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back to article Beats loudspeaker silenced by Apple after $3bn buyout, report claims

Apple killed work on a Beats Electronics wireless loudspeaker after it bought rapper Dr Dre's company for $3bn last year, it has been claimed. According to Variety magazine, which cited project insiders, a new Wi-Fi product that would have competed with Sonos was set to be unveiled by Beats sometime before Christmas last year …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    IT Angle

    I hope the woman in the photo gets happy soon

    Is she the author of this story, who'd set her heart on getting a Beats loudspeaker and had to forge a career in tech journalism to set herself back onto the path of light and happiness, or is she just a random outcome of The Register's curious urge to use crap stock photos at every bloody opportunity?

    17 0 Reply

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. x 7
      Reply Icon

      Re: I hope the woman in the photo gets happy soon

      give me her phone number and I'll make her happy, I know just the kind of input she needs.

      amazing the energy you can develop if you attach the sub-woofer to a vibrator

      2 18 Reply
      1. Camilla Smythe
        Reply Icon

        Re: I hope the woman in the photo gets happy soon

        I may qualify for similar but...

        "amazing the energy you can develop if you attach the sub-woofer to a vibrator"

        Given recent,

        http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/06/10/tim_hunt_sorry_over_science_women_remark/

        perhaps we can have the 'have a biscuit icon' in honour of Sir Hunt.

        Unfortunately I can only offer a mouldy old Happy Shopper Custard Cream left over from five years after it passed it's 'best before date' without the filling and 3/4 of the biscuit part is missing.

        Anyway. Congratulations... Have a biscuit.

        However, other than appearing to be good at this journalism stuff no doubt Ms Fiveash also looks hot in Scientific Fetishwear and is therefore capable of multi-tasking which makes you look like some sort of idiot who would not know how to un-install your subwoofer from your Vauxhall Chevette, Glue a vibrator on it and then put things back together in order to come up with an IOT CyberSex machine.

        No doubt it would not work but in not working it would go Dr Dre, overheat and burst into flames.

        7 4 Reply
        1. x 7
          Reply Icon

          Re: I hope the woman in the photo gets happy soon

          thanks - but personally I prefer cheesy biscuits

          As to the ID of the young lady, it appears to be a random street photo taken in New York which has been ripped off from this Flickr site

          https://www.flickr.com/photos/proimos/5931054200/in/photostream/

          Wikimedia tried to attribute it as open source, but it clearly isn't. El Reg seems to like using it a lot though

          4 1 Reply
          1. Camilla Smythe
            Reply Icon

            Re: I hope the woman in the photo gets happy soon

            "thanks - but personally I prefer cheesy biscuits"

            I have no interest in your propensity to pull single wings from flies and where you put them afterwards or the close association of their final location to your source of cheese for your biscuits.

            If you have a problem with attribution and copyright of images then say so in the first place and take it up with the appropriate authorities rather than suggesting you might be Dreg's Gift to machine delivered sexual gratification.

            No doubt you have already graduated from concept to implementation and are sitting on your chair with a dildo glued up your arse because it fell off your sub-woofer mid testing.

            Do I dial 911 or do I dial 999 or do I just leave you to enjoy it?

            2 8 Reply
            1. x 7
              Reply Icon

              Re: I hope the woman in the photo gets happy soon

              no -try dialing 666, you'll find it more fun. Take that plastic brick out of your handbag first though. It is a brick isn't it?

              0 4 Reply
              1. Camilla Smythe
                Reply Icon

                Re: I hope the woman in the photo gets happy soon

                Eh? Please do excuse my naivety..

                "no its not because it appears NOT to be of Kelly, and was certainly NOT written with any thought or intent toward her. If the photo is of her then I apologise totally, but - as I pointed out in my last post - the origins of the photo appear to be elsewhere"

                So now you are suggesting you respect Kelly but the 'sad looking bint' in the photo might need your subwoofer powered dildo to cheer her up?

                "no -try dialing 666, you'll find it more fun. Take that plastic brick out of your handbag first though. It is a brick isn't it?"

                No, it's a USB rechargeable Rabbit. Proven technology. Not very good for destroying 'glass houses'.

                Presumably your sub-woofer with its Dildo attachment is more ineffective.

                0 3 Reply
                1. Vladimir Plouzhnikov
                  Reply Icon

                  Re: I hope the woman in the photo gets happy soon

                  Oh, c'mon, stop flirting, you two!

                  This is a serious forum - not a dating site! :D

                  17 0 Reply
                  1. frank ly
                    Reply Icon

                    @ Vladimir Plouzhnikov Re: I hope the woman in the photo gets happy soon

                    Damn! I've been wasting my time all these years :(

                    2 0 Reply
                2. x 7
                  Reply Icon

                  Re: I hope the woman in the photo gets happy soon

                  "respect" doesn't come into it - I'm just not interested in pissing off the editorial staff on the site. I don't know Ms Fiveash, when I made the comment I wasn't thinking about her (or even aware of her), there is nothing to connect the photo to her except in your imagination.

                  FWIW "Respect" is one of those silly words that has ceased to have any valid meaning due to persistent misuse by lefty loonies, racial minorities, LGBT groups and loud-mouthed athletes who seem to think "respect" is deserved, not earned.

                  As to the girl in the photo - well if the other option was a fistfull of happy pills then yes she probably would be better off with my engineering skills.

                  As for your USB rabbit, get a diamond tip for it. You'll find it helps the brain to work by trepanning extra-thick skull

                  4 10 Reply

      2. This post has been deleted by its author

        1. x 7
          Reply Icon

          Re: I hope the woman in the photo gets happy soon

          no its not because it appears NOT to be of Kelly, and was certainly NOT written with any thought or intent toward her. If the photo is of her then I apologise totally, but - as I pointed out in my last post - the origins of the photo appear to be elsewhere

          0 5 Reply
    3. Dan Paul
      Reply Icon

      Re: I hope the woman in the photo gets happy soon

      The latter statement is correct.

      0 0 Reply
  2. David Dawson

    Streaming tech

    I just can't believe Apple would spend $3bn to get their hands on streaming technology. The technology behind media streaming hasn't been innovative for at least 10 years. There's nothing really that they could add that would make a difference beyond what apple already has or is industry standard.

    It has to have been more than this, with the most likely thing being the brand and to a lesser extent the hardware.

    6 0 Reply
    1. petur
      Reply Icon

      Re: Streaming tech

      yup, looks like $3bn spent well... keep 'm coming

      1 0 Reply
      1. J__M__M
        Reply Icon

        Re: Streaming tech

        Imagine that you wasted $3 today... and there you go.

        0 0 Reply
    2. x 7
      Reply Icon

      Re: Streaming tech

      Fashion

      just wait

      12 months time will see The Beats co-ordinated fashion collection of hats gloves shoes eyeshades underwear and earphones all with Apple designer chic and all intended to give perfect haptic visual 3D+audio immersive media playback. The clothing becomes your own personal mobile wearable simulator

      2 1 Reply
      1. Medixstiff
        Reply Icon

        Re: Streaming tech

        "12 months time will see The Beats co-ordinated fashion collection of hats gloves shoes eyeshades underwear and earphones all with Apple designer chic and all intended to give perfect haptic visual 3D+audio immersive media playback. The clothing becomes your own personal mobile wearable simulator"

        I'm sitll waiting for the iBoob

        0 0 Reply
        1. Camilla Smythe
          Reply Icon

          Re: Streaming tech

          "I'm sitll waiting for the iBoob"

          Unfortunately someone else already has a patent on the nipple

          Hope you were not thinking of using one because Lawyers Fees are more expensive than the TV License.

          Bugger... knock yourself out.

          0 0 Reply
    3. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Paris Hilton

      Re: Streaming tech

      How about the hollowhallowed "Intellectual Property" so prized across the pond?

      0 0 Reply
    4. Ru'
      Reply Icon

      Re: Streaming tech

      3 beellion is small change to access the wealth of research undertaken by the esteemed Dr Dre during (and after) his phd studies...

      1 0 Reply
    5. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Streaming tech

      Qualcomm allplay is very innovative thanks... It's easilly a sonos killer.

      0 0 Reply
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    3 BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLION

    Shirley?

    0 0 Reply
  4. Dave 126 Silver badge

    Apple are already a Sonos competitor

    Apple have a presence in multi-room audio - their Airport Express units have a 3.5mm analogue audio output.

    It's not a system I have used, so can't comment on the implementation. My sister's fella (BlackBerry, Range Rover, shotguns etc) used a multi-room Bose jukebox thing, and now uses a Sonos system controlled by his iPad. It seems to suit him.

    0 0 Reply
  5. DerekCurrie
    WTF?

    There's no such thing as an adequate Bluetooth speaker

    I expect Apple is working on a simple, reliable wireless speaker that does NOT use lousy old Bluetooth. There is no such thing as an adequate Bluetooth speaker, specifically because the bandwidth is inadequate to provide the full spectrum of human audible sound AND the working distance from speaker to source is idiotically small. Would that Bluetooth had been better designed from the start. Meanwhile, we're on rev 4 and its still primitive.

    WiFi speakers! There we go.

    2 0 Reply
    1. Nifty Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: There's no such thing as an adequate Bluetooth speaker

      Apple could try inventing a HiFi Bluetooth standard and call it something like APTX then.

      Oh wait it already exists, it's been around for 20 years.

      it's just that Apple refuses to implement this HiFi Bluetooth standard on it's devices.

      Not even on the iPhone 6.

      e.g.

      https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6532980?tstart=0

      0 0 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: There's no such thing as an adequate Bluetooth speaker

        All Bluetooth implementations miss out on multiroom sync.

        I point you to Qualcomm Allplay. 100 microseconds latency across 10 zones.

        Sonos is over 70x higher than this, Bluetooth not capable, and apple airplay no sync...

        0 0 Reply
    2. bailey86
      Reply Icon

      Re: There's no such thing as an adequate Bluetooth speaker

      Normal Bleutooth audio may be lacking - but Aptx is great. I have a...

      http://www.richersounds.com/product/wireless-streaming-accessories/qed/uplay-plus/qed-uplay-plus

      ...so I can feed 320kbit music from my S4 into my stereo (stereo grandad!) and it works great - audio quality plenty good enough for me.

      Some Cambridge Audio bluethooth speakers do Aptx as well - and again sound pretty good when you take into account the limitation of a standalone speaker. Some are even contain a rechargeable battery which is great for beach, BBQ's etc.

      0 0 Reply
  6. Wcool

    Gee how difficult is it for Apple to make a compelling platform for streaming music in the home?

    Surely it must be easy to beat Sonos who are good but expensive, just make a cheaper version?

    Oh wait, Apple and cheaper...

    2 1 Reply
  7. Philip Lewis

    These might be cool though

    https://www.teenageengineering.com/products/od-11

    0 0 Reply
  8. JeffyPoooh
    Pint

    Oooh! A speaker...

    And in other news, Apple has also terminated another Beats project for a headphone extension cord.

    Geesh, what's the R&D budget for a wireless speaker? Does it even reach beyond six figures?

    1 0 Reply
  9. Mystic Megabyte
    Gimp

    Bonk that!

    "Beats had also been developing a speaker that would combine Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and NFC tech."

    Pay by ghetto blaster?

    Pic for da yoof

    http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2005/12/16/ghetto_blaster_051216035418598_wideweb__300x375.jpg

    0 0 Reply
  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Extend Embrace Extinguish

    oops nope its Apple - the company committed to providing you, the consumer, with seamless access to media in all its various forms.

    0 0 Reply

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