why. It seems that Aerial's pet Singularity/Disco Ball (affectionally named George) managed to find his way into a mailbox. It looks like the folks at the Paragon City Postal Service have their work cut out for them..." One Shots is always on the lookout for new and interesting views of the various MMO worlds out there. If you'd like to show us what you've been up to, all you have to do is snap an interesting screenshot and email it in to us here at oneshots@massively.com. Be sure to include your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing as well. You never know -- yours could wind up being the next one featured here! %Gallery-85937%
'Cube' director wants to make a video game adaptation
There are few cinematic guilty pleasures we hold closer to our hearts than the Cube franchise. Here's a breakdown of the films, in case you happened to overlook them: A group of strangers must find their way out of a multi-roomed, cube-shaped prison, which is filled with gruesome, deadly traps. If you think that sounds like an awesome plot for a video game, you're not alone -- the director of the original Cube, Vincenzo Natali, recently told MTV that he'd love to make a video game adaptation of the film. Natali told MTV that, while writing the film, he repeatedly asked, "are we writing a film or are we writing a game?" His desire to do the latter is apparently pretty strong, as he used the MTV interview to broadcast, "if there are any game designers out there, give me a call." Well, folks, you heard the man. Pick up a phone book, and let's get this thing done.
Cube's 6-inch capacitive touchscreen e-reader is a Windows Mobile 6.5 fantasyland
If you're a sucker for immaculate specs at a discount price then the Cube e-book reader might be the device for you. The Chinese outfit is said to be working on a 6-inch, E Ink reader built around the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system with baked-in WiFi (sorry, no mention of 3G data) for "remote server synchronization." And as declared in the image above, the Cube e-reader features a capacitive touchscreen just "like the iPhone." Apparently, it'll do more than just display e-books though, with a touted ability to make VoIP calls, browse the web, send and receive email, and download music and photos -- all this for just 999 Chinese Yuan or about $146. Sure, go ahead and build it Cube, but until we see a product render at least forgive us for being skeptical.
Gesture Cube, the magical, intuitive, theoretical 3D interface (video)
You know how it is -- another day, another "magical" and "intuitive" input device -- not unlike Immersion's Cubtile, which we first saw about a year ago. This time around the culprit is Gesture Cube, the heathen spawn of Ident's "GestIC" electric field sensing technology (for 3D spatial movement tracking) and a couple German design studios. GestIC detects movements and distances in 3D space, enabling touch free gesture control. If this sounds good to you, wait until you see the YouTube demonstration, complete with all sorts of "magical" and "intuitive" interface ideas! It will really make you with you were a designer living in Germany, starring in YouTube videos for "magical" and "intuitive" design firms. We don't know how much of a hurry we are to see this implemented in our fave hardware, but who knows? Maybe we'll come around eventually -- after all, Grippity did wonders for our words-per-minute. Video after the break. %Gallery-84686%
DoDoNA's S-100 mp3 player doesn't need no stinkin' ergonomics
Clearly, skinny jeans aren't yet as popular in Korea as they are in Western lands. For if they were, we'd never see chunky cube-shaped players like this S-100 here, and the world would definitely be poorer for it. Taking its design cues from the mesmerizing Mintpass Cube, with a smidgen of old school iPod buttonry, this device boasts a 1.1-inch OLED display, FM radio, built-in speaker, voice recording, and a slightly pedestrian 4GB of integrated memory. No, it's not exactly sterling value at nearly $170, but we have the suspicion that the S-100 was never targeted at the unimpulsive analytical types anyway.
gCubik shows off its good side, and every other while it's at it (video)
Remember gCubik? It's been a few months, but to recap, it's a cube developed by researchers from NICT that features textured surfaces that present you a different view on the "internal" image based on viewing angle, giving the illusion something is physically in the box. Theoretically, at least -- it's pretty low-resolution and in the early stages of development. We stumbled upon the device at the CEATEC showfloor this week and decided to snap some video while there. There were moments when the effect was lost, and getting too close completely blurred what we saw to the point of incomprehension, but again, this shows a whole heap of potential that's fascinating to us. See it for yourself after the break.
Apple Store 5th Ave continues to defy gravity, macroeconomics
While the entire retail sector is in the doldrums of recession and reduced consumer demand, there's a shiny spot in midtown NYC with a big glass cube sitting on top of it. Apple's 5th Avenue store should replace that glowing Apple with a big ol' dollar sign, according to a report from Bloomberg News. The story says that while overall retail sales in New York have fallen between 8 and 10% since 2008, and US retail sales for the first half of 2009 are down 9.2% from the same six months of 2008, Apple's retail operations are still holding steady. In particular, the 5th Avenue store stands out; while Apple did not release store-by-store numbers, Bloomberg quoted an estimate of about $350 million in annual sales; that's $35K per square foot of the 10,000-sf store. By comparison, high-end jeweler Tiffany & Co. does only about $18K per square foot. That $350M number is lower than the New York Post's $440M estimate, but still astonishingly good business.
USB retro wooden speaker escapes the crap pile by the slimmest margin
Try if you wish, but you'll never convince us that the masterpiece you're peering at above should be lumped in with every other crapgadget out there. Sorry, it just ain't happening. The wondrous USB Retro Wooden Speaker / MP3 Player Cube does mostly what it says: you insert a flash card or USB drive, and it plays back MP3 files through the pair of 3-watt stereo speakers. Those vintage buttons can skip tracks and pause things for a brief moment of silence, while the bundled remote keeps your nates planted after a hard day's night. There's even a 3.5 millimeter auxiliary input in case you're short on flash, and the built-in rechargeable battery ensures that this bad boy will be showcased at your forthcoming tailgate parties. There's a whole lot of awesome here for $29, wouldn't you concur?
Clarion's MiND finds a home in LA-area Nissan Cubes
With the whole "direct to consumer" approach failing epically, Clarion has evidently resorted to pushing remaining inventory of its largely unwanted MiND mobile internet device onto Nissan dealers in Los Angeles. In all fairness, we do suspect that these are moving more briskly than, say, Celio's REDFLY, but we can count the amount of MIDs we've seen in public on two or three hands. At any rate, Nissan has signed on to offer the multifaceted Atom-powered device as an optional accessory in its Cube, but at least initially, it'll only be made available at select dealers in the LA area. For those opting to outfit their new whip with one of these, Nissan will include a dedicated docking kit harmonized to the vehicle's instrument panel, and the user interface will also be tweaked for in-car usage. Look -- this is absolutely better than those lackluster, overpriced NAV units shoved into most dashboards, but at $799 plus installation, it's not like you're getting the steal of the century here.[Via Pocketables]
Rubik's TouchCube to make debut this weekend... on QVC
It's not every day that QVC gets first dibs on hot new gadgets (though it's occurring far more frequently than we're proud to admit), but we're hearing that the teleshopping channel will be the place to go if you want to be among the first to own a Rubik's TouchCube. Believe it or not, the swipe-controlled retro toy will be available to buy for the first time on the Christmas in July segment this weekend. Look - if you've been wondering what QVC looks like in full, unadulterated HD, but have up until now failed to secure a good excuse to check it out, this is your chance, and yes, you're welcome. The full statement from the company is after the break.
Visua Mobile's old Apples collection
A couple of months ago I wound up in Paris and received a surprising direct message via Twitter from a young employee at Visua Mobile. Having nothing better to do in the City of Light, I wound up at their offices. I'm often suspect when a "mobile" development company rings me about their iPhone stable. Just like my tea, I prefer my developers steeped in Apple. Well, Visua Mobile is certainly made up of Apple fans. Just check out the gallery of their offices to see what I mean. Visua's raison d'etre would be iPhone apps. To my astonishment, none have been runaway hits. They are beautifully designed and generally work well (some 3.0 bugs crept up). Visua gained some noteriety around their app, Fracture, that would make the iPhone screen appear broken when pressed. But they make a host of already-approved apps, including Celebrity, which features a special magazine cover just for TUAW fans. %Gallery-67744%
iPhone 3G S line begins in NY, weather be damned
It's pretty gross in NY right now -- sure, you've seen rain before, but you've never really experienced it until you've seen the grit and determination of these city folk wandering around in a light downpour with their $500 umbrellas. That's why it comes as zero surprise to see that despite the ongoing drizzle, a few brave souls have gathered in front of Apple's flagship store to be among the first in the States to get an iPhone 3G S tomorrow morning. Sure, they could've pre-ordered for delivery and stayed dry, but what's the fun in that? So far it's four friends from The iLife blog keeping each other company, with plans to upgrade one of the crew's original iPhones (for that attractive full subsidy price). These guys also braved the mayhem of the iPhone 3G launch, and who knows if they'll wise up before the next one. By 7AM tomorrow they'll have spent 24 hours in the elements -- quite a lot of commitment for a phone, but hey, that video recording bit is pretty neat, and male bonding is forever. Meet these guys and their cloud-sent adversary on video after the break, and check out the read link for their ongoing liveblog of the launch -- naturally courtesy of some iPhone 3.0 tethering.
