Head over to the CEA Connections Guide. According to the website, its goal “is to help you decide how to connect the various audio-visual components you’re about to purchase, or how to incorporate them into your existing home theater or stereo component system.” To do this it asks what components you have (such as TV, A/V Receiver, DVD Player, Set-top Box, etc.) and what connections each supports (like HDMI, Coaxial, Composite, DVI, etc.) for audio and video, then shows you the best connection between each component.

You can find some other good information ACE Hardware. Also check out eCoustics Cables and Connectors Explained article.

A lot of people will dispute the value Monster cables, but they have some information on setup and wiring in their Connection Guides.

There is also some good advice in an ask.metafilter.com article.

CDX-GT110 – CD receiver with detachable faceplate, a blue 13-segment LED
display and front AUX input. 45 Watts X 4. Around $80, and available now. CD, CD-R,
and CD-RW playback. Gun metallic finish. Seen here.

CDX-GT210 – CD receiver with detachable faceplate, blue 13-segment LED display
and front auxiliary input, MP3 and non-DRM WMA playback support. 50 Watts X 4.
Around $100, available now. CD, CD-R, CD-RW, MP3, WMA playback. Gun metallic
finish. Seen here.

CDX-GT310 – CD receiver, satellite-ready, with CD changer control and detachable
faceplate, black 13-segment fluorescent display and front auxiliary input. Has
“selectable rear/subwoofer preamp outputs that can be used to control the
frequency and output level of an external amplifier.” Satellite capability
requires a separate subscription. Compatible with the Sony XA-110IP iPod
adapter; EQ3, wireless card remote included. 52 Watts X 4. Around $120,
available now. CD, CD-R, CD-RW, MP3, non-DRM WMA playback support. Gun
metallic finish. Seen here.

An older option is the Sony CDX-GT300, which also supports digital audio formats and has a front AUX jack, but with lower power (17 Watts x 4) and no satellite capability.

CDX-GT510 – Satellite-ready CD receiver plays ATRAC3plus™ and non-DRM AAC
digital music tracks. CD changer control. Flip-down detachable faceplate, black
13-segment fluorescent display (switchable red and green key illumination).
Front and rear selectable subwoofer preamp outputs. About $140, available now.
Satellite capability requires a separate subscription. Dual preamp outputs
(front plus rear/sub selectable), DSO:EQ3, wireless card remote included, front
auxiliary input, 52 watt X 4 high power, CD, CD-R, CD-RW, MP3, non-DRM WMA,
non-DRM AAC, ATRAC3plus playback support. Gun metallic finish. Seen here.

All models seen here.

While it’s really not large enough for a load of features, it plays tracks randomly or in the order they were synced in iTunes.

Macintosh system requirements are a Mac with USB, OS X v10.3.9 or better, and iTunes 7 or later. Windows requirements are a PC with USB, Windows 2000 + SP4 or Windows XP + SP2 or later, and iTunes 7 or later.

Seen here, here, and here.

As an alternative, the mobiBLU 2GB model sports an OLED display, USB support, an FM radio and voice recorder. By way of comparison, the new Shuffle is 1.07″ x 1.62″ x .41″ and .55 oz, while the mobiBLU is a .94″ cube at .64 oz. See our article on it as well.

The G-10 will have 256MB, which isn’t much for a flash drive or mp3 player, but is fairly substantial for a voice recorder. On the longest record setting (i.e. lowest quality) for voice, it can record 68 hour and 55 minutes of audio.

A welcome feature is the built-in USB plug, which eliminates the need for dragging along a cable to upload to the PC or laptop.

The Japanese product also appears to have some sort of English language study system built-in.

An English Translation of the Olympus Japan product page offers some more detailed specifications.

From personal experience I can attest to the quality and features of the Olympus VN-960PC recorder.

A 17KHz ringtone that adults supposedly can’t hear. Developed as a teenager-repellent sound to rid areas of loitering little hooligans, an annoying, screeching tone marginally above the normal range of adult hearing was developed by a security firm in the UK, Compound Security, to repel teenagers. And, of course, the little punks heisted it and started using it as an adult-proof ringtone.

Well, nuts. I’m pushing middle-age and I can hear it. Bad. I mean, it hurts my ears.

Either way, it’s a clever use of sound.

Metro.uk story (via)

NPR Story (via)

The NY Times article (via)

Here’s one that pulses: PulseRing.mp3 (and PulseRing.ogg). Just a smidge easier to hear too.

• Blue OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) Display, built-in clock
• Plays MP3, WMA, and WMA+DRM (Digital Rights Management)
• FM Radio and Recorder, Voice Recorder with built-in microphone
• Usable as a USB 2.0 Flash drive
• Protective case and necklace earphones
• Five Preset EQ modes (Normal / Rock / Jazz / Pop / Classic) plus one User-Set EQ mode; SRS WOW – 3D Surround Sound
• File Navigation System with Unlimited Folders
• Rechargable Lithium-Ion Battery, charges through USB connection to PC
• Upgradeable Firmware

It’s available in several memory sizes (512MB, 1GB, and 2GB) and in various colors (black, blue, silver, pink, and orange).

Here are some resources for mobiBLU owners:

mobiBLU America – the mobiBLU home page
Guide to Disassembling the mobiBLU DAH-1500i at AnythingButIPod (via)
Guillermito Cube Mod v3 Modify your mobiBLU images and animations (via)
mobiBLU DAH-1500i Review at AnythingButIPod
mobiBLU cube 2 pics Korean site with lots of pictures of the next mobiBLU cube (via)
mobiBLU Cube Speaker plug a tiny speaker into your cube
mobiBLU FM Transmitter transmit cube audio to an FM radio

It is lightweight and its controls are well placed and easy to use. A function lock button on the side protects against accidental recordings. A remarkable advance over tape systems, it’s at a great price-performance point for portable digital recorder systems.

Currently around $53 at buy.com or $53 at amazon with free shipping.