NY Attorney General tells TWC its broadband is ‘abysmal’
Late last year, the New York Attorney General’s office called on internet customers to submit broadband speeds as a part of its probe into service providers keeping their promises. After the stats were tallied, the AG found one company to be the worse than the others. In a letter from senior enforcement counsel Tim Wu, the office informed Time Warner Cable that speeds customers has submitted were “abysmal.”
“Not only did Time Warner Cable fail to achieve the speeds its customers were promised and paid for, it generally performed worse in this regard than other New York broadband providers,” Wu said in the letter. “What we have seen in our investigation so far suggests that Time Warner Cable has earned the miserable reputation it enjoys among consumers.”
Wu also noted that TWC blamed the testing method for the results, a site that the Attorney General set up to log speed, location and ISP details. He also told the company that the office wants to work with the service provider to remedy the issue after Time Warner Cable promised to “redefine what a cable company can be” following the Charter acquisition.
Via: Ars Technica
Source: NY AG Letter (Washington Post)
USB-C and Lightning headphones aren’t great news for everyone
The 3.5mm port is dying — at least when it comes to smartphones. If the persistent Lightning headphone rumor wasn’t enough to persuade you, the fact that Motorola beat Apple to the punch should be. Motorola’s new Moto Z and Moto Z Force don’t have that familiar circular hole for your cans to plug into, and it now seems inevitable that almost every phone within a few years will forgo the port in favor of a single socket for both charging and using headphones.
This is a change that few people actually want. It’s driven entirely by the makers of our phones and their desire to ditch what they view as an unnecessary port.
There are literally billions of headphones out in the world with a 3.5mm jack, all of which will need an adapter to work with Motorola’s new phone. And the quality of that adapter is going to be all-important. Phones are digital devices, and headphones require analog input. To solve that, every phone has a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and an amplifier inside, which do exactly what the names suggest. The DAC converts the signal from ones and zeros to waves, and the amplifier makes those waves audible through a speaker or headphones.
The combination of these two parts (DSPs are also involved, but let’s not overcomplicate things) is what makes phones — or anything with a headphone port — sound different from one another. If you listen to the same track, with the same headphones, on an iPhone 6S and a Galaxy S7, they won’t sound identical, mainly because the two phones use different DACs and amps, which output slightly different analog signals through the devices’ 3.5mm ports.
The DAC and amp, then, are the hidden link between your music app of choice and your headphones, and their importance can’t be understated. The industry has gotten a lot better with DACs and amps in recent years, and the general standard of audio output from phones has risen, but there are still devices that are stronger and those that are weaker.
With the switch to USB-C (or Lightning) for headphones, your phone’s DAC and amp (it’ll still need one for the speaker) are being bypassed. That means this all-important component will now reside inside either the adapter (for your existing cans) or the headphones themselves (for USB-C or Lightning headsets).
In reality, those people you’d imagine to be up in arms about the change — i.e., audiophiles — probably have the least to be worried about. Premium manufacturers will be able to pick and configure the DACs in their headphones to match the analog circuitry inside. We’re already starting to see companies like Audeze provide headphones with apps that allow the listener to fine-tune the output of their built-in DACs, DSPs and amps. This can result in clearer sound at louder volumes than, say, an iPhone can provide. You’ll also have the peace of mind that whatever you plug your expensive headphones into, they will sound exactly as the manufacturer intended.
The high-end Audeze EL-8 can plug into an iPhone’s Lightning port.
For existing premium headphones, there’s already a strong market for DACS to complement high-end phones, and with the abrupt switch to USB-C and Lightning, that market is only going to grow. Audiophiles are also unlikely to be fazed by the thought of carrying around a dongle or breakout box in the name of higher-quality sound. Indeed, many already do.
Who should be worried about the change? Well, anyone who doesn’t own expensive headphones and has no intention of getting them. If you’re the type of person who spends $30 to $100 on cans, then you probably have cause for concern. You’re either going to need to grapple with what is likely to be a budget adapter for your existing headphones or choose a cheap USB-C or Lightning model.
And here’s the problem: The DAC and amp inside that $50 pair of digital headphones are not going to be of the same quality as those in a $500 pair. Nor will the sound they output be afforded the same time and effort. Instead of trusting in your phone’s DAC and amp to output decent-quality audio at decent volumes, you’ll now be contending with the choices of a company that has had to cut corners to put out headphones on a tight budget.
The argument that those spending “so little” on headphones don’t care enough about sound quality to notice is plain stupid. This isn’t 2007, and millions of people now leave those white earbuds in the box, where they belong. You can also buy some great headphones for less than $100, and although there are huge gains made above that price point, it’s a case of diminishing returns as you approach the high end of the headphone market.
In order to get the same quality offered by analog pairs, the price has to go up.
Of course, I don’t want to be a scaremonger. Bluetooth headphones already have the necessary components inside to convert digital to analog, so this won’t be entirely new territory for many companies. But to get good Bluetooth headphones, you need to spend more than you would to get good analog headphones. The same will be true for USB-C and Lightning: In order to get the same quality offered by analog pairs, the price has to go up. Sure, there will probably be, for example, JBL USB-C headphones at $50, $75, $100, etc., but they will each sound worse than their analog counterparts at the same price.
To my mind, anyone investing that kind of money deserves, at the least, to get the same kind of sound quality per dollar as they do now from their analog cans. And it’s difficult to imagine a world where JBL, or any company, will accept lower profit margins on digital headphones than analog. The price has to go up, or the quality has to go down.
Putting these components inside the headphones (or, in some cases, the cable) also has an unwelcome side effect: reduced battery life. Apple, Samsung, Motorola et al. spend a long time fine-tuning the components in their products to maximize endurance. That means limiting the output of the amplifier in order to ensure it doesn’t use too much power.
If you put the control of these variables in the hands of headphone manufacturers, they will undoubtedly choose components that make their hardware sound best rather than those that play nice with your phone’s battery. While powering in-ear headphones is unlikely to have too much impact on your battery, using a pair of cans with large drivers will. We’ve already seen this in action from some early Lightning headphones, with models like the Audeze EL-8 trimming a fair chunk from the iPhone’s already questionable battery life.
The final issue with phones ditching the 3.5mm port — and this might be the worst — is that the industry is far from finished with developing its replacement. Intel, for example, is currently working on USB-C audio in a big way. In addition to trying to standardize USB-C digital audio output, it’s also working on a system that will allow analog audio to be output through sideband use (SBU) pins. These pins are currently not being used in the USB-C spec but would allow for headphones that use the phone’s DAC and amp. That work is not yet finished, and for Apple to benefit from it would involve ditching the Lightning port, which is based on USB 2.0.
The industry is far from finished with developing the 3.5mm port’s replacement.
Given that Apple has switched to USB-C for other products and that it has no problem with killing ports in the name of progress, that’s not as impossible as it sounds. Adopting USB Type-C for headphones could even lead to a MacBook with two ports! But let’s not dream of such crazy things. Let’s get back to the Moto Z: We don’t actually know how Motorola’s system works. There’s an adapter in the box to facilitate plugging in 3.5mm headphones, but it’s not clear if it uses Intel’s in-development analog tricks or has an amp and DAC built in. Chances are it’s the latter, which is what Chinese company LeEco’s new USB-C smartphones do and what all Lightning headphones on the market today do.
This uncertainty is indicative of a real problem: By making the jump so early — before the industry has truly settled on a standard — Motorola, Apple and any other company that follows suit might have a difficult decision to make in a couple of years: Do they upset their customers with another change to audio output? Or ignore progress in the area and persist with a solution that leaves analog output in the past, even when it’s possible through a single port?
Get all the news from today’s Lenovo and Motorola event right here!
Forge your own reality with Valve’s free VR toolkit
To encourage some aspiring VR world builders, Valve is releasing a free set of virtual reality creation software called Destinations Workshop. Included in the bundle are the same Source 2 engine tools that Valve uses in-house and example maps designed to help creators learn how to use them.
“Content creators will be able to use the Source 2 game engine, the same engine that Valve uses to create its own games and experiences, to create and share their own worlds with the VR community using the Destinations Workshop,” Valve wrote. At launch, the toolkit also comes with some example scenes created with photogrammetry — the process of reconstructing 3D spaces from photographs.
The Destinations are viewable in any headset supported by Valve’s own OpenVR platform like the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift. And, for input, the Destinations Viewer is compatible with motion-tracked or analog controllers. The Destinations Workshop is available now in beta form on Steam’s Early Access.
Google Fiber considers gigabit WiFi to cheaply cover last mile
Google Fiber has been the Holy Grail of local internet aficionados for its blisteringly fast speed and independence from established internet providers. But setting up all its infrastructure is a huge, expensive undertaking. So Google’s parent company Alphabet is exploring a cheaper alternative to physically hooking up every home and business: gigabit WiFi.
Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt chatted about the high-speed wireless option, called millimeter wave technology, in a shareholder call this week. The method operates at a higher frequency than the crowded ones used by conventional WiFi. This lets the signal carry more data but makes it more susceptible to getting absorbed by walls or atmospheric moisture. Google’s no stranger to the technology, but hasn’t proposed it for commercial use yet. Earlier this year, the same team that worked on Project Loon announced Project Skybender, a plan to beam 5G internet down via speedy wireless from solar-powered drones.
The military has tinkered with millimeter wave tech for years, but it’s just now reaching consumer applications. Some mobile providers are considering using it to form the backbone of 5G mobile networks. This year’s also seen it applied to traditional internet: Scrappy ISP Starry came out in January ready to fight big telecoms by using the tech, followed by Facebook announcing its Terragraph gigabit WiFi in February. But as the social giant noted, millimeter wave falls apart over long distances and needs line of sight to achieve its 7Gbps speed improvement over regular wireless. To mitigate this, Facebook is improving its code to more intelligently route signals around its network of nodes. Even if Fiber only needs millimeter wave to cover its last mile connections, it will still have to work around the method’s shortcomings.
Source: The Verge
Apple Updates Logic Pro X With Feature and Performance Improvements, 300+ Chinese Instrument Loops
Apple today updated its professional audio editing software Logic Pro X to version 10.2.3, introducing a range of bug fixes, performance improvements, and feature additions to bring it in line with updates recently introduced in GarageBand.
The update includes three new traditional Chinese instrument Patches for pipa, erhu, and percussion, along with more than 300 new Chinese instrument Apple Loops. Sound quality for Flex Pitch editing has been improved, there’s a new Loudness Meter plug-in with support for LUFS metering, and nudge controls are now able to edit the position of selected automation points. A full list of the feature changes is below:
What’s New
This update contains numerous fixes and enhancements including:
– Crossfades between comp sections in Take Folders can now be graphically edited
– Improves sound quality for Flex Pitch editing
– 7 additional plug-ins have been redesigned to add Retina support and improve usability
– New Loudness Meter plug-in provides support for LUFS metering
– Nudge controls can now be used to edit the position of selected automation points
– Icons for Drum Machine Designer cells are now user assignable
– All Alchemy presets now include names for Transform Pad snapshots
– 3 new traditional Chinese instrument Patches for pipa, erhu and percussion
– Over 300 new Chinese instrument Apple Loops
– Ability to enable click zones for Take Folders to provide simultaneous access to editing and Quick Swipe Comping
– Multiple additional enhancement and stability improvements
Logic Pro X went without an update for several months in 2015, but after introducing a significant feature update in January of 2016 that added new drummers and tools for electronic and hip hop music creation, Apple has introduced regular updates for the software.
Logic Pro X can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for $199.99. [Direct Link]
Tag: Logic Pro X
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Philips’ New Bluetooth-Enabled Sonicare Toothbrush Connects to Your iPhone
Philips today announced the launch of the Philips Sonicare Flexcare Platinum Connected toothbrush, the company’s first brush that includes Bluetooth connectivity and connects to an iPhone to track brushing habits.
The Flexcare Platinum Connected toothbrush includes “Smart Sensor technology” to track specific brushing locations in the mouth, making sure all teeth get proper attention. It also includes scrubbing and pressure alerts to keep users from brushing too hard, something that can lead to gum deterioration, and there’s a timer and a monitor to let you know when to replace a brush head.
Sonicare is releasing an app alongside the toothbrush, which will deliver information on brushing habits and let users know the areas that need more attention through a “Touch Up” feature and a personalized 3D Mouth Map.
Sonicare will ship the Flexcare Platinum Connected toothbrush with the AdaptiveClean brush head, one of its newer brush heads featuring flexible rubberized sides and a larger size for four times more surface contact and better plaque removal.
Like all Sonicare brushes, the Flexcare Platinum Connected features several brushing modes, including Clean (standard two minute mode), White (for a quick polish) and DeepClean (a three minute clean), plus different intensity settings.
Philips competitor Oral-B has been offering a line of adult Bluetooth-connected toothbrushes since early in 2015, so Sonicare is late to the connected brushing game with the Flexcare Platinum Connected. Sonicare has, however, been selling a Bluetooth-connected kids toothbrush since late 2015.
Sonicare plans to begin selling the new Bluetooth-connected toothbrush for $199 starting in mid-July.
Tags: Philips, Sonicare
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Motorola’s New ‘Moto Z’ and ‘Z Force’ Smartphones Have No Headphone Jack
Amid rumors suggesting Apple will remove the headphone jack in upcoming the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, Lenovo-owned Motorola today announced the Moto Z and the Z Force, two new smartphones that eschew headphone jacks in favor of an ultra-thin design.
Sans headphone jack, Motorola has managed to shrink the Moto Z down to 5.19mm thick, while the Z Force, Motorola’s more powerful smartphone, measures in at 6.9mm thick. Instead of a headphone jack, both devices feature a single USB-C port which will require a USB-C to 3.5mm jack adapter to use with existing headphones with a 3.5mm headphone plug.
Smaller smartphone companies like LeEco have previously eliminated headphone jacks in their devices, but Motorola is the first major manufacturer to do so, signaling the first significant industry shift away from the headphone jack. We’re also seeing headphone companies like Audeze and Bose fully embracing both wireless headphones and Lightning-connected headphones as technology abandons the 3.5mm jack.
Apple plans to remove the headphone jack in the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, positioning the Lightning port, rather than a USB-C connector, as an all-in-one solution for both charging and listening to music with wired headphones.
With the iPhone 7 and beyond, users will need wireless headphones, headphones with a Lightning connector, or a Lightning-to-3.5mm jack adapter, which have already begun surfacing. The switch to Lightning looks like nothing more than an inconvenience on the surface, but as we outlined in a recent video, there are benefits in the form of a potential boost to audio quality.
To make the transition easier for customers, Apple is rumored to be working on Lightning-connected EarPods that could perhaps ship with the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, as well as Bluetooth-enabled wire-free earbuds similar to the Bragi Dash.
Curiously, while Lenovo removed the headphone jack from the Moto Z and the Z Force to cut down on thickness, rumors have suggested Apple’s iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will be similar in thickness to the iPhone 6s, so it is not clear what Apple will do with the extra space freed up by the removal of the jack.
Conflicting information points towards the possibility of a second speaker for stereo sound, but rumors are torn on whether or not an additional speaker will be included. A larger battery could also fill the extra space, or new as-of-yet unknown hardware.
Related Roundup: iPhone 7
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Transit Directions Expand to UK National Rail, Atlanta and Miami
Ahead of the 2016 Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple’s Maps team is working hard to expand transit directions to additional locations. Starting this morning, transit information in the United Kingdom has expanded to encompass the National Rail, which represents several public transportation systems across Great Britain.
In the United States, transit directions are now available in Atlanta and Miami. In Atlanta, Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) routes are available, and in Miami, directions are now able to encompass Metrobus, Metrorail, and Metromover routes.
Apple also appears to have expanded transit directions in California to encompass Santa Cruz, Monterey, Salinas, and other surrounding areas.
When transit directions launched in 2015 as part of iOS 9, they were only available in a handful of cities, but Apple has now expanded availability to more than 20 locations around the world.
Apple’s iOS 9 Feature Availability page has not yet been updated all of the new locations, but the information should be added in the near future. Aside from today’s additions, Transit directions are available in Austin, Texas; Baltimore, Maryland; Berlin, Germany; Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; London, England; Los Angeles, California; Mexico City, Mexico; Montreal and Toronto, Canada; New York City, New York; Philadelphia Pennsylvania; Portland, Oregon; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Sacramento, California; San Francisco, California, Seattle, Washington; Sydney, Australia; Washington, DC, and dozens of cities in China.
Tag: Apple Maps
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iPhone 7 Case: Nearly Identical Fit to 6s, Except for Camera Cutout and No Headphone Jack
With only three months to go until the launch of the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus, case makers have already started creating cases for the two devices based on rumored specifications. We were able to get our hands on a set of iPhone 7 cases, so we did a comparison video to see how it measures up to the iPhone 6.
Early iPhone cases are always built on specifications gleaned from rumors, supply chain information, and other third-party sources, and oftentimes, they’re an accurate representation of what we can expect a next-generation iPhone to look like.
Cases aren’t always spot on because they’re only as precise as the information they’ve been built on, but these iPhone 7 cases match with almost all of the rumors we’ve heard about the iPhone 7 so far.
As can be seen in the video, the iPhone 7 case fits well on an iPhone 6s, in line with myriad rumors pointing towards only minor changes for the 2016 iPhone. When it comes to size and thickness, the iPhone 7 is going to be almost identical to the iPhone 6s, with some minor antenna band changes. The mute switch, the volume buttons, and the power button on the iPhone 6s fit perfectly into the iPhone 7 case.
The iPhone 7 case does not fit the iPhone 6s camera, with a lower, wider, and tapered camera cutout. Schematics of the iPhone 7 have depicted a larger camera, presumably to accommodate an improved sensor, so we will see some design changes in the camera area. Rumors have widely focused on the dual-camera in the iPhone 7 Plus, but we expect the iPhone 7 will also be getting some significant camera improvements.
At the bottom of the case, there are cutouts for two speakers and no cutout for the headphone jack. Apple will be removing the headphone jack in the iPhone 7, but whether or not the space will be filled with a second speaker is contested. Some rumors suggest dual speakers for stereo audio, but others say the iPhone 7 will continue to sport a single speaker.
Other design changes rumored for the iPhone 7 include repositioned antenna bands, with the removal of the bands that span across the back of the device, and the possibility of improved water resistance. Inside, we expect the iPhone 7 to have an A10 processor and 2GB RAM.
You probably noticed that the cases in our video are sporting a MacRumors logo. That’s because we ordered hundreds of iPhone 7 cases in anticipation of giving them away as part of a new optional membership program that we’re launching in the near future. Want one? Sign up for our interest list to be the first to hear about the upcoming membership because we’ll be sending them to early subscribers.
Don’t worry, all current MacRumors content and coverage will remain free. Membership will offer added incentives and bonuses to our most loyal readers.
Related Roundup: iPhone 7
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Denon adds Hi-Res to HEOS, confirms wider system expansion
Denon announced a major upgrade to its HEOS multi-room speaker range in the form of the HEOS HS2 a couple of months ago and the new range is now available to buy.
The HEOS HS2 range carries the same design as the original HEOS HS1 system and the two ranges will work together but the HS2 speakers add Hi-Res audio support and built-in Bluetooth functionality.
There are four speakers within the HEOS system comprising the HEOS 1, HEOS 3, HEOS 5 and HEOS 7. Alongside this, there is also the HEOS HomeCinema, which is a soundbar and sub duo, the HEOS Drive, which is a multi-zone AMP and the HEOS AMP, which will turn any speakers into a wireless zone.
Denon also offers the HEOS Link which is a wireless pre-amplifier that will turn any stereo system into a wireless zone, allowing users to connect up a separate AV receiver for example.
Pocket-lint
This latter device might not be necessary for too much longer for everyone however as Denon has also announced its HEOS technology will be introduced to a couple of AVRs across the Denon and Marantz ranges.
The AVRs powered by HEOS will enable users to access music streaming services including Spotify, Tidal, Deezer and Napster, among others, as well as control them through the main HEOS app, removing the need for the HEOS Link.
The Denon 4300H and 6300H AVRs will be powered by HEOS when they arrive, along with the Marantz SR7011 and AV7703 but prices and availability are not yet known.
The HEOS technology will be added to other products across the brands in the future and Denon has also said it will be introducing a HEOS AVR. When asked when it would arrive, we were told sometime in 2017 so it’s all systems go for HEOS. Watch out Sonos.
