Michael Antonoff

Audio Video News
The Pause That Astonishes
Michael Antonoff  |  Oct 26, 2015
TiVo users have been aware for years that the company had found another revenue stream by selling banners that superimpose themselves on paused programs. Click the Select button on the TiVo remote and a previously downloaded commercial plays. But when is an ad superimposed on a paused show wildly inappropriate?
Continue Reading >
Apptitude
Apple Music: Is It Worth It?
Michael Antonoff  |  Oct 07, 2015
I was skeptical that Apple’s all-you-can-queue subscription plan, Apple Music, would cause me to abandon online services like Spotify that also boasted 30 million songs. Not an Apple acolyte, I use a Windows computer and an Android smartphone. I boycotted buying anything from iTunes when a $50 credit in my account was hacked and Apple refused to restore it the second time it happened. But I also own an iPod touch, two iPads, and an Apple TV, and the iTunes Store on my PC continued to be the place for sampling free music—typically after discovering the songs on radio stations streamed on iTunes.
Continue Reading >
Apptitude
NBC in Your Pocket
Michael Antonoff  |  Sep 16, 2015
With the small screen going mobile, TV networks are chasing viewers. The number of people who subscribe to Comcast’s Internet service surpassed its video subscribers for the first time this year. As the owner of NBC, Comcast is likely hearing, “Philadelphia, we have a problem.”
Continue Reading >
Apptitude
25 Years Later: The Internet Movie Database
Michael Antonoff  |  Aug 12, 2015
When the IMDb turns 25 in October, both its database and popularity will have multiplied exponentially. The IMDb consumer site (imdb.com) currently lists more than 3 million movies and TV shows and more than 6 million cast and crew members. It has a combined Web and mobile audience exceeding 200 million unique monthly visitors.
Continue Reading >
Apptitude
Why I Love HBO Now (and You Should Too)
Michael Antonoff  |  Jul 06, 2015
Arguably the leading premium channel for movies and original series, HBO adds $23.24 to my monthly cable bill. I get six HBO channels, though they mostly repeat the same shows ad nauseam. Linear redundancy has been a waste of cable bandwidth since the DVR landed, but it’s become even more outmoded in the age of high-def broadband and on-demand viewing.

Refusing to pony up for unbreakable packages to get the few programs they’d watch, younger viewers have been cutting the cord on cable TV...

Continue Reading >
Apptitude
From Smug to Snug: VR for the Rest of Us
Michael Antonoff  |  Jun 08, 2015
Paul McCartney and Candlestick Park are more likely to be linked to endings (the last Beatles concert, 1966; the last big gig at the Stick, 2014) than new beginnings. But thanks to an innovative app that incorporates a 360-degree perspective from the stage of McCartney’s performance of “Live and Let Die” at the San Francisco ballpark, the man and place will now be coupled to the birth of an exciting way for everybody to enjoy music like never before.

Continue Reading >
Apptitude
Ready, Set, Tap
Michael Antonoff  |  May 07, 2015
I recently hung the new $14.97 60-watt Cree Connected LED Bulb on the wall above my easy chair so that whenever an idea entered my brain, I’d be able to tap my iPad and make a light bulb go on above my head. (For those unaware, the Cree is a Zigbee- and Wink-compliant light; mate it with a compatible smarthome hub, and you can control it from your phone or tablet.)

Continue Reading >
Audio Video News
What’s in a Name?
Michael Antonoff  |  Feb 12, 2014
Companies want shoppers to think of them first—just not too deeply. If consumers start dissecting the brands synonymous with electronics, some of them are just weird.
Continue Reading >
Other Source Component ReviewsPortable Player Reviews
Belkin Dyle Mobile TV Receiver
Michael Antonoff  |  Nov 04, 2013
Performance
Features
Ergonomics
Value
Price $100

At A Glance
Plus: Watch broadcast TV while commuting • Steady reception in motion • Works without Wi-Fi or a mobile data plan
Minus: Limited channels • Reception spotty in buildings and locking in stations can be frustrating

The Verdict
Lets you watch TV while on the on the go but programming options are limited and reception is not a sure shot.

Though the picture quality of over-the-air TV can surpass cable, you’re likely to get no reception at all in a moving vehicle. That’s because broadcast DTV was conceived for stationary screens—not today’s legion of mobile devices.

Continue Reading >
Audio Video News
17 Years of Tech: Measuring Progress in Cicada Terms
Michael Antonoff  |  Oct 31, 2013
Seventeen years is an odd interval for measuring progress, but if you’d been sleeping under a pile of VHS cassettes and emerged as a flash mob of cicadas, you’d be impressed by how far home entertainment technology has come.
Continue Reading >

Pages

X