500

Get Fluance's audiophile-quality iPod speaker for just $100

Apparently, the designers at Fluance think different.

Instead of plastic they made their FiSDK500 iPod speaker out of wood, and they made it sound good enough to please audiophiles. It's usually $200, but it's on sale through November 7 for just $100. (Just be sure to add the coupon code "FISDK500" when checking out.)

I usually judge iPod speakers on a different scale than regular speakers. I have to, they're handicapped in a number of ways, even the $600 models never really delver hi-fi sound quality, and the one-piece models have almost no stereo separation. … Read more

Instructional portal Udemy raises $3 million

Udemy, a site that lets anyone create and upload courses, today announced it has raised $3 million in a funding round.

Udemy is trying to democratize education by creating a central place for anyone to teach and learn online. The San Francisco-based startup, which launched in May 2010, now offers more than 6,000 courses on everything from how to develop iPhone apps to how to speak Serbian. So far, the most popular courses are in technology, but that's changing as more people from different fields join the site.

Lightbank, an investment firm started by Groupon co-founders Eric Lefkosfky … Read more

This iPhone-controlled RC car climbs walls

Recently, we did a short post on Dexim's mini iOS-controlled Monster Truck. Well, we've now come across a gravity-defying iOS-controlled car aptly called the iPhone Controlled Wall Climbing Car iW500.

What's the trick? Or should we say, what makes it stick?

Apparently, this RC car actually has an integrated vacuum that lets it hug walls and even drive upside-down on ceilings.

Like Dexim's App Speed Monster Truck, the car comes bundled with a transmitter that you plug into the bottom of your iPhone or iPod Touch (it should work with an iPad as well) and you download a free app to control the car. … Read more

Polk ships UltraFit sports headphone line

In case you missed it, Polk Audio, which made a name for itself in the speaker world, announced a new line of UltraFit sports headphones back in June. Now all four new models have started shipping to retailers and should be available by the end of this month, if not sooner.

The line includes a mix of in-ear, on-ear, and in-ear-canal models that come in a variety of colors and range in price from $49.95 to $99.95. The three in-ear models look fairly similar but simply get swankier (and presumably sound better) as you step up in price.

Polk is touting the 'phones sturdy design, good sound quality, and touches like "tangle-free contrast-colored cables for instant left/right recognition" and an iPhone-friendly integrated three-button remote control and microphone (should work with Android models, too). No models, however, offer wireless Bluetooth connectivity.

Here's the basic rundown on all the new models courtesy of Polk:… Read more

Quick Take: LG 500G

The LG 500G is a simple messaging phone for TracFone. It has a standard candy bar design with a 2.2-inch color display and a full QWERTY keyboard.

Features include a 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, text and multimedia messaging, a 1,000-contact phone book, a speakerphone, a music player, and a personal organizer. It's priced at just $29.99 with TracFone's no-contract service.

HP's greatest hits: These PCs were good

Hewlett-Packard has been in the PC business for more than 25 years. And, needless to say, it had some good designs. It's worth a quick look at select models that stood the test of time in the wake of the disclosure today that the company is trying to unload its PC business.

Let me preface this with a caveat that was buried in the various HP statements today about its PC business: "There can be no assurance that any transaction regarding PSG (Personal Systems Group) will be pursued or completed." So, it's not a done deal. … Read more

Will Call frees you from the tyranny of choice

Planning ahead? For wimps. If you're out on the town and want to see a show, there's a new service coming, Will Call, that will show you a small selection of events starting later that day, with guaranteed open seats--and with those seats available at a nice discount.

Like the other poor planner's friend, Hotel Tonight (story), Will Call is a smart yield management play. As founder Donnie Dinch said during his pitch at the 500 Startups event on Tuesday, 40 percent of all event tickets go unsold. At the last minute, Will Call puts warm bodies … Read more

LaunchRock sets up site launch placeholders

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Thirty-one early stage entrepreneurs pitched 31 start-ups today at the 500 Startups event. (See news of previous 500 Startups launches.) The company I was most interested to see pitch: LaunchRock. It's a service that enables small companies to quickly put up "coming soon" pages. It collects e-mails and looks professional.

It's a fine service. But, really, from the outside it looks like just a feature. Is it a company?

I talked with co-founder Thomas Knoll about the venture, and there is, thankfully, more behind it. In addition to sending e-mail addresses to customers, … Read more

Zyxel ships its first 500Mbps power-line adapter

Zyxel announced today that it has now officially joined the Powerline AV+ 500 club with its first adapter, the Zyxel PLA4205.

Similar to the D-Link DHP-501AV and the Netgear XAV5501, this new adapter from Zyxel is designed to offer up to 500Mbps throughput speed via a home's electrical wiring.

In real-world usage, the speed is likely to be much slower than that but probably still faster than a traditional Ethernet connection, which would make it more than fast enough for streaming HD content and other heavy home-networking needs.

Zyxel says its PLA4205 adapter is backward-compatible with previous power-line standards … Read more

Nokia circles back to Symbian with its 500 smartphone

Nokia announced a new smartphone on its Conversations blog today that brought us back to one of the company's classic operating systems.

The Nokia 500 runs on Symbian Anna, which is the latest version of the OS that Nokia unveiled earlier this year. Don't feel bad if you find the release of another Symbian handset somewhat confusing given the manufacturer's new commitment to Windows Phone 7. In fact, we do as well, even if Nokia CEO Stephen Elop revealed in an interview last May that the company was sticking with Symbian until 2016.

Front and center is … Read more