Generally an Apple earnings announcement focuses on how the company reached new heights, broke records, took the world of one device or another by storm. Normally we’re talking about how the iPhone sold more units than any other device, how the iPad refuses to stop being the monstrous devourer of all other tablets, and so forth. This quarter, though, it’s … Continue reading
Nura might be a relatively new name in headphones, but the personalized-audio specialist is already revealing its third model: the Nuratrue. As the name suggests, the latest member of the family is a true wireless set (and the company’s first model without a wired option). As you might expect, Nura’s flagship automatic hearing test (for sound tailored to your hearing) is here, along with many other features the company has already made synonymous with its brand. But with a smaller form factor, are compromises inevitable?
The Nuratrue ($199/£199) is a simplified version of the Nuraphone over-ears and the Nuraloop wireless (but tethered) sports buds. As mentioned, the audio customization feature is present, as is the “ambient” mode — which Nura calls “social mode.” There’s even Active Noise Cancelling and “immersion” mode, which simulates the feeling of being at a live event. The last two are a little simplified compared to their bigger siblings, though.
The original Nuraphone’s immersion mode delivers tactile bass with transducers creating a sensation of volume and presence similar to being in front of a large speaker. On the Nuratrue, it feels more like a bass “boost” feature you might find on an equalizer. Active Noise Cancellation on the Nuratrue works pretty well, but is tied to the social mode feature which means they are activated as a pair. This makes no real functional difference, but something to bear in mind. Battery life is estimated at six hours here and seems accurate, which can be extended to around 24 hours via the charging case.
If you were a fan of the Nuraloop, you might have expected the Nuratrue to be broadly the same, minus the connecting cable. But you’d be wrong. The new buds barely share any visual or physical DNA with their cabled sibling. Instead the Nuratrue has a much larger, circular body which sorta looks like you’re wearing “plugs,” but in the middle of your ear. This extra size might sound like a negative, but it makes them easier to touch (for controls) and likely helps keep them wirelessly connected to each other.
That “touchability” is important, as, like most TWS earphones, it’s how you’ll interact with them — in particular, for activating things like immersion or social mode. (ANC can only be toggled via the app it seems, and as mentioned disables social mode with it). In my testing with them the touch was more responsive than most other TWS headphones I’ve tried, especially the tricky double-tap which I find often requires a few attempts to register correctly. As with all Nura headphones you can easily assign different tasks to either side for both single and double taps, making it easy to have the controls you use the most at hand (or finger, technically).
Obviously, the main selling point here is Nura’s proprietary audio personalization. The ability to create personal hearing profiles is kinda Nura’s whole thing. It’s a feature you see on other brands, too, but Nura’s is the simplest and, in my experience, the most reliable. Mostly, because it doesn’t involve any subjectivity. Just pop the buds in your ears, walk through the profile creation process in the app and the headphones do everything else. Most other similar “tests” require you to tell the app how well/if you heard something. As someone who’s done more than their fair share of hearing tests, I always start imagining phantom sounds and worry that affects my results.
Cool features are… cool and all, but you probably just want to know how they sound? I guess the smart answer is, that will depend on your ears. The slightly more helpful answer is that, for me, the personalized audio definitely puts the Nuratrue above most of the TWS headphones I have tried. It’s not that they have better bass or polished treble, although those would be fair statements, it’s more that they feel neutral and balanced.
Whereas “unpersonalized” buds may be technically balanced on a graph, I know that my hearing isn’t perfect and thus might be slightly worse at certain frequencies. With Nura’s personalized tuning, it’s hard to know what frequency curve I am getting, or even if that’s what my hearing really “needs” but what I do know is that I like it!
Now, I guess I should also say that I am never sure just how effective Nura’s hearing test really is. The company claims that it uses otoacoustic emissions to determine the characteristics of your hearing. The same test is sometimes used to determine cochlear hearing loss in newborns. That said, every time I’ve been to an audiologist (which is more times than I would like) I have asked them about using OAE tests for headphones, and all of them have been skeptical it can be done on hardware at this price. When I asked Nura about this, they gave the following reply:
“The OAE signal produced by a person’s ears is indeed faint – much like the signals of GPS satellites are faint by the time they reach the Earth’s surface. That’s why GPS-enabled devices of 20-15 years ago were much larger, less accurate, and took longer to acquire a signal than today’s smartphones or even smartwatches. Similar advances in signal processing have enabled the huge improvement in GPS device performance and the quick & reliable measurements of OAEs in devices as small as Nuratrue.”
In short, the company claims that advances in technology have allowed for the test to be practical in small, consumer devices.
Back to the physical design briefly. It might not be for everyone, but it feels very much in keeping with Nura’s apparent mission to do things a little bit differently. I’ve never really found a TWS design that I think has fully cracked it (although Jabra’s Elite 75t comes close?), and that’s true here. But, as mentioned earlier, I do appreciate the large surface area for controlling playback or activating/deactivating the extra features. Extended wear remains comfortable, and the fit works well for my ears.
If I had one minor gripe, it’d be the maximum volume. It’s not low. In fact, for me, it’s more or less ideal for comfortable, extended use. It’s just that, “comfortable” is the maximum, so when a song comes on that I really love and I decide that, heck, I can crank this one up a bit before going back to normal levels… there’s nowhere to go. Again, this might not be an issue for you. I’ll be the first to admit I probably haven’t done my ears any favors over the years, but it was something I noticed fairly quickly in my time with the Nuratrue.
In an ocean of true wireless headphones, it’s hard to stand out. But Nura’s personalized audio is certainly enough to do just that. Of all the “customizable” headphones I’ve tried, Nura’s are still the ones to beat. And with the Nuratrue priced at least $80 cheaper than the flagship models from Sony, Sennheiser and Bose, that’s just another easy way for the company to garner attention.
The Nuratrue is available starting today.
Snapchat is updating its in-app map to help users keep track of places they’ve visited, and where they may want to go next. An update rolling out today adds a new “Places” section to the map, with educated sections for recommendations, locations you’ve visited and “favorites” to remember.
The idea is similar to Foursquare (the original check-in based iteration), except “checking in” in this case consists of tagging a specific location in a Snap. Places you’ve tagged are automatically saved in your “visited” tab, but you can also manually add establishments to your “favorites” list. Interestingly, Snap is also using the new feature to generate recommendations. The “popular” section of the map will surface a list of personalized suggestions based on places you’ve been and what’s popular in your area.
Though the Snap Map has been around for years the company has been working to make it more useful — and more visible — within the app. The company gave the feature more prominent placement in a redesign last year, and plans to add Map Layers, a feature that allows third-parties like Ticketmaster to incorporate events and other content directly into the map.
Lollapalooza is once again an in-person festival after a switch to a streaming-only gig in 2020, but that’s not the only big change for fans. Hulu has become the exclusive streaming partner for Lollapalooza 2021, and will stream the Chicago event to on-demand subscribers between July 29th and August 1st starting at 2PM Eastern (1PM Central). Yes, that means what you think it does — Lollapalooza won’t be streaming on YouTube like it has in recent years.
There’s no extra charge, and you can watch if you sign up for a free trial. The Lollapalooza 2021 lineup includes plenty of big names, including Illenium (July 29th), Tyler, the Creator (July 30th), Post Malone (July 31st) and Foo Fighters (August 1st).
Hulu has streamed concerts before, including a Black History Month show in February and a Summer of Soul tribute on Juneteenth. However, this is the service’s first exclusive live event. It’s a big bet that livestreams like this can translate to more customers, not to mention draw attention away from free services like YouTube.
Whether or not music fans follow is another matter. YouTube is still a go-to destination for live festivals like Coachella, and that may be what virtual concertgoers are expecting. There’s a real possibility that many would-be viewers will just skip Lollapalooza altogether rather than sign up for Hulu, no matter how easily they can cancel service afterward.
The next time you open Uber Eats, you might see a new delivery option: a way to have flowers dropped off at your door swiftly with just a few taps. Uber has teamed up with flower industry stalwart FTD for its first nationwide florist partnership as part of its latest on-demand delivery venture.
Folks in New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami and some other locations can now order flower arrangements from FTD’s ProFlowers locations. Uber expects to roll out the option nationwide by early 2022, so it should be available almost everywhere by Mother’s Day next May. You can see the available options by tapping the flower icons in the Uber Eats app and selecting a ProFlowers location. Uber Pass and Eats Pass subscribers will get discounts and no-free deliveries on eligible orders of at least $15.
Deliveries have become an increasingly important part of Uber’s business over the last couple of years. One key reason is that far fewer people took rides amid COVID-19 restrictions. The company recently doubled its grocery delivery markets to more than 400 US towns and cities, and it just started delivering Costco orders in Texas.
The days of seeing Tesla stores in fancy malls and retail centers may be over, according to a report from Electrek. Sources tell the site that Tesla will instead focus on finding cheaper spaces, like parking lots and warehouses, that will house a remote fleet of cars. The company also won’t be firing its retail staff (it’s actually in the middle of a hiring spree). Instead of being tied to individual stores, those workers will help to manage Tesla testing and purchases from those remote locations.
If this news sounds familiar, it’s because Tesla previously said it was going to close most of its stores in 2019 before quickly reversing course. This new strategy, if it ends up being implemented, seems to be a smarter implementation of that plan. Most Tesla customers already buy their cars online, so there’s less of a need to have pricey mall stores around. The cheaper locations will also be better for holding more vehicles, which should help to satisfy increased demand for purchases and test drives.
Created by West Coast Firepits using actual satellite imagery and cut with 0.02″ precision, the Earthbound firepit is advertised as “the most geographically accurate world map firepit in the world.” And that’s important, because what good is a globe firepit if you can’t use it to pinpoint where in the world Carmen Sandiego is hiding?
Crafted from 1/4″ steel, the firepits are available in 30″ and 37″ sizes ($3,000 and $3,500, respectively) and three different finishes: raw steel, black ceramic, and silver ceramic (+$500 for a ceramic finish). The base model is designed for wood burning, but propane or natural gas burning options are also available (+$450). Can’t afford a firepit that costs thousands? Just use a 55-gallon drum as I have been for years.
Are you obligated to hum Billy Joel’s ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’ when you actually are starting the fire? I think we can all agree it would be a shame if you didn’t. Just like if you don’t take the opportunity to make a melancholy joke about global warming as well.
Star Wars. Indiana Jones. RoboCop. Jurassic Park. These films and franchises will live forever, and they attained those heights with a little help from Phil Tippett—one of the most legendary visual effects artists in Hollywood history. He’s especially known for his work with stop-motion animation and now, he’s…
“Every time tank top season arrives, I not only get a bit self-conscious, but also depressed.”
“Are ‘mental health issues’ now the go-to excuse for any poor performance in elite sport? What a joke,” Morgan wrote.
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