Michael Antonoff

As the year rolls to an end, awards season is upon us. But this time we’ve decided to single out the least-deserving — those companies, apps, and individuals who let us down in 2023.

The announcement by Netflix that it would stop mailing out DVDs changed my behavior. I now regularly race to a street mailbox before its 9 a.m. pickup to return a disc I received the previous day. The sooner the company gets it back, the quicker it will send out the next title in my ever-expanding queue.

Summer is ending. School is starting. Transitioning into a new season is an outstanding opportunity to consider new gear like the equipment that follows. This crop includes a TV with bragging rights, a pair of stylish earbuds that the company terms in-ear computers, a THX-certified home theater in a box, noise-cancelling headphones that let in the outside—or not, and a cool turntable that plugs into the company’s speaker system or your own receiver.

The results of the Value Electronics 18th Annual TV Shootout held in New York City over the weekend are in and it’s Sony and LG by a hair in the 4K and 8K test categories, respectively. For each brand, the win is a repeat performance of last year’s Shootout when Sony was crowned king of 4K TV and LG king of 8K TV.