All Apple All Day

There's no question that iTunes was a game-changer for Apple.   But has the time come for it to just... go away?

DirecTV's official stance regarding their equipment is " you get what you get and you don't get upset. " But this is the tech-blog world! We're powered on a constant cycle of early upgrades! Surely the AAAD household can get its hands on the latest and greatest DirecTV boxes. Let's find out. 

It's been a while since I did a High Five feature around here. And it's Christmas! So what are you hoping for this year? Here's what we're hoping for around the AAAD household for the 2013 holidays.  (Or, more accurately, for 2014... we aren't getting any of these things this month. They're PRICEY.) 1. Lutron RadioRA 2 I previously thought I'd do whole-home lighting with an Insteon system... and they've REALLY improved their product lineup this year - but I just don't really like the look of the keypads.  They look like old touch-tone phones. The Lutron keypads are the gold standard.  A few years ago, I stayed at the Andaz hotel at Wall & Water in lower Manhattan (by the way, a spectacular hotel!), and every room had a Lutron lighting panel. You had your choice of multiple "scenes" - hit one button, and all the lights in the room dimmed, except for the ambiance lights behind the TV, which turned on. So cool.  I fig...

A few months ago, I wrote about the Redmere High Speed HDMI cables that are available at Monoprice. They're unbelievably thin... about the same size and flexibility as your iPhone charging cable. Last week, I finally got around to ordering four 15-foot cables. And literally the next day, I got an email about the NEW and IMPROVED Redmere HDMI cables! Good thing I hadn't opened the old ones.

This post starts with a rather embarrassing story.  Last summer, we were invited to a Friday evening happy hour at our neighbors' house.  (That isn't the embarrassing part.)