vacuum

My expectations heading into the Panasonic press event on Wednesday in New York City were pretty low. I'm the audio guy and most of the hubbub was focused on new plasma and LCD displays, and Blu-ray players.

I sat there, eyes glazing over, as Panasonic spokespeople prattled on about "exciting" new advances in Viera Link and PHL Reference Chroma Processor Plus technologies--good times for me! But then something amazing happened: they mentioned sound quality! Trust me, that doesn't happen very often at these things, so I was all ears.

First, the new DMP-BD85 Blu-ray player features an HDMI Jitter Purifier, which, according to Panasonic, "affords clear, robust bass sounds faithful to the original." That sounds like something the PR department dreamed up, but it may be useful. We'll see.

Then they said the DMP-BD85 uses a Digital Tube Sound Simulator to produce the warm sound quality associated with vacuum tube amplifiers! What? They even had a small plastic display box fitted with three small tubes to illustrate the concept. DMP-BD85 owners can select between the "sound" of three different tube effects over the HDMI and 7.1-channel analog audio outputs (or turn off the effect and hear unprocessed sound). They didn't mention it, but this sort of sonic enhancement probably won't be compatible with Dolby or DTS soundtracks. That leaves DVDs, Blu-rays, and CDs encoded with PCM audio.… Read more

We're not talking about Albert Einstein, the legendary theoretical physicist; we're talking about Einstein Audio Components, a Germany-based high-end audio manufacturer.

Its advanced audio equipment designs use vacuum tubes. Its latest stereo preamplifier, The Tube MKII, uses a total of (gulp) 19 tubes. That's a lot of tubes! Most tube preamps only use four, five, or six tubes. However, here's the cool part about the new Einstein preamp: only 10 of the 19 tubes operate at any given time. Eight are used all the time, and two are selected for whichever audio source happens to be … Read more

Roomba has been king of the robotic vacuum market for a while, but Neato Robotics, a start-up out of Menlo Park, California, will be trying to usurp the throne in February with a new automated vacuum that will cost $400.

While the company expects to have multiple robotic housekeeping products in the future, its debut product is called the Neato XV-11. What makes it better than Roomba vacuums? Neato says it's smarter because it features a high-tech laser-powered Room Positioning System (RPS) to map your room and avoid most obstacles. And since it's smarter, it cleans a room … Read more

This week, Donald will just not_shut_up already, so Jasmine tries to impose a word cap on his ramblings (it fails). Items that are babbled upon include the overly bass-heavy Dr. Dre Beats Solo headphones, a potential Zii war between Nintendo and Creative, an itty-bitty $9 MP3 player, and a potential HD video player from Cowon. Also, Donald shoots Jasmine with lasers, and we drool over an ultraquiet vacuum with a built in iPod speaker.

Subscribe in iTunes audio |  Subscribe in iTunes video | Subscribe in RSS audio |  Subscribe in RSS video… Read more

Cleaning is no fun. Making a mess is sure fun, but the aftermath can be a downer. But, regardless of the state of the house, the cleaning simply has to (at some point) get done. Cleaning while listening to music is one way to make the chores go by in a more enjoyable manner. However, sooner or later you're going to have to put down that duster and plug in the vacuum cleaner--and there goes the music. Unless of course, you have a vacuum cleaner that also plays music.

The Electrolux UltraSilencer Music Edition Amplified iPod Vacuum is a … Read more

Sometimes, in order to grow, you need to take a step back and look with adoration and respect to the things you took for granted as a child. It also helps to mock them incessantly.

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This weekend, crunchy snacks are going to be consumed across the country in staggering amounts. All the Super Bowl parties filled with delicious treats can only mean one thing: somebody has to clean it all up. Well, now, maybe not a somebody, but rather, a something.

Powered by two AA batteries, the Mini Robo Vacuum skirts across your kitchen table (or Super Bowl spread) picking up crumbs or other small bits of unwanted trash. All you have to do is push the button on top of its little robot head and off it goes.

The small robot vacuum cleaner measures … Read more

Cooking primarily for one person presents a unique set of problems. For one thing, I often divide ingredients in four-person recipes by four, so I can avoid wasting food that won't keep well as leftovers. A bigger issue is that of fresh produce: fresh fruits and vegetables go bad, as do cheeses and meats, and my taste for variety in my meals has caused me to throw away vegetables or blocks of cheese more than once.

This is an even bigger issue when dealing with organic produce, dairy, and bread, which is free from preservatives and additives that can … Read more