Mark Neumann Coliseum XLS Speakers – Real Audiophiles Only
June 29, 2011
- Are you an audiophile with an extra $40,000 lying in between your couch cushions? If so, these bad boys are made for you…literally. But hurry! – Mr. Neumann only makes twelve of these per year!
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The stunning vertical and horizontal 360° degree sound dispersion open-baffle Coliseum XLS was inspired by a concert grand piano. This loudspeaker system represents a new level in artistry visually and sonically delivering the feeling and dynamics of live music.
The XLS features two 7″ E7 reference drivers with two high-frequency tweeters per channel that provides a 20% improvement in clarity, speed and refinement over the Coliseum XL. The bass is also improved with the Z8 bass system; it provides more control and 40% improvement in bass impact than the Coliseum XL
Driver Options: Add an additional 35% improvement in clarity, speed and refinement over the standard drivers with the 7″ HD-V1 world-class drivers which includes two 7″ and two high-frequency tweeters per channel. This option adds $12,000
Z8 Acoustic Bass System: The Z8 bass system features two world-class 8″ woofers per channel that performs at a new standard in effortless dynamics and headroom. The bass and drums are accurately performed even with demanding and difficult music to reproduce like up tempo jazz, blues, rock and dynamic classical music arrangements.
The Coliseum XLS can be ordered in a 3 way system with Q8 dual mid-bass in the front towers and a rear Z12 bass system featuring dual world-class 12″ woofers per channel to accommodate large listening rooms for an additional $20,000
Sensitivity: Average of 95 dB
Nominal Impedance: 4 Ohms
Frequency Response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz
Dimensions: 43.75″ Height x 18″ With x 22″ Deep
Shipping Weight: 580 pounds – Two Custom Crates
Production: Only twelve Coliseum XLS will be made per year - —Source— Mark Neumann – http://www.markneumannaudiocollection.com/
- Price Tag – $40,000
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Nike’s auto-lacing shoes – Rufus hinted to us all in 1989
August 26, 2010
Nike’s looking to make our future a better place with some auto-lacing sneakers. I for one, won’t protest as I still have to recite the following to make it happen:
“You take one lace and make a loop.
Take the other lace and make another bunny ear.
Fold one under the other and there you go!
Tied shoes.”
It looks like Nike filed for the patent in 2009 which shows off an automatic lacing system. The shoes appear to exhibit a charging system/lights, in addition to the lacing component. Now, now, don’t go start jumping up and down just yet…We all know that not all patent applications lead to a real product. BUT I am hoping this one comes to fruition.
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Droid Does… only have 256MB of storage for apps
March 25, 2010
Motorola’s Droid is a sweet piece of hardware that’s hyped to give the iPhone a run for its money, especially since it’s running the new Android 2.0 OS, and works on the Verizon network in the US. We care about software here at Download Squad though, and there’s some dismaying news about the Droid on that front: it has only 256MB for app storage. Seriously.
The Droid reportedly only packs a 512MB ROM (that’s the built-in memory), of which only half is allocated for apps. There are some iPhone games that couldn’t even fit in that teeny-weeny storage space! But at least it’s expandable, right? Um, nope. Google doesn’t support installing apps to the SD cards that Motorola relies on, so developers are pretty limited in terms of file sizes for their Android 2.0 software.
The Droid may have a solid CPU and GPU for gaming, but games that take full advantage of that hardware are likely to need 100 megabytes or more of storage space. That’s going to make things pretty tough until Android 2.0 comes to a device with a lot more pre-installed flash memory.
UPDATE: While it’s true that the Droid only has 256MB for apps, various resources for the apps (graphics, etc.) CAN be stored on the device’s SD cards. The situation isn’t as bad as the numbers seem to indicate at first.
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OnLive – Launching June 17th
March 10, 2010
One year after it was unveiled at the 2009 Game Developers Conference, OnLive finally has a launch date. Company CEO Steve Perlman announced today at his keynote at the GamesBeat mini-conference at GDC 2010 that OnLive will go live on June 17. The service will initially be available as an application for the Windows and Mac operating systems, with a micro-console that can be attached directly to HDTVs to arrive later on in the year.
OnLive goes live in the lower 48 stats on June 17.
OnLive’s launch will be limited to the contiguous lower 48 United States, and will cost $14.95 per month. According to the OnLive Blog, the first 25,000 thousand people to sign up will have the service fee waived for three months. (To apply, sign up on the official OnLive site.) Multi-month pricing and other promotions will be announced prior to the service’s debut.
OnLive’s monthly fee does not include the purchase price of games themselves, which can be rented or bought from publishers directly at a lower-than-retail price. Publishers supporting the service with PC titles include Electronic Arts, Take-Two, THQ, Ubisoft, Epic, Atari, Codemasters, and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. At the DICE Summit last month, Perlman demonstrated both Crysis and Unreal Tournament 3 running on the service with minimal lag.
The June launch will only be start of the OnLive rollout. The service will offer 1080p high-definition gaming at 60 frames per second starting in 2011. An international launch is also planned for an undetermined date.
For those unfamiliar with OnLive, the service aims to offer lag-free PC gaming via the Web. The company claims that since the heavy lifting of graphics processing will be done on the service’s servers, it will offer high-definition gaming on any PC or Mac, regardless of graphics card or CPU speed.
The addition of the micro-console will also allow the service to be streamed directly onto televisions, without the need for a standard game console. Perlman sees this as a positive, since OnLive games will not be tied to increasingly antiquated consoles. He promised that the OnLive servers would receive graphical upgrades every six months in order to provide the latest PC graphics.
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Researchers aim to give surgeons 3D maps, directions of human body
January 28, 2010
While a GPS-style “navigation system” for surgeons may not seem like the best idea to anyone that’s ever been led astray by their dash-mounted co-pilot, it apparently seemed like a good enough idea for a group of researchers at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. While they do stretch the metaphor a bit, the group’s TLEMsafe system does provide surgeons with a complete 3D map of the lower body, which can actually be personalized for each individual patient, giving surgeons a reference and means to practice before any actual surgery takes place — and, yes, even an “automated navigation system” during surgery. Coincidentally, some researchers from the University of Colorado have also just announced that they’ve developed a similar modeling system that would give surgeons 3D views of arteries and let them see any blockages up close. It’s even already been tested on patients, while the University of Twente says its system will be ready for clinical trials in about four years’ time.
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Sony’s Vaio Z…now with 4 SSD’s
January 19, 2010
Announced at CES with a “late Spring” availability, this Core i7-620M pumpin’ VAIO Z series from Sony will be hitting Europe in late March. The Z’s biggest claim to fame is its ultra-fast Quad SSD, a rather unique Sony innovation that writes data in parallel to four SSDs (up to 256GB total capacity in RAID 0) at speeds up to 6.2x faster than typical 5400 rpm laptop hard disks. Sony also fits the Z with a hybrid graphics solution that combines 1GB of NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M with Intel HD graphics allowing you to automatically (or manually) switch between “speed” and “stamina” modes. The remaining specs are 6GB of DDR3 SDRAM, 802.11n WiFi, integrated optical drive, and optional VAIO Everywair 3G mobile broadband module all stuffed into this 13.1-inch laptop with 1920 x 1080 pixel LED backlit display with 210 x 23.8-32.7 x 314mm and 1.43kg footprint.
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Mobile Minute: DIY cradle from cardboard coffee sleeve
January 12, 2010
It’s amazing how expensive cradles are for mobile devices. Most users realize that there is a big premium being charged for what amounts to a formed piece of plastic, and it makes them less likely to pony up the big bucks for a device that holds their phone. Luckily, this is an area where a little DIY creativity can help.
A Download Squad tipster pointed us to their YouTube video describing how to take a cardboard coffee cup sleeve and with a few careful cuts, turn it into a perfectly serviceable cradle for holding a mobile device in landscape orientation. The video could have been shorter, but it is very well put together. I’ve embedded the video after the jump at the end of this post.
Alternatively, there is an iPhone dock papercraft project that Lifehacker pointed to that is a little more complicated, but results in a cradle that can hold an iPhone in landscape or portrait orientation, and allows you to plug in your iPhone’s sync cable while in portrait orientation.
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