echo Archive

Audio News for March 13, 2017

Wolf Cinema Announces Series of 4K Video Projectors for the Home –  This maker of high-performance home cinema projectors has announced the release of four 4K imaging home projectors. Three use the sixth-generation three-chip D-ILA light engine technologies; plus there is a flagship laser/phosphor 4K/UHD projector. All may stand alone or by mated with two […]

Audio News for February 28, 2017

Home Electronics Spying on You? –  The convenience of your Amazon Echo and Google Home could come at a cost, according to some security experts. The “wake word” is either “Alexa” for the Echo or “Hey, Google” for Google Home, but in order to recognize those words, the two devices are, by definition, listening to […]

Audio News for February 17, 2017

Your Next Home Phone May Be an Echo or Google Home – Both Amazon and Google are reportedly looking into bringing speakerphone functionality to their smart little speakers. It’s the next local step for increasingly popular devices, and one some consumers have asked for. The current roadblocks are concerns about privacy, telecom regulations, access to […]

Audio News for January 13, 2017

Things Alexa Cannot Yet Do – The shortfall of Alexa’s IFTT integration is the lack of any actions whatsoever. You cannot complete a task for have Alexa play a tune. You must divide every command into its own statement – no trying to get Alexa to do more than one thing at a time. There […]

Audio News for December 30 2016

The 2016 Year in Classical Music –  Two of the most influential musicians of both centuries took their final curtain calls during 2016: Pierre Boulez (who blew minds in conservative classical music with his compositions) and Nikolaus Harnoncourt, the Austrian cellist, conductor, music researcher and founder of historic performance practice.  Also deceased was Peter Maxwell […]

RAVEL: Miroirs; Gaspard de la Nuit; Pavane pour une infant defunte – Ragna Schirmer, p. – Belvedere

RAVEL: Miroirs; Gaspard de la Nuit; Pavane pour une infant defunte – Ragna Schirmer, p. – Belvedere

RAVEL: Miroirs; Gaspard de la Nuit; Pavane pour une infant defunte – Ragna Schirmer, p. – Belvedere 08002, 60:10 (11/4/16)  [Distr. by Naxos] ****: An excellent Ravel interpretation, though a strange cover.  Ragna Schirmer has won the highly regarded International Bach Competition in Leipzig twice and been the recipient of Germany’s top classical music award, […]

Audio News for November 15, 2016

Battle Between Amazon Echo and Google Home Device – The artificial intelligence home platform is the place where the two gadgets are duking it out. The Echo ($179) is larger but the two sound similar, but both are only mono unless you plug them into a stereo system. The Google Home is $129 and looks […]

Audio News for Tuesday, November 8, 2016

75% of Japanese Want Hacker Protection for Devices – Japanese consumers are very concerned about hacker attacks on the smart electronics in their homes. Most want an automated update service that prevents unauthorized access to data in devices over the Net. Electronica Trend Index 2020 surveyed 7000 consumers in seven countries and the Japanese consumers […]

“Shadow, Echo, Memory” = NW U. Cello Ensemble – Music by ZACHARY WADSWORTH, GABRIEL FAURÉ, MICHAEL VAN DER SLOOT, RACHMANINOV, AARON JAY KERNIS, LIGETI, HANS THOMALLA and MAHLER – Sono Luminus

“Shadow, Echo, Memory” = NW U. Cello Ensemble – Music by ZACHARY WADSWORTH, GABRIEL FAURÉ, MICHAEL VAN DER SLOOT, RACHMANINOV, AARON JAY KERNIS, LIGETI, HANS THOMALLA and MAHLER – Sono Luminus

“Shadow, Echo, Memory” = NW U. Cello Ens. – Music by ZACHARY WADSWORTH, GABRIEL FAURÉ, MICHAEL VAN DER SLOOT, SERGEI RACHMANINOV, AARON JAY KERNIS, GYÖRGY LIGETI, HANS THOMALLA and GUSTAV MAHLER (TrackList follows) Hans Jorgen Jensen, dir. – Sonos Luminus SLE-70004 CD, TT: 63:05 (7/9/16) *****:  Hauntingly beautiful cello music. This disc was an unexpected […]

Audio News for September 20, 2016

Amazon’s Echo is Taking Over the World – The $180 small cylindrical speaker is much more than that, and there is a new $50 version called the Dot which can also be used with existing audio systems, and software which keeps multiple units from answering your voice commands. Amazon is building its Alexa army, tied […]

Audio News for September 6, 2016

Amazon Wants to Lower Music Streaming Prices Like It Did Books – Amazon is considering offering it own music streaming subscription service which would only work on their Echo voice-assisted small speaker at only $5 a month instead of the now-industry standard of $10 a month rate. The record labels exchanged their physical CDs for […]