New Cool Technology

This is a new item from Logitech. It’s the S715i and it is a rechargeable iPod speaker dock which will keep the tunes gong for about eight hours on a single charge. It will cost around $150

• Eight custom-designed drivers separate sound frequencies, so you hear crisp, clear high notes, a rich, full mid-range and deep powerful bass.
• Rechargeable battery lets you enjoy your tunes at home or on the go for up to eight hours.
• Wireless remote control gives you access to important functions like power, volume, play, pause, shuffle, skip and repeat from up to 30 feet (10 meters) away.
• Trayless dock works with any iPhone or iPod with a Universal Dock Connector.
• Made for iPod and iPhone means you can play and charge your iPhone and any iPod model with a Universal Dock Connector.
• Auxiliary input lets you connect other portable music players through a standard 3.5 mm jack.

Well this was unexpected: Apple has quietly enabled its devices to stream music to iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches from online storage through iDisk. It’s the very next-best thing to putting iTunes in the cloud. UPDATED:

The new feature was unearthed by Michael Robertson, who also provided the screen shots above showing clearly that iDisk allows both background music streaming and public file sharing among multiple devices at simultaneously. Matt declared iDisk “halfway there” in his lightning review—this seems like as good a second half as any.

You’ve apparently been able to do this with iDisk for a while, but this is the first time you get backgrounding support and controls.

It’s not totally effortless and there are a few limitiations: you need to drag your music files one by one [or whole folders] to iDisk, there’s no playlist support, and you’re limited to 20GB of storage. That’s still a whole lot of songs, but some users may not be able to fit their entire music library. The app itself is free, but you’ll need a MobileMe subscription ($100/year) to use it. There’s also the tricky question of legality—music companies aren’t generally in favor of streaming music without a license, something that may be holding up iTunes Live.

But that’s Apple’s problem, not yours. The only thing you need to worry about for now is which tracks are hitting your iDisk first, and where you want to play them from.

UPDATE: Sam’s been testing this out, and it works like a charm over Wi-Fi and 3G alike, with “decent” audio quality. [Michael Robertson]

Send an email to Brian Barrett, the author of this post, at bbarrett@gizmodo.com.

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Rejoice, Facebook users with Android smartphones, because there’s a new Facebook app looks good at last. It also comes with a handful of useful new features:

• There’s a notifications bar.
• There’s a new photos drawer on the home page, for easy access to photos and videos from your news feed.
• Events support.
• Now you can update your status with one click.
• Video playback inside the app.

The application is free. [Lifehacker and Gigaom]

Send an email to Jesus Diaz, the author of this post, at jesus@gizmodo.com.

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The LifeStudio™ Desk Plus external drive automatically finds and organizes photos, movies, music, and files into a stunning 3D wall* so you can easily view all your content from your computer and popular sites like Facebook™. The included auto-sync USB key delivers ultimate flexibility for your content on-the-go.

With plenty of capacity for automatic local backup and with the included online backup capabilities, it’s easy to protect your entire digital library. And you can access your files from any computer or smartphone using an internet browser, or share with others by sending a web link. iPad and iPhone aps are also available for an additional cost.

• Automatic Organization and Easy Sharing: First drive in the industry that automatically pulls together and organizes your photos, videos, music and documents from your computer, any connected USB device or your social media outlets; making them easier to access, view and share. Easily upload, view and interact with photos on Facebook™, Flickr™ and Picasa Web Albums™ without leaving the app.
• Stunning 3D Navigation: The only external drive that effortlessly displays all your favorite memories on a 3D wall so you no longer need to dig through folders and files to find them.
• Backup Redefined: Hitachi LifeStudio drives take data protection to the next level, offering both local and online cloud backup in one integrated solution, within one interface – no more downloading and installing two separate programs. All online content is stored in its natural format, so files are available from any Internet browser anywhere in the world, and even from an iPhone® and iPad®.
• Access to Favorite Premium Content: For the first time within an external drive, users can search, filter, watch or subscribe to millions of titles from online content providers. Catch the latest news, TV shows and music videos, or even play online games all from within the LifeStudio app.
• Grab n’ Go Flexibility: Pushing design boundaries beyond a hard drive in a box, LifeStudio Plus external drives are the first in the industry that feature an integrated USB key for ultimate flexibility. The USB key easily syncs content for grab n’ go convenience.

Inside the box:

• 3.5” external hard drive
• 4GB MicroSD USB Key
• USB 2.0 cable
• AC power adapter
• Preloaded Hitachi Backup™ software
• Preloaded LifeStudio™ software
• QuickStart guide

This is the new iHome iB969. If you require a device to replace all your device charging cables then take a look at this new device. This may look like a serious multifunction gadget but it is only a charger. It will charge almost all of your gadgets which have a USB connector. It comes with built in stands for iPad and it has an integrated cable management system.

Charging Station for iPad, iPod, iPhone, BlackBerry and eReaders

• Charges iPad. Built-in stand included.
• Dual universal docks: One to charge and sync to iTunes
• Second dock for quick charge of iPhone/iPod
• Charges (via USB port) iPad, Blackberry, and most eBook readers, including Sony Reader, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, etc.
• Expandable, rubberized rest area accommodates Blackberry, and most eBook readers
• Integrated cable management

INCLUDES:
Dock inserts for iPhone
36″ sync cable to sync with iTunes
12″ USB to mini USB cable for charging devices
12″ USB to AC adapter plug for charging Sony Reader
Two mini USB to micro USB adapters
Universal Voltage AC adaptor with folding pins
100 – 240V, 50/60Hz