NET WORTHY Can the Internet improve your remote control? Hey, it worked for Harmony. Now Acoustic Research is taking the idea a step further by including Wi-Fi in its ARR2470 Wi-Q remote to keep it constantly connected to the Net.
ROUND SOUND Don't think of the radial as an iPod speaker dock - it's more befitting to call it an iPod stage, encircling the player with curved 60-watt speakers to bust out your tunes, but keeping the iPod front and center to remind everyone who's really the star of the show.
FROM DISK TO DISC It'll be pretty easy to get on the good side of any TV fan if you have Polaroid's DRM-2001G video recorder. Not only will it save TV shows to its 80-GB hard disk (up to 102 hours in the lowest-quality mode), but you can burn your recordings to DVD whenever you please.
So no one has to miss Lost as long as you're in command.
COLOR ME RAD Six primary colors? That can't be right, yet Mitsubishi insists on calling its state-of-the-art TV color control the 6-Primary Color System, since it creates yellow, cyan, and magenta directly, rather than by mixing red, green, and blue. The upshot: a wider range of richer, more vibrant colors.
NO FOOTAGE JVC's Everio camcorders ditch those archaic videotapes in favor of recording to a hard disk. The 30 gigs onboard the flagship model will hold 10.5 hours of DVD-quality material - captured in eye-catching color, thanks to the three CCD image sensors (cheaper cams have just one).
Step 1: Check file compatibility While computers can accept a variety of music file types, servers have more limited compatibility. If your server isn't "friendly" with your formats, you'll either have to re-rip, download, or buy them all over again, or convert them to a compatible format, which will cause additional compression artifacts.
With its eye-catching design and seamless integration with the iTunes Music Store download service, Apple's iPod has taken the portable-music market by storm. But once you get beyond the iPod's distinctive, sexy styling and crack open its case, you'll find a collection of off-the-shelf components not all that different from those used in other personal media players.
Recommending a recent gig by Franz Ferdinand, The Village Voice said the Scots "generate an in-person intensity that you just can't download." Or get from a CD. Sure, you can go digital or disc to sample these acts, but Austin's 20th South by Southwest proved once more that the show makes the band.
As a performer, you've done everything. Do you prefer TV, movies, singing, or the stage? I would say the Broadway theater - it's so much at the heart of things. But I just signed on to do a new sitcom on NBC, Twenty Good Years, and it's incredibly fun. We're going to have a ball on that show. It's a real treat to vary my diet.
A few weeks ago, I reported the Plasma Display Coalition (PDC) paid consultants to test their plasma sets independently (see <a href="http://blog.ultimateavmag.com/fredmanteghian/061406torment/" target=new>Tormenting the Plasma</a>). This week, I got my hands on the actual report and the results are fascinating. Just a bit of background. Everyone I know that buys an LCD TV says, when I ask why not a plasma, that the LCD won't "wear out," "burn up," or words to that effect. Turns out, debunking that myth was only one of the study's goals.