Burger King uses ‘musical shower’ as latest trick to entice Japanese clientele

A new Burger King eatery opening up in Japan isn’t usually something we concern ourselves too much with, but this one comes with an interesting new twist. Those umbrella-aping translucent cones hanging over the tables are known as “musical showers,” and their function is to deliver music in an isolated fashion to you and your significant — but not too significant, it’s still BK, after all — other.

Cowon’s all-metal J3 PMP gets official

We’d already gotten a early look at Cowon’s new all-metal J3 PMP earlier this month courtesy of the red dot design awards , but the company has just now gotten fully official with it, and detailed its complete specs.

Coby introduces streamlined, puzzling MP570 MP3 player

Coby may not always produce the sleekest of devices, but the company has certainly come through on that count with its new MP570 MP3 player, which is bound to turn a few heads. Questionably functional design aside, however, this one is about as basic as can be, with it packing just 2GB of flash storage and no memory card slot, support for only MP3 and WMA formats, and a built-in rechargeable battery that promises just five hours of audio playback — but, hey, it sure is shiny. No word on pricing or availability just yet, nor is there any indication of how you’re actually supposed to use it.

Ask Engadget: Best no-frills portable media player?

We know you’ve got questions, and if you’re brave enough to ask the world for answers, here’s the outlet to do so. This week’s Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Cam, who don’t need no stinkin’ app store for his next digital audio player. If you’re looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com .

Origami-like Play MP3 Player concept makes tunes, not cranes

We’re going to go ahead and admit up front that this is not the most practical concept we’ve seen come out of Yanko Design before, but it is quite intriguing — even if its name is not. Called the Play MP3 Player it’s inspired by origami and to control it you fold it to create the shape of what you want to do

Samsung TicToc PMP player lets you shake right past that Ke$ha song

Back at CES Samsung apparently unveiled this little guy — the TicToc PMP , which seems to be aiming firmly at the iPod shuffle demographic — whatever demographic that is. This little bad boy’s got just one physical button (for power and volume control) while other functions of the player — playback, skipping past songs and the like — are all controlled by shaking

Cowon V5 HD gets extensive UI video demo

There’s little point in trying to disguise our interest any time a 4.8-inch multifunctional device is mentioned, so let’s get straight to the good stuff here. Cowon’s V5 HD already got a little teaser video and a full spec dish ahead of its Korean launch, but for the vast majority of us non-Korean folk, this PMP remains a distant and unfortunately mysterious object of desire

Samsung IceTouch hands-on (video)

Samsung’s IceTouch PMP sets itself apart from the rest with its two-inch transparent AMOLED screen, and boy, is it a looker. While the rest of the device is slightly reminiscent of a baby toy, the screen itself is killer and the image couldn’t be more clear or crisp. Unfortunately, the engineering sample we got to mess around with was not loaded up with any video so we couldn’t see that in action, but if the smoothness of the interface is any indication, playback shouldn’t be a problem — save for the fairly tiny screen

DoDoNA’s S-100 mp3 player doesn’t need no stinkin’ ergonomics

Clearly, skinny jeans aren’t yet as popular in Korea as they are in Western lands.

iriver’s minimalist styled and flamboyant batteried E30 player now available

Just a few days after iriver’s E30 was spotted doing a domino impression in China we’re happy to say the thing is now making an appearance in American stores — or at Amazon, at least.

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