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SmartStream
Apple TV Adds HBO Go, WatchESPN, More Streaming Videos
Barb Gonzalez  |  Jun 27, 2013
The newest update to Apple TV adds HBO Go for series and movies, and WatchESPN for live sports and recorded highlights. Find out what else is new and how you can view these new channels on Apple TV.
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Audio Video News
Sharp Unveils First THX-Certified Ultra HD TV
HT Staff  |  Jun 26, 2013
Sharp Electronics today unveiled its first Ultra HD TV, the 70-inch AQUOS LC-70UD1U LED-based LCD TV, which will sell for $8,000 when it hits stores in mid-August. Hailed as the company’s “finest television ever,” the set has four times the resolution of standard high-definition and is the first Ultra HD TV to receive THX 4K certification.
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Audio Video News
Solid Like a Rock: Thorax Lowboard A/V Rack
Bob Ankosko  |  Jun 26, 2013
It’s not every day you come across an equipment rack made of concrete, but if you’re into industrial design, the stark, angular look of the Thorax Lowboard might be just the ticket. Made by Thorax of Bochum, Germany, the rack is modular and comprises a series of 3-inch-wide concrete squares held together by screws and 1- to 2-inch-wide stainless steel or aluminum brackets; each square weighs about 33 pounds and measures 20.4 x 20.4 inches with a thickness of 1.5 inches.
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New Products
Pioneer announces Andrew Jones-designed soundbar for $399
Brent Butterworth  |  Jun 26, 2013

Pioneer just announced what I expect will become a true benchmark in the audio biz: a $399 soundbar designed and voiced by famed speaker engineer Andrew Jones. I heard a prototype of this soundbar way back on the last day of February, but had agreed not to discuss it until the official announcement.

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Audio Video News
Pioneer Announces $399 Soundbar Designed by Andrew Jones
HT Staff  |  Jun 26, 2013
Pioneer Electronics today unveiled a soundbar/subwoofer system designed by noted speaker engineer Andrew Jones who has a track record of designing affordable speaker packages that compete with systems that sell for much more.
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This Week
This Week in Music, June 25, 2013: Willie Nile invites us to take an “American Ride”
Ken Richardson  |  Jun 25, 2013

Willie Nile: American Ride

New release (River House/Loud & Proud/RED; tour dates)
Photo by Cristina Arrigoni

Willie Nile’s latest album may be called American Ride, but he’s been taking us on that journey for more than 30 years now. And although his recording career has had its fits and starts, he’s been on a consistent roll since releasing Streets of New York in 2006. Much of his recent work, starting with the Streets predecessor Beautiful Wreck of the World in 1999, has been earnest and, at times, intense. Now comes Ride, and it’s almost as if Nile is thinking, after all of that admirably hard work, it’s high time to relax, roll down the window, and shoot the breeze behind the wheel.

That said, Nile is an artist who can make shooting the breeze sound like risking it all.

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Tech2
Computer Game Concept Art
Geoffrey Morrison  |  Jun 25, 2013

Most video games, especially the big-name, high-budget ones, are created by a huge team of people. Some are in charge of how the game plays, others design the levels, others still do the sound.

Before the nuts and bytes get tightened, most games start with an idea. To give the entire team a visual representation of what the "look" of the game is going to be, most companies hire a concept artist, just like movies do.

This concept art can give the game a direction, but on their own, they can be fascinating visual adventures in their own right. Here's some brilliant art from some recent games, and some info on the incredibly talented artists behind them.

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This Week
This Week in Movies & TV, June 25, 2013: Two Foot Small
Josef Krebs  |  Jun 25, 2013

Help!

The title song, Help!, kicks in beautifully - thrillingly - with snaredrums somewhere in the room up left, vocals in center, lead guitar in the surrounds - glorious. Whenever the film launches into one of its seven classic numbers (only seven?) in 5.1 channels the band leaps into the room filling the soundstage and bringing everything to life.

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HDTV Buying TipsHDTV Tech
The Bawl of the Smartass TV
Michael Antonoff  |  Jun 25, 2013
A customer walks into a showroom and the TV says, “Hey, big spender, come spend a little time with me.”

The customer replies, “Of all the TVs on the wall, why should I spend any time with you?”

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Blu-ray Movie Reviews
Hannah And Her Sisters
Fred Kaplan  |  Jun 24, 2013
Picture
Sound
Hannah and Her Sisters is Woody Allen’s most novelistic film: a tale of crisscrossing plotlines, strewn by multiple narrators, each a fully drawn character locked in or out of love with one of the others, and seeking answers to human needs and darker mysteries. It’s also Allen’s most redemptive film. In the end, the strands are resolved, the needs met, the mysteries not solved but set aside for the sake of enjoying life’s pleasures. In this sense, it’s reminiscent of Fanny and Alexander, the similarly titled (and also atypically euphoric) film made four years earlier by Allen’s morose hero Ingmar Bergman. Both films begin and end with lavish holiday dinners, and both chart voyages of infidelity, doubt, and despair, before settling into a celebration of the good life: family, friends, and haute elegance.
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