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I just discovered this little golden nugget of visualization goodness recently. From a little outfit known as Barbarian Software comes a very cool add-on for iTunes (download for Windows or Mac) that mesmerizes you as you listen to your favorite songs.

Magnetosphere (download it for Windows or Mac) can simulate gravitylike effects that interact with cool, exploding, brightly colored orbs during one song, then switch to swirling green and red ribbons of color for the next.

I like that the visualizer switches its behavior with each new song, providing for a unique experience for each piece of music. A limited … Read more

Today, Microsoft announced the first public versions of its Silverlight application for creating and experiencing rich, interactive applications online. There are two different versions of the cross-browser plug-in: Silverlight 1.0 beta (download for Windows or Mac) and Silverlight 1.1 alpha (download for Windows or Mac).

The big difference between 1.0 beta and 1.1 alpha versions is that the 1.1 alpha allows developers to create Silverlight applications using .NET technologies such as C#. If you don't care much about that new advancement, you probably won't be too excited about some of the sample Silverlight … Read more

There's certainly no shortage of communications products that promise to muffle ambient noise, but a new earbud microphone from Japan is taking an interesting approach: It picks up speech from the ear, not from the mouth. We're not kidding.

That's the explanation given by Nikkei Net Interactive about the "InCore" microphone from start-up Nap Enterprise. The company claims that the technology allows mobile phone conversations "in even very noisy settings like concert halls and construction sites," according to Textually.org, reducing external noise by 30 decibels.

It's just another example of the … Read more

Unveiled at the Web 2.0 Expo on Monday: InPowr, a service to help you achieve your life goals.

Don't laugh. I already did that for you, live from the event. I Twittered: "InPowr intro: WTF? 'It's fun, it's light,' Sure, just answer the 36 QUESTIONS. Argh."

At the moment the site is feels like an online Cosmo quiz. The first thing you do is answer 36 question about your state of mind. Then you get a little diagram showing you where you are, and are not, feeling content. After that, you get a grid … Read more

Today, HP unveiled five new printers: three Deskjets and one Photosmart.

- The HP Photosmart C4280 is a three-function unit (print, scan, copy) that prints black at 30ppm and color at 23ppm. It offers a 1.5-inch color LCD, memory card slots, borderless 4x6 photo prints, and optional six-color printing. The $100 printer will be available in May.

- The Deskjet D2460 is a $50 single-function inkjet printer that's available now. It offers 20ppm black and 14ppm color printing and optional six-color photo printing.

- The Deskjet D4260 is also a single function printer, and it replaces HP's … Read more

As much as we love bleeding-edge media technologies, Crave occasionally still pines for certain forms of entertainment from yesteryear. And few things make us more nostalgic than the drive-in movie.

Now you can do your part to revive this nearly extinct phenomenon in the privacy of your own backyard with a 24-foot inflatable screen for sale on eBay. This monster system from VXP, which includes a projector, speakers, DVD player and other various equipment, has a "Buy It Now" price of $14,995 on the auction, which ends Saturday. (Don't worry, the listing indicates that two are … Read more

You can't walk two steps around here without tripping over some company's latest Apple iPod-docking mini stereo. The majority of these gadgets are just landfill fodder, but the new Altec Lansing InMotion iM600 looks like it might stand out from the herd. First, it folds flat--down to 1.7 inches. With a built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery rated at 7 hours, that flatness might come in handy if you want to take it on a romantic iPod picnic or even to a room in your house with an inconveniently located outlet. There's a built-in FM tuner with … Read more

As the convergence trend steams ahead, we've seen everything from air-purifying lamps to camera-speaker combos. (We didn't say it was a good trend.)

So logic would dictate that this would be inevitable: the keyboard PC. Cybernet's ZPC-945SL is an all-in-one QWERTY keyboard that includes an Intel Pentium 4 processor, up to 2GB of memory, a hard drive, built-in speakers, a mini-PCI slot and six USB ports, according to Tech Digest. But even though it sits only 1.5 inches high, we're not sure if it would be approved by the ergonomics police.

Last week, Bose indicated that it was revisiting the "stability issue" of its recently released in-ear headphones. At a media event today at its New York City Columbus Circle store, the company filled in the blanks on the somewhat vague invitation it issued last week--and the result is good news for any existing or prospective owner of the headphones.

Bose will be releasing an updated version of the in-ear headphones starting next week (March 15). Physically, the "new" headphones are identical to the existing models, except for the addition of a zebra-like black-and-white color scheme on … Read more