In a small room away from the main convention center at the CEDIA Expo, LG showed off its upcoming 84-inch 4K LCD, the LG 84LM9600.

I got a close-up look at the new ultraresolution panel, got a lot of questions answered, and got a rough idea what we can expect when it starts shipping next month.

Curious? I was too.… Read more

WD today made the good old portable hard drive concept something totally new again.

The storage vendor announced a new family of portable external hard drives for Macs and Windows PCs, called My Passport Edge, that's ultrasleek and ultraslim.

There are minor differences between the Mac version and the Windows version of the new drive.… Read more

Most "smart home" automation systems require a significant investment in additional equipment in order to smarten up your otherwise not-so-smart gear.

Sony and Control4 want to simplify the buying process, and bring home automation to a much wider audience, by integrating a full Control4 "brain" into Sony's new ES line of receivers. … Read more

After more than a month in beta state, Synology's final latest version, version 4.1, of the DiskStation Manager operating system for its NAS server, was released today.

Synology is one of a few NAS vendors that regularly releases new versions of the operating system, which improves and adds features to its existing NAS servers. DSM has been by far the most advanced operating system for network-attached storage servers, which offers not just a vast amount of features and ease of use, but also the most robust user interface that resembles a native operating system. Like all NAS operating systems, DSM is accessed via a Web interface using a connected computer.

DSM is one of the main reasons Synology NAS servers, such as the DS1511+, or the DS412+, have been the best on the market, for both home and small business environments.… Read more

Rumors abound that the next-generation PlayStation will be able to output 4K resolution.

Normally, I find rumors about as useful and interesting as other people's gas, but this one stinks on a different level.

Allow me to confound with reasons why I think 4K output with the PS4 is simultaneously likely, and pretty much irrelevant.… Read more

WD has just upgraded its storage solutions for Macs on both USB and Thunderbolt fronts.

The storage vendor today announced its first USB 3.0-based portable drives for Macs, the My Passport for Mac, and a new Thunderbolt drive, the My Book VelociRaptor Duo.

Apart from USB 3.0, the My Passport for Mac also increases the capacity to 2TB while remaining compact and portable. The reason WD waited until now to release a Mac portable drive that supports USB 3.0 is because USB 3.0 has just been added to the new version of the MacBook Pro and … Read more

Coinciding with many other announcements during its presser today at the IFA 2012 confab in Berlin, Sony quietly launched the HMZ-T2 personal 3D head-mounted display.

The headset -- vastly similar to its predecessor (the HMZ-T1) -- contains two small 0.7-inch OLED (organic light-emitting diode) displays placed in front of the wearer's eyes that simulate a big screen and can display 2D/3D content from any HDMI source. Crave sent Sony an e-mail to see if the HMZ-T2 offers the same 720-pixel resolution and picture quality as before, which seems likely, as T2's marketing babble reads very much like that of the HMZ-T1. We'll let you know. … Read more

LG today unveiled two new IPS monitors.

The first, dubbed the EA93, is a 29-inch panel with 2,560x1,080 resolution and a 21:9 aspect ratio. In terms of connectivity, the EA93 holds up quite well, offering one DVI-D Dual port, as well as two HDMI ports. It also comes with USB 3.0.

Whereas the EA93 is being marketed as a product for entertainment-seekers looking for high-quality visuals and a movie-friendly experience, the EA83 is specifically designed for "graphics-intensive applications" required by filmmakers, photographers, and designers.

The EA83 has a 27-inch screen and a 16:9 … Read more

LG Electronics is set to show off a slew of new products aimed at the home theater market.

Running the gamut from 3D sound systems to entertainment hubs, the new devices will be on display at the IFA trade show in Berlin. The show runs from August 31 to September 5.

First on the list is a 3D home theater system with the product name BH9520TW. The gear includes four 3D speakers delivering a sound that LG compares with that of an IMAX theatre. A 3D sound zooming technology synchronizes the audio with the action on a 3D TV. Viewers … Read more