Leslie Shapiro

Listening to The 2012 Grammy Awards

Music’s biggest night, overshadowed by the loss of one of the music world's brightest stars

By Leslie Shapiro
Posted February 13, 2012
1

The 2012 Grammy Awards — "music’s biggest night" — was certainly a unique evening of entertainment. As Reba (when did she lose her last name?) pointed out, it brought together so many different aspects of the music industry. Where else would you find hip-hop newbies rubbing elbows with old-school crooners?

» Read More

TiVo and DirecTV: Reunited, and it Feels so Good

Star-crossed lovers — or a marriage made in heaven?

By Leslie Shapiro
Posted February 15, 2012
3

Tristan and Isolde, Romeo and Juliet, Rachel and Ross, Brad and Angelina, Mac and Cheese. All great couples. Each individual may be fine on their own, but together — well, they’re magic. Okay, so a few end up dead, but if it’s written in the stars, then so be it.

» Read More

AfterShokz earphones worn by Michael

AfterShokz Aftershocks

Following up with some different applications for these innovative bone-conduction headphones

By Leslie Shapiro
Posted February 27, 2012

When I first saw the AfterShokz headphones at the 2012 International CES, I knew the company was onto something. Instead of going in or over the ear, these use bone conduction technology, borrowed from the Navy SEALs. AfterShokz rest in front of the ear, and use the jawbone to convey sound into the middle ear. I had a suspicion my father —a retired electrical engineer with a background in aeronautics, an audiophile from way back, and one of the original gadget gurus —would love them.

» Read More

Oscars Audio Guy

Listen Up: The 2012 Academy Awards

And the Oscar for worst sound goes to… the Oscars!

By Leslie Shapiro
Posted February 27, 2012
1

While most folks were talking about either Angelina Jolie’s leg, or J-Lo’s alleged wardrobe malfunction, many people noticed a more glaring problem during the broadcast of the 2012 Academy Awards. While the show is generally a model of excellence in production, almost immediately viewers noticed a problem with the audio feed.

» Read More

Harman Dock and Go

New Gear: Harman’s Dock+Go Personalized Dashboard

An integrated car system that uses the steering wheel as a dock.

By Leslie Shapiro
Posted March 8, 2012
1

Who says Switzerland is known only for chocolates, cheese, and watches? There’s plenty of exciting news coming from the 2012 Geneva Motor Show.

» Read More

Listen up: John Carter

The Red Planet is a barren wasteland. This movie is somewhat better.

By Leslie Shapiro
Posted March 12, 2012

A Princess of Mars was the first serial novel published by adventure writer Edgar Rice Burroughs (the Tarzan guy) almost exactly 100 years ago. It’s a classic tale: Civil War veteran is mysteriously transported into the midst of two warring cultures, of course, with a beautiful woman to be saved. Hmm, countless sci-fi films and more than a few Western flicks have borrowed that theme. Most recently and notably, James Cameron has said that A Princess of Mars (which he read as a child) was his inspiration for Avatar. Here’s the problem: Once so many others have copied it, the original feels — oddly enough — derivative. Despite all that, Disney gambled that Princess had enough life left to kickstart a new franchise.

» Read More

Review: iFrogz Boost

The little connection-free speaker claims to be "magical". . . it's more like "practical."

By Leslie Shapiro
Posted April 5, 2012
1

The iFrogz Boost is a small, very portable speaker that claims to magically boost the sound from an iPhone, or any smartphone or other device with an external speaker. I have to be skeptical of any product that uses the word "magical" on their packaging — unless it's a "As Seen on TV" product, which everyone knows are all magical.

» Read More

Pure i-20 and Pro-Ject Dock Box S Digital

Review: Pure i-20 and Pro-Ject Dock Box S Digital

Speaker docks may be all the rage, but is there still a place for an old-fashioned dock with a high-quality DAC?

By Leslie Shapiro
Posted April 12, 2012

We can bemoan the demise of audio quality all we want, but the truth is that good quality audio has always been at our fingertips. If our digital files have sounded bad, it’s because we (and we’re talking consumers and manufacturers) have been too stingy with our storage capacities. Wanting to cram as much music onto our devices as possible, regardless of how badly the signal had to be degraded to get it all in there, we ended up accepting things like 128 kbps MP3 files as passable. But our beloved iPods and iPhones have had the ability to store lossless and high bit-rate audio from the very beginning, as purists have known all along. You just need a way to get your high-quality files out of those little boxes.

» Read More

Everything Big is Small Again: Nyne's New Docks

Forget about your big-screen TV — it’s time to downsize!

By Leslie Shapiro
Posted April 24, 2012
1

For years, TV manufacturers have been striving to make the biggest and best TV displays. Every year in Las Vegas, the Consumer Electronics Show has been a competition to see who could show off the most ridiculously humongous TV screen.

» Read More

Eton Rukus Solar, poolside

Review: Eton Rukus Solar Portable Bluetooth Speaker System

Never-ending fun in the sun

By Leslie Shapiro
Posted May 7, 2012
2

If you’ve ever tried to jazz up a party with the speaker built into your iPhone, you know how pathetic that can sound. These days, everyone is coming out with portable speaker systems (don’t call them boomboxes!) for MP3 players, but they all require one thing: Power. Now, we all love power, but AC power isn’t always available where we want to party (eg. poolside or the beach).

» Read More