http://www.ecoustics.com/latest/articles Latest articles, updated every five minutes http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/guide/113 With football season heading into the final sprint and basketball season warming up, sports fans are heading online in droves to catch the latest news, analysis, opinions while certainly not shying away from wanting to express their own opinions. Fans can always browse to traditional popular sports destinations such as ESPN.com or SI.com, but let’s review what new innovations from the Web 2.0 movement such as social networking and social news has brought to the world of sports news. We’re going to take a look at several sites incorporating more social features while trying to immerse you into their sports community.   ... Wed, 02 Jan 2008 03:00:00 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/14691/ Maybe you're at Best Buy... Maybe you're surfing the internet... Maybe you're browsing through a Crutchfield magazine... all in hopes of finding a head unit that fits you. I find that the major reason one head unit brand is more expensive than another is... Tue, 05 Sep 2006 15:08:24 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/dt/feature/60 Have you ever wondered where the data for your favorite map-based GPS unit comes from? Who really does all of that work to make sure the road you are driving down doesn’t plunge you off a cliff? Meet Mark Vermeys, a geographic field analyst for Tele Atlas. If you know anything about GPS devices, you’re probably familiar with Tele Atlas. This international corporation, which has its American headquarters in Boston, provides the GPS data for an array of device manufacturers, such as TomTom, Pharos and Navman, automobile makers i... Mon, 14 Aug 2006 03:00:00 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/14694/ This has two very useful purposes: 1) It can possibly provide a cheaper way of getting audio into your room and 2) Testing a head unit to be sure it works, and possibly even taking pics to post on ebay (I've found my head units sell better when the consumer sees that it is Sat, 12 Aug 2006 03:08:30 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/14690/ So you're tired of the stock stereo that came with your car due to it's lack of features, sound quality, or just overall flexibility. Time to upgrade. I will provide a brief overview of how to install an aftermarket head unit, however, my main intent is to dispel some common problems that seem to accompany amateur installations. Sat, 12 Aug 2006 03:07:07 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/13265/ I've finally moved my phone service into the 21st century. I couldn't help it. Of course, if you compare the $25/mo unlimited plan to my existing equivalent $90/mo SBC plan (to be fair, I'm also redesigning the need for a $20/mo fax line out of my life) also made the choice pretty easy. They even threw in a $200 phone and a free month's service for signing up at the show.So, now I'm up on Vonage, and I thought I'd share some a little about my experience in the last week...First of all, the free phone is the Uniden UIP1869V VoIP phone system. It's one of these phone deals that allows you to add on 5.8GHz wireless headsets all day long, and only use one (in this case) network connection. I like the form-factor of the handheld unit, and it does a fair job of synching up (via USB cable) with Outlook contacts, etc. The big drawback is that the base of the silly thing is corded. How dumb is that! I can't remember the last corded phone I purchased. But no big deal, it ended up down in my command center being a gateway for my ... Tue, 24 Jan 2006 22:50:07 -0500 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/11874/ Hi everyone. I thought I would post this because I hear so many people driving around that obviously don't know how to do this. When setting up your head unit(radio), the goal is to have all of your speakers playing at the Thu, 18 Aug 2005 14:59:10 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/11246/ I finally saw the final(?) installment of Star Wars. Instead of heading to my normal theater, I took the opportunity to see it in DLP (Digital Projection). Back in 1999 I saw Star Wars Episode I in DLP at the same theater, so this provided me the opportunity to see how far things have come in the past few years.Let me say first that Digital is the future. This should be obvious to nearly everyone already, but there are several major advantages to digital projection. Clean Print - With digital, the first viewing is the same as the last. With film, the quality degrades with every viewing. The film can break, get dusty, etc. Distribution Cost - Creating all the prints for each theater is expensive. With digital projection, there is almost zero incremental cost per theater. Distribution Breadth - Because of the reduced costs, it will be possible (which is not to say that it WILL happen) for studios provide a much wider distribution for small films. Theaters will be able to show a greater variety of movies on their screens (although the latest blockbuster will still probably be on 20 screens).But the future is not today. ... Thu, 26 May 2005 13:45:39 -0400 http://www.ecoustics.com/tl/10068/ Thinking About Power Protection If you've laid down your hard-earned cash on a new home theater system and not thought about power protection, then you're missing an important piece of the puzzle. If you think that the $4.99 power strip from your local hardware store is protecting your hardware, think again. The performance of your system could be crippled without adequate power filtration, not to mention that equipment killing power surges are pounding your gear every single day. There is hope. It's time to ditch that power strip and get on board with a real home theater power protection unit. As you look around for quality surge protectors, you will become aware that there are many different kinds out there. So many, in fact, that it could make your head spin. With the proper knowledge you can select the right power protection unit for your system. Read on to learn why power protection is important, and what the different kinds of devices out there can do to help you. Why Power Protection is Important First of all, the electricity that flows through our homes is dirty. If power were water, it would be filled with nasty things like mud, bacteria, ... Tue, 14 Dec 2004 10:13:14 -0500