Many laptops are pretty well known for having terrible audio interfaces. There are usually noise and grounding issues. A recent post Yet Another Dell Laptop Audio Grounding Problem blog posting documents a well known and horrendous audio problem found on many Dell laptops. I have faced problems with Dell laptop ground loops. And I have →
Audio tags are looking to become the new easier alternative to QR code: You don’t need to take a picture of anything in order for them to work. Why Lady Gaga Could Deploy a Sound Only Your Smartphone Can Hear article tells that a startup called SonicNotify embeds inaudibly high-pitched audio signals within music or →
You can see quite often in big events that PA speakers are hidden behind large banners. Often times the event organizers want the speaker stacks covered with some client-related graphics. The question which comes to mind is how much does this kind of covering hurt the sound quality? What is the reality? Do Graphic Vinyl →
Playback: 130-Year-Old Sounds Revealed article tells that in the early 1880s, three inventors—Alexander Graham Bell, Chichester Bell and Charles Sumner Tainter, collectively making up the Volta Laboratory Associates—brought together their creativity and expertise to record sound. These recordings were made using a variety of methods and materials such as rubber, beeswax, glass, tin foil and →
As the technology that powers smartphone cameras has steadily improved, the point-and-shoot has become an endangered species. The video capabilities of smartphones have greatly improved, and nowadays the best phones can shoot good quality high-definition video at good lighting conditions. Still, smartphone cameras have some limitations. For example, because of the constraints of the lens, →
I visited AudioVisual 2011 trade show briefly on 13. November 2011. The most interesting stuff I saw there was a presentation on shooting 3D video with Panasonic equipment. The presentation was given by Juha Lindqvist from Kaukomarkkinat. I originally planned to write an article on 3D video technology for Prosessori magazine, but because Prosessori magazine →
Enhancing contact lenses with electronics seems to be a topic that has gained research interest. Smart contact lenses for health and head-up displays article the litany of research projects underway in the field of contact lens enhancement. Sensimed has already contact lens with surface-mounted strain gauge to assess glaucoma risk. Those medical measuring lenses have →
Burton rolls out True 3D laser plasma display article tells that Engineers from Burton Inc. in Japan have rolled out a “True 3D” display. This new system, which can function in air or under water, needs no screen of any sort, and the effect is quite impressive. This display is like Star Wars 3D holo →
Humming bars in CCTV system monitor image can be caused by many different factors and tracing the issue can be a pain. Video Ground Loop Interference for CCTV article at 2M CCTV Security & Surveillance Blog gives some tips how to solve ground loop problems on CCTV systems. One cause is running your cable over →
Eureka! Ditching DRM Decreases Piracy article tells that new paper to be published in the upcoming issue of Marketing Science shows that removing DRM from music leads to a decrease in piracy. Or phrased differently, DRM appears to be an incentive for people to pirate music instead of buying it. The researchers from Rice and →