The internet is filled with conspiracy theories ranging from the absurd to the plausible. And plenty of people online have questioned whether Will Smith’s assault of Chris Rock at the Academy Awards on Sunday was staged. But there’s a new twist to this conspiracy theory that we can safely debunk: No, Chris Rock wasn’t…
They’re cooler and more accommodating than those elastic-waisted pants.
Last year, Amazon revealed one of the more original products we’ve seen, the kid-focused Glow that does video calls and projects a touch-sensitive play space onto a flat surface. Now, the company has announced that the Glow is available for all customers in the US, complete with a 1-year subscription for books, visual arts activities, play options and more.
The Amazon Glow combines an 8-inch LCD teleconferencing display with a projector that creates a 19-inch, touch-sensitive interactive space. Parents and others can connect to the device via the Glow mobile app that lets them speak with kids and interact with the projected play space remotely. In the original announcement video, for example, Amazon shows kids doing puzzles, drawing and playing reading games, while parents and grandparents are able to see what the kids are seeing.
“We know a majority of parents say it’s challenging for their kids to stay engaged on traditional video calls, and, let’s be honest, stay in one place,” said Glow GM Joerg Tewes. “For parents who are miles or minutes away from home for work, Glow provides a new way to say good morning or good night to keep those important relationships strong.”
The device comes with “nearly 100 games and visual arts activities” through Amazon Kids+, Amazon said. Those include Chess, Checkers, go Fish, Whac-A-Mole and others. It also includes thousands of books, different play options (remote or side-by-side), the ability to interact with Disney characters (Anna and Elsa, Woody and Buzz, etc.) and more. Parents, friends and others can use the Glow app on their existing Android and iOS smartphones/tablets or on the 2021 Fire HD 10 tablets.
Glow looks like a pretty cool product, but it isn’t exactly cheap. You can now pick one up at Amazon, BestBuy.com and Target.com starting at $300, with a mat and mat case plus a 1-year Amazon Kids+ subscription included. It’s also available with a Fire HD 10 tablet for $380.
The “Last Week Tonight” host said he really wasn’t expecting this.
French audio maker Devialet is best known for speaker collaborations, unique designs – and often heady prices. Having experimented with UK broadcaster Sky, the sound company is ready to launch its first solo soundbar for TVs, the Dione. And it’s huge.
Devialet pitches the Dione as a high-end soundbar, offering Dolby Atmos 5.1.2, as well as the ability to upscale stereo content into an approximate 5.1.2 audio signal, offering a richer sound stage and augmented spatial effect even if what you’re watching isn’t primed for Atmos. During a preview event in London, I got to listen to the new soundbar, with its eye-catching “orb” detail and well, it sounds deeper, crisper and outright louder than the mid-range soundbars I’ve owned myself. And pretty much any other soundbar I’ve heard
There’s also the reality that it’s likely as wide as your new 4K TV. And as deep too. That’s because it houses 17 speaker drivers – including eight subwoofers, all custom-built to Devialet’s specifications. This means, according to the company, that there’s enough oomph to sidestep a separate subwoofer unit, with the built-in woofers reaching bass levels as low as 24Hz, and attempting to fill the company’s aim of, as CEO Franck Lebouchard told me, “bringing everything to one object”.
As is the case for most modern soundbars, there are increased processor demands, and Devialet is using a Qualcomm SoC (System on a chip), which helps with room calibration and several of the company’s proprietary sound engineering features, like adaptive volume level (AVL), which automatically adjusts sound levels to help you hear speech, or avoid getting blasted by loud ads in the middle of quieter programs.
The most impressive trick is still the upmixing. I watched a nature documentary, first in stereo, then in Devialet’s SPACE upmixed mode, which attempts to add the richness and breadth of 5.1.2 audio to stereo audio. It works – even if this might not be true 5.1.2 audio. I could hear a richer soundstage, with the background rustles of the jungle, and the separate tweets of two birds in the midst of a courtship dance. Switching back to stereo, and everything sounds narrower, tighter.
Besides this movie mode, which is available when connected through HDMI or optical input, there’s also “spatial mode”, which attempts to upgrade audio from wireless sources (Spotify Connect, AirPlay or Bluetooth) and a voice mode which boosts, well, voices. This is aimed at news programming and podcasts.
You can switch between the modes through the companion app, as well as use the app for volume controls. There’s also a standalone controller from Devialet – sold separately – which looks like a smart thermostat. Because of course.
The company’s new Advanced Dimensional Experience (ADE) is its take on beamforming audio. According to the company’s white paper on the tech, this helps to optimize the surround audio, boosting soundwaves from certain angles and “rejecting” other soundwaves in an attempt to optimize audio for the listener in front of the soundbar.
The Dione can be laid beneath a TV or mounted on the wall. The aforementioned “orb” rotates to match this, but the bar can detect its orientation with its built-in gyroscope. The soundbar has specific audio profiles for either orientation. The orb, a nod to its Phantom speaker, also houses one active speaker and two passive radiators.
Devialet wants the attention of audiophiles – as well as those not looking to place multiple speakers around their living space. It’s difficult to compare to most of the smaller, cheaper products. The best comparison may be Sennheiser’s Ambeo, a $2,500 6.1.2 Atmos bar with plenty of tricks of its own. The Dione is a substantial investment, priced at $2,400 in the US, or £1,800 in the UK.
It’s another all-in-one solution, but at these specs, size and price, it’s for those interested in upgrading their entire viewing experience. What’s the point of a 4K OLED TV if everything doesn’t sound as good as it looks?
Devialet has introduced some attention-getting audio devices with surprising designs throughout the years, and it looks like the company isn’t done yet.
Devialet announced its first all-in-one TV sound bar Tuesday—a unique design that ensures optimal sound quality no matter where it’s installed.
Some of their decisions include girls being banned from attending school beyond sixth grade and women not being allowed to board planes unless accompanied by a male relative.
Intel has unveiled the Core i9-12900KS “Special Edition” CPU claiming it’s “the world’s fastest desktop processor.” Like the Core i9-12900K, it comes with 16-cores, including eight Performance cores and eight Efficient cores, along with 24 threads and 30MB of L3 cache. However, Intel boosted the clock speed from 5.2Ghz to 5.5Ghz (on up to two cores) by bumping the power from 125 to 150 watts.
AMD recently said that its $449 Ryzen 7 5800X3D was the world’s fastest gaming processor, claiming that its 3D V-Cache would allow it to beat the Core i9-12900K. However, Intel has a good case that its latest model is now on top, as it has a much higher maximum clock speed (5.5Ghz compared to 4.5Ghz).
We’ll have to wait for benchmark tests to see whether Intel is right, and the lead might change hands again when AMD releases its much anticipated Zen 4 Ryzen 7000 desktop chips in the second half of 2022. It would be a bit of a pyrrhic victory for end users, however, as the Core i9-12900KS will cost (at least) $739 when it arrives on April 5th — nearly $300 more than the AMD model. That’s a pretty high price to pay for bragging rights, particularly when they could be short lived.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country’s forces retook Irpin, northwest of Kyiv.
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