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Etón Rugged Rukus: Solid solar sound
TUAW has covered the alternative energy accessories from Etón before: the BoostTurbine is an excellent way to charge up an iPhone or iPad when the power is out, while the FRX3 acts as an emergency radio and has both solar cells and a hand crank for providing a charge to your iPhone when you need it. And the Mobius solar case for iPhone is a smart way to top off your phone. Now the company has announced the Rugged Rukus (US$99.99), an "all-terrain, solar-powered, wireless speaker." Designed to work with any of your Bluetooth-equipped goodies, the wedge-shaped Rugged Rukus sports a 20-square-inch photovoltaic cell on one side that charges the internal lithium battery (it can also be charged by plugging into any USB port). In full sunlight, that battery can go from empty to full in five hours, and when the lights go out the Rugged Rukus can operate for up to 8 hours blasting your tunes. A USB charge takes only about 2.5 hours. Note that you can also use the battery in the Rugged Rukus to charge your iPhone. Don't be concerned about babying the Rugged Rukus if you're at the beach or camping in a rainstorm, as it has an IPX-4 splashproof rating and it's also drop-proof from one meter (3.3 feet). The Rugged Rukus will be available soon on Amazon and at Apple and REI stores.
Sigma SD1 has a 15.3MP sensor, weather-sealed magnesium alloy body, and no video mode at all (update: eyes-on!)
It'd be too easy to describe this as "one for the purists," but it really rather is. The Sigma SD1 eschews any pretenses of being a video camera and gets right on with the business of taking gorgeous stills instead. Employing a 24mm x 16mm X3 CMOS sensor -- you know, the one with three stacked layers, one each for absorbing red, green and blue light -- dual TRUE II image processors, and an 11-point autofocusing system, the SD1 is eager to sweep up enthusiast photographers into its magnesium alloy embrace. 98 percent viewfinder coverage, a 3-inch, 460k-dot LCD and CompactFlash compatibility fill out the spec sheet, while price is indicated as somewhere in the neighborhood of the Canon EOS 7D. Without any live view or video options, Sigma had better have some truly spectacular image quality to show us when this thing ships in February of next year. Update: Our hopes and dreams of caressing this rugged beast were dashed upon learning that the only SD1 at Photokina was held behind a glass box of emotion, but that didn't stop us from pointing our own camera at it and firing off a few shots. Trust us, it looks just as beastly in person as it does in the press shots. Have a gander below, won't you? %Gallery-102882%
Eton Soulra iPod sound system is rugged, splash-proof and solar-powered
Solar-powered sound systems are certainly nothing new, but Etón has taken things a bit further than most with its new Soulra system, which not only adds an iPhone / iPod dock to the equation, but wraps it in a rugged, splash-proof enclosure. That obviously makes it better suited for the beach or pool-side than some other options, but you'll also naturally get an AC adapter and line-in to use it at home and connect other audio devices. Not much else in the way of technical specs just yet, unfortunately, but it looks like it should be available in the coming days for $199 -- Etón actually says "now," but most retailers seem to be saying otherwise. Full press release is after the break.
