UE’s Roll is a resilient flying saucer of sound

Ultimate Ears just tied up the last loose end in its product line today, replacing its aging Mini Boom speaker with the UE Roll. Instead of a rounded rectangle with mono-directional sound, this new model takes the form of a flying saucer, with a similar design as the higher-end Boom and Megaboom. Outside of its colorful exterior, there are plenty of other updates packed into this new entry-level offering. One thing that hasn’t changed is the price: the UE Roll costs $100. Starting today, you can pick one up from the Ultimate Ears website, while Best Buy will have select colors (Reef exclusively) on June 21st, followed by the Apple store on July 7th. I had a chance to test one out for a few days, and while it’s a cute bit of eye candy, it still seems to hold its own among everything else in UE’s lineup.

The first thing you’ll notice about the Roll is the colorful design and unique form factor. It weighs about 12 ounces, much the same as its predecessor. Somehow, though, its unique disc shape (just over five inches wide) seems to make it even more portable than before. The series arrives in six multicolored hues, with half of them bearing Keith-Haring-like patterns. On one side you’ll find UE’s now-standard stain-resistant finish, along with large volume icons stitched into the surface. On the flip is a grippy rubber material with the power button, micro-USB port, 3.5mm audio jack and a “marine-grade” bungee cord that opens up a world of mounting options.

Indeed, you can strap this thing onto bikes, backpacks, clothing or umbrella poles — it’s actually quite convenient. I did my best Iron Man impression and wore it on my messenger bag strap. Biking and rapid stair climbing didn’t come close to dislodging it. You don’t have to worry about the weather either, because the Roll is waterproof (IPX7). The ports themselves, while covered under a snug flap, are actually waterproofed too, so you could even take it swimming. It won’t float, though, since the compact design didn’t allow much room for air pockets. As a solution, the company is offering a “Floatie” to buyers this summer to help it get some pool time. (Yes, it’s essentially an inflatable donut.)

So how does the Roll sound? It’s a good bit louder than its predecessor, the Mini Boom, and delivers crisp, slightly thumpy audio when turned up. I did a side-by-side comparison and the 360-degree spread trumped the mono-directional Mini. The Roll is actually rated for slightly lower frequencies, too, with a range of 108Hz to 20kHz, compared to the Mini’s 130Hz to 20kHz. I only had one unit to test, so I wasn’t able to try out a paired scenario, but a single Roll was loud enough for hanging out on a roof deck with a few friends. If you’re looking for power, though, it’s not going to match the beefier sound that the Boom and Megaboom supply. As for battery life, it seems to have a good deal of endurance. Playing it at mid to high volume, I managed to get something near its nine-hour rating, spread out over a few days’ worth of intermittent listening sessions.

On the software side, you get a new UE Roll app available for Android and iOS that includes all the features of the previous releases: alarm, EQ, Double Up and settings. One other subtle, but useful option that we first saw on the Megaboom is the ability to control power and monitor battery capacity using Bluetooth Smart. If your mobile device is compatible, simply open the app and after a few moments you should see a power icon and the battery status of your UE Roll. From there, you can remotely turn the device on or off, which is convenient if the speaker is perched out of reach, strapped on a bag (with the power button face-down) or you’re simply feeling lazy. Double Up lets you pair two Roll speakers or even a Roll with a Boom or Megaboom for more sound; they’re all compatible with up-to-date firmware. There’s another intriguing feature on the way, currently slated for the fall: Following an over-the-air software update, Roll, Boom and Megaboom users should be able to pair 10 or more speakers for an expanded daisy chain of sound.

Overall, the new UE Roll seems like a great addition to the lineup. The design is colorful and visually attractive. Bungee cord mounting is surprisingly useful and its waterproof exterior lets you take it in or around the water with ease (just don’t forget the donut). Audio quality and battery life also get high marks here, especially for a $100 speaker. One negative is that the volume and power buttons seem to be buried in the rubbery surface material, making it difficult to register a press — especially for volume. Hopefully, you’ll be happy using your Bluetooth device to control all those functions. That said, if its feature set ticks all the right boxes, there’s little reason not to consider this if you’re in the market for a new Bluetooth speaker.

Filed under: Peripherals

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The Connection between Hosting and SEO

Regardless of the type of online business you run SEO is vital. Good SEO increases your chances of ranking and making sure that more people find and visit your website.

There are many factors involved in Search Engine Optimisation that impact how well your website ranks and one of them is hosting. Where and how you host your website has a significant impact on how well your website rank. Here is why.

Speed

How fast a website loads is now an important ranking factor and this is understandable. Customers do not want to sit around waiting for pages to load. They tend to click away and go elsewhere when a site loads too slowly. For some time, Google have been penalising websites that load slowly and now there are signs that the other search engines are doing the same.

Site speed is something you should definitely keep an eye on. Check yours regularly, you can use GTmetrix, Google Webmaster Tools or Alexa to do this. If you notice that your site is loading slowly, take steps to fix the issue and consider moving to a more advanced hosting account if speaking to your hosting provider does not solve the issue.

Site up Time

How good your host is affects whether your site is reliable or not. It is vital that your site is up at all times.

If your site goes down you will definitely lose visitors and customers. The last thing you need is to lose traffic. Remember that one of the most important ranking factors is how many visitors your site gets and how long they stay there looking around. If your site is down too often the number of visitors falls and your ranking suffers.

In addition, the search engines do not respond well to trying to crawl a site only to find it down. To them a website that is down is a sign that the people behind it do not take their business seriously.

You can use a plug-in to alert you when your site is down. If you are not already monitoring your site in this way, it is important that you start doing so as soon as possible.

Who you are sharing your hosting with

There is some evidence that the other websites that are hosted on the same server as you can have a potentially negative impact. If your website has the same IP address as a bunch of spammy porn sites that have been penalised there is an outside chance that your website could be negatively affected. For this reason before contracting hosting it makes sense to do a reverse IP lookup using mxtoolbox or a similar tool.

GEO location

Where your hosting is located also has an impact on SEO. These days this is mainly related to load speed.

If most of your customers are in the UK choosing a UK based server rather than a US server helps the site to load faster. There is less latency.

You also need to avoid servers based in locations that are viewed as spammy or suspect. A Nigerian or similar IP address is not going to be good for your website’s reputation. Your site could be perfectly legitimate and the hosting company very reliable, but your site may still be judged as dodgy because of the IP address.

A great option

SEO hosting is a good option because it ticks all of the boxes and avoids all of the above issues. As the search engines evolve and change, how they rank websites evolves. By choosing a hosting company that understands this, you are protecting yourself to some extent. Those firms that provide SEO hosting follow these changes. They tweak their services accordingly helping to keep you ahead in the SEO game.

Tesla’s Model 3 is actually multiple cars, including a crossover

When Tesla talks about plans to enter mainstream electric cars with the Model 3, it’s not just referring to launching one vehicle — it’s actually talking about a whole lineup. The automaker’s JB Straubel says that the Model 3 will include not just the expected sedans, but crossovers as well. There aren’t more details at this point, but it’s apparent that the new EV series is about transforming Tesla into a more accessible brand, not just giving you a lower-cost alternative to a Model S. Straubel is certainly optimistic about what the 3 range can do. He expects to see a million Teslas on the road by 2020, which would make Elon Musk’s outfit considerably more than a niche badge.

[Image credit: Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images]

Filed under: Transportation

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Source: Wall Street Journal