It's hard to write up news about the PS4 when there wasn't any actual news about the PS4. At what best can be described as a "Save-the-Date" event, Sony laid out their ideas for their next-gen console, but gave few, if any, specifics.
What we found out is... interesting. By far the PS4 is being pushed as a gaming console to act as a central hub for a gaming lifestyle, than a hardcore, cutting-edge, gaming machine.
That and other disappointments AWESOME GAMING NEWS after the jump.
This is the first of what will be a reoccurring feature here on the Tech^2 blog. The idea is simple: pick a song that has had a significant impact on your life in some way, and describe why. I'm starting with me to get the ball rolling, but over the coming weeks and months I've got the staff of S+V lined up, plus various luminaries and heavyweights in the A/V and music industries, all with interesting stories and songs from their own lives.
Now before you say something like "Wow, Geoff, you're a genius. This is a brilliant idea!" Let me say yes, of course, but allow me to give credit where credit is due. The brilliant geniuses at RockPaperShotgun sort of came up with it first with their Gaming Made Me series. I highly recommend you check them out, not least because they have some of the best writing on the web.
The Song from My Soundtrack series continues with Sandy Gross, co-founder of three hugely successful speaker brands: Polk Audio, Definitive Technology, and Golden Ear Technology.
It was the summer of 1967. At least I believe it was 1967, as that was a time long ago and far away. In those days, I was in high school in Brooklyn, and a professional slot car racer.
I'm not sure what to make of the Viewsonic VSD220. I like it. It works as you'd hope, looks quite nice, and is priced well.
But it is definitely a niche product. If you can spot a place in your life for this niche, then I think it's definitely worth checking out.
What is it? Well, you can think of it as a 22-inch Android tablet, with HDMI and USB inputs. Or, you can think of it as a small Smart TV with Android OS.
Star Wars headphones! Star Wars headphones! Star. Wars. Headphones. STARWARSHEADPHONES. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "OMG WTF this is the most amazing thing ever!"
Wait, it gets better. They're only $22!
And you're not going to believe this, but sound actually comes out of them. I KNOW. And wouldn't it really be something if these greatestheadphonesofalltime actually sounded good too?
I can't recall a game in recent memory that so embodied corporate hubris, a distaste and distrust of fans, or a launch so bungled that it was the story not the game.
Which is too bad, because underneath all the noise and hate are pieces of a great game, one that I've played a lot over the last two weeks.
Dr. Fang Bian founded HiFiMAN in 2006, which has become one of the leading manufacturers of audiophile headphones and portable audio products. Here he picks a Song from his Soundtrack.
In the audio industry, we are constantly listening to music so there are many songs that have special memories for me.
One in particular though stands out and that is "Telegraph Road" by the British rock band Dire Straits and written by Mark Knopfler.
I occasionally peruse Internet A/V forums to see what the techier web denizens have to say about the latest news and reviews.
One thing I've noticed a lot of lately, especially after our big projector 3fer, is a fixation on black level, with no mention or thought about contrast ratio.
This is a big deal, as black level without contrast ratio can result in some pretty terrible picture quality.
I've reviewed a few of these types of speakers. Pioneer calls this one a "Wireless Speaker" but that's not really adequate for the category. Music streaming speaker (MSS?) is probably more accurate, if less pithy.
Either way, my experience has been that for most, it's function first, quality second. As in, you get sound, but it's not very good. Unless the MSS has some sort of special attention paid to sound quality, I try to avoid them.
What got my attention with this one, then? Well, the A4 has been tuned by none other than Andrew Jones, and given how amazing his inexpensive Pioneer speakers are, I figured this doodad was worth a look.
It's only natural, in the wake of any random act of extreme violence, to look for an explanation: What caused this to happen? What can we do to prevent it from happening again?
While it's fair to ask these questions, the frustrating truth is that most of the time, we'll never know.
Not knowing, sadly, is not an acceptable answer. Instead, "the other" is blamed. When it comes to politicians and lobbyists, this "other" is anything the younger generations are into, that they themselves aren't. Thirty years ago it was rap and heavy metal. Thirty before that, it was rock and roll.
Today, the common scapegoat is video games, and blaming them is just as specious.