John Sisler

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Most small iPod-friendly speakers use crappy plastic cabinets that usually sound worse than they look, which isn’t saying much. Evergreen, a company out of Japan, is making these wooden speakers that also have a digital clock that seems to glow right out of the wood.

There are two models — DN-WSP1406 looks like a single block of wood with speakers in each end for stereo playback, or the more traditional The DN-WSP1802 stereo pair. Both use a 3.5mm input from a portable audio player. The digital alarm clock has basic features such as a snooze function. Right now, both models are only available in Japan for about $25 each.

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You could play Rock Band or Guitar Hero through your TV speakers, but your classic shredding deserves better. If you don’t have your gaming console jacked into your home theater system, try Altec Lansing’s Stage-Gig, a 40-watt pignose amp putting out an ear-splitting 100dB through a 1-inch neodymium tweeter and a boom-a-licious 6.5-inch woofer.

Like any good portable speaker/amp, Stage-Gig has standard RCA audio jacks (but no 1/4-inch jack, which makes it tough to plug in a real Les Paul Gibson, Fender Stratocaster or Rickenbacker 12-string) and an independent volume control, a handle and padded corners so you don’t hurt yourself, furniture or whomever you accidentally brush up against as you wander.

Stage-Gig is a mono speaker, but you can daisy chain two of them to create a phony stereo plus increase the likelihood of roommates or parents yelling at you to turn that damned thing down and hasten the onset of tinnitus. Altec won’t help you avoid either — the Stage-Gig is just $100.

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The art of portraiture, once reserved for the rich, the royal and the holy, has found a new mass appeal online. Some avid social-network users are commissioning artists to create small digital images to represent themselves in the online world.

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There are so many USB charging options available these days — from solar chargers to wall hubs to portable chargers. But, iPods always required their own proprietary plugs and chargers. SendStation has come up with a very handy option.

The PocketDock Line Out Mini USB (that’s a mouthful) plugs into the iPod connection and combines a mini USB output and a line-level output so you can plug the iPod into a home stereo or powered speaker system. It’s smaller than previous versions, and is the same size as a typical iPod plug. The $30 adapter comes ready to go with a set of cables and it’s Made for iPod certified. Not a bad price to be able to use one set of cables to charge all your portable devices.

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A group of Japanese researchers from the Veda International Robot Research and Development Centre have unveiled a vehicle they hope will become the next generation wheelchair for the country’s rapidly aging population.

Dubbed the Rodem, the vehicle is designed to allow users to easily slide off and onto its seat, thus making it easier for the elderly and injured to move around without the aid of a nurse. No commercial release date or price has been announced, but the group, which includes robot maker Tmsuk Co., plans to upgrade the prototype with a more robotically enhanced version in the future.

Via Physorg

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Continuing the trend of using the iPhone as an everything gadget, Sirius XM today unveiled its in-car XM SkyDock that turns your iPhone or iPod Touch into a satellite radio. Why would you want this new toy instead of just downloading the Sirius XM iPhone app that will bring you the company’s programming over 3G or Wi-Fi? Read on.

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From the Ben Gurion University’s robotics lab in Israel comes the SpiderBot, which gets around in much the same way as the Man. The robot’s webs are actually tethered plungers that it can pull away from a surface, reel back in and then aim and shoot with its swiveling arms. It’s still a little slow when it comes to getting around, but could this wall-climber be the first step toward a robot that uses swinging as its main method of locomotion?

Not much else is known about the SpiderBot. Will it fight crime? Just crack-wise? Who knows.

Click Continue to see a video of the SpiderBot in action.

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The idea of an injection having anything to do with crash test dummies flying around in slow motion may seem a little odd, but German-based medical firm Pervormanc claims the airbag as the inspiration for its new “Pyrofast” needle-free injection system. According to the company, the big problem with the current gas or spring-loaded systems is the uneven application of pressure. The Pyrofast system delivers an even blast of chemicals in 40 milliseconds.

Dr. Thorsten Rudolph, who is working to commercialize the technology, describes it thusly:

“The pyrotechnical gas propulsion technology that is used doesn’t cause bleeding, so the transfer of diseases such as HIV will be eliminated. This is the same chemical gas technology being used in airbags to provide a fast and reliable pressure profile. Including it in an injection system means that it can easily be used by patients to self administer drugs through the skin.”

Sounds groovy, but it’s hard to picture anything but sitting in a chair and having an airbag of medicine explode against me. You can read all about the system here.

The Engineer, via Medgadget

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Software giant Microsoft apologized Wednesday for the apparent bad judgment that led to the head of a black model being swapped for that of a white model in an online advertisement.

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As we’ve seen, Bluetooth headphones aren’t quite there yet. The idea is sound, but the execution could be better. Well, that doesn’t mean companies aren’t continuing to try and make progress. And you know what? Jabra’s HALO headphones don’t look too bad.

The Bluetooth headphones are cordless, obviously, and have a sleek, futuristic design. Their batteries should offer up 8 hours of playback and 13 days of standby, and it even has a cord jack if you feel like using it with a cable for some reason. It’s available now at Best Buy for $130 if you’re curious.

Jabra via Engadget