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ELAC Alchemy DPA-2

POWER AMPLIFIER

TV TRENDS OF CES 2021

THE ANNUAL CES trade show put on by the Consumer Technology Association was an “all-digital” event for 2021. On the plus side, that allowed us to report on the show from the comfort of our homes dressed in hoodies and sweatpants instead of suits.

Mini-LED Made Affordable

IN LATE 2019, TCL flew me to the company’s U.S. offices in California to spend an afternoon with its new flagship, the 75Q825 8-Series Roku LCD Ultra HDTV, a 75-inch 4K model.

Monolith by Monoprice M-TWE True Wireless Earbuds

Noise Cancellation Customized Monoprice is an affordable direct-to-consumer brand, and its Monolith product line features sophisticated A/V gear including speakers, amps, surround sound processors, and now the new Monolith M-TWE earbuds.

The End of Analog

Q Over the years, I’ve discovered that sound and vision are two distinct camps in the home theater realm, and it’s best to keep them separated due to constantly changing video formats.

HEADPHONES AT CES 2021

Once upon a time, CES was a huge show for audio but those days are long gone and showed no signs of returning in the virtual world that was CES 2021, with one possible exception: wireless headphones, a category that has made incredible strides in just the past year or so.

Control Central

ANY NEW surround sound processor circa-2021 is bound to have a heap of demands placed upon it. Along with support for the latest immersive audio formats—Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, etc.—there’s music streaming, Auto EQ/room correction, and HDMI video switching of the latest 4K/ high dynamic range video formats.

How Napoleon Bonaparte Invented the Compact Disc

You can admit it. You are intrigued. Of course, it can’t be true. But is it purely nonsensical? Is it a “pigs can fly” kind of declaration? Or is there someway, somehow, a grain of truth in it? And if that’s the case, how on earth could you conceivably connect the dots between the Little Corporal and the Compact Disc?

Bass is the Place

AS SOMEONE who appreciates the benefit deep bass brings to music and movie soundtracks, I’ve come to accept that having a box the size of a small refrigerator in my living room is a reality of life I need to contend with.

Evolution of the App

The introduction of the iPhone in 2007—or, more specifically, Apple opening its App Store to third-party developers in 2008—turned out to be one of the most consequential developments ever to hit the home automation market.

Got Livestream If You Want It

A year into the pandemic, the improved quality of livestream concerts is helping to bridge the gap between artists and their socially distanced fans.

A Mighty Mini

Mankind has steadily sought to produce more and deeper bass from smaller and smaller enclosures ever since the first Neolithic audiophile blew through a conch shell and thought, “Damn, I wish this thing went lower, louder!”

TRUE WIRELESS NOISE–CANCELLING HEADPHONES

Upgrade your iPhone, iPad, or Mac audio and rid your surroundings of unwanted noise

Razer Kiyo Pro

A flawed gem of a camera for Mac users

CRAVE

THE GEAR WE’RE LUSTING AFTER

Bluesound Pulse Sub+ Subwoofer

Out of Sight Sound What’s the one thing lacking in even the best soundbar? If you said “deep, realistic, room-filling, floor-pounding bass,” then you are absolutely correct.

iPad Pro

Next–gen arrives with M1, Liquid Retina XDR, 5G, and Thunderbolt

Podcasts revamped

APPLE HAS UNVEILED a redesigned Podcasts app, podcast channels, and Apple Podcasts Subscriptions, a global marketplace for listeners to discover premium subscriptions offered by their favorite creators alongside the millions of free shows available.

Apple TV 4K

Now with 60fps HDR and all–new remote

AirTag

Use Find My to track stuff and find lost items

SPOTIFY CO-OWNER EK SAYS KROENKES REJECT BID TO BUY ARSENAL

Spotify co-owner Daniel Ek says a bid to buy Arsenal has been rejected by the Kroenke family which owns the London-based Premier League club.

TALKING TO THE MOON: EUROPE PITCHES LUNAR SATELLITES PLAN

The European Space Agency presented a vision to put satellites in orbit around the moon that would facilitate future missions to Earth’s closest neighbor.

REPORT: MICROSOFT INVESTIGATED GATES BEFORE HE LEFT BOARD

Board members at Microsoft Corp. made a decision in 2020 that it wasn’t appropriate for its co-founder Bill Gates to continue sitting on its board as they investigated the billionaire’s prior romantic relationship with a female Microsoft employee that was deemed inappropriate, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

FOUNDER OF TIKTOK'S CHINESE OWNER STEPPING DOWN AS CEO

The founder of TikTok’s Chinese owner said Thursday he will give up his job as CEO to focus on longer-term initiatives, a step that comes amid uncertainty over whether the Biden administration will force the sale of the popular short video service’s U.S. arm.

RUSSIA WON'T BLOCK TWITTER, BUT PARTIAL SLOWDOWN TO CONTINUE

Russian authorities backed away from threats to block Twitter, saying that the social media platform deleted most of the banned content identified by Moscow and expressed “readiness and interest in building a constructive dialogue.”

STELLANTIS, FOXCONN TEAM UP TO MAKE CARS MORE CONNECTED

Carmaker Stellantis and Taiwan’s Foxconn announced plans to develop a jointly operated automotive supplier focusing on technology to make vehicles more connected, including artificial intelligence-based applications and 5-G communications.

COLONIAL PIPELINE CONFIRMS IT PAID $4.4M TO HACKERS

The operator of the nation’s largest fuel pipeline confirmed it paid $4.4 million to a gang of hackers who broke into its computer systems.

FTC SUES FRONTIER FOR DELIVERING INTERNET THAT'S TOO SLOW

The Federal Trade Commission and six states are suing Frontier Communications for not delivering the internet speeds it promised customers and charging them for better, more expensive service than they actually got.

DAIMLER TRUCK TO SHIFT SPENDING TO BATTERY, HYDROGEN RIGS

Daimler’s truck and bus division says it plans to shift most of its vehicle development resources to zero-emission vehicles by 2025 and predicts that battery and hydrogen-powered trucks could be competitive with diesels on cost later this decade.

AMAZON TO EXTEND PAUSE ON POLICE USE OF FACIAL RECOGNITION

Amazon said that it will extend its ban on police use of its face-recognition technology beyond the one-year pause it announced last year.