Signals

Let's see a show of hands. How many of you often listen through headphones? Thanks to that camera looking back at you from your device, and some pretty cool software I got from a guy in Russia, I can see that many of you do indeed listen through headphones. You can put your hands down. My question then, is why aren't you listening to binaural recordings?

It’s a presidential election year in the United States (did you catch the debate last night?), and some of us are unhappy with our electoral choices. But things could be worse—much worse. Take the old Soviet Union, for example. Choices in this totalitarian state were extremely limited, to say the least. During elections, there was one name on the ballot, and the candidate received 99 percent of the vote. On the bright side, the comrades, at least the subversive ones, had bone records.

Velodyne. Subwoofers. Actually, really good subwoofers. When you're talking to your buddies, running down your list of home-theater equipment, you pause ever so slightly before you say "Velodyne subwoofer" because you know that pause will add even more of an impression to an already impressive name. But Velodyne is more than subwoofers. Much more.

Why does everyone suddenly hate the headphone jack?

Things you will find on the side of the road: shredded truck tires, plastic hubcaps, baseball caps, too-fast squirrels, too-slow turtles, Bud Light cans, men’s underwear. And, of course, scratched, shattered, and otherwise discarded CDs. It wasn’t always like that.

It is summer. Soon it will be fall. That means Apple will introduce a new iPhone. Reportedly, the new phone will be thinner, more water resistant, have a better camera, have more memory, and not have a headphone jack. Wait. What?