Why not give the earbuds a rest and meet the iMainGo X, a mobile speaker system that looks like a genetically altered portable-cassette player, zips like a man purse and doubles as an attache case for an iPhone, iPod or most MP3 players?
You’ll thank us for that introduction later, because this clever Portable Sound Laboratories creation looks nothing like a typical on-the-go system.
More surprising is how good the $70 iMainGo X sounds, even better when connected to a second iMainGo X as a makeshift double-stereo combo.
But take a look at that face. A racetrack-type metal oval dominates the lid, with two 1.4-inch metal speakers partially obscured by spoked-wheel grilles. Two round tuning ports, for higher volume levels and deeper lows, stare out like a pair of eyes blackened by sleepless nights.
The cassette-tape player resemblance? A coincidence, says Portable Sound Laboratories.
Adjacent to this oval is another one, much slimmer, with an on/off button and accommodations for his-and-her headphones, a charger for the unit’s lithium-ion battery and a microphone. Ready to hook up your Fender Stratocaster to the iMainGo X for a spontaneous jam session? Probably not, but it’s possible with the microphone jack.
Flip it over, unzip, and show your music player its new home away from home. Almost any size or brand fits — Portable Sound Laboratories has limits to its Apple worship. The player fits face-first into a compartment that, on the outside, is covered by heat-sensitive plastic that preserves access to an iPhone or iPod Touch’s screen.
A myTouch, backed by foam padding, fit snugly, but I had trouble getting reliable touch-screen response through the plastic sheath. As rugged as the iMainGo X’s speaker side might be, with cloth-covered compressed synthetic rubber foam, the light plastic backing appears vulnerable.
For a $70 carry case, though, the iMainGo X gets down-and-dirty. It falters at high volumes, but I have heard nothing that compares to it in the sub-$75 category. A battery charge lasts about 10 hours, though a charge apparently takes six. With no LED indicator to announce when charging is complete, how do you really know? Best to let it charge overnight.
Got a friend with an iMainGo X? Connect it to yours — the second headphone jack doubles as an additional output — and you’ll hear added breadth, and some depth, though no discernible stereo image.
It’ll still make your earbuds jealous.
Aluratek Internet
Radio Alarm Clock
The Aluratek Internet Radio Alarm Clock took me places I’ve never been (like Angola, Radio Luanda) and even places I’ve just been (like Netherlands Antilles, Gold 91.5 FM).
For an Internet radio, though, it’s a bumpy ride. The Aluratek ($100, aluratek
.com), despite putting 11,000-plus Internet stations at your fingertips, has a hard-to-read monochromatic display, sluggish navigation and too often makes things difficult for the user.
A few examples: The clock can be set in either 12- or 24-hour format, but the alarm is 24-hour only. (Don’t forget to set the alarm for 16:30 for your next night shift.) Once the alarm sounds, the function knob only shifts the clock into sleep mode. Ready to turn off the alarm? Search for the remote control and hit the stop button.
A firmware update, automatic in other Internet radios, requires a download from a computer to a USB drive. Local weather, available via an RSS feed, is a welcome feature but getting other RSS feeds is only possible by loading a Utility CD onto a computer sharing a network with the radio.
The Aluratek is also a music server that shares any tunes stored on a Windows computer sharing the same network. (It recognized my Mac library but refused to play a song.)
The Aluratek has some features Logitech’s Squeezebox radio doesn’t, like a traditional FM tuner for local broadcasts, RCA connections for an external sound system and a USB slot for playing even more music stored on a portable drive.
But the Aluratek is not in the same class as the $150 Logitech and its full-color display.
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Smart gadgets may one day read minds
Don’t be surprised if one day your refrigerator nags you to lose weight, your phone blocks calls it figures you’re too stressed to handle and your wisecracking car entertains you with pun-filled one-liners.
Within a decade or two, researchers in Silicon Valley and elsewhere predict, consumer gadgets will function like hyper-attentive butlers, anticipating and fulfilling people’s needs without having to be told. Life would not only be more convenient, it might even last longer: Devices could monitor people’s health and step in when needed to help them get better.
“I think it’s inevitable,” said Michael Freed, an artificial intelligence specialist and program director at the Menlo Park, Calif., think tank SRI International, which has been studying the concept for the military. He noted that some of these gadgets already are being developed.
The technology propelling these new personal assistants combines sophisticated sensors with computer software. The machines would adjust their actions to the preferences and needs of an individual, by analyzing data on the person’s past actions and monitoring current behavior with cameras, audio recorders and other sensors.
Santa Clara, Calif., chipmaker Intel, which has been studying the technology for several years, believes that one day soon the gadgets will have the ability to read their owner’s emotions.
While some experts have proposed using face- and voice-recognition gear to detect a person’s disposition, Intel has experimented with heart monitors and galvanic skin-response sensors. A study it did last year envisioned the gadgets detecting mood swings “while people are driving, singing, chatting with friends, attending a boring meeting and even while going to the dentist.”
Although some gadgets already make assumptions about what people want, such as word processing software that automatically corrects grammar, the devices contemplated by Intel, Hewlett-Packard and other companies would be capable of much more sophisticated judgments about a broader array of human needs. That’s a complex task — so difficult that some experts are skeptical the technology will be ready in the near future.
Because many of these devices come with cameras, global positioning systems and other sensors to monitor what’s around them, experts say, it’s not hard to imagine them gathering enough data about people to act autonomously on their behalf, assuming the individuals give the gizmos that authority.
— Steve Johnson, San Jose Mercury News
What: iMainGo X portable speaker system
Price: $70
Hot: That oddball face, unexpected sound quality for the price.
Not: No indicator light to tell when battery is fully charged.
Information: imaingo.com