Logitech churns out two lightweight headphones targeting mobile, consoles, PC

Why it matters to you

Gamers wanting a lightweight solution for their PC and consoles now have two options that can even be used comfortably with smartphones on-the-go.

On Thursday, June 8, Logitech introduced two new headphones targeting the PC, mobile, and console markets: the G433 and G233. Based on the company’s proprietary 40mm Pro-G audio drivers, they serve as Logitech’s lightest headphones to date, and are meant to be used anywhere, whether you’re locked in front of a desktop monitor taking aliens head-on, or listening to music while riding the subway.

Logitech G433 7.1 Gaming Headset

For starters, this headset ships with a detachable PC cable, a detachable mobile cable, a detachable boom microphone, a Y-adapter, a second set of ear pads, and a protective bag for storing everything in one place.

The USB-based cable includes embedded controls for the volume and microphone, and an embedded sound card on the USB end supporting 7.1 surround sound. Meanwhile, the mobile cable is analog-only, consisting of a single 3.5mm jack and an inline microphone. Customers can also use this cable when connecting to a desktop or laptop either through the one jack, or the provided Y-connector for devices with separate microphone and headphone jacks.

Overall, the outer portion of each ear cup is covered in hydrophobic, stain-resistant fabric while the pads themselves are comprised of a breathable sports mesh material that can be removed and washed by hand. This same padding is used on the underside of the adjustable hard plastic headband for a comfortable fit. However, the included second pair of cups consist of a different, “lush” microfiber material.

In addition to the cloth-based ear cups, the headset provides a swivel component for each cup so that the entire unit can be easily stored in the provided bag. The boom microphone sports a micro pop filter at the end providing clean, puff-free speaking. This microphone plugs into a 3.5mm jack on the headset, and includes a special clip so that users can temporarily store the microphone on the digital/audio cable in and out of the storage bag.

Logitech says the headset is fine-tuned for an analog connection despite the USB-based digital cord. On top of that, both cables include an additional ground wire to prevent crosstalk, which is when an audio signal bleeds from one channel into another, such as hearing the left and right speakers in one ear. Logitech’s plan with this headset was to prevent the microphone channel from spilling into the audio channels for clearer communication.

Finally, this model will be sold in four solid colors: Royal Blue, Fire Red, Triple Black, and Cameo Blue, the latter of which will only be sold through Best Buy.

Here are the technical specifications:

Driver:
40mm
Frequency response:
20Hz to 20KHz
Impedance:
32 Ohms
Microphone pickup pattern:
Cardioid (unidirectional)
Condenser size:
4mm
Condenser frequency response:
100Hz to 10KHz
PC cable length:
6.56 feet
Mobile cable length:
4.92 feet
Weight:
0.57 pounds
Colors:
Royal Blue
Fire Red
Triple Black
Cameo Blue (only at Best Buy)
Availability:
June 2017
Price:
$100

Logitech G233 Prodigy Gaming Headset

This headset is mostly identical to the G433 model. What it doesn’t include is the USB-based cable with the built-in 7.1 surround sound card. Instead, this model offers two analog cables with built-in microphones; one measuring 6.56 feet for PCs, and one measuring 4.92 feet for mobile devices. It also doesn’t ship with a second pair of ear pads.

Finally, the G233 headset will be sold in a single Black/Cyan Blue color combination (shown above), costing $80 when it hits retail shelves this month. The G433 model will arrive at the same time for $100.

Logitech churns out two lightweight headphones targeting mobile, consoles, PC

Why it matters to you

Gamers wanting a lightweight solution for their PC and consoles now have two options that can even be used comfortably with smartphones on-the-go.

On Thursday, June 8, Logitech introduced two new headphones targeting the PC, mobile, and console markets: the G433 and G233. Based on the company’s proprietary 40mm Pro-G audio drivers, they serve as Logitech’s lightest headphones to date, and are meant to be used anywhere, whether you’re locked in front of a desktop monitor taking aliens head-on, or listening to music while riding the subway.

Logitech G433 7.1 Gaming Headset

For starters, this headset ships with a detachable PC cable, a detachable mobile cable, a detachable boom microphone, a Y-adapter, a second set of ear pads, and a protective bag for storing everything in one place.

The USB-based cable includes embedded controls for the volume and microphone, and an embedded sound card on the USB end supporting 7.1 surround sound. Meanwhile, the mobile cable is analog-only, consisting of a single 3.5mm jack and an inline microphone. Customers can also use this cable when connecting to a desktop or laptop either through the one jack, or the provided Y-connector for devices with separate microphone and headphone jacks.

Overall, the outer portion of each ear cup is covered in hydrophobic, stain-resistant fabric while the pads themselves are comprised of a breathable sports mesh material that can be removed and washed by hand. This same padding is used on the underside of the adjustable hard plastic headband for a comfortable fit. However, the included second pair of cups consist of a different, “lush” microfiber material.

In addition to the cloth-based ear cups, the headset provides a swivel component for each cup so that the entire unit can be easily stored in the provided bag. The boom microphone sports a micro pop filter at the end providing clean, puff-free speaking. This microphone plugs into a 3.5mm jack on the headset, and includes a special clip so that users can temporarily store the microphone on the digital/audio cable in and out of the storage bag.

Logitech says the headset is fine-tuned for an analog connection despite the USB-based digital cord. On top of that, both cables include an additional ground wire to prevent crosstalk, which is when an audio signal bleeds from one channel into another, such as hearing the left and right speakers in one ear. Logitech’s plan with this headset was to prevent the microphone channel from spilling into the audio channels for clearer communication.

Finally, this model will be sold in four solid colors: Royal Blue, Fire Red, Triple Black, and Cameo Blue, the latter of which will only be sold through Best Buy.

Here are the technical specifications:

Driver:
40mm
Frequency response:
20Hz to 20KHz
Impedance:
32 Ohms
Microphone pickup pattern:
Cardioid (unidirectional)
Condenser size:
4mm
Condenser frequency response:
100Hz to 10KHz
PC cable length:
6.56 feet
Mobile cable length:
4.92 feet
Weight:
0.57 pounds
Colors:
Royal Blue
Fire Red
Triple Black
Cameo Blue (only at Best Buy)
Availability:
June 2017
Price:
$100

Logitech G233 Prodigy Gaming Headset

This headset is mostly identical to the G433 model. What it doesn’t include is the USB-based cable with the built-in 7.1 surround sound card. Instead, this model offers two analog cables with built-in microphones; one measuring 6.56 feet for PCs, and one measuring 4.92 feet for mobile devices. It also doesn’t ship with a second pair of ear pads.

Finally, the G233 headset will be sold in a single Black/Cyan Blue color combination (shown above), costing $80 when it hits retail shelves this month. The G433 model will arrive at the same time for $100.

Alphabet’s drone management system can prevent carnage in the skies

Why it matters to you

If Alphabet or others can nail it, full-fledged drone delivery operations could become a reality sooner than you might think.

Recent reports of drones delivering pizza, donuts, and other tasty snacks have had many of us drooling in expectation of a world where unmanned aerial vehicles can take care of our rumbling tummies in a matter of minutes, but the truth is, such air-based services are still a ways off.

While advancements in drone technology have clearly been both fast and impressive in recent years, the key component required to make drone delivery a reality is still under development.

We’re talking about an air traffic control system for drones.

Google parent company Alphabet has been investing heavily in the development of not only its own Project Wing drone, but also a traffic management solution that could one day satisfy the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the body that regulates U.S. airspace. At the current time, drones have to be flown within the pilot’s line of sight, which isn’t much use to companies keen on delivering goods over long distances using the technology.

James Ryan Burgess, co-lead of Project Wing, revealed on Wednesday that his team is making good progress with the developments of its traffic management solution, with several years of work culminating in successful tests just a few days ago.

Thousands of drones in the air at once

In a post describing Wing’s work, Burgess says that within just “a few years,” lots of companies are likely to have “thousands” of drones in the air at any one time, “so we’ll need systems that can dynamically route UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) not only around each other, but around manned aircraft, buildings, terrain, weather patterns, and special events.”

Wing’s most recent test of its traffic management platform took place on Tuesday at an FAA test site at Virginia Tech, which, incidentally, is where the team recently trialed drone deliveries of burritos for hungry students. Its latest test demonstrated that its air management platform can manage multiple drones operated by different organisations, flying complex routes throughout a single location.

Besides three Wing aircraft, the test also included two flying machines from Intel, and one from DJI. Importantly, the exercise showed how a single operator can fly multiple aircraft simultaneously. In other words, a fleet of drones can fly autonomously to and from their various destinations using the traffic management platform, with the operator back at base monitoring their progress.

To improve its platform, Wing is currently focusing on three main areas: real-time route planning for drones flying in the same area; alerts that inform operators of any unexpected changes in a drone’s route; and notifications that prompt operators to avoid FAA-designated no-fly zones at short notice, for example in the event of a wildfire.

In his post, Burgess pointed out that Wing is utilizing Google’s vast amount of mapping data — think Maps, Street View, and Earth — to build its platform and improve the safety of autonomous drone flight.

The Project Wing team will carry on refining its system to enable it to deal with even busier skies and more challenging physical environments.

“We’re continuing to work hard to make UAS delivery a reality, transporting goods through the sky in a way that’s inexpensive, fast, and environmentally sensitive,” Burgess said.

Wing isn’t the only one working on such a platform, but thanks to further development and collaboration we’re clearly moving toward a time when the technology will provide a viable option for companies keen to move goods through the skies, or use autonomous aircraft for other commercial purposes.

Moto Z2 Play lands in India for ₹27,999; pre-orders now live

Motorola’s latest mid-range phone makes its debut in India.

Motorola has launched the Moto Z2 Play in India for ₹27,999 ($435), or $65 less than its retail price in the U.S. The phone is now up for pre-order on Flipkart and offline stores, with a full launch slated for June 15.

The phone is an iterative upgrade over last year’s Moto Z Play, and the pricing reflects that. You get a 5.5-inch Full HD display, Snapdragon 626 SoC, 4GB of RAM, 64GB storage, microSD card, and a 5MP front camera. The rear camera is where Motorola focused its attention on, with the phone sporting a 12MP camera with a 1.4-micron pixels imaging sensor, f/1.7 lens, color correlated temperature LED flash, laser autofocus, and Dual Pixels autofocus.

The Z2 Play has a smaller 3000mAh battery that brings its overall profile down to 5.99mm, but Motorola claims that the optimizations with the Snapdragon 626 negate the downgrade. The phone has TurboPower fast charging, with the ability to gain a 50% charge in just 30 minutes. Other specs include Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, LTE with VoLTE, FM radio, Bluetooth 4.2, USB-C, and a 3.5mm jack.

Read: Moto Z2 Play review

The Moto Z2 Play will be available in two color variants — Lunar Grey and Fine Gold — the same options as the Moto G5 Plus. Customers pre-ordering the device will be able to pick up the device for just ₹2,000 down and zero-interest EMIs over the next ten months under the “Hello Financing” option, and Motorola is also offering a 50% discount on Moto Mods.

There’s also a “Hello Armor” perk that includes a free carbon fiber Style Shell, and Jio customers will also be eligible for up to 100GB of additional 4G data. Who’s looking to pick up the Z2 Play in India?

See at Flipkart

Samsung Galaxy S8 Arctic Silver will be an EE exclusive, pre-order yours from 23 June

UK mobile network EE has announced the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will be available in an exclusive new Arctic Silver colour finish, which can be pre-ordered from Friday 23 June.

• Samsung Galaxy S8: Release date, specs and everything you need to know
• Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus: Release date, specs and everything you need to know

Arctic Silver will join the already available Midnight Black and Orchid Grey colour finishes.

EE has listed a couple of deals that the Arctic Silver version will be available to pre-order with:

• Galaxy S8 – £9.99 upfront cost, £57.99/month for unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and 25GB of data on a 24 month plan
• Galaxy S8+ – £49.99 upfront cost, £57.99/month for unlimited minutes, unlimited texts and 25GB of data on a 24 month plan

Both plans are 4GEE Max plans, which lets you use your phone in 50 destinations worldwide, including Europe, the USA, Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. Full inclusive access to the BT Sport app is also included for the entire duration of the 24 month plans.

Connor Pierce, Samsung Vice President, IT & Mobile said, “We’re delighted to be partnering with EE to exclusively offer their customers the new Galaxy S8 and S8+ in Artic Silver. This new colour edition of our latest handset will be available alongside our two other colour options Midnight Black and Orchid Grey. We are proud to be able to offer EE’s customers even more choice when it comes to their smartphone.”

“The Artic Silver edition has a modern and understated look and perfectly complements the Infinity Display screen. I hope EE customers like it as much as we do.”

Google Pixel phones could get Android O in August, earlier than usual

After detailing the next version of of its mobile operating system, Android O, during its developers conference in May, the next question facing Google was when?

Yes, Android O will come with a raft of exciting new features, but when will it actually appear on our phones?

For Google Pixel and Pixel XL owners, that could actually be sooner than expected.

Google generally releases the latest version of Android for its own handsets around September time, but Android Police’s editor has information that it could appear roughly a month earlier.

David Ruddock tweeted that the over-the-air update “will likely” be available in the first two weeks of August.

The official OTA to Android O for Pixel will likely drop in the first week or two of August. A bit earlier than Nexuses / Nougat last year.

— David Ruddock (@RDR0b11) June 6, 2017

He cites a “reliable source” for the info, but also advises a little caution on the release date as they are “always subject to change”.

• Android O: Features, release date and everything you need to know
• When is Android O coming to my phone?
• How to get Android O on your phone right now

Android O brings a load of new features to supported handsets, including picture-in-picture viewing for videos, autofill for passwords and other information in the browser, and many optimisations to improve boot-up time when you start your phone.

Atlus is bringing three great JRPGs to North America for the 3DS

The Switch may have already arrived, but you may want to wait a bit before putting your 3DS in storage. Atlus, which you might know as the studio behind Persona, has just announced that it’s releasing three Japanese RPGs for the handheld in the US and Canada. One of them is the latest entry in the Etrian Odyssey franchise, while the other two are remasters of Radiant Historia and Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, two critically acclaimed games originally released for the Nintendo DS. Etrian Odyssey V: Beyond the Myth is a dungeon-crawling, map-drawing game chronicling the journey of an adventurer on a quest to reach the top of a towering Yggdrasil tree. It’ll be available sometime this fall.

Radiant Historia Chronology is a turn-based RPG that gives you the power to travel backward and forward through time to change the course of history and achieve the “true ending.” It’s an enhanced remake of the beloved DS game Radiant Historia, which came too late in the console’s life cycle, featuring “a great deal” of new gameplay and story content. A lot of older fans don’t seem to happy with the remake’s generic anime art style, but it’s still a great way to experience the story for those who missed it.

Finally, Atlus is also releasing Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux in North America. It’s a remastered version of the fourth entry in the Shin Megami Tensei franchise that features first-person navigation. Both Redux and Chronology will be released in early 2018, but all three games are now available for pre-order from Amazon and Videogamesplus in Canada.

Source: Atlus (Twitter), Nintendo of America (Twitter)

OWC Confirms New Low-End 27-inch iMac Can Be Fitted With 64GB RAM

Apple announced a refreshed range of iMacs during its keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference this week, offering three stock configurations of the new 27-inch model with Kaby Lake processors, Thunderbolt 3 ports, and faster graphics, with optional memory and storage upgrades at purchase.

While Apple offers a 64GB RAM upgrade option for its mid-range 3.5GHz and high-end 3.8GHz 27-inch iMacs, it only offers up to 32GB RAM for the least expensive 3.4GHz base model, which has led some observers to question whether the limit is arbitrarily imposed by Apple or hardware-related.

To answer the question, hardware maker OWC tested the low-end 3.4GHz iMac through its MaxRAM Certification program, which determines the maximum amount of memory that can be installed in a Mac as validated by a series of in-house laboratory tests, and found that it does indeed support up to 64GB of RAM, despite Apple not offering the option at sale.

OWC is offering its own 2017 27-inch iMac memory upgrade modules at MacSales.com, including a 64GB Kit (16GB x 4) for $579.99 that users can install themselves. Apple’s 5K iMacs come with four user-accessible memory slots that support up to 16GB per slot, so Apple customers are advised to select the lowest RAM configuration when buying an iMac if they want to replace the existing modules with the less expensive OWC memory.

OWC notes that while MaxRAM configurations exceed Apple’s officially supported maximums, all OWC-brand memory upgrades are “assured to perform flawlessly” and are covered by a Lifetime Advance Replacement Warranty and Money Back Guarantee.

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Tag: OWC
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Qatar blames current crisis on fake news inserted by hackers

This week a diplomatic crisis hit the Middle East as several countries (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen and Maldives) cut ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorist groups. Now Qatar’s foreign ministry has issued a statement putting some of the blame on a fake news story. In a statement, the ministry said hackers installed a fake file on the Qatar News Agency last April, before activating it Monday morning.

Reuters reports that file claimed Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani made statements warning against confrontation with Iran, and gave support to groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. Qatari officials did not identify who it believes pulled off the hack, but thanked the FBI and the British National Commission for Combating Crime for their assistance in the investigation. Previously, CNN claimed that US government investigators believed hackers based in Russia were behind the breach — a claim that Russia’s government has denied.

Source: Reuters, Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs

‘Wipeout’ was born out of ‘Mario Kart’ and booze

If you were a console racing game fan in the ’90s, there’s a good chance that Wipeout is forever etched in your brain — it’s hard to forget that mix of sci-fi racing and genre-defining dance music. But how did it come to be? As it turns out, it was almost a happy accident. To mark the launch of Wipeout Omega Collection, Sony has posted a retrospective that reveals the oddball set of circumstances that led to the series’ creation: alcohol, Mario Kart, CD technology and the movie Hackers all played important parts.

The ball got rolling when two Psygnosis developers, Nick Burcombe and Jim Bowers, had a drink while sharing ideas. Burcombe recalled an epiphanic moment when he won a Mario Kart race while listening to trance music, and suggested that he’d like to bring this experience to a concept Bowers had developed where racing ships fired missiles at each other. When Sony bought Psygnosis and asked it to create a video game sequence for Hackers, Bowers and Burcombe used that opportunity to refine their idea. Psygnosis liked the result so much that it asked Burcombe to lead the development of Wipeout and, by extension, one of the studio’s first PlayStation titles.

We won’t delve into the rest of the story, but the game franchise was helped in no small part by the technology of the time. Both 3D graphics and CD-ROM drives were taking off, and that let Psygnosis build the game it really wanted without the technical constraints of earlier consoles and PCs. And of course, the CD was instrumental to the soundtrack — they couldn’t have had the likes of Orbital or The Chemical Brothers if it weren’t for all that extra storage. The original Wipeout was so technologically ambitious that the team had to reboot the project, and it left PlayStation’s then-leader Ken Kutaragi doubtful that the game would be ready on time.

Yes, the piece is ultimately a plug for the Omega Collection, and there’s no mention of the full-on series revival that many fans want. You’ll have to turn to other games for that. Even so, it’s useful as a rare look at the birth of a title that left a lasting mark on the gaming industry.

Source: PlayStation Blog