LG’s tiny 4K projector puts a 150-inch screen in any room

LG is showcasing its 2018 projector lineup at CES 2018, and among them is the brand’s first 4K UHD projector that doesn’t quite look most of its peers. The model (HU80KA) is a compact, upright device that can create a 150-inch screen on your wall. Its portable design was made possible by its mirrorless I-shaped engine, which allows it to do its job whether you simply place it on the floor or carefully hang it from the ceiling. LG says it’s a product of the company’s engineers challenging themselves to make a 4K projector smaller than others on the market without sacrificing performance.

In addition to being LG’s first UHD projector, HU80KA is apparently also its brightest yet at 2,500 lumens — its full HD projectors top out at 2,000. And since resolution isn’t everything, the model supports HDR content, as well, to make images more life-like. On the audio side of things, HU80KA comes with two 7W speakers, but it can easily be connected to external speakers or soundbars via optical output, HDMI or Bluetooth. Of course, the only way to know if it can truly deliver is to see it for yourself. Unfortunately, LG still doesn’t have pricing and availability info to share with us, but we’ll at least be able to check it out for you on the showfloor in Vegas.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2018.

Apple Joins Alliance for Open Media to Pursue Better Video Compression

Apple recently joined the Alliance for Open Media as a founding member, according to an updated member list first noticed by CNET.

The Alliance for Open Media, according to its website, was formed to “define and develop media codecs, media formats, and related technologies to address marketplace demand for an open standard for video compression and delivery over the web.”

The Alliance is developing a royalty-free video codec known as AOMedia Video 1 (AV1), which is designed to compress video before it’s stored or sent over a network. Apple’s move to join the Alliance for Open Media is notable because implementing such technology requires it to be widely supported, and Apple was one of the only major companies not participating.

AV1 continues to be a work in progress, with the Alliance for Open Media planning to release the first version of in the near future. Mozilla supports an early version of AV1 and has said that it reduces file sizes by 25 to 35 percent compared to HEVC, which Apple implemented support for in macOS High Sierra and iOS 11.

Other members of the Alliance for Open Media include Amazon, Cisco, Facebook, ARM, Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla, Netflix, Hulu, NVIDIA, and more.
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Tivo’s Next-Gen Platform is here to shake up streaming — and cable

Well, it’s finally here. Tivo’s long-rumored “network DVR” platform has arrived, combining cable and streaming in ways never before seen.

Tivo was once a household name, but as cord-cutting and over-the-top (OTT) streaming have proliferated, it has faded into the background. Now, thanks to a smorgasbord of held patents (many of which came over in the Rovi-Tivo deal completed in 2016), the company behind modern DVR is planning to launch the appropriately (if not creatively) named Next-Gen Platform, which runs on a slew of devices and set-top boxes.

Previously, users could only watch Tivo-delivered cable content via the Tivo app on smartphones and tablets, but the Next-Gen Platform supports web browsers, Linux-based set-top boxes, Android TV, and more. Users can watch live and recorded cable content, as you might expect, but the cloud-powered Next-Gen Platform also supports viewing from popular streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Video. Other cable and streaming operators will need to sign on the dotted line to get their content onto the Platform.

If you’re running a Linux set-top box or an Android TV device, the Platform offers personalized recommendations and “conversational voice control,” and will automatically collect, integrate, and organize content from linear, OTT, on-demand, and DVR platforms to streamline and simplify the viewing experience. The mobile apps, web app, and software on any other set-top box all offer the same functionality, except without voice command. Tivo’s recently released Bolt Vox will surely fall into the first category.

In addition to Linux-powered boxes and Android TV, the Next-Gen Platform will support a bevy of unmanaged “bring-your-own” devices, which includes the Amazon Fire TV family and Apple TV 4K. Tivo says that the Next-Gen Platform will “… reduce churn, drive customer engagement, stay ahead of the competition, and own the customer experience.” Proprietary “Flex-Mode” software will allow operators to use their current infrastructure within Tivo applications, which could make things simpler for companies on the fence.

With CES 2018 just around the corner, we’re expecting to hear more from Tivo in the coming days regarding the Next-Gen Platform. In any case, if you have trouble keeping all your streaming stuff organized (who doesn’t?) — or if you’re tired of dealing with several remotes at once — keep your eyes and ears to the ground.

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Joby gives the GorillaPod arms for adding accessories to mobile shoots

How do you make the popular flexible GorillaPods even more flexible? Give them arms. On Thursday, January 4, Joby announced the Gorillapod Mobile Rig, a flexible smartphone tripod with enough arms for up to three accessories, along with the GripTight Pro Telepod telescoping tripod.

Joby

The GorillaPod Mobile Rig uses the company’s traditional flexible leg design but adds two equally flexible arms plus a cold shoe slot above the smartphone for adding up to three more accessories. The arms make it possible to add a mic and a light for vlogging, for example. Connection options include a standard 1/4-20-inch tripod socket, two cold shoe mounts and one GoPro mount, all included with the rig for versatile shooting setups.

Along with adding on accessories to the arm, the Mobile Rig also allows users to adjust the tilt angle of the device along with allowing both vertical or horizontal smartphone mounts. Like other GorillaPods, the legs can be used as a tripod or a handle, along with wrapping the legs around an object. The Mobile Rig, Joby says, is ideal for vlogging or going live on social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube.

“Our community of Joby makers live in the moment. They are constantly looking for the next content creation opportunity and need tools that are as unique and flexible as they are,” Tim Grimmer, vice president of Brand and Product for Joby, Vitec Imaging Solutions, said in a statement. “With our new GorillaPod Mobile Rig, we’re helping vloggers and mobile video content producers truly get a grip on the creative capabilities of their smartphones and action cameras.”

Joby also announced what it is calling the first telescoping tripod for pros, the GripTight Pro Telepod. The tripod, designed for smartphones, action cameras, 360 cameras and other lightweight gear, doubles as an extension pole — or a selfie stick, if you prefer that term. Made from fiberglass-reinforced nylon and stainless steel, the Telepod extends from 13.5 to 31 inches, with three angle options for the retractable tripod legs.

Joby

The Telepod allows users to mimic an aerial view by sticking the camera straight up in the air, while also allowing action cameras to be used handheld by serving as a handle. Don’t want to hand-hold? Tripod legs are built into the bottom and retract when they are not in use.

Joby includes a Bluetooth remote to trigger those shots when using the Telepod as an extension pole, along with enough accessories to use it to mount a smartphone, small camera, GoPro or cold shoe accessory.

Both the Mobile Rig and the Telepod are now available directly from Joby’s website, retailing for about $100 each.

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Blasting your brain with sound, pulses can help quiet the din of tinnitus

A person suffering with tinnitus, often called ringing in the ears, can hear a range of phantom sounds besides ringing, including buzzing, chirping, hissing, or whistling. Around 10 to 15 percent of the population may experience some of these symptoms mildly, and it has a noticeable impact on quality of life for about 1 percent of patients.

New research from the University of Michigan may be able to provide some relief, thanks to an experimental device that quiets these sounds by using precisely timed sounds and weak electrical pulses to target unruly nerve activity in the brain. By doing so, it is able to “reset” damaged nerve cells to their properly functioning state. After four weeks of using the device daily, participants in a trial found that the effects of tinnitus diminished. A sound-based placebo treatment, meanwhile, did not result in similarly positive effects.

“The brain, and specifically the region of the brain stem called the dorsal cochlear nucleus, is the root of tinnitus,” Professor Susan Shore, who led the research, said in a statement. “When the main neurons in this region, called fusiform cells, become hyperactive and synchronize with one another, the phantom signal is transmitted into other centers where perception occurs. If we can stop these signals, we can stop tinnitus.”

There are a number of current treatments for tinnitus, ranging from the use of real sounds to mask the phantom sounds to far more invasive (and potentially dangerous) approaches like deep brain stimulation. What makes the new research so promising is that it offers a noninvasive way to treat tinnitus with decreased risk and, potentially, longer-lasting effects because it is treating the neural pathways that cause the disorder, rather than merely attempting to lessen its effects.

Next up, the researchers hope to further optimize the treatment, such as working out which groups of patients will benefit the most, and pinpointing the optimal duration of each treatment. The device is still considered experimental and not ready for commercialization. Hopefully that will change in the future.

A paper describing the work was recently published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

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Moment’s new lens adapter adds filters for your smartphone

Lenses add versatility to smartphone photography, but what about filters? Now, Moment is allowing its lenses to add on any circular 62mm filter using a new filter mount. Announced on Wednesday, January 3, the filter mount works for any of Moment’s smartphone lenses.

Moment isn’t designing the filters itself, but it created an adapter that allows mobile photographers to add on any circular, screw-in 62mm filter, including polarizing and neutral density filters. A rubber collar, in two different sizes, secures an aluminum filter mount over the front of the lens, which allows the same filter adapter to be used with any Moment lens.

The adapter pops onto the end of the lens, with the snug fit of the rubber collar holding it in place. Once the adapter is secured over the smartphone lens, the filter screws into the aluminum threads just like adding a circular filter to a DSLR lens.

A 62mm filter is much larger than Moment’s smartphone lenses (and wider than the typical 52mm kit lens for a DSLR). Why so big? Moment explains that in order to use the filter on the wide fisheye, the filter has to be much larger to prevent vignetting or a darkening of the edges of the photo.

While a number of traditional colored filters can be mimicked with photo editing software, several can’t be replaced with editing techniques. Circular polarizing filters are one example, which emphasize or reduce reflections along with making the sky appear bluer. Neutral density filters, on the other hand, darken the shot for techniques like long exposures.

The Moment filter adapter isn’t the first to bring physical (rather than digital) filters to smartphone photography. The Bitplay Snap line includes a “lens” that functions as a polarizing filter, but you can’t use both the filter and an add-on lens at the same time. Sandmarc designed clip-on smartphone filters, but its crowdfunding campaign wasn’t successful. By integrating with existing –and well-received — lenses, the possibility of adding a filter should add even more versatility to smartphone photography.

The Moment Filter Mount is expected to begin shipping this spring with pre-orders available now, retailing for $40. The price includes two different collars in order to accommodate all Moment lenses and a carrying pouch, but doesn’t include the filter, leaving the photographer to choose the brand and type of filter.

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Moto G4 Play finally has Android 7.1.1 Nougat 13 months later

Who needs Oreo when you have Nougat, right?

Back in 2016, Motorola released three entries in its G-series with the Moto G4, G4 Play, and G4 Plus. The G4 and G4 Plus were both updated to Nougat later in the year, but the same could never be said for the G4 Play. Motorola was running Nougat soak tests for the G4 Play at one point in 2017, but an official over-the-air update was never released.

Now, in January of 2018, this is finally changing. One Redditor shared a screenshot of their G4 Play, and sure enough, it’s running Android 7.1.1 Nougat (a version of Android that’s now 13 months old) with the November 2017 security patch.

We aren’t sure why it took Motorola so long to get Nougat pushed to the G4 Play, but we’re certainly glad that it’s finally here. Unfortunately, don’t expect to be using Oreo at any point in the future. This is the last planned update that Motorola has for the G4 Play, but considering that this is a phone nearing two years of age that had a retail price of $99, that’s not all that surprising.

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FCC Chairman Ajit Pai won’t be attending CES 2018 due to death threats

Disagreeing with the guy’s one thing, but death threats are never okay.

No matter who you are, there’s a good chance you’re at least somewhat familiar with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Pai proposed to repeal Obama-era net neutrality laws that have been in place since 2015, and on December 15, 2017, this proposal was officially passed in a 3-2 vote.

Pai’s stance on net neutrality has made him an incredibly disliked public figure, and it’s gotten to the point where his safety has been put at risk. A bomb threat was called in during the December 15 meeting right before the net neutrality repeal, and now it’s been confirmed that Pai won’t be attending CES 2018 due to death threats.

Ajit Pai was scheduled to have a fireside chat during this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and while it was announced on the evening of January 3 that this had been scrapped, it wasn’t confirmed until January 4 that the reason for this was, in fact, death threats.

The FCC hasn’t officially commented on this matter, simply saying “We do not comment on security measures or concerns.”

As it’s mentioned at the beginning of this article, it’s one thing to disagree with someone’s stance on an issue, but making threats to their well-being is both counterproductive and illegal. Talking with people in office about things that affect us all is how we make progress, but if Pai can’t show his face at an open setting because of threats like this, nothing gets done.

Feel free to vent and complain all you want about Pai’s net neutrality stance, but make sure you think twice before threatening the man’s life.

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Intel says it will patch 90 percent of recent chips by next week (updated)

A little more than a day since Google Project Zero went public with its findings regarding a major security flaw in Intel (and others) chip designs, the company announced that it is already is pushing out patches to eliminate the vulnerability. Intel has “already issued updates for the majority of processor products introduced within the past five years,” per the company press release, and expects to have 90 percent of affected chips produced within the past five years patched by the end of the week.

The flaw, which afflicts chips made over the past decade, enables ordinary processes to determine the layout of protected kernel memory. This “software analysis method”, as Intel describes the flaw, allows a pair of exploits, dubbed “Meltdown” and “Spectre,” to swipe data from other apps on vulnerable devices — be they PCs, servers or mobile phones — running Intel, ARM or AMD chips.

The solution cooked up by Intel and its partners so far entails severing the link between the kernel and these processes, though that could have a dramatic impact on a patched chip’s operating speed. The company asserts that the impacts will be “highly workload-dependent” and not particularly noticeable by the average consumer.

Update: Microsoft says it will release an update for Surface devices to protect them against the chip vulnerability. The company also explains that it “has not received any information to indicate that these vulnerabilities have been used to attack customers at this time.”

You can check the list of Surface gear that will receive the patch at the link above, but Microsoft says the updates will be available devices running Windows 10 with Windows Update or through the Microsoft Download Center.

Source: Intel

‘Lost’ is now streaming on Hulu after leaving Netflix

Back in the day, a show leaving Netflix (like the exodus of the beloved Battlestar Galactica reboot in 2014) meant you could only revisit it by buying a collection. But Hulu spent the latter half of 2016 scooping up big-name shows that left Netflix like Bob’s Burgers, Futurama, 30 Rock and Parenthood. Today, they scored another hit show that once enthralled network viewers nationwide: Lost.

It’s been over seven years since the show aired its finale; And yes, Lost has become a byword for mystery shows with huge promises and few answers. But the show was, is, and shall be a treasure — a series that tonally jogged between humor, terror, action and romance with erratic grace and occasional brilliance. In retrospect, Lost is nowhere near as cohesive as other highly-lauded shows, but its cocktail of supernatural events and all-too-human drama was potent enough to rule watercooler conversations for its whole six-season run. (And yes, I have been dying on this hill since it aired.)

You’ll never be able to tune in alongside millions of fans again, but the show’s existential quandaries are timeless. But should you want to fire up the pilot and join the 2004 zeitgeist, you can catch Lost on Hulu now.