These Edifier R1700BT speakers are perfect for my home office and bedroom. Read the rest

Working as a technology journalist is a privilege that allows me to play with hardware that I could never afford to own. Last week, while I was in Montreal for the opening of Sennheiser's new Canadian office, for example, I was able to spend some quality time with the company's crazy $50,000 made-to-order HE 1 headphones. For a guy that reviews audio hardware for a living, it was a ridiculous treat.

There are times that the privilege of doing what I do extends beyond all of the gear that I get to play with. Among the Sennheiser employees, audio nerds like me, and other folks attending the company's opening day bash was Dr. Andreas Sennheiser. Andreas, an electrical engineer by trade, has been co-CEO along with his brother Daniel of their family's 70-year-old audio company for the past five years.

Here in North America, Sennheiser is mostly known for their professional audio products -- microphones and reference headphones for the rich and musically famous, and conference-call hardware for high falootin' boardrooms. In Europe, Asia and Africa, the German company's footprint in consumer audio is massive. They’re one of the oldest names in audiophile-grade headphones and an early, much-respected maker of audio hardware designed to augment virtual and augmented reality experiences.

They make cool shit.

Once the celebration was over and the caterers had absconded with the all of leftovers, Andreas was good enough to spend a few minutes with me, talking about his company, his family and the notion of legacy. Read the rest

When you're having a conference in an awesome spot like Irvine you can play host to a speaker who refuses to prepare!

I'll be kicking off WordCamp this Saturday morning, someplace in the lovely planned community of Irvine. Get there early if you want to catch me.

Not even I have an idea what I'll say -- I've been asked to regale the folks who attend with tales of my decade-plus working with wonderful things. We can all be surprised!

Most notably, I got taught a lesson about not fucking around when people send you silly interview questions! It appears this bio is the output of my flippant responses.

While we have a lot of fun, don't be looking to Boing Boing for best practices!

WordCamp OC will be held someplace behind the Orange curtain this weekend.

Image via u̶͛͗̽ n̵͇ͨ g̵̼͂ l̵᷅ t̵̄ c̵̃͘ h̵͚ m̵͇͑e͔ Read the rest

[UPDATE: Deal expired.] The Anker Aluminum Portable Wireless Speaker sells on Amazon for $(removed), but you can get it for $(removed) if you use the code WOWDEALA at check-out. It plays music from phones and tablets via Bluetooth and accepts a Micro SD card loaded with audio files, too.

Read the rest

A couple of weeks ago my teenage daughter took my beloved Grain bluetooth speaker into her room and I haven't seen it since. I bought the AmazonBasics Ultra-Portable Micro Bluetooth Speaker ($(removed)) as a low-cost replacement. I've been using it in the kitchen, mainly to listen to podcasts and am very happy with it. The sound is deeper and louder than my phone's speaker, though not nearly as good as the Grain ($(removed)). It's about the size of a hockey puck, and plays 10 hours on a charge (a micro USB cable is supplied). It also comes with a soft pouch, which I promptly lost. Read the rest

The Altec Lansing Life Jacket is $135 at Amazon—just don't get it wet.

Read the rest

Great design at a relatively palatable price, Timbre's 20W desktop speakers are 5"x8"x1.6" and will be offered in various fancy woods such as bubinga, wenge and teak. They're being crowdfunded, starting at $175 a set, and have already reached their Kickstarter target. Read the rest