pearl

The Damson Pearl and Oyster make landfall

LAS VEGAS -- Making waves for the first time in the U.S., the Pearl and Oyster wireless speakers from Damson Audio have washed up on the beaches of CTIA 2013. Both Bluetooth products are designed by the British manufacturer, but it's the first time we've seen them on this side of the pond.

Small in stature, you'd be ill-advised to think the Damson Pearl can't belt out serious sound. To the contrary, the gadget uses a special rubbery foot plus down-firing woofers on its bottom edge to significantly boost its audio impact. Indeed, after being … Read more

New-to-vinyl converts talk about the joys of playing LPs

I've heard the naysayers for years, the ones that say vinyl is a fad, or that kids buy records just because they think LPs are cool. But the fact is vinyl sales keep going up year after year. I'd be the first to admit that playing an LP is more of a hassle than listening to Spotify, so why do people who grew up listening to CDs and files invest in a turntable, and search out their favorite music on LP? Why do they do it?

Recently, I talked with a few music lovers who grew up in … Read more

The 404 1,100: Where we spoke in class today (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

On this day in 1992, "Jeremy" premiered on MTV.

Great collection of what Olympic divers look like mid-jump.

NASA to air Mars landing in Times Square.

Digg unveils revamped home page.

FCC to Verizon: You don't have a right to block tethering apps.

Direction of Justin Bieber documentary to reboot He-Man movie.… Read more

Judea Pearl named 2011 winner of Turing Award

Judea Pearl is the winner of the prestigious Turing Award for his pioneering work in the field of artificial intelligence.

In becoming the 35th person to win the prestigious $250,000 award from the Association for Computing Machinery, the 75-year-old Pearl was honored with what is considered to be the highest prize that the computing industry has to offer.

"Of course, I'm delighted that people in your field and outside appreciate what you did, that recognize the work that I do in my little niche," Pearl said in an interview. "It's very rewarding."

List of published papers by Judah Pearl… Read more

CD box sets: It's that time of year again

Downloads and streaming music can't touch physical media for sound quality, or the pleasures associated with truly deluxe packaging.

For a prime example of the state of the art of the box set, check out the extra-thick album sleeves and gorgeous slipcase on Pearl Jam's "vs. & Vitalogy Deluxe Edition" three-disc set. The third disc is a live show from Boston's Orpheum Theatre in 1994. The band is peaking, and it's great to hear this fierce, passionate music sounding this good. To get the full effect, you'll want to play it loud. The … Read more

Pointless puzzle

We like a mindless puzzle game as much as the next person; sometimes it's nice to just click on some colored squares and zone out for a while. But Pokemon Diamond Pearl is a little too mindless; there doesn't seem to be any real challenge or point to the game. We suppose that it might be all right for kids--the Pokemon theme suggests that that's whom it's meant for--but most adults and older children will likely grow bored with it pretty quickly.

Contrary to its name, the game doesn't have much to do with Pokemon, … Read more

The 404 852: Where it's always bummy in Philadelphia (podcast)

It's our last show before the three-day weekend, so we're wrapping up with a review of the movie box office, and some new services that'll help with the cost of tickets. We're also exploring the idea of 4D movie theaters, and quizzing Wilson on another episode of Tang that Tune. Also, be sure to tune into the second half of the show for the debut of Jeff's new recurring segment, Squishy Moments with Jeff Bakalar!

The 404 Digest for Episode 852

MoviePass: See unlimited movies in the theater for $50 a month. 4D movies: what the heckbeans is that? Do something cat! 2/5 stars for Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

Episode 852 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

AT&T snags BlackBerry Curve 3G, Pearl 3G

AT&T announced today that it will start offering the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 and BlackBerry Pearl 3G 9100, with the added benefit that app purchases will automatically be included on AT&T customers' bills. Carrier billing was one of the features highlighted in the Payment Service SDK announced this week at BlackBerry DevCon 2010.

The Curve 3G is similar to the Curve 3G we reviewed for T-Mobile. It has the full QWERTY keyboard, of course, in addition to the optical trackpad, GPS, dedicated media keys, a 2-megapixel camera, microSD/SDHC slot with support for 32GB cards, and … Read more

All Apple news

Links from Thursday's episode of Loaded: Apple's new iPods iOS updates included in Apple's Fall lineup Streaming AppleTV Windows Phone 7 goes to OEMs Another blow to net neutrality New Sony e-readers

BMWs to read your BlackBerry e-mail to you

Taking the concept of the mobile office a step further, BMW is including BlackBerry smartphone integration with its vehicles starting in September with its 2011 BMW models.

Using Bluetooth, many smartphones can already sync contacts, photos, music, and offer voice activated functionality and text-to-voice capability for text messages while driving. However, in addition to the usual smartphone feature list, BMW's ConnectedDrive gives its vehicles the capability to read out loud incoming e-mail messages from compatible BlackBerry smartphones.

Using the iDrive control interface that's on models equipped with Assist, Bluetooth, and onboard navigation, occupants of a BMW can … Read more