New LG Personal Smart-TV & Game Portal – LG Electronics has unveiled a personal smart-TV with IPS LCD technology, Cinema 3D and Cinema Screen design. The 27-inch set is positioned for bedrooms and dorms, with many interactive and connected features. It provides a user-friendly way to search, purchase and play both 2D and 3D game apps. LG’s SmartShare technology is a gateway allowing users to browse and share files with laptops, smartphones and external hard drives. Silicon Image’s Mobile High-Def Link (MHL) allows display of photos and playing of games from smartphones to the TV while the phone is charging, and Intel’s Wireless Display (WiDi) makes wireless screen sharing with laptops more convenient. The screen is based on in-plane-switching technology (IPS) which offers hi-def images at wide viewing angles, and there is a motion- and wheel-controlled Magic Remote.
Streamlined Vibration Isolation for Sensitive High-End Audio Devices – Vibration isolation has become crucial to preserving the highest quality audio playback. Turntables are especially sensitive to even the most subtle vibrations (in the range of 2Hz to 20KHz), but any playback or electronic components can be affected by vibration. Also, those engaged in audio restoration and archival work need to experience sound as it was originally recorded, without further coloration. Third-party air-based vibration isolators have become a popular accessory, but the more high-end versions of these have a power pump (usually in another room) to supply the pressurized air to the isolator. Special professional vibration isolators used mainly under electronic microscopes are being used by some audiophile users. Others have used less expensive maple wood blocks, but they can have their own resonances. Minus K Technology has developed a simpler, more reliable and better system which operates in a purely passive mechanical mode without motors or pumps. Their approach is called negative-stiffness, and the devices promise a significant advance in high-end audio sonic quality. The isolators are handled by Minus K Technology, Inc., Inglewood, CA, and pricing is in the $2000-$3000 area.
People Prefer to View Online Video on Their PCs – A Connected TV study by NPD Group found that although more people are turning to their connected TV to watch online video content, about 48% of Americans use a laptop to watch their online content, with slightly fewer doing it on a desktop computer. The most popular fare are movies and previously-aired TV shows—essentially using the online content as a DVR to review programming they were unable to see in real time. 44% said they had no desire to watch instead on a TV, and 30% said they didn’t have the equipment to view online content on their TV. However, 33% said they would be interested to do so if their TV could connect to the Internet.
Wayne Shorter – In Memoriam
Rememberance of the artist