Portuguese researchers create Audio GPS for indoor location

GPS has become one of our best friends when it comes to finding where we are, but sadly it becomes completely useless when you're indoors. Now, Portuguese researchers from FEUP have devised a Audio GPS that can solve that problem.

Here - Augmented Hearing

We've talked a lot about virtual reality and augmented reality, and every time those things have been associated with sight. Now, there's a kickstarter project that wants to do the same sort of thing for audio: the Here Active Listening earbuds.

Magzet is a "magsafe" audio plug adapter that will keep your devices safe

If you regularly wear headphones or earphones, then you'll certainly know that sometimes we forget we're "attached" to something, ending up with the headphones ripped off our ears - or, even worse, your valuable smartphone heading out into a nasty fall. With Magzet, you'll no longer have to face that.

Spectral Layers - Advanced Sound Editing

Have you ever wondered how much image and video digital editing has evolved - by leaps and bounds - in the past decades, with thing such as seamcarving and patchmatch, while in the sound editing area things have remained largely unchanged?

Wouldn't it be good if we could manipulate audio just like we do with images in image editing programs like Photoshop?

Well, thanks to this amazing Spectral Layers we're certainly a lot closer. Never has spectral sound been as easy and understandable to work with. Just take a look at what you can do with it:


Spectral Layers from DIVIDE FRAME on Vimeo.

Online Audio Conversion (MP3, Ogg, etc.)

Ever had to convert an audio file from one format to another? No time to fool around searching for the best program for the job, installing it, and learning to use it?

Search no more: Media.io gets the job done in the easiest way possible. No installs, no set ups, just upload your audio file (mp3, .wav, .ogg, .wma, .m4a, .mp4, .aac) and select the format you want to convert it into: MP3, OGG, WAV, or WMA, with four quality settings.

Auditory Illusions

I have alerady shown you some optical illusions before, but did you know there are auditory illusions as well?

And, if some of those aren't really that impressive, this one certainly is. :)

Just listen to the following clip:



Did you listen to it? Now, keep playing it whenever it ends, and listen closely.
It seems it is alwasy going higher and higher every single time - even thought it's always the same clip.

That's known as Shepard's scale and it's pretty impressive, isn't it?

Denon Ultra Premium Rip-off Cables: Part II

Do you remember when, a few days ago, I talked about those absurdly priced Denon Ethernet Digital Audio Cables promising the "purest digital audio" ever?

Well, if there's one thing you can't deny is that there are lots of people out there with a caustic sense of humor! :)

Check out what some people have said about said cables on Amazon's Customer reviews:

"If I could use a rusty boxcutter to carve a new orifice in my body that's compatible with this link cable, I would already be doing it. I can just imagine the pure musical goodness that would flow through this cable into the wound and fill me completely -- like white, holy light."

“A caution to people buying these: if you do not follow the ‘directional markings’ on the cables, your music will play backwards. Please check that before mentioning it in your reviews.”

"The first time I downloaded a picture to the printer over this cable, the bits moved so fast the printer collapsed into a naked singularity, right there in my office.”

"I accidentally dropped one end of my Denon cable into a glass of Tuscan whole milk I was drinking. Later when I finished my milk (yeah, I still drank it; should I not have done that?), my right arm (lost in an accident in 1987) spontaneously grew back. Is that normal?"

via [Boing boing]

Sony GTR-DG920

And now that you can finally start buying HD movies without worrying about the format war, how about upgrading/updating your old AV amp?

For that matter, Sony will be launching their GTR-DG920 in June with a nice feature list - particularly considering it's price: $600.

• 7.1channels
• 1080p + 60/24Hz
• 4x HDMI
• Dolby Digital Plus
• Dolby True HD
• DTS High Resolution Audio
• DTS HD Master Audio
• xvyCC
• Deep Color Sony's Digital Media Port
• XM Connect-and-Play ready (5.1)
• Auto-Setup in 20-30 seconds

Though I would still prefer a Denon or Onkyo, it's nice to see Sony improving their products at competitive prices.