Skip to main content

Bose unveils build-it-yourself speakers for kids, with shiny lights inside

BOSEbuild Speaker Cube
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Bose is known for a lot of things, from its original home audio systems to the Bluetooth speakers and top-tier noise cancelling headphones. One thing the company hasn’t exactly been known for, however, is kid-friendly products — but that may be about to change.

On Tuesday, Bose announced its new BOSEbuild line of speakers, aimed at kids age 8 and up with the goal of getting them interested in science and engineering. This may seem a strange move for Bose, but the company says this is simply carrying on in the spirit of its founder, Dr. Amar G. Bose.

“Dr. Bose was fascinated with electric trains when he was very young,” Bose president and CEO Bob Maresca said in a statement. “He learned how they worked by taking them apart and putting them back together, and he had that same insatiable curiosity throughout his entire life. That spirit is still at the heart of Bose. And it’s a great example of what we’d like BOSEbuild to offer – fun and relatable ways for kids to make something they really want and can use for years to come, while learning about the incredible science and technology behind it.”

The first product in the new BOSEbuild line is the Speaker Cube, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Made of transparent materials and featuring glowing blue lights so kids can see inside, the speaker features Bluetooth connectivity, allowing kids to stream songs from phones or tablets once they’ve finished their build. While older kids might try their hand at building the speaker on their own, a companion app is also available, offering step-by-step instructions.

The BOSEbuild Speaker Cube is available now for $150, but you’ll want to make sure you have an iOS device on hand in order to use the companion app — Android devices aren’t supported, at least for the time being. For more information, see the new BOSEbuild website.

Kris Wouk
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…
Rock and roll till dawn with Sony’s 25-hour SRS-XV500 party speaker
The new Sony SRS-XV500 party speaker in front of a shelf.

Sony has added another whopper to its party speaker lineup with today's announcement of the new SRS-XV500. The $400 speaker is the most affordable of Sony's big, yet portable speaker range that includes the SRS-XV800 and its flagship SRS-XV900, and it boasts a long-lasting battery, plus karaoke and light show features.

The party speaker market continues to heat up, with the XV500 going toe-to-toe with other leaders in the space, including JBL and LG. But the XV500 has its nearest competitors from those brands beat with its substantial 25-hour battery life and quick-charge feature that can put two-and-a-half hours of playtime back in the battery after just 10 minutes of charging.

Read more
JBL brings the boom with upgraded portables and party speakers for 2024
EMBARGOED IMAGE –The JBL Xtreme 4 portable Bluetooth speaker in camoglage.

The JBL Xtreme 4 JBL

Seminal speaker maker JBL has taken the veil off of its 2024 lifestyle lineup, which includes three new portable speakers and two new party speakers, all with upgrades that include more power, new colors, improved Bluetooth connectivity, recycled materials, and multi-speaker connectivity with Auracast.
The new JBL portables
JBL announced three new portable Bluetooth speakers today at CES 2024 in Las Vegas -- the football-sized JBL Xtreme 4, the compact and clippable JBL Clip 5, and the smallest of the bunch, the JBL Go 4. All of the new speakers maintain their rugged IP67 ratings, but feature improved battery life, more power, and better bass, as well as an upgrade in their Bluetooth connectivity to version 3.5 LE (Low Energy), which means lower latency, lower power consumption, and better audio quality. But more importantly, it allows all three new JBL speakers to be Auracast-enabled, which allows multi-speaker connectivity with an unlimited number of other JBL Auracast speakers, regardless of whether they're the same model of speaker or not.

Read more
Samsung’s new Dolby Atmos wireless speaker doubles as a picture frame
Samsung Music Frame speaker.

It's a picture frame. It's a speaker. It's the Samsung Music Frame. Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends

Along with its new TVs, ultra short throw laser projectors, and soundbars -- most of which were totally predictable enhancements of existing products -- Samsung brought something truly different to CES 2024: the Samsung Music Frame, a Dolby Atmos-capable wireless speaker that doubles as an old-fashioned printed photo frame.

Read more