Tag: ANALOG

A reader asks: Well, it finally happened. My parents sold their house, and have ordered me to trash everything in their basement, including a couple boxes worth of slides spanning half a century. I would love to digitize them, but having tried to do it myself, I've realized it would take me forever. I know there are pricey bulk scanners you can buy (which scare me), and then also online services ...

Dear Santa, We know it's quite a bit early, but we wanted to make sure we got our request in before all the other little boys and girls (who haven't been nearly as good as us, by the way). While everyone else is asking for PlayStation 3s and world peace, all we want is the Korg Monotron. The moment we saw video of the pocketable analog synth from the Musikmesse conference in Frankfurt, ...

Music Hall MMF-5.1SE Turntable (Style-O-Phile, Under $1,000) Much to the delight of Baby Boomers and pedantic audiophile soothsayers, vinyl is back in a big way. Which means two things: your husband/boyfriend/son/whoever was right about keeping those stacks of wax instead of selling them at a garage sale, and; he's going to need something to play them on. If budget isn't an issue but top-shelf ...

Material ConneXion, an innovative consultancy group that focuses on new materials for product, interior, and industrial applications, opened the Bits 'n Pieces show at its New York showroom last night. The exhibition features the work of a variety of designers, architects, computer scientists, and materials researchers, curated to highlight the interaction between analog designs and the latest ...

Another one (hundred and fifty-eight) bites the dust, as they say. With the newly established June 12th cutover date looming, another 158 TV stations across America have decided that enough is enough. In a new list that was sent over the FCC this week, we're told that another swath of stations intend to shut off their analog signals prior to the mandatory June 12th cutover date. For what it's ...

Earlier this year we reported that 16-percent of households have cut the tether; relying exclusively on cell phone service and canceling landline service altogether. We have a follow-up survey now, and perhaps unsurprisingly, that number continued to grow, now up to 17.5 percent. One year ago that figure was 13.6 percent, showing a progressive rate of change among people eager to be rid of ...

We didn't realize that people still used used regular phones, but dang are we happy there is a market for them. If there weren't, none of us would be able to enjoy this delightfully trashy blast from the '80s. We might even get one just so friends can come over and feel inspired to reminisce about those hot, sweaty polyester nights when the music was bad and the hair was, well, worse! The High ...

Surely, by now, you know that analog TV is going offline very soon (February 17th, 2009), right? Hopefully, you've received your coupon, hooked up your converter, or just gone ahead and used this as a good excuse to join the HDTV era. But, do you have one of those portable TVs that you bring along to the tailgate or switch on whenever the power goes out during big storms? If so, you're not ...

The nation is finally switching to digital television, or DTV, and Wilmington, NC was the first in the nation earlier this week. We're now finding out how well it went and reports are positive, with just 797 people calling in with questions or concerns. That's less than half of a percent of the total viewers in the city. Of those, only 23 actually had no idea about the DTV changeover and so were ...

Hooray! As we reported last year, vinyl, our favorite music format, is rumored to be making a comeback. A recent CNN article asserts that from 2006 to 2007, manufacturers' shipments of LPs increased by 36%, while shipments of CDs dropped over 17%. In your face, CDs and MP3s! Hard-core music aficionados laud the analog sound delivered by records as more continuous and superior to digital ...

According a new report (PDF file) from the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, the U.S. government is not prepared for the February 17, 2009 deadline for the switch to digital television signals. The GAO says that, "Despite efforts by the public and private sectors and ongoing coordination, we found that no comprehensive plan for the transition exists." Till now the government relied very ...

There's a small group of us who, in this digital world, has developed a fetish for all things analog. This obsession is particularly strong among musicians and music lovers. Vacuum tube amps, vintage synthesizers, and, of course vinyl records. Optimal Media Productions is appealing to this fascination with good ol' records by adding a little value and novelty to your average CD. The comapny's ...