CES 2015

Dan D'Agostino returns to the monster power amp business.

There is no shortage of all-weather Bluetooth speakers but the Boomjacket takes longevity to a new level with 40 hours of playback time on a single charge. (Moreover, Altec Lansing claims that you don't have to lower the volume to achieve that.) The Boomjacket is the sequel to the Life Jacket; like its predecessor, the Boomjacket features rain/dirt/shock-proof construction; in addition to its improved playing time, it has improved sound quality and more mounting capabilities.

While it was at the LG press conference that Netflix announced its Netflix Recommended TV program, it was Hisense who made a point of letting booth visitors know that their TV made the list. This is a little misleading. Netflix stated that Roku TVs are expected to make the list but didn’t specifically name Hisense who makes a Roku TV. Sony, LG, Sharp, and VIZIO are some of the manufacturers whose names are expected to be the first to receive a Netflix Recommended TV logo.

One of the best demos I took in at CES was provided by French tech company Giroptic, a participant in the cutting-edge Tech West expo at the Sands. Part of it had to do with the quality of the seamless 360-degree HD video captured by the company’s Go Pro-style compact camera. But a bigger part had to do with the fact that the footage was being displayed on the Oculus Rift—my first experience with that storied, soon-to-come VR headset.

Most of the current DIY smart home automation systems suffer from multiple drawbacks, many of which become apparent during the setup of the smart home hub and identifying the smart devices in the system. When it comes to market, OOMI’s Cube is designed to change all that.

The OOMI Cube is the heart of the...

Audeze, the oft-lauded makers of planar magnetic cans, announced the release of the EL-8, their first more-portable planar magnetic headphones.