Michael Antonoff

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Apptitude
Ready, Set, Tap
Michael Antonoff  |  May 07, 2015  |  1 comments
I recently hung the new $14.97 60-watt Cree Connected LED Bulb on the wall above my easy chair so that whenever an idea entered my brain, I’d be able to tap my iPad and make a light bulb go on above my head. (For those unaware, the Cree is a Zigbee- and Wink-compliant light; mate it with a compatible smarthome hub, and you can control it from your phone or tablet.)

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Audio Video News
Red’s Last Mail Drop
Michael Antonoff  |  Apr 19, 2023  |  6 comments
The Netflix red envelope that defined the era between video cassettes and streaming will soon be a relic of the past. Subscribers to the disc-by-mail service were informed by email on Tuesday (April 18) that the company will ship its last disc on September 29, 2023.
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Apptitude
Retro Apps Resurrect Analog Ancestors in Digital Form
Michael Antonoff  |  Mar 29, 2017  |  1 comments
There’s a whole new class of mobile apps that resurrect analog ancestors in digital form. Some real, some imagined.
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Other Tech
Roku HD1000 Media Receiver
Michael Antonoff  |  May 06, 2004  |  0 comments

When digital still cameras were new and no match for conventional film photography, a typical TV had little trouble doubling as a "slide" projector. But analog TVs can't do justice to images produced by today's multimegapixel cameras.

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Roku Netflix Player
Michael Antonoff  |  Jul 31, 2008  |  0 comments
Roku Netflix Player 320303002088 Roku Netflix Player Until now, there have been plenty of reasons why Internet-delivered movie services have barely made a dent in public awareness: not enough titles, too many restr
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Soundbar Reviews
Roku Streambar Pro Soundbar Review
Michael Antonoff  |  Jul 28, 2021  |  0 comments

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $180

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Room-filling sound
Enhances dialogue
Built-in Roku streaming interface
Minus
None worth noting

THE VERDICT
The Roku Streambar Pro offers a considerable sound upgrade over a TV's internal speakers and comes with the company's comprehensive streaming platform built-in.

Soundbars are popular for a good reason. The speakers in a typical flat panel TVs sound puny compared with the visual sway of increasingly larger, higher-resolution displays. Also, since not every viewing room can accommodate the separate components of a home theater, a narrow-footprint soundbar solves the problem of raising the impact of the audio and it does so with one cable.

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Media Server Reviews
Roku Streaming Stick
Michael Antonoff  |  Jul 26, 2016  |  1 comments

Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
PRICE $50

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Private listening via mobile device
Voice search via Roku Mobile App
Quad-core processor
Minus
No motion control for games
No 4K Ultra HD support

THE VERDICT
Roku Streaming Stick offers a glut of net-sourced channels enhanced by rapid performance and tight integration with the Roku mobile app.

Roku media receivers continue to ride the tsunami of internet-delivered movies, videos, and TV channels but with fewer company-owned turfs to protect than competing products from Apple, Amazon, or Google. In so doing, Roku’s users now have more than 3,000 channel choices. Its latest device, a finger-sized Wi-Fi receiver that juts out of an input on your TV or A/V receiver, largely solves two problems that have plagued the stick-it-in-HDMI category compared with tabletop streamers—lower performance and inferior interface.

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Apptitude
Roll Out the Carpet to YouTube Red
Michael Antonoff  |  Apr 05, 2016  |  0 comments
To cut commercial clutter from a diet rich in streamed entertainment, I agreed to pay Google $9.99 a month for its YouTube Red service across all my devices. Unlike free YouTube, there are no pre-roll commercials to fidget through. The countdown taunting viewers to put their lives on hold until the Skip Ad button appears is nowhere in sight. Intermercials that played between videos or regularly interrupted a full-length movie are gone.
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Apptitude
Running with Apps
Michael Antonoff  |  Nov 21, 2016  |  0 comments
There are two types of runners: serious and casual. As the latter, I jog weekends outside or on a treadmill to remedy overeating and in pursuit of the elusive runner’s high. A serious runner, on the other hand, is an athlete with charts.
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Other Tech
S&V's Guide to Movie Downloads
Michael Antonoff  |  Sep 04, 2006  |  0 comments

Finally! The studios have wised up and realized that if they don't offer movies as electronic bits you can legally download and watch whenever you like, savvy computer users will get them anyway.

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