I love gadgets. And I’m often first. But it’s really never occurred to me to line up or camp out for new gear. In fact, other than the Wii, I can’t recall any other recent true shortage of product. So I’d rather spend the night in my bed and wait a week for things to … Read more
What good is a big-screen TV if you can’t watch sports on it? This was the dilemma we faced in our household this weekend when March Madness suddenly ran up against a promised showing of Snow White for our four-year-old. Picture-in-picture was an option, but not an appealing one. Until I learned that our Samsung … Read more
The Comcast bandwidth meter pilot has reached my house, and for the first time today I got a look at our household data usage. Understand, we still have plenty of room under the Comcast 250-GB cap. However, I had hoped that our usage would barely register on the meter (like Jeff Baumgartner’s :)), and instead … Read more
The Sonos S5 ($399) was one of my 2009 boxes of the year. With good reason. Sonos is a sophisticated but easy to implement and easy to operate whole-home audio solution. Featuring content from both our local music collections and various online sources. The S5 broke new ground in the Sonos lineup by integrating rich, … Read more
You may have caught Cignias’ Nao Symphony Wireless Music Station CES press release, announcing broad device availability and the requisite iPhone app. But I caught the actual unit. The Nao Symphony Wireless Music Station ($299) provides a slightly different take on the pedestrian iPhone speaker dock. In fact, it’s far more sophisticated. So while you … Read more
We’re closing out an unusual week here at ZNF… Rumor and speculation, followed by some cleavage, all without a single iPad joke. But we may have saved the best for last: Unboxing Ollie the Twitterrific bird. I’m not quite sure what I was thinking when I made this impulse purchase ($19.95 + $6.55 S/H), that … Read more
We rarely cover home entertainment, gaming, or gadget furnishings, but the new $1000 Elevate television stand is noteworthy for making lift cabinet technology available to the masses. Elevate, which raises/lowers up to a 42″ television in under 40 seconds, will be available next month in three finishes and with optional, matching side tables. Elevate comes … Read more
As anyone who’s read my posts in previous years knows, gadget giving in my family is practically a competitive sport, especially around Christmas. While I don’t think we topped last year, 2009 definitely brought in some great loot. My household landed a new Roku box, and I personally snagged a Kodak Zi8 video camera and … Read more