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So you bought a Kindle. Welcome to the new way to read. The Kindle is a phenomenal product that is revolutionizing the way we read and store books. On top of that, it's gaining even more traction as "cloud computing" becomes more and more mainstream and consumers look to digital consolidation for all of their reading materials. This is especially true for students and those who would need a large amount of reference material. But like all new implementations of portable electronic technology, the Kindle needs to be protected - unless you don't mind having to buy a new one if you drop it accidentally. We surveyed the landscape of Kindle covers and located 5 solid solutions that we really feel top the charts for users of all different walks of life.

Have you been keeping up with the LED lighting movement? I'd even go so far as to call it a "transition". The future is here - it's just a tad expensive right now. What is driving consumer and professional fascination with LED bulb technology is that it lasts longer, uses less power and should, eventually, cost less. LED lamps produce more light than heat - and that means they are more efficient. They are also safer - both for you (they don't shatter) and for the environment (they are toxin-free). You can also run LED lighting with existing dimmers. Right now they have a higher threshold for dimming than their incandescent counterparts, but they do indeed dim. The other thing we like about LED lighting is that it doesn't require the expense or bulk of a ballast system. That's less to troubleshoot, and less to pay for. It also makes LED lamps smaller - giving them the potential of being used in some pretty creative and compact scenarios where fluorescent technology fell flat on its face. For home theater, LEDs represent the next logical step for projectors - and they've already made their way into the backlighting systems of flat screen televisions.

You asked for it, and now you have it. The new AVENTAGE RX-A3010 from Yamaha has got a lot of people asking, "How does it stack up?" Well, we'll tell you. We took the top offerings in the $2000 price point from Denon (AVR-4311CI) and Onkyo (TX-NR3008) and weighed them up. While we didn't really find any of them lacking, we're sure you have an opinion on them.

It's that time of year again and we're taking a look at the new receivers. At the $600 price point we have offerings from Onkyo, Yamaha, Pioneer, Marantz, Denon, and Harman Kardon (the TX-NR609, RX-V671, VSX-50, NR1602, AVR-2112CI, and AVR 2650 respectively). Most of these are within $50 of the target price though we gave a slight edge to the Harman offering by choosing an $800 offering. Will they crush the comparison with their extra MSRP? Things to expect at this price point - 3D, Audio Return Channel, HDMI upconversion, networking, tons of power, and two zones of audio.

What is the point of a listening test? For the listener, the intent is easy to identify. They are (often) thinking of buying a product. But when a short demo isn't enough, what options do you have? The obvious solution is third party validation. Manufacturers will often try to sell you the line that their speakers are as good as speakers many times their price. They'll even run their own tests (often Single or Double Blind) to prove that the participants couldn't hear a difference between their and another speaker. But what are they really saying? We break it down for you and show how these claims prey on people's lack of statistical understanding.

With the announcement that the iPhone is likely coming to Verizon shortly, there is sure to be an influx of new iPhone 4 users in the next quarter. Those users will come from one of two places: either new users who are jumping ship from AT&T to experience iPhone use on the Verizon Network, or existing Verizon customers who are going to take advantage of renewing their contracts with an iPhone 4. In either case, there are going to be lots of new iPhone 4 consumers who will need to protect their new investment. We solicited cases from most of the major players and experienced a near-full array of what's available for the iPhone 4. Some cases really impressed us. Others came across as more or less standard fare and nothing short of what you'd expect for any new smart phone. To make this process simple, we'll list each case here and talk briefly about our experiences, giving an overall opinion as well as the general pros and cons of each product.

For many years now, you could say you weren't really playing with the big boys until you stepped up to a $1000 receiver. All of these receivers will have HDMI 1.4 inputs and outputs, all of which support 3D. You're going to get an onscreen display over HDMI standard and can expect video upconversion and scaling from analogue to HDMI 1080p. While your entry level receivers have to cut a lot of corners and at the $500 price point you find manufactures picking a focus, here, you get a lot more. Networking, multizone, THX certification, auto setup and calibration, and tons of extras. To help you out with your decision, we're taking a close look at offerings from Denon, Marantz, Yamaha, Onkyo, Pioneer, Sony, and Harman Kardon.

While we tend to think that the sweet spot in receivers is the $500 price point (hence the reason we started with that comparison article), the fact is, some people are just looking for something. Anything. Maybe it's for them and they are on a serious budget. Maybe it's for their parents or their kids or some other secondary use. The key is that it has to be cheap. While a few years ago, the entry level receivers had little more than stereo inputs and Dolby ProLogic, these days you can get 3D capable HDMI inputs, discrete amps, and onscreen displays. We've again hit all the major players (except for Harman Kardon, their "budget" surround receiver was in the $500 comparison) with Denon, Marantz, Yamaha, Onkyo, Pioneer, Sherwood, and Sony in the mix. Prices range from a low of $229 to a high of $399.

We love a good comparison so you'll forgive us if we got a little exuberant with this one. The ~$500 price point is a popular one for A/V receivers and just about every manufacturer has a receiver around that price. Instead of leaving out manufacturers that had a receiver a little under or over the price point, we just included everyone's offerings.This year's models range in price from a low of $479 to a high of $599. While that's only a $120 variance, it's an over 20% difference. If you'd paid 20% more for your car, you'd expect a serious improvement. Hitting the ~$500 price point means that the convenience features are going to be key since manufacturers will have to pick and choose what is most important to them. Read on for our take on the receiver offerings around $500 from Denon, Pioneer, Onkyo, Harman Kardon, Sherwood, Marantz, Yamaha, and Sony.