Amazon kicked off its Black Friday deals a couple weeks ago and Best Buy has joined the fray announcing a number of deals on 4K/Ultra HD TVs in advance of the big, post-Thanksgiving shopping day.
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.
Abbey Road Studios, best known as the recording home of The Beatles in the ’60s, has launched a series of exclusive playlists on Spotify and Apple Music to commemorate its 85th Anniversary.
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.
The successful sketch comedy duo of Key and Peele has made the transition from their Comedy Central series to motion pictures with their comic adventure Keanu. The Shakespearian plot unfolds thusly: Rell (Peele) is depressed and hasn’t left his couch or his bong in days because his girlfriend has just dumped him. His straight-laced cousin Clarence (Key) sympathizes but is of little consolation. A timely miracle shows up on Rell’s doorstep in the form of a lost kitten that meows plaintively and is adorable beyond all reason.
Google introduced its Android mobile platform nine years ago this month, which set the stage for the 2008 launch of world’s first Android-based smartphone: T-Mobile’s G1 (also known as the HTC Dream).