Tips

I get this one a lot, what should I do about my--fill-in-the-blank--broken headphones, buzzing speakers, static noises, intermittent sound, or when my subwoofer stops subbing?

Only rarely can I solve the problem with a quick fix; I always first advise contacting the dealer or Web site that sold you the product. Service is their responsibility and if they don't provide it, you shouldn't buy from them.

Of course, the best time to ask about service is before you buy any product. Will they replace a product if it fails within 90 days of purchase? Do they pay for return shipping? I'm talking about audio products here, but that advice works for any tech purchase. … Read more

Last fall, we told you about Apple's iPhone Signal Strength Placebo, an iPhone code that helps diagnose problems connecting to AT&T's 3G network. Dialing *3001#123456#* and pressing "Call" starts a field test on your iPhone with results that can be used, for example, to gauge signal strength. (It also offers a slew of other information probably beyond your comprehension unless you happen to be a cellular engineer.)

While the above code above is the iPhone's most useful, there are a number of other interesting codes, many posted at methodshop.com. According to … Read more

This tip will help you to enter the domain suffix portion of e-mail addresses faster in iPhone's Mobile Mail app. (If you've used Mobile Safari with it's handy .com key, this tip may sound familiar.)

In order to quickly select a domain suffix on the Mail app, first press and hold the period key. Mobile Mail then presents you with a pop-up list of domain suffixes to choose from, including .com, .org, .edu, and .net. You may even see some foreign domains--.de for Germany, for example--if you have international keyboards turned on.

For more tips on … Read more

Today's receivers are jam-packed with features, but the one thing they lack is power.

In fact, most $500 receivers never come close to delivering their rated power into all channels.

Some can barely manage a third of their claimed wattage. Right now, your 100 watt per channel receiver might be pumping out only 30 something watts.

People ask me about this stuff all the time--"Steve, Denon, Onkyo, Pioneer, Sony and Yamaha receivers all boast up to the nanosecond surround processing modes, connectivity options up the whazoo, and fancy shamncy remotes--so what exactly would a brawny multichannel amplifier get me?" My answer to these queries is always the same: "Just two things, the power and the glory."

The problem: Receivers, even big ticket, $2,000+ models can't spare enough internal real estate to house humongous transformers and hefty power supply capacitors--the compromises inevitably start there. Separate power amplifiers have room for all of that good stuff.

Enter Emotiva Audio's XPA 200 watt, five-channel amplifier ($799), 1,000 watts total. It's actually a lot more powerful than just double your average 100 watt per channel receiver; the XPA amplifier can deliver up to 350 watts to each of its five channels with four-ohm speaker loads. You'll look far and wide to find a receiver that can drive low-impedance speakers like a separate power amp can. And it'll cost a whole lot more than the Emotiva XPA will.

Oh, and please don't worry that the XPA is too powerful for your speakers. Too much power doesn't harm speakers, playing them too loud with an underpowered receiver is far more likely to do your speakers in. … Read more

I know our MP3 Insider audience could probably spot the difference between FLAC and MP3 just by using their finely-tuned ears, but for mere mortals, making sense of audio formats isn't easy. There was a time when all you had to worry about was music coming on CD, cassette, or vinyl, and telling them apart was obvious. Telling the difference between MP3, WMA, and WAV files isn't quite as clear and determining each format's advantages and limitations takes some homework, too.

If you or someone you know could use a little Audio Formats 101, I've made … Read more

I recently learned about an Easter egg in Apple's Texas Hold'em card game, which sells for $4.99 in the iTunes App Store.

If you're playing the game in landscape mode, you'll be able to see both your hand and the hands of the other players. Looks normal right? Indeed, the game will continue to look normal until you make a random touch motion on the screen.

Simply make a circle with one finger in the middle of the screen and the game's hidden Easter egg--a heart-shaped cartoon face with his hands in the air--will make its appearance. In case you missed him, we've captured the little surprise. Find our screen capture after the break.… Read more

Some of today's DVD and Blu-ray soundtracks are so densely mixed that dialogue can be hard to understand.

When actors' lines are obscured by onscreen mayhem, you may miss important plot details. The dialogue intelligibility problem is even worse for people who are hard of hearing.

Here's a simple fix to improve intelligibility that also works like a charm for quiet, late-night movie watching.

Turn up the center channel volume level. Please understand, that's not the same thing as cranking up your receiver's volume control. Raising the center channel volume relative to the left/right and surround channels makes dialogue louder than the music and sound effects, so it's easier to understand what the actors are saying.

The easiest way to make the adjustment is with your receiver or home theater-in-a-box system's remote control. Check and see if your remote has a button marked "Channel Select." My Onkyo TX-SR805 receiver's remote has such a control, marked "CH SEL". It toggles through left, right, center, etc., and once I got to the center I used the "Level -" and "Level +" buttons to adjust the center channel volume.

Experiment to figure out how much louder you want the center channel speaker to be, but start with turning it up by three decibels. That might be enough, but don't hesitate to turn it up higher if that's what you need.

Of course, you can also use the CH SEL feature to boost subwoofer volume to taste whenever you switch movies or CDs. Or adjust the surround channels volume. … Read more

iPhone Atlas has already covered a number of complaints from iPhone users about iPhone OS 2.2.1.

Frequently, faulty Wi-Fi connections were the source of these complaints. Recently, that problem has resurfaced, and one user is linking the Wi-Fi problems to heat generated by the iPhone and its battery.

A discussion in the Apple forum describes a problem in which some iPhones are randomly dropping Wi-Fi signals, then failing to reconnect to any network for a period of time.

Many people think that the problem is caused by the iPhone overheating, and some go so far as to place … Read more

We're kicking off a new series of How-To videos here at CNET that focuses on practical instruction for everyday technology. This is stuff that's a little too fundamental to be on an existing segment such as Insider Secrets, but requires more explanation than a Quick Tip. For my part, I thought I'd knock out a few tutorials on some basic and intermediate aspects of Apple's ubiquitous iTunes jukebox software.

In the following video and slideshow tutorial, I'll show you around the iTunes standard playlist feature (saving Genius and Smart playlists for another time). I know … Read more