They hate it so much that residents of Tuscarora, Nevada, fight this pest with a perimeter of—get this—boom boxes and stereos playing hard rock, tuning to local radio station KHIX. They don't want to kill them, but not because they are a bunch of tree-huggin green commie hippies, but because when you kill them they smell horrible, according to them.

The plague of the two-inch-long walking Mormon cricket—who are born in April in northern Nevada and western Utah—comes every year, devastating crops and anything green, and even causing car accidents. Their two by one miles marching columns are so dense that, when passed over on roads, they form slippery blood and guts spills that may cause automobiles to lose grip and crash. In 2008 they had to call snowplows to clean the highway that goes through Elko County in Nevada.

So people in Tuscarora use the only tool they know to convince them to take another path without killing them: Hard rock and heavy metal during the day, since at night the critters sleep—while they are not eating the fellow crickets that die during the march. And while there's no scientific evidence that strong sound waves like those produced by the likes of Kiss and Metallica, the thing is that it works for them. [WSJ]

If you saw our feature earlier in the week, you know Michael Fremer is crazy about vinyl. He's been defending its merits ever since digital formats started to surface, and has published several DVDs detailing how best to set up a number of nice audiophile turntables.

But of course, you don't have to have to have an audiophile turntable to enjoy vinyl—great used tables like the Technics SL-D202 I got in high school (pictured) can be picked up all over the internet, at garage sales or from your Dad's basement for very little dough, and will serve you well as long as they're in decent shape.

Plus, with tons of record labels including a free digital download with the purchase of an album on vinyl these days, it's a great way to give back to your favorite artists—you'll get a cool tangible object that has the potential to sound far better than your MP3s, but with a digital copy for you iPod nonetheless.

So if you have a turntable that's never received a proper tune-up, here's how to set it up to get the best possible sound from it. With Fremer's help, my table is now in tip-top shape, and yours can be too.

What you'll need:
• The manual for your turntable and cartridge (the part with the needle attached)
• A 2mm Allen/Hex wrench for the cartridge screws (most are 2mm, anyway)
• A ruler
• Magnifying glass and flashlight (not essential, but makes things easier)
• Needle-nose pliers or tweezers
• A printout of a standard cartridge alignment ruler (available at vinylengine.com for free)

First thing's first, though—if you're unsure of the progeny of your table, or if it hasn't been serviced in a long time or ever, the easiest upgrade you can make to ensure it's at its best is a new cartridge. This part is almost solely responsible for the sound generated by your table, and you can get a very good new cartridge for less than $100 (try Shure's M97XE for a good one in the $90 ballpark, but there are cheaper options as well).

After that, there are three variables you want to make sure are set, and those are the three variables we'll be covering: cartridge alignment, tracking pressure and anti-skating. While there are tons of other adjustments that can be made, with some tables having more calibration options than others, these three are fairly universal and will get you in the ballpark of calibration, which is much better than fresh-from-the-dusty-garage.

Let's get started!

Tracking Pressure
This is what the weight on the back of your tonearm is for—it controls how much pressure is put on the stylus as it tracks the record's grooves. This should be set according to what's suggested in your cartridge's manual. Google around for your cartridge make and model and you should be able to find the manual, or your turntable manual may suggest a baseline range. Again, Vinyl Engine is a great resource for manuals.

1. If you're installing a new cartridge, connect the red, blue, green and white wires to the corresponding marked terminals on the back of the cartridge. If they're too loose and fall off the pins, put a toothpick inside wire clips and tighten it with the pliers. Once it's hooked up, loosely screw the cartridge into the headshell (we'll be adjusting its alignment later) with your hex screwdriver.

2. Set the turntable's anti-skating dial to zero, then turn the weight on the back of the arm just up until the point the tonearm floats on its own. Then, by turning the part of the weight with the gauge but not the entire weight, set the gauge back to zero to "re-zero" the weight.

3. Now, turn the entire weight to the number (in grams) specified by your cartridge's manual. If it specifies a range, stick it in the middle.

4. If you're feeling like getting serious, you can buy a specialized tracking pressure gauge that will tell you the exact pressure. But for most folks, the guidelines on the tonearm's weight are fine—mine was almost exactly correct when measured with Fremer's digital gauge (as you can see in the picture).

Cartridge Alignment
Ideally, a tonearm would track across the record from the beginning to the end in a straight line across the surface, so that the stylus was perpendicular to the groove at all times, thus keeping distortion to an absolute minimum. But since the turntable arm is fixed, it traces a parabola across the surface of the record as you play it. Mathematically, the parabola arc has two points where the stylus should be sitting perfectly perpendicular to the groove. These are the points we'll use to set the alignment.

But you don't have to be Pythagoras Jr. to plot them—thankfully, there are protractor PDFs you can print out which will mark the approximate position of these points on most turntables. There are also PDFs for specific tone arms and turntables floating around—Google your model to see, but you should be served just fine by the standard approximation provide by the basic print outs at Vinyl Engine. (We're using a glass version here in the photo, but the paper ones are fine).

1. Many turntable manuals specify an ideal distance from the back of the headshell to the tip of the stylus, so consult your table's manual and screw in the cartridge into the headshell's adjustable slots so this measurement is correct.

2. Now, place your alignment protractor on the platter, and carefully drop the stylus tip onto the first alignment point. The goal is for the cantilever (the metal part that extends down from the cartridge with the stylus tip on the end) to be parallel with the guidelines on the printout. If it's not, loosen one of the screws in the headshell and move it back or forward slightly. This is where a magnifying glass and flashlight can be handy, as the clearance between the bottom of the cartridge and the platter may be slim.

3. Once it's aligned in the first point, test it on the second point. Both are mathematically determined, so it should be aligned on the second point too. If not, try to find a happy medium.

Anti-Skating
Most turntables have an anti-skating dial somewhere. This setting counteracts the vector force that naturally pulls the stylus tip toward the inner lip of the groove as the record spins, because as mentioned before, you want it to track dead-center whenever possible.

1. All you have to do is turn the anti-skating knob so that the number matches the tracking pressure you set earlier. Fremer likes to set it a quarter of a gram or so less, which he feels is more accurate than the scales provided on most turntables. So do that.

More Tips
• Keep your turntable on as sturdy a surface as possible—this will prevent it from warbling or skipping if you walk/dance around near it.

• Keep your stylus and records clean. You can get very inexpensive tools for cleaning both of these parts, and it will keep everying sounding great and will prevent your records from wearing out too quickly.

And that's it. For more info, check out Fremer's calibration DVDs, which many vinyl junkies swear by.

Hope you guys enjoyed our Listening Test audio week as much as we did. If you have any other advice or tips to share, please do so in the comments, and if you're interested, check out last week's audio-related How To on maintaining a lossless music library. Have a great weekend listening everybody!

Listening Test: It's music tech week at Gizmodo.

The system was a Tesco Value MC-907—16.49 British pounds—a small compact stereo that was pitted against several other models. It got a 9.3 out of ten in the Reevoo Customer Choice Awards 2009. For comparison, systems like the JVC EK-10—costing $982—scored 8 out of ten, while a similar Sony going for $1,111 got 8.6. While you won't find the Tesco in US stores, I'm sure it's just a generic chinese box that is also available here (in fact, if you can identify it, please tell us).

Clearly, a customer choice awards is not exactly a scientific listening test. However, given the scope of the survey, there's clearly a pattern here. The fact is that many of these machines—and even more expensive systems—are manufactured at the same factories in Asia. If you go to a tech fair in China, you will have two versions: One made for foreigners, with brand equipment. The other—which often is celebrated after the first—is for internal markets, and features the same exact equipment with no brand, for a fraction of the price.

Have you ever found a surprising piece of cheap electronics, beating the more expensive brand version? Tell us in the comments. [IT News Online via Daily Mail]

Does that mean wireless video streaming from an iPod? From the press releases looks like perhaps not: there's only A2DP Bluetooth profiles, and there's mention of a Cat5 network cable connecting the base unit to another extender unit with the S-video socket. But that'd make it wired, right? Anyway, it's due out in Japan in January, with a $270 price tag putting it in the audiophile category. [AVWatch]

The obvious worry is that such a system will just be a pile of components, cobbled together with little regard for usability and ergonomics. The ITC One is not that. The company has combined an Xbox 360, Wii, Apple TV, iPod dock and a DVR with various audio/videophilic hardware in a relatively graceful manner, packing everything into an attractive aluminum case. Space is at a premium in this setup, so most of the internal components are stripped of their shells, and in some cases augmented (optical audio out is bypassed to connect straight to the S/PDIF connectors on the Xbox and Apple TV, and the Xbox gets a new heat sink and fan).

Most of the hardware is plugged into a central supply, which ITC claims saves 50% power at idle and 33% during use over an equivalent traditional cabinet of hardware. Networking is shared, and the systems can be controlled with face-forward LCD or the all-in-one remote, which is simple and well designed, with motion sensitivity, 4-6 month battery life on 2 AA batteries with an Apple-esque charge indicator. It's also got a brilliant alarm that beeps when you press the "lost remote" button on the primary unit (honestly, this should be everywhere).

For $25,000 though, we expect more than a clean build and clever remote, and there are some departments where the ITC One disappoints. First, Blu-ray is not standard. Seriously . If you are the kind of person who is planning on dropping this much cash on a home theater setup you probably expect to be able to play the dominant HD format. A BR player will be available as an upgrade, but you'll have to say goodbye to your precious Wii to make space.

Second, it seems like a massive chunk of the hardware cost is for overpriced (and over-hyped) A/V hardware. The Vidikron upscaler, power conditioning hardware and aforementioned optical out bypass are all perfect examples of the cost-ineffective gimmicks that plague home theater today. You could buy all of the core hardware (Xbox, DVR, Apple TV, etc.) in here for less than $5,000, and it'd be pretty hard to justify the $20,000 premium for the slick presentation and under-the-hood hardware improvements.

It's clear that a lot of thought has gone into the ITC One, and it took some inspired designing and engineering to cram all of this hardware into an attractive, usable box. The strange decision not to include Blu-ray by default (or even at all, at until they finish engineering it) leaves the One crippled, and the pervasive A/V hypeware pushes the price way out of reach for just about anyone, into the realm of professional theater installs. The ITC One is available now.

[SE2 Labs]

When you look at the Braun products by Dieter Rams—many of them at New York's MoMA—and compare them to Ive's work at Apple, you can clearly see the similarities in their philosophies way beyond the sparse use of color, the selection of materials and how the products are shaped around the function with no artificial design, keeping the design "honest."

This passion for "simplicity" and "honest design" that is always declared by Ive whenever he's interviewed or appears in a promo video, is at the core of Dieter Rams' 10 principles for good design:

• Good design is innovative.

• Good design makes a product useful.

• Good design is aesthetic.

• Good design helps us to understand a product.

• Good design is unobtrusive.

• Good design is honest.

• Good design is durable.

• Good design is consequent to the last detail.

• Good design is concerned with the environment.

• Good design is as little design as possible.

Ive's inspiration on Rams' design principles goes beyond the philosophy and gets straight into a direct homage to real products created decades ago. Amazing pieces of industrial design that still today remain fresh, true classics that have survived the test of time.

The similarities between products from Braun and Apple are sometimes uncanny, others more subtle, but there's always a common root that provides the new Apple objects not only with a beautiful simplicity but also with a close familiarity.

Braun Atelier TV and latest iMac 24

Braun T1000 radio and PowerMac G5/Mac Pro

Detail of the radio perforated aluminum surface

Braun T3 pocket radio and Apple iPod

Braun L60 sound system and Apple iPod Hi-Fi

Braun LE1 speaker and Apple iMac

Some people will probably call these examples a "rip-off" but, in a world where industrial design and art is constantly being recycled into new work, I just see Apple's products as a great evolution to classic concepts. Now, as I look at Rams' work I can't help but to wonder: which of these old Braun designs will Apple revive next? Is there a MacBook Air—the rumored ultra-slim wire-free portable that seems to be the favorite bet for tomorrow's keynote—in there?

Hopefully, we'll discover at least some answers tomorrow. See you at Macworld! [Design Museum, Dieter Rams and O Globo Online]

The Hi-Fi was a massive mistake. Apple, don't you know? Only third parties can make money off of big, tacky speaker systems, so the launch of the HiFi was lose lose. Either the system would be too big, too ugly or too worthless to listen to. And one thing's for sure: it was too expensive. [tuaw]

Design/Features
Hi-Fi
The Hi-Fi's design is as minimal as anything we've come to expect from Apple. The volume buttons directly control the iPod, as opposed to most players that adjust the amplification within the unit. Handles allow for easy carrying, but that's a feature you forget about once you take it out of the box. But where are the extras? The second clickwheel? The video out? Anything? You can take the Hi-Fi on the road with D batteries, which is worth something, I guess.

IMV712
The IMV712 is a dock in a class of its own. Not only does it feature video out—it has a 8.5-inch screen. How does it look? While not the best LCD we've ever seen, it's bright, sharp and colorful enough for us. What we don't like, however, is that the screen stretches the image wider than it was intended...and it's not fixable when playing with the iPod's video out. Why would Altec Lansing engineer the product this way when iTunes doesn't support widescreen programming?

Sound
For sound testing we listened to Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations: Nimrod as directed by Sir Georg Solti. Because we were feeling pretentious.

Hi-Fi
Right off the bat we enjoy the sound of the Hi-Fi. It's not a bargain bin dock, and you can hear it. The balance is superb, with no real quality falloff high or low. And the bass gets really deep.

IMV712
The IMV712 sounds remarkably similar to the HiFi, as if they are long lost cousins, or even brothers. And of all our side-by-sides thus far, they are most similar in sound style. But all is not equal.

The IMV712 does have a small speaker hiss that the Hi-Fi does not. Otherwise the IMV712 has more presence, which you notice in the high ranges. Trumpets sound like they are made of metal, and strings have that extra scrape to them. Texture is the difference here, allowing listeners to point out when during a phrase, a warm piccolo becomes a flute, for example.

The Hi-Fi sounds nice, but it sterilizes the sound into something less real and more speakerlike, and that effect is especially noticeable when instrumentation is layered during Nimrod's most dramatic moments. Still, the phonic experience is an admittedly close matchup, and we're exaggerating the differences here for review purposes. Most ears will agree that the IMV712 isn't light years ahead of the Hi-Fi, if ahead at all.

WINNER: Altec Lansing IMV712
The IMV712 has some real problems with aspect ratio, and the screen is wasted with the Altec Lansing logo when music is being played (visualization would have been nice). But considering that its sound quality is on par with Apple's Hi-fi, and maybe even a little better, we can't justify the purchase of a Hi-Fi over the IMV712...even if buying the Hi-Fi would further annoy our PC-using brethren.

After dissecting the thread on this deal over at the Slickdeals forums, it seems a few people are finding Hi-Fi units at their store with the clearance price and a decent amount are coming up empty handed. So it is best just to go check for yourself. Note that the $87 price tag does not show up on the sticker, but take the big 'ole Apple Hi-Fi to a price checker to find out if it has been discounted. Good luck. –Travis Hudson

[Via Consumerist]

No price or release date yet, but if it's Sony, you know it's worth its weight in gold. Or something to that effect. – Nicholas Deleon

MDR-D777SL, the hi-fi headset for DAP [Akihabara News]

The Apple Hi-Fi takes to the Hi-Way [Gadgetell]

The speakers boast 15 watts each. Also included is a remote control. Unfortunately, like the Apple branded Hi-Fi dock, this speaker system carries a pretty hefty price tag of 299 Euros, or roughly $382.

Hi-Fi System with iPod [AVING]

Sony announced a 40GB hi-fi jukebox earlier this month, and now they've got an even bigger one out on the market: the new NAS-M7HDS has 80GB of storage onboard, which translates to being able to hold about 40,000 songs. It plays and records the ATRAC and MP3 formats (no AAC love for you, Apple), and can receive songs from the built-in CD and MiniDisk players, a Memory Stick slot, and via USB (to your PSP, even) and Ethernet. If you've got it online, you can purchase cds through Sony's online store via the 4.3 inch color screen. ¥84,800, currently only in Japan.

Sony NAS-M7HDS Press Release [SonyStyle] (Translated)
Sony Net Juke 40GB NAS-D5HD [Gizmodo]

You can't really judge speakers without hearing them, but the iLounge EIC Jeremy basically said there are better speakers systems out there and without any of the wireless/video bells and whistles iPod lovers have been clamoring for, this thing is kind of a let-down.

Apple Computer iPod Hi-Fi Speaker System [iLounge]

iPod Hi-Fi Unpacking [Flickr]