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Atlantic Technology's big-sounding little speaker takes it to the max

Steve Guttenberg — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 07:46:00 PST

I admit it: I like big speakers, the bigger the better as far as I'm concerned.

Atlantic Technology AT-2 speakers

(Credit: Atlantic Technology)

Big speakers sound more realistic, they play louder with lower distortion, and they have better and deeper bass than small speakers. Then again, I'm an audiophile, so I prioritize sound quality over almost everything else. I also know big speakers are out of the question for most folks, but what if there were a reasonably sized speaker that produced big-speaker sound? The Atlantic Technology AT-2 is such a speaker.

It was just last year when Atlantic's AT-1 tower speaker ($3,000 a pair) rocked the audiophile world and garnered a slew of rave reviews, so when I heard the smaller AT-2 ($1,800 a pair) was about to be released I just had to get it for review. It did not disappoint.

How little is it? The AT-2 is 15.3x8.9x12.6 inches, and it has a 5.25-inch woofer and a 1.1-inch soft dome tweeter. The side panels are finished in a sharp-looking black metal flake paint. The rest of the speaker is matte black. The rear panel has all-metal bi-wire speaker connectors and a three-position tweeter level switch. That's a nice touch, you can fine-tune the speakers' treble balance to your taste. <... [Read more]

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iMac robot, faux Steve Jobs snapped in Tokyo

Tim Hornyak — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 06:00:00 PST

The blogosphere, as you know, is a giant echo chamber. Someone posts something and other sites parrot it like ventriloquist dummies, verbatim or nearly so. But does it matter if the original post is wrong?

Case in point: The pic below surfaced on MIC Gadget recently. It suggests this fellow in a very awesome robot costume, seemingly fashioned out of old iMac parts, appeared in Chongqing, China, along with his mutton-chopped Steve Jobs sidekick striking a Moses pose.

Apple fans in Japan, not China.

(Credit: MIC Gadget)

It's been making the rounds recently, with Gizmodo, io9, Cult of Mac, Geekosystem, and Geekologie, among others, hailing the Macbot in China.

The thing is the photo was taken in Tokyo, Japan, not China. If you've ever been to the Tokyo Big Sight convention center, you'll remember its unmistakable inverted pyramids in the background of... [Read more]

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This week in Crave: The geek love edition

Bonnie Cha — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 05:00:00 PST

It could be because you lined up early to catch the opening of "Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace" in 3D (ha ha, we didn't either) that you missed some of Crave's top stories this week. Fear not, young Jedi, for we have rounded up some of our favorite posts here, along with some geeky gift ideas for Valentine's Day.

Hello, love. I want to eat your brains!

(Credit: ThinkGeek)

• Impress your No. 1 geek or geekette with a lightsaber-lit dinner and USB flowers this Valentine's Day. Ohhhh, yeah.

• Is there anything more romantic than sucking on some delicious, chocolatey braaaaaains?

• Bummed that you won't be with your loved one on February 14? You can still have a remote makeout session, thanks to Kissinger.

• Ready to have your mind blown? Then check out how Corning envisions the future.

Best Android alternatives to iPod Touch

Donald Bell — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:44:00 PST

The iPod wars still quietly rage.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Smartphones and tablets grab all the attention these days. It's easy to lose sight of the fact that Apple's iPod sales still rake in millions year after year.

Portable media players like the iPod Touch will eventually die out, but there's still plenty of interest in the category, and money to be made by chasing after consumers who don't feel the iPod fits their needs.

As so it is that a product category we wrote off as a casualty of our national obsession with smartphones rises once more. The following list contains four Android-based portable media players that take aim directly against the Apple iPod Touch. Many promise bigger screens, GPS, and all of the geeky conveniences that Android in known for.

The Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0 towers over the iPod Touch with its 5-inch screen.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0You know what's better than a 3.5-inch screen? How about a 5-inch screen? [Read more]

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See Boeing's Etch A Sketch flight path

Christopher MacManus — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:36:55 PST

Boeing sure knows how to make 18-hour flights look amazing. (Click to enlarge.)

(Credit: Flight Aware)

It's fair to say the planners at Boeing Test & Evaluation spiced up a recent extended operation test of the Boeing 787.

Spanning 9,000 nautical miles over 12 states, the 787's impressive route spells out "787" and the Boeing logo like a giant Etch A Sketch in the sky. The next-generation commercial airplane took off on February 9 at 1:33 p.m. from Boeing's airfield in Washington state, and landed this morning at 8:45 a.m. Some of the turns needed to create the numbers and logo seem like they'd send a stomach into a spin, but the zoomed-out map exaggerates the sharpness of the turns.

Big fun with littleBits circuit boards

Bonnie Cha — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:08:05 PST

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

I like to think I'm pretty young at heart, but even I forget sometimes how fun it was to be a kid, when being entertained took something as simple as a cardboard box and a lot of imagination. Thankfully, littleBits reminded me.

littleBits is a set of circuit boards that can be snapped together to form whatever you want. Created by engineer and interactive artist Ayah Bdeir, littleBits was designed in part to help kids (and adults) understand how electronics work and get them interested in building their own devices, instead of just consuming them.

Each littleBits module has a specific function, such as power, motor, light, or switch, and they attach to one another via magnets, so there's no need to solder or program anything. To create a working circuit board, all you need is a power source and some kind of output, and each part is color-coded (blue, green, pink, or orange) depending on its function (power, output, input, or wire).

Getting creative with littleBits (photos)

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... [Read more]

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Top five networking and storage devices that spell L-U-V

Dong Ngo — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:21:09 PST

Top networking/storage devices that scream 'love'

We often don't appreciate love till love is lost or broken. The same goes for networking and storage devices.

Do you realize that you're able to read this post this right now because some router and storage device somewhere are both busy at work?

The good news is that every year we have a day to appreciate love. And you may also want to take this opportunity to appreciate the tech tool that's been so underappreciated. Luckily, I am here to help.

Here are the Top 5 networking and storage devices that are not just among the top of their respective categories--including mobile routers, home wireless routers, internal drives, network storage, and external storage devices--but are also collectively sexy, cute, lovely devices that would make a great gift for a special someone.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)

Clear Spot Voyager mobile hot spot This tiny device is a powerful Wi-Fi router that connects to the Internet at 4G speeds and shares that superfast connection with up to eight Wi-Fi clients. It also comes with unlimited data plans that start at just $35 per month, whi... [Read more]

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Lego robotic arm is grabby--in a good way

Amanda Kooser — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:28:52 PST

This is way more useful than the Lego pizza parlor I made when I was 7.

(Credit: Video screenshot by Amanda Kooser/CNET)

My greatest Lego triumph was the creation of a miniature monorail that required pushing the car down a little Lego track. YouTube user sumthinelse5790 (real name Max Shepherd) has blown my childhood creation out of the water with a Lego robotic arm.

Admittedly, this isn't the first Lego arm on the planet, but it does show off a high level of sophistication.

New 'Star Wars' app: These are the Droids you're looking for

Rick Broida — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:17:51 PST

Star Wars Pit Droids.

(Credit: Screenshot by Rick Broida)

At first blush, Star Wars Pit Droids might seem like a hasty attempt to cash in on the theatrical re-release of "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace."

Instead, it's merely the appropriately timed app version of a Windows game that debuted almost 13 years ago. And you know what? It's as terrific now as it was then.

The droids in Pit Droids are the saucer-headed ones you saw clanking around Tatooine before the Pod Race. Owing to some shoddy programming, all they can do is march single-file in one direction. Watto (remember him?) assigns you to deploy directional arrows to get the droids to their proper destination.

Simple premise, challenging execution. Each level consists of a tiled grid, and to earn the maximum number of stars, you have to create the shortest route from A to B, using the fewest number of tiles.

It's easygoing for the first couple levels, but before long you're having to direct different-color droids to different destinations using specialized arrows, all while avoiding obstacles and preventing collisions.

Pink Samsung Galaxy Note en route, looking rosy

Luke Westaway — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:08:06 PST

(Credit: GSMArena)

A pink version of the Samsung Galaxy Note could be coming soon, delighting anyone who loves both massive phones and the Financial Times.

Word of the rose-tinted goliath comes via GSMArena, which claims it's been sent an image of the pink Note by an industry insider, showing the cheery-lookin' phone/tablet hybrid alongside the somber black and white versions.

Unfortunately, that image isn't particularly high on the ol' resolution front, but you can see that the front and back of the gargantuan Note have been given a lick of pink paint. There's no word on whether the stylu...-- sorry, the S Pen--will be tinted pink as well.

Read more of "Pink Samsung Galaxy Note en route, looking rosy" at Crave UK.