embrace+

Smart bracelet glows with smartphone notifications

Your phone isn't always handy. It's tucked away in a purse, on a table in another room, or lost in the depths of your messenger bag slung across your back as you're biking. When it goes off, you can rush to find it, or you could get an Embrace+ smart bracelet and get an alert right on your wrist.

The notifications can be customized for incoming calls, app alerts, and messages. For example, your boyfriend could flash green and your mother could flash red. A calendar alert could flash yellow. You wouldn't even need to hear your phone to know who's calling. You can also set it for low-battery alerts, alarms, and social-media notifications.… Read more

BlueAnt's Embrace headphone will coddle your ears

The BlueAnt Embrace on-ear headphones ($200) look luxurious and, if you don't mind, adult. I sometimes think a lot of today's headphones are designed to look cool to 15-year-olds, with boosted bass and highs designed to dazzle young ears. The Embrace's demeanor is more, shall we say, reserved?

Maybe it's the all-black color scheme and lack of flash that first appealed to me, but then I fell in love with the thickly padded headband and pillowlike ear cushions. My ears and head appreciate being coddled like this. The sound mimics the Embrace's look and feel: … Read more

BlueAnt Embrace headphones review: Excellent, natural sound

BlueAnt branches out from its Bluetooth wireless roots with a wired stereo "headset" it calls Embrace. The stylish over-ear headphones include an integrated mic and controls for iOS devices that allow you to make hands-free calls and play, pause, and track-forward audio selections. Although their $200 retail price tag sways toward the higher end of the consumer market, we recommend these over-ear headphones for their robust, well-defined sound and padded comfort.

As far as their design, the Embrace headphones seem to have drawn inspiration from Bowers and Wilkins' P5 headphones. They have rectangular earcups that are aptly padded … Read more

BlueAnt set to ship Embrace stereo headphones

Back at CES in January we reported that BlueAnt was branching out from its wireless Bluetooth roots and going, well, wired.

Now the company is officially getting set to ship the new premium stereo "headset," which has been given a name--Embrace--and a price: $199.99. The stylishly designed over-ear headphones include an integrated mic and controls for the iPhone that allow you to make hands-free calls and play, pause, and track-forward audio selections.

The new BlueAnt Embrace, which seems to have drawn some design inspiration from B&W's P5 headphones, folds flat and comes with an … Read more

The 404 621: Where turn right we must (podcast)

The recent popularity of GPS functionality built into smartphones and stock vehicles might eventually phase out third party portable navigation devices entirely, but folks who currently own Tom Tom systems can now hear their driving directions read by classic Star Wars characters like Yoda and Darth Vader. Tom Tom will release one Star Wars character a month, available as a $13 download- check out this hilarious promo for the Yoda version.

July 13 is the official Embrace Your Inner Geek Day so we're celebrating this annual holiday by doing...the same thing...we normally...do. And just for kicks, … Read more

Stirr wrap-up, part 2: Assorted Web 2.0 appetizers

As I suspected, there were interesting Web 2.0 finds in the audience at the Stirr event. Many of these online products are still being built, but they're interesting to experiment with:

Allth.at: Lets you set up custom, persistent searches. In other words, you can tell it which sites to search (Google, eBay, Technorati, etc.), and which sites to exclude. You can also have the system alert you when there are new results in your searches. Somewhat redundant for those of us who use RSS agents (like Google's) to track keywords on the Web, but has the … Read more