Yamaha is headed in the same direction as Apple with its iPod. The NeoHD is a rad departure because it simplifies this arcane form of entertainment. We like the simplified remote, wireless integration of Web/PC content, the activity-based, on-screen menu that lets you choose between Watch, Listen or Play. The Yamaha neoHD YMC-700 WiFi Media Controller ($800) represents a new era in components. Expect many to follow.
A California upstart with an impeccable reputation has once again proven that you can beat the Japanese at their own game. The Oppo BDP-83 ($500) not only plays Blu-ray discs using some of the best design specs, but also handles DVD-Audio and SACD. No wonder this is widely considered the best Blu-ray player to hit the market this year.
This weekend a bunch of geeks descended on an upstate New York store to attend an HDTV shoot out. The top-ranking LCD TV was a big surprise, as Toshiba beat overpriced local-dimming LED competitors Samsung and Sony. The new Toshiba 55SV670U ($3,000), a 55-inch model also available in a 46-inch, the Toshiba 46SV670U ($2,300), was lauded for its accurate colors, excellent black level and decent off-axis viewing.
The Apple iPhone 3GS. What else is there to say? Best interface and surfing experience, and now super-fast too. Best-stocked app store, featuring more than 50,000 apps. But the icing on the iPhone 3GS cake is its stellar video capability, that new voice control and, OK, cut and paste.
The iPhone wins because the [...]
OK, sometimes you need the best of the mundane. And from a site that gives you the scoop on the best flip flops, would you expect anything less? The top-of-the-line in peppermills does not hail from France, as you might suspect. No, it’s made right here in the fabulous U.S.A.
Just like its tech counterparts, the [...]
Continue Reading
RED the company that changed the rules in the HD camcorder business has once again done it. Their new line of RED Epic and Scarlet modular cameras ($3,750 - $53,000) are designed to let you flexibly configure the right gear by combining a “Brain” ranging from 3K to 28K pixels and then adding lenses and [...]
Continue Reading
The new Sony VAIO TT has it all: new Intel SU9400 chip (1.4GHz, 3MB L2 Cache), Blu-ray Disc, 4GB memory, 11.1-inch screen and 2.9-pound weight, plus premium carbon fiber case, of course.
The new Sony VAIO TT offers Blu-ray Disc, LED backlight, and HDMI out, all mated to a 1366×768-pixel screen, which in its 11.1-inch [...]
Continue Reading
Professional-grade SLR cameras are gaining the ability to record high-definition video for the first time. That capability will transform both photography and moviemaking and it’s all thanks to the large sensors these new SLRs are bringing to the hi-def game.
The highly anticipated Canon 5D Mark II shoots 1080p HD video and finally brings near-full-frame viewing [...]
Continue Reading
The JC Report says that Beyoncé and Rihanna are locked in a war of avant-garde looks. There appears to be a game of fashion one-upmanship with both Beyoncé and Rihanna sporting a high-tech that reminds observes of galactic expressions of Grace Jones and Patti Labelle in the ’70s. Since there is very little fresh thinking [...]
Continue Reading
After thorough research, the Denon AVR-2809CI ($1,200) receives our vote as the best AV receiver. Denon is a very popular brand among the audiophile’s inner circle and the Denon AVR-2809CI proves why. Its uncluttered design is complemented by four HDMI inputs, a videophile minimum these days.
Most welcome among Denon AVR-2809CI’s myriad features is the [...]
Continue Reading
A cheap HD tuner, the Sony XDR-F1HD ($87 online) could well be the best radio tuner, period, at any price, says CNET. Unfortunately, even our recommended, state-of-the-art AV receiver, the Denon AVR-2809CI, does not have a built-in HD tuner, so you’re left to your own devices.
Widely considered one of the greatest tuners ever, the Sony [...]
Continue Reading
After spending seven years on Windows, the following post is highly qualified. The aluminum Apple MacBook ($1,600) is unquestionably the best laptop on the market today. Apple has done a great job creating what is perhaps the best-looking and most solid, brick-like in fact, notebook on the market today.
Outstanding features include a 13-inch LED-backlit display [...]
Continue Reading
Gadling just reviewed a new Tom Bihn laptop bag that’s able to pass through U.S. airport security without having to remove one’s laptop. We totally agree with Gadling that this is the best looking laptop bag on the market, particularly in that black/crimson combination.
The Tom Bihn Checkpoint Flyer is not only one of the first [...]
Continue Reading
It’s called the “G6” among cognoscenti. We call it pure fun. The Gulfstream G650 is the latest iteration of the same jet Apple CEO Steve Jobs got for being such a nice guy. If you have a spare $50 million lying around, we can think of no better way to spend it, except…well read below.
While [...]
Continue Reading
Those of you have had the distinct pleasure of flying the MD-80, a plane that ended up orphaned after Boeing acquired McDonnell-Douglas, know that it is the fastest-climbing and quietest plane on the market, particularly when taking off. Like you, I bemoaned the fact that Boeing took over this aircraft, effectively killing it.
The Bombardier CRJ900 [...]
Continue Reading
“We’re part of the TiVolution. If there is one electronic box I would not give up, it’s my TiVo,” TiVo user Kevin Everett told The New York Times in March 2004. The latest model is the TiVo HD ($300 plus $12/mo. subscription fee).
TiVo is the easiest to use video recorder due so such user friendly [...]
Continue Reading
The digital camera world is dominated by the likes of Canon, Sony and Kodak, who collectively own 45% of the market. But Panasonic’s Lumix brand has long been a favorite among insiders since it is one of the few to offer a wide-angle zoom that now goes to 24mm in 35mm terms, while being among [...]
Continue Reading
Sometimes we run into fun stuff that does not merit a separate entry. Our favorite digital camera accessories are also the most innovative. One is a flexible pocket tripod and the other circumvents one of the biggest challenges: getting those damn pix off your digicam.
A San Francisco company markets the Joby Gorillapod ($25), which has [...]
Continue Reading
GPS devices were the fourth most popular item on everyone’s wish list this past Christmas. But, as you might expect from Trendsetters.com, we’re going to swim against the current again. While the Garmin Nuvi line is popular in the U.S., we’ve decided to bark up a different GPS tree.
You have two decisions. If you need [...]
Continue Reading
Sennheiser, which established its reputation with the legendary HD414 in the 60s and 70s, has joined the noise-canceling wave with the Sennheiser PXC 450 ($400), which produces great-sounding music.
Continue Reading
Like some categories, quite a few options face camcorder buyers. We chose one for simple shoots and a second one for its image quality. In the former category, there’s no question that San Francisco-based Pure Digital has created quite a stir with its Flip camcorder series.
Pure Digital recently introduced the Flip Video Mino ($180), which [...]
Continue Reading
Buying a great computer printer, requires this mindset: you need one for every special occasion. Typically a dedicated color printer, a multi-funtional device, plus a label printer. Below is a short list of what our quest for best printer uncovered.
The inkjet of our choice is the Epson R1900 ($468). It’s one of the finest inkjets [...]
Continue Reading
This may be your last landline phone. It’s irritating to have to buy a cordless phone, especially since most are so poorly designed. You’d think that after 100-plus years of making phones, you would not end up with cramped, non-lit keypads or a phone that can’t send an address book between phones.
The Panasonic-KX TG8232B is [...]
Continue Reading
The new Aliph Jawbone ($120) is 50% smaller than the original Jawbone, and features improved noise suppression technology. The Jawbone relies on a sensor that uses the jawbone to dampen spurious noise.
CNET concludes that “the Aliph Jawbone 2 is a fashionable Bluetooth headset with a comfortable fit and an array of noise-canceling and voice-enhancement technologies [...]
Continue Reading
“Your Briefcase Just Ran Over My Toe,” The New York Times wrote last June. We know you like wheeled carry-ons. But the biggest menace is the wheelie-equipped traveler who thinks he/she owns the airport. Besides, we need to work out more. Furthermore, empty wheeled luggage weighs as much as six pounds more than its non-wheeled [...]
Continue Reading
Designed by Native Design and Bowers & Wilkins, the B&W Zeppelin iPod Speakers ($600) is not only the coolest looking iPod dock available today, but was awarded 4.5 out of 5 mice by Macworld for its outstanding sound quality.
If you can’t spare $600, we also think you will like the Altec Lansing inMotion iM600 ($100-150), [...]
Continue Reading
Six years ago, Apple was an also-ran in the world of computing with a declining market share of 2.5% and shares trading at $17. Then on October 17, 2001, Apple announced the iPod, to “mixed reviews,” according to the brains at CNET.
How wrong were those smug analysts? Apple has sold more than 110 million iPods, [...]
Continue Reading
Cook’s Illustrated and America’s Test Kitchen, that decidedly innovative and fun-to-watch PBS TV show, rated Hunt’s the best Tomato Ketchup.
Forget anticipation, this is the ketchup you’ve been missing in the stores. Hunt’s was rated best ketchup in a blind America’s Test Kitchen taste test.
America’s Test Kitchen called Hunt’s “fresh” and “well balanced.” Their lab tests [...]
Continue Reading
Made in Brazil since 1962 by São Paulo Alpargatas, Havaianas are still considered the best flip flops available today.
Ever since the company began exporting their flip flops in 2001, Havaianas have became a hit with celebrities and models worldwide.
Continue Reading
The new BMW 1 Series convertible is basically a 3 Series with four inches cut off the wheelbase and 11 inches off the body length. The BMW 135i ($41,000) is “one of best buys on the luxury market,” says The New York Times.
The 135i has a 300-horsepower, 3.0-liter inline six boosted by two turbochargers, shifted [...]
Continue Reading
In 1984, Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager pioneered the design-hotel concept, with New York’s Morgans. Morgans was designed by Andrée Putman while The Royalton, which opened in 1988, featured the outré design of Philipe Starck.
For his latest oeuvre, Schrager chose neo-expressionist Julian Schnabel to lead the $200 million makeover of the 82-year-old Gramercy Park Hotel, [...]
Continue Reading
While LCDs outsold plasmas about eight to one in 2007, plasma technology still outshines LCD in one key area: picture quality. The very best plasma screens continue to attract discerning fans because of their prowess in a number of areas, particularly deep blacks.
Pioneer offers a ninth-generation technology dubbed “Kuro” – which means black in Japanese [...]
Continue Reading
With 90 million members and counting, Facebook has become the social network du jour. We love its slick design, which beats MySpace’s homely looks hands down. Facebook was also the first social network to introduce a plug-in architecture, allowing third-party developers to offer new features that users can install themselves.
Introduced in May 2007, Facebook applications [...]
Continue Reading
New York-based Hanky Panky makes what many consider the best thong, the Hanky Panky 4811, which reportedly hugs the choice behind of former supermodel Cindy Crawford.
The Hanky Panky 4811 is popular because it’s made from a “special lace that doesn’t bunch in the wrong places,” notes The Wall Street Journal.
The 4811’s special mix of [...]
Continue Reading
What can Wii say? Wii love it! Wii want it! And Wii finally scored one on eBay! LOL! It was an also-ran in the console power race between Microsoft and Sony when it was introduced in November 2006, but the Nintendo Wii ($250, if you can find it at list) proves that innovation always beats [...]
Continue Reading
The Weber Genesis E-310 gas grill ($700) is the best BBQ on the market today. Sure, you can spend $13,500 on a Kalamazoo K900HS, but unless mom and dad are lining your wallet with gold, you simply can’t beat the Weber on a price-performance curve, plus it looks very nice.
Weber’s Genesis E-310 proves that the [...]
Continue Reading
It used to be that “going naked” meant you were planning do skinny dip in the hot tub. Today, it means not wrapping your smartphone in some protective shield, an iPhone condom if you will. Apple sells the Power Support Crystal Film Set for iPhone 3G ($15), which is the widely acknowledged superior solution for [...]
Continue Reading
Making sure your bling doesn’t get scratched up is no easy task. No wonder cases are multiplying like rabbits. Fave: a tiny SanDisk case for CompactFlash cards, which is smaller than a Griffin earphones case. Massive discussion threads review the more than 100 cases made for the iPhone, but we don’t think that you can [...]
Continue Reading
-
LCD Tv Fan: Ive seen a B8000 in action and its a fantastic scr...
-
admin: Don, I would love to deliver this via e-mail but I...
-
don: love to get this via email. thx....
-
Alex: Your blog is interesting! Keep up the good wo...
-