Hasta La Gadget!

When Soundboks released its Gen 3 portable loudspeaker, I was happy it wasn’t any larger than its predecessors. It was on the edge of being truly portable as it was. Now, the company aims to deliver the same signature output capability in a new, smaller package. The Soundboks Go ($699) is about half the size of the Gen 3, resembling more of a chubby briefcase than an end table, and it continues to offer the incredible battery life and connectivity that have become synonymous with the brand. As a bonus, the company is also launching Direkt, an in-app platform that will offer live stream sets from DJs and artists across the globe to Soundboks users.

The Soundboks Go measures 18 x 12 x 10-inches and weighs about 20 pounds. There’s a convenient carry handle on top, but you can also opt for the $59 shoulder strap accessory. The speaker is composed of one 10-inch woofer and a 1-inch silk dome tweeter enclosed in an ABS and polycarbonate cabinet and protective grill. Inside, the system relies on two 72W class D amplifiers to drive the audio output and its effective frequency range of 40Hz – 20kHz. Where the Gen 3 had generous input (and output) possibilities, the Go has slimmed the options down to a single 3.5mm aux input.

Bluetooth wireless connectivity will likely be the primary audio source for most casual users and just like the previous model, the Soundboks Go will support TeamUp using SKAA wireless technology to communicate with up to three other nearby Soundboks Gen 3 or Go speakers.

The Soundboks Gen 3 and Soundboks Go.

The speaker is built for the outdoors with a rugged silicone rubber bumper around the edges and an IP65 rating – dust-tight and resistant to powerful jets of water but not meant to be submerged.

Battery life appears to be stellar with up to 80 hours at medium volume and around 10 hours at full blast, with 3.5-hours to fully recharge. Like previous models, the battery is removable and swappable if you bring a backup. Plus, you can continuously charge while playing if you have an outlet handy.

The Soundboks app offers a custom EQ, as well as preset sound profiles for extra bass, power and indoor listening. Starting in April, iOS users will get to enjoy the new Direkt live streaming platform as part of the app experience. Every Friday and Saturday night you’ll be able to access live sets from clubs and studios in Copenhagen, Barcelona, London, Los Angeles and more. The streams will be available for 24 hours so users across the globe can all enjoy them.

Pre-orders for the new Soundboks Go ($699) start today and the expected release date is April 26th.

NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3090 Ti is finally here, and it’s clear the no-compromise design comes with the steep price tag to match. The new flagship GPU is now available at an official price of $1,999. That’s $500 more than the ‘base’ RTX 3090, and closer to the price of line-blurring GPUs like the old $2,499 Titan RTX. And don’t be surprised if you pay more thanks to ongoing shortages — we’re already seeing more expensive cards at retailers.

There’s some justification for the steep price, at least. The RTX 3090 Ti effectively fulfills Ampere’s potential with a full 84 Streaming Multiprocessors enabled instead of 82, higher clock speeds (1.67GHz base and 1.86GHz boost) and 24GB of second-generation, higher-clocked GDDR6X memory with a wider 21Gbps of bandwidth. This consumes a massive 450W of thermal design power (the regular 3090 ‘only’ uses 350W), but you’ll know that your game or editing app will run as smoothly as possible with today’s technology.

The issue, as you might guess, is the word “today’s.” You’re spending two grand on what’s very clearly the swan song for NVIDIA’s RTX 30 series graphics chips. The company already confirmed at GTC 2021 that its upcoming Ampere Next architecture (likely the basis for the RTX 40 series) is due later in 2022. You’re spending a lot of money on a GPU that could feel outdated in a matter of months. The RTX 3090 Ti is for well-heeled gamers and creators who can’t (or don’t want to) wait to upgrade.

Kangaroos and wallabies were driven to safety after Russian bombs hit their enclosures at Feldman Ecopark.

Dyson just unveiled its first wearable product and… it’s not what you think it is. The device is called the Dyson Zone, and it’s a set of noise-canceling, air-purifying headphones. It comes with a detachable visor for the bottom half of the wearer’s face that looks, to put it mildly, odd. That vizor actually blows filtered air to your nose, mouth and chin, sort of like a portable fan dedicated to the lower portion of your face. Dyson integrated a smaller version of its air filtration system into the earcups, and the idea is that people can protect themselves from pollution while out and about.

The Zone might seem like a response to the pandemic, but Dyson says this device has actually been six years in the making. It’s not borne from a desire to keep out COVID-19 germs, per se, and more as a means to help people breathe less-polluted air wherever they go. The Zone is not only a wearable air filtration system, but it’s also the company’s first audio product. In fact, Dyson describes it as “headphones delivering pure air and pure sound.”

If you’re thinking this thing looks absurd, you’re not alone. My first reaction to seeing the Zone on a mannequin’s head during a virtual briefing was complete and utter amusement. Shortly after, I saw it on an actual person on the demo call and it did not look like they were enjoying themselves. So when Dyson offered to show the contraption to me in person, I knew I had to see and try this thing out for myself. Sadly, I wasn’t allowed to take any photos or video of the Zone, so I’ll do my best to describe the experience. 

Dyson

My biggest takeaway after spending some time with a prototype is that, yes, it does look just as ridiculous in real life. But somehow, in spite of its wild appearance, I still really want one. Dyson said it engineered the headset to fit comfortably and distribute weight evenly, by drawing inspiration from horse saddles. There are three cushions on the headband, and the central one is slightly curved like a saddle to distribute the load through “contact areas.”

When I put on the Zone and adjusted its arms to fit my head, it felt balanced and didn’t feel heavy. The earcups themselves were spongy and soft, and once they clamped on there was a noticeable noise canceling effect. That’s because the demo unit had already been set to enable active noise canceling when it’s worn. By clicking through a physical switch on the earcup, I toggled through different sound profiles, and though I occasionally heard some static, the pass-through and complete cancellation modes were effective. 

Three ANC modes are available: Isolation, Conversation and Transparency. Isolation provides the highest level of muffling, while Conversation, which kicks in when you dip the visor, turns off the filtration motors to let you better hear who you’re talking to. Transparency allows certain sounds to pass through, so you can be aware of your surroundings.

For an initial foray into the audio space, the Zone is impressively satisfying. A company rep streamed Spotify to the demo unit and I enjoyed the ample bass and clear sound in songs like Doja Cat’s Say So.

Dyson

The highlight of my time with the Zone, though, has got to be when I snapped the magnetic visor on. After I figured out where on the headphones to aim the edges, taking the attachment on and off was easy. Once the mask was connected, the motors in the earcups whirred to life and a gentle, clean-smelling trickle of air started blowing at my lips and nose. It was surprisingly comfortable and, for an obsessive clean freak like me, felt borderline magical. This could not only be the personal air bubble I’ve dreamed of, but also might be a portable air conditioner for the lower half of my face, which would be a blessing in the summer.

Four air purification modes are available as well — low, medium, high and auto. You can toggle these to, say, use the maximum level when you need a higher purification speed if you’re breathing rapidly during a quick jog on the streets. For the Auto mode, the Zone will use onboard accelerometers to determine which setting to choose.

The visor was also designed to diffuse two jets of airflow and at no point during my time with the Dyson Zone did I feel like I was being overwhelmed or pummeled by wind. The earcup’s compressors draw air through dual-layer filters, including negatively charged electrostatic filters to catch particles like allergens and dust. A potassium-enriched carbon layer captures gas pollutants like nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and ozone.

Earlier versions of the Zone took the form of a snorkel-like mouthpiece connected to a backpack (like oxygen tanks in a scuba diving setup). 500 prototypes later, the company settled on the headset and visor combination, and the mouthpiece can deliver clean air without touching the wearer’s face. “Developing a non-contact solution was a must for Dyson engineers, to avoid the discomfort and irritation often associated with full-contact alternatives,” the company said in a statement. 

Dyson

It does leave room for you to insert a face mask, though, and Dyson provides attachments for coverings that would meet FFP2 filtration standards in the box. It also includes a “community face covering attachment” that would form a “sealed solution” so you can mask up while keeping your filtered air clean.

Dyson also made a companion app that shows the air quality of the region you’re in, though at the time of the demo it didn’t offer information that was more location-specific than a city. You couldn’t, for instance, see if your place of work had more air pollutants than the park you’d walk to for lunch.

The company hasn’t shared pricing and availability information for the Zone just yet, other than to say it’s coming this year. I can already see this being a great device for my future travels — whether in an airplane or a commuter train, and at the demo I even went to lay down on a couch to see how comfortable the Zone would be to wear on a redeye flight. It felt surprisingly comfortable for the admittedly brief period of time I was lying down. But of course, there are still things I’d need to know before spending money on the Zone — like battery life and real-world performance. Hopefully, Dyson will share more information on those things soon.

Apple technicians will decline to fix iPhones that had been reported as stolen or lost, according to MacRumors. The tech giant has reportedly sent out a memo to Apple Stores and authorized providers not to accept a device for repair if they get a notice on their internal MobileGenius or GSX systems that the phone had been marked as missing. Presumably, that means technicians will check a device’s IMEI against the GSMA Device Registry when a customer brings it in for repair. 

The GSMA registry is a global database where owners can register their devices’ IMEI and designate a status for them, such as whether they’d been lost, stolen or were fraudulently obtained. This move expands Apple’s existing policy to decline repairs for devices whose owners cannot disable the Find My iPhone feature. It could discourage more people from buying second-hand devices outside of official and authorized sources in case they unknowingly end up with a stolen unit. That said, users could just as easily go to a third-party repair shop that doesn’t care where they got their devices from. 

Apple’s iPhones have become increasingly cost-prohibitive over the years, giving rise to a market for second-hand units. According to a recent Bloomberg report, though, the tech giant is working on a subscription service for the iPhone and other hardware to make regular upgrades more accessible with monthly fees and no huge upfront costs.