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Is it Dumb to Buy Smart Audio/Video Devices?
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Feb 17, 2020  |  4 comments
Okay. I get it. Contemporary electronic devices are more powerful than old-timey electronic devices. A software engineer recently estimated that a USB-C charger has more computing power than the guidance computer on the Apollo capsules that took men to the moon (shown above). Awesome. But I still have an axe to grind.

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Is Neil Young off his Rocker?
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Apr 05, 2012  |  0 comments

Neil Young likes to criticize things: war, environmental abuses, indifference to homelessness, the plight of small farmers, Presidents of the United States, etc.  Name an activist topic, and you can probably find several well-crafted lyrics, ranging from subtle to confrontational, on the issue. Neil Young is also critical of sound quality. Highly critical.

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Is the Nexus Q Cool?
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jun 28, 2012  |  0 comments

Google had revenue of $38 billion last year. So why would they mess around selling a consumer electronics gizmo? Frankly, I don't have the faintest idea. But they have served up a juicy meatball of a nice product.

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Is the Rolls Royce Playlist Worthy of the Marque?
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Oct 05, 2020  |  1 comments
A few months ago, we considered the playlist used to tune the bespoke sound system in the Rolls Royce Phantom, a car that sells for a tidy $500,000. We discussed playlists generally and why they are so important. But is the Rolls Royce Phantom playlist a good one, and truly worthy of the marque?
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Is the Taycan the Sound of Things to Come?
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Aug 27, 2019  |  3 comments
The Taycan is Porsche's newest, almost-ready-to-debut car. It's all-electric, so the sound of its exhaust will be unlike that of any other contemporary Porsche. But it's not the exhaust that might be its most interesting sound. It might be its built-in Apple streaming.

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Is Ultrasound a Sound Whose Time Has Come?
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Aug 25, 2015  |  1 comments
Some inventions are unquestionably awesome and tremendously useful. Things like the steam engine, electric battery, electric light, radio, internal combustion engine, and transistor were truly transformative. Other inventions are uber cool, but for some reason find it tougher to break through to broader application. Case in point: sound from ultrasound; more specifically, the generation of audible sound from modulated ultrasonic beams.

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Is UV Hazardous to Your Health?
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jul 27, 2011  |  2 comments

Sure, before you head to the beach, it’s imperative to slather on the sunblock. (Note: as far as I know, this is the first time I’ve used “slather” in a written sentence.) Everyone knows that too many UV rays are bad for you, and that SPF is the remedy. But what about another kind of ultraviolet?

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Is Your TV Green?
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Feb 06, 2023  |  0 comments
Every square inch of your roof is occupied with a solar panel. There is a wind turbine in your front yard, and another in the back yard. You laugh at the cost of electricity. However, Luddites like me are confronted with a monthly power bill. Which brings us to the question of televisions, kilowatts per hour, and your hard-earned cash.

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It's Good to be Number Three
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jan 05, 2012  |  0 comments

Americans are sometimes criticized for being ignorant of the rest of the world. I guess the fact that most Americans can't locate Canada on a map tends to confirm that. (It's somewhat south of the North Pole) Along the same lines, we tend to forget that there are consumer markets other than ours. Moreover, those markets can be surprisingly different from ours.

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It’s in the Genes
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jan 24, 2013  |  0 comments

Scientists, who apparently never cease thinking of things that would never occur to me, have demonstrated that it is possible to store digital data in molecular form. As reported in Nature, a team of brainiacs stored the text of all 154 of Shakespeare’s sonnets, a photo of their institute’s building, and a copy of a paper by Watson and Crick, as DNA sequences.

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iXOOST Wants to Rev You Up
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  May 10, 2016  |  1 comments
Referring to the sound of the 12-cylinder engines in Ferrari cars, conductor Herbert von Karajan said it was, "a melody that no conductor would ever be able to reproduce." Considering that the maestro was not modest when speaking of his abilities, that is quite a compliment. He was right, of course; some engines, tuned with the right exhaust, yield a glorious sound. With further tuning, apparently they can also yield glorious music.

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I’ve Discovered a Sad, New Use for the CD
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Apr 27, 2020  |  6 comments
Alas, poor Compact Disc! My heart is heavy, I cannot lie. It's come to this. Birds. Angry Birds.

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JBL Charge 2: Is Two Better than One?
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Sep 16, 2014  |  2 comments
When I reviewed the original Charge last year, I wrote, “Long playback time, decent sound quality, compact size, and last but not least – the ability to keep your phone charged - the Charge does it all. Amid a sea of small speakers, this one merits a look and a listen.” Apparently millions of people, well, thousands, or perhaps hundreds, or at least more than a handful, agreed. That prompted JBL to capitalize on the success of the original to bring out a successor, the Charge 2. JBL is of the opinion that it is new and improved. I agree that it is new, but is it improved?

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JBL Shows the Link View with Google Assistant
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jan 10, 2018  |  0 comments
Smart speakers are popping up left and right, wack-a-mole style, one virtually indistinguishable from another. But, some are very distinguished. Take, for example, JBL's Link View.

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Just Don't Call Them Hearing Aids
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Sep 09, 2019  |  2 comments
You are a multi-billion-dollar audio corporation. Starting small, you grew big, then you bought out your competitors and got even bigger. You dominate entire segments of the audio market. Good work! But where do you go from here? How do you get even bigger? You create an entirely new audio category.

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