Bang & Olufsen Debuts Premium Wireless Speakers With AirPlay Support

Bang & Olufsen recently unveiled a pair of new wireless speakers, the BeoSound 1 and BeoSound 2, which provide 360-degree sound displacement in cone-shaped aluminum exteriors with the added bonus of support for AirPlay (via Engadget). The speakers are priced at a premium for their sound quality and top-shelf construction, with the BeoSound 1 running for 1,295 euros (about $1,450) while the BeoSound 2 costs 1,695 euros (just under $2,000).

The difference between the two speakers lies in their size, with the BeoSound 1 acting as a more portable alternative with a rechargeable battery that lasts up to 16 hours. The higher-quality BeoSound 2 requires an AC power outlet for all of its functions. Both include 360-degree sound projection to ensure high quality music playback wherever the speakers are located, but the BeoSound 2 also packs in a “sonic power” feature that produces “goosebump-inducing” sound.

Besides AirPlay, for streaming music each speaker supports Bluetooth, Google Cast, and DLNA, as well as the ability to connect multiple Bang & Olufsen speakers into a multi-room, synchronous listening experience. Hidden on the aluminum body are a set of touch controls that let users access music playback options without needing to open a smartphone.

Combined with each speaker’s integrated cloud connection to services including Spotify, Deezer, QPlay, and TuneIn, the company says smartphone battery life will be preserved, and any calls, texts, and games can continue without interrupting the music. The connected BeoMusic app supports music control and the ability to setup the speaker’s multi-room listening feature. While each speaker includes AirPlay integration for hassle-free playback from an Apple device, Bang & Olufsen’s app itself lacks Apple Music integration, but an Apple Watch extension to the app is also available.

The company says the design of the speaker allows for the bass to emerge from the bottom, while the opening at the top generates better acoustics. Aluminum was chosen as a material for the speakers’ construction due to its “acoustic properties,” as well, which are said to include: “material stiffness, avoidance of dissonance from joints and corners, and the elimination of distortion.”

The BeoSound 1 is available to purchase now, but the BeoSound 2 won’t ship until sometime in October. Although the company has a few cheaper alternatives for wireless music playback, many of their products are known for being high quality accessories at top-tier prices.

Tag: Bang & Olufsen
Discuss this article in our forums

Apple Hiring for New Machine Learning Division Following Turi Acquisition

Following its recent acquisition of Turi, a Seattle-based machine learning and artificial intelligence startup, a pair of new job listings reveal that Apple has spun the company into its new machine learning division.

Apple is looking to hire data scientists and advanced app developers, based in Seattle, who together will help build proof-of-concept apps for multiple Apple products to deliver new and improved user experiences where possible.

Turi is the new machine learning division at Apple. We build tools that enable teams across Apple to develop machine learning solutions to power amazingly intelligent user experiences. We are looking for new energetic members to join our ML Applications team to collaborate with product teams on a variety of proof-of-concept projects.

Many of those improvements driven by machine learning were highlighted in a recent profile about Apple’s artificial intelligence efforts, including improved Siri accuracy, app suggestions, and several other examples:

You see it when the phone identifies a caller who isn’t in your contact list (but did email you recently). Or when you swipe on your screen to get a shortlist of the apps that you are most likely to open next. Or when you get a reminder of an appointment that you never got around to putting into your calendar. Or when a map location pops up for the hotel you’ve reserved, before you type it in. Or when the phone points you to where you parked your car, even though you never asked it to. These are all techniques either made possible or greatly enhanced by Apple’s adoption of deep learning and neural nets.

Apple is seeking data scientists with a minimum of 3 years experience with machine learning, with a focus on deep learning, natural language processing, image applications, recommenders, physical sensors, and signal processing.

Turi was designed to help developers build apps with artificial intelligence capabilities that automatically scale. It developed the Turi Machine Learning Platform, GraphLab Create, and Turi Predictive Services, used for functions like recommendations, fraud detection, sentiment analysis, and more.

Apple has expanded its presence in Seattle, so it is likely the new hires will accompany existing Turi employees that have remained in the area.

Tags: Apple job listings, Seattle, machine learning, Turi
Discuss this article in our forums

Apple Releases Safari Technology Preview 12 With Bug Fixes and Feature Tweaks

Apple today released another update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced in March of 2016. Apple designed the Safari Technology Preview to test features that may be introduced into future release versions of Safari.

Safari Technology Preview release 12 includes bug fixes and updates for JavaScript, Web APIs, Web Inspector, MathML, CSS, rendering, and accessibility. Several security fixes are also included.

As of release 8, Safari Technology Preview has supported Apple Pay in the web browser, a feature set to launch as part of macOS Sierra.

The Safari Technology Preview update is available through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store to anyone who has downloaded the browser. Versions are available for developers running both macOS Sierra and OS X El Capitan. Full release notes for the update are available on the Safari Technology Preview website.

Apple’s goal with Safari Technology Preview is to gather feedback from developers and users on its browser development process. Safari Technology Preview can be run side-by-side with the existing Safari browser and while designed for developers, it does not require a developer account to download.

Tag: Safari Technology Preview
Discuss this article in our forums

Liveblog: Samsung at IFA 2016 — 6 p.m. CET (noon ET) Aug 31

Get ready to see the latest in mobile from Samsung at IFA.

Where Samsung goes, we all go. And so we’ve found ourselves at the Tempodrom in Berlin — the usual haunt for Korea’s largest manufacturer of, well, everything. What to expect at this year’s IFA event? Well, Samsung’s already been teasing a new Gear smartwatch, so that’s a pretty good guess at this point.

But will we see anything else alongside it? Only one way to find out. Things kick off August 31 at 6 p.m. CET — that’s noon on the east coast of the U.S., and 9 a.m. out west.

Let’s get our liveblog on!

Galaxy Note 7 shipments delayed as Samsung conducts additional quality tests

Last week, reports emerged of a Galaxy Note 7 exploding while charging, and we’re seeing another reported instance today. It is likely that the phones were using third-party microUSB to USB Type-C cables, but Samsung is now taking a look at the situation to ensure customers aren’t in harm’s way. The South Korean company is delaying shipments of the Note 7 to conduct additional tests on the phone.

In a statement to Reuters, Samsung said:

Shipments of the Galaxy Note 7 are being delayed due to additional tests being conducted for product quality.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency is stating that all Note 7 deliveries to local carriers SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus are being put on hold while Samsung investigates the cause of the explosions. A Samsung official failed to confirm or deny the report, stating: “We are checking whether the deliveries were halted or not.”

A key change from the Galaxy S7 edge to the Note 7 is the introduction of the USB-C port. USB-C is great in that it has a reversible plug and scalable power delivery, but the downside is that using non-certified low-quality cables can potentially cause harm to your device (and you).

Shipment delays will put a dent in initial sales figures of the Galaxy Note 7, considering Samsung already sold an impressive 400,000 units since its launch in South Korea alone. That said, if there is an issue with the device, then it makes all the more sense for the company to get ahead of the problem and fix it before it escalates.

In the meantime, make sure you’re using Samsung’s official charger and cable with your Galaxy Note 7.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

• Samsung Galaxy Note 7 review
• The latest Galaxy Note 7 news!
• Here are all four Note 7 colors
• Complete Galaxy Note 7 specs
• Join the Note 7 discussion in the forums!

Verizon
AT&T
T-Mobile
Sprint

Grab the Gear VR for its lowest price yet!

Right now you can grab the Samsung Gear VR for just $60 at Amazon, which happens to be its lowest price yet. If you didn’t get a free one with your purchase or are looking for another, you won’t want to miss out on this deal. This isn’t the one that Samsung just announced with both USB-C and MicroUSB compatibility, but it will work with the Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, Galaxy S6 and S6 edge and others. The headset offers a great entry point into the world of virtual reality with its comfortable fit and precision motion tracking.

The headset is normally priced at $100, and the deal is good for today, August 31, only so don’t miss out on this $40 savings. Will you be picking one up for yourself or someone else? Let us know in the comments!

See at Amazon

Report shows Motorola is the fastest to roll out updates, but you already knew that

In the market for a new Android phone? You’re better off waiting for this year’s Google phones.

Mobile app insights firm Apteligent has published its Android manufacturer update report for July 2016(PDF), detailing the track record of manufacturers when it comes to rolling out updates in the U.S. and India. Outside of Nexus devices, Motorola is the fastest to roll out Marshmallow to its devices, and overall the company has done a great job of getting updates out quickly in spite of a few missteps.

That may all change this year now that Motorola is a part of Lenovo. The manufacturer is yet to commit to an Android 7.0 Nougat update window for this year’s Moto Z and Moto Z Droid, and that’s nothing to say of the Moto G4 Plus, Moto G4, and last year’s Moto X Style, Moto X Play, or the Moto G 2015. All of these devices are expected to be updated to Android 7.0, but we’ll have to wait and see how Motorola treats software updates under Lenovo. The company has reiterated that the Moto Z and Moto Z Droid will receive software updates, and is currently rolling out the July security patch to both handsets at the end of August.

Apteligent says that it monitored “tens of thousands of mobile apps representing hundreds of millions of application launches” for the statistics, leveraging “app loads and network data.” The dataset is selective, and doesn’t feature the likes of Huawei in the U.S., even though ZTE is included.

As for other manufacturers, HTC came in at second place, and with the Taiwanese company announcing that it will make the Nougat update available to the unlocked and carrier variants of the HTC 10, One A9, and the One M9 in the fourth quarter of 2016.

LG was at third place for Marshmallow rollout, but with the LG V20 all set to be the first phone to offer Nougat out of the box, the manufacturer is likely to pull ahead this year. Samsung was fourth, but the South Korean company has turned things around when it comes to rolling out security patches in recent months. It needs to make the patches available in more regions and on more devices, but with regards to the U.S. and Indian markets, Samsung is doing a great job.

The report also found that Sony’s phones were the least likely to crash, and that the Russian market is severely fragmented, with the top 10 phones accounting for just 27% of total usage.

Let’s talk about India

Coming to the Indian market, it isn’t hard to see that Motorola outpaces all other manufacturers when it comes to updates. HTC and LG are second and third, followed by Sony and Samsung. We don’t see any mention of Micromax, the second-largest smartphone vendor. OPPO, Xiaomi, Lenovo, LeEco, and Honor, which represent a significant chunk of the smartphone market in the country, are also absent. There’s an easy explanation for this: most of the aforementioned brands are yet to make the switch to Marshmallow.

The Redmi Note 3 is one of the best-selling phones in the country this year, accounting for over 1.75 million sales. The phone picked up the update to MIUI 8, but the base Android version is still stuck at Android 5.1.1. That said, Xiaomi is doing a great job of rolling out monthly security patches.

Similarly, OPPO’s F1s is also stuck on Android 5.1.1, and vivo’s V3 and V3 Max are running Android 5.1. OPPO and vivo are gaining market share in India by aggressively focusing on the offline market in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, which means a lot of new phone buyers are purchasing handsets with outdated software.

The main takeaway is that if you’re looking for quick updates, Nexuses — or Google phones as they’ll be called — are your best bet.

Read Apteligent’s Android Manufacturer Data Report

Hands-on with the ASUS ZenWatch 3: Android Wear 2.0 in the round

ASUS has a new ZenWatch and they’ve finally gone ’round.

This is the new ASUS ZenWatch 3. It has dual distinctions: it’s the first Android Wear 2.0 device that will see a full launch (after the botched LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE) and the first take on a round smartwatch from ASUS. The previous two iterations of the ZenWatch sported square displays, so this new ZenWatch 3 marks a significant departure for them.

ASUS wasn’t content making a smartwatch that just happens to be round, as that’s not the way the company does things. The ZenWatch 3, per the expanded capabilities of Android Wear 2.0, sports three hardware buttons. The center main button is the same as it always has been with Android Wear, but the top button can be customized to open an app of the user’s choice (the lower button was not specified, but if it’s anything like the cancelled LG watch, it’s likely locked to the ZenFit fitness app). Those buttons are the only part of the watch body that feels cheap — on each unit we tried out they had a surprising amount of wiggle, and the capped piston-style design meant there was an unsightly gap under the button cap.

Not all traditions are broken here — the back of the ZenWatch 3 sports the signature ASUS circular brushed metal pattern and a quartet of charging contacts. Speaking of charging, this is the first Android Wear watch we know of that offers its own version of fast charging called “HyperCharge”. Just dock it up and in 15 minutes flat you’ll have a 60% charge. ASUS will also include a compact battery pack for charging on the go — just attached it to the back and you’ll have a 40% charge on your hands, er, wrist.

This is the first Android Wear to offer its own version of fast charging.

That stainless steel casing is also water resistant with an IP67 rating and is available in your choice of gunmetal black, silver, and rose gold — all with options for leather or rubber straps. It’s worth noting that those straps aren’t standard lugs; the designers at ASUS instead opted for a design that allows for a clean seam between the solid lugs with the strap attached underneath the metal. It looks nice, but it also means you won’t be grabbing any old watch strap to style it your way. The rubber straps are relatively nice with a simple cross-hatch pattern, while the leather straps are somewhat disappointingly thin and flimsy feeling — though these are preproduction units, and things may change by the time the watches hit shelves.

The display on the ZenWatch looks sharp and vivid, offering automatic brightness adjustment without having a visible ambient brightness sensor. ASUS has been light on information about what’s inside this watch, saying simply that there’s a Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor driving things — this is the first watch announced with this new wearable-focused chip, which should help with both improved performance and battery life.

Other details are similarly light — we have European pricing at €229 and expect that U.S. pricing will be roughly the same number. Other details like battery life, launch date, and additional straps, and more are still unknown, but what we do know and see, we like.

Moto 360 2015 (left) vs. ASUS ZenWatch 3 (right)