wirelessspeakers32

wirelessspeakers32

A Tale Of Two Catalysts

parislemon:

Amazon will announce their earnings later today. As I outlined in October, the results this past quarter will highlight the difference between Apple and Amazon.

Writes Tricia Duryee:

Here’s one data point: For the holiday period, Apple’s gross margin was an impressive 44.7 percent, up from 38.5 percent a year earlier. Meanwhile, analysts are estimating that Amazon’s operating margin will fall to 1.3 percent from 3.6 percent last year.

44.7 percent versus 1.3 percent. 

What does that mean? It means that even though Amazon should report record revenues, their profit will likely be depressed — probably badly depressed. Why? Well, first and foremost, most of the goods they sell have low margins. But even the goods that should have high margins — hardware — have low margins. 

Or worse. Take the Kindle Fire — Amazon’s most popular product (though don’t bother asking how many they actually sold) — it’s sold at a loss. 

Like Apple, Amazon has built an amazing business that has revolutionized more than one industry. But context is important. Right now, Apple probably makes more profit in a day than Amazon does in a quarter. 

Update: The numbers are out.

strangefire:

New remix by Kanagawa!
Képzelt Város ☂ El Péndulo (Kanagawa remix)



Áron Birtalan aka Failotron and 1/2 of the much anticipated Hungarian experimental chip duo Kanagawa has released a really awesome remix of a Hungarian artist by the name of Képzelt Város(Imaginary City). I will admit that attempting to follow Birtalan’s musical updates via facebook is somewhat difficult as I dont speak the language..
But despite battling a small case of “Dumb American-syndrome” I still manage to be exceedingly impressed by Mr. Birtalan’s taste, technical knowledge and musical fortitude. 
This remix is nothing short of an all out journey into a realm of futuristic spectral mist with chem trails of lovestruck fantasy. “El Péndulo”(The Pendulum) is a cosmically cinematic ambient, post-rock jam that feels just as synthetic as it does organic.
Its about nine and a half minutes long but the listen is really worth it, give it a shot. 
 
As an added bonus, check out another track from Birtalan, this one is very different from the remix but is honestly equally stunning..
The Fall of Konstantinoupolis and the Glorious Rise of Cats, Cookies and Tea of Miklagard by Áron Birtalan
I would love to see Kanagawa finally recieve the international support they deserve outside of chiptune culture. With any luck, enough demand may help speed the phantom Kanagawa debut into the light of day. Like their facebook and show some support.

Peru: The new superfood capital of the world?

univisionnews:


Indigenous superfoods such as the Sacha Inchi plant (above) can be found all over Peru. 

By CAROL C. CAMPOS

Peru is one of the most geographically diverse countries in the world and it contains within its borders 82 micro-climates out of the 104 available in the world. This incredible variety of regions and micro-regions supports an amazingly rich flora and fauna and provides an ideal host for today’s most popular superfoods.

Read More

A Comparison Of Latest Wireless Surround Sound Models

The procedure of setting up multi-channel audio speakers in home theater products is rather tedious and suppliers have invented new products and technologies like cheap wireless surround sound transmitters recently to help simplify the installation. I will illustrate what to look out for when making your buying decision. This, though, has all changed with multi-channel sound. As the traditional 5.1 format needs 6 speakers: a front center, two front side speakers, two rear speaker and a subwoofer, the more recent 7.1 format adds two additional side speakers. As a result, home theater installations have turn out to be pretty complicated. Running wires to remote speakers also is often undesirable because of aesthetic reasons. Several technologies have emerged to simplify this process. The signal processing is engineered according to how the human hearing determines the location of a sound. The signal processing has an effect that will deceive the listener into assuming that the audio is originating from a different position. The signal processing of these virtual surround systems is based on a standard model which was measured with a standard ear. However, virtual surround will not function equally well for each human. Another option for simplifying home theater installations and eliminating long speaker cord runs is to utilize wireless surround sound systems or wireless loudspeakers. A wireless solution will generally incorporate a transmitter component that connects to the TV or source and wireless amplifiers that will be connected to the remote speakers. Ideally it should have a volume control to adjust it to the audio source. As a few wireless speaker kits come with a wireless amplifier that connects to two speakers, other devices offer separate wireless amplifiers for every speaker. The most advanced wireless kits employ digital transmission to avoid signal degradation. To ensure that all loudspeakers are in sync in a multi-channel application, make sure that you select a wireless system which has an audio latency of a few milliseconds at most. Other brands utilize side-reflecting speakers. This solution is referred to as sound bars.