Other Tech

I never meant to hold the cable guy hostage. But there he was sitting in my desk chair just a few feet away from my plasma, watching the little "preparing" prompt on my TiVo setup screen spin round and round and round . . . Then round some more . . .

Hey, have you heard? On February 17, 2009, over-the-air broadcasters throughout this great land are ditching their analog signals and switching over to digital (the F.C.C. is making them do it). That means all analog (non-digital) TVs that aren't connected to satellite dish or cable will go dark - unless you take the right steps.

Apple Computer may not give us 50-inch plasmas, rumbling surround sound, or the Beatles catalog for MP3 download (which many music lovers are waiting for), but at this year's MacWorld Expo, Apple CEO Steve Jobs did make news with iTunes. During his keynote address, he introduced a new high definition iTunes movie rental service, and second-generation software for Apple TV to go with it.

It's Oscar time! And since no one on the Sound & Vision staff actually belongs to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (our applications keep getting kicked back to us), we're celebrating this past year's best pictures our own way - by declaring which films (and TV shows) actually have the best pictures . . . and sound!

Remember when those poor, starving contestants on Survivor finally got a serving of sustenance? Only, instead of being rewarded with a good rib eye or a yellowfin tuna roll, they get a big dollop of termite larva. Or perhaps a skinny slice of bat-wing. It's like, "Yeah, they're hungry enough to eat anything.

Deadline pressures aren't exactly uncommon in the custom installation business. But racing alongside a team of builders to complete a dedicated home theater on time was probably the biggest challenge facing Michael Blacker, owner of Dallas-based MB Audio/Video, during a recent installation in Plano, Texas.