When reviewing a gadget as big and tactile as the Voyage-Air folding guitar, there's always a danger the testing process could break or somewhere ruin what is otherwise a beautiful piece of kit. Playing with it is so cool, breaking it becomes a genuine, though juvenile, temptation.
The Voyage-Air Guitar has nothing whatsoever to do with waving your hands like a spaz in tune with Lynyrd Skynyrd, however. It's an actual musical instrument -- the kind it takes years of daily practice to master. In other words, this isn't a toy or a gimmick.
The California-based company specializes in guitars for the troubadour on the go. If you look at
an acoustic Voyage-Air from the front while fully assembled, it looks no different than any other
well-made guitar. But turning it over reveals two specially designed differences.
Amazon may be cooking up two new Kindle Fire tablets -- a 10-inch version and a new 7-inch flavor.
Citing intel from one of its sources, blogging site Boy Genius Report says it confirmed the launch of Amazon's 10-inch tablet for sometime in the coming months. The 10-inch tablet would be powered by a quad-core processor.
Those of you eyeing the Google Nexus 7 can preorder the tablet from GameStop and get a cut in price if you've got something to trade.
Starting today, Nexus 7 buyers can preorder the 16GB version of tablet at all GameStop stores in the U.S. Customers could score up to a 30 percent discount by trading in other items, including video game hardware, software, and accessories as well as Apple mobile devices and certain Android tablets.
The deal could make GameStop a more appealing alternative to Google itself, which is selling the Nexus 7 for $199 (8GB version) more
Manufacturing plants in Asia pretty much have the cell phone and gadget market cornered, but there are some blips on the U.S.-made tech radar. Google has managed to design and build the Nexus Q streaming media player in America.
Is Google eyeing a 10-inch version of its new Nexus tablet?
Citing the usual "industry sources," Taiwan-based DigiTimes says the search giant is planning a 10-inch Android tablet with display panels to be supplied by Wintek and AU Optronics. Wintek is the manufacturer behind the touch-screen panels for the Nexus 7 and has already picked up orders for around 500,000 panels from Google for the 7-inch tablet, according to the company's chairman.
Those demons must, in turn, be featured in video games.
America, indeed, switches demons all the time, allowing video game creators to help you shoot Russians one week and then lock and load in some difficult Arab nation the next.
It seems that Iran, one of America's latest demons -- if tales from Apple stores in Georgia are to be believed -- has decided to create demonic video games of its own.
First off, congrats to Harold M. of Charlotte, N.C., for winning a pair of San Francisco-themed V-Moda Crossfade LP headphones in last week's Crave giveaway. And now... ding-dong! Who's that at the door? Why, it's this week's prize, a Swann MP3 DJ Doorbell. The wireless, customizable gadget turns any song you want into your doorbell chime.
The product has two main battery-powered components: a doorbell unit backed with double-sided tape for easy mounting in your doorway and a speaker unit for mounting with the included screws up to 330 feet away. The bell comes with 32 built-in tones, and you can add a removable SD card up to 32GB (not included) to store up to 10,000 tracks, transferable via the included USB cable. You'll also get editing software so you don't have to listen to every last note of "Ring My Bell."
Normally, a Swann MP3 DJ Doorbell would cost you $49.99, but you have the chance to score one for free. So how do you turn your doorbell into a personal DJ that caters to your every musical mood? Well, there are a few rules, so please listen up. more
Five years ago today, at exactly 6 p.m. in each time zone, the original Apple iPhone went on sale in the United States. At the time I was outside the Apple store in downtown San Francisco witnessing tech history being made. And even though I've been to scores of other product launches since June 29, 2007, I can still recall the day vividly.
Editors' note: This story was originally published on June 29, 2011, but has been updated with the iPhone 4S.
The sidewalk in front of the Stockton Street store that evening was absolutely mobbed and a line of eager buyers stretched around the corner and out of sight. Indeed, as I was waiting to pick up our review model, I was nearly flattened against the store's glass wall when the enormous crowd began to surge toward the entrance.
Finally, as the magic hour struck and the doors opened, a line of applauding employees welcomed the first buyers. The line began to cheer "iPhone!, iPhone!" and a few minutes the first guy exited with his handset held high. I quickly sneaked inside to pick mine up and then hurried back to CNET's office with Donald Bell for a long night of writing the review (relive our review in real time!). Yet, that was after Brian Cooley got to take it out of the box on video.
Of course, you know what happened next. A worldwide sensation was born and the smartphone industry has never been the same. Four more models followed, competitors rushed to counter Apple's moves, and the smartphone moved from the hands of high-powered execs into the hands of everyday consumers.
A year later Android emerged as a powerful foe, while RIM and Palm began to crumble under the iOS onslaught. Windows Phone may still make it big, but the iPhone's worldwide appeal shows no signs of slowing. So now, as we again wait through the summer for a possible iPhone 5 (the company moved to a new release schedule with the iPhone 4), join me to a look back at all the iPhones that Apple has grown.
Live in an area prone to flash floods, hurricanes, blizzards? Smartphone users will soon get a severe-weather alert from the National Weather Service, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The new nationwide emergency alert system, called the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), sends 90-character text messages to smartphones of people facing extreme weather conditions. Severe weather defined by the NOAA includes tornadoes, flash floods, hurricanes, extreme wind, blizzards and ice storms, tsunamis, and dust storms. Note that thunderstorms aren't on the list because they occur so frequently.
Brainiacs at Rice University today debuted a spray-on lithium ion battery that they say could be applied to nearly any surface. You read that right -- a paintable battery.
The paint contains layers, each representing a necessary component of a conventional battery -- current collectors made in part from purified single-wall carbon nanotubes, a cathode, an anode, and a polymer separator -- as described in a report published today in Nature authored by Rice graduate student Neelam Singh and her team. Spraying the painted battery is a multilayer process, but when you're done, you have a covered surface that stores energy and discharges it when needed -- that is, a battery.
The name says it all. Crave is our blog about gorgeous gadgets and other crushworthy stuff. If you would like to contact Crave with a tip or comment, please write to: crave@cnet.com
