dss
Latest
Vertus adds stereo Bluetooth to any pair of powered speakers... if they have a 3.5mm jack
Nowadays we're spoiled with options in the Bluetooth speaker market, and many of the high-end ones -- especially those from Soundfreaq and Nokia -- even feature dual-system streaming (DSS) that lets one speaker pair with another to enable true stereo playback. But if you already have a pair of old but nice-sounding speakers with 3.5mm input on both, then here's a quick and easy way to add Bluetooth to them. Dubbed Vertus, this Kickstarter project features the above pair of receivers based on CSR's TrueWireless Stereo, a nifty technology that's been made available since early 2009. Similar to any DSS system, one of the Vertus dongles (the right channel, in this case) acts as the master to receive the stereo stream from a Bluetooth source, and then it'd throw the left-channel stream to the other dongle. So provided that your speakers have their own power source to amplify, it's just a matter of charging these aluminum dongles up (a single charge lasts up to 10 hours), plugging them in and then pairing the right receiver with your audio source. Simple! That said, at $120 this kit may struggle to gain traction in retail, so hopefully the audio quality will somewhat justify the price. Introductory video after the break.
AMX's media server line axed over DVD ripping dispute
Looks like AMX isn't eager to be next in line for a battle after Kaleidescape and Real Networks, as it's chosen to kill the MAX line of multimedia servers, aimed at storing and streaming ripped discs, primarily in digital signage environments. CEPro notes several other similar servers that chose to fade out rather than fight the DVD Copy Control Association, while Kaleidescape is apparently still tied up in the courts, we're still wondering if legit disc ripping will arrive before Managed Copy.
DSS surveillance tech from Japan makes George Orwell upset
We take a break from reporting on the impending doom of the human race to bring you news of the latest innovation designed specifically for making our pre-apocalypse lives miserable. Japanese firm DSS is now offering to snap video cameras and ankle sensors -- yes, the same kind that convicts under home arrest have to wear -- onto your employees for the ultimate in workplace surveillance. Sure, you might find out Bob in accounting takes a really long lunch, but do you really need to spend $20,000 and piss off your entire workforce to prove that? Just stalk his Tweets and Facebook status updates like a good old-fashioned employer would do.
