Now, there’s a neat little gadget that can help you turn those vibrations into musical masterpieces of your own.

Meet the Pulse Surface Controller System, a MIDI-based controller that hooks into your computer and turns any surface into a musical instrument.

The device uses a combination of a piezo microphone and software to turn acoustic vibrations into digital notes. The concept was dreamt up to expand the physical tools which digital musicians could use create music. A drum machine or keyboard just doesn’t cut it any more.

The Pulse Controller aims make MIDI music creation more intuitive, immediate experience. With a suction cup and Velcro straps, it can be attached to just about any surface, and connects to your computer via the microphone input.

If the bundled software isn’t to your liking, you can always opt to use Cubase, Pro Tools, or any other software that accepts MIDI input.

Integration with something like Garage Band for iPad would be pretty cool, especially given the new features that allow up to four iPads to play music together over Wi-Fi.

The Pulse Controller is currently compatible with Mac running Mac OS 10.5 and above. It can be purchased from the Pulse Controller website for $64.

[via SlashGear]

While the technical specs of the 2011 TiTANs did not change (Frequency Response: 20-20k Hz, Impedance: 16 ohms, Max Input Power: 100mW), there were some rather dramatic alterations made to the design of the earbuds that confused a great many consumers.  Foremost among these changes was the removal of the in-line volume control unit, a handy feature that made the TiTANs ideal for regular commuters and those who liked to stash their phones/MP3 players in the depth of their pockets but still adjust the volume.  Curiously, the new TiTANs retained the customary $39.99 price tag of their predecessors, essentially offering consumers less functionality for the same cost.

The reasons for the removal of the in-line volume control unit were never made clear, but a frequent complaint leveled against the older models of TiTANs was their unfortunate penchant to discharge sharp shocks of static electricity into the wearer’s ears.  I  endured this quirk as it helped keep me awake and focused on whatever I was working on at the time, but a good many consumers who used their TiTANs while exercising found it too much of an annoyance to endure.

The new TiTANs, hiding their shame.

The new TiTANs deliver the same sound as the old models, but have a cheap look and feel about them.  Gone is the attractive and slightly rigid braided aluminum cord and matching aluminum connector sleeve, replaced by a simple rubber cable and Skullcandy-branded black metal jack connector.

Pre-2011 TiTANs on top, new model TiTANs on bottom.

Many may not have noticed the changes to the TiTAN line of earbuds, but those who buy today’s TiTANs are not receiving the same product that Skullcandy used to build a solid and devoted consumer base.  The upside of the 2011 TiTANs lack of aesthetics and features is that they can be found on bargain sites with some regularity.  If you can find a pair for less than $20.00, they will not disappoint you as back-up earbuds.  If you can’t manage to find them that cheap — well, there’s always the hope for Skullcandy’s 2012 product line-up.

A great gadget doesn’t need to be overly advanced. Sometimes, killer design is the real marker of a product that sticks in the memory. That’s what the developers of the Hidden Radio and BlueTooth Speaker have managed to create. It has a minimalist design, but still manages to fill a room with up to 80dB of sound from your favorite music, movies or games.

Simplicity is the key word here. From the operational mechanics (raise or lower the cap to adjust the volume) to the refreshingly minimalist aesthetic, the creators claim that all you need to do is find the Hidden Radio option on your BlueTooth device, connect to it and lift the lid to enhance your audio experience.

The gadget contains an AM-FM radio, can operate as a speakerphone and can run for up to 30 hours on its rechargeable battery.

The Hidden Radio looks fantastic, and with several days still left to run on its Kickstarter campaign, it is already the second-most funded technology project (and third-most funded overall) on the crowdfunding site.

It remains to be seen whether the Hidden Radio and BlueTooth Speaker works as well as the Room Filling Travel Speaker we reviewed recently. One thing’s for sure though: it looks much prettier.

You can pre-order a Hidden Radio and BlueTooth speaker now. The speaker will retail at over $175, but you can be among the first to get one at the lower cost of $119 by backing the project on Kickstarter.

The 3.5mm jack splitter connector is a concept almost as old as the original Sony Walkman, but the rise in smartphone entertainment and portable gaming has generated a huge amount of interest in this time-honored solution for how to share audio with a friend. Measuring 1 ¾” high by 1 ½ across, the Robot Splitter is a small, lightweight and attractive little gizmo that looks as good as it performs.  After running a few tests on an iPod Nano, iPhone, PSP Go, and a Nintendo 3DS there was no detectable loss in audio fidelity or clarity.

Inexpensive and aesthetically lacking 3.5mm jack splitters are easily found on most bargain sites for under a dollar, but consumers that care enough to buy graphic skins or custom cases for their mobile devices will see no problem with the $10.00 pricetag of this little wonder.  Unfortunately most smartphones don’t offer a place to clip the keychain portion of the Robot Splitter, which is a shame since it would make a pretty cute phone charm.

If you’re looking to pick one up, the Robot Splitter might be a hard sell as a Valentine’s Day gift but it would look adorable dangling from a bouquet of a dozen roses.  As an added bonus, it will offer you and your sweetie the chance to listen to music and movies together as you fly off to your romantic Valentine’s vacation together.

Who said robots don’t understand love?

This is one that has to be seen (not to mention heard) in person.

Imagine my surprise:  I shyly seated myself at the back of a gargantuan classroom that held upwards of a couple hundred physics students, and the YouTube sports clip that the professor unleashed on us rocked our ears as well as our eyes.

I looked around, from corner to corner, for the ferocious surround sound system’s speakers that had beautifully transferred the sound from the physics guru’s MacBook Pro to the class’ eardrums.

There were no such speakers.

As I rose to leave the room, a little less timidly, I stole forward to get a look at what the good professor had plugged in to to give us such outstanding audio effects from the physical bone crunching of linebackers tackling quarterbacks (there is a lot of physics involved in this, folks).

There it was:  the Room Filling Travel Speaker sat on the desk, like a miniature camera lens sitting upright with a tiny cord trailing from the laptop’s headphone jack. That was it! That was the source!

How does the Dr Who-like toy from the future work?

Well, the travel speaker uses any resonant surface – that’s practically anything flat, people – to project its vibrant resonance technology at a whopping frequency response of 80Hz to 18KHz for reverberating lows and crisp highs–a wooden tabletop will yield different nuances of sound than a glass tabletop.

This bad boy (or girl) is cylindrical and only 2 1/4″ high x 2″ diameter, and it comes with a 4′ long cord that splits into both a USB plug for charging and a 1/8″ stereo plug for iPod headphone jacks.

The Room Filling Travel Speaker also utilizes a microSD memory card port, if consumers wish to store their own audio MP3s, and the rechargeable battery is packed too at up to ten hours of use. No wonder my professor used this as he traveled back and forth from top secret physics experiments in Japan and the US.

The Travel Speaker is less than seventy bucks and worth every penny!

Any questions? No? Well, let’s growl like a bear woken from hibernation and elaborate anyway.

Any child, girlfriend, or heck even boyfriend that is an animal lover will absolutely become ecstatic when receiving the Panda ear buds. And once they put them in, they might attempt a backflip in glee from the awesome tunes that dance out of the bears’ ears.

The Panda earphones do all of the right things, as least as far as ear buds are concerned. They come with multiple inner pieces to fit all ear sizes, and they hold up to the test of time and movement.

These bad boys or girls from Pineapple feature sound isolation with clear Mega Bass. The Panda ear buds cut out outside noise pretty well, and they are amazing in their balance of both smooth high pitch sound and a deep discernible bass (what Pineapple calls the Mega Bass).

And the Pineapple Panda Earphones are only fifteen bucks on Amazon.com (and about twenty everywhere else)! The crisp sound quality for the hands down phenomenal price alone is worth the cost. But these cuties are also a dead-on representation of the endangered panda bear too.

Users can attest to their clarity, with high-end and low-end sound, and there is no annoying interference while jogging or walking. Some buds are cheaply made and their in-ear design allows for jostling that causes popping sounds, but that is not the case for these Panda bear ear buds.

Happy gifting, and happy bearific listening!

The reputable electronics and router company Belkin has created an all in one charging kit that is truly essential.  Get down to the local Costco, where these are currently selling out at less than thirty dollars, or wait for them in many an online store (like Neobits).

What does this Kit entail?  Well, normally charging things do not blow my skirt up, but Belkin has enraptured me with micro and mini USB cables, iPod and iPhone sync cables, two USB wall chargers and one micro auto USB charger.

Simply put:  each male fits right into any of the included females, whether it be mini-USB charging a DSLR camera in the car roaring down the frozen highway, or the iPhone compatible form squeezing snuggle into the gorgeous wall charger’s opening.

I have tried this set out, and Droids, iPhones and cameras all charge beautifully, as though these units were the factory chargers.  So who does not need to quickly cool down a steamed girlfriend whose smartphone is dead or dying and whose charger is god knows where?  You know what I’m talking about fellas, so just put the USB charger in front of her bulging eyes and back away…slowly.  She will come around.

Well, you could opt for either the TikTok or the LunaTik watch conversion kit — the kit recently broke the record on KickStarter for funds raised, garnering pledges from willing buyers totaling over $941,000. But then there’s still the issue of the plasticky look.

Nay, for those who want something more manly (especially if you’re strapping a neon pink iPod), the good folks over at ThinkGeek have just the watch strap for you. We’re talking real hand-tooled leather and anodized stainless steel here — what could be more manly than that?

How about a frickin’ bottle opener. Yes, you heard me right. When the folks producing the band realized they could laser cut something into the stainless steel plate used to attach the iPod Nano, they had the A+, Number 1 best idea in the world. Obviously their iPod watches were telling them, “It’s five o’clock somewhere.”

Now, when you aren’t sitting on your couch at home popping open bottles with your Clicker Universal Remote, you can impress your friends while sparing your body parts. Because we all know that opening bottles with your teeth may be cool, but come on. Besides, at $49.99, the watch band is far less than the bill from the orthodontist you’re likely to incur after the New Year’s party.

If you want to give one as a gift this Christmas, there’s still time to order and receive the band before the big day. Check out ThinkGeek’s Holiday Shipping Guide to find out just what method to choose. (If you’re looking to receive one, you’d better update that wish list really soon.) But there’s still plenty of time to receive your order before New Year’s Eve, which is when you may want this the most.

And even if your iPod really is neon pink, this band just may make the guys look past the fact. If it doesn’t work right away, don’t worry. After you bust open enough bottles for them, it definitely will.

As you see in the video when the dude looks left the line moves left and when he looks right it goes right.  You’re probably thinking cool, but why would I want to buy an expensive Jedi powered earphone etch-a-sketch?  Good question, NTT DoCoMo is working on integrating the earphones to control your MP3 player.  That means the next time you’re at the gym in the middle of an intense workout and a Christmas song comes on because it’s set to shuffle, you don’t have to stop your workout to find a better song.  You can just look to the left and the song will automatically change.

Up, down, left and right will each control different functions for playback and volume.  If you look closely in the video you can actually see the play and pause symbols when he moves his eyes.  These aren’t going to be too safe to use while driving your car, but if you’ve got your MP3 player in your pocket or bag and you don’t want to dig it out to change the song then this could come in handy.  The only real drawback I can think of is that you may look a little crazy if you keep moving your eyes around looking for a specific song.  But I guess if you’re cool enough to own a set of these than you probably won’t let a few looks bother you.  You can’t look any crazier than the guy walking down the street talking to himself with his bluetooth earpiece, right?

Brunton has come up with a solution for you, a portable hybrid solar charger.  Solar chargers have been around for a while but the Brunton Restore has some unique features that you need to know about.  First, it is a hybrid charger.  That means you can clip it to your pack and it will charge while you’re hiking or fishing but you can also charge it at home before your adventure using the USB or DC adapter.  Second, it only weighs 7.2 oz, that is light enough for even the most hardcore backpacker out here.  It is also water resistant, comes with a tough rubber shell and a power gauge so you know how much energy is left.

The only major downside to this product is that it requires 10 hours of sunlight to reach a full charge.  If you live in the Pacific Northwest and you’re hiking through the Olympic Rainforest you may want to bring an actual compass along.  The Restore is listed on Brunton’s website for $123.74 but if you do some searching you can find it for almost half that price from many online retailers.  If you’re looking for a portable solar charger to power your iPhone, iPod or smart phone you should definitely look into the Brunton Restore.