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Vulture Bytes: Egypt Updates, Shazam-ing TV Shows, and Muppet iPad Cases

This week: an app that offers Middle East turmoil on demand, a piece of plastic to make your life more cluttered, the Shazam of TV shows, a table that plays music, and Muppet-friendly iPad cases.

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Vulture Bytes, like everyone else who once lived in D.C. and knows how important it is to sound informed at drab parties, has been riveted by Al Jazeera’s coverage of the Egyptian revolution. But we haven’t been glued to the TV. Our cable company, like most, doesn’t carry Al Jazeera English. Instead we’ve been streaming it on our laptop. But there are days where we step away and still want to see the latest Arab leader to get toppled. For those moments, there’s the network’s app for iDevices. It offers a livestream at all hours, even when there isn’t a revolution afoot. Now all you need to do is figure out a way to stream it to your TV, and you’ll have rebelled against your own autocrat: the cable company. PRICE: Free
For those of you who like things neat, flat-screen TVs are a gift. They’re so thin that all that space that was going to be wasted between the TV and the wall is reclaimed. Plus, you can’t stack anything on top of the TV; it’s too narrow to support anything but a Wii remote bar. All that clutter is depressing for pack rats like us. Gone are the days when Vulture Bytes would pile our Sega Genesis and Must-See TV recordings (on VHS) on top of our set. There’s just no space for it anymore. Or, rather, there isn’t without a ScreenDeck, a piece of plastic that sits atop your TV. Mount the ScreenDeck to the back of your flat-screen and restore all of the space you lost when you upgraded to the modern era. Yes, it’s basically a shelf. But it’s a TV shelf. Like a TV dinner, but more useful. PRICE: $39.99
Because we’re jaded, craven technophiliacs, it’s hard to remember there was once a time when we were amazed by an app like Shazam. Those were the better, more naive days, when a friend could take out her (non-3G) iPhone and impress us with the name of that Mariah Carey song on repeat in the supermarket. Now there’s a new Shazam knockoff in town, and it brings us back to those days of awe. It’s called IntoNow, and it’s a Shazam for TV. Touch a button on the app, let it listen for a bit, and it’ll come back with the show, the episode, and the plot summary. It’s especially useful for remembering which CSI is which, or the B-plot in an old episode of MASH. PRICE: Free.
Acoustable’s name is as brilliant as its design. Tucked inside the table is a speaker, and the music filters out the slit between its base and its top. The look of it evokes an ear drum balancing on three legs, and the makers of Acoustable say that the conical shape helps distribute the sound around the living room. There’s a Wi-Fi unit included to help you stream your music into the table, and there’s a USB dock for an MP3 player, as well. But really, it’s a table shaped like an ear that plays music. That should be enough to make you interested. PRICE: The $4,500 price tag, meanwhile, may make you less interested. (It’s made in Belgium, so the actual retail price is 3,300 Euro.)
Vulture Bytes is on record that the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad are actually Steve Jobs’s attempt to install a permanent babysitter in homes throughout the world. But if for some reason your kid hasn’t fallen in love with your iDevice like expected, maybe it’s because it’s too steely and unfamiliar. Maybe it just doesn’t look enough like the Cookie Monster. These iPad, iPhone, and iPod cases are as adorable as you’d imagine. They come in Cookie Monster and Elmo designs, and are made out of silicone, which means your toddler can teethe on it without a problem. And the more cases purchased, the more funding trickles down to Sesame Street. During PBS’s next pledge drive, you won’t even have to look up from your iPad. PRICE: $24.99
Vulture Bytes: Egypt Updates, Shazam-ing TV Shows, and Muppet iPad Cases