Music streaming services such as to Pandora, Spotify and the just-launched Beats Music are no longer newfangled “apps of the moment,” but have become the standard way of listening to music. While new apps and services for listening to and discovering tunes are…
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While Sonos remains a market-defining force in wireless music streaming, Bowers & Wilkins makes a strong case for Apple AirPlay with a seductive, newly expanded lineup. Today, the company introduced an update to the popular Zeppelin Air—the torpedo-shaped beauty that’s been upgraded with a flexible Lightning dock for iPhone…
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An impromptu conference aimed at reforming a war-torn nation
For many Somali refugees, the film Black Hawk Down serves as one of their only memories of the civil war that has ravaged their country for the last two decades. This Thursday, 17 May 2012, thousands of expats—along with the rest of the world—will see their nation again in a live broadcast of TEDxMogadishu, an impromptu conference bravely taking place in Somalia’s capital city.
Documenting the event are filmmakers Sebastian Lindstrom and Alicia Sully, a progressive duo who recently shot a feature film highlighting the various ways people use camel milk. After filming the TEDx summit in Doha, Lindstrom and Sully joined fellow organizers in Somalia to finalize plans for TEDxMogadishu and make the underground announcement about the nation-shaping symposium.
With a war on the periphery and pirates on the beaches why risk venturing to Mogadishu when the whole conference will be streamed online via satellite? Well, for the first time in years, Mogadishu is being spared active fighting, and people are coming back and opening businesses. There are success stories to share, like that of participant and supporter Liban Egal, who is the founder of the brand new First Somali Bank.
The goal for TEDxMogadishu is to create a space in which to spread ideas for positive change in Somalia. Lindstrom points out that the group empowering the independently organized event isn’t the first to see a change taking place in Somalia (he helpfully sent over links to The New York Times, Newsweek, Voice of America and Foreign Policy). In some ways, Mogadishu is a model forum for the TEDx conference as it stands on the forefront of something hugely important–the rebirth of a nation.
If you tune in to the satellite stream of the conference on Thursday, you will witness a powerful movement happening in Mogadishu. Along with the short lead time on the announcement of the event, safety precautions are being put into place to protect the attendees and speakers, which Lindstrom says includes “a chef and restauranteur, a real estate developer, the founder of a university, the founder of the first Somali bank, a camel farmer, healthcare specialist, a Somali journalist and more.”
To find out how to attend the three-hour conference you can call or email the organizers. Those tuning in digitally can catch the live feed at 2pm in Mogadishu (12pm London, 7am New York).
Art-inspired grills deck out our latest audio giveaway
As part of a New Year’s resolution to up our music game, we’re giving away a special-edition Sonos Play:5 speaker system to one of our readers. With a custom grill bearing music-inspired art, these speakers are the largest—and most powerful—of the Sonos line. The line made an impressive debut at the NADA Art Fair, where Sonos teamed up with a crop of artists to produce and sell the limited run of custom speakers to benefit Creative Growth, an Oakland arts center for adults with disabilities.
The grills feature artwork from Susan Janow, Donald Mitchell, Gerone Spruill and Aurie Ramirez of Creative Growth. As it turns out, the pieces make a brilliant canvas to incorporate artwork into everyday items. Besides the design appeal, the Sonos system incorporates five integrated speakers and five Class-D digital amplifiers that pump room-filling sound with a host of streaming options, and allows you to control playback through a desktop app, a mobile app and a dedicated remote. We hope you enjoy the HiFi sound and streaming ease as much as we do here in the CH HQ.
For the giveaway, we’re letting the winner select one of the four designs shown here. To win, Tweet your favorite song of the moment to @coolhunting and @sonos with the hashtag #CHSonosGiveaway. We’ll be taking entries through 12 a.m. EST on Wednesday, 11 January.
New software streams all your favorite videos to your iPad
Adding to their suite of streaming video utilities, Boxee recently released the Boxee for iPad application, introducing massive potential for streamlining online video experiences.
Designed for all iPad users, the app consolidates all sources for online video into one location with three separate pipelines—Friends, Watch Later and Featured (edited by Boxee). With the ability to link to Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr, it automatically populates your feed with new videos from “friends” across social networking platforms.
For those who don’t spend workdays watching videos sent by coworkers, great aunts or your mom’s college roommate, “Watch Later” lets you queue up videos from TED, YouTube, Cool Hunting or any number of other video sites for viewing at your leisure.
The sister desktop software, Boxee Media Manager, works with the iPad app to turn your machine into a iPad-friendly media server. For either Macs or PCs, the media manager wirelessly stream all video content—in any format—from computers directly to iPads, eliminating the need for conversion or using third-party serving software. Those who already own the Boxee Box, the brand’s physical device, you can use Boxee for iPad to stream any of videos directly from iPads to your home TVs, perfect for watching scared kittens or baby badgers on the big screen.
As digital media providers fight it out, it’s rare to find a company offering streaming coverage in so many forms and for such a wide audience. The fact that Boxee designed their app for both Mac and PC users, that it easily works as a media server and is directed at their current customer base as well as non-Boxee users is quite an impressive and comprehensive approach for D-Link. The ability to aggregate online videos might not be for everyone, but the other features are worth the download alone—considering both Boxee for iPad and the Boxee Media Manager are free.
This increased transparency, allowing for greater access and user experience, is part of what has made us Boxee fans from the beginning. Hopefully, this new move sets the stage for more thoughtful, well rounded utilities like this, just the tip of the iceberg for the future of streaming media.
The latest power-packed sound machine from wireless streaming experts Sonos
We’ve been rocking out with a variety of Sonos products in the Cool Hunting office for years, gaining a great appreciation for the functionality of the comprehensive wireless streaming products in the process. Debuting today is the next step forward for at-home or at-work networked music playing with the release of Sonos Play:3. The device, designed as an all-in-one unit, promises bigger sound quality in a compact package, perfect for any room in need of bumpin’ tunes
The Play:3 gets its name from its three integrated speakers, three dedicated class-D digital amplifiers and three drivers. With an overall goal to crank up the quality, each unit also has a passive rear-firing bass radiator to keep the sound rich. As with all Sonos products the Play: 3 will integrate seamlessly into an existing Sonos system and can be controlled with the Sonos desktop app, the multi-platform mobile app or a dedicated Sonos controller.
Another clever feature of the Play:3 is the option to use the speaker in a vertical or horizontal position. This makes it easier to fit the system exactly where you want it and internal motion sensors detect the speaker’s orientation, adjusting the output accordingly to deliver ideal sound distribution. With two Play:3 units you can experience “Stereo Pairing,” which allows you to dedicate one speaker to the left or right channel. But be warned: two Play:3s paired up for stereo enjoyment the office makes for an internal struggle to stay seated.
If, like us, your Sonos system was in need of an overall upgrade, we recommend the updated controller ($350); it’s compact, slick and has a intuitive touchscreen UI for super-easy navigation.
Head over to Sonos’ online store to grab one of the new versatile Play:3s, available today for $300.
Also on Cool Hunting: Latest from Sonos: iPhone App, Free Pandora, Better Internet Radio
Voici ce concept de Spotify Player imaginé par l’étudiant Jordi Parra pour son projet de fin d’étude : un transistor à puce RFID connecté à votre compte pour l’écoute de la musique et des playlists Spotify en streaming. Un design minimaliste à découvrir en images et vidéo.
Info : Rejoignez et abonnez-vous à la Fubiz Playlist sur Spotify.
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