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Amazon Echo Dot: When Sound Quality Just Doesn't Matter
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Aug 08, 2017  | 
I crossed my fingers. I carried a rabbit's foot. I went out in the backyard and found a four-leaf clover. I started eating Lucky Charms for breakfast. I rearranged the furniture in my home theater according to feng shui (good for luck, not so good for sound). I did everything I could. But now I see that I have failed. People like the Amazon Echo Dot. They like it a lot.

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Does Your Car Have Good Vibrations?
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jul 25, 2017  | 
I've owned my fair share of jalopies. Cranky starters, wheezing engines, recalcitrant gearboxes, vague steering, indifferent brakes — I've had it all. And let's not forget everyone's favorite — plastic interior trim pieces that create an unholy symphony of buzzy vibrations. But now, German automobile parts supplier Continental thinks that's a good thing.

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Why I Didn’t Buy the Benz
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jul 18, 2017  | 
I like German cars, and I cannot lie. Porsche, Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz. What wonderful machines they are. Give me more than adequate horsepower, a six- or seven-speed manual transmission, a soulful exhaust note, and I am in heaven. On my most recent car shopping expedition, I fell in love with a car, then I pressed a button and immediately fell out of love.
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After Nearly 30 Years, Sony Rediscovers Vinyl
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jul 11, 2017  | 
I must admit, the news took me by surprise. I know that vinyl is officially a thing, and a growing thing at that. But I was shocked, shocked I tell you, to learn that Sony was getting back into the LP business.

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Bluetooth 5.0: New and Improved!
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jun 27, 2017  | 
I have issues with Bluetooth. I see it as a force of nature, a veritable tsunami, against all that good sound quality stands for. That is because that oh-so-convenient wireless link limits functionality and degrades audio fidelity. Now, with the advent of the 5.0 spec, Bluetooth is poised to expand its dominance. But, the spec also has a glimmer of hope for us audiophiles.

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Hey Dad, How About Some Vinyl?
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Jun 13, 2017  | 
You can call me old fashioned. You can call me a Luddite. You can even call me Ishmael. But I like to read books. Paper books, thank you very much. Based on that, my homies at Barnes & Noble apparently think that I like to listen to vinyl too.

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Sony: Ready for a Comeback?
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  May 23, 2017  | 
In recent years, market trends have not been kind to Sony. The company has struggled to adapt to changing technologies and consumer tastes. Once a powerhouse, it slipped in stature and lost billions. But now, in its most recent corporate announcements, there may be a glimmer of hope.

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3D TV Is Dead
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  May 17, 2017  | 
It’s official. 3D TV, once heralded as The Future, is now officially only to be referred to in the past tense. Please adjust your vocabulary accordingly. This news is not surprising. In fact, you are probably only surprised in that you assumed 3D’s demise had occurred years ago. When’s the last time you watched a 3D Blu-ray? Well, there you go.
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In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  May 09, 2017  | 
Saturn's rings are pretty cool. They are clearly visible with even a modest telescope. Going where no spacecraft has ever gone before, the Cassini spacecraft is diving through the rings and into the gap between the rings and the planet's surface. Enterprising scientists at JPL have created a file that lets you hear the "sound" of particles impacting the spacecraft as it passes through the rings and into the gap.

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Bose Headphone Privacy: The Lawsuit and the Rebuttal
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Apr 25, 2017  | 
You probably saw the news reports last week. A lawsuit has been filed against Bose, alleging its Connect app, such as used with a Bose headphone, collects information on the listening habits of the user, without adequately informing the user of the full extent of the practice. The story was widely reported. The rebuttal by Bose was not so widely reported.

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Home Audio Comes Roaring Back
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Apr 18, 2017  | 
Home audio is poised for a comeback and voice interaction is leading the way.
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Big Data and You: The Analytics of Amazon's Alexa
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Apr 11, 2017  | 
Once upon a time, the trajectory of a piece of consumer electronics was arbitrarily ballistic. Much like a cannonball that leaves the muzzle, flies through the air, and lands, a product was manufactured, sold to a consumer, and dumbly performed its appointed functions. Now, and particularly with products like Alexa, when a consumer product enters a home. it's more like adopting a pet, or more accurately, like taking in a puppy that has a doctorate in statistics.

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Will Your Headphones Explode?
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Mar 28, 2017  | 
Perhaps you remember the story from two weeks ago. A woman (pictured) wearing headphones on a plane was burned when the headphones exploded and caught fire. The woman was relatively okay, but it's never good when a piece of gear catches fire, especially when it's on a plane and especially if it's near your face. With the rise of battery-powered headphones, are in-ear explosions yet another thing to worry about?

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Shhh! The IoT is Listening!
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Mar 14, 2017  | 
Without question, voice control is the hottest thing in audio. Tomorrow it will be something else. Today it is voice control. In particular, Amazon's Alexa is all the rage and is poised to appear in phones, cars, refrigerators, and pretty much anything else that is powered by electrons. But Alexa is really just the gateway drug to the Internet of Things.

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Worshipping at the Altar of Brick and Mortar
Ken C. Pohlmann  |  Mar 07, 2017  | 
I remember it like it was only yesterday, but in reality it was probably more like 30 years ago. I walked into my favorite hi-fi store—the one on Dixie Highway. The owner greeted me by name. He was very active as a recording engineer for classical-music groups, and a trusted name in audio. His inventory was pretty high-end and a little spendy for a lowly college professor like me, but we had done some critical listening together and I greatly respected his opinions.
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