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I cover a wide range of headphones on this blog, everything from the $40 Deos earbuds to the state-of-the-art Woo Audio WES headphone amplifier ($4,500) and Stax SR-007Mk2 headphones ($2,410). I've written about a lot of great headphones priced between those two extremes.

The common thread to all of the headphones I cover here is they all have excellent sound quality, but if there's one thing I know about the audio business, it's that most people don't prioritize sound quality, even when a better sounding product fits within their budget. With headphones, most buyers … Read more

Introducing a great new headphone resource: Inner Fidelity, created by audiophile and technician Tyll Hertsens. When I met Hertsens about 10 years ago he quickly became my prime source for information about headphones. Now with his new Web site, everyone has access to Hertsen's knowledge base.

He made a big splash with one of the site's first reviews, the Beats by Dr. Dre Solo headphones, and let's just say Hertsens didn't love them. You won't have to read between the lines to learn how Hertsens feels about a set of headphones. He also did a … Read more

Most of my audiophile friends believe that headphones (and speakers and electronics) sound better after the first 100 hours of use than they do when they're brand-new. When I'm doing high-end product reviews I leave the "burn-in, break-in" question up to the manufacturer. If the company's reps claim their product won't sound its best until it has a solid month of use, I'll request a unit with enough hours on it that I can start working on the review right away. If the manufacturer scoffs at the very idea of burn-in, I start … Read more

The recent popularity of GPS functionality built into smartphones and stock vehicles might eventually phase out third party portable navigation devices entirely, but folks who currently own Tom Tom systems can now hear their driving directions read by classic Star Wars characters like Yoda and Darth Vader. Tom Tom will release one Star Wars character a month, available as a $13 download- check out this hilarious promo for the Yoda version.

July 13 is the official Embrace Your Inner Geek Day so we're celebrating this annual holiday by doing...the same thing...we normally...do. And just for kicks, … Read more

MB Subconscious Self Number is, like most every program from Mystic Board, an advertisement-delivery vehicle first, and an actual useful program... well, not at all. Although the program's description promises to "make you aware of your reaction to a stressful situation," we found that the program did nothing of the sort.

Like all other Mystic Board programs, the interface for this one was cluttered with ads, with fake menu items directing users to Donate or Make Money Online (these are actually just links that take you to the Mystic Board Web site). Users are instructed to enter … Read more

Ah, yes, another worthless piece of software from Mystic Board. MB Rational Thought Number purports to "reveal whether you are a practical thinker or more of a dreamer" by determining your so-called rational thought number. This is supposedly done by adding up the number values of the letters in the user's first name. We think the whole thing is a bunch of hooey, and even the most undemanding New Age enthusiastic will find this program useless.

The program's interface, as usual, is cluttered with ads for Mystic Board. The expected menu options to Donate Money and … Read more

Canadian Solar has been granted rights to develop a 500-megawatt solar power plant in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China, the company announced Wednesday.

Baotou is a manufacturing city on the Yellow River in Inner Mongolia with a population of over 2 million, according to the Chinese government's official Baotou Web site.

Canadian Solar's agreement is with the Administration Committee of Baotou National Rare-Earth Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone, also known as its Chinese abbreviation "CPT." The signed agreement includes rights "to design, install, operate, and maintain" the solar power plant in Baotou.

"To have a … Read more

Inner8 is a recently launched social-stock picking service. CEO Doug Doyle says the company's mission is to provide an online alternative to the traditional investment advisor, who, he says, typically underperforms the market at large. Obviously, that's never been more true than in recent days, making Doyle's goal to, "steal share from the advice industry," quite modest. If, that is, there remains any industry to steal share from.

Inner8 is indeed a good source of investment ideas, but it's no replacement for an advisor. It's too technical and too involved. You can't … Read more

At South by Southwest, I met the guys from InnerTee, a custom T-shirt-making company. Other custom apparel operations, like Cafe Press, GoodStorm, and Zazzle are great sites for creating schwag--apparel using your own logos and slogans. But on InnerTee, you can only select from the painfully hip artwork already on the site. Baseline apparel prices on InnerTee are decent, but you pay for each art element you want to include on your item.

For example, my masterpiece, Monster Whisperer, started with a $12 T-shirt. But the five design elements I added to it racked the price up to $22. At … Read more