Among the cool stuff we get to try out at Techgoondu, I’ll admit this isn’t the geekiest thing you’ll find on this site.
But this nifty gadget could be interesting to folks who spend hours on the couch with their laptops on their, er, laps. The Philips CushionSpeaker, as its name suggests, is a cushion for your laptop that happens to have a speaker built in to play your songs while you surf the Web, for example.
So, it takes away the heat from your lap and plays music off your PC at the same time.
The idea of laptop cushions is not new – you can buy one at Ikea for just S$29. The more expensive CushionSpeaker (S$122) has a shiny surface that also sticks to the rubber feet on most laptop bottoms, and its large size will support most 14-inch, 15-inch and even bigger laptops.
A little groove at the front also prevents the laptop from sliding onto your body if you lean backwards in the sofa and tilt the laptop towards you – a hazardous activity I engage in everyday when I use a magazine instead of this CushionSpeaker to prevent my lap (and other crucial areas) from being warmed up.
The audio here isn’t terribly exciting, of course. But the Neodynium speaker does sound less like tin than on regular lousy laptop speakers.
All you have to do is plug the CushionSpeaker’s retractable USB cable into a laptop. Since no software is required, it’s truly plug and play for the real tech goondus out there.
My main complaint is the price. S$122 isn’t exactly value for money for a cushion plus a low-end speaker, unless of course you are tired of your laps being burnt, and want better audio while lounging in a sofa.
