Word: stereos
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...measures -- an increase in the price of gasoline to a still indulgent 25 cents, plus an average 30% hike in bus fares -- Venezuelans went wild. In Caracas and the provinces, unruly mobs torched cars and buses. They quickly turned to looting stores, stealing everything from legs of beef to stereo components. Angry merchants defended their shops with gunfire in an orgy of crime and spontaneous punishment...
...drives his 1985 chocolate brown Nissan pickup, his reputation precedes him. Anyone within a several-block radius can hear Tabarez coming, for he drives what is known as a "boom car." The auto mechanic from Gardena, Calif., spent $8,000 to install the vehicle's current stereo system, which comprises a deluxe Alpine 7902 compact-disc player, two heavy-duty Orion amplifiers and 32 speakers. His rig can deliver a bone-jarring 144 decibels of sound. "I just got carried away," he admits...
Tabarez is not booming alone. Across the U.S., thousands of young, mostly male, boom-car aficionados are ripping out their backseats and dashboards to make room for stereo equipment as advanced as audiophiles have at home. Says Danny Moore of East Orange, N.J.: "Girls all want to go out with the guy with the loudest car." Besides rattling neighborhoods, boom-car fever has created a thriving market for manufacturers of exotic stereo equipment. They include not only such established Japanese companies as Sony and Nakamichi but also specialized U.S. firms like Mitek of Winslow...
...company to communicate with those built by any other. In the first public demonstration, at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, enthusiastic manufacturers showed off a prototype CEBus-controlled home of the future packed with high-tech features. When a telephone rings in a CEBus home, the stereo automatically lowers its volume. As someone walks into a room, the lights go on. If a visitor pushes the doorbell, his or her face is displayed on a TV in the living room. Commuters unable to reach home in time to cook dinner can set the oven timer by calling...
...heart of all such homes is a small computer that can link any number of kitchen appliances, security devices, and TV and stereo components. That computer can receive signals from telephones, hand-held controllers or touch- sensitive video screens. One tap on the screen of a typical system brings up a schematic diagram of the house. Another tap produces a display of the air temperature in every room. By selecting from a series of menu choices, the homeowner can tell the house to heat the bedrooms to a comfy 72 degrees F while leaving the rest of the rooms...