Samsung Gear IconX 2018 headphones review: Now they’re worth the price

Samsung’s second attempt at wireless earbuds gets far closer to the mark, and finally justifies its $199 price.

The quick take

The IconX 2018 headphones don’t change in core features or sound quality from the originals, but dramatically improve on battery life and software consistency. So now you get wireless earbuds that sound pretty good and last a long time, without annoying connectivity issues or the requirement that you plug them into a computer for software updates or media transfers. The fitness-focused exercise tracking, heart rate monitoring and workout coaching won’t appeal to everyone, but the IconX 2018 are far closer to ideal wireless earbuds than the previous model.

The Good

• Battery life and charging process improved
• Pairing and connections work well
• Media transfers and updates now handled by phone

The Bad

• Still expensive for “secondary” headphones
• Not everyone will value the fitness features
• Battery life less than typical neckbud-style headphones
• Sound quality isn’t great

See at Amazon
See at Samsung

Big fixes

Samsung Gear IconX 2018 Things you’ll love

The Gear IconX headphones released in 2016 were a great first attempt, but ultimately a flop. They were expensive, and riddled with “gen 1” issues including (but not limited to) bad battery life and questionable software. It took over a year, but Samsung has a refreshed version that fixes the glaring problems and lets you focus on what’s great about the design.

This release is primarily focused on fixing problems with the original.

First and most importantly, battery life is dramatically better. Samsung rates the new Gear IconX at 7 hours of standalone music playback (from 4GB of internal storage), or a full 5 hours of playback over Bluetooth. They can handle 4 hours of calls over Bluetooth as well. The charging case, which is now smaller and has USB-C, adds one full charge to the earbuds or can give you an hour of use in just 10 minutes. Unlike the original model, I rarely thought about battery life on the IconX 2018 — I just used them, and when I got a low battery warning I used ’em a while longer then tossed them in the case for a bit. I’m not going to say that nobody will need more than 5 hours of continuous Bluetooth listening, but I think that benchmark is plenty high for the majority of people.

Samsung has also made important improvements to the software. Music transfers and software updates can be handled over Bluetooth using the Samsung Gear app now, rather than the super-clunky method from before that required using PC software and a USB cable. That app also lets you monitor battery percentage, manage notifications and more. It’s not the prettiest experience, but it works.

The freedom of truly wireless earbuds is wonderful — and not just for hitting the gym.

Now that those issues have been fixed for this new version, you can focus on the great inherent features of this style of headphones. Not having a cord dangling around, or a big chunk of plastic resting around your neck, is a fantastic bit of freedom. That’s especially true if you’re running or hitting the gym, but even if you’re just working around the house or doing some yard work. If the earbuds were a bit more comfortable — which is tough considering their relatively large size and weight for earbuds — you’d be able to forget they were there at all because of the lack of a cable weighing you down.

The workout detection and guidance actually work as well. So if you really want to be that person that’s untethered when they exercise but still want music or a podcast to listen to, these headphones can get the job done. It’s nowhere near as accurate as a wrist-worn wearable — like, say, the Gear Sport — but it’s more than most headphones will give you. The touch controls can be finicky until you get used to manipulating such a small surface, but the set of controls is surprisingly robust and the spoken menus get the job done.

The Gear IconX 2018s had no issues staying connected to my phone, or to each other, even as I removed one bud or the other. With the latest software release, I didn’t have any issues connecting or disconnecting from my phone upon opening or closing the charging case. And this wasn’t just the case with a Samsung phone — this was with the Pixel 2.

Inherent shortcomings

Samsung Gear IconX 2018 Things you’ll hate

Being that Samsung has fixed the inherent flaws with is original IconX headphones, the only things left in the negative column on the 2018 version are just inherent problems with truly wireless earbuds.

The earbuds still don’t sound great, and they aren’t particularly comfortable for hours of listening.

The biggest weakness of these tiny earbuds is sound quality. It’s quite amazing that you can get all of these features in fully independent wireless earbuds, but the one thing you lost in the process is just raw sound quality. The IconX 2018s certainly don’t sound as good as $200 wired earbuds (or $100 ones), or even as good as other Bluetooth in-ear headphones that connect with a cord. You give up quality to get these advanced features.

Even though the battery life is much-improved on the IconX 2018, it certainly isn’t long enough for these headphones to be your all-day, every-day wear. 5 hours of Bluetooth listening is good, but having to carry around the case to pop them in when you’re done to make sure you have another 5 hours waiting for you next time is a bit of a pain if you’re going to be doing it every day. Larger headphones will offer you multiple times that, meaning you only have to charge every few days or so.

And that’s probably alright, because I didn’t find the IconX 2018 earbuds to be comfortable enough to wear for 5 hour straight. The rubber tips are decent and the ear hooks to hold them in place are good once you select the right size, but these are still bigger and more imposing than typical earbuds. There’s more weight in there and more pressure points on your ear than you’d ideally want — again, a trade-off for having the freedom of truly wireless earbuds.

Some people won’t pay $199 for a secondary pair of headphones.

The only other significant downside to the IconX 2018s is the price. If you plan to use the fitness features and local storage for music, they’re absolutely worth the money now. But if you’re looking at your headphones simply as a Bluetooth conduit to whatever’s playing on your phone, you’ll feel like the $199 price is too much for that function alone.

Worth the money now

Samsung Gear IconX 2018 Should you buy it?

With the second generation IconX headphones, Samsung has fixed two of the biggest issues with the buds: they now last longer (and charge faster), and the software experience has improved markedly. That means you don’t have anxiety about battery life every time you wear them for more than an hour, and you don’t have to think about connecting them to a computer for updates or music transfers any longer.

They’re finally worth the money — but that doesn’t mean everyone will pay $200 for secondary headphones.

With these core functional problems fixed, you’re left with a solid experience. The IconX 2018 headphones handle pairing and connections well, swap between using one or both buds seamlessly, and include useful (if tough to get acquainted with) fitness functions for certain types of users. The earbuds don’t sound fantastic, but nobody’s buying this style of headphones for top-notch sound quality — they want all of the associated features and freedom that wireless headphones provide.

Choosing whether the IconX 2018 headphones are the ones for you is a pretty simple decision. First, you need to be in the market for ~$200 headphones. Next, you need to be willing to spend that kind of money on headphones that aren’t designed for daily listening, but for more specialized times when you need the benefits of truly wireless headphones that don’t have clunky cables, straps or attachments. As a second set of headphones for working out or times when you need music or podcasts without any encumbrances, the IconX 2018s deliver.

Still, these headphones feel like a bit of a missed opportunity. By offering fitness-focused features like local music storage, heart rate detection and workout guidance, the IconX 2018 headphones kind of stand alone in their own niche segment. I can’t help but think that a “standard” version without these advanced features, and an associated price drop to around $129, would compare quite favorably to the Apple AirPods and even other Bluetooth headphone segments.

See at Amazon
See at Samsung

Neural network creates photo-realistic images of fake celebs

While Facebook and Prisma tap AI to transform everyday images and video into flowing artworks, NVIDIA is aiming for all-out realism. The graphics card-maker just released a paper detailing its use of a generative adversarial network (GAN) to create high-definition photos of fake humans. The results, as illustrated in an accompanying video, are impressive and creepy in equal measure.

GAN has has been used by Google (as part of its DeepDream experiment) and artist Mike Tyka in the past, but never like this. The tech pits two neural networks against each other, which in this case saw one algorithm act as the image generator and the other as the discriminator (whose job it is to compare those images to real-world samples). Think of it as an artist-critic collab that works in tandem to modify and improve the results.

NVIDIA took things a step further by using a “progressive” method that began the GAN’s tuition on low-res images, and then worked upwards to HD. “This both speeds the training up and greatly stabilizes it, allowing us to produce images of unprecedented quality,” wrote the company of its approach. But, instead of using regular people, the firm sourced its images from the CelebA HQ database of famous faces. The results look like a creepy meld of a-list mugs that will haunt your dreams. Yet, there’s no denying that many of them also look photo-realistic. Mission accomplished, then. The method also threw up some solid generation of objects and scenery, as displayed in the clip above.

Source: NVIDIA

The Morning After: Monday, October 30th 2017

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

This Monday, you’re waking up to Nintendo’s hit console on track to outsell its predecessor’s lifetime sales in a single year, rigid region-based search from Google and Kinect’s weird experimental life.

It’s a reminder of the secrecy tech companies enforce on employees.
Apple fires employee after daughter’s iPhone X video goes viral

Just because a tech company has announced a product doesn’t mean employees are free to share or talk about it. Unfortunately, one Apple engineer learned that the hard way. Apple has reportedly fired a iPhone team member after his daughter Brooke posted a hands-on video showing off his iPhone X before launch. Brooke took down the video as soon as Apple requested it, but the takedown came too late to prevent the clip from going viral, leading to seemingly endless reposts and commentary.

Saathi pads improve women’s well-being and keep millions of tons of waste out of landfills.

Banana fiber sanitary pads can solve big problems in India

With its sanitary pads for the Indian market, startup company Saathi solves two problems at once. Just 16 percent of women in India use sanitary protection due to poverty and other reasons, which causes health and social issues. At the same time, manufacturing them wastes millions of gallons of water, and two million tons of pads end up in landfills every year. To help with all that, Saathi’s pads are affordable, made from discarded banana tree fibers.

We take sanitary napkin usage for granted in North America and Europe, but it’s a huge issue in India and other developing nations. “In India, out of 100, only 16 women use sanitary pads,” Tarun Bothra told Engadget. “It varies from region to region as to why. In some places they’re not affordable, and in others, there are religious taboos.”

From Nine Inch Nails concerts to touchscreen bathtubs, Kinect did it all.
Kinect: Seven years of strange experiments

Kinect is dead. The writing has been on the wall for years, at least since Microsoft de-bundled the motion-tracking system from the Xbox One in 2014, knocking $100 off the price tag and making the system more competitive with the PlayStation 4.

The Kinect debuted in 2010 with the Xbox 360, and it had a good run, overall: Microsoft sold roughly 35 million devices in total. However, the Kinect never quite found its market — the one application that would turn the hardware into an essential piece of home technology. The Kinect was a product out of time, but that’s not to say it didn’t contribute to some truly wild experiences over the years.

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Amazon’s basic Kindle to get Audible support so you can give your eyes a break

Why it matters to you

Owners of the basic Kindle will soon have a new way to enjoy books using their ebook reader.

Do you seem to spend most of your life staring at a screen? You probably grab your smartphone within seconds of waking up in the morning, glare at your tablet while getting breakfast, and perhaps resume your smartphone interaction on the way to work. There you could be looking at a computer display for the rest of the day, before coming home to spend a good part of the evening looking at your TV, laptop, tablet, and smartphone again. If you have an ebook reader, there’s another display right there you could be looking at through the day.

So here’s the thing. If you have Amazon’s basic ebook reader and you fancy giving your eyes at least a little bit of a rest, then soon you’ll be able to pass some of that sensory action to your auditory canals thanks to Audible.

A recently updated listing on Amazon reveals that the company’s basic Kindle ebook reader will support Audible “in the coming months” via an over-the-air update, according to The Digital Reader.

Audible offers a library of more than 375,000 audiobooks (some of them for dogs!), magazines, newspapers, and radio shows, all of which can be streamed wirelessly via Bluetooth to wireless headphones and speakers.

Earlier versions of Amazon’s basic ebook reader supported Audible, but the company removed the capability as its range of readers grew.

Amazon’s new Kindle Oasis, its priciest ebook reader at $250, supports the service, while buyers of the basic Kindle, which starts at $80, will soon be able to enjoy the same benefit.

Bad news for owners of the Voyage and Paperwhite readers, however, as the feature isn’t coming to these mid-range Kindle models. At least, not yet. Considering Amazon has owned Audible since 2008, it seems surprising that some of its ebook readers don’t yet support the service.

Just to be clear, you’ll need Bluetooth headphones or a speaker to use Audible on your Kindle, as the device has no speaker or headphone jack.

Amazon recently celebrated 10 years of the Kindle with discounts on most of its current readers, as well as offers on ebooks. While the offers on the devices have finished, you can still find discounts of up to 80 percent on many Kindle books as part of its monthly deals.

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USB stick at center of major security leak at one of world’s busiest airports

Why it matters to you

You never know what you might discover on a found USB stick, but there are risks attached.

We know all too well that sticking a found USB flash drive into your computer carries big risks, and in a worst-case scenario could fry your machine.

Perhaps that’s why one curious guy in London recently headed to a library with a stick he reportedly found in the street. But instead of ruining one of the library’s computers, the USB stick revealed highly confidential information linked to the security procedures of one of the world’s busiest airports, according to the Sunday Mirror.

None of the 2.5GB of data on the flash drive was encrypted or password protected, allowing the man to explore 76 folders holding sensitive security information for London’s Heathrow airport.

Containing “maps, videos, and documents,” the data revealed, for example, the route the Queen and her entourage take when heading to and from the airport, and the security measures put in place to ensure her safety. Some of the information was labeled as “confidential” and “restricted” but could still be accessed in a couple of clicks.

The stick also contained details of all the different kinds of identification required to enter the airport’s restricted areas — including for undercover cops — and “maps pinpointing CCTV cameras and a network of tunnels and escape shafts linked to the Heathrow Express,” a train route that runs between the airport and central London.

The man said he found the stick in a residential street about 10 miles east of the airport. He handed it to the Mirror, which immediately contacted Heathrow officials. The airport operator is now conducting an investigation into the matter.

Unnamed sources connected with the airport told the news outlet that those looking into the matter were keen to discover if the incident was the result of an “incompetent data breach” or if someone had intentionally transferred the information onto the drive and taken it off site, possibly for nefarious purposes such as terror or cyber attacks.

Every year Heathrow handles around 75 million passengers flying with more than 80 airlines to destinations around the world, leaving the authorities with a huge security challenge. The idea that someone working at the airport may have secretly transferred the data onto a stick and then taken it away from the site will be of huge concern.

Heathrow said in a statement that passenger and staff safety was its “top priority,” adding that it was confident the airport was “secure.”

While slotting a USB stick into a computer is certainly a risky thing to do, in this case it appears to have exposed a monumental lapse in security that’s certain to force the airport into conducting a full review of the way it handles sensitive data.

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Elon Musk offers first look at Boring Company’s futuristic freeway under L.A.

Why it matters to you

It’s impossible to say if Musk’s ambitious plan will ever become a fully fledged system, but the Boring Company is certainly making progress.

Yes, it’s definitely a tunnel. Elon Musk has just posted the very first photo of a tunnel dug by his Boring Company beneath the streets of Los Angeles as the billionaire entrepreneur goes after his dream of building a subterranean — and speedy — transportation system to help reduce traffic congestion on the busy streets above.

Snapped over the weekend, the image shows something far beyond a simple muddy hole that some of you may have been expecting to see. Rather, it’s clear the team has been doing some serious work on its debut tunnel, fully building out the section with all the necessary bells and whistles.

Musk, a man who certainly isn’t shy about championing grand ideas, first mentioned his futuristic boring plan last year, one that apparently came to him while stuck in his car on a gridlocked freeway.

“Traffic is driving me nuts,” he tweeted in December, 2016. “Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging…” At the time, no one knew what on earth he was talking about. They do now.

The project, if it’s carried through to completion, will involve building a sprawling network of tunnels criss-crossing the city. Vehicles would be carried through the tunnels aboard track-based electric sleds at speeds of up to 150 mph. A vehicle and its occupants would be lowered from street level onto the sled, while cyclists and pedestrians would use the system by stepping into large pods available for public use. The sleds would switch from the main tunnel to side tunnels to exit and enter the main artery in order to keep the system moving. “This is a big difference compared to subways that stop at every stop, whether you’re getting off or not,” Musk said.

On his Instagram page where he posted the tunnel photo, Musk said the Boring Company‘s first route will go “roughly parallel” to Interstate 405 from Los Angeles international airport to Route 101, “with on/off ramps every mile or so.” Right now the tunnel is 500 feet long (152 meters), though it should reach around two miles (3.2 km) within about four months.

Musk’s partly completed tunnel confirms his determination to make the project happen, though those stuck in gridlock on a daily basis in L.A. will have to wait years for a usable network to evolve, if it ever does. Indeed, to build a truly effective system is going to require not only huge sums of money, but also years of disruptive construction work across the city, leaving Musk having to persuade the authorities that the project really is worth pursuing. This initial tunnel is seen as a test bed for the grander plan.

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Google search now tailors results based on your device’s location

Google search now delivers search results based on your device’s location.

With one-fifth of all search queries being location-specific, Google is making a few tweaks to its search algorithm to deliver relevant results. The company will now show search results based on your device’s current location, irrespective of whether you go to a country-specific top-level domain. For example, if you’re in India and you hit up google.co.uk, you’ll see localized results for India.

You’ll see the location listed in the bottom left corner of the window. If you’re traveling to another country, Google search will dynamically change the region to show you search results for that market.

If you’re looking for localized results from another country, you’ll now have to change it in the settings. Tap the Settings button at the bottom of the search page, select Search settings,. and select the country from the Region for Search Results.

The update is now live for Google search on the mobile web, the Google app on iOS, as well as Search and Maps for the desktop.

It’s important to note that while this update will change the way Google Search and Maps services are labeled, it won’t affect the way these products work, nor will it change how we handle obligations under national law.

This update will help ensure that you get the most relevant results based on your location and is consistent with how Google already manages our services across a number of our other platforms, including YouTube, Blogger, Google Earth and Gmail, among others.

Tesla Model 3 in-depth video review answers all your questions

There’s no shortage of Tesla Model 3 clips out there, but a detailed video review has been sorely missing — until now, that is. The arrival of a brand-spanking new vid from the folks at the Model 3 Owners Club should tackle any lingering questions you may have about the car. The 70-minute clip is especially useful for anyone mulling a buy or (patiently) waiting for their purchase to arrive.

Tune in to get all the details on things like the rain-sensing sensors, the charge port, the trunk size, and underside details. Plus, there’s the straightforward — yet notable — things you probably thought about, but weren’t sure who to ask (like finding the tow hook, and unlocking the car). Last, but not least, you get to witness the all-important test drive. And if you just want to hone in on one specific section, simply select “show more” and choose a timestamp. Still not satisfied? Check out our first impressions of the car that could very well bring EVs into the mainstream.

Source: Model 3 Owners Club

Nintendo expects Switch will beat Wii U lifetime sales in a year

Nintendo has announced it’s sold a further 2.93 million Switch consoles over the latest quarter, reaching just shy of 8 million units total. After another strong quarter, the company is now aiming to sell 14 million units by the time the Switch turns one year old — up from 10 million it aimed for previously. It’s also increased its forecast for the full year, from $6.59 billion to $8.44 billion. If Nintendo hits its targets, that would mean the Switch could best its predecessor, the Wii U, in a single year. The older console only reached 13.56 million sales over the entirety of its five-year lifetime — it wasn’t a hit for the games maker.

Nintendo racked up $209 million in profit for the quarter, with revenues reaching $1.93 billion. The company managed to sell 22 million game titles in the last half year — a figure that doesn’t account for the recently launched Super Mario Odyssey, which is likely to sell consoles all by itself.

According to a Reuters report, the company is now endeavoring to meet customer demand — it’s still not easy to buy a Switch in stores. “We’ve boosted Switch production in order to meet strong demand from our customers as it was difficult for customers to buy the consoles at retail stores,” said Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima .

While Nintendo doesn’t spin out mobile sales, it reported a revenue increases over 420 percent since last year, lead by Super Mario Run and Fire Emblem Heroes. It looks like the company has found a whale or two. The holy grail for in-app payment centric games, these players invest a lot of time and money into smartphone games. Animal Crossing will be the company’s next smartphone game property, and will also include in-app purchases to help deck out your digital campsite.

Source: Nintendo

Neural network gives your phone ‘DSLR-quality’ photos

You can buy a Pixel phone if you want AI to enhance your photos every time you press the shutter button, and services like Google Photos use AI for minor fixes and clever effects. But what if you wish your photos looked like they were taken with a much better camera? Scientists might have an answer. They’ve developed a neural network system that’s focused solely on giving your photos a “DSLR-quality” look. It’s not flawless, but its novel approach points to a future where your phone knows what photos should look like and tweaks shots to match.

The researchers started out by training a deep learning system using photos taken of the same scene using a phone and a DSLR. It’s effective, but it can only improve the quality for the smartphone in question. That led to a more sophisticated system, however: the new network only needs to see two sets of images from different cameras to understand how to apply the image quality from one to the other. In other words, you can feed it any photo and expect results that are more comparable to a target camera. You can try it yourself.

The results aren’t always ideal, as you can see in the sample above. While the colors and exposure in the “after” shot (left) are noticeably better than the dull reference image, there’s also a greenish tint. Other samples will occasionally lose a bit of detail, even if they’re overall more vibrant. The tool nonetheless appears to achieve its overall goal, especially when it’s used with older or low-end phones that tend to take lifeless shots as a matter of course. About the only thing it can’t do is add details that weren’t already there. If your phone is terrible at low-light shots, you’re not going to recover the missing info.

And importantly, this isn’t the end. The scientists hope to put the neural network to work ‘correcting’ the shooting conditions themselves. If it’s rainy day, for example, the AI could make it seem bright and sunny. That’s perilously close to creating non-existent shots, but it could be helpful if your vacation was spoiled by lousy weather and you’d like something nice to show friends back home. As it is, the current technology could improve the baseline image quality for phone cameras if it’s incorporated into future devices and software. You’re still going to get better shots with higher-end sensors and lenses, but the gap between the best and worst phone cams might not be quite so pronounced.

Source: ETH Zurich (1), (2), CVF