bars

Smart Address Bar for Internet Explorer adds as-you-type searching to IE's toolbar. It saves time by presenting results immediately, and it helps you find things you might not have found if you used the default method. Of course, IE lets users choose whether or not to enable searching from the address bar, and the default search engine is Microsoft's Bing. Smart Address Bar replaces Bing as the address bar search tool, though you can still search Bing from the Web interface. You can activate and deactivate it from the IE add-ons manager, as well as access the developer'… Read more

Before, you could click on the Videos link in the menu bar of Google's home page to search for a video across multiple video services. Now, the YouTube link takes you directly to, you guessed it, YouTube. The Videos link was removed from Google's home page, but it still exists on the search results page.

To search across multiple video services, enter your search term and then from the search results page, you'll find the Videos link in the left-hand column. It will then display videos from multiple sources, including but not limited to YouTube. And if … Read more

When Boston Acoustics first came out with its TVee line of sound bars , its modest pricing and focus on simplicity were a welcome addition to a market filled with overpriced models.

A few generations later, the TVee Model 25 faces a much different set of competitors: tons of cheap sound bars that are good enough if you just want something that sounds better than your TV. That's essentially the rub with the TVee Model 25, which is an all-around decent sound bar with better-than-average sound quality (and some design flaws), but its $350 street price seems out of sync with the market.… Read more

Say goodbye to the Windows start button. Microsoft has gotten rid of it from the latest build of Windows 8.

Hitting the Web over the weekend, screenshots of the new Windows 8 build display the "super bar," but without the start button orb on the left, according to The Verge. Build 8220 will be the final version released before the beta, now known as the Consumer Preview, debuts before the end of the month.

Until its untimely (or timely) death, the Windows 8 start button located in the Metro UI offered access to the search, share, devices, and … Read more

Yamaha basically created the sound bar category and continues to sell its best-in-class Digital Sound Projector line, but it can be hard to recommend the company's sound bars when they generally cost in excess of $1,000.

The YAS-101 ($250 street price) is Yamaha's entry into the increasingly crowded budget sound bar field, and it's one of the few that manages to stand out.

That's largely because of Yamaha's decision to eschew a separate subwoofer, instead using a built-in subwoofer, which gives the speaker system a more streamlined look. The YAS-101 also has a very … Read more

During CES, I got a chance to hook up with Engage, the company behind Unity, a well-built home theater system.

Unity is the brainchild of Todd Beauchamp, an ex-Apple audio engineer (he worked closely on iPhone acoustics, for example) and Mike Fidler, an individual with a strong marketing and engineering background in Sony.

The sound system looks familiar because it has a design similar to the many sound bar and subwoofer combos out there, but stacked on top of each other. Unlike most sound bars, Unity's modular design has a depth to it that can support a 60-inch TV.

I quickly learned that the idea is a "system that can be set up in little as 15 minutes," Beauchamp said enthusiastically. You can tell that a lot of time and dedication went into the first version of the home theater and future versions could be compelling as the design evolves. … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Sound bars have gotten cheaper, and they sound better and have more connectivity than ever before. Now, apparently you can snap them in half, even if you never wanted to.

Panasonic and Samsung both had "splittable" sound bars here at CES 2012 and I felt like I saw more of them on the show floor. The idea is you can split the bar into two speakers, place them on a stand, and create a more traditional 2.1 speaker system.

It's a nifty-looking feature, but it doesn't solve a problem anybody has ever had with a sound bar. I get plenty of reader mail about sound bars, but nobody has ever asked about a sound bar that can transform into separate speakers, probably because when they bought a sound bar, they wanted a sound bar.… Read more

LAS VEGAS--AirPlay gets all the press, but LG is betting that Bluetooth is good enough.

LG announced three new sound bars at CES 2012 this morning, with two including built-in Bluetooth for wireless music streaming from smartphones. The choice to stick to Bluetooth could be a savvy one for a number of reasons, including compatibility with both iOS and Android devices and overall lower cost. When I reviewed LG's LSB316 last year, the Bluetooth streaming was impressive, with my iPhone 4 treating it almost exactly like an AirPlay device. Sound quality on the LSB316 wasn't as impressive, especially … Read more

Typically, sound bars are horizontal speakers that are designed to be placed below your TV.

Samsung's upcoming HW-E550 Surround Sound Bar is just that--but with a twist. Not only can you place it horizontally below your TV (the speaker weighs 4 pounds), but you can split it in two and turn it into a traditional 2.1-channel floor-standing system using the included bases.

Yes, there's also a subwoofer, but the sound bar (or speakers if you split it in two) connects to it wirelessly using Samsung's proprietary dual-band 5.2/5.8GHz wireless technology. Samsung says the … Read more