bars

People love sound bars for a lot of good reasons: they eliminate most of the wiring and setup hassles associated with traditional 5.1-channel home theaters, they don't take up a lot of space, they are less expensive than subwoofer/satellite packages, and since most sound bars are self-powered, you don't need to buy an AV receiver. A skinny sound bar positioned under a sleek display is certainly a more appealing solution than a 5.1 or even stereo pair of speakers. There's just one problem: sound bars can't fill a room with sound nearly as well as separate speakers can.… Read more

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which I answer questions e-mailed in by our readers.

This week, readers wrote in with questions about hiding the menu bar in OS X, a "formatter failed" error when erasing hard drives, alternative configuration possibilities for Apple's Fusion Drive technology, and whether or not a Mini DisplayPort cable can be used for Thunderbolt connections. I welcome views from readers, so if you have any suggestions or alternative approaches to these problems, please post them in the comments!

Question: Hiding the menu bar in OS X MacFixIt reader Shawn asks:

This is an update of a deal I posted earlier this year. The first time around, it sold out very quickly, but this time I'm assured the vendor has some 5,000 units in stock.

Not wild about the audio coming from your laptop? No surprise there -- it's fairly miraculous that manufacturers manage to squeeze in speakers at all.

And yet many folks use their laptops as media centers in dens, offices, and bedrooms. So how can you get more aural enjoyment from your games, movies, and music?

Simple: add a sound bar. Even an inexpensive one … Read more

iPhone troubles? Let me guess: an update won't install properly. Or an app keeps crashing on you. Or you can't get your Bluetooth connection to work.

Problems like these often drive frazzled users to the Apple Genius Bar, which, of course, requires a reservation via the Apple Web site. Before you can make one, however, Apple now suggests this:

It's true: Apple wants you to try the iPhone equivalent of Ctrl-Alt-Delete before you make a special trip to the Apple Store and, well, watch while a Genius resets the phone for you.

Although this may come across … Read more

One quick (and hopefully final) note about the SiriusXM Internet Radio fiasco from a couple weeks ago: It's over. The company appears to have pulled the plug on nearly all the giveaways, even if you received a confirmation e-mail. Fortunately, you can still get Pandora, Slacker, Songza, and plenty of other music-streaming services for free. Let it go, OK?

If you're unhappy with the audio quality from your TV's built-in speakers, you may have considered the Vizio sound bar I've written about countless times in this space. It often dips below $50, a hard bargain to … Read more

What does a 120-year-old Thomas Edison cylinder record player have in common with a brand-new $299 Big Jambox Bluetooth speaker? Both play music in monophonic sound. Everything old is new again.

Home audio was strictly a single-speaker pursuit from the dawn of recorded sound through the late 1950s, when stereo changed the way we listen to music. Multichannel home theater's popularity peaked in the late 1990s, but starting with iPods and sound-bar speakers, mono was back in style. More recently sales of battery-powered, mono Bluetooth speakers started to take off. While these lo-fi systems may contain stereo pairs of … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Artist encourages Apple to "Think Different" with Steve Jobs action figure sculpture.

- Man mistakenly sexts entire contact list, lands in jail.

- Jay-Z helms star-studded Barclays Center opening.

- Today is the 30th anniversary of the first CD sale in Japan...Steve Guttenberg reflects.

- Key set available for $150 on eBay provides an all-access pass to NYC.… Read more

Sweet! Nestle has randomly put a GPS tracking device into half a dozen chocolate bars sold in the U.K. and Ireland, giving candy connoisseurs a chance to win 10,000 pounds ($16,218) upon discovery.

As Obi-Wan Kenobi would probably say, it is as if millions of British dentists suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. … Read more