German tuning firm Hamann recently unveiled its newest body kit and tuning packages for the BMW X6 M. It’s no secret the BMW X6 is one of the forerunners of the coupe-crossover trend. The third-gen X6 remains as polarizing as ever, albeit easier on the eyes than the first and second-gen X6. But with the Hamann body kit, your BMW … Continue reading
Jabra has a new set of earbuds, with the Jabra Enhance Plus straddling the line between music and hearing enhancement. Designed, the company says, for people with mild to moderate hearing loss, but who aren’t quite ready yet for all-day hearing aids, the new earbuds look more like mainstream accessories though with a smaller form-factor than Jabra’s other models. Compared … Continue reading
If you were hoping to see some new stuff about Pokemon Unite in today’s Pokemon Presents, then the presentation certainly didn’t disappoint. The Pokemon Company kicked off today’s Pokemon Presents live stream by revealing new information about Pokemon Unite. Not only did we get sneak peeks at the two upcoming Pokemon, but the release date for the mobile versions of … Continue reading
A number of companies make “hearing enhancement” devices that look more like a set of earbuds than a piece of clinical tech. Nuheara has been a staple at CES with its IQbuds line and companies like Bose, Bragi, Olive and others have offered a mix of tech and hardware to assist with hearing loss. Even Apple plans to introduce a “Converstaion Boost” for its AirPods Pro. Since the FDA allows companies to sell directly to consumers with mild-to-moderate hearing loss without the need for a prescription, the list of options is constantly growing. Another company that’s specifically equipped to blur the line between hearing aid and true wireless earbuds is Jabra, thanks to the auditory assistance expertise of its parent company GN.
With the Jabra Enhance Plus, the company offers a more approachable device for people who may not need what all-day hearing aids offer just yet. Jabra describes these earbuds as “a miniaturized true wireless form factor” that’s 50 percent smaller than its stellar Elite 75t model. Those are already some of the smallest buds I’ve tested, so reducing the size even further makes the Enhance Plus more comfortable and more discreet. Plus, a design that resembles earbuds rather than a traditional hearing aid helps reduce the stigma around wearing something that helps your hear better.
Inside, four separate sound processing features work to improve audio quality. The Enhance Plus analyzes sound to keep things as natural as possible while also reducing noise for speech clarity. The earbuds also ensure feedback doesn’t hinder amplification and they isolate sounds coming from in front of you.
In addition to providing hearing enhancement, the Jabra Enhance Plus can work just like a set of true wireless earbuds to play music and take calls. Similar to other earbuds, the Enhance Plus comes with multiple sizes of ear tips to help you find the best fit, on-board controls and water/dust resistance (IP52). Jabra says they’ll last 10 hours on a charge with 30 hours total when you factor in the charging case. An app assists with setup and offers a degree of customization.
Jabra plans to launch the Enhance Plus at “select hearing care clinics” in the US “towards the end of the year.” A licensed professional will conduct a hearing test to make sure these earbuds are appropriate. There’s no word on pricing just yet, but the company says it’s applying for approval under the FDA’s self-fitting category. If you’re looking for more of a true hearing aid rather than these “enhancers,” Jabra also offers the Enhance Pro. It carries the more traditional behind-the-ear hearing aid design along with a charging case. It’s also pricey, starting at $1,800.
If that’s what you’re after, the Bose SoundControl hearing aids went on sale in May in a handful of states. That device puts the company’s audio expertise to use to help you hear better, and Bose said it was the first FDA-cleared hearing aids that could be sold directly to consumers. What’s more, they’re more affordable at $850, but they run on the typical zinc-air batteries for hearing aids rather than being rechargeable.
Pinterest has launched a new search feature that could make it easier for Black, Brown, Indigenous, Latinx and other POC users to find hair inspiration that would suit their hair types. The visual discovery website has introduced hair pattern search, it said, with BIPOC users in mind. This new feature uses computer vision-powered object detection to enable users to refine their searches by six different hair patterns: protective, coily, curly, wavy, straight and shaved/bald.
Now, after users search for broader terms like “summer hairstyles,” “glam hair” or “short hair,” they’ll find new hair pattern buttons that will narrow down the results. The feature is now live in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand on desktop, as well as on iOS and Android. It will roll out to more locations over the coming months.
Yes, there are different types of curls, not to mention different hair textures and porosities, and Pinterest said its technology detected hair patterns in over 500 million images on its platform. Being able to refine results could help POC users find styling inspiration more easily instead of having to wade through pages and pages of hair images that wouldn’t work for their hair types. That said, it remains to be seen how accurate the feature is and if it’s truly effective in sifting through images on the website.
According to the company, this feature builds on its first inclusive product that allows users to search for images based on the subjects’ skin tones. It worked with BIPOC creators and popular Pinners like Naeemah LaFond to design the product.
Pinterest’s Head of Inclusive Product Annie Ta said in a statement:
“Our mission on the Inclusive Product team is to help everyone feel like Pinterest is a place for them. As a visual discovery platform, we have an opportunity and responsibility to do a better job of increasing representation in the products we build. That’s why we built hair pattern search using computer vision technology to help identify hair patterns in images. By doing this, we hope we’re able to use technology for good and make it easier for people, no matter who they are, to find hair inspiration for them on Pinterest.”
Holoride’s VR gaming system for passengers caught our attention a few years back at CES when we were given a ride in an Audi on a track and had the game react to the movement of the vehicle while we played. Well, the company is back and this time they demoed two games and threw off the shackles of the track for the real world.
We took a ride in an Audi with the Holoride system and again enjoyed video games while someone else drove. The company is currently courting developers to build games via their recently announced SDK and are partnering with automakers to make sure that the data they need from the car to make their games a reality is available. Watch the video above for the full story.
Scientists have just edged closer to a fusion energy system that doesn’t lean on magnetic field-based tokamak reactors or twisty stellarators. Sciencereports that a team at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has achieved a breakthrough in laser-powered fusion energy by coming much closer to “ignition,” or a blast that produces an excess of energy.
The researchers sparked the event with a 20-nanosecond burst from 192 laser beams aimed at a tiny sphere full of the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium, itself housed in a small gold cylinder. The laser shot vaporizes the gold, producing x-rays that implode the capsule and create fusion. The experiment produced 70 percent ignition, or 1.35 megajoules of the 1.9MJ from the laser. That’s well short of what you’d need from a fusion energy source, but eight times more powerful than the lab had managed before.
It will take a while for the research unit to further refine the process and achieve full ignition. There’s also a large gap between achieving ignition and making a practical fusion power system — you’d need to produce these fusion blasts a rate near 10 per second to collect energy from the resulting neutrons.
The test does show that laser-based fusion is a much more realistic prospect than first thought, however. If there’s further progress, the technique could produce effectively ‘unlimited’ energy that could solve the electrical grid’s capacity issues while remaining clean and safe.
Crocodiles: you can easily tell them apart from alligators based on whether you’ll see them later or after a while. Plus alligators have broad, flat heads with only their top teeth visible when their mouths are closed, and crocodiles have pointed snouts with all teeth visible all the time. But to specifically celebrate the 16-foot freshwater Nile Crocodile, Bandai is releasing this 1/12 scale Ikimono Encyclopedia Ultimate Nile Crocodile model.
The 19,800-yen (~$180) fully assembled model features posable legs, an opening and closing mouth, and the entire body and tail are jointed vertically between each row of scales for ultimate articulation. It measures approximately 16″ long and I can already hear my wife screaming when she steps out of the shower and sees the scale crocodile model I placed on the bathmat.
While $180 is typically out of my model price range, the thing I like most about this one is that it comes pre-assembled, meaning that while it does cost a fair bit more, I won’t just break all the plastic pieces and rage quit with a half-assembled model airplane glued to the kitchen counter.
[via Mike Shouts]
Jabra is best known around these parts for its excellent wireless earbuds, but the brand is also known for its hearing aids and other hearing enhancement devices. The new Jabra Enhance Plus sits somewhere in between those two product lines, doubling as both a pair of very compact wireless earbuds and a hearing…
The myth that climate action kills jobs is dying. Study after study shows that serious environmental policy spurs job creation. Most recently, a July report found that meeting the Paris Agreement’s goals could create 8 million positions globally by 2050.
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