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Tony Ibrahim

Sonos Now Playing JB HiFi Music

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As of today, Sonos customers have access to music from JB HiFi’s Now music service.

Sonos’ approach to wireless audio is two-fold: the first involves great sounding speakers, while the second focuses on music.

The company’s speakers already have access to MOG’s cloud catalogue, and now they’ll be tapping into JB HiFi’s Now service.

The service has a growing catalogue of 6 million songs, and a subscriber’s account will share your music library from one device to the next.

Although a cloud streaming service, the clever system is capable of background WiFi caching for music playback when you don’t have access to an internet connection. It’s also rich in a variety of social features, listing the songs your friends are listening to and sharing pre-made mix tapes.

“We are very excited to have this well implemented music service on our platform,” said Niv Novak, MD of Sonos Australia.

Read: JB HiFi’s Music Now Sounds So Sweet

Pricing for JB HiFi Now on Sonos systems will start from $10 a month, but prospective users should give the one month free trial a shot.


Review: FoxL’s v2 Dishes Loud Sound Without The Size

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Here is a portable music speaker that outputs potent sound without the bulk. It’s the second generation speaker from FoxL and it is one of the few gizmos that’ll leave you bewildered, asking yourself “how did they do that?”

It measures 143x55x35mm, which translates to a bar speaker slightly taller than a traditional can of coke. The front of it is dressed in grey steel mesh which gives it pro-music pedigree, resembling the mesh grill you’d see protecting high end speakers.

The left and right side are distinguished by two 4W speakers (coined twoofers, the lovechild of a tweeter and woofer) which pump sound right up to 97 decibels. To help materialise the dry figure, sound becomes painful when it breaches 120 decibels.

We tested the Bluetooth capable version of the FoxL v2 and quickly found that pairing is cinch. As you’d expect, it was just a matter of turning the speaker on, searching for available Bluetooth devices through your phone and then nominating the speaker. It will ask if you’d like to accept the pairing request, but once done most smartphones will connect automatically. It’s pretty much the same recipe for tablets and notebooks.
 
It does have the capability of handling phone calls with the Bluetooth model using a microphone cleverly concealed behind the grill. Phone calls are prioritised but I wouldn’t recommend using it as an in car speakerphone as its skill-set lies elsewhere. To be honest I wouldn’t use it as a Bluetooth with the feature simply there so you don’t miss phone calls when in use, much like a contingency plan.

Whether you’re connected via Bluetooth or plugged in via auxiliary (3.5mm), this candy bar speaker produces sound with such low-end volume that it literally dances across different surfaces. Whereas other speakers cop out on bass, pumping out sounds with limited range, the FoxL does a good job at catering to deeper tones.

 

Surprisingly it features a dedicated 3.5mm out so you can connect it to an external woofer.

Unfortunately all compact speakers make some sacrifice in order to accommodate chic proportions, and the FoxL’s is in the treble. On some occasions the speaker would slightly distort, shattering its faultless image. In its defence, distorted audio was the by-product of maxed-out volume and it could be hedged by dropping the levels down a notch or two.

Bass heavy genres perform particularly well on this speaker, with it shining when it comes to mellow tunes, but if you’re playing rock or metal, which are characterised by dense high notes, its performance will underwhelm.

The speaker’s skidding is a bit of a nuisance but it can be kept grounded by using a sticky matt. The effect intermittently occurs and is instigated by volume, genre and above all, the surface it’s sitting on.

Also included in the pack is a lanyard, pouch, a gold-plated auxiliary cable, a mini-usb cable and a mains charger with various travel adaptors. It’s a well-equipped product which makes the $280 price tag a little more bearable.

If you’re after great sound harnessed by slender proportions, the FoxL speaker deserves consideration. Audiophiles will be impressed by how much sound it tastefully produces; however, I’d do away with the Bluetooth variant and pick up the cheaper “Purist Speaker” model instead.


 

Ouya Console Officially On Sale

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Pre-sale for the fun sized Android game console, Ouya, may have closed on Kickstarter’s site, but interested gamers can still place an order.

The Ouya project made shockwaves by pitching an affordable Android-based console that exists in a decentralised gaming market. The console represents an open gaming community, innovation and affordability, and that’s just one of the reasons why it broke so many KickStarter records.

It is the fastest product to reach the million dollar mark, in 8 hours and 22 minutes, and for reaching $2,589,687.77 within 24 hours. It almost tripled its $950,000 goal within the first day thanks to the pledges of 28,500 interested gamers and developers. After 30 days 63,000 backers contributed more than $8.5 million to the project, proving there is demand for such a product.

If you’re after your own Ouya console, you can pre-order one from the company’s website.

The console’s basic price is $99, but you’ll have to add $10 for shipping to the US and $20 for shipping to anywhere else. The $99 package comes with one controller, but two can be picked up for $139 and four for $199.

 

Techradar reports the console will be arriving on doors by April of 2013, irrespective of which configuration you nominate.

Read: No-Name Console Challenging PS3 & Xbox Closed Gaming Model

A list of the to-be-released games for the Ouya console follows, but bear in mind it’ll continue to grow.

AR-K: A Dark Acid Adventure Comedy
Armored Tank Assault 2
Aura Tactics
Auro
Castle Conflict 2
Echoes of Eternea
Final Fantasy III
Gish (and more!)
Gravestompers
Gunblitz
Heroes Call and Ski Safari
Ittle Dew
Kaiju Combat
Kitaru
Legends of Aethereus
MANOS: The Hands of Fate
Megatroid
Mutant Mudds
Orbital Blaster
Quest for Infamy
Reincarnation: The Root of All Evil
Rival Threads
Rush Bros
Saturday Morning RPG
Spinferno
Super Retro Squad
Volgarr the Viking
Xenonauts

HP Pops Win 8 Cherry With Touch Ultrabook & Hybrid

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The world’s biggest PC maker has unveiled its first Windows 8 products.

Hewlett Packard has showcased two new Windows 8 devices that employ touch screen technology at the IFA show in Berlin. One of them, the Envy x2, is a hybrid notebook-tablet while the other, the Envy TouchSmart 4, is the company’s first Windows 8 Ultrabook.

HP Envy x2

The Envy x2 is garnering a lot of attention because it uses a magnetic latch to mount the 11.6 inch tablet onto a keyboard. HP has referenced the marriage of tablet screen to keyboard as ‘seamless.’


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It has an aluminium finish and in total, weighs 1.41 kilograms, while the tablet alone weighs roughly half of that. Although the tablet might be a bit heavy on its own, having a split fifty/fifty weight distribution is a good sign when using the two devices together.

The screen itself spans 11.6 inches, is an HD touch display and measures 400-nits of brightness.

 

On the back is an 8MP camera while the front has a high definition webcam for videoconferencing.

It also benefits from lighter, faster SSD memory and NFC technology.


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The HP Envy x2 is expected to be available in Australia from late 2012. Pricing will be available at a later date.

HP Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook 4

This 14″ Ultrabook has a multitouch HD display, measures 23mm thick and weighs 2.16 kilograms. Inside it has Beats Audio speakers complemented by an in-built subwoofer, Intel’s Ivy Bridge processor and a suite of Intel tech, including their Anti-Theft, Rapid Start and Smart Connect technologies.


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The HP Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook 4 is expected to be available in Australia from late 2012. Pricing will be available at a later date.