Apple HomePod vs Google Home vs Amazon Echo: What’s the difference?

Back in November 2015 Amazon released Amazon Echo, its all-in-one speaker and assistant with Amazon Alexa voice control. And it’s not taken long for other tech companies to muscle in with their own competitors. 

A year later, in November 2016, Google released its Google Home speaker with Google Assistant voice control (which arrived in the UK in April 2017).

Now Apple is following suit with its HomePod speaker featuring Siri voice control, which is due for release in December 2017.

In the battle between Alexa, Assistant and Siri, which of these three smart speakers is best for your needs?

Apple HomePod vs Google Home vs Amazon Echo: Design

• Apple HomePod: 172 x 142mm; 2.5kg
• Google Home: 143 x 96mm; 477g 
• Amazon Echo: 235 x 84mm; 1.05kgs

Amazon actually offers a few different versions of Echo (Tap, Dot, Look and Show), but for this comparison we’re focusing on the original, canister-shaped model. Echo is a 9.25-inch tall cylinder speaker with a seven-piece microphone array. The outside has perforation for the speaker grille, while the top has a ring of light that you can turn to adjust volume and buttons for mute and activation. The speaker only comes in black or white colours.

Google Home is a shorter device, at 5.6-inches tall. Its more customisable than Echo, too, as its base can be swapped out for one of six different colour fabric or metal shells to match your furniture. Home has a sloped top, with a touch-capacitive display and four LEDs to provide visual feedback. There is only one physical mute button at the back, which you can press to prevent Google from listening to hot words.

The newest device of them all, Apple HomePod, is the largest and heaviest by a considerable margin. This is because Apple has packed in more speaker smarts than its competitors, in the quest for the best sound – even if its 6.8-inch height is just shy of the Amazon Echo. With a bulbous shape, the fabric covered HomePod will be available in two colours: space grey or white.

Apple HomePod vs Google Home vs Amazon Echo: Voice assistant

Apple HomePod

Apple utilises the long-standing Siri assistant in HomePod, the very same as you’ll find in its iPhones, iPads and even Mac computers. That means you will be able to ask questions and receive replies, instruct smart home devices, or control music.

It will be possible to say things like “Hey Siri, I like this song,” and that information will be logged accordingly, with the assistant learning your personal preferences from hundreds of genres and moods, across tens of thousands of playlists from Apple Music. Siri will also be able to handle advanced searches within the music library, so you could ask questions like “Hey Siri, who’s the drummer in this?” and get an answer.

Google Assistant

Google Home will let you ask Google anything, thanks to its Google Assistant AI. You will have access to Google’s 17 years of search experience, which allows you to ask specific questions such as “How much fat is in an avocado?” or “What is Wayne Rooney’s shirt number?” Those types of questions would stump Amazon Echo, but not Google. You can even ask for the weather or check Wikipedia.

• What is Google Assistant, how does it work and which devices offer it? 

Because Google Home has Google Assistant, you can be conversational and ask follow-up questions like “Where did he go to school?” and Home will be able to connect the “he” pronoun to your previous question about Rooney (or whoever) in order to serve up an accurate answer. You can also ask complex stuff like “What was the US population when NASA was established?”

Google Home will give you immediate answers each time. It can also read the relevant part of webpages back to you. Google Assistant on Google Home is the same as Assistant on Android phones. There will also be the addition of multiple users, for the whole family, in the near future.

Amazon Alexa

Similar to Google Assistant, Amazon Echo has Alexa, a different assistant. It (or “she” as many will say) is capable of understanding simple commands, or even a series of commands, but they’re less conversational in that you’ll have to engage the full question each time (there’s no follow-on pronoun understanding at present).

Alexa will play music, provide information, deliver news and sports scores, tell you weather, control smart home devices, and pull information from the Bing search engine by default. It will even allow Amazon Prime members to order products they’ve ordered before. 

• Amazon Echo: What can Alexa do and what services are compatible?

Alexa updates through the cloud automatically and learns all the time. The more you use Echo, the more Alexa will adapt to your speech patterns, vocabulary, and personal preferences.

Apple HomePod vs Google Home vs Amazon Echo: Smart home

Thanks to Alexa, Amazon Echo can respond to your voice commands and control any Alexa-enabled products, such as lights, switches, thermostats, and more. Simply ask Alexa to switch on a lamp, turn on the fan, dim the lights, or increase the temperature. Some products work directly with Alexa and other smart home ecosystems require a compatible hub or “middle man” app.

Featured brands that work with Echo include Samsung SmartThings, Philips Hue, Wemo, Insteon, Wink, and Honeywell. You can find a full list of compatible devices on Amazon’s site. Because Echo has been around for longer than Google Home and Apple HomePod, it has a notable head start and already has tonnes of partnerships – from in-car to at-home and beyond.

Google Home can be a control centre for your entire home, because it has access to Google Assistant. Not only will this let you do the basics like set alarms and timers and manage to-do lists and shopping lists, but it will also connect to your smart home devices and it includes support for popular network systems. That means you will be able to control smart lights, switches, doors, and more.

Google Home works with Nest, SmartThings, Philips Hue, and IFTTT. It also acts as a Chromecast receiver. So, with just your voice, it’s possible to ask Google Assistant to adjust your Nest Thermostat or turn off your Philips Hue lights or fling content via Chromecast to your TV. Google plans to work with more partners so you can control more things in the home.

Apple may seem late to the smart home party, but its HomeKit setup has been bubbling away in the background for some time now. Whereas Amazon Echo needs Alexa-compatible products or apps, Apple HomePod will need HomeKit-compatible products or apps to operate.

HomePod, in a sense, is the missing link that will give HomeKit greater purpose. It will act as the hub to control HomeKit-enabled devices, such as turning on Philips Hue lights, without the need for an iPad or Apple TV to act as the hub (as is necessary until HomePod’s launch). You can find a full list of compatible devices on Apple’s site.

Apple HomePod vs Google Home vs Amazon Echo: Audio

Amazon Echo is a Bluetooth speaker, so it can play music and be controlled from any device that supports Bluetooth audio streaming. By default it will talk to Amazon Music for subscribed members to source music, but other sources, such as Spotify, are controllable.

Echo is a 1.0 channel speaker, meaning that it is a single speaker with one tweeter and one woofer. In our review of the device, we thought Amazon could have done better in the sound department. It is possible, however, to link Echo to a more powerful music system for improved quality – which is how many will use it.

Google Home is a Wi-Fi speaker that can stream music directly from the cloud. We’ve streamed tunes from built-in sources like Google Play Music, YouTube Music, Spotify, and Pandora. We’ve even used it to wirelessly cast audio from our phone and laptop. Unfortunately, Google Home doesn’t have Bluetooth connectivity like Echo, so you’ll need to use apps and services with it that support Google Cast – but that’s basically everything.

Home features dual side-facing passive radiators in its compact form so sounds plenty loud with fair sound quality for its asking price. Buy more than one and it even offer multi-room playback. Home isn’t dramatically better sounding than Echo, but we think it marginally pips it in the sound quality department.

Last up is Apple, which will offer AirPlay 2 connectivity from your devices, or stream from cloud music services such as Apple Music (Spotify and others are also available, just as they are on iPhone and iPad). There is no Bluetooth, but that will be of no issue with AirPlay 2.

Sound-wise, Apple clearly has the upper hand. HomePod is a far larger speaker with a lot more going on inside, including seven tweeters for 360-degree sound output, and a 4-inch woofer to handle bass. From what we’ve heard at the Apple preview event, it’s the best sounding of the trio by far, putting it closer to Sonos Play:3 audio levels.

Apple HomePod vs Google Home vs Amazon Echo: Price

Google Home is available now, priced £129 or $129.

Amazon Echo is available now, priced £149 or $179. There’s always the Echo Dot – which is designed to be synched to a larger music system of your choice – priced at $50 or £50 instead.

Apple HomePod will be available in December, priced at $349. UK price is to be confirmed (we’re presuming £349). 

Apple HomePod vs Google Home vs Amazon Echo: Conclusion

The winner? It’s a tricky one to call.

If audio is your main goal then HomePod is by far the winner. It’s also by far the most expensive (you could buy almost three Google Home devices instead).

Visually speaking, Echo is the least attractive of the three. However, Alexa casts the widest net in terms of compatibility, with more abilities, devices and apps than its two competitors straight out of the box.

Time will be a big player, however, as Google Home already has some great partnerships, plus a more conversational approach to queries from Assistant that, potentially, could see it the winner in terms of being a helpful assistant. Right now, however, that crown goes to Alexa – and we’ll have to wait and see how well Siri functions with HomePod come the end of 2017.

Google is using games to teach kids about online safety

With the rise of phishing, malware and fake news, it can be hard for adults, let alone children, to identify what’s safe and what’s not. Parents can teach internet best practices, but companies like Google want to share the load. With its new project, Be Internet Awesome, the search giant has created a new program that helps young people make “smart decisions online.” It includes a clever online learning game for kids, a 48-page curriculum for teachers and schools, and a video series for parents to watch alongside their children.

“Interland” is a puzzler that takes kids through four mini games. Tower of Treasure is designed to help teach younger internet users how to create strong passwords that keep them one step ahead of hackers and Reality River presents 10 multiple choice questions that help identify who and what to trust online. Kind Kingdom educates children on trolling and being nice on the internet, while Mindful Mountain highlights how important it is to share information only with people you trust.

Google teamed up with online safety organizations Family Online Safety Institute, the Internet Keep Safe Coalition and ConnectSafely to create Be Internet Awesome. Thanks to this outside help, the company says its lesson plans, activities and worksheets meet the International Society for Technology in Education’s Standards for Students.

As for the games, they’re fun. Each one is geometric, bold, colorful and has a Monument Valley or Journey feel, making them much more interactive than many other online safety portals. While it’s unlikely children will stumble across them on their own, Google has done what it can to make the program appealing to parents and teachers in the hope they’ll be incentivized to pass those teachings along.

Via: Google Blog

Source: Be Internet Awesome

Wink promises home security with its $119 smart bulb bundle

Wink’s goal is to demystify the internet of things with a single hub and a single app that talks to all manner of smart home devices from other companies, and plays nice with Google’s assistant and Alexa too. Knowing that most people are still unsure of where to start modernizing, Wink has today announced a new basic smart lighting bundle for $119 that includes its latest smart home hub and two dimmable, connected bulbs from Sylvania. The “Wink Bright” proposition is two-fold, however, as the company is also updating its mobile app to add a few no-nonsense features to show there’s more to smart bulbs than not having to move from the sofa to set the mood.

Version 6.0 of the Wink app adds two special lighting programs called Home Sitter and Moonlight. Home Sitter is basically a smarter equivalent of leaving the lights on at home to deter burglars while you’re away. It promises to stick to a natural, human schedule to avoid leaving obvious clues that an app is in control, so it won’t switch the lights on during daylight hours or in the middle of the night when you’d likely be asleep. And when you aren’t on vacation, Moonlight will make sure you always come back to a well-lit home by switching your indoor and outdoor lights on at sunset.

Both user-friendly features promote the idea of smart lighting being a security asset, not just a simple convenience. At $119, which is $10 cheaper than buying the three components separately, the Wink Bright package is neither the cheapest nor the most expensive introduction to smart bulbs — but you do get the widely compatible hub as part of the deal should you plan on adding more connected devices around the home. The bundle is available to pre-order today from Wink’s site and Home Depot, with boxes expected to start hitting doormats in a few weeks.

Source: Wink

Uber hires a VP to fix its toxic company culture

Despite its incredibly high userbase, a string of controversies has led to what can only be described as a pretty terrible year for Uber. Now, just a few months after its employees left the company in droves, the successful ride-hailing company has recruited a new executive to save its sinking ship. After a former employee spoke out about sexual harassment at the company, Uber launched an investigation into its workplace culture, calling in Frances Frei, an expert on gender equality from Harvard Business School. Now, Frei has joined the successful tech startup full time, taking a role as Uber’s Senior Vice President of Leadership & Strategy.

Given everything the $69 billion company has been through, Frei sounds like exactly the kind of corporate shakeup Uber needs. Yet, with nine high profile roles still needing to be filled at the company, this progressive hire looks to be only the beginning of its crucial restructure.

This recruitment drive comes at a fairly important time for the world’s most valuable tech startup. Next week, Uber is expected to release the results of February’s internal investigation into its workplace. With the results of that investigation potentially causing more upset at the company, Frei might find herself enduring a pretty tricky first week on the job.

Via: Business Insider

Source: Uber

HP’s ‘fighter-jet’ Omen gaming PCs are VR-ready

HP has unveiled its latest Omen desktop and laptop gaming PCs with a refreshed, “fighter-jet”-inspired design and VR-certification, along with an external graphics accelerator that doubles as a storage booster. The most notable of those is the Omen 15, HP’s first gaming laptop that meets NVIDIA’s new Max-Q specification, which is supposed to be reserved for devices that fit more performance in an Ultrabook-sized package.

Calling such an angular, beefy device “Max-Q” is lol-worthy, but the top-shelf Omen 15 laptop should be a decent performer thanks to an Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU and Max-Q-ready GTX 1060 graphics. That’s not at the top-end of NVIDIA’s spec, but it also gives the model VR certification — until now, only the 17-inch Omen had that honor.

As it often does, HP tried to make the 15-inch Omen laptop all things to all gamers. It includes an Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU, with RAM from 8GB to 16GB, but has graphics choices all over the map. You can opt for a 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon RX 550, a 4GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 or 1050Ti, or the aforementioned GTX-1060 with 6GB of GDDR5 RAM. That also makes for quite an array of prices, with the cheapest model at $1,000 and the 1050Ti model at $1,600. Expect the 1060 version to cost more than that (HP didn’t say the price). Whatever it is, it’ll be a tough sale versus Razer’s svelter, subtler Blade laptop.

HP also refreshed its 17-inch Omen laptop with the same black-and-red design, offering a top-end $1,800 model with an Intel Core i7-7700HQ chip, 32GB of DDR4 RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX1070 graphics and a 256GB SSD/2TB HDD combo. That model doesn’t conform to the Max-Q spec due to its size and configuration (HP didn’t reveal the weight). Both the 15- and 17-inch Omen laptops go on sale starting June 28th.

Rounding out the Omen PC line, there’s gaming desktop (below) with similar black and red, Lamborghini Countach styling. It’s basically a gaming machine for folks who don’t want to build their own, so again, you can customize it all the way up to at $3,000 or so configuration, with a quad-core Intel Core i7-7700K CPU and dual NVIDIA 1080Ti graphics cards.

HP also showed off matching 25- and 27-inch monitors, equipped with 1080p AMD FreeSync and QHD NVIDIA G-Sync, respectively, starting at $280 for the 25-inch model. If you must have a keyboard and mouse with the same look (you’ve come this far, so why not), HP has Omen versions of those too, at $130 and $60 respectively.

Finally, if you’re torn between a laptop and a desktop, why not do both? That’s the idea with HP’s $300 Omen Accelerator (below). It’s a 500 watt external case that holds a single desktop graphics card and a 2.5-inch hard drive, while also sporting four USB 3.0, one USB-C and two HDMI slots, an ethernet port and more. You can connect it to either Omen laptop (and others, including the Spectre 13, EliteBook x360 and Envy 27 AIO) via a Thunderbolt 3 connection. That device arrives in August of 2017.

List of iOS 11 Compatible iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch Models

Apple on Monday introduced iOS 11, the next major version of its mobile operating system for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

iOS 11 is compatible with 64-bit devices only, meaning the iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, and iPad 4 do not support the software update.

iOS 11 is compatible with the following iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch models:

iPhone

• iPhone 7 Plus
• iPhone 7
• iPhone 6s
• iPhone 6s Plus
• iPhone 6
• iPhone 6 Plus
• iPhone SE
• iPhone 5s

iPad

• 12.9-inch iPad Pro (first-generation)
• 12.9-inch iPad Pro (second-generation)
• 9.7-inch iPad Pro
• 10.5-inch iPad Pro
• iPad (fifth-generation)
• iPad Air 2
• iPad Air
• iPad mini 4
• iPad mini 3
• iPad mini 2

iPod touch

• iPod touch (6th generation)

The first iOS 11 beta was released to registered Apple developers on Monday. A public beta will be available in late June through the Apple Beta Software Program. The software update should be officially released in September.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
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HomePod First Listen Impressions: ‘Incredible’ Audio With Bass-Heavy Sound That Easily Beats Echo

Following an unveiling at WWDC yesterday, Apple let members of the press get a close-up look at its new Siri-enabled speaker, HomePod, but due to the loudness of the area it was impossible for WWDC attendees to really determine HomePod’s sound quality. Now, a few websites have gotten the chance to hear how HomePod sounds in a normal environment, and shared their opinions of the device online.

According to Mashable, Apple played listeners five songs across four genres and the device had “very good audio.” The HomePod starts up by playing 360-degree audio to itself so it can learn the space it’s in, and then adjusts any subsequent music that’s played with the knowledge of the size of the room.

HomePod requires constant AC power for music playback
Mashable said this worked, and “no matter where I walked in the small listening room, the sound was consistent.”

The audio wasn’t just loud — filling a room with sound, good or bad, is easy — it was rich. The highs were sharp, but not broken. The lows were deep, sonorous, but not chest-thumping.

A classic song with a far less complex mix sounded warm and true and one of Kendrick Lamar’s beat-heavy tunes showed off the HomePod’s bass prowess, I also listened to a live recording of the Eagles’ Hotel California on a pair of HomePods. I noticed that the audience cheers primarily came from one speaker, along with some ambient music sounds and the mains came from the HomePod almost directly in front of me. I did not feel like I was at the live concert, but I was still impressed with the audio quality.

Mashable noted that Apple had in-room comparisons with its competitors, including Sonos Play:3 and Amazon Echo, and that the HomePod easily beat the two other speakers in pure music playback quality. The site noted the disadvantages users face if they don’t use Apple Music, and was unsure how any of the smart home controls would work as press was only allowed access to non-functional demo units, but was ultimately left impressed with HomePod, calling it a “very good speaker” and looking forward to testing it more as December grows nearer.

CNET heard the same five songs, including “The Greatest” by Sia, “Sunrise” by Norah Jones, “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder, “DNA” by Kendrick Lamar and a live performance of The Eagles’ “Hotel California.” The site said that HomePod’s audio was “bolder and more vivid” than Sonos Play:3, and in general “a lot better than Amazon Echo.” CNET was also impressed how HomePod can separate vocals from ambient, instrument-based sounds, and how two HomePods in one room can recognize one another and automatically adjust playback for the best spatial sound output.

HomePod came off as bolder and more vivid than Sonos Play:3 in the experience I tried, and a lot better than Amazon Echo. I’d also say the music sounded consistently vivid and crisp in a quiet space, more so than the Sonos and Amazon comparisons on-hand. But the one thing I didn’t get to experience was how HomePod can listen, talk and suggest things. I couldn’t request music, or ask for the weather, or try any smart controls.

It’s hard to tell what any of this means right now, and a full review of the final product is the only way to determine any real meaningful thoughts on HomePod-as-home-audio-device. But, right out of the gate, Apple is clearly going for music over smart assistance as HomePod’s major draw. But as the most expensive speaker of the three — it costs almost double the price of the Echo — its superior sound quality is to be expected. It needs to earn that bigger price tag.

In the controlled demo environment, What HiFi? noted the HomePod’s strong bass and crisp vocals on Sia’s “The Greatest,” which made the Echo “almost pedestrian” in comparison. The site did note that throughout the session songs felt more bass-heavy than some of the other speakers in comparison, and it remains unclear if Apple will allow users to tweak audio playback in some way.

As Sia’s The Greatest played out, the HomePod sounded impressive: strong bass rang out – which was perhaps the overriding audio takeaway for the speaker – but the vocals still seemed sharp and crisp. In comparison, the Sonos Play:3 appeared uncharacteristically flat, while the Amazon Echo felt almost pedestrian.

We also heard a pair of HomePods playing a live recording of Hotel California by The Eagles. The attention to detail was striking, with different instruments sounding discretely realised. Did we feel like we were at the concert? Maybe not, but it did sound powerful.

Engadget called HomePod’s audio “incredible,” and compared to both rivals in the demo area, “it blew them both out of the water.”

The HomePod however, sounded crisp and bright no matter the musical genre fed through it — it rendered The Eagles as well it did Kendrick Lamar. As a reminder, there’s a huge woofer and seven tweeters inside, all meant to make audio sound as vivid as possible no matter where you are in a room.

And the Echo? Well, I’ll put it this way: if listening to the HomePod was like listening to a CD, then audio through the Echo sounded like AM radio. In my experience it’s excellent for audiobooks, but if given the choice, I’d rather have the HomePod pump out my jams.

It’ll be a while before the HomePod official goes on sale, but right now it has one clear edge over the competition: it’s just a killer speaker.

The takeaway from most first impressions of Apple’s HomePod appears to be that it easily beats the competition offered up in the demo, but as many sites noted, that’s an expected outcome. We’ll still have to wait until closer to the HomePod’s holiday launch in December to see more true-to-life audio tests, how voice controls work with Siri, and how successful the intelligent assistant is at performing tasks within Apple’s new smart speaker system.

For more HomePod impressions, check out these sites: BBC, The Verge, Business Insider, Pocket-lint

Related Roundup: HomePod
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HP’s latest displays and peripherals will drive this summer’s Overwatch World Cup

Why it matters to you

HP’s new Omen lineup features a number of high-end gaming peripherals at affordable prices, demonstrating that gaming is going increasingly mainstream, which is good news for budget-minded users.

At a big event in Beijing, China today, HP unveiled a host of new gaming desktop and laptop systems, but the party didn’t stop there. HP also rolled out several new Omen-branded gaming peripherals including displays, a high-end graphics card enclosure, and a new mouse and keyboards.

The real exciting part, though, is where you’ll end up seeing these new peripherals put to work: the Overwatch World Cup. Yep, as Blizzard Entertainment’s official PC partner, HP will be providing Omen-branded hardware and peripherals to the esports athletes competing in this summer’s biggest esports event.

Omen 25-inch Display

When HP designed these monitors, it had to consider which types of gamers it would be serving. Even though they share a similar design language, they’re each uniquely tailored to fulfill the needs of different types of gamers.

The Omen 25-inch 1080p monitor, for instance, is designed for fast-twitch gamers who need lightning-fast response times. Overclockable to enable response times as low as 1ms, the 25-inch monitor features a 144Hz refresh rate and support for AMD FreeSync. It’s not the biggest monitor out there, but it’s certainly among the quickest and most affordable gaming monitors.

Starting at $280, the Omen 25-inch will hit store shelves on June 26, 2017.

Omen 27-inch Display

The Omen 27-inch monitor however, distinguishes itself from its smaller sibling by providing a QHD resolution, with 70 percent more pixels than a 1080p panel. It also features an overclockable TN panel, with a remarkable 165Hz refresh rate, and support for Nvidia’s G-Sync technology.

It’s bigger, badder, and quite a bit more expensive. The Omen 27-inch is designed with the high-end enthusiast in mind, someone who needs a big monitor packed with pixels that also happens to be lightning-quick.

Speed and size however, will run you $800 when the Omen 27 comes out on June 8, 2017.

Omen Graphics Accelerator

Designed for anyone with a powerful laptop which might not have a super-powerful GPU under the hood, the Omen Graphics Accelerator is a bold, stylish take on the increasingly popular external GPU enclosure. The big black-and-red cube can house a powerful desktop-grade GPU, either an AMD or Nvidia card, and lend those graphics processing capabilities to an otherwise underpowered laptop.

The Omen Accelerator can come configured with a GPU, and features a 500W power supply, but also features a bay for an external SSD or hard disk. So you can keep your games and most of your gaming horsepower in one convenient little box.

The Omen Accelerator starts at $300 and comes out in August 2017 — keep in mind though, that’s just the base price, without a GPU included.

Omen Mouse, Keyboard, and Headset

Even with the best gaming hardware, even the best gaming experience can be spoiled by a flimsy keyboard or sub-par mouse. HP aims to ensure its Omen lineup is accompanied by high-end accessories which will be every bit as responsive and performance-driven as the hardware they’re used with.

Starting with the new Omen keyboard, this design philosophy informed every aspect of the design. From the backlighting to the choice of mechanical switches and N-key Rollover for anti-ghosting, the Omen keyboard is built with performance in mind, according to HP.

The Omen Mouse 600 was just as carefully optimized for high-performance gaming, offering customizable weight, with mechanical switches rated for up to 50 million clicks.

Last but not least, the new Omen Headset 800 builds on the success of the previous model by taking user feedback into account with the new design. It features thicker earcups, boosted acoustic performance for clear high, low, and mid-tones, and a custom-tuned audio profile for clear speech — so you can hear your teammates on Overwatch urging you to get on the point and stop fawning over your new headset.

The Omen Keyboard will retail for $130, the Omen Mouse 600 for $60, and the Omen Headset 800 for a competitive $80. All three accessories will be available on the HP website on June 6, 2017.

You can strap HP’s new Omen X desktop on your back for the ultimate in VR immersion

Why it matters to you

HP might not be the first name that comes to mind when you think of PC gaming, but these powerful, affordable laptops and desktops could change that.

As part of its push into the gaming hardware market, HP unveiled a number of redesigned and revamped gaming laptops and desktops on Tuesday — and one of them can be strapped to your back. No, it is not just a laptop in a backpack. It’s the Omen X Compact Desktop, a gaming system designed for a new type of portability.

Omen X Compact Desktop

Don’t be put off by the Omen X Compact Desktop’s unusual design. It looks that way because it is only a desktop part of the time, the Omen X Compact Desktop is actually designed to be worn on your back to provide a truly seamless (and cordless) VR experience.

Even though VR backpack PCs are still relatively new, HP saw a flaw which would likely prevent most users from even considering one as a viable option. Most of them are backpacks first, PCs second. In order to provide a versatile gaming experience, HP built a compact PC that can be removed from its backpack housing and put into a dock, where it becomes a normal gaming PC.

Do not be fooled by its small form factor and exotic build, as this thing houses some seriously powerful hardware. Featuring a factory overclocked Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card and unlocked Intel Core processor, this portable VR machine can drive high-end VR games whether its docked or strapped to your back.

The backpack attachment is sold separately for $600, but it comes with two pairs of batteries, so two can be in use while the other two are charging. It’s also possible to replace the batteries without removing the backpack. This smart feature means longer VR play sessions, and is sorely needed, as many VR backpack rigs struggle to last an hour.

The Omen X starts at $2,500, and hits store shelves in July.

Omen 15 and 17 Gaming Laptops

The new Omen by HP laptop line was redesigned from the ground up with competitive gamers in mind. Both the 15-inch and 17-inch models feature a high degree of versatility and customization options.

Starting with the processor, both models feature the latest seventh-generation Intel Core processors, and they can both be outfitted with either Radeon or Nvidia discrete graphics. Specifically, the 15-inch Omen laptop can be outfitted with AMD Radeon RX 550 or Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 graphics cards. While the 17-inch model can be specced out with AMD Radeon RX 580 or Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 graphics cards.

Even their displays can be customized, both models feature optional 4K displays with a typical 60Hz refresh rate, or for that lightning-quick-butter-smooth gaming experience, both notebooks can also be kitted out with 1080p displays capable of hitting 120Hz — plus support for Nvidia G-Sync. FreeSync is also available but only on the 60Hz 1080p display option.

In addition to building for versatility, HP also built with the future in mind. The Omen by HP laptops all feature a single back panel which can be easily removed, providing access to the hard drive bay and RAM slots, to facilitate hassle-free user upgrades.

The Omen 15 starts at $1,000, while the Omen 17 starts at $1,100, and both will be available June 28.

Omen Gaming Desktop

HP’s Omen desktop line also received quite a bit of an upgrade. The latest will feature high-performance graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD, from single-card entry-level machines all the way up to big dual-GPU behemoths. That is right, the Omen desktop can be outfitted with dual-GPU setups using pairs of Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti cards, or AMD Radeon RX 580 graphics cards.

In order to provide users with ample choice, HP will also allow users to choose between Intel and AMD processors — with support for unlocked and overclockable options on both sides. Both Intel Core i5 and i7 processors will be available in unlocked, over-clock ready configurations, right along with AMD’s latest overclockable Ryzen processors.

That is not all, as HP also radically redesigned the Omen desktop case. Built with gaming performance in mind, the new Omen case offers a completely custom build with optimized thermal engineering, and all-around edge vents to dissipate heat evenly.

The Omen by HP desktops start at $900, and start shipping now. It is also worth mentioning that these are the desktops to be used at the Overwatch World Cup this summer. As Blizzard Entertainment’s official PC partner, HP’s hardware will be driving the world’s best Overwatch esports athletes.

New York taxis finally have a tech-forward answer to Uber and Lyft

Why it matters to you

While taxis have had some trouble competing with Uber and Lyft until now, the tables may finally be turning.

New York finally has an answer to Uber and Lyft. Today, yellow taxis found a way to hit back at the Silicon Valley, California-based transportation giants by way of a new partnership between the on-demand ridesharing services firm Via, and taxi app Curb from Verifone

Regardless of which app you use (Curb or Via), you’ll be able to carpool with other riders who are headed in the same direction, and thereby share the cost of a cab. Similar to Uber Pool or Lyft Line, passengers will be directed to a nearby corner for both pick-up and drop-off, which means more efficient routes and quicker riders.

“We’re delighted to offer a new lower-cost option for taxi riders while simultaneously increasing earnings for hardworking New York City taxi drivers with more passengers, longer trips, and reduced downtime,” said Amos Tamam, senior vice president of Verifone Taxi Systems. “This latest app integration marks yet another milestone in the transformation of Verifone’s connected taxis around the world into a smart transportation platform.”

Ultimately, both companies believe that this collaboration will allow New York taxis to move more passengers from Point A to Point B than would be possible without this tech. And of course, carpooling is better both for the Earth and for your wallet.

“At Via we’re committed to reducing congestion and emissions in major cities with a fully dynamic network of shared vehicles,” said Daniel Ramot, CEO and co-founder of Via. “Everyone benefits when we increase the efficiency of vehicles on the road. Cities benefit from reduced congestion and emissions, riders benefit from affordable and convenient transportation options, and drivers benefit from a system optimized to increase their earnings. We’re excited to deploy our technology for the first time in New York City taxis, one of the largest and most important taxi fleets in the world.”