Trends with Benefits: In the future, we’ll watch Fuller House on a Tesla-powered wall

Google wants to be your mobile carrier and turn your home's walls into screens, Netflix wants to reboot Full House, and Tesla wants to power your home with a battery. Ain't the future grand?

DT Staff     March 15, 2016

Interview: Will AI be dangerous or benign? It’s up to us, says Ex Machina director

In the sci-fi thriller Ex Machina, a young coder interacts with the world's first true artificial intelligence. Director Alex Garland talks with Digital Trends about how close humans are to achieving that dream, and whether it's really something we'll want.

Drew Prindle     April 24, 2015

Trends with Benefits: Talking robochefs, VR with the man behind The Manual

Six percent of Americans want Apple Watches, Dan wants bio implants, Greg wants VR, Nick wants a robot chef, and Cator wants a glass of Scotch. No one gets what they want, this week on Trends with Benefits.

Nick Mokey     March 15, 2016

Trends with Benefits: Would you pay for YouTube? Plus the best shows for binging

Would you pay for YouTube? If not, maybe HBO's streaming service is more your speed -- especially with Game of Throne season five debuting this weekend. We discuss the best shows to binge watch, Google's rumored attempt to buy Twitter, and of course, looking inside your muscles.

DT Staff     March 15, 2016

Trends with Benefits: Nintendo nostalgia, forcefields, zapping pain with sound

Nintendo has a new system, but we really just want its game on smartphones, Facebook wants to publish news, but we really just want it to link, and force fields protect from explosions, but we really just want them to protect from Nerf darts.

DT Staff     March 15, 2016

Trends with Benefits: A Vue you don’t want, RIP Internet Explorer, clowning Caleb

Elon Musk thinks driving will soon be illegal, PlayStation Vue takes on Big Cable, and the over/under TP debate is definitely not over.

DT Staff     March 15, 2016

Trends with Benefits: Primus triggers mom-rage, Google’s stank solution

Overpriced streaming services and gold watches battle for idiots' money, Primus caused a mom to shoot her TV, and Google's plan for a smell-squelching fan has everyone confused, then appalled.

DT Staff     March 15, 2016

Trends with Benefits: Apple Watch wariness, Hyperloop hype, magnet mayhem

Will the Apple Watch flop or fly? Digital Trends editors discuss the merits of Apple's upcoming smartwatch, along with pricing for HBO Go, France's new appliance law, and Elon Musk's Hyperloop edging closer to reality.

DT Staff     March 15, 2016

Trends with Benefits: Why the FCC got it right, and a smartband that’s so wrong

The FCC's historic vote on Net neutrality, the Apple Watch, mind-controlled drones, and more in this week's episode.

DT Staff     March 15, 2016

Trends with Benefits: Wi-Fi Barbie, YouTube cuts ads while cable packs more in

Networks are trimming shows to add more commercials, YouTube is adding a subscription service, Facebook is developing VR apps, we ponder a Wi-Fi-enabled Barbie doll, and more in this edition of Trends with Benefits!

DT Staff     March 15, 2016

Trends with Benefits: CES in Las Vegas, it’s coming and we’re going

Vegas rule number 1: What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. However, the exception to this rule occurs when hundreds of thousands of technophiles converge on ‘Sin City’ for CES. Our job as media is to see the cool stuff first and tell you about it. Totally goes against rule number 1. This year expect to […]

DT Staff     March 15, 2016

Easy home theater audio tweaks

It seems like there was a lot going on in the news this week, so we have a bunch of current events to cover – everything from iPad 2 to AllRovi.com. Then we go over some tips from an article at Electronic House called Acoustics Matter: Easy Home Theater Audio Tweaks. The article has some […]

DT Staff     July 28, 2011

Home Theater “In a Box”

Typically the HT Guys are not big fans of Home Theater in a Box (HTIB) systems but for today’s show we are making an exception. But these are not your typical HTIB systems. We decided to create two “Special” (Air Quotes required) HTIB systems. Actually, these systems come in many boxes and the components don’t […]

DT Staff     April 12, 2011

CES 2011 wrap-up

Image used with permission by copyright holder It’s hard to believe that another year has gone by and we’re back on our annual trek to Las Vegas to pay homage to the consumer electronics industry. The Consumer Electronics Show is always a fun adventure, showcasing some of both the best and the most peculiar devices […]

DT Staff     January 17, 2011

Home Automation for Beginners

Over the last few months we highlighted Home Automation companies that were on the high end side. While these system are what we all dream of, almost all of us can’t afford them. However, there is no reason that we can’t have a fully functional home automation system without breaking the bank. When we read […]

DT Staff     September 30, 2010

Home automation – Control4

Today’s Show: News: New, Tougher HDTV Energy Star Standard Takes Effect 1 in 8 say they will cut back on cable bills — but probably won’t Dish Plans ‘TV Everywhere’ Web Site This Year ABC expands ‘Lost’ finale by extra half-hour! Roku teases revamped Netflix Channel user interface on video, coming in June Other: Visit […]

DT Staff     September 7, 2010

Dell Inspiron Zino HD

Image used with permission by copyright holder By now you know that Ara has built himself a nice HTPC out of a Mac Mini. We’ve received a bunch of email asking us to define a similar system using a PC. There far more options using a PC than a Mac and they come in all […]

DT Staff     April 14, 2010

Front Projector Technologies

We have to admit, we got a little giddy when we got an email from Jason asking us to go over the various technology options available for front projector home theaters. With rear projection television fading into the sunset, we don’t often get the opportunity to talk about the various merits of LCD, DLP, and […]

DT Staff     April 12, 2010

ZVOX 575 Single-Cabinet Surround Sound System

Image used with permission by copyright holder We understand that many of our listeners don’t have the space for a full blown home theater system. However, those same listeners don’t necessarily want to listen to their movies through the TVs tiny speakers. For them a single unit solution is what the doctor ordered. The ZVOX […]

DT Staff     March 26, 2010

Cryptography, DRM and You

Image used with permission by copyright holder We talk about DRM quite often. Technically it stands for Digital Rights Management, but we did have a listener recommend we try to change that to Digitally Restricted Media. The point of DRM is to protect digital media files from piracy. The actual result of DRM is a […]

DT Staff     March 17, 2010

Wal-mart is Buying Vudu

Today’s Show: News: Mitsubishi’s new Upscalling technology turns your HD video into 4K2K wonders Vizio Reclaims Top LCD Spot CEA: Sports Watching Going Online, Mobile Are Plasma TVs Still Alive? Cablevision To Roll Out RS-DVR In April Other: Help support Listener Ken and Team In Training running for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society Movie rental […]

DT Staff     February 26, 2010

HT Guys HDTV Recommendations

We receive emails from listeners all the time asking us which HDTV we recommend. That list will vary depending on the use case and budget of the emailer. On today’s show we’d like to tell you what our picks are for a typical use scenario for low to medium budgets. Today’s Show: News: Retail Conspires […]

DT Staff     February 19, 2010

VIA: Vizio Internet Apps

Image used with permission by copyright holder If you happened to watch the Super Bowl and paid attention to the commercials, there were some really good ones. Bud light had a few, Doritos had a couple, but there also might have been a few that didn’t make much sense to you. One of those could […]

DT Staff     February 19, 2010

The Details Behind 3D TV

Image used with permission by copyright holder Far be it from us to stay away from the latest juicy new idea in home theater technology, 3D. It’s been all over the news and the blogs for a while, recently culminating with a huge display at CES. Whether or not the technology actually catches on is […]

DT Staff     February 8, 2010

LED TV Technology

Image used with permission by copyright holder When we first started our podcast there were five competing technologies vying for your living room. Today its pretty much down to LCD and Plasma. Most would say LCD is running away with the market but Plasma is hanging in there. So what about LED? LED is not […]

DT Staff     February 3, 2010

CES 2010 Roundup and Impressions

Image used with permission by copyright holder We decided to once again make the trek out to Las Vegas to get our own impression of all the hype coming out of CES. We didn’t go last year, and we missed it a little, so we had to go this year. By far the biggest theme […]

DT Staff     January 18, 2010

2009 Prediction Results

Each year we try to predict what will happen in our industry and each year we usually miss the mark. On today’s show we take a look back at our predictions for 2009. Today’s Show: News: Amazon gives away digital movies with disc purchase 8 Companies That Are Reinventing TV Online Lord of the Rings […]

DT Staff     December 31, 2009

Last Minute Shopping Guide 2009

You know we're always looking out for you, so we've decided to revisit the last minute shopping guide we assembled last year. We know you've been busy, and so have we, but if you screw up on the gift you get for special someone in your life, you'll be paying for it for a long, long time.

DT Staff     December 14, 2009