Signals

I've owned my fair share of jalopies. Cranky starters, wheezing engines, recalcitrant gearboxes, vague steering, indifferent brakes — I've had it all. And let's not forget everyone's favorite — plastic interior trim pieces that create an unholy symphony of buzzy vibrations. But now, German automobile parts supplier Continental thinks that's a good thing.

I must admit, the news took me by surprise. I know that vinyl is officially a thing, and a growing thing at that. But I was shocked, shocked I tell you, to learn that Sony was getting back into the LP business.

You can call me old fashioned. You can call me a Luddite. You can even call me Ishmael. But I like to read books. Paper books, thank you very much. Based on that, my homies at Barnes & Noble apparently think that I like to listen to vinyl too.

It’s official. 3D TV, once heralded as The Future, is now officially only to be referred to in the past tense. Please adjust your vocabulary accordingly. This news is not surprising. In fact, you are probably only surprised in that you assumed 3D’s demise had occurred years ago. When’s the last time you watched a 3D Blu-ray? Well, there you go.

You probably saw the news reports last week. A lawsuit has been filed against Bose, alleging its Connect app, such as used with a Bose headphone, collects information on the listening habits of the user, without adequately informing the user of the full extent of the practice. The story was widely reported. The rebuttal by Bose was not so widely reported.

Once upon a time, the trajectory of a piece of consumer electronics was arbitrarily ballistic. Much like a cannonball that leaves the muzzle, flies through the air, and lands, a product was manufactured, sold to a consumer, and dumbly performed its appointed functions. Now, and particularly with products like Alexa, when a consumer product enters a home. it's more like adopting a pet, or more accurately, like taking in a puppy that has a doctorate in statistics.