The big difference is that the SP-XA6802 has only two speakers on the front and has a flexible strap making it look like a purse (with giant speakers) to me. The controls on the front are touch sensitive save that round volume knob you see there. The side has inputs for USB devices and RCA plugs for connecting input sources.

The thing ships with a cable that will let your iPhone or iPod play through the boombox. The cable should work with any dockable iOS device. It has a pair of 10W speakers and is gigantic. It measures in at 20″ (w) x 13.3″ (h) x 4″(d) and weighs a rather hefty 15lbs. It will retail for ¥44,800 (~$560 USD).

[PhileWeb (JP) via GenerationMP3 (FR)]

Modder D. Heiße (who was last sighted with a PC in a tree trunk) decided to make the Concretronic for a recent modding contest.

Yes, the case for the PC is made from a single, seamless layer of concrete, wrapped around a curvy metal structure made from welding rods and steel sheets, with embedded plexiglas windows so you can see inside. The substructure of the Concretronic was made from hand-cut aluminum sheets, powder-coated white.

He even managed to come up with cast-concrete power and hard-drive indicators on the front of the case. I also really love the custom HDD and SDD covers on the drives. What a nice design touch.

The whole thing is really a masterwork of casemodding, and if you’re at all interested in how it was built, head on over to The Best Case Scenario for the full build log.

The cement and glass construction of the In Visible City speakers is said to project a powerful, clean sound profile. The compact speakers feature angled corners, which afford them flexibility in placement. However, I prefer the Engrish feature description from their website:

“Stereo Cubic presents the change of light shade by cube modeling, and the cutting declined surface not only presents thickness of stereo, but also allows more various and free placing ways available, and the concrete will make melodious music more vigoroso and steady to create a more comfortable and tasty private space for you.” Yum. Concrete never tasted so good.

The company recently showed a number of other cool contemporary household items at the 2007 Tokyo Designers Week show.

[via designboom]

The Retro Brick Mobile Phone may look like one of those old behemoths, but actually is packed with the features you’d expect in modern mobile devices. The phone is of the unlocked GSM variety and supports GPRS data services. It’s got a 2.2-inch full color touch screen, and can play both audio and video files stored on a TF memory card. It’s even got a 2-megapixel camera and a voice recorder on board. In addition, the Brick has a full PDA with calendar, calculator and a contact manager.

In keeping with that retro feel, the phone weights in at a hefty 280g (appx. 10 ounces) so you should be able to get some arm exercise when you carry this sucker around.

I’m really looking forward to the day that people walk down the street lugging these around instead of talking into space on their Bluetooth headsets.