Dell AE2 Performance USB Headset Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
Dave Cheng/CNET
I was determined to like the AE2 the second I put it on. I’d like to tell you it was because of the superior sound quality or a robust feature set, but really it was because I finally found a pair of over-ear headphones that fit comfortably on my enormous head.
Thankfully, the big cups were ringed with leather pads that offered decent noise reduction, the speakers pumped out great sound and better yet, the AE2s will only run you $70, AU$95 or £49. That’s a great price, but with it comes a few caveats.
It runs off a single USB connection (no 3.5mm audio jack to be seen), so it’s strictly computer-only fare — but the SteelSeries branding should have tipped you off to that already. The Danish company is known for computer gaming accessories, and definitely shows its hand in the headset’s impressive emulated 7.1 surround sound.
You can also tinker around with the AES2’s settings via the SteelSeries engine software, which is good news if you want to play with the equalizer or simply must have the RGB LEDs programmed to flash in exactly the right pattern.
Dave Cheng/CNET
The AES2 only really stumbled when I tried to use it as a gaming headset. The low-profile mic nestled against the left cup had me curious. It staved off the usual flight controller aesthetic, but the omni-directional mic was a magnet for ambient noise. While my own voice was clear, if a little tinny, the person on the other end was easily picking up sounds from across the room. The left cup doubles as an easily accessible mute button for the mic, just in case you don’t want to share the TV preferences of anyone else in the room with your squad.
Honestly, it was a bit of a bugbear, but at a sub-$100 price it’s the kind that you’ll find very easy to ignore. The AE2 isn’t really a headset for the hardcore, but when you package over-ear leather pads, remarkable sound quality and SteelSeries engine functionality with such a low pricetag, it’s hobbyist money well spent.
Specs
- USB connector
- Emulated 7.1 Surround
- SteelSeries engine functionality
- Programmable RGB LEDs
- 40mm neodymium drivers
- Headset frequency response 20Hz to 20kHz
- Leather ear pads
- Omni-directional microphone
- $70, AU$95, £49
Dell AE415 2.1 Speaker System Release Date, Price and Specs – CNET
Dave Cheng/CNET
I confess that I’d almost forgotten that desktop speakers existed. The majority of my PC audio needs are gaming related, so I’ve become used to wearing a headset. But Dell’s newest 2.1 desktop speaker set, the AE415, offers a compelling case for why headphones aren’t the only answer.
Mostly spherical in design, the two speakers and the subwoofer look far more stylish and robust than the price tag would suggest. At $69 (converting roughly to £55 and AU$100), the AE415 isn’t breaking the bank.
Before unpacking the 2.1 system, I’d expected it to use USB connectivity, but the system works through a standard 3.5mm jack. The audio quality is absolutely fine — it just seems oddly archaic.
The AE415’s design is fairly standard: Left and right satellite speakers, a decent size subwoofer and a bunch of cables. Setup takes all of around two minutes, as Dell have made it impossible to get the cables wrong.
Controls sit on the left speaker. There’s volume and power, along with additional jacks to plug in a phone or tablet and even to pop in a set of headphones and get that bass sound in your cans. It’s an impressive offering from a budget speaker. The sub itself has a dial letting you pick your preferred level of “unf-unf”, which I initially thought was the volume knob, leading to just a few minutes of confusion.
Dave Cheng/CNET
The sound is bright and clear and the speakers can really pump out some big decibels. I tried the AE415 on the Razer Blade Stealth across a few different games, some music and a few videos. Clarity was excellent across the board. For some games I needed to change the angle of the speakers a little, but honestly that’s more to do with my headphone-based expectations of gaming audio than any issue with the speakers.
If I had any initial complaints, it’s the sheer amount of cabling you end up with. The sub ends up with four different cables out the back, making for a bit of a spaghetti bowl. But there’s plenty to like here — a big sound for a low price, a solidly stylish look and a set up so simple the quick start guide is nothing but pictures.
BitTorrent Announces iOS and tvOS Apps for New Media Streaming Platform
BitTorrent has announced it is launching a new content distribution app called BitTorrent Now, which lets users stream music and video from a library of independent artists and filmmakers.
The app will soon be available for iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV, and offers a catalogue of free, paid, and ad-supported, on-demand content, including VR content as and when it becomes available.
Use of BitTorrent’s Bundle format will allow content creators to require users to register or pay for media distributed through the platform, and give them greater control over how their content is offered, presented, and shared:
This is what happens when artists have agency: our shared culture becomes more diverse, more whole; more sustainable. And that’s why we started BitTorrent Bundle: to give artists options. Not rules. The freedom to share your story, no matter what form it takes. The right to know, understand, and reach your audience. The right to choose your business model.
The app’s launch can be seen as an attempt by the company to distance itself from the file-sharing protocol of the same name and reframe its brand as a legitimate media service, quite apart from the pirated content often associated with the peer-to-peer network.
The app doesn’t currently rely on peer-to-peer technology, although The Verge reports that BitTorrent is working to include support.
BitTorrent Now is “coming soon” to iOS and Apple TV. Those who request an invite to the service will receive updates on its availability.
Tag: BitTorrent
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WhatsApp users are making 100 million calls daily
WhatsApp users are now making over 100 million calls every day, which translates to over 1,100 calls per second. The popular messaging service crossed 1 billion users earlier this year, with recent reports stating that the app is now used by 95% of all smartphone users in India and 94% of smartphone owners in Brazil, two of its largest markets.
The milestone highlights WhatsApp’s importance in growth markets, where the service is becoming the go-to platform for communication. Making or receiving voice calls on WhatsApp is very straightforward, and the feature works over Wi-Fi, 4G, 3G, and even 2G data connections. There’s even an option to reduce voice clarity to reduce bandwidth usage, which is an added bonus for those on metered connections.
Do you use WhatsApp’s voice call feature?
Will EU roaming become more expensive after Brexit?
Are we in for a roaming price hike when the UK leaves the European Union?
With the British voters having chosen to leave the European Union in the June 23 referendum, one of the many areas affected by “Brexit” is the cost to British consumers of using their phones on the continent. As it stands, EU law restricts how much operators based in one member state can charge for calls, texts and data in another. And in the next year roaming fees between EU countries will be abolished altogether.
So following the referendum result, what does the future hold for European roaming?
Staying in the EU would’ve meant an end to roaming fees altogether from June 2017.
Right now UK networks are bound by EU caps on roaming prices. Starting April 30 2016, calls could cost no more than €0.05, texts no more than €0.02, and data no more than €0.05 per megabyte. Should the UK stay in the EU, roaming fees would be abolished altogether by June 15, 2017.
In effect, that would give subscribers to one EU network coverage throughout the union — assuming the appropriate roaming agreements are in place — thus opening up competition between international providers, particularly in border areas.
When the UK leaves the EU British networks would (eventually) be free to charge whatever they wanted for roaming on the continent. And equally, subscribers to EU networks would once again have to pay to roaming fees when visiting the UK.
Even so, this wouldn’t happen overnight. Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union provides a two-year negotiation period for a member state seeking to leave the union. During this time the UK would remain subject to EU treaties and laws, including the planned abolition of roaming rates in June 2017. Article 50 won’t be invoked until David Cameron’s successor as prime minister takes over this autumn, so it’s possible “Brexit” won’t be concluded until later in 2018.
In theory there’d be nothing stopping networks from raising roaming prices — but this couldn’t happen overnight.
This could place carriers (and their customers) in a precarious position whereby European roaming is free for a time, only for roaming fees to be reintroduced 18 months later.
Even so, in a competitive market like the UK, rivalry between the carriers would likely keep post-Brexit roaming prices in check. While UK operators’ roaming prices in some countries are extremely expensive, networks like Vodafone and EE have surprisingly palatable rates for many destinations outside the EU, including the United States, Australia and Canada. The situation may even highlight the issue of roaming fees, and allow some operators to differentiate by offering inclusive EU roaming even after the UK and EU part ways.
For the moment though, the big four haven’t said much about any planned roaming changes, offering basically no information to the BBC as part of a recent feature leading up to the referendum. As with many other aspects of the Brexit issue, customers may just have to wait and see what happens once the dust has settled.
Massive HTC Nexus S1 ‘Sailfish’ specs leak, everything unveiled
HTC is widely thought to be making the next two Nexus phones for Google, internally dubbed M1 (Marlin) and S1 (Sailfish), and while there have been a few rumours about them over the last few weeks or so, nothing has emerged quite so detailed as the latest, enormous leak.
Android Police claims that its sources know exactly what to expect from the Nexus S1, the one codenamed Sailfish. It has listed pretty much the entire spec sheet and the site says that it is “confident of the quality” of its main source.
If true, the Sailfish, or S1, is likely to be the smaller device made by HTC. It is said to have a 5-inch 1080p Full HD display with 440ppi.
Inside will be a 2GHz quad-core 64-bit processor (exact type currently unknown) and 4GB of RAM. There is a 2,770mAh battery and 32GB of storage. Android Police doesn’t yet know if this is just a base model with other storage sizes available.
READ: Next Nexus (2016): Release date, rumours and everything you need to know
The rear camera is claimed to be 12-megapixels, with an 8-megapixel snapper on the front. There’s a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, it says, and a USB Type-C port at the bottom.
Bottom firing speakers are included, as is a top-mounted headphone jack.
Lastly, the site says the phone will come with Bluetooth 4.2.
The incredible leak (if genuine) follows news yesterday that the Marlin, M1, will run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 SoC. Neither, of course, have been corroborated by either HTC or Google.
10 best 4K Ultra HD Blu-rays available now
The 4K movie revolution has started. With 4K Ultra-HD Blu-rays now available and increasing in number all the while, it is becoming easier to watch your favourite movies in the best format possible.
With high quality video transfers and high dynamic range (HDR) visual tech as found on the Sony XD93 4KHD TV, home movie viewing has never been better. Just make sure you match your new 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player with a suitable 4K TV with HDR and away you go.
We’d also suggest you add a 7.1 surround sound system to your set-up, but even TV speaker technology has come on leaps and bounds of late, if space is at a premium.
The only question left is what to actually watch? That’s why we’ve chosen our top 10 4K Ultra HD Blu-rays you can rush out and buy today. You can’t go far wrong with any of these.
READ: What is HDR, what TVs support HDR, and what HDR content can I watch?
Others, such as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and a UK edition of The Martian, are coming soon, but from all those currently available, these are our picks of the bunch.
Just click through the gallery above to find out which ones we’ve chosen, which we’ve listed in order from our 10th favourite to our first.
Enjoy.
Chrome OS is getting a much-needed storage manager
With Android tablet apps coming to Chromebooks, the very basic storage management in Chrome OS is going to be an issue. You can get your total free space via the Files App, but that doesn’t give you any info about how it’s being used. It can also break things down file-by-file, but that can be too much info for many folks. Luckily, Google is about to unveil a storage manager for Chromebooks that gives you just the right amount of info at a glance, according to insider François Beaufort.
As shown above, you can see your total capacity and space used, broken down into downloads and offline files, with the remainder being your available space. That gives you a pretty good idea as to what’s taken up by the system and apps, and what you’ve downloaded personally. If you then need further info, you can check the files app (or abstruse chrome://quota-internals command).
Google Play has only arrived on a few Chrome OS models, including the ASUS Chromebook Flip (above), but when it’s released in force, folks will get Android tablet apps numbering in the tens of thousands. Since those will take up space and generate their own files, storage info will become critical. If you want to test it yourself, you can download the latest dev update, then enable a flag.
Source: François Beaufort (G+)
NASA is making a robotic spacecraft that can refuel satellites
NASA has not only given the Restore-L mission its seal of approval, it has also zeroed in on its first potential client: government-owned satellite Landsat 7. The mission’s goal is to develop and launch a robotic spacecraft, which can refuel and do maintenance work on satellites already in orbit, by 2020. As you can see in the image above, it will be equipped with robotic arms to catch its client’s orbiters and a propellant transfer system to deliver measured quantities of fuel at the proper temperature and pressure.
The Restore-L mission could change the way the government and private space corporations build and operate satellites. It has the potential to extend the lifespan of spacefaring vehicles and could prevent their untimely death. Further, once the project is operational, companies could choose to deploy spacecraft with half-empty fuel tanks so that they could fit more instruments on board.
Benjamin Reed, deputy project manager for the NASA office that came up with the project, explained:
“With robotic servicing on the table, satellite owners can extend the lifespan of satellites that are running low on fuel, reaping additional years of service – and revenue – from their initial investment. If a solar array or a communications antenna fails to deploy, a servicer with inspection cameras and the right repair tools could help recover the asset that otherwise would have been lost. The loss of an anticipated revenue or data stream can be devastating.”
Besides servicing other spacecraft, NASA is also using Restore-L to test various technologies for future missions to Mars and farther locations. These include its navigation system, robotic arm, software and orbital debris management. In fact, if everything goes according to plan, the agency is taking some technologies straight from the Restore-L spacecraft and using them on the Asteroid Redirect Mission that’s slated to launch in mid-2020s.
Source: NASA
Xiaomi is finally launching the Mi 5 in black and gold in India
Xiaomi is finally making the black and gold color options of the Mi 5 available in India. The black variant will be up for sale starting later today, and will no longer be limited to Xiaomi’s own website as retailers Amazon and Flipkart are set to start selling the handset.
❤️ if black is your fav, RT if gold is best. YES, this means you’ll soon be able to get #Mi5 in both these colours! pic.twitter.com/rFYImn85HM
— Mi India (@XiaomiIndia) June 23, 2016
The gold option doesn’t have a specific launch date yet, with Xiaomi only saying that it’ll be available shortly. While the Mi 5 offers a lot of value for ₹25,000, more recent launches like the OnePlus 3 have raised the bar in the mid-range segment.
If you’re interested in buying either handset, be sure to check out our extended coverage:
- OnePlus 3 vs. Xiaomi Mi 5
- Xiaomi Mi 5 review
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