If you've never heard of XStreamHD, that's OK. Up until now, they've kept a pretty low profile. But that doesn't mean they haven't been busy quietly building the groundwork and infrastructure for a system that may very well be a total game changer for the way you view movies, listen to music and play games. I actually had heard of them.
Denon's AVR-4810CI A/V receiver is the first product that exploits the full 11.1-channel capability of Audyssey DSX processing. Here are our initial impressions:
Entertainment in the car has come a long way since the first "fitted" AM radios of 1930. And even back then, a few killjoys wanted to ban in-dash radios for fear of distracting the driver. Thankfully, logic and the love of music prevailed - and with each evolution in mobile entertainment over the past 50 years, drivers and passengers have benefited.
Handheld Helpmates97855043214LongitechMX Air MouseThe fall season is a great time to take inventory of your tech stuff - whether the idea is to buy new headphones or upgrade your laptop.
• LaCie Hub ($80; lacie.com). Prevent a peripheral pileup with this handy hub. The eye-catching gadget enables you to connect as many as six devices simultaneously - such as external hard drive, keyboard, mouse - via four USB and two FireWire ports. It comes bundled with eight flexible cables.
BLUE WONDER You couldn't swing a cellphone at CES in January without hitting a car stereo with Bluetooth capability. Being able to connect a mobile phone to a head unit wirelessly isn't just a convenience that commuters crave; in many states, hands-free phone operation behind the wheel is the law, not a choice.
($499 for 4 gigabytes, $599 for 8 GB; apple.com) With hip-hooray and ballyhoo, Apple CEO Steve Jobs previewed the much-anticipated iPhone at the Macworld convention. Combining a 3.5-inch widescreen iPod, a Wi-Fi-enabled "Internet communications device," and, oh yes, a cellphone, it also includes a 2-megapixel camera.
($299) No, it's not called iTV, but that little white box down there does allow you to play all of your iTunes content from your PC or Mac wirelessly on your widescreen TV. The 40-GB hard drive can store up to 50 hours of video, 9,000 songs, or 25,000 photos, or a combination. Apple TV is capable of delivering high-definition images at 720p.