Sony’s h.ear wireless headphones ship April 12th for $350

Back at CES, Sony unveiled a full portable audio line under the “h.ear” brand. Despite a range of headphones, a speaker and even a new Walkman, the over-ear wireless headphones were the highlight of the bunch. Officially labeled the “h.ear on wireless” (MDR-100ABN), the headphones pack in Bluetooth with LDAC for higher quality audio, quick NFC pairing, DSEE tech for a fuller sound and Beat Response Control for better bass reproduction. I tried them myself in Vegas and they sound quite good and are plenty comfy, making Sony’s latest wireless headphones worth a look. The noise-cancelling cans are going on sale March 27th for $350 and they’ll ship April 12th.

The so-called h.ear line also features wireless in-ear that offer some of the same audio tech as the over-ear model. The “h.ear in wireless” (MDR-EX750BT) also go on sale on the 27th at a price of $200 and are set to ship March 29th. If a wireless speaker is what you’re after, the h.ear line has one of those, too. The “h.ear go wireless” (SRS-HG1) supports high-res playback in a compact package and can connect to your devices via Google Cast and Spotify Connect. With a pending software update that’s due this summer, you can use Sony’s SongPal app build a multi-room audio setup — if you’re willing to splurge for more than one of the $200 speakers or some other Sony audio gear. The h.ear go wireless is on sale now, and it’s set to ship April 13th.

Lastly, there are two Walkmans to round out the bunch. First, the NW-A26HN sports the same eye-popping colors as the rest of the h.ear line with support for high-res audio. You can pre-order one now for $320 ahead of the April 4th ship date. If you’re serious about that audiophile habit, you may want to consider the NW-ZX100HN Walkman. At $700, Sony touts it as “he world’s first high-res noise cancelling digital music player,” complete with lossless playback support. The company is offering something for everyone with the h.ear line, it’s just a matter of deciding ahead of the devices’ arrival in a few weeks.

Razer’s new Hacker Development Kit natively supports CryEngine

Razer unveiled its latest revision to its Open Source Virtual Reality (OSVR) developer’s bundle, aka Hacker Development Kit v1.4, during GDC on Tuesday. The latest HDK offers a number of improvements over its previous iteration.

First, now that Razer and Crytek are collaborating on the OSVR project, the CryENGINE — Crytek’s proprietary game engine (think FarCry) — natively supports the HDK. That essentially means that developers will be now able to build games for OSVR within the CryENGINE that they’re already used to working in.

“The open standard encouraged by OSVR corresponds with our own desire to give CryENGINE users total freedom of choice in VR development.” CryENGINE creative director, Frank Vitz, said in a statement. “We’re excited to be supporting a platform that is designed to accelerate progress and expand the audience for VR, and we look forward to seeing how OSVR developers harness CryENGINE to create innovative experiences.”

Additionally, the new HDK will incorporate a diffusion film designed to overlay the existing optics and reduce the “screen door” effect, which accentuates the pixelization of viewed images. HDK 1.4 is currently available from the Razer website for $349 if you include a Leap Motion Orion or $300 if you don’t. You can also pick up a new Leap Motion-enabled faceplate separately for $75. For HDK 1.3 users that don’t want to shell out for an entirely new unit just to minimize pixelation, the diffusion film will be available separately starting in April.

Beats 1 Announces New deadmau5 Show ‘mau5trap presents’

Popular music producer and performer Joel Thomas Zimmerman, most popularly known as deadmau5, is set to join Apple Music’s Beats 1 radio station this Friday. The 35-year-old artist will have his own show, called “mau5trap presents,” debuting at 3PM PST on Friday, March 18.

Besides the announcement tweet via the Beats 1 account, no other specifics regarding the content of mau5trap presents were given. Still, considering the genre and work Zimmerman is known for, there will probably be a heavy focus on electronic dance music in the show. It’s also unclear whether or not Zimmerman will be given a recurring presence on Beats 1 or if mau5trap presents is a one-off performance.

HERE WE GO.@deadmau5 is coming to #Beats1.
Catch mau5trap presents…
Friday at 3PM PT/6PM ET. pic.twitter.com/lE1WAoKyDn

— Beats 1 (@Beats1) March 14, 2016

Although Zimmerman has supported Apple at iTunes Music Festivals in the past, last year the Canadian artist was mostly seen in public support of Jay-Z’s streaming service TIDAL, joining the ranks of artists like Rihanna and Kanye West who also support the platform. The specifics of his deal with Apple remain unclear, but due to a recent public feud with West over the latter’s alleged piracy of various music creation software and albums, it seems that Zimmerman’s original backing of TIDAL is slowly being rescinded.

Deadmau5 will join artists like Dr. Dre, Pharrell, Major Lazer, and Haim, who’ve all had shows on the Beats 1 station on Apple Music. In an interview recently, Beats 1 radio host Zane Lowe spoke on the artistic freedom that Apple allows of its Beats 1 creators, claiming that Apple Music doesn’t place any restrictions or rules on them or their specific shows, letting the hosts play whatever they want in their designated slot.

Tags: Apple Music, Beats 1
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TomTom Golfer 2 Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET

TomTom

TomTom announced on Tuesday at the Wearable Technology Show in London a new sportwatch designed for golfers. The TomTom Golfer 2 is a GPS-equipped watch that can calculate distances and view hazards (things like sand bunkers and ponds) on over 40,000 golf courses worldwide.

The watch features two improvements over the original model: automatic shot detection and an automatic digital scoreboard. Other features include distance measurements to the front, center and back of the green, distances to individual hazards along the fairway, and a complete view of the green with hazard warnings that can be viewed before you shoot.

Information from the watch is synced over Bluetooth 4.0 (also know as Bluetooth Smart) to your smartphone. You can then view what TomTom describes as a “detailed post-round analysis” in the TomTom MySports app on Android and iOS. The app will be able to show you what areas of your game you need to improve, along with providing insights into shot patterns and hole-by-hole breakdowns.

The watch resembles TomTom’s multisport Spark watch. It features an easy-to-read monochrome display and a large four-way navigational button. Much like the Spark, the Golfer 2 is also water-resistant up to 40 meters (about 131 feet). The original model lasted 10 hours with an active GPS signal. We haven’t hard anything on battery life for the Golfer 2, but we imagine it to be equal to, if not slightly better than the original.

The TomTom Golfer 2 will be available in May for £200 in the UK. Pricing is not yet announced for other countries, but that price converts to about $285 in the US and AU$385 in Australia.

British Gas will make your boiler self-diagnose faults with Boiler IQ

British Gas has announced its latest product looking to make your home smarter. Boiler IQ is a monitoring system that will allow compatible boilers to self-diagnose problems long before you know something is wrong.

Available as an upgrade to existing Worcester Bosch boilers, Boiler IQ is a monitoring system that will detect problems as they happen, meaning you can be alerted to boiler faults sooner, rather than discovering you have a problem when the shower is cold.

The data is sent to British Gas, as part of the company’s HomeCare package, meaning that the engineer sent out to fix the problem will already know what’s going wrong. British Gas claims that in trials, Boiler IQ detected the problem 19-24 hours before the customer knew there was anything amiss. 

Boiler IQ has been developed by the Connected Home team at British Gas, and is based on the sort of technology that’s used to diagnose aircraft faults.

There is a cost, however. The component will cost £49 for installation (and you need to have a compatible boiler) and then there’s a £3 monthly fee added to existing HomeCare contracts.

Home Care is maintenance and repair service that British Gas offers, covering a wide range of domestic systems for a monthly fee. 

British Gas says that in the future, Boiler IQ will hopefully identify potential faults before they happen.

British Gas’ Boiler IQ will text you before it breaks down

While smart thermostats (supposedly) enable you to intelligently heat your homes and potentially save money, they only replace the dumb controls you had previously. Your boiler, the focal point of all the pipes that run across your home, hasn’t really enjoyed the same level of innovation. British Gas, maker of the Hive thermostat and various smart home sensors, believes it can change that with the launch of “Boiler IQ,” a new technology that can self-identify issues and alert engineers of a possible fault before things get really bad.

With 8,000 engineers making over 50,000 visits daily, British Gas already has enough people on the ground. Now it wants to deploy them in the most efficient way possible. Co-developed by the Hive Connected Home team and boiler maker Worcester Bosch, Boiler IQ connects to the internet via the Hive hub, a smart home router of sorts, and will send an SMS when a heating or hot water fault is detected. It’s a simple solution that doesn’t require any apps.

If you don’t get in touch with British Gas within an hour, a representative will then follow up to schedule a time for an engineer to come and fix it. In theory, Boiler IQ’s sensors will diagnose the precise fault, which enables an engineer to arrive with the correct parts and fix it the first time, reducing the need for a repeat visit.

The technology was inspired by ex-NASA scientist, Adi Andrei, who now serves as senior data scientist at British Gas’ Connected Home division. Andrei previously designed software to identify safety faults inside passenger aircraft. When installed, the system continuously sends live data back to British Gas, allowing the company to keep a fault history — useful if you’re experiencing a number of intermittent faults — and possibly detect manufacturer defects.

Currently, Boiler IQ is compatible with roughly 2 million Worcester Bosch boilers in the UK but the company is currently in talks with other manufacturers to expand the technology. It’ll go on sale to British Gas HomeCare customers (who own a supported boiler) from 21st March 2016 and will cost £49 for installation, with a £3 monthly fee on top.

Source: Boiler IQ

Lenovo launches the Vibe K5 Plus in India for ₹8,499

In a press event in New Delhi, Lenovo launched the Vibe K5 Plus in India. The Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus was unveiled at Mobile World Congress 2016 last month, and is essentially the international variant of the Lemon 3, which made its debut in China earlier this year.

At just 8.2mm thin, the K5 Plus weighs only 142 grams. On the software side, Lenovo continues to streamline its interface, and there really aren’t many functional changes from stock Android. The only problem here is that we’re looking at Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. Like recent Lenovo smartphones such as the K4 Note and Vibe X3, the dual-SIM Vibe K5 Plus comes with Dolby Atmos support and packs in TheatreMax technology for a virtual cinematic experience.

Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus Specifications

Available in three colors – Platinum Silver, Champagne Gold, and Graphite Gray – the Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus is priced at ₹8,499 ($125). The K5 Plus will be available exclusively on Flipkart in an open sale starting from March 23. Lenovo has once again priced their newest device aggressively, with the device packing a punch on the specifications sheet as well as in terms of user experience.

Be sure to take a look at our hands-on video from MWC to see what’s on offer with the handset:

These Microtugs weigh a chocolate bar but moved over a tonne of car

If the Ant-Man movie has taught us anything it’s that ants are super strong. Combining that power, in a robot equivalent, has allowed six bots that weigh just 100g to pull a 1,769kg car.

The robot ants were created by Stanford University researchers in a bid to show that the combined force of smaller bots can equate to massive real-world effect.

The Microtugs, as they’re called, have pulled the equivalent of six humans pulling the Eiffel Tower and three Statues of Liberty at once.

The feat is achieved by applying ant-like movements which use synchronised steady footsteps to create a powerful force. The Microtugs use ultra-sticky wheels which utilise glue that mimics the attractive force of gecko’s feet.

While ants are able to pull around 100 times their own weight these Microtugs managed to move 200 times their own mass.

Imagine carrying about a set of these Microtug bots in the boot of your car next to the spare tyre. No more getting stuck broken down in the middle of the road. They might even be able to pull a car out of a situation where it’s stuck in mud or snow.

The bots will be detailed in a science paper published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters soon so don’t expect to buy your own just yet but this is a huge step forward – or lots of tiny little ones.

READ: Emicro One scooter review: Keeping up with the kids?

Racing drones could earn you $250,000… like this kid did

A British drone racing team has scooped the main prize of a quarter of a million dollars (£174,000) in the World Drone Prix in Dubai, and the team captain was a 15-year-old boy from the UK.

Point-of-view drone racing has exploded in popularity recently, with professional leagues and events held around the world. However, we’d not heard of such a massive prize fund before.

Britain’s Luke Bannister was suitably excited to lead his Tornado X-Blades Banni UK team to victory.

His team manager explained how younger racers can get to grips with the sport quickly. “Obviously, there’s a crossover with gaming, as you can see with the HD goggles.”

Each racer wears a virtual reality style headset which is fed by a camera mounted on the front of their respective racing drone. The course is like a rollercoaster with gates that must be passed through.

READ: Drone racing goes pro: Drone Racing League to kick off its first season in Feb

The Tornado X-Blades team was made up of 43 members during the tournament and they will share the prize money. Bannister revealed that he’ll be putting his slice away and hopefully add to it throughout 2016. “I’m going to save it I think,” he said. “There are a few more events this year to go to, but for me, I’m just going to sleep and go back to school.”

Apple iPhone 7 Plus dual camera module leak suggests advanced AR and 3D scanning capabilities

Apple’s iPhone 7 has been kept more or less under wraps, ahead of its expected reveal later in the year around September time, until now. This leak has shown off what’s claimed to be a dual camera module intended for the iPhone 7 Plus.

Dual cameras are expected to become the bar setting level in flagship smartphones this year. While Apple arguably takes it slow when it comes to upgrading its cameras, the iPhone 7 Plus may be ploughing ahead with an Apple smartphone first.

Sources of Pocket Now based in Taiwan have leaked the dual-lens camera module that they claim will appear in the iPhone 7 Plus. There is no word on it being in the standard iPhone 7 though. The source claims that the camera will be a first for the way it works.

The dual-camera will shoot one 12-megapixel standard focal length photo while the other lens will shoot a 12-megapixel shot in telephoto with up to three times zoom. That helps to explain the varying lens sizes shown in the module.

Apple recently bought Israeli start-up LinX which specialises in gathering camera depth information. This can allow for tricks like removing the subject from the background by gauging depth. It could conceivably also allow the phone the ability to scan real world objects into a virtual representation, or help to offer better depth for augmented reality applications.

Expect plenty more leaks before the likely September reveal of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

READ: Apple iPhone 7: What’s the story so far?