http://www.ecoustics.com/latest/articles Latest articles, updated every five minutes http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/guide/279 Your new home office has fresh drywall from floor to ceiling, a fragrant new patch of short-nap carpet, and a window that looks out on the backyard garden. Now you just a need a spot to put that computer. And the printer. And all those papers. And the phone.Maybe it’s time for some furniture.But before you make a trip to the local office store and come back with a minivan full of flat-packed particleboard, it’s worth doing a little research and planning. We’ve broken down the key elements to any office, explained some of the key factors you should weight when picking them out, and given a few of our favorites....Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/guide/250 Henry Ford famously joked in 1909 that customers could order their Model Ts in whatever color they wanted – so long as it was black. And about ten years ago, that was pretty much the status of the notebook industry. Buying a laptop meant picking out a boring grey slab with the best bundle of specs. But as this particular segment of the market has blown up, so too, have your choices. Once-grey slabs now come in all shapes, sizes, colors and materials, making them as much an expression of individuality and fashion as cars have become. Take a look at the apex of modern-day laptop design with 10 of the finest examples on the market today....Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Wed, 06 May 2009 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/guide/210 Radio certainly has come a long way since the days of the dial. Aside from fancier presets, and the presence of pushbuttons, free music is no longer constricted to the car or a tiny transistor set. Don’t worry about huddling around a boombox or even the computer. Thanks to advances in technology, there are now plenty of ways to listen to radio, without having to sample the snaps, crackles and pops that are a trademark of the medium.HD RadioDespite what many people think, the HD in HD Radio does not stand for “high definition.” However, like its TV counterpart, this is a digital format, with the HD meaning “hybrid digital.” That means that HD Radio stations br...Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Fri, 06 Feb 2009 03:00:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/guide/202 So you couldn’t cough up $3,100 for Super Bowl XLIII tickets and another grand for a flight to Tampa Bay. Looks like the Steelers will have to battle the Cardinals without their number one fan in the stands. But don’t lose hope for an amazing Super Bowl. A few wisely spent bucks can turn your disheveled living room into the place to be on Super Bowl Sunday, and you when it’s all over, you can doze off peacefully in the comfort of your own recliner with a Bud in your hand that you didn’t even pay $10 for. From beer-cooling gadgets to even bigger TVs to shout at, here are a few Super Bowl tech essentials.TiVo...Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:00:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/feature/101 So you couldn’t cough up $3,100 for Super Bowl XLIII tickets and another grand for a flight to Tampa Bay. Looks like the Steelers will have to battle the Cardinals without their number one fan in the stands. But don’t lose hope for an amazing Super Bowl. A few wisely spent bucks can turn your disheveled living room into the place to be on Super Bowl Sunday, and you when it’s all over, you can doze off peacefully in the comfort of your own recliner with a Bud in your hand that you didn’t even pay $10 for. From beer-cooling gadgets to even bigger TVs to shout at, here are a few Super Bowel tech essentials.TiV...Read | Permalink | Linking Blogs Tue, 27 Jan 2009 03:00:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/23648/ I travel some and have a hard time hearing my music and videos on the airplanes. What I have found is that with a simple Portable Audio Amplifier I can amplify and enhance the sound quality to a much better level. There are a couple of different options when it comes to Portable Headphone Audio Amplifiers. One is the Boostaroo , which has the ability to will double the available volume from your audio player and separate the audio signal into individual stereo channels to drive 3 separate sets of headphones or speakers. Naturally it will depend on the ohm rating of your headphones, but the Boostaroo can increase the volume of your player by 100% with no more than a 0.3% harmonic distortion. If you are watching or listening to something that two or tree people want to hear I highly recommend the Boostaroo . If you are looking for something that improves the sound quality for MP3 MP4 Players Computers or Mobile Phones when using earphones or headphones and not so much into sharing the audio with others and are wanting a more quality for an awesome personal listening experience right between your ears I recommend the FiiO... Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:45:09 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/hemag/articles/20288 "Build a theater around this," the wife said to First Impressions Theme Theaters' founder and theater designer Jeff Smith, as she handed him a sample of animal-print carpeting. Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:34:39 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/talk/254 I’ve been looking at Microsoft’s new Equipt offering which bundles Microsoft Office Home & Student, Windows Live OneCare, Office Live Workdspace, and Windows Live Services (Mail, Messenger, and Photo Gallery) into a $70 annual subscription for 3 PCs. I’ve been using most of this solution largely by accident for several months now on my Dell One and I find it does pretty much all I want to do with a productivity package and I haven’t really even used Workspace or Photo Gallery yet. That’s a little under $6 a month for a typical house of PCs for the basics.But this got me thinking about where the future of this wi... Tue, 08 Jul 2008 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/23009/ Have you ever been watching your DLP TV and see this message come accros the screen? “TV will shut down in a few seconds. Please check if the air flow is blocked ” Not only is this a scary thing to see your TV say, but it can be confusing and sometimes hard to determine why this is happening. The reason you are getting this notice is because for some reason the lamp is getting too hot. This can cause a lot of damage if the TV does not shut down and will lead to early and costly replacemnt of your lamp. If you ever see this message the first thing to do is make sure something has not been placed in front of the air vents on your TV. On a Mitsubishi DLP TV the vents are on the lower left side of the TV. It basically looks like a screen on the side of your TV. Other models may have the air vents elsewhere. Make sure there is nothing blocking that area. If something is remove it and see if you see thiscome up again. If nothing is, then you may have a problem with dust build up... Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:00:09 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/18306/ In Parts 1 and 2 of this series, we discussed many things: the standby power supply, main power supply, horizontal and vertical deflection circuits, degaussing, and tuners. In Part 3 of this series, we will discuss the IF (Intermediate Frequency), AGC (Automatic Gain Control), sound IF, sound amplification, and the remote control circuits of the basic television set. IF (Intermediate Frequency) Circuits The most important feature of the IF amplifier is selectivity. Selectivity is the process of allowing only the desired frequencies to pass, while rejecting all others. There will be about three or four separate amplifier stages in a color TV IF circuit. By amplifying the signal in stages, the amounts of distortion in the IF signal waveform are reduced. The IF stages of a color TV set are fixed-tuned to a single IF frequency. Both the video and audio IF signals travel together through the IF amplifiers. The IF amplifiers need to have a bandwidth of at least 4.5 MHz, if amplification stages range from 41 MHz to 46 MHz. Traps through the circuits are used to attenuate transmission of the video carrier of the next higher channel, sound carrier of the current channel, and the sound carrier... Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:30:05 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/20396/ All or most service providers are offering the Motorola V3 for practically free nowadays. What really gets people though is the colors offered. Some offer black, others offer blue, but it seems none offer them "all". This tutorial explains the process to take apart your current V3 and customize it to your liking. For many reasons, the image quality has been reduced. For a PDF version, shoot me an email! All materials can be found at a cell phone parts store - try CNN.CN WARNING! Before reading any of this tutorial, please make sure to review your phone warranty. Opening up and/or tampering with stock phones may result in a void of warranty. Use this tutorial at your own discretion, and if for any reason you aren't comfortable with opening up your phone, bring it to the attention of a professional. Now to begin, we must start off with the proper tools. Here is a complete list of what I used: 1. Motorola RAZR 2. New OEM Gold Battery Cover 3. Rubber Stopper 4. Keypad 5. New OEM Gold Faceplate 6. Black Mouthpiece 7. New OEM Gold Mouthpiece Bezel 8. Soft Card (Cut Up Gift Card) 9. Two Hinge Nuts... Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:45:08 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/talk/228 We are in the final countdown to this year's Consumer Electronics Show, one of the largest trade shows in the world. Here are a few products that look to be hot at the show. We will be writing more about them as they are announced next week. Automotive ElectronicsThis is where you go to see really crazy stuff. Traditionally in this part of the show they have cars that are rolling showcases of audio and video technology. In past years I’ve seen 4x4s with flat panel displays on the axils and in the wheels, cars where the engines have been removed and replaced with amplifiers, and things that looked like they once were cars but now look like some sort of mutated Transformer. Whil... Fri, 04 Jan 2008 03:00:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/19536/ No doubt you've seen those big, sophisticated-looking cameras that professional photographers and hard-core enthusiasts use. Perhaps you've heard the term "SLR" and know that it refers to those big cameras. But what exactly is an SLR camera, and how is it any different (besides being so bulky) from the little digital cameras many people carry around in their pockets? This article will introduce you to SLR cameras, specifically digital SLRs. We'll help you understand what these technical marvels can do and why you may—or may not—want to invest in one. What is an SLR Camera? SLR stands for "Single Lens Reflex," and it refers to a class of cameras. Other examples of camera classes would be "Point and Shoot" (P/S) cameras, "Prosumer" cameras, integrated cameras (like in cell phones), pinhole cameras, etc. While there are many variations among SLR cameras, they all have a couple of important things that make them part of the SLR class. First, unlike P/S cameras, SLR cameras have two distinct, detachable parts: a body, and a lens. The body, also called a "back" by photographers, contains the brains and the controls of the camera. If it’s a traditional SLR camera, film’s contained in the body ... Wed, 24 Oct 2007 12:26:14 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/19410/ Someday, I hope portable music lovers figure it out... you don't have to settle for the crappy headphones that came with your player! In the world of headphones, you can do much, much better. At the very least, a ten to twenty dollar pair of headphones is a cheap way to get a heck of a lot more enjoyment out of your music. The problem: take those regular ol' headphones anywhere else but your quiet living room or the public library, and you'll realize your true enemy... the world. Before you go running around on a Hulk-like destructive rampage against all things not you, let me clarify. The real enemy to on-the-go enjoyment of music is all the background noise created by "the world." Since you can't go around telling people to shut up, put out roadblocks to stop cars from passing by, or tell the flight attendant to make the plane quieter without severe repercussions, we'll have to find another way to muzzle the outside environment. And as luck would have it... noise cancelling headphones do just that. What are Noise Cancelling Headphones? Noise cancelling headphones do exactly what the name implies... cancel noise through a process called " ... Thu, 04 Oct 2007 20:30:19 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/talk/208 The digital music battle just got a lot more interesting.Granted, the Apple and AT&T partnership isn't particularly strong. (AT&T is basically a new company with an old name and the relationship is really with Cingular, one of the least-liked of the carriers.) But on the other hand, when it comes to power in their respective areas, Apple and AT&T are unmatched in terms of scale and market share.Then again, RealNetworks is arguably second only to iTunes in terms of user experience, and is actually broader with a variety of partnerships with firms like Sonos and SanDisk. Verizon is believed to be the best data provider in the US in terms of consistent performance and coverage, and is one of the best-liked by c... Tue, 21 Aug 2007 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/feature/75 Professional gaming is something many guys and gals wielding an Xbox 360 controller or PC mouse can only dream about when Monday rolls around and they head off to their day jobs. For Johnathan Wendel, who goes by the gaming handle “Fatal1ty,” gaming is actually a full-time career which has netted him a lot of cash ($150,000 alone in one competition, for example), corporate sponsorships and the unveiling of his own PC-based gaming gear. Wendel, who specializes in crushing his opponents via the first person shooter genre, got into professional gaming in 1999 and has rapidly become one of the best gamers in the world. Wendel recently took some time from his gaming practices to chat it up with Digital Trends regarding his winning... Mon, 26 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/14696/ Many car amplifiers are incorrectly diagnosed and sent in for repair/returned because of incorrect hookup. Sometimes the amp itself really is at fault. Here are a few common problems and what can be done to troubleshoot, as well as fix them (my fixes are the most common. They are not definitive in any way. Your amplifier could have a... Sun, 13 Aug 2006 12:50:04 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/13667/ Virtually every one of us carries around one or more electronic devices for that occasion we may need it. Examples include having a cell phone with you in case of emergency, or a Game Boy for when you get stuck waiting in a long line. However, Murphy's Law states that anytime you really need a portable device to work for you, the battery will be dead... Thu, 20 Apr 2006 16:48:35 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/11416/ I thought it'd be easy, but it wasn't.The first thing I ran into is that my model number isn't in any of their drop-down selection boxes on samsung.com. If you browse to www.samsung.com, select "Products -> TV -> DLP TV", and then either browse or drop down the "Select Model" combo box, you'll find HL-R4677W, but not HL-R4667W. Very frustrating. Yeah, you'd like to think that they'd just be interchangeable, but no...Compare them at HL-R4667W and HL-R4677W on samsung.com, and tell me the difference! Other than that the 4677 sports the "ultra slim bezel cabinet", so it's a little smaller overall for the same picture size and is a few hundred bucks more, I don't see the practical difference. Maybe someone more educated than I am in the ways of the TV (or more patient to sift through the technical specs) can explain why I should care.But here's when I *know* you want to care... They use two different lamps, which means that you'd be ordering different parts, depending on which TV you're ordering. So, quickly, I'll share the bottom line, then I want to focus on the process I went through to find ... Tue, 21 Jun 2005 01:38:43 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/11336/ While a thermostat may seem like a pretty mundane consumer electronics device, it was a great addition to my home theater. The thermostat in my family room is mounted on the same wall that my home theater system is on (TV, speakers, components, etc.). The thermostat is less than 12 inches away from my amplifier, which has been known to put out a little heat from time to time. This would wreak havoc on the temperature in the room. When the amplifier was on, the room was too cold. If I adjusted the thermostat to compensate, the room would be too warm when I had the amplifier off.Of course, the obvious answer would be to move the thermostat. However, the only interior wall (which is where all thermostats should be placed) is the wall my home theater system is on, and it takes up the entire wall. Instead of attempting to rewire the thermostat to a new location (and patch the wall where it was moved from), I turned to technology for a solution.There are a couple of remote control thermostats on the market for residential use. The one I purchased is Carrier branded thermostat. However, I believe I ... Thu, 09 Jun 2005 23:39:47 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/10531/ Question: I just bought a Memorex MMP8500 mp3 player for my son. I installed the software, but it does not bring up a Removable Disc Drive for me to use for copying songs from Real Player. Any idea how I can get that RDD to come up? -submitted by gmlarson Answer: As a note for everyone learning to use their MP3 players, not all players will prompt as a removeable disc in Windows, especially when they require a proprietary program to transfer music (Sony's NetMD MiniDisc players for example). The MMP8500 does allow access as a removeable disc drive, which does not require Real Player to transfer songs that are not copy protected. According to Memorex, both the internal memory and external SD/MMC card should be available as disc drives. If you're not seeing the device when connected, here are the possible reasons why: If you're using Windows XP, I would try removing the device driver you installed from the CD, reboot, and reconnect the device. Windows should assign its generic USB Mass Storage driver, and create a Removeable Disc Drive icon in My Computer. Memorex notes that changing the installation path of their software could interfere with ... Wed, 02 Feb 2005 00:22:42 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/10309/ It's no secret that it takes a lot of knowledge to truly understand the world of home audio, which is littered with confusing numbers and terms. Wattage, current, distortion, frequencies, and impedance are just a few of the specifications anyone looking for an amplifier of home theater receiver is going to come across. With the thousands of choices in each category, it takes a little bit of background to use these specifications to make a great choice. In steps the watt... Evaluating and stating the wattage of an amplifier has become the single most important number to the amplifier shopper. Unfortunately, wattage is a highly misunderstood specification, which dupes people into buying products with a level of performance much lower than what is anticipated. 100 watts seems to be the magic number for most, thinking that as long as you have 100 of them, and no less, they'll be fine. However, even passenger side www on your car states that things aren't always as they appear. To be fair, wattage is an important number that can give a clear understanding of an amplifiers performance. A Watt, named after the British scientist James Watt, is a unit of power. And ... Tue, 14 Dec 2004 10:13:18 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/10047/ Why better cables?In 1979, a man named Noel Lee made a discovery. He determined that different cable materials impacted the sound when used to connect speakers to amplifiers. Noel used his discovery and crafted a special speaker wire using the name Monster Cable. This cable had a profound effect on the audio world. At the time, speakers were connected with the same wire used in household electrical appliances known as lamp cord. Today, Monster Cable has become a generic term for high quality cable, similar to the Kleenex brand of tissue. Since the inception of quality cable, hundreds of manufacturers have evolved to research and design quality interconnects for audio and video equipment. Without Lee and his efforts in the research and design of quality cables, the performance of your electronics would never be fully realized.Devices you buy for your home A/V system don't work if you just plug them into the wall. They need to be connected to the rest of your components in order to carry the output signals to where they need to go. Take a VCR for example: VCRs have an audio and video signal that goes out when you play a tape. These signals leave ... Tue, 14 Dec 2004 10:13:14 -0500