ie8 fix

rhythm

Recalibrate your expectations of how good an in-ear headphone can sound

I've been listening to Jerry Harvey's custom-molded in-ear headphones for years. The very first one, the UE10, was a game changer; in 2006 it was the best sounding in-ear headphone I'd heard. Now with his new Freqphase JH13 and JH16 in-ears, Harvey's done it again. The performance gains in clarity, detail, resolution, and stereo imaging are huge -- the adrenaline-pumping sound of the music you love over a set of Harvey's headphones can't be matched by any other in-ear 'phones.

Years before he made headphones, Harvey mixed stage monitor sound for Kiss, Van Halen, … Read more

Freaky-awesome massage vest rubs you up with your own tunes

LAS VEGAS--If you ever wanted to know what it would feel like to have Mick Jagger massage the knots in your back muscles while you listen to "Tumbling Dice," then I have the perfect gadget for you. The iMusic BodyRhythm massage vest sits over your shoulders and upper back. Plug it into your iPhone, fire up the app, and enjoy a rubdown to the beat of your favorite song.

I got to try out a fully functioning prototype of the vest at CES 2013. The vest's creator Uwe Diegel hooked me up with some "Gangnam Style" massage action. I could see going for the full-album experience and having an extended session with "Exile on Main Street." It would be a very different way of experiencing the music.… Read more

Zio stick-on heart rhythm monitor 'the Netflix of heart care'

Arrhythmia, a heart rhythm disorder that affects millions of Americans every year, can lead to a stroke or even sudden cardiac death, if left untreated. And monitoring a patient's heart rhythm for a few minutes or even hours over the course of a doctor's visit often doesn't provide enough data for accurate diagnosis.

Enter the Zio Patch, a new wireless (and fully recyclable) device that adheres to the chest for up to 14 days of continuous monitoring, and can simply be removed and mailed in for results. "It's like the Netflix of heart care," … Read more

Breaking and entering just got groovier

Remember Vincent Cassel as the breakdancing burglar from the movie "Ocean's Twelve"? He played a classy art thief who weaved his way through security by dancing around a series of laser beams. His character blended the art of thievery with rhythmic precision. In no way do we at Download.com condone any sort of theft...outside the walls of Clockwork Mansion.

Beat Sneak Bandit trains players in the art of breaking in with breaking beats. Duke Clockface has stolen all the clocks, so it's up to you as the Bandit to infiltrate Clockwork Mansion and … Read more

Shoot to the beat

Beat Hazard Ultra is a unique dual-stick arcade shooter that uses music from your music library to create the pace of the game. Each song in your music library has a unique rhythm and flow and as the power builds in a song, Beat Hazard Ultra sends more enemies for you to blow away. Even if you have no music on your iOS device, the game lets you choose from several Internet radio stations to stream the musical backdrop of the game. The graphics are worthy of note, too; this game has so many blinking lights and colors that there'… Read more

CES: Stress relief made portable

LAS VEGAS--After a long, hard week at CES, a little stress relief is in order. But can you achieve a peaceful state through a portable PC gadget?

Being demoed at CES this week is the Emwave 2 personal stress reliever from HeartMath. This portable device lets you monitor your stress levels and help you calm down. Specifically, it monitors your heart rhythms as an indicator of how stressed you may be. To use the device, you connect it to your PC and place your finger on its small monitor. A graph charting your heart patterns then appears on the PC.… Read more

The 404 690: Where rent is too damn high (podcast)

We couldn't have said it better ourselves: Rent is Too Damn High isn't just a resounding truism for all NYers, it's also a candidate party AND a slogan created by NY governor hopeful Jimmy McMillan. At last night's NY gubernatorial debate, McMillan looked and sounded more like an SNL skit than a serious cry for change.

Regardless, we can definitely see this guy getting his own TV show, or at least a dedicated segment on the next Autotune the News video. Despite his karate expertise, he won't likely get our vote--not because we don't trust the guy, more due to all the GIFs on his "Web site."

"Man accidentally impregnates wife after losing Apple iPod" is a deceiving headline, but that's exactly what happened to 28-year-old Doug Wilson when he forgot to look at an iPod app pre-coitus that explained the details of the "rhythm method" (Google it) for contraception. Checking your phone before getting down isn't very romantic, although it does sound like something Wilson would do, so don't skip this segment or you might end up with a baby in beta.

Despite Steve Jobs' surprise announcement at yesterday's Apple earnings call that there will not be a 7-inch iPad, we're still waiting with open wallets for the next generation to come out. On the other hand, nasty news about the amount of germs on the average American's touch screen might put that purchase off for awhile.

According to a British study, cell phones have 18 TIMES the germs of a public toilet seat handle. Add that to the list of other filthy objects we touch on a daily basis, including elevator buttons, door handles, and money, and it's only a matter of time before Apple debuts its own line of sanitary gloves to use with all its touch screen devices--blech!

After a quick review of "Jackass 3D" by yours truly, we discuss whether or not Mark Zuckberg learning Chinese will help get Facebook back into the country's list of unblocked sites. Apparently the Facebook founder has set a personal challenge to learn the language one-hour per day, in an effort to understand the "language, the culture, and the mind set" of a country that has 420 million active Internet users. Tune in to hear Wilsons' personal experience with Web censorship in China, and what roadblocks Zuckerberg can expect to face.

Episode 690 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS VideoRead more

Karaoke + rhythm game = Lyric Legend

Best known for its social music- and lyric-finding service, TuneWiki launched a new venture Tuesday in the form of a game with a slightly different take on music discovery. Lyric Legend is a free app that combines aspects of a karaoke and a rhythm game into one visually stimulating package. I downloaded the app onto an iPhone 3GS to give it a spin.

Upon starting, Lyric Legend automatically attempts to connect to a network in order to retrieve high-score and other social info, as well as upload your game data to the scoreboard. However, you don't need a connection … Read more

Review: LG Rhythm is what the LG Chocolate 3 should've been

LG's flagship music phone thus far has been the LG Chocolate line of phones from Verizon Wireless, and we've given it some mixed reviews. The original LG Chocolate annoyed us with the touch-sensitive wheel, but the second LG VX8550 Chocolate impressed us with the mechanical scroll wheel and the much sleeker design. The downer of the lot was the recent LG Chocolate 3. Yes, it's a decent music phone with an FM transmitter, stereo Bluetooth, and a 3.5-mm headset jack, but the overall design seemed boring and did not look at all like the other Chocolate … Read more

LG Rhythm puts music first

Both Alltel and U.S. Cellular announced the LG Rhythm in October of last year (with a November release), but we weren't able to get our hands on it until Thursday at CES 2009.

The Rhythm, if you'll recall, is a music-focused phone with 3D sound capabilities, plus it boasts a graphic equalizer designed by none other than Mark Levinson, a company known for high-end digital audio processors. We're surprised that Alltel and U.S. Cellular managed to pull off a coup like this, because now that we've handled the Rhythm personally, we actually think the … Read more