boston

BOSTON--To get a sustainable city program off the ground, Boston University researchers are acting more like political candidates than energy engineers.

Boston University is participating in a $2 million National Science Foundation-funded Smart Neighborhood project that seeks to make a Boston neighborhood more energy efficient. But rather than just install solar panels or electricity monitors, researchers are focusing on ways to get people on board and participate in what they hope will be a "living laboratory."

One of the ideas behind the project is that there is no lack of technology to measure energy consumption, project participants said … Read more

BRENTWOOD, N.H.--Road Trip 2010 has officially covered enough miles to make it from one coast of America to the other.

Of course, that's not what's really happened. Instead, I've driven 3,000 miles up and down--and up and down, and up and down, following a truly inefficient path--the East Coast in search of great destinations to report on.

And that's what has brought me here, to this town of population 4,200 in the southeastern corner of the Granite State--that quest for great things to write about. It's not that I had … Read more

BOSTON--On April 12, 1912, after two days of rain, the Boston Red Sox and the New York Highlanders played the first game ever at Fenway Park.

Ninety-eight years later, the ballpark is called--by the Red Sox at least--the most adored in Major League Baseball. It's possible that Chicago Cubs fans might dispute that, given how protective they are of Wrigley Field.

Either way, there's no arguing that Fenway is much loved, and on Thursday, as part of Road Trip 2010, I got a chance to visit the park and see many of the areas that are generally used … Read more

BOSTON--If it were any other day, and I was tipsy from drinking beer on the job, particularly given that it's not even noon yet, I'd probably be in serious trouble.

But today, I've got an excuse: I'm at the Samuel Adams brewery here for a behind-the-scenes tour of the famous facility. And they've got me sampling the wares.

I'm here on Road Trip 2010, which has taken me to a wildly diverse collection of places up and down the Northeast, but all I can think right now is that drinking amazingly tasty specialty beer … Read more

I love puppies--especially when they're stone-cold machines that will stop at nothing to carry out their mission. LittleDog is one such charmer.

The unholy offspring of Boston Dynamics' BigDog, the slightly odd robot pack animal, LittleDog is a DARPA-funded robot platform for studying quadruped locomotion. Of course, the ultimate goal is military applications; think of it as Aibo's hunter-killer cousin.

Researchers at the University of Southern California's Computational Learning & Motor Control Lab have taught the 5-inch-tall pup some better walking skills using techniques from machine learning. The USC locomotion controller lets LittleDog walk over very rocky terrain and haul itself up wide steps without setting a paw wrong. It can also get over holes as wide as the length of its leg, as seen in the video below.

The controller makes the robot learn where to place its feet by examining a human demonstration of walking carefully over difficult ground. It then extrapolates this information and uses it on novel terrain. The approach is also flexible enough for the machine to tackle seesawing ground and other unforeseen obstacles. … Read more

BOSTON--If you like the idea of greening your home or office by installing a small wind turbine, it may be best to picture the device on the ground and not the roof.

That's one of the pearls of wisdom shared here Tuesday by the city's Museum of Science, during a conference on small-scale urban wind turbines. The museum was reporting data from an experiment involving the installation last year of five such turbines on the institution's roof.

Dozens of young companies have developed microwind turbines designed for residential or commercial customers, leading to rapid growth in sales … Read more

Snell Acoustics never strayed from its core principles. The company, founded by Peter Snell in 1976, continued to manufacture high-end loudspeakers in Massachusetts until this year. I first met Peter in 1978 while working at a NYC high-end audio dealer, and soon bought one of his original speakers, a Snell Type A. I had it for eight years.

Peter was a perfectionist about the sound and the build quality of his speakers. The cabinets were exquisitely finished, but the amount of handiwork invested in the parts the customer never saw was even more impressive.

Though most of the better speaker manufacturers demand a minimum measurement variation for their suppliers' tweeters and woofers, Snell went the extra mile and hand-tuned each crossover network to compensate for the drivers' response irregularities. Then a computer measured the speaker's response, and a technician noted the difference between the desired flat curve and the speaker's actual frequency response.

The hand-tweaking process continued until the speaker measured within Snell's unusually tight tolerances. The painstaking effort ensured all completed speakers measured within exceedingly tight tolerances (+/-0.5 decibels) of the original design prototype. Every Snell buyer heard exactly what the designer intended.

All Snells, including the most affordable models, were built this way, and all cabinets were assembled and finished by hand. Few American speaker companies continue to maintain that approach; most outsourced manufacturing long ago.

If a Snell customer ever needed a replacement tweeter, midrange, or woofer, that part was supplied with its associated crossover parts, again matched to the original spec; and this was done for speakers 10, 20, and even 30 years after they were sold. That remarkable commitment to customer service is rare in today's market, but Snell was a very special company.

Peter dropped by my store on a regular basis, usually to discuss music or future plans. When I moved to a new apartment with unfriendly room acoustics, he offered to help. He spent three or four hours experimenting with different placement scenarios before coming up with a rather unusual strategy that worked. He really was a great guy, totally committed to designing speakers that advanced the state of the art.… Read more

There are surprisingly few multinational audio companies.

I'm talking about big companies that just make speakers and audio electronics, so that leaves Sony and Panasonic out of the picture. Bose and D & M Holdings (Denon, Marantz, Boston Acoustics, etc) come to mind, but Harman International has a longer reach. Harman owns AKG (headphones, microphones), Harman/Becker Automotive Systems, Crown (professional audio), Harman Kardon (receivers), Infinity (speakers), JBL (speakers), Lexicon (high-end electronics), Mark Levinson (car and high-end audio electronics), Revel (speakers), Soundcraft (professional audio), and Studer (professional audio).

Some brands, like JBL and Lexicon, make consumer and pro gear, and in the case of JBL, speakers for every budget, from entry-level hi-fi and home theater all the way up to recording studios, movie theaters and stadium sound systems.

I was thinking about all that because the Harman Mobile Showroom was in NYC last week for the Architectural Digest Home Design Show. It may soon be in a town near you, or you can take a virtual tour and see and learn more about Harman's Mobile Showroom.

I liked the sound at the Mobile Showroom and chatted with Todd Packer, a technical product and project manager for Harman, about the gear. The company's intention, "To make a strong design statement," came through loud and very clear. … Read more

The 24-city Nissan Leaf Zero-Emission Tour stopped at the Museum of Science in Boston on Tuesday to announce that Nissan and Massachusetts will develop an electric-vehicle charging network and policies to support widespread adoptions of electric cars.

The agreement includes plans to promote a charging infrastructure for electric cars so drivers could charge their cars at home, work, and other locations. Nissan also has agreed to make available a supply of electric vehicles statewide.

Nissan has spearheaded a holistic approach to zero-emission mobility by working with several states, municipalities, utility companies, including the state of Tennessee, the state of Oregon, … Read more