John Sciacca

Paradigm Simplifies In-Ceiling Installations Everyone talks about how speakers sound, but if you’ve ever been on top of a ladder, balancing a speaker in one hand and a drill in the other, then you’ll also care about how they install. Paradigm has redesigned its CS series – v.3 – and has made some design improvements to make the speaker easier on the installer. The new CS speakers features a new Glass-Reinforced ABS Baffle (GRAB) that have high-strength ABC clamps replacing the polymer brackets on the previous series. To further easy install, the dog-ear mounting system is angled to better bite into drywall and the speaker has a deeper set-screw which helps to hold the drill steady. The new series also has a bezel-less design and features a magnetic grille. The new series also features more robust binding posts, and some new crossover components and other sound tweaks.

The original Philips Pronto universal remote, introduced way back in 1998, offered a level of programmability and customization totally unheard of at its $399 price, and it instantly became a smash with installers and do-it-yourselfers alike. But over the years, love for the Pronto has waned as other companies created smartly designed models of their own.

First, when you can intersect technology and beer, you are likely never going to go wrong. I have met very few people in this industry that don’t also love a good ale, lager, IPA, Belgian, stout, lambic, or other.

Now, I love craft beer. Like, I love craft beer. In fact I have a separate blog devoted to reviewing the stuff, and I’ve drank/reviewed almost 400 to date. But, I have no real interest in making beer. To me it is too much hassle, too much mess, too much chance for bacteriological contamination ruining the batch, too much chance of crafting gallons of stuff I wouldn’t want to drink. In a way, craft beer is like sausage for me; love to drink it, don’t really want to know how it is made. However the good folks at PicoBrew also love beer, and their new Zymatic fully automatic brewer is just high-tech and awesome enough to make me reconsider my non-brewing ways.