Master & Dynamic’s brass earbuds mix style with great sound

So far, I haven’t had the best luck with the earbuds I’ve reviewed: The OnePlus Icons were unremarkable, and though Earin sold me on the idea of totally wireless earbuds, the execution left something to be desired. And so my ridiculous, Goldilocks-ian journey to find my perfect in-ears continues, this time with the $199 Master & Dynamic ME05.

If your face contorted in puzzlement upon seeing that name, well, I did the same a few months back. Master & Dynamic is a relative newcomer to the world of high-end audio — it’s about a year old — and the company considers itself as much a design house as a collective for audio nerds. Their fondness for the olden days looms large across their products, even in small packages like the ME05. In this case, the telltale sign of M&D’s retro-fetishism is the earbuds’ design: Rather than the usual plastic, they’re made of hand-finished brass because of its particular acoustic qualities. I couldn’t tell you what metallurgical quirks make brass an interesting choice, especially since M&D also makes these buds out of palladium, but whatever. The ME05s are the best-sounding in-ears I’ve tested so far.

Highs were crisp and mostly free of distortion (something the Icons had trouble with), and the mids that make up most of my personal collection came through clearly. Still, neither of the earbuds I’ve tested recently managed to impress me with their low-frequency performance. The ME05s do a much, much better job down in the depths, though, and they stand out because of balance rather than pure power. While the intro to the Teddybears’ excellent “Still Alive” remix felt unnaturally punchy on the OnePlus Icons, the ME05s rendered it more subtly, letting the tentative, throbbing bass coexist harmoniously with a powerful kick-drum rhythm. That was the case for nearly every thumpy song I threw at these things. It’s a seriously refreshing change, but maybe not a surprising one, considering the asking the price.

What’s more surprising is how damned comfortable these are. After popping on two of the included medium-size silicone ear tips, the ME05s slid into my ears like shining brass bullets and stayed there even as I bounced around on a plane. You’d think a pair of mostly metal earbuds would put extra strain on your ears, but I almost forgot I was wearing them a few times. (I remembered after the cord tugged my phone off a table.) There’s a weird sense of cachet that comes with wearing gleaming golden earbuds, too. Is it weird that I feel sort of cool wearing these? Because I do.

It’s too bad, then, that the ear tips seem to pop off the buds seemingly for no reason. Maybe it’s just me; I usually toss my earbuds into my bag or pocket whenever I need to run around. Still, I’ve done that with every single pair of earbuds I’ve owned (there have been many), and losing a tip is a surprisingly rare occurrence for me. It’d be a much bigger problem if the ME05s came with only one set of tips, but extra-small, small and large replacements are included in a handsome leather box. After losing two sets, I’m running with the large buds now, and they’d better hold — there’s no way those extra-small ones are going to work for me.

Part of searching for the ideal earbuds is knowing when to finally give up and settle for something close. New as the company is, Master & Dynamics has a winner with the ME05s — so much so that I might be ready to call off my search completely. Maybe. Someday. Oh, whatever, who am I kidding? It’s a big acoustic world out there, and my ears only getting started.

Apple Submits Application to Sell Used iPhones in India

Apple is gearing up to launch a refurbished iPhone market in India, according to a new report from The Times of India. The company is seeking permission from the Indian government to import pre-owned iPhones into the country, and has submitted a formal request to the ministry of environment and forests to begin doing so.

“An application from Apple regarding import of certified pre-owned iPhones for sale in India and manufacturing certified pre-owned iPhones for sale in India has been received in the ministry of environment and forests,” telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a written reply to the Parliament of India’s Rajya Sabha.

Apple’s attempts to set up a used iPhone program in India come after a series of recent reports that point to the company’s doubling down on the smartphone market in the country. Earlier in February, Apple was said to be close to opening its own retail locations within India, after having to rely on an “Authorized Mobility Resellers” program due to the country’s strict real estate and zoning laws.

Around the same time, Apple confirmed its plans to open a $25 million technology development site in Hyderabad, India that will focus on maps development and house over 150 employees. The Indian government has yet to respond to Apple’s newest attempt at bolstering its market share in the country, but if approved it would be the first territory with used iPhones to be sold directly from Apple.

Related Roundup: iPhone 6s
Tag: India
Buyer’s Guide: iPhone (Neutral)
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Intel to Produce ‘Significant Portion’ of LTE Modem Chips for iPhone 7

CLSA Securities analyst Srini Pajjuri has corroborated multiple reports claiming that Intel will supply LTE modems for the iPhone 7, according to a research note obtained by NDTV.

Pajjuri said that Intel has secured a “significant portion” of the LTE chips, likely in the range of 30 to 40 percent of production. Qualcomm will likely be tasked with the remaining orders.

While Apple is looking to cut some reliance on Qualcomm, the company doesn’t plan to completely turn away from the chipmaker. On the contrary, the analyst believes that the company will “share shift back” to Qualcomm in 2017.

Intel reportedly has 1,000 or more employees working on preparing the Intel 7360 LTE modem for the iPhone 7 lineup. The 7360 LTE modem chip [PDF] from Intel features faster theoretical downlink speeds up to 450 Mbps, uplink speeds up to 100 Mbps, and support for LTE category 10 and 29 LTE bands overall.

In layman’s terms, that means the iPhone 7 could have even faster LTE speeds for browsing the web, downloading apps, streaming video, and other data-related tasks. Apple already improved LTE speeds on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus by adopting LTE-Advanced, which pushed downlink speeds up to a theoretical max of 300 Mbps.

Apple currently sources all of its LTE modems for iPhones from Qualcomm, including the MDM9635 chipset in the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, which offers theoretical downlink speeds up to 300 Mbps and uplink speeds up to 50 Mbps. Qualcomm has been Apple’s exclusive supplier of LTE modems for over three years.

In the future, Apple may create a system-on-a-chip that includes both an A-series processor and an LTE modem chip for improved speed and power management. Apple could license LTE modem intellectual property from Intel to achieve that goal, and the chip maker could also be tasked with fabricating the chipset based on its advanced 14-nanometer process.

Related Roundup: iPhone 7
Tags: Intel, LTE
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Garmin Epix review: Epic life-saving reliability

When you venture out into the wild, even if that’s just a walk in the not-so-local woods, you want a GPS device you can rely on. Garmin, with years of experience in that area, is a name that generally offers peace of mind. When it comes to the Epix watch it aims to provide a complete mapping solution right on your wrist.

Unlike Garmin’s other GPS watches, like the fenix 3 or ForeRunner 630, the Epix comes with built-in maps. That means trails, roads and even topography can be viewed right there on your wrist. The design is unlike anything that’s gone before too, with a chunky and square face. This is not a small watch, nor one you’re likely to wear day to day, but for what it does the size is remarkably compact. The price is not so small, though, but when compared to others and taking features into account it’s not terrible.

So has Garmin created a do-it-all mapping watch that can compete with dedicated mapping devices or the offerings of its competition in the likes of Suunto? We’ve been risking life and limb up mountains and out in remote forests to find out. And we’re not talking just the not-so-local woods, we’ve been hiking and camping in Yosemite national park during the winter colds to make the utmost of this Garmin device.

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Garmin Epix: Design and build

At first glance one thing is clear: the Epix is chunky and very solid. If all else fails this beast could probably act as a weapon when slung at a hungry bear* (ok, so probably not, but it’s hardly a svelte design watch, is it?). It wouldn’t do much damage though as it’s actually comfortably light. We wore it for days at a time without much notice – although if worn too tightly it can chafe a little.

That said, the rubberised strap is comfy and the face is small enough to fit on the wrist and under sleeves without much bother. The face is also large enough to read maps and control everything via touchscreen with relative ease.

Despite being low-power enough to last, the screen is bright enough to see in daylight and colours are clear which really helps when following a small trail in remote areas. It’s also of a high enough resolution to appreciate finer details like altimeter markings while ascending mountains.

A dedicated charger connects easily and juices the Epix back to full in around an hour at the plug. Rapid when you consider this battery lasts for weeks, or days when in full GPS operation.

Waterproofing and shock-proofing are two things Garmin offers in the Epix so you don’t need to worry about crossing a river, knocking your wrist into a rock or anything else that might leave a weaker watch damaged.

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Garmin Epix: Maps and tracking

The maps on the Epix are pre-loaded, meaning you can add more depending on where you’re going. It also means you can veer off to any remote location without worrying about needing a data connection. Both GPS and GLONASS are onboard with what we found to be super fast pick-up and accuracy. The built-in compass also works really well. After years of annoying smartphone compass fails it’s refreshing to move and see the cursor on the map move accurately with you.

Searching direct from the watch is relatively painless and finding even remote places was easier than some satnavs we’ve used. The side buttons make selecting text straightforward and we found ourselves using them for most interactions. Although when it came to map zooming and panning the touch controls were helpful.

The maps themselves come pre-loaded and include trails, elevation information, lakes and rivers, points of interest, parks, forests and, of course, roads. Plus, if you pay the yearly subscription, you can get BirdsEye Satellite imagery too. We stuck to the maps and found them invaluable for finding our way – the compass is super accurate and you can zoom in close enough to find a path point really accurately.

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Garmin Epix: Sensors and data

Tracking your route on the Epix means a lot more than just GPS movement tracking. The altimeter, barometer, GLONASS, accelerometer, thermometer and more make for a serious amount of data. Great for looking back at what you’ve done but, crucially, this is also really helpful while out.

For example getting sunset time when you’re working out how far you can go before you need to set up camp, or head home, is great. As is the barometer as a warning for incoming bad weather, any drop in pressure is obvious so you know to head for cover – and there’s even an alert with vibration to get you moving.

The combination of GPS and GLONASS results in a faster acquisition of satellites so you can get going quicker. We found, even when changing between countries, this was rapid and located us within a minute every time.

External sensors like ANT+ or Bluetooth heart-rate monitors and cadence sensors will also work with the Epix so if you want to use it as a running or cycling watch. It really is a do-it-all solution, albeit a chunky one.

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Garmin Epix: Connect software

The Connect software has been developed with the multiple gadgets of Garmin in mind. That means it’s a one-stop-shop for all your data. From GPS metrics like distance travelled on a hike to daily step count and even sleep, if you can handle wearing this beast to bed. That said we did, as it was ideal for checking time and sunrise during a night of camping in Yosemite. But in the more comfortable home scenario we doubt many (or anyone) will be sleep-tracking using the Epix.

The Garmin Connect software, accessible via apps or online, collates data and feeds it back in clear chunks. You can drill down into a section, like a specific hike for data on height climbed, speed, route on a map, distance covered and more. Or you can see your activity over a period of days, weeks or months to glance at your progress. All your data is automatically synched across to your cloud account via the app over Bluetooth.

Also included is Garmin Connect IQ support which has a host of apps for things like watch faces, data fields and specific widgets. We found the time of sunset face useful when hiking where setting up camp before dark was important.

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Verdict

The Garmin Epix might be the company’s only watch-based mapping option but it’s clear the experience of its other mapping products has been included. However, as a day-to-day watch it’s definitely on the larger, chunky side. 

We worried that a watch might not be reliable enough for battery life, nor as clear for screen as a dedicated handheld GPS device. But we needn’t have worried: the maps are plenty clear and the battery keeps on going and going. Unless you’ve got poor eyesight very few would need more than this on a wild camp or trek. It’s even easy to charge with a mobile battery charger if needs be on longer trips.

While the Garmin Epix is expensive, for that money you’re getting a sports GPS watch, a handheld maps system, an early weather warning system, notification centre and more all in one compact and attractive package. It might not win the style awards, but as a functional, detailed product it provides epic life-saving reliability – and if that’s what you need then look no further.

Sky Q install: Tips and tricks to get you ready for installation

Sky Q, the new top of the range TV service from Sky, is starting to be installed in homes up and down the country, but is there anything you can do to get ready for the big day ahead of the Sky engineer coming to your house?

Having gone through the install process, here’s what we’ve learnt so you can get yourself ready for your own installation of Sky Q.

Sky Q install: Watch everything on your current “classic” Sky box

Sky Q is a completely new way of watching TV and runs on a completely different operating system from previously. That means you won’t be able to transfer anything you’ve recorded on your “classic” Sky box over to the new Sky Q box.

If you are thinking you’ll just wait until the Sky installer leaves and then try and access your old box once they’ve gone, you can’t do that either. The LMB (the bit that receives and processes the signal on the dish) is different, and because you’ll have a new viewing card, the new card won’t work in your old box.  

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Sky Q install: Make a note of all the series linked shows you watch

You’ll need to make a note of all the series linked shows you’ve set up as you’ll have to set them up fresh on the new Sky Q box. We forgot and are now having to rack our brains to remember what we series linked and what we didn’t. You can see what you’ve series linked on the “classic” Sky box in the Planner under the Scheduled tab.

Sky Q install: Setup the new Sky Q Hub

Before the Sky engineer turns up to your house you should receive the new Sky Q Hub in the post. Rather than wait for them to unpack the box and plug it in, you might as well get the process started. It is also a good idea to then rename the network SSID to the same as your old one. That way you won’t have to change the network and password on all of your devices around the house.

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Sky Q install: Check your Wi-Fi quality

Sky Q uses Wi-Fi to communicate between all the Sky Q devices in your home, whether that’s the Sky Q Hub, the Sky Q box, or the Sky Q Mini boxes. If you don’t have a good Wi-Fi signal the chances are it isn’t going to work.

If you know where the weak spots are, then the Sky engineer can help you when they arrive at in your house, without having to go through the process of trying to find them themselves. This is especially important if you are looking to get the Sky Q Mini boxes installed in a bedroom far away from the Sky Q Hub.

Sky Q install: Download the Sky Q app on your iPad or Android tablet

Sky Q supports the option for you to watch Sky Q from your iPad. We’re only talking a couple of minutes saved here, but downloading it before the Sky engineer comes will mean it’s all up and running ahead of time. It’s only available on tablet at the moment, so don’t go looking for it on your iPhone hoping you can have it synced to your iPad the way we did.

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Sky Q install: Make sure your Sky engineer can get to the dish

The Sky engineer will need to get to your dish to replace the LMB (the bit that receives and processes the signal). If you’ve got a load of clutter in the way that’s going to slow everything down. Help them by clearing it all out. It’s also worth noting that if your dish is up high, they might not be able to get to it without a consultation first.

Sky Q install: You can go wired, but the Sky engineer won’t want you to

They aren’t supposed to do it, but Sky Q does work over a wired connection if the Wi-Fi in your house is awful. A wired install isn’t as straightforward as it sounds and you’ll need either a direct wired connection from the hub straight into the Sky Q Mini box or if you go through a network switch for that network switch to be “hefty”.

In our install experience the system wouldn’t work with a cheap network switch from TP-Link or D-Link (sub £20), but it would work with the Netgear GS105E ProSafe Plus 5 Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch. In the future the Sky Q devices will be able to connect to each other using Powerline, but at the moment that feature isn’t turned on.

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Bonus tip

If you hear the Sky engineer refer to a guy named Ethan, that’s because Sky Q’s codename internally was Project Ethan, after Tom Cruise’s character Ethan Hunt. Hopefully, following these few simple tips, your install won’t be mission impossible.

RBS will employ an AI chat bot to handle online banking queries

In response to recent moves by rivals to incorporate more technology in their customer operations, RBS has announced it’s to deploy a new online virtual assistant to help deal with enquiries quicker. The bank says the AI, named “Luvo,” was first tested among its 1,200 staff but will soon be used to help address common customer issues like lost debit and credit cards, locked PINs and how to order in a new card reader.

While RBS appears intent on reducing the amount of human interaction its customers have with staff, the company insists that Luvo’s can trawl a vast database of information “in a split second” and respond with the right answer. If it can’t, it’ll forward the request to a real person who is more qualified to help.

“Luvo is unique in that a ‘human’ like personality has been created for it,” RBS says in a statement. “Its unique psychological profile means it has a warmth to its personality, is approachable, creative and uses a combination of intuition and reasoning when answering questions.” Although Luvo initially needs to be trained to understand subjects, RBS insists it will earn its AI stripes by “learning from its mistakes,” which will make it “more accurate over time.”

In the coming months, the bank will slowly introduce the chat bot to customers, but only via “small, voluntary, customer pilots.” It’s hoped Luvo will reduce the amount of time it takes to speak to an advisor by answering the easy questions and letting its human counterparts handle the more complex enquiries.

Source: RBS

Facebook changes how it pays tax in the UK

Facebook has announced that starting this April, it’ll radically simplify its business arrangements in the UK. Boor-ing, right? Except this means that the social network’s tax dealings will now be much more transparent. It’s a big deal because, until now, the company has been accused of avoiding paying its fair share. After all, in 2014 it paid less than $7,000 despite the UK being its biggest overseas market. It somehow managed to pay a rate of just four percent on its operations, despite the going rate for businesses being 20 percent, so you can see why people were angry.

“On Monday we will start notifying large UK customers that from the start of April they will receive invoices from Facebook UK and not Facebook Ireland. What this means in practice is that UK sales made directly by our UK team will be booked in the UK, not Ireland. Facebook UK will then record the revenue from these sales.

In light of changes to tax law in the UK, we felt this change would provide transparency to Facebook’s operations in the UK. The new structure is easier to understand and clearly recognizes the value our UK organization adds to our sales through our highly skilled and growing UK sales team.”

Previously, Facebook would record all of its business dealings through Ireland, where the tax situation is, ahem, more favorable. After the change, any deals that are made in the UK, with big UK firms, will be recorded as being made in the UK and therefore subject to UK tax. The rule does not, however, apply to programmatic advertising where companies buy billboard space online without a face-to-face meeting. It’s not clear how much money is made in the latter category but it’s easy to assume it’s a decent chunk.

As much as Facebook deserves praise for improving its dealings in the light of public criticism, it’s not getting any medals just yet. For a start, Britain is preparing a higher tax rate on profits that are diverted out of the country. Secondly, Ireland, which is home to a number of loopholes that enable US firms to get discounted tax rates, has been pushed to clean up its act. Thirdly, Europe has been gearing up for a fresh assault on corporate tax avoidance, with Apple, Facebook, Google, Amazon and others targeted.

In its defense, Facebook’s representatives here in the UK have said that this plan has been in the works for some time. They also said that the firm has invested heavily in both the UK and Ireland and employs 850 people in London. In addition, it has a facility in Somerset where it’s working on solar drones that will help connect remote communities to the internet.

There’s an amusing twist to all of this, which is that America’s international tax chief went to bat for Facebook in Europe last month. Robert Stack told officials that US tech companies were being unfairly targeted in the Union’s crackdown on tax avoidance. With this announcement, however, Facebook is kinda sorta coughing under its breath that Stack might have wasted a flight.

Via: BBC News

ICYMI: Poop fuel, magnet-attached spherical tires and more

Today on In Case You Missed It: UCLA’s biofuels lab is doing interesting work with manure protein, to see if supply of a better kind of alternative fuel can be produced on an industrial scale. Goodyear is out with crazy futuristic prototype tires that would connect to a car with magnets, be 3D printed, totally beach-ball round, include foam sponges inside the grooves to help with traction on water, and more. A Swedish musician spent a year constructing a marble music machine that is absolutely stunning to see in action.

And even though this video has made the rounds before, the Japanese company that created it is still riding high so we wanted to include it. It’s a tomato-headed, 18-pound robot backpack that automatically feeds you tomatoes while you run. As always, please share any interesting science or tech videos, anytime! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag to @mskerryd.

BlackBerry’s Priv Android phone comes to Verizon

For power Android users who need a physical keyboard, one of the few devices left is the BlackBerry Priv. Until now, it could only be found on AT&T and T-Mobile, but it’s now available on Verizon, the biggest network in the US — for a price. While it costs as little as $700 or so unlocked, Big Red is selling it for $720 sans contract, or a hefty $30 per month over two years. However, it means that BlackBerry’s first and only Android device (so far) is now available to over 80 percent of US subscribers, with just Sprint missing from the big four.

We liked the Priv overall, but its appeal is limited to BlackBerry fans. For the same sum, you could get a brand new Galaxy S7, a device that will handily outperform it. Plus, we were actually disappointed with the keyboard itself, if you compare it to those on previous BlackBerry models. Now that it’s broadly available, it will be interesting to see if enough people really want a keyboard and the extra security in the Priv. If not, it could spell the end of BlackBerry handsets, which first arrived in 2003 as the original smartphones. CEO John Chen said he may kill all devices if they don’t turn a profit this year.

Source: Verizon

Apple Won’t Bid on Streaming Rights to NFL’s ‘Thursday Night Football’

Apple has decided it won’t bid on the digital rights to stream the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” package next season, according to Re/code.

The streaming rights to the NFL’s Thursday evening games could have helped set the Apple TV apart from competing streaming boxes, but Apple reportedly felt the package “isn’t enough to pull that off.”

Amazon, Facebook, Verizon, and Yahoo remain candidates in the bidding war to stream the Thursday evening games online, the report claims.

Yahoo could be a frontrunner to secure the digital rights, after paying an estimated $15 million to exclusively live stream a 2015 regular season game between the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars at London’s Wembley Stadium.

The NFL currently offers a live streaming service called Game Pass, but the app does not include “Thursday Night Football,” and its selection of games is limited compared to rival platforms MLB At Bat, NBA League Pass, and NHL GameCenter.

In February, the NFL announced that “Thursday Night Football” will air on CBS, NBC, and NFL Network in 2016 and 2017. CBS and NFL Network will televise the first half of the schedule, with NBC and NFL Network televising the second half.

Tags: NFL, Thursday Night Football
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