Latest in Home Theater, Cool Homes and Home Electronics

It’s nice to be able to check in with visitors via an intercom. However, checking them out is even better. On-Q/Legrand knows this. That’s why they have just announced the Selective Call Intercom Video Door Unit. It works like the standard intercom, but also features a wide angle, low 0.2 lux color camera. Connect the unit to On-Q’s LCD Console… View this story

What more could you want from a Blu-ray player than outstanding audio, video and interactive features? How about even more options, like SACD and DVD-Audio support, for the dozen or so people who actually own some of those discs? OK, actually we’re pretty stoked about those multi-channel, high-res audio formats and are kinda bummed that they didn’t take off—but Denon… View this story

According to TLC’s Doug Wilson, there’s a right way and a wrong way to incorporate technology into a space. Do it poorly and “you can easily feel overwhelmed by all the electronics in your house,” he says. LG Electronics understands this too, and has teamed up with the interior designer to help consumers by offering tips and ideas on how… View this story

Not to be outdone by the NFL—especially a game involving the woeful Raiders and Chargers—Fox sports is going to telecast the BCS Championship college football game in 3D to select theaters. The 3D seeds are being spread in sports broadcasts, as tomorrow night’s live NFL Oakland-San Diego game was already announced as an experiment in 3D to be shown that… View this story

For those that pooh-pooh the Xbox for its lack of internal memory, well… now you will need something else to pick on. After hearing that the 360 was adding a little something special inside, Xbox 360 Fanboy spoke to a “Microsoft spokesperson” to confirm the rumors. The Xbox 360 Arcade will now come with 256MB of internal storage. Now you… View this story

At least a few people, presumably former employees, are letting Tweeter know how they feel about the store closings. After news on Tuesday of the shuttering of the company’s remaining stores, Tweeter.com’s welcome page had a slightly different look on Wednesday morning. Instead of the 20% to 50% off store closing banner that had been there, browsers found an image… View this story

Choosing from the long list of mobile broadband service providers is in many ways like choosing any service provider, with a few important differences. The first comparison point is always going to be cost, and in this there is, at first glance, remarkable consistency among the providers we’ve looked at. The roughly $60-per-month rate is typical, so this is not… View this story

If you were planning to swing by your local Tweeter to see what bargains were left to be had, don’t bother. While many were griping that the deals weren’t all that great, now there is a bigger problem: a big padlock. It seems that all of the remaining stores are closed effective immediately—just days before the specialty retailer had planned… View this story

There are plenty of speakers designed to sit below your flat-panel TV, and usually they’re known as soundbars. The new Z-Base 550 from ZVOX was designed to literally sit below the TV—as in, you can place your LCD stand and all right on top of it. Huh? Yup, the Z-Base 550 packs speakers, amplification, virtual surround technology and a powered… View this story

Want to see your home’s electricity usage on an hourly basis? According to Metering.com, 1.4 million customers of PPL Electric Utilities in Pennsylvania can. They just have to register and log on to the secure myPPL web site, where they’re presented with a dashboard hosted by Aclara. The dashboard allows customers to see all the important features of the most… View this story

Docks for iPods might not be coming out on a seemingly daily basis like they used to, but we’ve still seen some innovative ones lately. Marantz and its sturdy line of components is getting an iPod dock addition to the family. The company has introduced its Bluetooth-capable IS301 Wireless Dock for iPod that it plans to show off at CES… View this story

For Sony and Microsoft, the gaming wars never seem to get stale. This time, Microsoft is sinking Sony’s battleship—by posting Black Friday sales numbers. According to a press release (via Kotaku), the Xbox 360 had its single biggest sales day in history—and beat out PS3 sales 3:1. It also says that those Black Friday numbers were 25 percent better than… View this story