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EPISODE 146 |
Skull phone shows just how wild and crazy you are
Report: U.S. military developing robots that eat human flesh
Gory intercom system a savagely funny concept
iKey's AK-39 wearable keyboard is about as weapon-like as it sounds
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
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The BeoVision 4...it's thinking.
(Credit: Bang & Olufsen)As Americans, many of us believe we'll be rich one day. Seriously, many of us believe it's only a matter of time before our ship comes rolling in and we'll be jet-skiing with bikini-clad models like the best of the rich folk.
Now there's a new reason to hold out hope. Bang & Olufsen just launched the BeoVision 4-103. It's an $111,805, 584-pound, 103-inch plasma TV with a full HD resolution of 1,920x1,080 pixels. A TV that says to the world, "Look what a huge tool I am, that I would spend over $100K on an f*****g TV." I think that may actually be engraved somewhere on the system.
Not to say B&O isn't throwing in the bells and whistles to get the hard sell for this TV. Other than the ginormous screen, there are a couple of features included that sound really cool.
First off, this is quite possibly the first and only TV with a built-in minicamera that evaluates your television every 100 hours, then automatically adjusts the color balance.
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The new Aston Martin DBS gets a Bang & Olufsen audio system.
(Credit: CBS Interactive)The Aston Martin DBS is a beautiful car, and sitting in one is a very special experience. Sitting in a DBS and listening to a Bang & Olufsen audio system takes that special experience and adds a choir of angels. The high-end Danish audio-components maker lends its expertise to Aston Martin with its Beosound DBS system, now coming as standard in the new DBS. At the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show we sat in the DBS as a Bang & Olufsen representative played a variety of music through the system.
The car spun around on its turntable as a drum-and-bass track played at full volume. The staging was perfect, giving the aural illusion that a drum kit was five feet in front. Each beat on the kit gave us the distinct sound of bass, snare, and cymbal. The bass guitar joined in, and we could hear the flex of the strings. Another track with a female jazz singer placed her right over the hood of the car, then an orchestral track made banks of strings and woodwinds clear enough that we could almost tell which instrument was first chair.
Acoustic lenses pop up from the dashboard.
(Credit: CBS Interactive)Bang & Olufsen's priorities are staging and imaging, making the sound come from a distinct place, as if you had the best seat in the house, right in front of the stage. To accomplish this effect in the Aston Martin DBS, the company found places for 13 speakers, including two pop-up acoustic lenses at opposite ends of the dashboard, just like in the Audi A8. And where most companies are happy to put a tweeter at the base of the A pillar, Bang & Olufsen got to put mid-range speakers up there, mounted in the front top edge of the doors. Woofers are also mounted in a unique position, on either side of the console, in the front footwells. More speakers are mounted in the rear, along with a subwoofer, while a tweeter and mid-range acted as a centerfill in the middle of the dashboard. Mounting is of very high quality--we heard no rattle as heavy bass made the whole car feel as if it was moving.
Mids sit near the A pillars, in the door sills.
(Credit: CBS Interactive)A thousand watts of amplification power this system. Thirteen channels, one for each speaker, with Bang & Olufsen digital processing ensure that the audio comes out clean and well-placed. Ostensibly the DBS has two rear seats, but Bang & Olufsen ignored that charade and focused the sound on the driver and passenger seats. The audio can be set to focus the sweet spot on the driver, but when the passenger seatbelt is buckled that sweet spot is enhanced to include the passenger. Even wilder, the system is tuned for dual imaging, meaning that there are two sweet spots, letting driver and passenger enjoy equally good quality.
The Beosound DBS system uses advanced audio adjustment to overcome changing environment sound, monitoring engine speed, and noise in the cabin. The system changes levels quickly to compensate for noise in a manner that is supposed to be seamless to the car's occupants.
The last Bang & Olufsen cell phone
(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)Apparently even Bang & Olufsen is feeling the effects of the sour economy. The Danish company, which has a built a reputation as a purveyor of high-end electronics, is exiting the cell phone business. The Financial Times reported Wednesday that besides phones, Bang & Olufsen will also stop making DVD players and recorders in an effort to concentrate on televisions and audio equipment.
Granted, it's not a huge loss to the cell phone world. The Bang & Olufsen Serene, which the company designed two years ago with Samsung, certainly had an intriguing design. But the phone faltered in functionality and performance. It also didn't help that it cost $1,275.
Bang & Olufsen, a provider of high-quality audio and video products, has signed an agreement with Mercedes-Benz Cars to develop a premium sound system for Mercedes' AMG performance division. This would make Mercedes AMG the third major automaker, behind Audi and Aston Martin, to partner with the audio components provider.
A few weeks ago, we saw (or rather, heard) what Bang & Olufsen can bring to a vehicle's audio experience when we test drove the Audi A8 L W12. We also heard the kind of sounds Mercedes AMG is making under the hood of its vehicles when we judged the C63 AMG during last week's Car Tech Sound-Off. So we're hoping that sweet engine notes plus beautiful musical notes equal an enthusiast's symphony!
Neither Bang & Olufsen or Mercedes-AMG have stated when we can expect to see the new audio systems in vehicles.
(Credit:
Bang & Olufsen )
Leave it to Bang & Olufsen to break the mold once again, this time with a TV under-screen speaker. While other manufacturers toil away with boring rectangles and cylindrical designs, the B&O wizards have gone a completely different geometric route: a triangle.
The "BeoLab 10" is a center speaker designed to work with the "BeoVision 4" HDTV. Mounted beneath the plasma, according to Audio Junkies, it uses its "Acoustic Lens Technology" to disperse sound 180 degrees with twin amplifiers.
And never leaving anything to chance, B&O is also planning to offer a range of grill covers to match any given decor. No pricing has been released yet but, given the company's reputation, the BeoLab 10 might require you to move into a smaller place to afford it.
It's all the latest from the Crave blog with Brian Tong and guest hostess Bonnie Cha. This week they talk about 'Mario Kart' for the Wii, shiny Pebble MP3 players, a dream come true for Panoramas, a touchless remote, and keyboard pants you won't want to be seen in.
(Credit:
T3)
Bang & Olufsen has always been driven by avant-garde designs, but its latest concept for a remote control may be crossing the line from innovation to science fiction. Apparently not satisfied with its previous efforts, no matter how bizarre they may be already, B&O is contemplating a model that requires no physical contact to operate. We're not kidding.
The aptly named "TouchLess" was inspired by germaphobic trends that are increasingly influencing product development, leading the company's design mavens to work on a device that would never be sullied by your bacteria-infested mitts. "Designed primarily for kitchen use, the TouchLess can control the cooker, washing machine, and boil a kettle from the comfort of your armchair," T3 says, as well as command the media center with simple Louis XIV-style wave of the hand. What's next for B&O R&D? A cloak of invisibility, of course.
(Credit:
SlashPhone)
Before iPhone fever erupted in full force, one of the more talked-about handsets was Bang & Olufsen's "Serene"--albeit in mixed reviews, to say the least. The bloom may be off that rose, but its successor may inspire renewed buzz in just a few weeks.
The "Serenata," the product of a collaboration between B&O and Samsung, has begun a countdown on a mysterious Web site, which says it's 17 days away as of this writing. SlashPhone says the handset is believed to be the SGH-F310 leaked last month and pictured here. Among the rumored details are a video and music player, 4GB of memory and 1.8-megapixel camera.
Mystery or not, next to B&O's new "Beo 5" remote, the Serenata looks downright tame.
(Credit:
Pocket-lint)
Bang & Olufsen is known for its minimalist good looks (though sometimes too minimalist), but it's taken the concept to new heights with its latest media appliance. Even the name--"DVD 2"--is irresistably Spartan.
So are its features, which may be a bit too limited for some people in this age of electronics that do everything but the dishes (and sometimes that too). The device does have a 250GB hard drive to go along with its DVD player and TV tuner but, as Pocket-lint says, it hardly qualifies as a "next-gen product." No matter to B&O, however, which remains as unabashed as ever in its Zen-like simplicity, right down to the design: The DVD 2 basically looks like a box of trays, perhaps a printer without the glass on top.
No price or availability is yet known, but if the company holds true to form, this gadget may cost more than the rest of your media room combined. Proving once again that simplicity should never be confused with affordability.
