LATEST ADDITIONS

Ask S&V
Time to Upgrade
Scott Wilkinson  |  Aug 15, 2011
I have an old (1997) Bose Acoustimass Lifestyle 12, and the AM/FM/CD player has stopped working. I want to know if I can still use the five cube speakers with a new A/V receiver and a new subwoofer. I hate to throw it all away, and I like the look of the cubes. Can I expect the speakers to work, and will I get a good sound out of them?

Dennis Couch

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Gadget Gary
Game Booey
Gary Dell'Abate  |  Aug 15, 2011

I've always considered myself a trivia whiz. I'd devour any and all trivia books I could find. As I got older, I played games on the computer and online. That eventually morphed to the present day, where I like to sharpen my skills on various gaming consoles. One of the best games I've found is Buzz!

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Track One
Bob Dylan: Never-Ending, Ever-Rolling
Mike Mettler  |  Aug 15, 2011

Bob Dylan, bard for the ages, brought his never-ending tour to Convention Hall in Asbury Park, New Jersey, on the torrential evening of Sunday, August 14, and reinforced his prowess as the key observer and interpreter of our ever-distressing modern times.

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Audio Video News
Motogoogle
Michael Berk  |  Aug 15, 2011

You've no doubt heard by now that Google's forked over somewhere in the neighborhood of $12.5 billion to acquire Motorola Mobility,  the mobile device business Motorola spun off at the beginning of this year.

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Tech2
Shine a Light (Remotely)
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Aug 15, 2011

Light is one of those intangible things that is stuff and whatnot. Wait, no it isn't. It's light. As in, "Aziz, LIGHT!"

On the one hand, it's either on or it's off. On the other hand, it's half-on, half-off, and you've programmed it to go half-off and half-on again at the touch of a button.

If you don't have kids to turn lights on for you (or maybe you have kids, and they don't turn them back off), Lutron has a host of products to make life a little easier. How much easier is best explained by experience. Which brings us to the aptly named Lutron Experence Center.

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Mars Needs Moms 3D
David Vaughn  |  Aug 14, 2011
Nine-year-old Milo (motion-capture performer Seth Green and voice actor Seth Dusky) stows away on a Mars-bound alien spaceship as it races away with his mom (Joan Cusack), who has been abducted so the Martians can steal her mom-ness in order to raise their young. Once he arrives on the Red Planet, he's befriended by Gribbler (Dan Fogler), an immature young adult whose mother was also stolen by the Martians when he was a boy. It's a race against time as Milo struggles to save his mother from imminent doom at the hands of the aliens.

This is a decent family film that starts off pretty slow but picks up steam in the second act as you get to know the main characters. The motion-capture techniques developed by producer Robert Zemeckis in The Polar Express have improved over the years, especially with adult faces, but the children come across a little creepy. Despite the shortcomings in the story, both the 3D and 2D presentations are outstanding, and the DTS-HD MA 7.1 soundtrack is definitely demo-worthy.

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Vote
What Is Your Favorite Music-Streaming Source?
Scott Wilkinson  |  Aug 12, 2011
While we're on the subject of streaming (see the last two poll questions here and here), I'd like to turn our attention to music-streaming sources, of which there are two types—on-demand subscription and Internet radio. As you might imagine, on-demand services let you select anything from their library at will, usually for a monthly fee. With Internet-radio services, you specify the type of music you want to listen to, and they deliver it at their discretion, allowing you to skip only a certain number of tracks per hour, at least when you access the service for free.

Do you listen to music-streaming sources? If so, which one is your favorite? Don't forget to leave a comment about your preference, especially if you selected "Other."

Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.

What Is Your Favorite Music-Streaming Source?
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Ask S&V
SRS iWow 3D
Scott Wilkinson  |  Aug 12, 2011
I just bought an audio dongle recommended by Dick DiBartolo and Leo Laporte on the GizWiz podcast. It's called the iWow 3D by SRS, and it makes the sound seem three-dimensional. I can't explain it, but I'm addicted to it. It's available as a hardware dongle for headphones and earbuds and as software for computer speakers. Have you heard about this technology and how it works? I'm interested in what you think.

Adam Davis

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Grace Notes
Listening to the new Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Leslie Shapiro  |  Aug 12, 2011

One of the most anticipated of this summer's releases, Rise of the Planet of the Apes certainly rises to the hype, thanks to the help of some newfangled technical expertise and a lot of good old-fashioned attention to detail.

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Tech2
OLED Again
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Aug 11, 2011

There have been stirrings on the webs about a new push for OLED (or organic light emitting diode-based) TVs. These Holy Grail televisions promise the ultimate in black level, contrast ratio, and color fidelity, they poop kittens, solve baldness, and make people like you.

Most of that is true. Some. OK, part.

Sadly, an imminent OLED renaissance is still highly unlikely. Unlikely, like me dematerializing and rematerializing in the next room unlikely.

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