Latest in Home Theater, Cool Homes and Home Electronics

We first heard about Waterfall Audio, a French loudspeaker manufacturer, a couple of years ago when it made a splash with stunning glass-enclosed speaker products ... that sounded as good as they looked. The company’s latest audio gift isn’t quite as imposing or commanding looking, but it will still be easy on the eyes and ears in your living room… View this story

One of the easiest ways to Beat Black Friday is to look for package deals. Having a 50” plasma hanging on the wall is great, but seeing is only half the battle. You need a little sound to round out the experience. But if you’re shopping for a 720p plasma around Black Friday, something tells me you don’t have a… View this story

Any pro, savvy do-it-yourselfer or unwired consumer will tell you: The best way to futureproof your home is to run conduit behind the walls. Is fiber the wave of the future? Hard to tell, but you can always play it safe and run conduit now and cable later. The eXapath system from Homepath Products is installed much like a wall… View this story

With the holiday season nearly here, it’s time for many to formulate their annual shopping lists.  Allendale, N.J.-based Talk of the Town will be helping out those consumers interested in electronics to fill out their shopping lists with its “Audio, Video & Home Theater Demo Day” on Saturday, December 5. The daylong event runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.… View this story

Want to save energy, but still want your HDTV? Today you can have both high-quality high-def viewing and energy savings. If there’s a blue Energy Star logo on the latest TV you’re eyeing, you know it meets stringent power requirements. And you shouldn’t have to worry about performance being compromised. An LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) television typically requires much less… View this story

The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has vowed to pursue legal and legislation solutions to yesterday’s decision by the California Energy Commission (CEC) to impose energy-efficiency requirements on TVs sold in the state. The standards require that new televisions sold in California consume 33 percent less electricity by 2011 and 49 percent less electricity by 2013. The standards affect only those… View this story

CE retailers are banking on the day after Thanksgiving being not black, but Blu Friday. Blu-ray player prices are being slashed and blockbuster titles on Blu-ray will be going for $8 - $13. The cost of entry is dropping to where the average consumer can finally justify putting some HD content on that plasma or LCD. Best Buy, now running… View this story

David Bohnett’s Los Angeles and New York City residences may stand thousands of miles apart, but they function as if they are one—at least when it comes to their ability to communicate. A sophisticated Panasonic phone system, combined with a Crestron automation system, tie the two homes together to create a powerful communications network that takes Bohnett’s business and personal… View this story

Zip Express Installation has scored another win for its home entertainment and networking installation business. The company has partnered with Shopko, a $2 billion regional retailer of everything from pharmaceuticals to optical services to home entertainment gear. Shopko, headquartered in Green Bay, Wis., has 136 stores in 13 states throughout the Midwest, Mountain and Pacific Northwest regions. With the deal,… View this story

The California Energy Commission (CEC) today voted to enact restrictions on the sales of energy-hogging TVs up to 58 inches in screen size. The new restrictions will limit the sales of TVs in the state to only those that meet energy requirements, starting in 2011. A second, stricter phase of requirements is slated to go into effect in 2013, and… View this story

BlackFriday.info got its hands on Walmart‘s Black Friday ad, which has some of the best deals we’ve seen. Walmart is offering a Magnavox Blu-ray player for $78, a 32-inch Emerson 720p LCD for $248, and a HP 15.6-inch notebook with Intel Processor and 3GB of memory for $298. BlackFriday.info says Walmart’s ad “includes some of the best deals that you… View this story

Last year, the LCD buzz was all about 120Hz refresh rates for smoother moving images. This year there’s 240Hz refresh rates, but the real news is that LCD TVs are going green—and improving their picture quality at the same time. Enter the brightest new TV star, LED (light emitting diode) backlighting. It’s much more energy efficient and more expensive than… View this story