led

CHIBA, Japan--Dolby, the sound company, is getting into TVs.

The company is at Ceatec, the large Japanese trade show taking place here this week, to promote Dolby Contrast and Dolby Vision, two technologies (one currently real, one on the drawing board) to extend its reach into digital TV and cinema.

Both Dolby Contrast and Dolby Vision are essentially ways to apply the dimmer switch concept to light emitting diodes. LEDs are being increasingly used as the backlight in flat panel LCD TVs. Dolby Contrast allows the TV to dynamically adjust. One LED could go completely black while its neighbor could … Read more

Like many other suburban American males who grew up in a certain era, I [hearted] Led Zeppelin. And while my ardor's diminished considerably since adolescence, they're one of very few bands I discovered decades ago that I still enjoy today. (In contrast, I can't believe I actually own a half dozen Doors LPs.)

So when Led Zeppelin announced a one-show reunion (with their original drummer's son on drums) to celebrate the life of Ahmet Ertegun, the Atlantic Records cofounder who signed them, I expected it'd be popular. But apparently the registration site for tickets got … Read more

Wow. This one ranks right up there with the "Light Head Magnifer." If you thought the iPod hat cited yesterday was dorkworthy, you'll probably want to avert your eyes from the "BrimLight."

As its name indicates, this battery of five LEDs attaches to the brim of your hat, according to Book of Joe, lighting a 120-degree radius with a range of up to 30 feet. Those stats may be impressive, if you're really into lights, but they come at a rather brutal price of fashion victimization.

If you really need a coal miner's light … Read more

The New York Times reported today that three of the four original members of Led Zeppelin--Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones--will play a charity concert in London on November 26. Jason Bonham, son of Zep's original drummer John Bonham, who died in 1980, will fill in for his father.

The show will be a tribute to Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records. Zeppelin sold 100,000,000 plus records on Atlantic, so it's kinda nice the guys are showing respect for the man who believed in them from the start. The single performance show also includes … Read more

The latest testament to the geek appeal of blinking pixels are two handheld electronic musician interfaces called the Monome and the Tenori-On. Both are slated for a new release in the next few months and while they have a lot in common conceptually, there are a few key differences between the two that I'll explore here.

Even if you couldn't care less about electronic music, these products demonstrate stunning interface design (not to mention eye candy). Remember, it was an obscure music interface company named Jazz Mutant that pioneered the multi-touch screen interface long before the iPhone came to town. (Videos after the break.)… Read more

Among last week's digital music news was the item that seminal hard rock band AC/DC has taken a tentative step on the information highway (as opposed to that other highway). AC/DC's deal with Verizon was notable because the band chose to bypass industry leader iTunes, and because the band is selling only complete albums (for $12 apiece--higher than the current price of their CDs on Amazon!) rather than individual singles. Another oddity: most of AC/DC's catalog will be not be downloadable over-the-air to Verizon phones; instead, users will have to download the albums to … Read more

Junior's artwork looks great on the fridge, but it would look even better next to a full-on light show.

If you've ever wanted to turn your fridge into a big ol' Lite Brite, you're in luck. Thanks to this tutorial on the excellent and addictive Instructables site, it's easier than ever.

Using some surface-mount resistors, conductive nickel paint, LEDs, a 4.5 volt power supply, and some other parts, you can recreate the Aqua Teen Hunger Force LED hoax or whatever else you want. In marquee style. On your fridge.

The entire tutorial is available on … Read more

When I was a kid, we had those gadgets sold in the "well-being" section of Bed Bath & Beyond--you know, alongside foot massagers and home-spa kits and other things that I never thought anyone actually bought--and their whole schpiel was that they'd play you the soothing sounds of forests at night, crashing waves, chirping songbirds, or something else that was supposed to block out your neighbor's annoying dog. Or kids. Or garage chemistry lab.

But now, apparently, the Digital Age of Excess 2.0 demands that everything be a little bit fancier and more ridiculous than … Read more

(Update 11-14-07) Since this post first published, we have reviewed the 46-inch model from each series described below. For complete details check out the full reviews of the Samsung LN-T4671F and the Samsung LN-T4681F . For further information on the company's less-expensive lineup of flat-panel LCD HDTVs, check out our roundup.

Samsung LN-T71F series

The big step-up feature for this series is a 120Hz refresh rate, which is said to cut down on the motion blur sometimes seen by sharp-eyed viewers in fast-moving scenes -- although in our tests of 60Hz LCDs, motion blur hasn't been an issue. Samsung'… Read more