Hasta La Gadget!

(Credit: Screenshot by Nick Statt/CNET)

Valve has yet to select the users who will be receiving its Steam Machine prototypes later this year, but the Half Life creator announced Friday the highly anticipated hardware specs for the living room PC box. The initial verdict is that the prototype will be monstrously powerful, with hardware innards on par with those of a custom gaming PC setup that would go for well over $1,000, yet in a slim form factor.

“Valve didn’t set out to create our own prototype hardware just for the sake of going it alone – we wanted to accomplish some specific design goals that in the past others weren’t yet tackling,” said Valve’s Greg Coomer on the company’s Steam Community forum. “One of them was to combine high-end power with a living-room-friendly form factor. Another was to help us test living-room scenarios on a box that’s as open as possible.”

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Ross Ulbricht, the recently arrested mastermind behind Silk Road, appeared in court today where his lawyer begged for more time before the detention hearing. The judge said he didn’t "know what you’re going to accomplish in the next several days." Maybe move some of his massive stash of hidden Bitcoin?

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Tesla‘s Elon Musk has commented publicly on the recent Model S fire that left one car partially destroyed and the company’s stock tumbling, detailing the exact cause of the issue and arguing that the EV is still far safer than traditional gas-powered vehicles. The startup made headlines earlier this week when an owner’s car in […]

Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology.

She was parked on Palos Verdes Boulevard. I was chugging up the hill on my road bike, trying to get some much-needed exercise on an early Saturday morning. The cool …

(Credit: Geoffrey Morrison)

Among the ancient castles, quaint houses, and picturesque countryside, Great Britain is actually a hotbed of high-end audio. Brands big and small pepper the island country from the southern coast to the northern highlands.

On a recent trip, I had the opportunity to visit three such storied companies: Bowers & Wilkins (speakers and headphones), Meridian (electronics and speakers), and Abbey Road Studios (where the Beatles and Pink Floyd recorded).

It was a long day. OK, day and a half.

Getting up at 6 a.m. while you’re on vacation isn’t ideal. That it was little rainy (in London, shocker!) didn’t help. From Paddington where I was staying, it was a quick trip south on the Circle line to Victoria station, and my train to Worthing, a tiny town on the southern coast. Home to B&W.

A taxi at the train station, when I gave him the address, said “Bowers & Wilkins, eh?” Like I said, not a big town.

Spread across a number of industrial buildings within walking distance to the water, B&W designs and tests its myriad products, and builds most of its high-end speakers.

Going on tour at Bowers & Wilkins (pictures)

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Related Links:
Take a tour of Abbey Road Studios
Going behind the scenes at the Bowers & Wilkins factory
Getting to know the Meridian Audio factory
The 404 1,353: Where we go 50 light-years away from Steve Guttenberg (podcast)
40 Bowers & Wilkins speakers and the art of sound