magazine

Owners of the lovable (well, lovable-looking at least) multimedia device Chumby, are getting new ways to listen to music, watch music videos, and get music news.

Chumby announced on Tuesday that its leather-encased Internet clock radio of the same name would now allow users to tune into personalized radio stations using their Pandora accounts. When users indicate a song or artist that they enjoy, Pandora responds by playing selections that are musically similar.

If you like waking up to music, but prefer waking up to music videos, you'll be happy to hear that Chumbys will now be able to … Read more

Apple did indeed say that if it couldn't make a profit, it "most likely" will not continue to operate iTunes. You can find a copy of the statement here on page 4 (PDF).

Fortune magazine published a bombshell of a story on Tuesday by reporting that Apple once threatened to close iTunes if forced to pay more for music royalties. A more careful reading of the statement from an Apple executive shows that it was more of a veiled threat. Regardless, it's possible Apple could shut down iTunes.

But is it likely? No. Here's why: … Read more

Vacuum tube amplifiers are the Holy Grail for a lot of audiophiles, but they tend to be a lot more expensive than solid-state amps.

Priced at $1,295, the A-50T is one of the most affordable all-tube integrated amplifiers on the market, but I wasn't thinking about that as I ran my fingers over its half-inch thick front panel and fondled the beautifully machined knobs, or admired the quality of the rear panel's RCA jacks and hefty, gold-plated speaker wire binding posts. It's beautiful and the A-50T's quality is on par with amps that sell for $2,000 or more.

I reviewed the Cayin for Playback magazine a few months ago, and you can read the full review here.

Cayin is one of China's oldest and largest high-end audio manufacturers; they're justifiably proud of the fact that they build every significant part of the A-50T in-house. Got a turntable? The A-50T can be ordered with a built-in phono preamp for an extra $250; that still leaves three line-level inputs. … Read more

Too busy to pick up your favorite print magazines from the newsstand? You are not alone, and for all of you I have good news.

On Monday,Texterity announced its new digital-magazine service, which allows readers to access print magazines in an alternative manner that's completely new, yet very familiar--online at Coverleaf.com.

At the Web site you can browse through categories of magazines, pick one off of the digital shelf, preview it for free, or pay to instantly see its entire contents. The magazines' digital layouts look very much like the print originals. You then can subscribe to … Read more

On today's show, we reveal our favorite fragrances, briefly touch on the new Apple offerings, disappear into e-Ink, rip into the Geek Squad and Microsoft's new "gurus," send text messages to inanimate household objects, and try to convince Wilson to take a shower in public in the name of animal rights.

Don't bust out that checkbook yet, my friends, contrary to popular belief, Natali Del Conte's hair is not on eBay...yet. We'll be the first ones to break that news, but until then you'll just have to listen to our show to get your NDC fix. Lots of news to talk about today, which we get to right after we guess each other's favorite eau de liquid smells. No surprise here, but Jeff's is the sweet scent of Natali's hair that he creepily compares to a cherry lollipop. Anyway, we also get the scoop on a few more tech-related gems, including a story about energy companies testing a program that will send you a text message on behalf of your thermostat if you forget to turn it off when you leave the house. Hey, I'm all for energy conversation, but are ya kidding me!? So now, on top of ignoring text messages from my close friends and family members, I have to deal with spam from my household appliances, too!? I guess I can see it being useful when I forget to turn off the oven, but I'd prefer to get the news by driving up to a burning apartment rather than getting a text from my oven that says "Hey, dummy--you forgot to turn me off, so now I'm spitting hot fire at all your physical possessions. See you at home!" No thanks, gas company, you can keep the service--I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Back in 1957, Time magazine reported on "audiophilia," a disease that afflicted the "middle-aged, male and intelligent" and found them to be compulsive and fascinated with bizarre sounds. Hey, that describes me!

My wife happened to find the article, "Audiophilia," online with no author listed. The article reported that a new neurosis was discovered, audiophilia, an excessive passion for hi-fi sound and equipment. The Audiophiliac was amused.

I admit it, we audiophiles are an obsessive bunch who endlessly fuss over our hi-fis, but no more than car freaks fiddle with their fuel injectors, or computer geeks agonize over bits and apps. Each group has its nut jobs, but they're at least passionate about what they do. … Read more

LAS VEGAS--On the second day of the Black Hat security conference, a trio of journalists turned on other journalists within the press room.

This was my ninth Black Hat in nine years, and I have lived in dread year after year that such a headline would affect me. On Thursday, CNET News was named as one of the two organizations "hacked," but I disagree that any such hack occurred.

Just before noon on Thursday, a trio of reporters from Global Security Mag sat in one of the two press rooms at Black Hat. Both rooms have a wired … Read more

MAD Magazine is getting the last laugh now that Circuit City has issued a mea culpa for telling employees to destroy issues of MAD that contain a parody of the retailer's advertising.

The Consumerist pointed us to a copy of a letter of it received from a Circuit City corporate communicator after the site wrote about the alleged search-and-destroy mission. In the letter, Circuit City apologizes for its "knee-jerk reaction," and says its has issued a retraction order and directed affected stores to put the magazines back on sale.

The magazine's August issue contains a (pretty darn amusing) four-page "Sucker City" circular with announcements like: "Believe it or not, $3,599.99 is the sale price," and "Wii Gaming System Guaranteed In Stock...if you're friends with an employee who hid it in the back for you. Otherwise, oh, sorry, all sold out." Sucker City also sells products including a self-editing Web cam that "stops embarrassing YouTube videos before they're made."

The good news is that at least one member of Circuit City's PR team appears to appreciate the value of a good ribbing--or at least appreciate the value of pretending to have a sense of humor. This is the letter: … Read more

Looks like we were right: PaidContent reported Thursday that restaurant and take-out menu listing site MenuPages has been acquired. The buyer, they say, is New York magazine.

No financial details were provided.

We reported back in May that MenuPages had been acquired, but didn't have any hints as to a buyer. We speculated that it was possibly Yelp or IAC's Citysearch. With New York as a buyer, it's likely that MenuPages will stay locally rooted rather than continuing to expand nationally: there are editions for Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, the Miami region, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, … Read more