Stay Safe from Variants with Mac Edition Radio!

 

Two products that the consumer tech world is awash with are cell phone cases and wireless portable speaker systems. So, when Oppo announced a new small wireless speaker we were interested. A small company, Oppo has garnered just about every award and commendation for their line of Blu-ray players, planar magnetic headphones, and high-quality headphone amplifiers and DACs. So, we wondered what would differentiate their take on a wireless speaker from the rest of the pack. After spending time with the Oppo Sonica Wi-Fi Speaker System, it turns out they had plenty of tricks up their sleeves! With new music from HD Tracks and Chesky Records we put it to the test. Read our full review for the details.

Harris Fogel, with additional reporting by Thomas Fogel Burlan, posted 6/20/2016 

Although we were all promised a cable free future, for the most part we are as tied to cables as ever. Even the myriad wireless induction based charging systems ultimately need an AC source.  So, our lives, especially mobile lives tend to be ruled by USB cables of varying design. Here are a few ones that we found are unique enough to merit attention. Cables all have weak points, and these designs are specifically designed to address those issues. The ASAP Magnetic USB cable makes connecting your phone a snap, and the Snakable Armored USB cable is designed to avoid damage to stress points. The PhotoFast PhotoFast iOS Card Reader is designed to allow you bring files into or out of an Apple iOS device using the Lighting connector.

Harris Fogel & Nancy Burlan, posted 6/11/2016

Spring is here, and with it comes great new releases. You might not have heard of Omnivore Recordings, but it's time you did. Omnivore is a new label created by industry executives with extensive experience in reissues. They have created a unique, atypical label with passionate and beautifully produced releases ranging from a long lost album by Alan Price, to releases by an eclectic catalog that includes Big Star, Alan Ginsburg, Maynard Ferguson, The Bangles, The Kingbees, 10,000 Maniacs, to Southern California favorites The Rave Ups. Read on for our full review of Alan Price – Savaloy Dip, and The Rave Ups – Town + Country.

Harris Fogel, posted 5/18/2016

Summer is almost here, and with it comes great new high-resolution releases. HD Tracks has been busy with a long list of new releases, including a Doobie Brother’s box set, a Grateful Dead concert long on the wish list of Deadheads, American Pie from Don McLean, and new releases from Chesky Records titles by Noah WallDavid Chesky, and a new Audiophile Hi-Res System Disc from 2xHD. Read on for our full review.

Harris Fogel, with additional editiorial input by Nancy Burlan, posted 5/10/2016

Increasingly, more people are abandoning cable or satellite TV in favor of a combination of free Over-the-air content with a streaming service such as Netflix or Amazon Prime. We look at the Antenna Direct ClearStream™ 2V, SiliconDust HD HomeRun Connect Tuner, andChannels for 4th generation Apple TV. Will this combination work for you? Can you quit the cable addiction? Read on for our full review.

Harris Fogel and Nancy Burlan, posted 4/25/2016

Wharfedale is one of the oldest, and most respected names in audio, whose first speakers were produced in 1932. They have an extensive product matrix, with small entry level affordable speakers garnering critical praise. In this review we look at their well-known Diamond 220 series coupled with the D8 Subwoofer for an affordable 5.1 surround system. With content from HD Tracks and the Blu-ray version of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, we put the speakers to the test!

Harris Fogel and Nancy Burlan, posted 4/12/2016

As much as battery technology has changed, our devices are ever more dependent on batteries then ever. If you are looking for a portable power source, these two battery packs won't let you down. The MyCharge HubMax 9,000mAh Portable Charger and Ventev powercell 10000+ battery charger are solid, stylish, and well-executed designs. Read our review to find out the details that will keep your phone or tablet charged when you need it.

Harris Fogel, Posted 3/15/2016

With all the discussion of high-resolution audio, especially as it pertains to reissues of older recordings it's easy to forget that a true high-resolution title starts as a high-resolution recording. Couple that with a first-rate set of musicians, careful engineering using a binaural microphone system, and the result is City of the Sun - to the sun and all the cities in between, a tour-de-force of acoustic guitars and Alexis Cole's Dazzling Blue, Cole’s tribute to some of the less known music of Paul Simon, both recently released by Chesky Records. Both use Chesky Records Binaural + recording technique said to create recordings that sound at home on both headphones and speakers. Read our review of these two new titles.

Harris Fogel, posted 2/25/2016

Grayson Dantzic and Mary Engel of APAG

In this interview with Mary Engel and Executive Vice President Grayson Dantzic we discuss the creation of APAG, and the 2nd Annual APAG Conference in New York, held at the International Center of Photography, in September 2015. The American Photography Archives Group (APAG) is an organization created by President and Founder Mary Engel, the daughter of Ruth Orkin and Morris Engel. The primary mission of APAG has been to offer a forum for living artists and guardians of archives to come together to discuss and learn about all aspects of archive management. If you are interested in photography, estate planning for artists, and preserving photography archives, listen in! Recorded at the International Center of Photography in New York City, in September 2015 by Harris Fogel.

Harris Fogel, Posted 2/7/2016 (14:34)

 

Dave Grannan

As exciting as new digital photographic equipment is, most of it isn’t that different then the cameras of Nicéphore Niépce, Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, and William Henry Fox Talbot. They all featured a single lens, and light sensitive material at the focal plane. For all their technical wizardry, the vast majority of digital cameras are the same, except for a digital sensor in place of light sensitive metal, glass, paper, or film. The new Light L16 camera is a radical departure that could shake the foundations of current camera design. In this extended interview with Co-Founder & CEO Dave Grannan, and Co-Founder & CTO Dr. Rajiv Laroia, we learn the story of this remarkable new technology. Recorded at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show by Harris Fogel and John Mulhern III.

Harris Fogel and John Mulhern III, Posted 1/30/2016 (37:06)

Pages