Word: fi
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Mountain Goats’ latest album may come as a shock to longtime Goats listeners. Gone is the trademark boombox-taped lo-fi Mountain Goats sound and in its place is full-blown studio sound courtesy of well-respected producer Tony Doogan (Mogwai, Belle & Sebastian) and on well-respected label 4AD (Pixies, Cocteau Twins, Throwing Muses). While the sound on Tallahassee may be much more polished than any prior Mountain Goats release, all of their strengths are plainly apparent. Frontman and only permanent Goat John Darnielle bolsters his claim to the title of indie-rock’s poet laureate...
Easily among the boldest and most refreshing voices in the underground, Slug, who performed at the Middle East last Friday, is helping to push independent hip hop firmly into the public consciousness. The renaissance at the fringes has been winning over critics and fans alike, ranging from the lo-fi sampler virtuosity of Madlib and MF Doom and seething electronic grime of El-P (the anti-Timbaland) to the obtuse bohemian leanings of the Anticon clique. Though he’s flexed his lyrical muscles with nearly all of them, Slug brandishes his own critic-approved designations...
Lake, 65, a retired computer specialist, was planning to spend this year writing his seventh screenplay (sci-fi, time travel), convinced that this one would be good enough to get produced. Instead he has become obsessed with the hunt for the anthrax killer. He works on the case up to eight hours a day, reading everything written about the subject and launching his own unofficial investigations. Several times a day he logs on to the Internet to share his findings with four dozen similarly obsessed citizens--some of them journalists, some of them research scientists, some of them, like Lake...
Although the number of Wi-Fi "hot spots" has exploded to include about 10,000 public areas in the U.S. where computers can wirelessly connect to the Internet, service rarely extends beyond 300 feet. Users are generally restricted to the hotel or cafe that provides the service. Commercial antennas can be used to extend the range, but hot-spot enthusiasts prefer to make their own waveguide antennas or "cantennas"--so nicknamed because the simplest of them can be made by using a soup or Pringles can--with about $10 worth of wiring. "You could buy a fancy antenna...
Most wireless handheld devices that communicate digitally include built-in encryption. More vulnerable, however, are the new Wi-Fi networks that allow wireless access within short ranges. The problem with these remarkably convenient wireless local-area networks (WLANS) is that the range is not short enough. As with the Seattle conference-hotel WLAN, anyone with an inexpensive wireless card can access wireless networks from as far as 500 yds. away. Owing to the ease with which they can be installed, wireless networks are among the few tech sectors that continue to grow, according to the Gartner research firm, which estimates...