If you’ve made it a habit of viewing YouTube videos on your mobile device in an effort to flout the site’s pre-roll ads, your days of bliss are quickly drawing to a close. Today, the site implemented TrueView in-stream ads for the mobile platform, and like you’ve become accustomed to on the desktop, you’ll begin to notice these commercials on your smartphone and tablet. Now, we get the need for content producers to make some coin, but the move certainly represents the end of an era. Fortunately, just like on the desktop, you’ll have the ability to skip these ads after five seconds. Maybe now, you can take pride in making an independent producer rich beyond imagination — or, at least helping them buy some lunch.
In addition to the new Samsungsmartphones for Boost Mobile, Sprint’s other subsidiary, Virgin Mobile has also made a reveal for this fall with the Galaxy Reverb. Like its cousins, the phone offers Android 4.0, which is complemented by a 1.4GHz CPU, a 5-megapixel camera and a 4-inch touchscreen. Virgin Mobile’s latest is set to hit stores in September for $250, but you can claim your place in line through the pre-order process, which is set to kick off on August 29th. We’ve already managed to grab some hands-on pics of the Galaxy Reverb, so if you’re curious to see what’s in store, be sure to hit up the gallery below.
The market for high quality wireless speakers is relatively small. Consider the fact that Sonos and Jawbone have grabbed most of the headlines and buzz over the last few years with creative and attractive hardware design.
Relative newcomer Audyssey has made waves since last year with a uniquely designed set of speakers and an AirPlay dock. Their latest, simply dubbed Wireless Speakers, house Bluetooth connectivity and redesigned components for a thumping set of uniquely designed speaker boxes.
But do you really need a set of $299 (they will likely sell for $250 when they hit the street on 8/29) Bluetooth speakers?
It all depends on what your needs are, of course. Personally, I’m looking to replace my dated Razer Mako 2.1 speakers for something smaller and less cable dependent to power my TV and the occasional music streaming from any number of mobile devices.
With its updated components, the Wireless Speakers are freakishly loud and full of gusto (read: bass) given their small stature. To the untrained ear, they sound pretty amazing with nary a whisper of fuzz. Audio quality is smooth. Whether my phone was jacked in via the auxiliary port or connected over Bluetooth, audio quality was relatively the same, that is to say it sounded crisp and clear. Jumping from track to track over Bluetooth was fairly instantaneous, too.
Though the overall design allows them to be tucked away and barely noticeable, it’s a little annoying that the speakers are perched at a specific angle and height. In other words, you may have to move them around to find the sweet spot as opposed to where you might normally position other speakers. A nitpick, for sure, but worth noting, in my opinion.
You also can’t adjust volume as minutely as you might want to since you’re only connected over Bluetooth. Again, a tiny nitpick.
Would I recommend these or purchase them myself? Absolutely. They fit my particular needs quite nicely and sound surprisingly amazing. Whether or not they’d work for you is really your call. Though the price tag might seem high, the quality is there to back it up.
We generally enjoyed the virtual surround sound prowess of Astro Gaming’s A50 wireless headset when we reviewed it back in July, but you’ll recall it had one especially glaring issue: the audio would frequently cut out. At the time, the company informed us that a fix was on the way via a firmware update, and now it’s recently arrived with a few other goodies. To refresh your memory, the A50 headset relies on a MixAmp TXD wireless transmitter, so you’ll actually be dealing with a duo of updates to get your system on the straight and narrow: A50 Headset Firmware v1.1 (Build 2856) and A50 MixAmp Tx Firmware v1.1 (Build 2855).
On the headset side, notable changes include “various audio and volume leveling tweaks,” a decrease in background noise and enhancements to the noise-gate for voice chat across platforms. Better yet, volume and game / voice chat balance levels will now stay as you left them upon powering it down. The Tx itself haa been deemed the culprit behind the audio problem, as Astro notes that it’s “fixed [the] occasional optical audio drop” — where “occasional” is putting it nicely. Beyond that, both units should now have better success pairing up, and further compatibility with KleerNet-enabled wireless devices.
We tried out the firmware refreshes with a few sessions of MW3 and can happily report that the audio issues do seem to be resolved. Now, installing the update is simple, if a bit tedious. First we had to hook up the headset via USB into the TXD, which itself connects your computer via USB as well. From there, we downloaded and ran Astro’s Device Manager for OS X and 32 bit Windows (available at the source below), prompting us to install the updates. Lastly, we re-paired the two and were back to our virtual fragging sans the audio hiccups — hopefully you’ll have the same results. Need all the details? Hit up the source link below.
Acer has recently introduced a new small form factor desktop under Veriton series. Dubbed as the Acer Veriton X6620G, the computer supports up to third generation Intel Core i7 processor, up to 16GB DDR3 RAM and a 500GB hard disk drive. The Acer Veriton M6620G mini tower also features six USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, a DVD burner, two DisplayPorts, a DVI port, two 5.25-inch and six 3.5-inch drive bays (two external, four internal). The Acer Veriton X6620G runs on the Microsoft Windows 7 Professional operating system. [PCLaunches]
A huge standing mixer is one of those aspirational kitchen gadgets—it’s big and it’s expensive, after all. But having one like Kenwood’s new Barcelona kMix will change your entire culinary horizon. More »
Boost Mobile is in New York City today to take the wraps off of its new fall lineup, and in addition to the Galaxy S II 4G, it’ll be joined by the Samsung Galaxy Rush, a small (but slightly souped-up) smartphone that sports Android 4.0. Noteworthy specs include a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 CPU, 768MB of RAM, a 3.5-inch HVGA touchscreen and a 3-megapixel camera. While built-in storage is limited to just 2GB, users will find a microSD slot for expansion. The phone also sports a rather healthy battery, which weighs in at 1,750mAh. According to Boost, the Samsung Galaxy Rush will hit stores in late September for $150.
Additionally, Boost Mobile is also unveiling the Samsung Array, a feature phone with a sliding QWERTY keyboard. You’ll see it hit stores on September 4th for $60, and you can sneak a peek of it after the break.
Beloved UK supermarketSainsbury’s is making a big push into digital media, after snapping up e-book retailer Anobii and music company Global Media Vault, it’s now partnering with Rovi for a digital video service. Launching later in the year, it’ll offer video-on-demand and downloadable copies of “major” film and TV titles, available the same time the discs are available in store. It’ll initially be limited to computers, before rolling out to Smart TVs, connected Blu-Ray players, smartphones and consoles. The only question we have is if we’ll be able to collect Nectar Points on our purchases — if so, we’re sold.
I have dreamed about owning a Landspeeder or a Speeder bike for ages. Now it looks like these vehicles might finally be becoming a reality thanks to a California-based company called Aerofex, which is using a similar hovering design in their vehicles. The vehicle in the video below uses helicopter dynamics to lift and propel it across rough terrain.
They’ve managed to fix the stability issue by including a control bar at the the users knee level that allows the pilot to lean and balance the vehicle and keep it airborne.
The vehicle has been tested in California’s Mojave Desert and also in more crowded conditions. Right now, the Aerofex machine is being tested at a top speed of 30 mph and a max height of 15 feet above the ground. I can’t wait until we can buy these. Put two droids in the back and you are good to go.
Business Insider believes HTML5 apps are primed to overtake native apps on smartphones in the coming years. Steve Jobs was also big on webapps when the iPhone first came out—sans native app ecosystem—but didn’t have the benefit of the HTML5 standard. Now that HTML5 is here, there are apps that come very very close to replicating the native app experience. More »
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