LATEST ADDITIONS

In September 2005, for the first time, I attended the Expo of the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association (CEDIA), in Indianapolis. Although I saw many familiar faces and companies, it was apparent that the event was dominated by a spirit very different from the one that pervades this magazine or the high-end exhibitions at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES). That spirit, however, does suffuse the rest of CES, and is well represented at Primedia's own Home Entertainment shows. That spirit encompasses video, and a view of audio that differs significantly from that of traditional audiophiles. Multichannel surround sound is taken as read, and novel technologies are prized higher than the proverbial "straight wire with gain."

<I>Burmester</I>: <A HREF="http://www.burmester.de/">Burmester Audio Systems</A> has a new distributor, Soundquest LLC, which has been distributing <A HREF="http://www.audiophysic.com/">Audio Physic</A> for some time. Tel: (212) 731-0729. Fax: (212) 731-0730.

As we reported <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/news/012306fairuse/">last week</A>, the Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) held hearings on January 24 exploring regulations to insert "Broadcast Flags" and "Audio Flags" into broadcast signals and audio recordings&mdash;markers that would prevent electronic devices from recording the flagged material. What we did not anticipate last week was that the hearings would trigger an outpouring of common sense.

Huckleberry personally inspects every box before it leaves <I>mi casa</I>.

Or should it be <I>Coq au Blam</I>? Some recipes make life a lot more interesting than others.

Huge database of animated .GIFs that demonstrate mathematic concepts. Need to explain the Conchoid of Nicomedes? Poincar&#233; Hyperbolic Disks? Semicubical Parabola Involutes? Sweat no more&mdash;just point and click.

No, but it <I>behaves</I> like one, according to researchers who used an internet game called www.wheresgeorge.com to predict the geographical spread of epidemics. How's that work? Money, like viruses, is spread by people and, since people travel great distances these days, coming up with a way to chart how far and fast an epidemic can travel has been nigh on to impossible.