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Maybe you aren't looking hard enough. This article was easy enough to find: https://www.imore.com/best-usb...

Perhaps better option for now is just buying the right cable.

USB Type C to HDMI 3.1 Cable: https://www.monoprice.com/prod...

USB Type C to DisplayPort 3.1 Cable: https://www.monoprice.com/prod...

I know these cables cost more than those without USB-C but that's the price you pay to get a smaller port on your portable computing device. If they used the full sized desktop connector then the cables would be cheaper but then you are now carrying a larger device for that larger port.

If you got a proper USB-C display then you often also get what is effectively a laptop dock in the display, where it supplies power to charge your laptop and additional ports for things like mouse, keyboard, and Ethernet.

USB-C to replace the old HDMI and mini-DisplayPort ports was a good choice in my opinion. The USB-C ports are smaller and allow for other benefits such as power to be drawn from the display for charging. The only competition I see in this space is the even rarer SuperMHL connector.

Maybe you aren't looking hard enough. This article was easy enough to find: https://www.imore.com/best-usb...

Perhaps better option for now is just buying the right cable.

USB Type C to HDMI 3.1 Cable: https://www.monoprice.com/prod...

USB Type C to DisplayPort 3.1 Cable: https://www.monoprice.com/prod...

I know these cables cost more than those without USB-C but that's the price you pay to get a smaller port on your portable computing device. If they used the full sized desktop connector then the cables would be cheaper but then you are now carrying a larger device for that larger port.

If you got a proper USB-C display then you often also get what is effectively a laptop dock in the display, where it supplies power to charge your laptop and additional ports for things like mouse, keyboard, and Ethernet.

USB-C to replace the old HDMI and mini-DisplayPort ports was a good choice in my opinion. The USB-C ports are smaller and allow for other benefits such as power to be drawn from the display for charging. The only competition I see in this space is the even rarer SuperMHL connector.

Save some money and order from monoprice. Probably way faster shipping too.

even a $500 smart phone is beyond the reach of the children

. . . Even? As in that price-tag for a phone is... low?

And can you imagine trying to write anything beyond a tweet on a smart phone keyboard?

If only we had the technology...

I know 3.5mm cable isn't the most reliable, but you'll already be on a site that sells RG-6 3.5mm to RCA adapter cables: https://www.monoprice.com/prod...

Yeah, I've got one of those for my Philips UHD/3D player. I can't even imagine being willing to pay Oppo prices.

I know 3.5mm cable isn't the most reliable, but you'll already be on a site that sells RG-6 3.5mm to RCA adapter cables:
https://www.monoprice.com/prod...

> For fiddly bits like cables and fans Amazon usually wins.

Try Monoprice" for cables... Beats Amazon and most everyone else.

You can use it for HD-SDI and run 1080p60 video over it using relatively cheap converters like these:

https://www.monoprice.com/prod...

https://www.monoprice.com/prod...

Although since SDI is using BNC connectors, you'd either need to install BNC sockets on your coax, or you'd need to use an adapter like this:

https://www.monoprice.com/prod...

You can use it for HD-SDI and run 1080p60 video over it using relatively cheap converters like these:

https://www.monoprice.com/prod...

https://www.monoprice.com/prod...

Although since SDI is using BNC connectors, you'd either need to install BNC sockets on your coax, or you'd need to use an adapter like this:

https://www.monoprice.com/prod...

You can use it for HD-SDI and run 1080p60 video over it using relatively cheap converters like these:

https://www.monoprice.com/prod...

https://www.monoprice.com/prod...

Although since SDI is using BNC connectors, you'd either need to install BNC sockets on your coax, or you'd need to use an adapter like this:

https://www.monoprice.com/prod...

Ok, I know this is all in jest anyway, but I have to stick up for my baby, an ST-70 tube amp (I think mine is from the 60s -- got it for free a while back, just needed new filter caps).

I absolutely agree that with good designs, a SS amplifier can outperform a tube-based one -- but it really has to be a good design! My old tube amp can be competitive with modern gear (+/- 0.5dB vs. +0/-1dB over the audible for this modern guy). And the distortion (IMD, not the usual THD) is not unreasonable either (similar to the THD of this guy, although the exact test setup is unclear).

And the noise floor is good (rated at better than 90dB below rated power) -- though this is all anecdotal, when I plug in my desktop's internal audio directly to the amp, I get a very slight hum, but this completely goes away when I go through a nice DAC (which is obviously SS!). But yes, if I actually have to pay for the thing, I'll go SS every time :)

But my radio in my truck does not have blue tooth...

While I would agree that removing the headphone jack is really really really stupid, this very small demographic of people with old car stereos that want to use their phones via bluetooth is not only negligibly small, it's also very easily and cheaply resolved via something like this ($15): http://www.monoprice.com/produ...
Might take a minute to wire that in, but you'll have bluetooth in your truck then. It's kinda like the old tape player adapter so you could pipe your portable cd player output into your car radio.
You can also go the other route and get an adapter (usb to stereo plug), which, in this case, lacks the arguments against the adapter ("have to carry around an adapter everywhere you go") because you can just leave it hooked up in your truck.

I think you mean $200 price tag.

In addition to the other answers... Monoprice has a great selection of USB-C "hubs" that sport all kinds of other connections: http://www.monoprice.com/searc...

For your printer: ($5 USB-C to USB-B) http://www.monoprice.com/produ...

For your iPhone: ($25 from Apple USB-C to Lightning)
http://www.apple.com/shop/prod...

Why would use a USB DAC which has crappy latency???

You do realize that the MacBook Pro has an S/PDIF Digital Optical Audio on the 3.5mm jack, right?

Monoprice even sells a S/PDIF Digital Optical Audio Cable, Toslink to Mini Toslink starting at $2.13.

Mod parent -1 over-rated.

They even make them with remotes, seems like the perfect solution to me:
https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=8202

Disclaimer: I have no experience with that product and it's from Monoprice so it could be a pile of crap.

Right up until the point where they use authentication to prevent it from working. Like Dell with their power adapters. (Oh, you didn't pay the dell power supply tax, so your 19.5V can't be allowed to charge the battery!)

Again, if they use authentication, you can buy someone else's cables, not Apple's if they are following the USB standard. As for Dell, those are Dell Power supplies. They were designed and made by Dell not some standard. As is the same with Toshiba, Apple, etc and their power supplies.

There are good reasons for authentication--it's very hard to find USB cables that are actually up to spec. It has cost these companies probably millions of dollars in development time to hunt down bugs related to USB cables that are below spec.

Conforming to standard isn't hard or extremely expensive. It's just some companies cut corners. Monoprice has them for cheap and their cables been given good ratings by Leung.

But the solution isn't authenticated cables--it's having a robust cable testing protocol. Authenticated cables are fine and can be helpful, so long as they don't *disable* non-authenticated cables, but on their own they don't solve the underlying problem.

I would think that doesn't solve the problem as it goes beyond cheap cables. Remember the Apple counterfeit charger problem?

$20 no need to do any hacking direct solution: http://www.monoprice.com/produ...
It's a bluetooth transmitter and splitter. It splits the audio fed to it via 3.5mm TRS plug (headphone connector, like the output from your phone), and sends to up to two bluetooth speakers.

Or, just fix the wired connection on your speaker (open it up, re-soldier it), and use a normal wired splitter.

Or, open up your bluetooth speaker, and split the speaker wire to drive another speaker, and wire it to the other speaker you have.

Or use the correct speakers for your problem. For example, a bluetooth receiver, plugged into a normal audio surround receiver with normal speakers all over your house fed from that normal receiver.

Or, if you're just looking for something to do with the jawbone cause you find it useless as is now, rip out the bluetooth part and shove that into something else (like a pair of headphones).

The second is only usb 1.1, but for a mouse and keyboard you probably don't need much more than that. You would need to wire each end directly to each side using CAT6 and there might be other devices to run USB 2.0/3.0 over CAT, but these work fine for me. I run them about 85' between my kids' room and the living room so they can watch netflix and play minecraft.

The second is only usb 1.1, but for a mouse and keyboard you probably don't need much more than that. You would need to wire each end directly to each side using CAT6 and there might be other devices to run USB 2.0/3.0 over CAT, but these work fine for me. I run them about 85' between my kids' room and the living room so they can watch netflix and play minecraft.

Here's a clicky keyboard for $60. I'm typing this post on one, and it's great.

My clicky keyboard is the basic one from monoprice.com, which was the cheapest I could find at them time. It has Cherry MX Blue switches and no funky lights or anything, and was about $60 without any rebates.

I've got a 4k TV that has pretty good color and 30hm refresh @ 4k... but up sampled 1080p looks good and in a pinch it's a crappy 4k monitor. I also recently got a 4k 60z monitor because I was getting frustrated using the tv. The color on the monitor is shitty... but I don't really care. My workspace is weird and I sit about 2 feet from the monitor, and even with old eyes the resolution is very useful (with glasses).

If you are looking for a good mechanical and don't want to pay a premium for a brand name the Monoprice 9181 is an excellent choice. It has Cherry MX Red switches, is backlit, and extends your USB and audio ports to the keyboard. I have been using the 9180 for a couple of years and I'm pretty rough on keyboards (think bad golfer but with a keyboard instead of a club) and it has taken all the punishment I've thrown at it. The 9180 has MX blacks instead of Reds and isn't backlit but it is also out of stock until June according to their web site.

If you are looking for a good mechanical and don't want to pay a premium for a brand name the Monoprice 9181 is an excellent choice. It has Cherry MX Red switches, is backlit, and extends your USB and audio ports to the keyboard. I have been using the 9180 for a couple of years and I'm pretty rough on keyboards (think bad golfer but with a keyboard instead of a club) and it has taken all the punishment I've thrown at it. The 9180 has MX blacks instead of Reds and isn't backlit but it is also out of stock until June according to their web site.

Yeah, sounds cumbersome. That said, there are the rather slick looking super thin HDMI cables: http://www.monoprice.com/Produ... (no affiliation to monoprice, just like their stuff)

That said, is there a power-over-HDMI spec, or does it need a separate cord, too?

The last time I was in the store was a big disappointment. I recall good experiences when I was younger. About two years ago, the CD player in my car died. It was old enough that it didn't even have an aux out port, so it was basically a radio after that, and then a speaker stopped working.

I bought a new deck from Future Shop and tried to install it myself, which turned out to be more difficult than I thought. As it turns out my car (2002 Nissan Sentra, Spec V SER) comes with a "premium" stereo package which includes 7 speakers and a SW with amp in the trunk which makes things vastly more complicated. If I have had a normal stereo, the process would have been painless likely. Anyway not even the Nissan dealer wanted to touch it with a 10ft pole (jerks).

Eventually have a lot of research online, it seemed the cause of my troubles (Alternator whine, speakers popping, etc...) was because of multiple grounds, and no matter which way I tried to ground the thing, nothing would work. Talking to places, they would want to rewire the whole car system (at large cost). Finally I found a possible solution, in a electronic device called a "Ground Loop Isolator". Obviously not something you find everywhere, and because I wanted it NOW (I was really sick of this project not working), one of only places that had such a thing was Radio Shack. So I went to Radio Shack for the first time in a long time.

Not only did none of the staff know what the hell I was talking about or even if they carried it, it took all the staff to even find one on their shelf. It was only 2 channel, so I would probably have to buy 2, and they cost 50$. As it was I decided to buy one and try it out. I did it in the parking lot as I brought my tools. As it turns out, it wasn't even the correct one, as it had only male connectors, not both male and female. I immediately returned it, and got my 50$ back.

Then I went online and got this:
http://www.monoprice.com/Produ...

It cost me 8$, was 4 channel, and had the correct connectors. I installed it, and it works fine. It messes with your levels, so you have to adjust them in your stereo setup at the start. Which can be annoying as every time I take my car in for service they seem to love disconnecting my battery, which resets my stereo to the defaults, which makes me have to set it up again. However it does what it is supposed to do.

So it is not surprising that they are going out of business. If you are going to sell overpriced electronics, you actually need staff that know what they are selling or talking about. Otherwise I might as well just go online and take my chances...

Depends on what's attractive to you, but ~$500 at 28" is it for a lot of people:
http://www.monoprice.com/Produ...

They have crossed below that line several times.

What is noise (sound)? How is it transmitted?

Essentially we are looking at a compression waveform. Take a slinkly. Stretch it out. Move one end up and down. That's one waveform. Move the end right and left. That's a second. Now compress the slinkly in the long direction and let it go. That's a compression waveform, the 3rd spacial dimension of movement.

Anything the sound has to move will attenuate it. At times I've used a rolled up newspaper to find my kids' toys that were making noise. Sound going straight down the tube I'd hear normally. But from the sides, the need to transmit sound through the newspaper, and move the newspaper, attenuated the signal.

So in this case, what you want is a box with lots of padding for soundproofing, and wrap the air intake and exhaust through a lot of curves with foam to absorb the sound energy. Styrofoam egg cartons would work. It's what they use in inexpensive "garage" recording studios.

Just make sure you've got good air intake/exhaust or it's going to overheat...

Alternatively, put it in the garage and hit monoprice for some better cables.

Define decent price? You can get WQHD (2560x1440) 27" IPS A- panels for $400. For example, here's the Monoprice one.

I would ask why we still have screen savers.

Isn't it obvious? The devices outputting screensavers can't turn off the screen in most cases, that's why. And since they're the ones controlling the content, they're the ones best-suited to tell when burn-in might become an issue. Putting up a screensaver is effectively their only means of recourse.

With HDMI cables carrying CEC commands (e.g. your TV telling your audio/video receiver to power on), it's possible this situation may change in the future. For now, however, not all devices support CEC (which, incidentally, also goes by a variety of brand names, making things confusing for consumers), and many users hook up their devices indirectly (e.g. A/V switch or AVR), so the CEC commands wouldn't reach the intended device anyway. There's also the issue that Monoprice and others sell IR-over-HDMI kits that commandeer the CEC channel in the HDMI cable in order to get IR signals from your remote control into a closet somewhere else.

Long story short, there's no way for a device like a Fire TV to turn off the actual TV itself reliably. Some of the time? Sure. But with certainty in every case? Definitely not. That's why screensavers are still used.

Personally, I'd rather get something like this for ~$350 on sale:
http://www.monoprice.com/Produ...
The pixels are already so small, people can't find the dead pixels, and it's AH-IPS, the highest quality panel, not TN, the cheapest.

These little guys appear to be running Linux, and some are even hackable (I'm not affiliated with any of these companies/blogs): http://www.monoprice.com/Produ...

http://haxit.blogspot.com/2013...
http://hackaday.com/2013/08/12...

Huh. Good to know, thanks. Last time I checked there weren't any other alternatives at all, other than tablets.

There still aren't many alternatives, but it's improving. I try to keep up because I've been drooling over the cintiqs for a very long time, but never could justify the cost. I know of three alternatives currently:

* Yiynova is the first (I think), and has been branching out. They mostly use UC-Logic digitisers, price range of $600+ for the decent ones. The 18" is TN for ~$600. The 22" is the only 1920x1080 I know about, and is IPS, but costs closer to $900.

Only way to get them seems to be through Amazon. Avoid the small 10" ones despite how tempting they seem; they use displaylink for VGA-over-USB and it seems to not go well for users..

* Next is the Huion GT-190, which is a more recent entry. ~$600, 19" @ 1366x768, supposedly works well but I haven't seen much information on it. Uses UC-Logic digitiser as wel.

* The most recent one is by Monoprice, and is the one I have. Also 19", and is actually built on Huion's tech. It even uses the same basic Huion driver (rebranded), but you can also use Huion's own drivers, and they both use the same one in Linux.
This one's $400, 1440x900 display, and has the worst viewing angles of the bunch. Has vesa mount points (not sure about the others), DVI output, and is quite nice, especially for the price. You just have to get used to dealing with the viewing angles and learn to check colours on a better display. Still, it's insanely nice to have a pen display at the cost.

---

They all have their pros and cons, and none have tilt support, but the pressure sensitivity and LPI on the UC-logic stuff is good, at least on par with the Intuos4 I have. Huion's drivers aren't as strong as the Wacom ones, but they do support Linux pretty well (use the DigiMend version instead of the kernel provided driver, though. Works better).

Oh, and they all use batteries in the pens, because it's not the same technology as Wacom's EMR-based digitiser. Some use actual changeable batteries, while others use rechargeable ones. Mine lasts quite a while between charges and recharges quickly, so it's not a huge problem.

Also, a nice thing about the Huion-based ones is the pens are supposed to be interchangeable, so if you don't like the one that comes with your display you can buy a different pen, or a cheap huion tablet with a pen you like more, and just use it instead. This also means information about driver workarounds and other software issues should be similar across devices, so the explanation given in Monoprice's review by one owner for setting up the device in Linux and Windows should work for Huion's display as well. (May also be partly applicable to Yiynova's, since it's still uc-logic hardware)

A good place to get some info on the various alternatives is frenden.com, it's the site of a guy that's interested in, and reviews, a lot of the wacom-alternative stuff (along with some wacom devices). Oh, there's actually a fourth pen display maker, Bostco, but I've only seen it mentioned Frenden's site and he couldn't even use it to review...Not really worth mentioning except in passing.

The cintiq alternatives seem to be popular (for obvious reasons), so there's a good chance the companies moving in on Wacom's turf will keep making new models, maybe with better displays, resolutions, etc. Despite their flaws, they're awesome to have; I haven't even touched my Intuos since getting my pen display.

Sorry if this ended up rambling a bit. I tried to put a lot of information in and some of it didn't segue well.

High resolutions at a moderate price have been available for some time via Korean sellers... I have a Catleap Q271 Retina and I love it.

Even better, Monoprice now offers similar gear without the overseas seller worries! http://www.monoprice.com/Categ...

I have a bunch of thunderbolt ports and handful of USB 3 ports on my Mac. I would love to trade my thunderbolt ports for some more USB 3s and maybe 2 HDMIs.

DisplayPort is great. DisplayPort can serve as a transport for HDMI. Thunderbolt is PCIe + DisplayPort via a mini-DisplayPort plug.

See where I'm going with this? You're welcome.

I like having Thunderbolt on my MacBook. If I require more USB 3 connectivity I just use a hub. USB 3 isn't suitable for the same kind of applications that Thunderbolt does well.

http://www.monoprice.com/Produ...

$50. Or, ditch the crappy sound of most TVs and build out a receiver/speaker/sub combo. Either way, inputs are expanded.

My TV only has 3 HDMI inputs. I do have a receiver from my past home theater build; however it doesn't do HDMI. I'll rectify that at some point with a $300 HK receiver that has 4 HDMI inputs with ARC so wherever I plug something in, the audio and video play properly.

I also added a Logitech Harmony remote for seamless WAF. oh yeah; to cover the rest - I have a computer hooked up to one input. Also own a blu-ray, XBox 360, Chromecast and cable box. We don't use the blu-ray player as much anymore, so it stays unplugged for now - but can be swapped if we REALLY need it.

Again, you have options now for very little money. And if solutions aren't there (as in your need for codecs etc) a small HTPC will do it. Does it cost money? Sure. But you probably saved money buying a tv with 2 HDMI inputs rather than spending the $$ on one with more inputs (and probably more features.)

dude, don't be a sucker! they just push it on you because the gross margins are huuuge. my favorite cables come from monoprice. You can get a 3 foot HDMI cable for $3, and a 6 foot cable for $4.

Or get a cheap little HDMI switcher box.
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=101&cp_id=10110&cs_id=1011001&p_id=8150&seq=1&format=2

I'm using one right now to charge my ipad mini running iOS 7.0.2.

This one specifically:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=112&cp_id=11213&cs_id=1083101&p_id=10027&seq=1&format=2

The best 99 you will ever spend:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=103&cp_id=10303&cs_id=1030304&p_id=5432&seq=1&format=2

They want ~$29 USD for their chargers

I got my cables from Monoprice, they're MFI certified and only cost $12 [1]. I have a half dozen iOS devices with lightning ports laying around my house so no I can't pay $20 for a cable and I don't. $30 is for the charger - if you're whining about that, just get a USB powered hub and/or one of these [2].

[1] http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=112&cp_id=11213&cs_id=1083101&p_id=10374&seq=1&format=2
[2] http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-BST300-SurgePlus-3-Outlet-Protector/dp/B00ATZJ5YS

Long time reader, no account, but I just had to write something here regarding the comments posted thus far.

I have owned the iPhone 5 for one year now. It came with a wall plug and lightning cable. It has never broken, and works perfectly. When I wanted an extra one to keep in my car, I picked up one from FutureShop (here) when it went on sale for $12.99. The price was so good for a MFi (Made For iDevice) certified cable, that I bought two of them. Neither have broken. I treat them well. One stays in the car and the other stays at work.

I could have easily bought 10 for $0.89 USD each (here) from China but my experience with the cheap cables from China is that they work for a while then just suddenly stop. They don't handle wear and tear quite so well and the wires inside break near either end. Sometimes the Chinese cables only allow syncing and sometimes they only allow charging. It all depends on the supplier. I've ordered enough of these over the years to know a bad product when I see one.

For my American friends, hit up Monoprice: here or here will have you up and running with a MFi certified cable (so no blocking with iOS 7), and it'll cost you $12. This is a totally reasonable price considering the quality of almost everything Monoprice carries. They run an honest business and I even go so far as to pay the shipping, handling, and import duties just to get their products into Canada.

For the haters out there, I also own several other phones: a BlackBerry Curve (OS 7), a Samsung Galaxy S (CyanogenMod), LG Optimus Windows Phone (OS 7.8). All of those phones charge by standard micro USB but for spare cables and wall plugs I use exclusively BlackBerry chargers. Why? Because without the packaging, they're $12.99 in Canada. The cable itself is thick and sturdy, and the wall plug isn't one of those cheap knock-offs that puts out more noise than anything else, nor does it heat up to the point of discolouring the USB cable. Yes, I've used wall chargers like that.

It's an expensive device and you want to charge it via the magic of electricity. Spend the money and get the right cable.

Long time reader, no account, but I just had to write something here regarding the comments posted thus far.

I have owned the iPhone 5 for one year now. It came with a wall plug and lightning cable. It has never broken, and works perfectly. When I wanted an extra one to keep in my car, I picked up one from FutureShop (here) when it went on sale for $12.99. The price was so good for a MFi (Made For iDevice) certified cable, that I bought two of them. Neither have broken. I treat them well. One stays in the car and the other stays at work.

I could have easily bought 10 for $0.89 USD each (here) from China but my experience with the cheap cables from China is that they work for a while then just suddenly stop. They don't handle wear and tear quite so well and the wires inside break near either end. Sometimes the Chinese cables only allow syncing and sometimes they only allow charging. It all depends on the supplier. I've ordered enough of these over the years to know a bad product when I see one.

For my American friends, hit up Monoprice: here or here will have you up and running with a MFi certified cable (so no blocking with iOS 7), and it'll cost you $12. This is a totally reasonable price considering the quality of almost everything Monoprice carries. They run an honest business and I even go so far as to pay the shipping, handling, and import duties just to get their products into Canada.

For the haters out there, I also own several other phones: a BlackBerry Curve (OS 7), a Samsung Galaxy S (CyanogenMod), LG Optimus Windows Phone (OS 7.8). All of those phones charge by standard micro USB but for spare cables and wall plugs I use exclusively BlackBerry chargers. Why? Because without the packaging, they're $12.99 in Canada. The cable itself is thick and sturdy, and the wall plug isn't one of those cheap knock-offs that puts out more noise than anything else, nor does it heat up to the point of discolouring the USB cable. Yes, I've used wall chargers like that.

It's an expensive device and you want to charge it via the magic of electricity. Spend the money and get the right cable.

You can get em as cheap as $0.65. I've run into a few microUSB cables which don't work, but that's the beauty of using standardized cables: You can test them on other hardware to figure out if the cable is faulty or the hardware is faulty.

Ostensibly, Apple refused to comply with the EU requirement for microUSB charging because their port allows other functions like audio and video out. But other phones which had similar multi-function outputs just made a microUSB port for charging/data, and a microHDMI port for audio and video.

As long as that run is less than 100 ft: 100 ft cable for $68

Oh and I paid $10 at BigLots for it as another slashdotter recommended that. Do not go anywhere else where you will be ripped off.

You got ripped off. Try Monoprice for HDMI cables.

Monoprice is your friend.

Even Monoprice started selling ABS filament for 3D printers.