beats

OK, this week we've got a hot one courtesy of the folks at Monster: the Monster Beats by Dr. Dre Beatbox iPod Dock.

This is one room-thumping iPod/iPhone stereo system. I should know because I reviewed the thing. I said that, "The Monster Beatbox has a simple mission that goes something like this: deliver big sound from a small box." And while I didn't think it delivered the most refined sonics in the world, I recommended that if you were looking for big, aggressive sound from a compact system, this was the one to get. (… Read more

CNET Audiophiliac Steve Guttenberg joins us for another Friday episode of The 404, and there's a lot to discuss, including a new trailer for the upcoming "Back to the Future" video game, Steve's encounters with John Lennon, Andy Warhol, and Warren Beatty in the 1970s, how to convert stereo into 3D sound, and more earbud advice for Wilson's freakishly small canals.

Steve tables his usual list of audio-related speaking points to tell us about his celebrity encounters while working at an East Village movie theater in the 1970s. He begins with a story about an awkward encounter with John Lennon and Yoko Ono just two years after the Beatles split, then tells us why he cussed out pop art star Andy Warhol, and finishes with a brutal rebuff from Warren Beatty! When's the book coming out, Steve?

We're going to record a special yuletide episode of The 404 entirely dedicated to the "Back to the Future" trilogy, but we can't wait any longer to show you the debut trailer for the upcoming "Back to the Future" video game!

It's a five-part game that picks up on the adventures of Marty and the Doc as voiced by Emmett Brown himself, Christopher Lloyd! The first part entitled It's About Time comes out this month, part two called Get Tannen! comes out in February 2011, and parts three and four--Citizen Brown and Double Visions, will drop in March and April, and the finale Outatime doesn't have a release date just yet. It's only available for download on PC/Mac, iPad, and PSN--sorry XBox fans!

I swear that today is the last you'll hear about Wilson's tiny ear canals, because I think we found a solution. I reviewed the Monster Jamz headphones for CNET last month and ran into similar fit issues, so the company sent me its SuperTips Sample Pack of gel and foam tips that comes with a variety of alternate shapes and sizes. With Steve Guttenberg's help, we'll finally solve this mystery!

Just after the break, Steve tells us about a professor at Princeton University who converts stereo into 3D sound! Edgar Choueiri is the director of the Engineering Physics Program and a rocket scientist, but he also happens to be an audiophiliac and set up a special 3D sound room using two closely spaced speakers and his revolutionary 3D Pure Stereo system. Check out the Audiophiliac blog for more details.

One last thing before we take off: Gknee is one of the valiant chatroom moderators for CNET TV and keeps the #CNETFans channel SFW (with the help of DAKlives).

She's celebrating a birthday on Monday, so happy birthday in advance Gknee, and a personal thanks from Jeff, Wilson, and me to all the CNETTV moderators who volunteer their work for the love of the game--we couldn't do it without you guys!

No one can deny that the original Beats by Dr. Dre was a revolutionary headphone design. It brought style and pizazz to the headphone market, and turned on a new generation of music lovers to the joys of great sound. The Beats Studio ($350) is still selling like gangbusters, but the Beats line has expanded to include something better, the Beats Pro ($450).

The Studio Beats have a lot of bass, but the Pros have more and distinctly tighter, more visceral bass. The two headphones sound very different; the Pros have a brighter, more forward balance, and the Studio Beats … Read more

Market-leading PC maker Hewlett-Packard has been making headlines this summer, but not necessarily for its hardware. That's about to change with this collection of new laptop hardware and related accessories, ranging from 10-inch Netbooks to massive 17-inch desktop replacements that play 3D content.

Mini 210 and Mini 5103 NetbooksThe Netbook scene hasn't seen a lot of upgraded hardware since the start of the 2010, but new Intel dual-core Atom N550 processors are a potential bright spot (we've already seen Netbooks such as the Asus Eee PC 1215N with the current D525 dual-core version). The Atom N550 will be available on the new HP Mini 210 as an upgrade option. Otherwise, the new HP Mini 210 remains similar to what we've seen previously.

Starting at $329, the 10-inch-screened Mini 210 comes in Atom N455, N475 or N550 versions, with optional HD-resolution screens, Broadcom Crystal HD Enhanced Video Accelerators, and GPS. New colors include charcoal, crimson red, lavender frost, luminous rose, and ocean drive. The new HP Mini 210s are immediately.

The higher-end HP Mini 5103 is the successor to the 5102, and shares its ProBook-like looks (both are technically part of HP's business laptop line, but still very popular with consumers). An Intel Atom N550 dual-core processor is the default, along with support for faster DDR3 RAM and 7,200 rpm hard drives.

A spill resistant, more durable keyboard, Espresso-color metal chassis, and optional Gobi broadband and GPS round out the features on this slightly more upscale 10.1-inch Netbook, which also starts a bit higher at $399. The Mini 5103 is available starting September 17.… Read more

Too bad This Week in Google was already taken.

Google announced plans Friday to produce a weekly video show called Google Beat, in which it will highlight the top search queries of the week as produced by Google Insights for Search and Google Trends. Gabriel Stricker, a Google representative, described the show as a weekly representative of the yearly Google Zeitgeist list that the company puts together toward the end of a calendar year, listing the most active search terms for that year.

It's a bit of a departure for Google: the format is basically a 90-second news/entertainment … Read more

It might be said that the best people to create audio products such as headphones are musicians. That was certainly Monster's feeling when the cable company teamed up with Dr. Dre to create a line of headphones vetted by the hip hop legend. The Beats line encompasses everything from full-size studio cans to a pair of glittery 'buds from Lady Gaga.

Now, Monster and Dr. Dre have brought Sean "Diddy" Combs into the fold, and he has introduced yet another model to the line, the Diddybeats High Performance In-Ear Headphones. The $150 earphones certainly reflect the rapper'… Read more

It may owe its fortunes to Facebook, but the word is that social-gaming giant Zynga is getting ready to launch its own site in a bid to wean itself from its dependency on the popular social network.

According to TechCrunch, Zynga CEO Mark Pincus hosted a company meeting Thursday afternoon in which he asserted that hit games like Farmville, Mafia Wars, Cafe World and others might soon appear on their own social games site called Zynga Live.

"'Pincus announced at a 5 p.m. meeting yesterday at Zynga that Zynga was going to launch a social game network called Zynga Live,'" TechCrunch wrote, quoting from an anonymous insider e-mail.

The theory here is that Zynga and Facebook are clashing over the percentage that the social gaming giant might have to pay to use Facebook Credits, the social network's nascent currency platform.

"'Facebook and Zynga [have] been negotiating on Facebook Credits and the talks turned for the worst,'" TechCrunch quoted the e-mail as saying. "'In the negotiation process, Facebook shut off Zynga's feeds and threatened to shut down games. Zynga, in the process, threatened to completely leave Facebook and prepared to do so in the previous upcoming weeks."… Read more

One of the few new premium laptop brands we've seen recently is HP's Envy line, launched late last year with the HP Envy 13 and HP Envy 15. We liked both for their snappy designs, high-powered components, and big touch pads--but at $1,500-$2,000, depending on configuration, they were ridiculously expensive.

The second generation of Envy laptops is here, and the two new models are the Envy 14 and Envy 17. The new machines have some subtle tweaks, but the most important one is the new starting prices. The 14-inch model starts at $999, and the 17-inch model starts at $1,399. Breaking the $1,000 barrier is a big deal, at least psychologically, and makes these seem like a good choice in the premium-but-affordable department.

The Envy 14 is 1.1 inches thick, weighs 5.25 pounds, and offers Intel Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 processors. The 14.5-inch 16:9 display runs at 1,600x900 pixels, and the system supports switchable graphics, pairing integrated Intel graphics with an ATI Mobility Radeon 5650. The Envy 14 also adds a backlit keyboard, one of the key upscale features missing from the more-expensive Envy 13. At $999, the magnesium/aluminum alloy Envy compares very favorably with the current $999 MacBook, which has a polycarbonate body and an older Core 2 Duo CPU.

The Envy 17 is about 1.5 inches thick and weighs 7.5 pounds--making it thin but heavy for a desktop replacement. In it, you've got a choice of Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors, along with ATI Mobility Radeon 5850 graphics. Two 17.3-inch 16:9 display options are available: basic 1,600x900-pixel resolution (but for a 17-inch laptop that costs more than $1,000, why bother?) and full HD 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution. Like the 14-inch model, it also includes a backlit keyboard, and both have Beats-Audio-branded audio subsystems.

The HP Envy 17 will be available starting May 19, and the HP Envy 14 will be available starting June 27. Check out some more shots of the Envy 14 and Envy 17 in the gallery after the jump. … Read more

The founder of eBay is launching a new online site where people can read and discuss local news. The catch? It'll cost you a monthly subscription, and it's only available in Hawaii for now.

Pierre Omidyar, who started eBay in 1995 and now lives in Honolulu, is hoping his fellow Hawaiian neighbors will pay $19.95 a month to read and comment on local and community news. Launching on Wednesday but officially opening for business May 4, Civil Beat is billing itself as a virtual civic square where reporters will write about issues relevant to Hawaii, converse with … Read more