Tech Peek Base

Vienna, Austria-based tunesBag is opening up the public beta version of its social music service today, after allowing access by invitation only for the past year or so.

The launch has been a long time coming, considering the fact that the startup has already produced a fully functional web client, and Adobe-AIR powered desktop client and applications for iPhone, Facebook and Boxee since its founding in late 2008.

We’re always leery of “world’s first” claims, but we’ve definitely never seen an AV receiver with a ginormous port on the front. The unorthodox device you’re inevitably peering at above is one part of the two-piece YHT-S400, which looks to provide cinema-like sound in areas where space is hard to come by. The 31.5-inch long soundbar measures just 2-inches high and is designed to fit in front of most 32- to 50-inch HDTVs without blocking the screen, while the accompanying “first-of-its-kind subwoofer-integrated receiver” provides the power, the bass and the connectivity. A trio of HDMI inputs are included, and HD audio signals from Blu-ray Discs are accepted via linear PCM transmission. It’s up for grabs now at $599.95, and if you’re hoping to add iPod or Bluetooth support, Yamaha’s YDS-11 and YBA-10 adapters are fully compatible.

Gallery: Yamaha YHT-S400 sound system packs ultraslim soundbar, sub-infused receiver

After a dearth of car kits for iPhones and accompanying GPS navigation apps, manufacturers are starting to announce new kits on a regular basis.

The latest news comes from Magellan, who will soon be introducing a new vehicle mount for the iPhone 3GS, 3G, and the second generation iPod touch. As with the Navigon and TomTom car kits, the US$129.99 Magellan Premium Car Kit includes a built-in GPS receiver for better accuracy. Other features include:

The wait is finally over. Over a year after its memorable (and zany) debut at TechCrunch 50 2008, Tonchidot’s Sekai Camera iPhone application is now available worldwide. The augmented reality (AR) app has already established itself as a huge hit in Japan, and now Tonchidot is taking its shot at world domination. Or, at least, at getting everyone to start leaving each other geo-tagged virtual Post-It notes. You can grab Sekai Camera here, free of charge.

The premise behind the app is quite simple: as you go about your day, Sekai Camera invites you to leave text messages, photos, and audio recordings that will appear as floating bubbles wherever you created them. You can also fire up Sekai Camera to look at the world around you to see what kind of content has been left by other users. As you spin the camera around, you’ll see new messages pop up as floaty icons. Click one, and you’ll see the content that was shared previously. It’s a bit like Twitter in that everything is publicly available, but everything is built around location — if you aren’t near a message, you can’t see it.

As the way consumers read books evolves, there is an opportunity for mobile technologies to connect consumers with their favorite reads. Mobile Roadie, a startup that helps develops iPhone apps, is collaborating with one of the most foremost publishers, Random House, to launch iPhone apps for authors.

The Random House group will launch free individual iPhone applications, powered by Mobile Roadie, for three of its bestselling authors—Steve Berry, Sophie Kinsella, and Karen Marie Monin. With this new application, fans will be able to preview books, access bonus content, interact with other fans, check upcoming author appearances, listen to audiobook clips, watch author videos and book trailers, and more.

Want an easy way to use the Bluetooth in your iPhone/iPod touch to stream music to your traditional stereo? The new Belkin Bluetooth Music Receiver, announced this week, should do the job nicely. It’s a little dongle that connects to your stereo either through a 3.5mm headphone jack or, using RCA cables, to the AUX inputs in the back of your system. It will remember half a dozen Bluetooth devices and let you stream music up to 33 feet away at a cost of $49.99 US.

Honestly, I didn’t see the big deal, since I’ve been doing this for quite a long time using the now discontinued Griffin BlueTrip. The BlueTrip was made to stream Bluetooth audio from an iPod to a stereo using a dongle that plugs into the 30 pin connector adding BlueTooth to iPods that didn’t have it built in. But what if you have an iPhone rather than an iPod? We’ve got you covered there, too — read on.

Apple’s iTunes U has broken the 100 million download mark. iTunes U is a part of the iTunes Store featuring free lectures, language lessons, audiobooks, and more from over 175 higher education organizations including Princeton University, UCLA, Harvard University, MIT, NYU Medical School, Oxford, Cambridge, Georgetown, DePaul, Duke, and Yale University.

According to Apple, one of the most popular universities on iTunes U has been Open University (iTunes link), the UK-based educational organization dedicated to distance learning whose programs include Arts and Humanities, Business and Management, Childhood and Youth, Health and Social Care, Law, Psychology, and Science. OU says they have around 150,000 undergraduate and more than 30,000 postgraduate students.

Matt’s back with another Count The Beats interview (full of insightful thought-provoking content), waiting for you to devour and digest. Happy holidays!

We got together with Toyo from Amidio, the creators of the mighty Noise.io Pro [iTunes Link] synth app (and other cool music apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch), to get the inside scoop on their newest app, Touch DJ [iTunes Link], the rewards of playing eastern wind instruments, some down-to-earth points on developing for the iPhone / iPod touch platform, as well as Amidio’s thoughts on the future of mobile music creation.

Fans of great architecture love to take guided or self-guided tours to learn more about the buildings or homes designed by classic architects like Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Louis Sullivan. Guided tours are usually somewhat expensive and subject to the knowledge and whims of the tour guide, while self-guided tours can force architecture buffs to juggle books, maps, and MP3 players while searching for the details of a particular architect or style.

These frustrations were the impetus behind the creation of the FanGuide Tour & Audio Companion iPhone apps by Prairie Design Group. I recently had an opportunity to test the Chicago Loop Architecture Guide [US$2.99, iTunes Link], and wish that this app had been available a few years back when I was visiting the Windy City.

The following guest post was written by Edo Segal (@edosegal).

It was 1993 and I had just decided to drop out of college. I was a graphic design major in a great art school but decided I want to start my second company. Knowing this would mark the conclusion of my studies there I set out to create my final project. I would write a short story, design and produce it in print. I put out an edition of 300 and gave it to my friends and people who inspired me like author William Gibson.