• Fatman iTube ($650; www.fat-man.co.uk, distributed in the U.S. via bluebirdmusic.com). So it's the holidays, and you want to get something that will truly impress your iPod pal.
Think nobody writes and plays like the Fab Four anymore? Take that thought and let it be, 'cuz there's plenty of great pop here, there, and ... you know. You should know that 2006 has had more than its share of great releases.
You are likely already aware that there is a massive 14-disc, standard DVD <I>Superman Ultimate Collector's Edition</I> boxed set of most, if not all things Superman ($99.98). It includes all four feature films, including both the theatrical cut of <I>Superman II</I> and <I>Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut</I>, 2006's <I>Superman Returns</I>, and enough additional features and details to keep any Supermaniac busy through 2007.
Back in the early 1990s, I helped a friend carry a new rear-projection television up three flights of stairs to a small one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan. Although its screen was only 50 inches, that bulky box was about the size and weight of a classic Volkswagen Bug. My back was so tweaked that I walked around hunched over, stinking of Ben-Gay, for a week.
Many people hide their A/V gear behind cabinet doors or put the system off in a closet somewhere. But how do you control everything when you can't point the remote at any of it? The oh-so-simple solution is to install an infrared (IR) repeating system, which carries signals from your remote to wherever your gear may live.
A couple of years ago, when the Dells and Gateways of the world were trying to build a flat-panel TV business by rebranding products purchased from other manufacturers, HP was quietly engineering its own HDTVs from the ground up. So far, so good.
You know the gag. You see someone walking down the street and about to step on a banana peel. Do you shout "STOP," or remain silent and then applaud as he does an awesome pirouette.
