Consumer electronics are the devices you use every day, from the TV in your living room to the MP3 player in your hand. Understanding your gadgets better will help you enjoy them more. The World in the Palm of your Hand One of the direct benefits of digital convergence is the amount of power that has now been concentrated into devices small enough for anyone to carry comfortably anywhere and use anytime. Troubleshooting Your Mobile Audio System No matter how good your equipment is, if something is acting up in your car/van/SUV/wagon’s audio system, you wind up hating the day you bought your stereo. Instead of being able to enjoy the sound, you instead have to put up with the whine or rattle that won’t go away, or wonder why you keep blowing speakers. More Articles

From understanding next-generation DVDs to what Power over Ethernet means, having a handle on today's science and technology is even more important than before. Knowing what is behind the faceplate will help you make the right decisions when it comes to today's science and technology. The Casimir Effect First proposed by the Dutch scientist Hendrick Casimir in 1948, the Casimir force supports the quantum electrodynamics portion of the vacuum fluctuation theory by Max Planck and Werner Heisenberg. That's the theory that proposes that space is not empty, but full of virtual particles that are constantly appearing and disappearing. Analog Noise As a method for storing and reproducing music, analog is being supplanted by digital, but there are still a lot of devices out there that use analog technology. It is useful to understand where noise comes from, so you can more easily eliminate it. What is a Crossover? A crossover is a filtering device that takes a music signal and splits it into separate frequency ranges. This is usually done in order to send them to speakers that are tuned to best reproduce each frequency range. What is a Liquid Lens? A liquid lens uses one or more fluids to create an infinitely-variable lens without any moving parts by controlling the meniscus (the surface of the liquid.) There are two primary types, transmissive and reflective. More Articles

Ever tie a knot in a cigarette? There is always a lighter way to look at science. How to tie a knot in a cigarette The funny thing is, I don't smoke cigarettes. I did, however, spend a lot of time in bars, especially those frequented by soldiers. You learn a lot of bar tricks this way. The Electronic Astronomer One of the most daunting things about astronomy is that there are so many darn things out there in the sky to look at. The chore of locating and identifying items of interest in the heavens intimidate many who would otherwise be attracted to stargazing. Self-pointing telescopes provide an easy solution to this problem. The Panorama of the city of New York Built for the 1964 New York World's Fair, The Panorama of the City of New York is a complete scale model of the city. It is also the largest architectural model in the world. It measures 9335 sq. ft. About Zombies Zombies are a powerful element in horror because they have several aspects that are highly useful to the storyteller. More Articles