Blackfire Research @ International CES

Blackfire Research @ International CES

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It’s that time of year again – The Consumer Technology Association’s annual International Consumer Electronics Show (International CES) is back in Las Vegas, Nevada from January 5-8. International CES is the world’s largest consumer electronics trade show, boasting more than 165,000 attendees from 150 countries and showcasing “more than 3,800 exhibiting companies, including manufacturers, developers and suppliers of consumer technology hardware, content, and technology delivery systems.” (ces.tech)

 

This year, we will be exhibiting Blackfire IXD, the first ever WiFi compliant low-latency surround sound technology for TVs and Set top boxes. The exciting news for consumers is that Blackfire IXD finally makes real the promise of banishing cables – and unnecessary speaker boxes – from your living room. And no matter what new streaming technology comes along next – like Spotify Connect, Apple Airplay, Amazon Alexa, Google Cast or even future Apple Siri speakers – you will be able to  play it all on the same set of Blackfire IXD wireless speakers that give your TV immersive surround sound.

 

What makes Blackfire IXD unique is a patented technology that allows a SmartTV to use a home’s standard WiFi to send wireless signals to surround sound speakers in the living room. Conventional multiroom “wireless” music systems still require a cable connection from the TV, and even then, many will only support a soundbar – so they are not truly independent left, center and right channels. This is because they introduce a delay into the audio stream – which causes a highly annoying “lip sync” mismatch between what you hear and what you see on the screen.

 

Other systems create their own, closed, non-wifi compliant networks to reduce the delay. However, this often causes interference with your wifi network (i.e. your TV might sound OK, but the Netflix WiFi stream is being interrupted by your non-compliant speakers.)

 

Blackfire IXD (2.4Ghz/5Ghz) produces the industry’s best synchronization and latency performance for multiroom music streaming  and multichannel surround sound configuration, and supports lossless and lossy audio compression, as well as up to 32bit / 192KHz sample rates. Blackfire IDX can stream either 5.1 or 7.1 as discrete audio channels of lossless, multichannel audio from either cloud streaming services or local files.  And like all Blackfire wireless technologies, Blackfire IXD is fully compatible with all Blackfire enabled systems currently on the market.

We are excited to unveil the Blackfire IXD wireless audio solution at CES this week, but that is just the beginning. With 4K video and HD audio on the rise, Blackfire Research will have even more exciting news to announce later in 2017. Stay tuned.

Music Review: DNCE, “Cake by the Ocean”

Music Review: DNCE, “Cake by the Ocean”

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After releasing their debut single “Cake by the Ocean” in 2015 (which reached the top 10 on US Billboard Hot 100), anticipation for another slice of Joe Jonas’ funk-pop experiment, DNCE, was mounting. With over a year of waiting, fans could finally rejoice with the release of the group’s debut, self-titled album, “DNCE” on November 18. The album features tongue-in-cheek lyrics and throwback beats that embraces old-school funk and modern pop as it’s signature sound. With breakout hits like the self-titled opening track, “DNCE,” “Body Moves,” and “Blown,” “DNCE” is the non-believers pop group, a welcome breath of change to a mostly stagnant genre.

Spotify

 

Spotify

 

 

 

Throwback Thursday: Fats Domino’s “Blueberry Hill”

Throwback Thursday: Fats Domino’s “Blueberry Hill”

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On this day in 1956, celebrated Rock n Roll trailblazer, Fats Domino, sat atop the R&B music charts for the 11th week in a row with his timeless rendition of, “Blueberry Hill,” making it his most commercially successful recording. The song, written by Vincent Rose, Al Lewis and Larry Stock in 1940, was previously sung by Louis Armstrong. A New Orleans native, Domino was born in the Lower Ninth Ward, and stayed there through Hurricane Katrina in 2005 due to his wife’s poor health. Many believed he had died in the massive flooding, but Domino and his wife were eventually airlifted by U.S. Coast Guard helicopters. He has rebuilt his home and resides there to this day.

Pitchfork’s “The 50 Best Albums of 2016”

Pitchfork’s “The 50 Best Albums of 2016”

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As 2016 winds down and draws to a close, it is time to look back on the events – as well as the music – that helped shape and define a tumultuous year. Popular online music journal Pitchfork has shared their ranking of ‘The 50 Best Albums of 2016,” which features the bold and welcome return of A Tribe Called Quest after an 18-year hiatus, the final album from the otherworldly David Bowie, and not one, but both, of the Knowles sisters, who, in their albums Lemonade and A Seat at the Table, have redefined the modern protest song. Take a look to see if your favorite album of 2016 made the cut.

http://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/9980-the-50-best-albums-of-2016/?page=1

What to Watch on Netflix in January

What to Watch on Netflix in January

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January – Chelsea  (Netflix Original TV Series – Season 2)

Comedian and TV personality Chelsea Handler returns in January for all new episodes of her talk show, Chelsea, which takes her around the world to interview unusual people and to experience everything life has to offer. New episodes air on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Check out the trailer from last year:

 

January 6th – One Day at a Time (Netflix Original TV Series – Season 1)

One Day at a Time is the latest show to get a reboot from the streaming giant. Based on a 1975 series of the same name, One Day at a Time follows the story of a newly-single, former military, Cuban-American woman as she raises her two children.

January 6th – Coin Heist (Netflix Original Movie)

“United by dire circumstances, four unlikely allies from a Philadelphia prep school – the hacker, the slacker, the athlete, and the perfect student – band together to attempt the impossible: steal from the U.S. Mint.” (IMDb)

Trailer:

 

January 13th – A Series of Unfortunate Events (Netflix Original TV Series – Season 1)

Netflix is diving deep into Lemony Snicket’s widely popular 13-volume, macabre children’s novels, A Series of Unfortunate Events. The books (and the Netflix Original Series) follow three orphaned siblings, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire as they attempt to solve the mystery behind their parents’ sudden death, while continuously escaping the clutches of an evil distant relative, Count Olaf, played by Neil Patrick Harris. You have been warned.

Trailer:

 

 

January 20 – Frontier (TV Series – Season 1)

The first original, scripted series by Discovery, Frontier, puts viewers right in the midst of the Canadian-American Fur Trade of the 18th Century. Starring Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones) as Declan Harp, a fur trader bent on obtaining wealth and power, Frontier is a bloody battle of man versas animal, man versus nature, and man versas man.

Trailer:

 

These are the Netflix shows and movies debuting in January. For a complete list of upcoming Netflix content for 2017, click here.