b&o

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Check out our interview with B.O.B. and Big Boi for their new game, "Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel."

- Mico headphones let your brainwaves choose the music.

- Google Images adds filters for animated GIFs.

- Detroit doctors link garbled texting as first sign of a stroke.… Read more

We don't usually talk about beds here on Crave, but we know our readers just had to see the techy Anemone multimedia box spring bed by Lavital. Developed by Dutch interior designer Robert Kolenik, the 35,000 euro ($43,901) sleeper costs as much as a mid-grade Audi car. A perfect gift for the one-percenter in your life!

In all seriousness, the overall frame does sport a few nifty features that you can adjust through an iPhone or iPod Touch app. Yes, you read the correctly -- the bed comes with an app, which for that price it most certainly should. … Read more

A running analogy proved hard for Bang & Olufsen Chief Executive Tue Mantoni to resist.

Mantoni, an ultra-marathoner, described the launch of a new sub-brand of slightly more affordable goods from the struggling luxury consumer electronics firm as the first steps in a long race.

"We've run the first couple of miles in a marathon," said Mantoni, who once ran for 30 hours straight in the 102.5-mile Mont Blanc Ultra Trail Run in France. "In some parts of Europe, there is still a very big hill ahead of us. There's hail, and a very … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Luxury consumer electronics maker Bang & Olufsen is launching a new brand to make gadgets for the rest of us.

The Danish maker of speakers, televisions, and home entertainment systems has created B&O Play, a sub-brand to create "cash and carry" gadgets that consumers can pick up at retailers and set up on their own at home. The first product, launched during the Consumer Electronics Show here and available January 23, is the $799 Beolit 12, a wireless, portable speaker for iPhones, iPads, and other Apple devices.

The company created the new brand, in part, … Read more

At the recent Dumbo Art Under The Bridge Festival in Brooklyn, N.Y., I heard two rather amazing sound installations.

OrganicInterfaces is a collective of artists, scientists, engineers, and musicians and their installation, Mocean was a truly enveloping sound experience. Their Web Site describes it this way, Mocean is a site-specific sculptural sound environment. It consists of a large water tank and a forest of antique organ pipes...digital technology translates the (water's) ripple patterns into sounds played by the repurposed organ pipes, establishing a relationship between water and sound. For the DUMBO Art Festival, we used a 12-foot diameter swimming pool and some new technologies, expanding the range of possible interactions and sculptural interventions..."

At the DUMBO show, Mocean was located in a small warehouse garage, open to the street. Flat stones were placed in the pool to serve as a path for people to walk over. The organ pipes hanging from the ceiling were tuned to different pitches and their sounds were complex and surprisingly musical. I listened for quite a while and found the sound absolutely mesmerizing.

Actually, the best part was watching how different people reacted to the sound as they walked over the stones. Some realized their movements changed the sound, and they "played" the organ pipes by swaying their arms and moving about. Little children were the best; they were totally uninhibited about making weird sounds.

Then there was Ted Southern's sidewalk sound show. … Read more

Leave it to Bang & Olufsen to break the mold once again, this time with a TV under-screen speaker. While other manufacturers toil away with boring rectangles and cylindrical designs, the B&O wizards have gone a completely different geometric route: a triangle.

The "BeoLab 10" is a center speaker designed to work with the "BeoVision 4" HDTV. Mounted beneath the plasma, according to Audio Junkies, it uses its "Acoustic Lens Technology" to disperse sound 180 degrees with twin amplifiers.

And never leaving anything to chance, B&O is also planning to … Read more

Bang & Olufsen has always been driven by avant-garde designs, but its latest concept for a remote control may be crossing the line from innovation to science fiction. Apparently not satisfied with its previous efforts, no matter how bizarre they may be already, B&O is contemplating a model that requires no physical contact to operate. We're not kidding.

The aptly named "TouchLess" was inspired by germaphobic trends that are increasingly influencing product development, leading the company's design mavens to work on a device that would never be sullied by your bacteria-infested mitts. "Designed … Read more

As promised by the annoying countdown clock on its teaser site for weeks, Bang & Olufsen and Samsung jointly unveiled their "Serenata" mobile phone today. And though it's been described as a successor to the much-discussed "Serene," you wouldn't know it by its design and features.

The Serenata is much more focused on music with built-in "hi-fi speakers," a docking station and 4GB of storage, far more than most other phones on the market. Particularly useful is a specific button that toggles back and forth from phone to music, which is then … Read more

Before iPhone fever erupted in full force, one of the more talked-about handsets was Bang & Olufsen's "Serene"--albeit in mixed reviews, to say the least. The bloom may be off that rose, but its successor may inspire renewed buzz in just a few weeks.

The "Serenata," the product of a collaboration between B&O and Samsung, has begun a countdown on a mysterious Web site, which says it's 17 days away as of this writing. SlashPhone says the handset is believed to be the SGH-F310 leaked last month and pictured here. Among … Read more