Modern sound from retro Bluetooth speaker
With an attractive vintage look, Electrohome Birmingham’s retro Bluetooth speaker seeks to bring back the era of mop tops and mullets from the golden age of rock ’n’ roll.
While the look takes you back in time, the sound and features are up-to-date and forward marching. It produces room-filling sound to any playlist or can stream any music service with a Bluetooth connection from your smartphone, tablet or computer.
The exterior (9.5 by 13.4 by 7.1 inches) is handcrafted from engineered MDF wood with a carrying handle built into the top. Producing the sound inside are dual full-range 4-inch woofers with an integrated amplifier.
To add to the vintage look, controls for adjusting the music, power and volume are all knobs along the top of the front side of the speaker. There’s also a 3.5 mm aux input for a direct connection and USB charging port to connect your cable for device charging. www.electrohome. com; $149
Smart padlock: Rather than having to remember a combination or have a key to open it, the Tapplock Lite uses your fingerprint.
The smart fingerprint portable padlock opens in under a second after being programmed with your fingerprint. You can store up to 100 fingerprints for each lock, which are managed in the Tapplock app.
You can also use the Tapplock app to open the lock with Bluetooth or with a combination used via Morse code.
The Tapplock Lite is built with a metal chassis and an IP67 rating, making it perfect for the outdoors since it can withstand being fully submerged in water or even wet fingerprints.
Inside is a rechargeable battery, good for eight months or 1,200 unlocks. tapplock.com; $39 each, two-pack for $72 and a three-pack is $105.