LG made a floating speaker that looks plainer than others

They may seem futuristic, but levitating Bluetooth speakers have been around for years, and look as outlandish as they sound. But LG is the first major electronics brand to throw a product in the ring, and is doing so with its classy-looking, albeit blandly named, “Levitating Portable Speaker,” which the company says it will be unveiling at CES in January.

The plain, white somewhat egg-shaped speaker unit hovers over its round base, which LG calls the Levitation Station. The latter houses electromagnets that create the floating effect, and a subwoofer for deep bass. In addition to looking cool, the speaker also promises 360-degree sound and 10-hour battery life. It’s rated IPX7 for water resistance so you can listen to it outdoors, even if the heavens rain on your parade. When it runs out of juice, the floating unit automatically descends to the base station to recharge.

Although LG’s Levitating Portable Speaker is not the first to market, its battery life and nondescript looks set it apart from its rivals. LG has not yet shared pricing information, but most other such devices cost in the range of $150 to $200, so the new speaker should cost about the higher end of that. We’ll likely find out more next month when LG shows off what this gadget can do.

Source: LG

First LG UltraFine 5K Displays Arrive Early for Lucky Customers

While the LG UltraFine 5K Display went on sale earlier this week, it was actually the second time it became available for purchase. Apple very briefly accepted orders for the display in late November, possibly by mistake, and some lucky customers who bought one received six to eight week shipping estimates.

Apple emailed some of those first-wave customers earlier this week to let them know their order would be shipping sooner than expected, typically with an expected delivery date of December 28 to December 29. But, in the United Kingdom at least, at least a few lucky customers received their displays today.

LG UltraFine 5K Display delivered to a lucky customer in the United Kingdom
“I ordered literally within seconds of them going on sale, with estimated delivery of December 28-30,” said MacRumors forum member Stealth66, who ordered two LG UltraFine 5K displays. “I received a shipping email out of the blue yesterday afternoon, and they were delivered today by UK Mail.”

“I’ve used Apple’s Thunderbolt Displays for a few years and I must say these LG 5Ks are awesome,” he added. “Very bright, incredibly sharp, and worked flawlessly out of the box, just like an Apple product! It works fine with the Belkin Ethernet adapter plugged into the back of the display.”

The forum member noted the Thunderbolt 3 cable included in the box with one of the displays was defective, prompting him to make a Genius Bar appointment to obtain a replacement cable.

MacRumors forum member iBrooker, located in Wales, said his LG UltraFine 5K Display coincidentally arrived today at the same time as his new MacBook Pro, with the deliveries handled separately by couriers DHL and DPD.

“I’ve spent a couple of hours setting it all up and have to say the display itself is stunning,” said iBrooker. “However, I’m still a bit peed that there is no headphone out—so I will have to waste one USB-C port for that. I am not fussed on the built in speakers, and didn’t really want/need a camera.”

LG’s UltraFine 5K Display, designed in partnership with Apple, connects to the new 15-inch MacBook Pro with a single Thunderbolt 3 cable, which provides up to 85W of power to charge the notebook. The 27-inch IPS LED display has peak brightness of 500 nits and a wide DCI-P3 color gamut for more accurate and vivid colors.

The display has an adjustable and removable stand with VESA mount, built-in camera, microphone, stereo speakers, and three downstream USB-C ports at 5 Gbps speeds. It has a 60Hz refresh rate and 217 PPI. The display can be purchased from Apple for $974 until March 31, when it increases to $1,299.95.

The majority of orders placed in late November should begin arriving to customers in the United States and elsewhere next week. Orders placed this week were initially estimated to ship in as few as 3-5 business days, but orders quickly became backlogged and shipping estimates slipped to 2-4 weeks.

For those still looking into purchasing a 4K or 5K display, be sure to consider the smaller LG UltraFine 4K Display or other USB-C displays available.

Related Roundup: Displays
Tag: LG
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Apple Now Selling LG’s UltraFine 5K Display, Extends $974 Sale Price Until March 31

LG’s new UltraFine 5K Display is now available for purchase for $974 on Apple’s website in the United States, with orders initially estimated to ship in 3-5 business days but quickly slipping to 2-4 weeks.

Apple has extended its $974 sale price for the display until March 31, 2017, when the price will return to $1,299.95. The discount was previously set to expire on December 31, but it was likely extended due to the display’s lack of availability until late into the month. Apple’s discount on USB-C adapters is similarly extended.

Apple teamed up with LG to create both the 4K and 5K UltraFine Displays, specifically designed to work with the new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro. Both displays connect over a single cable, but the 5K display is only compatible with the new MacBook Pro, as it requires a Thunderbolt 3 connection.

LG’s smaller 21.5-inch UltraFine 4K Display began shipping in early November, while the 5K version briefly became available to purchase in late November.

The display’s Thunderbolt 3 port enables pass-through charging to the new MacBook Pro at up to a full 85W. Its wide DCI-P3 color gamut shows more vibrant colors compared to the traditional sRGB standard. The display also has a built-in camera, microphone, stereo speakers, and three downstream USB-C ports at 5 Gbps speeds.

Tech Specs
• 27-inch IPS LED display
• 5,120×2,880 pixels resolution
• 16:9 at 217 PPI
• 60Hz refresh rate
• DCI-P3 wide color gamut
• 500 cd/m2 brightness
• 1 Thunderbolt 3 and 3 USB 3.1 Type-C ports
• Thunderbolt 3 cable included
• Power delivery up to 85W to new MacBook Pro

LG’s UltraFine 5K Display is also available in Canada for $1,274, in Australia for $1,416.95, in the United Kingdom for £884, in Germany for €1,049, and elsewhere. Pricing and shipping dates vary.

Update 8:42 AM: Shipping estimates have already slipped to 2-4 weeks.

Tags: LG, Apple retail
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Inside the factory building GM’s game-changing Bolt EV

At CES earlier this year, GM CEO Mary Barra announced, to much fanfare, that the Bolt EV would have a range of over 200 miles, cost less than $30,000 (after tax credits) and ship by the end of the year. So far, two of those three proclamations have come true. Fortunately for would-be owners, though, the automaker insists it’ll deliver on that last one too, promising that the car will begin shipping by the end of the month. Getting the Bolt out on the street isn’t just important for Chevy, but also for the future of motoring, and it’s all coming together in Detroit.

Thanks to Tesla, most people associate car tech with Silicon Valley — not Detroit. And to be fair, most people would be right. Most major automakers have “innovation” centers just south of San Francisco, hoping to recruit from the area’s talent pool. But the most important feature of Bolt EV — an impressive range — didn’t happen in an office park wedged between two startups; it occurred in good ol’ Motor City.

Nestled in the middle of its Warren Tech Center in Michigan, Doug Drauch, lead engineer for GM’s Global Battery Systems Lab, has been testing and fine-tuning power packs since the the company’s first foray into electric vehicles, the EV1. He feels the sort of excitement for battery chemistry and electronics that most people reserve for sports teams.

Drauch and his fellow engineers have built a facility capable of testing battery packs in about 99 percent of the environments a car will encounter. While there are individual machines for environmental stress tests and power cycling, the main attraction is the “Shaker,” a giant machine that can re-create the X-,Y- and Z-axis vibrations of a vehicle driving on various types of roads. In addition, the company has built a custom chamber for the giant mechanical beast for environmental and power cycling trials.

The machine is so well customized, GM could re-create the charge and power draw of a Bolt EV driving on a cobblestone road in a rainforest if it wanted. If that seems like overkill, bear in mind it’s part of a process that helped contribute to the car’s remarkable range. “Every time we run a test, we learn something new,” Drauch said.

All those findings have helped the company create a battery pack with its partner LG that will push the Bolt to a 238-mile range. Right now its biggest competitor is the Tesla Model 3, which won’t be shipping until the end of 2017. Of course, technology doesn’t mean anything if it’s not being implemented, and 25 miles down the road in Lake Orion, GM’s future is being put together.

The Orion assembly plant is pumping out the Bolt EV for the US as well as for the European market (where it’s known as the Opel Ampera-e) in anticipation of deliveries later this month. It’s being built alongside the Sonic and Sonic four-door. In my tour of the facility, the thing that struck me most was how seamless adding the electric vehicle is.

Alongside two gas-powered Sonics, assembly workers add the motors, battery pack and other parts to Bolts as they pass by. Autonomous sleds deliver the large essentials and lift them into place while the employees secure them. Bolt launch manager Yves Dontigny said that this system allows the company to ramp up production if needed.

If the Bolt is a hit, the automaker can just add more of them to the line, instead of the current allotment of one EV for every two gas-powered cars. Even the spark-producing body shop built specifically for the car isn’t anything out of the ordinary. Dontigny said that the company creates one for every car it manufactures.

But the Bolt isn’t like other cars. For one thing, it’s new from the ground up — not just in terms of design and technology, but in the way automakers bring a vehicle to market. The high-range EV went from design to introduction in three years. That’s a process that usually takes five years. And yet, because GM has been making cars for 108 years, even when it produces a high-range affordable car that beat Tesla to the market, inside the factory, at least, it feels like business as usual.

As one of the Bolts ends its journey along the assembly line, it’s fired up, the wheels are attached and it’s lowered onto the ground. It’ll join a growing fleet of cars being prepped to land in showrooms before December comes to a close. Nearly a year ago, CEO Barra took to the CES stage to share GM’s vision of the future and made a pledge that the future would appear in 2016. The workers at Orion are making sure that promise is kept — now the company just needs to sell those cars.