Seriously does it get any sexier than this? The iriver Life Unit designed by the famed Niro Nakamichi has got to be one of the sexiest gadgets I’ve seen this year. It speaks volumes about a company that can make a hot product without looking like other “apples”.

The updated teaser site doesn’t reveal stuff we really want to know like price and release date but it does give a glimpse into what the Life Unit will do. In a nutshell - EVERYTHING.

We’re talkin’ center of your home entertainment hub here. Slot load CD/DVD player, LCD screen that’s detachable and turns into a PMP device! It’s got wireless capability for streaming, a port that charges and syncs with iriver players, a sic touchscreen remote control that unfolds into a 78-key QWERTY keyboard, a radio, a TV tuner, and last but not least; custom designed Nakamichi audio system.
Hell, they should have made it into a phone too. Many more pictures after the jump. (more…)

After just several years of operation, Sony is finally closing the doors on it’s fledgling digital music distribution service we all knew as Sony Connect. It seems competition was just too much and Sony just had to stop the bleeding. All assets and resources will be absorbed into the Playstation business.

Why did Sony Connect fail? I believe they attempted to emulated the iPod+iTunes model. Unfortunately the experience going from computer to store to music player wasn’t as user friendly. It also had limited content since the Connect store gave preferential treatment to Sony’s own music label. The final vice being Sony Connect existed in the Window’s world, a place where vertically integrated businesses just don’t work.

Ghetto blasters never really made a comeback because audio sources have moved to external devices, not to mention how ungodly they looked. So an industrial designer name Dirk Winkel (love his name) envisaged a new ghetto blaster, comfortable to wear and compatible with any iPod-like device called the Nu Blaster.

The head of the blaster provides space for a large bass speaker while the long narrow end serves as a bass reflux tube. The curved shape makes it ergonomic to sport on your shoulder while the strap makes transport easy.

Too bad it’s concept only. Hit the jump for another picture.

via Yanko Design

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Media centers seem to be all the rage nowadays, as high definition movies and television shows, as well as higher quality picture and music have started to invade the market. While some recent additions to the media center families, like AppleTV and distinguished models from several startup companies have been impressive, none have really captured the idea of replacing a Tivo, computer, amplifier, receiver, Netflix deliveries, media players, DVD player, and catch-all computer … until now.

As Alienware describes it, the Hangar 18 can do just about anything:

* Watch - Watch, pause, and record your movies, TV shows, photos, and internet videos on your widescreen TV in high definition
* Listen - Listen to all your favorite songs and artists with Hangar18’s onboard 5.1 surround sound amplifier
* Share - Wirelessly stream all your media to other PCs, mobile devices, and media extenders throughout your home.
* Download - Download content from all over the internet to one secure location to store and share with your home and others.

Full details and more pictures inside!
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Porn. Pron. Bewbs. Art. Thursday night.

Whatever you call it, you look at it. It consumes your soul, and beckons your eyes and your body to find more. Or not.

The internet is flooded with pornography sites, but one writer has created a new theory: illegal music downloading sites are more of a security risk than internet porn sites, giving rise to spam, bots, worms, trojans, viruses, and exploits. As programmable viruses can be inserted into mp3s and other media files, illegal music is considerably dangerous when compared to a few dozen pictures of a Hot Carl or Spraydini.

Read here for the full opinion.

For the iPod shufflers who hate dangling cables from their ears, give the Monster iFreePlay (seriously did they have to do use the ‘i’ prefix?) a looksee. You simple jack your Shuffle into the side dock of the headphones which are those wrap around the head types. The headphones have a recessed cutout so you’ll still have access to all controls. Priced at $50 which is a little steep in my opinion but then again, this is Monster we’re talking about.

Software and industrial design house Frog Design have created a new music jukebox player for Alltel Wireless subscribers called Jump Music. It has direct compatibility with eMusic and like iTunes and iPod, will keep your music synced with your Alltel phone. Kinda ironic since Frog Design once designed Apple products during Steve Jobs’ ousting. It’s also kinda ironic that Alltel would go thru all this trouble for all 4 of its customers. Okay okay, I’m being mean - all 8 of their customers.

[Via Crunch Gear]

If you have ever dual-booted Linux and Windows like I have, you would know that Amarok for KDE (a GUI for Linux) is far superior to Winamp and iTunes. Since it was only found within Linux, every time I used Winamp I would always wish that I could have Amarok instead because of great features like:

* Excellent support for scripts (plugins)
* Doesn’t support any audio formats (all formats are installed through engines)
* Has a better album display:

More info inside
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In one fell swoop, Sony has decided to informally admit the utter failure of their ATRAC audio format and hideous SonicStage software. This realization comes in the form of a new Walkman dubbed B100. The B100 mounts like a flash drive and songs can be dragged right onto it. No need to launch any software or convert audio files. Sony plans 1, 2 and 4GB flavors each sporting a single line OLED display, FM radio and support for MP3, WMA and AAC formats

No price yet but expect availability sometime next month. Make it a slider USB nub instead of an easily misplaced cap and they might have a winner here.

[Via ATRACLife]

Not everyone can afford a full 5 piece drum set so we have to make do with any and every surface available in the house. The next best thing is the mi Jam Drummer. It’s a unique set of motion activated drumsticks that function with any iPod or if you so choose, any MP3 player. Before I can go on, I must preface with this;

WARNING: NextLust is not responsible for you looking like a dork or for any ridicule from family, friends and coworkers. You use this at the expense of your own social life and accept full responsibility for your own air-drumming actions.

The mi Jam Drummer comes in two modes. The first of which is standalone. Plug them into speakers or use headphones and drum away to your heart’s content with pre-programmed rhythm backgrounds. Snares, tom toms, bass drums, hit-hats and cymbals are all there. The second mode lets you play along with any song and that’s where the iPod comes in. Recored your jam sessions and post them online for all of us to hear (tee-hee). Happy drumming!