Daily deal – Altec Lansing iM-237 Orbit MP3 speaker for $25

by Scott Carmichael on

In today’s daily deal you’ll find another of those great products that made the Gadling Top 25 travel products of 2008.

The Altec Lansing iM-237 Orbit MP3 is a portable speaker with enough punch to fill an entire hotel room with clean crisp audio.

The speaker is powered by 3 AAA batteries which can keep the speaker going for almost an entire day.

Included with the speaker is a hard carrying case with clip and a 2.5mm music phone adapter, which allows you to connect the Orbit to phones with a smaller headphone jack, like on some Blackberry devices.

The Orbit MP3 launched last year for $39, but recently dropped in price at some retailers to under $25. You’ll find it at this price at Amazon.com. In the right column on Amazon, you’ll also find a retailer selling it for just $17.49, with $6.98 shipping.

Daily deal – Altec-Lansing Orbit MP3 portable speaker for $15

by Scott Carmichael on

Back when I was just a Gadling rookie, my first product review was for one of my personal favorites; the Altec-Lansing Orbit MP3 speaker. The Orbit MP3 is a portable speaker for your iPod, mobile phone or other music player.

In the review, I mentioned the MSRP of $29.95 and the Amazon price of just $24.95. Since then, it has dropped another $10 and you can now pick one up for just under $15.

The speaker runs off 3 AAA batteries and has just one control; on or off. The device has a short audio cord that wraps around the unit, and a tiny flat spot for standing the speaker upright.

Despite its small size, it produces a surprisingly loud and clear amount of audio. Of course, since it is just a single speaker, you don’t get full stereo sound, but with the excellent volume and quality it produces, most people won’t even notice.

You’ll find the deal at Amazon.com and members with an Amazon Prime account will get free shipping, others will have to add another $10.01 to their order for the free super saver shipping.

When in Space, Which Way Is Mecca?

by Iva Skoch on

Think being a Muslim on this planet is not easy? Try being a Muslim in orbit. For starters, which way do you face while praying? (And how do you lay down your prayer rug?)

Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor of Malaysia, a crew member on the 16th mission for the International Space Station, is lifting off to space today in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, Wired reports. The ten day trip will take place during the holy month of Ramadan.

Being a devout Muslim, the astronaut is planning to do what he has to do. To start with, he will fast. Where will he face while praying, you ask?

Malaysia’s space agency, Angkasa, convened a conference of 150 Islamic scientists and scholars last year to wrestle with this and other burning questions and published “A Guideline of Performing Ibadah (worship) at the International Space Station (ISS)”. According to the report, determining the qibla (a direction a Muslim should pray toward Mecca) should be “based on what is possible” for the astronaut, and can be prioritized this way: 1) the Ka’aba, 2) the projection of Ka’aba, 3) the Earth, 4) wherever.

Wherever? Is that just north of Orlando?