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Review: Altec Lansing inAir 5000 AirPlay Speaker

Catch some Air(Play)
- By Geoffrey Morrison
- Posted February 27, 2012
- 1
Altec Lansing is a name I hadn’t heard in a while. I vaguely recall some cheap computer speakers I had, perhaps back in the 66 Mhz days (486DX2-66 FTW!). But I shall not prejudge, especially when the new inAir 5000 Wi-Fi speaker is an attractive piece of kit. Also because that’s not what I’m paid for. Ok, “paid” but you get the idea.
Review Mode: Engage.

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Digital Crossroads

Kodak on the ropes, and another big player comes to home entertainment. Place your bets.
- By Ken C. Pohlmann
- Posted February 15, 2012
The Wall Street Journal is reporting this week on the future plans of two corporations. As with any corporate news, there is a certain dry and brittle quality to it; most WSJ readers really only care how news will affect share prices. But there’s also high drama playing out. Right before our eyes, one company is withering away, while the other soars higher and higher.

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House of Marley be Jammin’ at CES

A range of audio products that feel alright…
- By Leslie Shapiro
- Posted January 9, 2012
It takes a lot to rise above the din that is CES Unveiled, the press event that kicks off the International 2012 CES.

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Review: Sony Tablet S

Could this be a contender?
- By Geoffrey Morrison
- Posted January 2, 2012
Initially, the Tablet S was supposed to be part of our big tablet roundup. Requests for review samples repeatedly ignored, so we went ahead and forgot about them.
Well you’d never guess, but comments like “if you’re looking for the perfect tablet, you have two choices” tend to get to get a company’s attention. At least, when that company isn’t one of those two choices.
Shiny new Tablet S in hand mere days later, I set off to find out if it could be a worthy contender against the Fire and iPad.

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You Talkin’ To Me? Well I’m The Only One Here.

Soon, people won’t think you’re crazy if you talk to your TV
- By Ken C. Pohlmann
- Posted December 22, 2011
- 1
What is the Great American Pastime? Baseball? Football? Soccer? Actually, it’s none of those. Our great pastime is sitting passively and yelling as other people actively run around. And while shouting from the bleachers is fun, it’s even more fun to sit and shout at the TV.

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iPad: The High-Rez Digital Transport for the Rest of Us?

Getting the best sound out of your tablet, by any means necessary.
- By Michael Berk
- Posted December 8, 2011
- 1
Does the iPad have a role to play for audiophiles, or for the new breed of iDevice-inspired audio enthusiasts? It's hard to beat the touchscreen interface for music listening — it provides a tactile browsing experience that hands-down beats the UIs on most high-zoot audiophile servers. On the desktop there are plenty of audiophile file players that load audio into RAM for supposedly improved fidelity — but the iPad offers all-solid-state audio storage to begin with, freeing your bits from jitter-inducing hard-drive-access. But is iOS — and the circuitry within — up to snuff?

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Pretty Vacant

Why stripping all the controls off A/V gear is a bad idea.
- By Brent Butterworth
- Posted December 7, 2011
- 2
I HAD AN EPIPHANY of sorts last week when I was doing lab measurements for our review of the Creative ZiiSound D5x. Pretty as the product is, it took me about 45 minutes to get it to mate with Creative’s supplied USB Bluetooth dongle. Then it took me another 30 minutes to get it to mate with the DSx subwoofer. In the latter case, I’m still not sure what I did right — it just suddenly started working.

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WTF Santa? These Legos Suck!

Stocking stuffers ain’t what they used to be.
- By Ken C. Polhmann
- Posted December 6, 2011
If there’s a kid on your holiday shopping list, you'd better pay close attention. First, when you get to the Toys “R” Us store, just keep driving. Seriously, if you buy anything there, on Christmas morning, you might as well let the kid unwrap a box of dung.

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Remote Harmony

Logitech did something pretty awesome: It lets you access your TV on your iPad and iPhone. I love that!
- By Gary Dell'Abate
- Posted December 6, 2011
Logitech is a cool company. It took all of the top aspects of its best-selling universal remote control and made it so that you could control your TV, set-top boxes, music systems, and other home gear on your iPhone or iPad. My kinda thing.

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Picking the Perfect Tablet

Tablets are hot — and everywhere. But choosing one is easier than you’d think
- By Geoffrey Morrison
- Posted December 5, 2011
- 1
PORTABLE ENTERTAINMENT. It started with the Walkman and was revolutionized by the iPod. Now with tablets, audio, video, and more merge into one uber-device of computing awesomeness.
We have a narrow set of criteria for tablets here at Sound+Vision. That it surfs the web, does email, can video chat, and so on is cool, but we're not Office+Meetings magazine. We — like most people, it turns out — want tablet-as-entertainment.
And surprisingly, that makes the choice easier than you’d think.

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What's a Winner?

Does best have to be better?
- By Geoffrey Morrison
- Posted December 2, 2011
- 1
I need your help. Maybe you can explain something to me.
Why do we need winners? I’m not talking about sports and such; I mean with A/V gear, movies, video games, etc. How many articles and forum posts have you seen that proclaim one object the winner over another?
What is behind this desire to declare a winner when there’s no competition being fought?

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Review: Kindle Fire

The other tablet
- By Geoffrey Morrison
- Posted November 21, 2011
- 1
It began, as so many things do, with Star Trek. Premiering just days after my 9th birthday, Star Trek: The Next Generation instilled unto me to many of the core principles I still hold dear: people working together can solve anything; when in doubt, scan; and, of course, bald dudes rule.
It was the technology that really wowed my young mind: the ship, the transporters, the replicators, and especially the tricorders all were added to my permanent Christmas list. Sadly, none of those yet exist (damn you, science!), but the P.A.D.D., barely more than set dressing, is perhaps the first Star Tech that you can actually buy.
And by any measure, that makes tablets fracking cool.

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