File this one under Kickstarter products we cant easily explain: a fabricated cybernetic lynx skull that doubles as a Bluetooth speaker. The Kranio X, as its called, is currently raising money on the crowdfunding platform for what seems like a very limited run of the product just $1,288 was the funding goal, and its already surpassed that with just 19 backers. <\/p>\n
So what, exactly, is going on here? Well, according to Hong Kong-based industrial designer Alan Wong, he created the speaker casing in the shape of a lynx skull because he wanted to contrast a feral, organic feature with the cold, synthetic mechanical parts. It is not a real animal skull, of course; its 3D modeled out of various components and then hand-painted. <\/p>\n
But its meant to evoke cyberpunk themes like the blurring lines between man and machine or, in this case, animal and machine. Technically speaking, the device is supposed to be a lynx with cybernetic implants (under the assumption that is a thing that will exist in the future) that has had its skull repurposed as an electronic device (in this case, a speaker). I could reasonably imagine something edgy and bizarre like that showing up in, say, Borderlands or perhaps Cyberpunk 2077, and that appears to be what Wong is going for. <\/p>\n
For what its worth, the Kranio X is intended to be a hi-fi plug-in speaker, costing $269 under the first of two pledge tiers, with the other costing $359 alongside a poster, an engraving, and a copy of the stereolithography file the device will be manufactured from. It comes with a 4-inch, 10-watt inside, weighs just over 4.4 pounds, and has dimensions of 240 x 160 x 153 cm. It has Bluetooth 5.0, and Wong also lists the signal, sensitivity, and distortion metrics for those interested in a more detailed breakdown on the campaign page. The campaign is live until April 16th, 2020. <\/p>\n
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The Kranio X is a Bluetooth speaker in the shape of a cybernetic lynx skull - The Verge<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" File this one under Kickstarter products we cant easily explain: a fabricated cybernetic lynx skull that doubles as a Bluetooth speaker. The Kranio X, as its called, is currently raising money on the crowdfunding platform for what seems like a very limited run of the product just $1,288 was the funding goal, and its already surpassed that with just 19 backers. Continue reading