Rip Roar Creation Station

Like many kids my siblings and I made a lot of home movies when we were younger. I remember one time in particular when we set the video camera to a high shutter speed, filled the living room with every lamp we could find in the house and filmed Hot Wheels cars crashing into each other. It was definitely crude but watching the slow motion replays of the crashes was remarkably entertaining. Of course those ’special effects’ were pretty crude when compared to the home video technology today’s kids have at their disposal.

The Rip Roar Creation Station for example gives any kid with a drop of imagination the ability to shoot their own green screen footage and then easily replace the backgrounds with included software. The camera is apparently ‘full-rez’ capable which I assume means at least 640×480 and has a built-in LED light which to be honest is probably pretty useless. The kit also includes 2 fabric green screens, a tripod and the aforementioned software that also has basic editing and soundtrack functions. As someone who does this kind of stuff for a living I’m skeptical as to how great the results look but if I was a kid trying this type of thing for the first time I’d probably be thrilled.

The Rip Roar Creation Station will be available from Amazon near the end of September for $129.99.

USB Penguins Are Adorable

These flightless bird USBs flash drives are truly adorable. The diminutive avian comes complete with tiny tiny scarves. Unfortunately, they also come with a comparatively tiny capacity. The flightless bird’s head flips open to reveal a shining USB connector; just as nature intended.

The USB Penguin is Mac-friendly, PC-friendly and small child friendly. It also comes with Vista Ready Boost functionality. Sadly the maximum capacity is 1GB and they cost ¥3980, or about 17$US. Is it really too large of a price to pay for cute?

Motorola RAZR2 Now Availalbe in U.S.

Motorola announced yesterday that their new RAZR2 mobile phone is now available here in the United States. Motorola says the new RAZR2 is sleeker outside and more powerful inside. Three versions of the phone are available so users of all three major technologies will be able to use the RAZR2.

The MOTORAZR2 family will have a V9 version that runs on 3G HSDPA, a V9m version that runs on 3G EVDO CDMA, and a V8 running on plain vanilla GSM. Updates to the RAZR2 include a larger screen for full HTML web browsing and an external screen that allows viewing media, music and messaging without opening the phone.

Motorola also says that users will be able to get touch feedback on the external screen through a haptic key technology; and no I’m not sure what that means either. The phone will be equipped with up to 2GB of onboard memory and will support wireless music via headphones like Motorola’s ROKR S9.

Siemens VDO and Microsoft

Siemens VDO and Microsoft just announced a deal to co-develop in-car entertainment systems and navigation products. The companies will initially develop a multi-media platform to more easily integrate mobile phones and music players into automotive systems. The first products based on the Microsoft Auto Platform are expected in 2009.

The BlackBox and BlackBox mini Bluetooth speaker

See that? That's glossy black sex in stereo. The BlackBox and BlackBox mini Bluetooth speaker systems from Gear4 pump 24W and 4W from 2x speakers, respectively, with a front-facing red LED panel and blue capacitive touch-panel controls up top. Gear4 assures compatibility with your cellphone via its firmware upgrade feature -- link back to your computer via USB to download the "right profile for your mobile." Odd, since the Bluetooth profiles are supposed to be standard, eh Bluetooth SIG? Priced at £100/£50 (about $202/$101) when released in the next few weeks.

Apogee's Duet: pro audio at a mini size

If you've been in the market for a small, handsome, and high-quality portable audio recording solution, Apogee (makers of some of the finest AD/DA converters and interfaces in the industry) may have just what you're looking for. Say hello to the Duet, a two-channel, 24bit / 96kHz interface that should make your next field job or impromptu jam recording nothing but net. The Duet's breakout cable provides two phantom powered, XLR inputs, two unbalanced instrument inputs, and two unbalanced monitor outs; a headphone jack, multi-function knob, LED meters, and Firewire port (for getting the audio to your computer) are located on the unit. Apogee is known for its rugged, low-noise, high-performance audio tools, and the Duet is likely no exception -- despite the fact that the need for an interface this small is certainly up for debate. Available in September for $495.

iTunes 7.4.1

So last night iTunes 7.4.1 came out which, among other things, blocked off the custom ringtone renaming method, which allowed users to add their own ringtones to their iPhone without buying them on iTunes. Well, as posters in our own comments have already discovered, it's back, and here's how to do it:

First, follow the steps of the original method

• Create your ringtone, save it as an AAC file.
• Rename the m4a extension to m4r.
• Double-click to play in iTunes.

Now, if you're upgraded to 7.4.1

• Go back and re-rename that m4r file back to m4a. That's it.
• Plug in your iPhone and that ringtone will be added to your syncable ringtones list -- and it won't pop up the error from before.
• Play your ringtones constantly for the next 10 hours until 7.4.2 comes out.

Polk Audio I-Sonic ES2 features iTunes song tagging

Already, new peripherals are popping up to take advantage of the new features in Apple’s updated iPod line-up, with Polk Audio’s I-Sonic Entertainment System 2 packing a poor man’s equivalent of the Starbucks song purchase feature over in-store WiFi. When songs are playing over the built-in HD Radio, users can press a tag button, which creates a custom playlist on docked iPods, allowing songs to be purchased later when at a computer. The ES2 also features XM Connect & Play capability, a CD/DVD drive for audio playback, an alarm clock mode, and 360-degree sound, whatever the hell that is. The ES2 hits next month for $499.