CES - Home audio

mPhase emergency flashlight stays lit until 2030

mPower Technolgies, Inc. will debut a flashlight with a shelf life of 20 years: the mPower Emergency Illuminator.

The idea came about when a technology company executive found himself changing a flat tire in the dark, as his flashlight battery was dead. He was then inspired to create a flashlight that would never let him down.

His company, mPhase technologies, happened to be working on an extended battery technology for defense and computer purposes, but he saw how it could be useful for all consumers.

mPhase Technologies has since partnered with the Porsche Design Studio to fashion a sleek flashlight … Read more

CES 2009: Home audio wrap-up

The 2009 Consumer Electronics Show is history. As far as the home audio world is concerned, the product lineup and trends were pretty much right in line with our predictions.

Wireless speakers: Panasonic showcased the SC-ZT1, a unique "4.4" speaker system with wireless speakers (except for that pesky power cord, of course). But the bigger trend was wireless subwoofers: Samsung, Philips, and Polk Audio (among others) all showed surround systems with wireless subs, enabling more flexibility when placing them in the room.

Network audio: Whether it was more affordable tabletop Internet radios from the likes of Sanyo … Read more

Acoustic Research shows off Internet Radios with recording functionality

While Internet Radios have been popular in Europe for a while, 2008 was the first year the products really gained some traction in the U.S. market. Acoustic Research showed off two new Internet Radios, the ARIR200 and the ARIR600i, which offer some unique features like the ability to record Internet Radio streams to their internal memories and access to the Slacker service. Here are the details.

Key features of the Acoustic Research ARIR200:

Access to 12,000 Internet Radio stations Ability to add your own stations using a URL Can record up to 10 hours of Internet Radio using … Read more

Polk's new SurroundBar adds a wireless subwoofer

As we mentioned in our CES 2009 home audio preview, the trend in home audio over the last few years has been toward simplicity, and sound bars have promised to deliver the full surround experience from a single speaker. In reality, it never quite sounds that good, but the Polk Audio SurroundBar systems are generally better than most. The newly announced SurroundBar SDA Instant Home Theater aims to improve on previous models by making the speaker even smaller and adding a wireless subwoofer. Here are the details.

Key features of the Polk Audio SurroundBar SDA Instant Home Theater :

260 watts … Read more

Podcast: Skype wins in a sinking economy

LAS VEGAS--At the CES show here, Skype Chief Operating Officer Scott Durchslag tells Larry Magid how the bad economy is actually good for Skype as people flock to value. He also talks about new Skype software and the explosion of video over his company's service.

Listen now: Download this podcast

Philips unveils ultrasleek home-theater sound bars

Philips doesn't have a big presence at CES this year but it does appear to have some noteworthy products, especially when it comes to its new line of home-theater sound bars. The company's announced four new sound-bar packages, each geared to a slightly different target consumer.

Here's the rundown of the various products:

Model: The HSB2351

*All-in-one sound bar features integrated DVD player and subwoofer with 300 watts of total power

*Space-saving sleek design fits easily on an entertainment center or can be mounted on the wall

*Dolby Virtual Speaker for theater audio experience and HDMI 1080p … Read more

Sennheiser's awesome--and rather expensive--HD 800 headphones

If you're someone doesn't like to pay more than $50 for a pair of headphones, look away, now. If you're someone who doesn't mind throwing down $300 for a pair of cans, you should probably look away, too. But if you've got $1,400 to burn on a sweet pair of headphones, read on because that's what Sennheiser's new HD 800 will retail for when they come out in February.

What do you get for $1,400? Well, for starters, the newly designed earcups are finished in Japanese Alcantara, which is a special … Read more

Samsung wants you to stay home, watch TV

Home theater is Samsung's game at this year's CES. Though the company did announce the new P3 touch-screen MP3 player, an inch-thick plasma TV, feature-packed Blu-ray home theater systems, and backlit LCD TVs dominated the show.

Samsung unveils P3 touch-screen MP3 player Photos: Hands-on with the Samsung P3 player Samsung's slick HT-BD7200 Blu-ray home theater system Samsung's funky Blu-ray and DVD players Samsung's PN-B850 series of plasmas get down to an inch thick Samsung HT-BD1250: 5.1-channel home theater offers Blu-ray, Netflix, Pandora Samsung HT-BD8200 home theater sound bar includes Blu-ray, Netflix, Pandora Samsung DVD-H1080: Portable-sized DVD player for the home … Read more

Sharp BD-MPC home theater systems feature integrated Blu-ray

Last year there were a handful of home-theater-in-a-box systems with integrated Blu-ray, but in 2009, it looks as if the feature will be close to standard. Sharp has announced the BD-MPC series of home theater systems that come complete integrated Profile 2.0-compatible Blu-ray players. Not much additional information was released, but here's what we know.

Key features of the Sharp BD-MPC series:

5.1 home theater system 720 watts of power Blu-ray player included Profile 2.0 compatible with an Ethernet jack Both models available in the spring with an MSRP of $800

There are two models in … Read more

JVC's UX-LP5: An affordable iPod audio system with some power behind it

JVC has three new micro systems for 2009, including with the UX-LP5, which features a retractable front flip dock for iPods.

While this model doesn't offer the touch-sensitive controls and motion sensor of the step-up UX-GN6, it does have many of the same features, including a video output so you can play back iPod-stored video on a connected television, a front audio input for connecting other audio products, CD playback, and an AM/FM tuner.

It's worth noting that while the UX-GN6 is listed as having a total power output of 120 watts, the UX-LP5 is a 70-watt … Read more