LATEST ADDITIONS

I wish smoke alarms were sexier. Most of them are dull, white pucks that try to look as unobtrusive as possible. Even the squarish Nest Protect with the swirling perforation pattern on the cover isn’t something that most people will want to highlight as it hangs on the wall or ceiling. But there’s no doubt that smoke/carbon monoxide alarms save lives. The American Red Cross says that the organization’s Home Fire Campaign, which has “a goal to reduce fire-related deaths and injuries in the US by 25% by 2020” by getting more smoke alarms installed in more homes, has already demonstrably saved 111 lives in the short time since the program began in 2014. And since it’s recommended that you should check the working status of the smoke alarms in your home on the days when Daylight Saving Time begins and ends every year, it’s a good time to take a brief look at Roost’s brand new and—at $80 MSRP—nicely affordable RSA-400 Smart Smoke Alarm...

This morning we can take a break from the post-election fallout and concentrate on a news item that is less contentious, and certainly more interesting. Electronics powerhouse Samsung is set to acquire Harman International for approximately $8 billion when the sale closes in mid-2017. While we at Sound&Vision know Harman from their home audio brands, the bulk of their business has been in the automotive world. Samsung sees the future of connected cars and this acquisition is their foot in the proverbial car door. This is the biggest acquisition in Samsung history, and one that marks a concerted effort to grab a huge piece of the automotive industry.

GoldenEar has announced that the SuperSub X unveiled at CES last January is now shipping.

Earlier this year, shortly after the release of the first Ultra HD (UHD) Blu-ray Disc player from Samsung, I wrote about the challenges of getting the player's full-bandwidth video signals to travel over longer distances in “UHD Blu-ray vs. HDMI: Let the Battle Begin”. Unfortunately, nearly 8 months later, consumers whose displays are more than 15 feet away from the Samsung UBD-K8500 are still in a pickle when it comes to choosing the proper HDMI cable to get the menu screen to properly come up on screen.