Ken C. Pohlmann

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The Fastest Car Stereo Ever [UPDATED]
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Feb 06, 2018
Today is the big day. Or rather, today is the heavy day. The day that the Falcon Heavy is (finally) scheduled for blast-off. Yes, it might be scrubbed. Or it might just blow up. If it launches, it will be an important day in the history of car stereo.

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Other Tech
The Final Conflict
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Sep 01, 2006

Oh, boy. Another tremendous battle is brewing. It will be the mother of all battles - as well as the father, the son, and the daughter. More than likely, it will be the family pet of all battles, too. It's nothing less than warfare for world domination. Once and for all, it will settle the question: Who makes the coolest toys?

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Other Tech
The Final Cut: Saying No to Google TV
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Sep 16, 2010

It’s been a hard day at work. You want to unwind in front of the flat-screen. You don’t want interactivity. You don’t want infotainment. After slaving at the PC all day, you don’t want to surf. You want to watch some damn TV, do some 12-ounce curls, and then doze off. I ask you: Is that so wrong? According to companies like Google, yes, it is. And they want to change that.

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The Fox in Samsung's Henhouse
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jan 31, 2017
Suppose that you are the world's largest TV manufacturer. Everyone wants to buy your TVs. In fact, you can hardly make them fast enough. To ensure a steady supply, you contract with other companies to make LCD panels for you. Now suppose those suppliers suddenly cancel the contract. What do you do? You haul their asses into court, that's what you do.

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The Future Belongs to Those Who Stream
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Apr 21, 2015
A quick look at the pie chart suggests that the music industry exists in a nice state of equilibrium. Sales appear to be evenly split among downloads, streaming, and physical media. If you were a financial planner, and your client's portfolio was as neatly balanced as that, you could sleep soundly. But of course, that equilibrium is only a snapshot of a very dynamic situation. In reality, the way we listen to music is changing fast.

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The Future Is Here! A Toast to Tesla In the New Year
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jan 06, 2020
Well, it's official. The year is 2020. And that means we are actually living in The Future. Frankly I wasn't sure we'd make it, but here we are. And things are pretty sweet. All of the fabulous things that technology magazines were predicting in the 50's are finally here. Well, some of them. If you are driving a Tesla.

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The Future of Audio Is.... the Walkman?
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Aug 05, 2014
Although MP3 files may not entirely deserve all the scorn heaped on them, it is widely accepted that it was the proliferation of those files that put the whammy on high-end audio. Despite the availability of higher quality formats like CD, SACD and DVD-Audio, conventional wisdom says the convenience of MP3 led consumers to dumb down their audio expectations. Now, is it possible that an old-school audio company and a brand name largely associated with cassettes could lead the way back to high audio quality?

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The Good Old Days
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Dec 29, 2014
Saturday night at Molasses Junction. Good food. Well, bar food. And spirits, lots of spirits. There are Harleys parked outside in the gravel lot. I pity the fool who backs his Prius into one of those hogs. Some attorneys and doctors ride Harleys on weekends. I scrutinize the gentlemen and ladies who are riding these Harleys and try to imagine any of them giving me an appendectomy. Uh, no. That’s never going to happen.

My table is lively with conversation. You already know how the thread goes. The government is messed up, our bosses grind on us all week long, the new Corvette blows the doors off the old Corvette, college football is way better than pro football. Then we talk about man caves. The mood intensity clicks up a notch. Man caves are serious business. Who has 4K? Who doesn’t? The question of cost comes up...

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The Google Paperweight: Just Another Brick in the Wall
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Mar 02, 2020
You buy a product. It functions well for a few years, and then its warranty eventually runs out. Clearly, you are now responsible for any repairs. The manufacturer then kindly updates the product’s firmware and…wham! It’s suddenly dead in the water. Is the manufacturer now responsible for repairing or replacing it?
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The Greatest Analog Audio Playback Machine Ever
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Dec 22, 2015
A couple of days ago, I was sitting in my home theater listening to some music—a recording of Beethoven’s 6th Symphony, actually—and it hit me: The symphony orchestra is the greatest analog audio playback machine ever invented.

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