Hands-on Review: SRS iWow adapter beefs up your iPod sound

You may recall SRS Labs, maker of sound-processing software. No? Well, SRS Labs makes sound-processing software, which is supposed to beef up your audio. Their processing is built into a lot of devices — from TVs to sound cards — but now the company is coming out with its own piece of hardware: the iWow, an adapter for the iPod that promises to make your compressed tunes sound as good as can be. I got a chance to check it out earlier today.

The iWow attaches to your iPod's dock connector, bypassing your iPod's headphone jack completely. Once jacked in, it's super-simple to use, with one light-up button to turn the processing on and off. Listening to some pre-prepared tunes, including Hotel California, with some ear-covering headphones, I could hear the SRS processing work its magic. It enhances percussion and bass while keeping vocals at the same level, in all, enhancing the musicality of the tracks. Very sweet.

More impressions — and concerns — after the Continue jump, along with price and availability info.

Not content with the standard tour, I tried using the iWow with my iPhone 3G. Predictably, my phone insisted on switching to airplane mode when I attached the adapter (the iWow isn't certified for the iPhone, but SRS is working on certification for the iPod Touch). I still had to disconnect and reconnect to get it to work (switching to airplane mode before connecting finally did the trick), but once I did, I was impressed. I could hear the SRS enhancement in everything from pop music like P.O.D. to lighter fare like Holly Cole (the songs were AAC files encoded at 128 kbps).

It's not perfect, though. Your music takes a major hit in volume when playing through the iWow. That's because the iPod's headphone jack is rated to deliver more wattage than the dock connector, so not much can be done about that with a nonpowered adapter like the iWow. Not to mention it makes your iPod longer by an inch or so… not so bad for the Classic, but the new Nano looks ridiculously awkward with it. Also, it's going to drain your iPod battery faster (how much faster, SRS wouldn't say).

Despite those concerns, I still want one. iPod Tunes simply sound better with it then without. SRS will start selling the iWow directly from its website in early November for $99.95.

FOR MORE INFO:

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Microsoft ends 'Bill and Jerry' ads as it preps to answer Apple

Yesterday, Valleywag wrote that Microsoft was canning its $300 million ad campaign featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld after only two commercials. Today, it turns out the ads won't be pulled, just reformulated. Microsoft's campaign drew a mix of condemnation and praise for its odd approach to bolstering its image by ignoring the mud Apple and critics are slinging at Vista: Some found the new ads too confusing, while others — including us here at DVICE — were curious to see where its was all going.

While ad agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky has finished another spot featuring Gates and Seinfeld, it looks like we won't be enjoying their company for much longer — at least not with a Microsoft logo tacked on. Looks like the software giant wants the ad firm to concentrate on answering Mac's ongoing "I'm a Mac, and I'm a PC" ad war in a similar style, but with a twist. Microsoft will showcase 60 of its own real employees and tell its own story, a bit like how the Democratic National Convention had a "real Americans talking" segment, and ExxonMobile is running commercials featuring employees. Bill Gates and other celebrities may still be used, though no word on if Seinfeld will continue to show up.

To add an air of authenticity to the commercials, all of Microsoft's employees will also be accompanied by their respective email addresses. So now the question is: Will the pride and joy of real computer technicians curry the favor of the crowd against Apple's polished snark?

Top 10 rumors about tomorrow's Apple MacBook event

It's time for the Mac notebooks to go through their annual renewal, and we're hearing rumors right and left. Tomorrow at 1pm EDT is when the big rollout begins, and there's a plethora of guesswork about what we'll be seeing.

Rather than sending you gallivanting all over the web, we figured we'd just gather all the scuttlebutt together in one place for your perusal, amusement, and individual speculation. Behold the scanty info, and please, no wagering:

• Lower Price: There will be a cheapo $800 MacBook, a full $300 less then the current lowest-price model. Also, there will be 12 "price points" of MacBook Pro, MacBook, MacBook Air and the new model. That's up from the current 8 price points.
• The new, rounded and slim MacBook will be carved out of a brick of solid, aircraft-grade aluminum. It's a good idea
• no screws are necessary to hold the thing together, and its solidity means no seams and no bending to create those sexy curves, eliminating weak spots.
• The MacBook in the event invitation is a 13.3-inch machine, says Boing Boing, judging from the width of the Apple logo depicted in the illustration.
• It could be a 13.3-inch MacBook Pro, adds 9-to-5 Mac.
• The MacBooks are going to be two-tone, with aluminum on the inside and black on the outside.
• There's also going to be an all-in-one Mac with Apple TV inside, explaining why the Apple TV hardware hasn't been revised in a long while. It'll be the rack-width size of home theater components, and may have a TB+ sized hard drive inside.
• The new MacBooks will have glass multi-touch touchscreens in place of touchpads.
• The Mac Mini will be redesigned. That "Brick" will look like a miniature Mac Pro desktop machine. Cute.
• The Brick will be a Mac tablet with a touchscreen, near the top of many a Mac fan's wish list for years. Using the tech chops developed with the MacBook Air, this tablet will be bigger than an iPhone, smaller than a MacBook Air.
• The MacBooks will support Blu-ray drives. This is so long overdue that we will laugh if it's not true.

For more info:

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Apple rolls out improved MacBook Pro

Apple introduced a new line of Macbook Pro laptops today. Taking a cue from the MacBook Air, at .95 inches, the new 5.5-lb MacBook Pro is much thinner than its predecessors, and as expected, it's carved out of a solid block of aluminum. Up front is a new glass multitouch trackpad. It's able to support new three- and four-finger gestures, and you can program it for multi-button function.

Also on board are beefier graphics from NVIDIA, with the ability to switch from the on-board NVIDIA 9400M graphics chip to a more powerful NVIDIA 9600M GT graphics processor, both on the same machine.
The new MacBooks are available today in two models, both with a 15.4-inch display. One has a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, NVIDIA 9400 and 9600 for $1999, and the higher-end model will be $2499, and includes a faster CPU with double cache, 4GB RAM, double graphics memory, and a 320GB hard drive.

FOR MORE INFO:
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Apple ships shiny new MacBooks: thinner, sexier, and one's cheaper

macbook08_1.jpg Steve Jobs introduced a new line of MacBooks today, saying that the $1299 flagship of the lower-priced laptop line is the same as the MacBook Pro, but smaller (well, almost, Steve — except for those faster processors and graphics in the MacBook Pro — compare them here). The upgraded 4.5-lb MacBook will have a 13.3-inch LED-backlit display, faster NVIDIA graphics, a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a 160GB hard drive, aluminum enclosure, and a glass multitouch trackpad like its larger bro. There's also a higher-end 13.3-inch MacBook ($1599), [corrected] also with 2GB of RAM, a 320GB 250GB hard drive, a backlit keyboard, a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, and an optional a 128GB solid-state drive for an extra $600. Update: An optional 320GB drive is $100 more, and an extra 2GB or RAM will cost you a steep $150. (thanks, Aswitz!) At the lower end of the MacBook line, Jobs announced a price reduction of the white plastic MacBook, now selling for $999 instead of the former entry-level price of $1099.

iBangle: Fantastic future iPod as self-sizing bracelet

It might take a few years (or decades) for this iBangle design concept to end up on your wrist, but for the time being, we can stare in astonishment at its ambitious design. You see that blue inner band? Push a tiny button on the side and it fills with air, expanding to fit snugly around your wrist.

There's a multi-touch track pad for easy navigation, and the audio finds its way to your ears via a couple of wireless earbuds. Alas, there's no screen, but designer Gopinath Prasana figures you can navigate just fine with an audio-oriented navigation system.

Short of that miraculous mini air compressor, this looks like a player that might be possible, if the buyer doesn't mind paying a pretty penny for a musical bracelet. We'd like to see it shrunk down to the size of a wedding ring, allowing its wearer to express the ultimate in Apple love.

Softbank brings mobile television to Japanese iPhone fans

One of the chief criticisms of the iPhone rollout in Japan was the device's lack of 1-seg television service that comes standard on many of Japan's newest cell phones. Today television addicts in Japan can safely purchase the iPhone now that Softbank has unveiled a 1-seg digital TV tuner attachment that will allow users to watch up to 3 hours of 1-seg TV on their iPhones via WiFi. In addition to letting you watch the boob tube the new attachment will also function as a much needed supplemental battery for the iPhone. Pricing and release date have yet to be determined, but once it's released Japan-based iPhone users will have access to a new network of about 3,500 WiFi locations essentially ensuring your ability to see that new Japanese Brad Pitt cell phone commercial he would never be caught dead doing in the U.S.

SHIFT: Android — iPhone killer after all?

At my poker game last week, I was showing off the T-Mobile G1 Android phone. While fondling it, one of my opponent friends asked me, "Are all cellphones going to be touchscreen?" Without hesitating (or thinking) I said, "Yes," which is, of course, a stupid answer.

My initial gut reaction and ultimately nonsensical conclusion was stoked by having played with the first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1, for the last couple of weeks. My first impressions were, one, great operating system, two, bad phone, three, bad network. T-Mobile and HTC, which makes the G1, also missed some major opportunities to surpass the iPhone.

As such, as I opined last month, the G1 is not going to be an iPhone killer, which was the unspoken next question by my opponent friend. I stand by this opinion. The iPhone's dominance will not be threatened by the G1. But it will be threatened and overwhelmed by other Android phones. Click continue to see why.

Now that I've had some time to play and appreciate Android, it's obvious that the G1 is the wrong ship and T-Mobile the wrong ocean for Google to challenge Apple. In fact, future Android phones won't even need a touchscreen to beat iPhone.

It's the OS, Stupid
Unlike iPhone (the OS, not the phone), Android is flexibly designed to run on both touchscreen and non-touchscreen cellphones. All Android phones have to have Home, Menu and Back buttons and some sort of navigation control, which means less work to adapt Android to existing phone designs.

Since Android doesn't need to be touched, it's likely to show up on so-called "feature" phones. That means a lot more phones running Android vs. Apple's single iPhone model. Not right away, of course, but I'll bet we'll see a non-touch Android phone by the end of next year.

No single Android phone is likely to sell as well as iPhone. But it's quite likely that all phones running Android could surpass iPhone in sales. To warm the cockles of Eric Schmidt's heart, however, there need to be a lot more Android phones.

Android Carrier No. 2?
The G1 has been on sale for less than two weeks. That means it's time to start speculating about the next Android phone. So from which carrier will it come?

Sprint CEO Dan Hessen's recent curmudgeonly anti-Android remarks may seem to contradict reports that Sprint will be the second carrier with an Android phone. But Hesse is no doubt defending a potential sales hit to the carrier's Instinct iPhone alternative should Sprint's true Android intentions be revealed too soon.

But in the same breath, Hesse admits Sprint would have an Android phone next year. Smart money says sooner rather than later. A Sprint Android phone would be far more successful than the G1. For one thing, Sprint has more customers — and more customers interested in higher-end phones — than T-Mobile does. Sprint's 3G network is also far more ubiquitous now than T-Mobile's will be even a year from now. On top of that, Sprint also is likely to learn from G1's drawbacks when dictating design of its Android device.

Android Phone No. 2?
So who will make Sprint's Android phone, and what will it look like?

My guess: It'll be made by HTC and it will look like HTC's TouchHD. HTC has forged a strong relationship with Google with the G1. Sprint has a solid relationship with HTC as well. So, I'm going to go out on a limb and say Sprint's first Android phone will come from HTC.

HTC obviously will have learned from the G1's shortcomings. To compete with iPhone, HTC is going to not only apply some lipstick on the G1 pig, but boost its functionality as well. The TouchHD has everything the G1 lacks and some things the iPhone lacks. The TouchHD has a 3.8-inch screen, .3 inches larger than the iPhone. It has a 5-megapixel camera vs. iPhone's 2MP and the G1's 3MP imager. The TouchHD has video recording, infamously missing from iPhone and the G1. It has Wi-Fi, missing on a feature shared by the G1. It's also the first HTC phone with a 3.5mm headphone jack, unconscionably missing from the G1. The TouchHD, however, is missing a QWERTY keyboard. But the G1's QWERTY is awkward to use, so maybe a QWERTY-less Android phone isn't a bad thing.

Even if Sprint's Android phone doesn't come from HTC and doesn't resemble the TouchHD, you can be sure it'll improve on the G1 and include many of the aforementioned attributes. Technology marches on.

Economies of Android Scale
But it's not only about added functionality and aesthetics. In order for Android phones, touchscreen or not, to be dominant, they have to be priced right.

Following the usual gadget evolution and economies of scale, touchscreen phones will soon reach near price parity with non-touchscreen phones. Wal-Mart just got the ball rolling by discounting the G1 by $30, selling it for $148.88. There are rumors that Apple will slash the iPhone to $99 (there are also rumors that Apple is readying a 32 GB iPhone for the spring that could maintain the $199 price tag).

So imagine shopping for a phone a year from now. iPhone, Android phones are exactly the same price as suddenly antiquated non-touchscreen flip, slider and candybar models. Which would you buy?

Hmmm. Maybe my gut instinct about all phones being touchscreen one day isn't so off after all.

CORRECTION: The original version of this post erroneously said the G1 doesn't have Wi-Fi. In truth, it does feature the wireless technology. DVICE apologizes for the mistake.

Alesis ProTrack turns your old iPod into a portable recording studio podtrack323.jpg

So you've upgraded to the iPod Touch and you're wondering what to do with all those unused gigabytes on your pre-Touch iPod? A perfect second life for your old-Pod comes via the ProTrack handheld recorder for iPod from Alesis. The device allows you to record audio directly to your iPod Classic, iPod 5G, and iPod nano 3G.

Fully equipped for professional users, the unit features XLR-1/4-inch inputs, onboard stereo condenser microphones, LED indicators and a unique time stamp for each recording. For journalists, students, podcasters, and musicians the ProTrack is a pretty slick solution available in the U.S. for just $200 here

Night light/iPhone charger combo keeps your nights safe, phone charged

So you still sleep with a night light. OK, that's nothing to be ashamed of! It's a scary world, and you never know what might be lurking under your bed. But if you're going to have a night light plugged in, you might as well make dual use of that outlet.

The Schosche reviveLITE is a night light that also recharges your iPhone. Simply plug it into the wall, plunk your iPhone into the dock, and you're all set. This way, you won't need to take up both plugs in an outlet with your light and your iPhone charger, freeing up the other outlet for any number of fantastical electronic gizmos or doodads. The world is your oyster, and I just cracked it for you.

Walmart to sell a 4GB, $99 version of the iPhone?

If you bought one of the original iPhones for a whopping $599, you might want to stop reading now, because you aren't going to like it. There's a rumor floating around that Walmart, who's going to start selling Apple's flagship mobile device starting next year, is going to get an exclusive version of it. It'll have 4GB of hard drive space and will be priced at a crazy-low $99. Of course, as I said, this is pure rumor. Apple isn't one to go creating special versions of its products for different retailers, but if it's looking to really take aim at the low-end customer, this could be a good way to do it. Maybe it'll be exclusive at Walmart for a time before becoming available elsewhere? Or maybe it won't be exclusive to Walmart at all. Or maybe it won't even exist. We'll know soon enough.