trees

You have an iPhone--a wonder of sleek, compact, multifunction technology. You essentially have a powerful multimedia computer system that fits in the palm of your hand. You must be thinking, "All I'm lacking is a giant log I can stick it into to play loud music."

Scream "Jackpot!" because KMKG Studios has introduced the iTree, a $15,000 personalized sound system for the iPhone, the iPod and (with a little rigging) the iPad. According to KMKG's designers: "The iTree is a top-quality iPhone and iPod docking station made out of a simple tree trunk. This is hollowed out using a special technique and specialized tools, expertly proportioned to produce optimum sound quality."

Because no two trees are alike, every iTree is a personalized creation. Buyers select the size and kind of wood they'd like before their iTree is manufactured. KMKG reports spruce, cherry, or poplar are most popular. If home audio and potential splinter enthusiasts want to haul themselves to KMKG Studios HQ in Austria, they can go for a ride in nearby forests and pick their own tree. After iTree artisans kick the Keebler Elves out of their ancestral home, they'll make the in-house music system to specifications.

We have yet to give an iTree a listen, so we can't attest to the sound quality. But if the price is any indication, it should be impressive. The only potential drawback we see for the iTree is--unless you live in a ski lodge or a late 1800s cattle ranch--visitors might be prone to ask, "Why do you have a giant log in your living room, Grizzly Adams?" … Read more

A couple months back I told you about Mr. PhoneTree, an iOS-only app that can automatically call every person in a group and play a recorded message--a huge time-saver for anyone who manages, say, a soccer team or social group.

Although the app came with 25 call credits to get you started, you had to purchase credit bundles after that. If you're looking for a cheaper solution and have minimal automated-call needs, check out DialMyCalls for Android and DialMyCalls for iOS.

The app is buggy and confusing in places, and much more limited than Mr. PhoneTree, but it does have one ace up its sleeve: it allows you one free phone blast per week (up to 30 seconds long and to as many as 25 people).

DialMyCalls comes from the Web-based service of the same name, but obviously it's far more convenient to set up and launch an automated call on your smartphone. The process is fairly straightforward--record your message, choose the recipients, then send the message--but the app suffers from numerous annoying quirks.

For starters, I couldn't create a new account on my iPhone; for some reason the app rejected my Gmail address as "invalid." Fortunately, I was able to set up an account on DialMyCalls.com, then sign into it on my phone. But the app requires your password every time you run it, with no option to remember it.… Read more

Who decided solar panels should be flat?

A seventh-grader from New York has worked out that solar panels arranged more like tree branches may capture more light than flat panels.

For real, kind of. Aidan Dwyer, 13, noticed that tree branch patterns are Fibonacci numbers, postulated that it had to do with photosynthesis, took some pretty involved measurements of an oak tree, built a PVC-pipe solar array in the same shape, built a flat solar panel, compared how much light each captured over time, and voila, he had an award-winning science experiment and a great-sounding theory: trees evolved with these patterns for good reason. He found that tree-shaped pattern is as much as 50 percent more efficient than the flat panel, depending on the time of year.

The seventh-grader's explanation was that the Fibonacci pattern keeps branches out of each others' shadows in full light and at the same time allows the tree to garner as much light as possible when some branches are in shadow and others in light.… Read more

You know what happens when nature-loving types invest in audio equipment for their homes? We don't either, but the concept Tree Stump Speaker might be something they'd be keen on.

With two potential designs, a tabletop version and one that's meant to be wall mounted, Danish industrial designer Thomas Laenner has come up with an interesting and arguably practical design. Take the wall-mounted version, for example. It features an iPhone/iPod dock that looks like a tree branch. The tabletop version, however, seems to utilize good old 3.5mm audio input jacks.

Two 4-inch drivers, which appear to be full-range types, would be pumping out the smooth sounds of Mother Nature (and hopefully more). … Read more

Are you coaching a soccer team? Hosting a party? Managing a mobile sales fleet? Wouldn't it be fantastic to have a way to quickly and automatically contact everyone involved, without having to make the same phone call over and over?

That's the idea behind Mr. PhoneTree, a new iPhone app that can call, e-mail, and/or text-message as many people as you want--and even request and track responses.

Think about it. You need to remind a dozen parents about soccer practice. You need to tell invited guests that the party has been moved to an indoor location. You want to let friends and family members know that the new baby was born at 8:53 p.m. and she and Mom are doing fine.

Mr. PhoneTree can handle those and other situations in which you don't want to call each and every person yourself. The app supports simple broadcasts, confirmed delivery (in which it keeps trying to connect with each person until it receives a confirmation), and even surveys (like asking people to RSVP for an event).… Read more

Quadraphonic was the first music surround format, and the first to bite the dust. That was in the 1970s. The SACD and DVD-A formats debuted at the dawn of the century, promising vastly improved sound quality over the CD, and both formats flopped. Their futures looked bright, so why did they fail?

Of course the record labels knew selling a new format on the basis of sound quality was a risky business, so they tacked on 5.1 surround sound. There were millions of households in the early 2000s with multichannel home theaters, so selling new music surround formats looked … Read more

Most of the music people enjoy doesn't sound very good. That's not to say it isn't good music, just that it doesn't sound great. I'm not picking on digital or contemporary music; most of my favorite Motown and Stax soul music from the 1960s and 1970s sounds like crap. Most rock music from any decade sounds cruddy; that's just the way it is.

A lot of today's best bands, including alternative darlings Arcade Fire, make awful-sounding recordings. I'm specifically referring to their Grammy Award-winning "The Suburbs" album from 2010; it'… Read more

With Windows, it can be hard to see the trees for the forest; it does a pretty good job with the "big picture," but you've got to do some clicking to see the details, which actually makes it harder to get an accurate overview of your system. JAM's TreeSize Free is a nifty bit of freeware that displays the size of every folder and file, including every subfolder, in a series of expandable Explorer-like tree views. You can use TreeSize Free as a standalone app activated from the desktop or start menu, but you can also … Read more

Chris over at Manmadediy.com says he noticed one item pop up on lots of lists of his fellow design and DIY bloggers: the Enchanted Woods iPhone Dock from Anthropologie. He describes it as "a fun nature-meets-technology way to stand and display your iPod or iPhone."

While he thought it was "awesome," at nearly $100, it seemed like a lot to pay for something that didn't have "speakers, a clock, or even a way to plug it into the wall." But more importantly, because it was 100 percent wood and didn't "… Read more