commandN #153 (October 17, 2008)

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headLINES

• YouTube running CBS shows
• YouTube adds "Read Comment Aloud"
• Obama campaigns inside XBox
• BankRate Acquires Bankaholic
• The Blogging Houseplant
• Study: Google Makes You Smart

techTIPS - Earphones 101

• HeadWize: Preventing hearing damage while listening to headphones
• Download cN153-techTIPS-Earphones.pdf (0.0K)

webPICKS

• Addictionary
• Tip'd

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Comments

[Gene Rubio]

How can I get my palm tree to sign up for an account with 'The Blogging Houseplant'? ☚

[Philip Roy]

Jeff, there's another type of headphone now that David Pogue looked at....they don't go in the ear though!....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/25/technology/personaltech/25pogue.html

Very weird!

[Amber Mac]

Hey Gene - Hmmm...not sure, but if you find out let us know ;)!

[Eric]

Hmmm... How can Jeff talk about supra-aural headphone, show a pair of Grado 60 and says this type of headphone doesn't have a really good sound. I would expect a little bit more research before presenting something like this.

[Steve "Snowball" Saylor]

Well as the Chief Medical Correspondent this week, I have to say that this weeks episode, much like an apple, will keep the doctor away.

The More you know.....

Haha, okay I loved the new media art exhibit piece. I love fusing together new and old media together to make art. That's really cool. What do you guys think?

Steve "Snowball" Saylor
Chief Medical Correspondent for commandn.tv

[Sgtret]

Watching the two of you bundled up makes me, sitting here in New England, feel downright tropical. Shall we have a contest to see who first sees their breath?

The earphone piece was sufficiently informational to make me want to learn more. I've been using my SONY MDR-NC8 folding & noise cancelling earphones with my laptop for what seems like forever. Once they're on my head, they're so light I barely notice them. I barely notice people until they're standing in front of me shouting as well. That can be bad.

The eyeball and eye makeup at the end was a tad startling. It's what I've heard of myself, "more than I want to know."
Take care.

[Chris Dick]

@Steve, wait till next week! I don't want to give anything away but your medical duties will soon seem a simple pleasure compared to ... let's just say that a ride on the Vomit Comet http://www.nasa.gov/mov/142441main_vomitcomet_hi.mov may give you some help!

[franker69]

Hmm, only 9 seconds for the great Blinkenlights project ? Was that all ?
For more information: http://www.blinkenlights.net/blog

[Steve "Snowball" Saylor]

@Chris, ooh boy. I not even sure I want to know now. LOL

[rodney]

loved the piece on brian t moore. Very Cool stuff. Thanks

[Amber Mac]

Glad you liked the show! As for Blinkenlights, we shot this ep after the exhibit went up and wanted to focus on Brian's little shin-dig. As for the earphones seg, lots of great info and opinion...nice work Jeff!

Snowball - thanks for joining the team ;).
-A

[Peter]

I dunno, first I saw this "talking plant" related patent the other day:

http://www.patentlysilly.com/patent.php?patID=7113911

and now a blogging plant. Yikes.

[eric]

Is that blood splattered on the brick wall behind Will and Amber? If it is then they may want to start filming indoors now instead of waiting for the cold weather.

The earphones bit was misleading. You do not need to enclose your entire ear to have good sound. The earphones type/style nor price does not indicate sound quality. I use Grado SR80 earphones, the model above the ones shown, and they have great sound and are very comfortable to wear for long periods of time. They also work fine with my iPod.

[mr.g]

I loved the "Spotlight"-Segment. Not only a fascinating topic, i also liked the way the segment was shot and edited.

But the 90210-theme song at the end gave me the chills ;-)

[Josh]

enjoy the site very much, but sad to hear the pop up of the political stuff so much. For the past couple of months or more, there have been references to the political too much. (Even though I know it's the 'hot topic' right now, I think it's a little too much.)

but since I am from the US, I do want freedom of speech -- so feel free to speak your mind.

Josh

PS: what? No audio preview of the post? :-)

[Steve "Snowball" Saylor]

@mr.g - That's all Chris sir. He's a master when it comes to shooting video. Oh and the 90210 song gave me chills too. It was just scary! LOL

@Josh - You're right politics seems to be the hot topic nowadays, but the Canadian election just finished, you will have your election done soon (finally), so all should be good soon. We hope. :)

P.S. I don't want my comments played back to me. It makes me sound like a 12-year-old. No one wants that. I repeat no one! LOL

Steve "Snowball" Saylor
- Chief Medical Correspondent for commandn.tv

[Jeff MacArthur]

PHILIP ROY: Very cool - thanks for the link!

ERIC: Thanks for both of your comments and glad to hear the Grado 60s work well for you.

The average sound quality remark for the supra-aural headphones is really directed at the majority of those types of headphones (especially lower in the price range), but there are great supra-aural headphones just as much as there are total crap canalbuds and other types. Without talking about specific makes and models (which, as I noted at the end, can be more futile for headphones than a lot of other products), I just wanted to pin down roughly how they fit in the range of headphone types I presented.

On that basis, I think supra-aural headphones are typically lower quality than the other non-earbud phone types I covered (especially when you consider that the average pair of supra-aural headphones most people have around are "included-with" leftovers from Walkman/Discman players from a decade ago :-) ).

And just to clarify, I don't believe I said anything about enclosing your ear being necessary for good sound (or that supra-aurals wouldn't work with iPods)- it just provides more isolation from external sounds.

PS: The Grado 60's just happened to be the picture I used (b/c it was the right type and not under copyright protection). :-)

Thanks for watching!

Jeff

[Amber Mac]

Jeff - thanks for the comments! As for Snowball, we are so happy to have you on board!

[Steve "Snowball" Saylor]

Thanks Amber! I bet you say that to all the community managers. LOL

Steve "Snowball" Saylor
-Chief Medical Correspondent for commandn.tv

[Dr. Fyzziks]

What? You mean I won't be able to watch 90210 on YouTube in Canada? Oh noes! ;)

Steve: Congrats on the community manager position! "Chief Medical Correspondent" huh? Hrm. Does commandN.tv need a Chief Physicist/Mad Scientist? Because you know, just say the word and I'm there. I promise not to steal any Web 2.0 brains.