Mac Edition Radio

Mac Edition Radio produces reviews and news stories about the latest technologies, digital imaging, music, & photography.

Review – Philadelphia Magazine’s Whiskey and Fine Spirits Festival – Fall 2017

October brings rustling leaves, cool nights, pumpkin-spiced everything, and eerie spirits. But Philadelphia Magazine’s Whiskey and Fine Spirits Festival offered attendees the opportunity to spend an autumn evening tasting samples from more than 200 premium distilled spirits, a preferred way to ward off the chill in the air. The vendors were set up in the TORK Club at the legendary Lincoln Financial Field, a spacious and airy venue with floor-to-ceiling glass along one wall, looking out over the South Philly skyline. Pennsylvania was the site of the legendary Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. However, most of the attendees weren’t there for a history lesson – they were looking to quench their thirst for knowledge about the best distilled spirits! A portion of the ticket sales from the event will benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Nancy Burlan, with Ken Kramar and Josh Waterston, posted 11/7/2017

Review – NETGEAR Orbi Wi-Fi System & NETGEAR 16-Port SOHO Gigabit Ethernet Switch (Part one of a two-part story)

The ever evolving Wi-Fi world and our dependence on Wi-Fi in almost every aspect of modern life is pretty amazing once you step back and consider the implications. The standards, speeds, hardware, and compatibility keep changing, so how does a user stay current? The NETGEAR Orbi Wi-Fi System is one of the most popular choices for a robust Wi-Fi environment for homes, and coupled with hard-wired NETGEAR 16-Port SOHO Gigabit Ethernet Switches, one can create a robust, fast, and seamless user experience. Read on for our review, Part-one of a two-part article.

Harris Fogel, with editorial input from Ken Kramar. Posted 11/1/2017

Review – MEEM Mobile Phone Charger and Backup Device

Most USB or iOS cables do one thing, charge your phone, and depending if plugged into a computer, they can be used to backup data. You can always backup your phone to the web via different cloud solutions, but this isn’t always ideal, and restoration can be more complicated then you might expect, and slow. Enter the MEEM, a unique bright green cable that combines automatic data backup with charging. How did it work? Read our review to find out!

Harris Fogel & Frank Schramm, posted 10/9/2017

Interview – Noel Lee of Monster Products at the Made In America Festival, Philadelphia, and the Monster Firecracker™ High Definition Bluetooth Speaker

If you ask most consumers to name a consumer electronics brand, the chances are most will come up with Monster Products on their list. Starting in 1979 Noel Lee, working in his garage created his first set of Monster speaker cables, and grew those cables into one of the best-known audio video brands in the world. No longer just cables, over the years they have diversified into a wide variety of markets, from speakers, headphones, earphones, cables, music, etc. In this interview recorded at the Budweiser Made in America Festival in Philadelphia we discuss their new products including their new Monster Firecracker™ High Definition Bluetooth Speaker, their ongoing litigation with Apple over its acquisition of Beats for $3 billion, and their new retail strategy.

Harris Fogel, posted 10/7/2017

Review – Oppo UDP-205 4K Ultra HD Audiophile Blu-ray Disc Player

The 4K video revolution, now trickled down to TVs that are under a few hundred dollars, needs to be fed content to really take advantage of that higher resolution. Enter high-resolution Blu-ray players and it was only a matter of time that Oppo, the respected manufacturer of reasonably priced audiophile grade gear would make the leap. Their newest model is the UDP-205 4K Ultra HD Audiophile Blu-ray Disc Player, and if you are wondering if this new unit is for you, wonder no more.

Harris Fogel, Posted 9/17/2017

Ten Observations From Apple's iPhone X Event

Apple's event on September 12th was officially called "Let's meet at our place," but John Mulhern III is willing to bet that a couple of years from now it will be remembered as the iPhone X event. He has ten quick observations.

John Mulhern III, Posted 9/13/2017

Review – AudioQuest NightOwl Carbon Headphones, DragonFly Red, DragonFly Black DAC+Preamp+Headphone Amp, & new Neil Young & Jaco Pastorius from HD Tracks, & The Beatles “Sgt. Peppers 50th Anniversary Edition” – Part Two of a Two-part Article

In Part One of this Two-Part Article, we explored the new AudioQuest NightOwl Carbon Headphones, and in Part Two we explore their new DragonFly Red and DragonFly Black DAC+Preamp+Headphone Amp units. To audition them we listened to the newly released Neil Young – Decade, and Jaco Pastorius from HD Tracks both in High-Resolution, and “The Beatles Sgt. Peppers 50^th Anniversary Edition” from EMI. Part Two of a Two-part article.

Harris Fogel, Posted 7/9/2017

Review – AudioQuest NightOwl Carbon Headphones, DragonFly Red, DragonFly Black DAC+Preamp+Headphone Amp, with new releases from Neil Young, Jaco Pastorius from HD Tracks, and Sgt. Peppers Anniversary Edition. Part One of a Two-part article

AudioQuest helped start the portable USB DAC/Headphone Amplifier revolution with its original DragonFly model in 2012. Now with an expanded line of DACs, the newest units the DragonFly Red & Black are MQA equipped. Two years ago they took the step from electronics and cables to produce their first headphones, the open-ear NightHawk, and the closed-back NightOwl Carbon. How did these perform with the newly released Neil Young – Decade, and Jaco Pastorius from HD Tracks, and The Beatles Sgt. Peppers 50^th Anniversary edition from EMI? Read our review to find out. Part One of a Two-part article.

Harris Fogel, Posted 7/4/2017

Review – When The Only Way to Make Sense of Thunderbolt and USB Type-C is with adapters and Docks! The OWC Thunderbolt 3 Dock, Kanex e-SATA to Thunderbolt 2 adapter, and LaCie d2 10TB Thunderbolt 3 Hard Drive

So, a few years ago there was a techie dream, that one day there would be one connecter to rule them all, and it would be named Thunderbolt. Fast forward to USB Type-C, another dream of a connector and standard to rule them all. Sound familiar? Unless you have a brand new computer with Type-C, and only a few of them exist, you have an adapter conundrum ahead! We tested products that might prove your solution; the OWC Thunderbolt 3 Dock, Kanex e-SATA to Thunderbolt 2 adapter, LaCie d2 10TB Thunderbolt 3 Hard Drive, and the Apple Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter to make sense of things. Read on for our story of Type-C pain and salvation.

Harris Fogel and Nancy Burlan, with additional research by Ken Kramar, posted 6/20/2017

Review – Apple Gives Hardware Some Attention

At this week's World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Jose, Apple gave macOS hardware some attention, revising four separate product lines and pre-announcing a new offshoot. John Mulhern III describes and analyzes Apple's announcements.

John Mulhern III, Posted 6/10/2017

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