Technabob » records

Put Your Records on Your Wall with the Vertical Vinyl Record Player

Hazel Chua — Tue, 31 May 2011 12:15:22 +0000

You can take one look at my room (and entire house) and surmise with a glance that I don’t really have much room to spare with all the junk I have lying around the place. Old books, clothes, magazines, bags, shoes– you name it, it’s probably hanging (or perched) somewhere in my messy abode. It’s not that I don’t make a conscious effort to keep my place clean, because I do. I even set aside my Saturday mornings just to clean up and make the place a bit more neat and guest-worthy, but somewhere in the middle of the week, things start to get messy again.

That said, there is obviously no way that I could still fit a vinyl record player on my desk to listen to some old-time classics to unwind after a long day. You could argue that I could just find an mp3 file of the tracks and listen to them on my iPod, but I tell you, it’s just not the same.

And it’s probably folks like me that the guys over at Ion Audio are thinking about when they came up with the Vertical Vinyl record player. It’s a huge space saver and lets you play your records while being stealthily perched on your wall. It’s priced a bit steeply though at £79.99 (~$131 USD), but if you’re interested, you can get one from Firebox.

[via Slippery Brick]

Take Gorgeous Shots with the Kaleidoscopic Pentax Rainbox K-r

Hazel Chua — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 21:00:49 +0000

I’ve been thinking about investing in a good DSLR for a long time now, but I never really committed or made good on it. First, because I don’t know squat about ISOs and post-processing. And second, because I get intimidated to pieces whenever I walk inside the camera shop and see rows and rows of huge, black SLRs just waiting to be lifted back home. Plus the photography aficionados hanging around the display don’t help, either.

(Of course, I know SLRs are huge and bulky and heavy in nature, but I retain rights to complain about it because I am a woman with muscle-less arms.)

But today, I laid my eyes on possibly the most gorgeous DSLR that might just push me to overcome the first factor that’s been holding me back from getting one: the Pentax Ribbon K-r.

Isn’t she just a beaut? Now I may not know much about cameras, but I know women, and women like me sometimes need a shove in the right direction, even though it’s just the appearances that’s drawing us in.

The Pentax Rainbow K-r [JP] is actually a limited-edition DSLR that encases Pentax’s K-r series of cameras in an all-new and colorful housing. The design was cooked up in conjunction with Tower Records, and the Rainbow is actually the second camera released as a result of their’ collaboration.

The bad news is that it’s only being released in Japan. The good news is that you can likely pre-order one from Japan-based importers like Rinkya.

They don’t come cheap and will retail at around $1,100 (USD), but this set does already come with a DA 35mm F2.4 AL lens. However, the ~~blah-looking~~ normal Pentax K-r is priced at $800 with the added lenses though, so technically you’re paying an extra three hundred bucks for the added color.

Call me crazy, but I actually think it’s worth it.

You can check out the specifications of the Pentax K-r right here.

[via CrunchGear]

DJ Releases Sweet CMYK Records

Shane McGlaun — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 21:55:20 +0000

When I was a kid, all the music I listened too came on vinyl. I had the Dukes of Hazzard album on vinyl, and the coolest thing about it was that the record had a picture of the Dukes printed on it. I loved that record. Vinyl has disappeared for the most part, but you can still get some music on vinyl and the coolest records I have seen since that Dukes album are these CMYK EPs by James Blake.

Apparently, Blake is a DJ that samples other tunes and makes dance/hip-hop music. The cool thing about these records isn’t the music, but the records themselves. You can get the EP vinyl in translucent cyan, magenta, and yellow colors.

When you get all three and overlap them, you get the CMYK color model and it’s really cool. I would totally hang these on my wall since I no longer have a record player and loathe dance music.

[Nerdcore via Laughing Squid]

Play Your Old Vinyl Albums on Your Pc

Technabob — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 21:18:43 +0000

The Ion iTTUSB Turntable from Ion Audio lets you digitize your vinyl LPs and listen to them on your PC.

The turntable includes Audacity software for Mac/PC for recording as well as a trial install of Bias Soundsoap 2 for cleaning and restoring vinyl. It also has stnadard RCA stereo output if you’re feeling retro and just want to listen to the analog sounds directly through your stereo. Priced at just $139.00 USD, it’s expected to ship later this month.

[via Fareastgizmos]