Parrot’s noise-canceling, touch-enabled Bluetooth cans are now lighter

As much as we enjoy Parrot’s advanced Zik Bluetooth headphones, many complained that they’re a tad on the hefty side, and not everyone’s a fan of the earcups’ bulky look. Worry not, though, as the French company has finally delivered a new and improved version to tackle these issues. The aptly named Zik 2.0 weighs in at 270g, which is 17 percent (or 55g) lighter than its predecessor. Not bad considering all the original features remain, especially the large trackpad — this time with a soft-touch leather exterior — on the right earcup for playback and volume swipe gestures, as well as NFC and the removable battery on the left side.

With the help of Philippe Starck once again, the earcups now feature a more rounded design that should appeal to a larger audience; but, externally, the rest of the headphones are pretty much the same as before, aside from the thicker headband padding and more spacious ear cushions. In addition to the original white and black looks, you now get other color options: blue, mocha, orange and yellow.

The Zik 2.0 isn’t just about weight reduction and updated looks, though. These cans come with eight microphones — and you thought five was already a lot on the original model — for their new adaptive noise reduction feature, which can be adjusted via the companion iOS or Android app to best suit your listening environment. And its new “Street Mode” lets you control how much of the outside world you let in — ideal for staying aware of your surroundings while still enjoying some tunes. Speaking of which, the app also comes with an increased variety of audio tuning presets from Parrot’s artist buddies (including the late Lou Reed) so you can enjoy their songs just the way they intended. You can even create and share your own presets with other users.

For those who already have HD Voice on their phones and networks, we have good news: The Zik 2.0 supports it as well. As for music playback quality, we expect no less than what we got from the original Zik, which has worked well for us on iPhones and HTC phones. There are also new settings on board to help extend your battery life depending on your situation. Turn on the “Flight” mode and we’re told you’ll eek out 18 hours of wired listening while noise cancellation is still engaged, although you’ll have to do without some of the special audio features. “Eco” aims to provide about seven with a wired connection, while still providing spatialization effects, and “Normal” should get you about six hours of Bluetooth listening with all the extras.

The Parrot Zik 2.0 headphones are expected to arrive in November and will cost $399, just like their predecessor. If you’d like to snag a pair, they’ll be available at Apple and Brookstone stores at launch time.

Jon Turi contributed to this post.

Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, Wireless

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Source: Parrot

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eMusic ditches major labels as it hopes to rule indie song downloads

Many digital music stores scramble to get every song they can, but not eMusic — it’s willingly headed in the opposite direction. The download service has announced that it’s dropping music from the three major labels (Sony, Universal and Warner) as of October 1st. After that, it will sell nothing but true-blue independent songs. The company explains that it wants to create the “most extensive catalog” of indie tunes in the world, giving it a way of standing out in a sea of mainstream stores like Google Play and iTunes.

It’s a risky move, even for a music shop that has felt compelled to shake up its business model more than once. However, it may not have much to lose. According to industry execs speaking to the New York Times, eMusic’s cornerstone subscription service (which gives you a fixed number of downloads every month) hasn’t grown in years — and it’s not likely to get better with the rise of all-you-can-eat streaming services like Spotify. Going indie-only may lure in customers who purposefully avoid big-name bands, or simply want an easier time discovering underground artists.

[Image credit: David Jones, Flickr]

Filed under: Internet

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Source: New York Times

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Thailand built a robot to taste-test authentic dishes

The authenticity of native eats can vary from generation to generation, or country to country if you’re eating in a place different than where a dish was originally created. But that’s not to say there aren’t cases in which things are cooked and made the right way. Thailand, as you’re likely aware, is home to some delicious food, and the government now wants to make sure that its most popular dishes are being represented well. To do so, “e-Delicious,” a robot capable of tasting food and making sure it meets various quality standards, was built. The idea came from Thailand’s Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, as she became interested in fighting against bad Thai food in Thailand and elsewhere across the world.

This new machine is equipped with 10 sensors capable of tasting and smelling food, which then uses gathered data to compare it against a “government-approved” grade from a dish of the same type. And just like that, it’s able to determine how authentic the Thai food you made is — anything above an 80 percent match is deemed a hit. Let’s hope “e-Delicious” works as intended, because there’s a lot of food here in NYC claiming to be authentic which could use a quick reality check. You’ll find pictures of it at the source link below.

[Image credit: Shutterstock/zmkstudio]

Filed under: Misc, Robots, Alt

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Source: The New York Times

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VRClay marries the Oculus Rift and motion control for easy 3D sculpting

In case you needed yet another reminder that we live in the future, take a look at what happens when someone mashes up the Oculus Rift and Razer’s handheld Hydra motion controllers with some nifty homebrew sculpting software. The end result is VRClay, an awfully nifty way to virtually manipulate and craft three-dimensional objects right in front of your face. Watching one of the developers making a faux-clay spider out of nothing is undeniably cool (check out the video after the break), and despite all the additional hardware that makes it possible, the process of actually creating the thing still seems just a little more natural than rotating and poking with a keyboard and mouse. Alas, VRClay doesn’t seem to be ready for primetime yet: it’s not clear how precise and meticulous you can get with your designs, and the developers are keeping mum over on the official site. Still, this is the latest in a long line of technical achievements meant to make creating easier. British game developer Media Molecule showed off something very similar for the PS4 in early 2013, and Microsoft’s Project Spark aims to get us sculpting landscapes and the like — the latter will finally debut in a few short weeks.

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Via: Geek.com

Source: VRClay

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