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It's been a rough season for some in the e-commerce crowd, as several consumer-electronics Internet startups find themselves amid changes. Last week, CyberShop.com announced that it will close the e-tailing sites CyberShop.com and electronics.net (created as a joint venture with Tops Appliance City, which is now under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection) and sell these operations' remaining retail assets. At the same time, the company says it will launch an "Internet incubator" through the establishment of Grove Street Ventures to attract and develop startup Internet companies.
Conrad-Johnson has been on a roll with their Anniversary Reference Triode preamplifier, aka the ART, which garnered the Stereophile Product of the Year award in 1998. (See previous article.) According to Lew Johnson, "We realized that Conrad-Johnson is coming up on its 20th anniversary, so we thought we might produce something special to celebrate. This is a version of the preamplifier we use in our listening room at the factory---we never even thought about producing it because it would be god-awful expensive. But it really is our last thought on what a preamp should be, so we figured we'…
If the new satellite radio products are any indication, the format has a bright future. During the first week of September, Kenwood and Antex Electronics announced new Sirius satellite receivers, and XM Radio has already dropped the price on its recently introduced "XM PCR," a controller that lets you listen to XM via your computer.
On September 3, Kenwood USA announced the impending arrival of its DT-7000S, the industry's first "dedicated home satellite radio receiver." Unveiled at the Custom Electronics Design and Installation Association (CEDIA) Expo in Indianapolis, the $300 DT-7000S…
On March 22, it was announced that the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association (CEDIA) had received another ruling in its favor from the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in the action brought against it by Bose Corporation to cancel CEDIA's trademark registrations for the phrase "Electronic Lifestyles." The Board denied Bose's motion for summary judgment and declined to consider fraud claims against CEDIA regarding the registrations.
Bose manufactures a speaker line known as "Lifestyles" and charges that CEDIA's use of "Electronic Lifestyles" resembles its trademark to the…
With few exceptions, 2003 has been a slow year for specialty A/V retailers. In late November, both Ultimate Electronics and Tweeter Group reported disappointing figures for their third and fourth fiscal quarters, respectively. New York's Harvey Electronics, however, posted respectable gains given the stagnant economy.
Canton, MA - based Tweeter Home Entertainment Group reported that for the fourth quarter ended September 30, revenue was up 1% at $184.9 million, compared with $183 million in the same period last year. Sales at comparable stores, however, dropped 6.8% during the three months…
Warner Music Group is supporting efforts by the DVD Forum to create a hybrid dual-layer CD/DVD-audio disc, according to reports from New York the first week of December. WMG, a unit of AOL Time Warner, is one of the music industry's principal backers of the DVD-Audio format.
The creation of a hybrid disc would require amendments to the "Red Book" CD standard. CD players, under the current standard, can't read DVD-Audio discs—for that matter, neither can most DVD-Video players, which default to a DVD-Audio disc's alternate Dolby Digital multichannel tracks, as if the disc were a DVD movie…
As tighter restrictions on the use of both audio and video digital content loom in the legislature, the Home Recording Rights Coalition (HRRC) and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) have teamed up to counter the ever-increasing demands from copyright holders. The HRRC, founded in 1981, is a leading advocacy group for consumers' rights to use home electronics products for private, non-commercial purposes.
The HRRC notes that one of its core concerns is that the flexibility offered by new digital communications technology "not be reserved for enjoyment only by content industries.…
Electronic equipment worth millions of dollars is damaged every year by lightning strikes and power outages caused by summer storms. These seasonal threats have been amplified by the possibility of rotating blackouts, as well as resulting recent policy changes by major utility companies.
Many electrical utilities have longstanding policies that insure homeowner's equipment and appliances against damage that can be proven to have been the fault of the utility company, such as voltage spikes or grounding problems. California's Pacific Gas & Electric was one such company, but its…
On November 12, the audio forum Head-Fi staged a meet at the Adria Ramada Inn and Conference Center in Bayside, NY. You may be asking yourself, What's a Head-Fi meet? That's a complicated question, but the simplest answer is that it's an attempt to provide a real-world equivalent to the sense of community that Head-Fi's forum has engendered on the Internet. It's also a chance for like-minded enthusiasts to share their favorite equipment and software with one another. In a hotel conference room, some 30–40 headphone lovers set up their systems (frequently incorporating more than one headphone…
Apple vs Apple: Despite persistent rumors of an impending settlement, the trademark dispute between Apple Corps, the Beatles' record company, and Apple Computer remained unresolved as of late September. The rift arose from the computer company's entry into the music business with its iTunes Music Store, in apparent violation of a previous deal in which it agreed not to do so. One possible outcome of current discussions between the two companies could be the first-ever online availability of Beatles recordings, an exclusive arrangement that might give iTunes an advantage over its competitors.…