Ken C. Pohlmann

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Tom Wheeler's Waterloo on Liberating Your Cable Box
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Oct 04, 2016
Thursday, September 29, was supposed to be the big day. The Federal Communications Commission was scheduled to vote on a plan to liberate our cable TV boxes from mandatory rental fees. Billions of (our) dollars hung anxiously in the balance. Then, abruptly, the vote was pulled from the meeting agenda.

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Toshiba's Bad Math
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Sep 29, 2015
It's not easy being a corporation. Take Volkswagen, for example. Right about now, they are probably wishing that Ferdinand Porsche had never stuffed an air-cooled engine in the back of a Beetle-shaped car. Along similar lines, Toshiba probably wishes it had hired more ethical accountants. In particular, it recently announced that it had overstated its profits by $1.3 billion over seven years. Oops. Not exactly a rounding error.

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Toys Make the Man
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Aug 14, 2012

Boy, do I feel like a dope. I was under the impression that the decades of conspicuous consumption were finished. What with all the Occupy protesters and unemployed French literature majors out there, I thought that anything ostentatious was unfashionable. Or, as French literature majors would say, passé.

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Toys of the Next Generation of A/V Engineers
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jul 06, 2020
Imagine an alien species in which, when someone dies, all of their wisdom and knowledge passes directly to their offspring. That efficient preservation of experience enables the species to progress at a phenomenal rate. Sadly, when humans die, our lifetime of expertise is lost. At best, we can only try to educate our young, each time starting over from scratch.

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Trojan Horses and Tellys
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jun 19, 2023
After decades of head scratching, chin rubbing, and extensively consulting the Magic 8-Ball, experts now agree that there is no such thing as a free lunch. However, somewhat unexpectedly, we now have free TVs. If you guessed that there are strings attached, you would be correct. Very correct.

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CES 2015
Ultra Ears Megaboom Speakers Play for 20 Hours
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jan 09, 2015
First, a word of clarification: Ultimate Ears is a brand of Logitech. As you might surmise, UE handles the audio products, while Logitech is more computer focused. Now, the product news: UE's first portable wireless speaker was the UE Boom. As you might expect, the Megaboom is the new and improved version. It features more power, louder sound, and more bass. Ergo, it is better.

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AV GlossaryHDTV Tech
Ultra High Definition: What’s in a Name?
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Oct 24, 2012

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet.”

Quick! Name the play! It’s Romeo and Juliet, of course. And it’s certainly one of Bill Shakespeare’s best lines, particularly in the way it encapsulates Juliet’s whole Montague/Capulet dilemma.

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UV and Vudu for U
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Aug 01, 2013
Of course, you have a wall of discs. And what an impressive wall it is. LPs, CDs, DVDs, and Blu-rays. There is no better feeling than firing up the home theater and sipping on a martini as you casually peruse your massive collection, pondering which disc to deploy. Moreover, with Vudu to Go, you can take the wall with you anywhere you go.

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Vacuum Tubes: A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Electrons
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jan 22, 2024
I love tubes. You love tubes. Everybody loves vacuum tubes. Of course, the ultimate vacuum tube is a cathode-ray tube — the glowing heart of good, old analog televisions. What a cool invention — a device that can input electrical signals and convert them into visible moving images. Hmm — would it be possible to build your own CRT as a DIY project? You betcha!

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Vacuum Tubes: Build Them And They Will Amplify
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jan 08, 2024
A purist can be defined as “a person who adheres strictly and often excessively to a tradition.” I would add the corollary: particularly when it comes to analog audio. Which brings us to today's DIY project: Building your own audio amplifier from scratch. With vacuum tubes, of course.

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