12 gifts for music nerds
Nerds come in many forms. Some build stuff, some like video games, and others sweat the tiny details of audio fidelity or salivate over vintage drum machines. That latter group can be difficult to shop for if you’re not initiated in the ways of the music nerd. But don’t worry. Whether the obsessive audio freak in your life is more into making music or listening to it, we’ve got you covered. For those that love composing sweet beats, there’s the TR-09 — a pretty solid remake of the classic 909 drum machine that was essential to creating ’80s and ’90s house and techno. There are also pocket synths for musicians on the go, like the Pocket Operator line from Teenage Engineering.
For those who get their kicks more from listening than creating, there are subscription services like VNYL that deliver fresh pressed records to your door. You’ll also need a solid turntable like Music Hall’s MMF-2.3 to listen to them on, of course. And, if your favorite audiophile also happens to be an iPhone owner there’s an obvious stocking stuffer: Belkin’s Lightning Audio + Charge RockStar. This brings back the headphone jack and lets you charge the phone at the same time!
For our full list of recommendations in all categories, don’t forget to stop by our main Holiday Gift Guide hub.
Johnnie Walker’s drunk-driving VR experience lacks subtlety
You’ve probably considered the importance of avoiding drinking and driving, but I’m guessing you’ve never experienced the consequences of it in VR. Johnnie Walker teamed up with Samsung to create Decisions, a virtual reality video that lets you see, first-hand and in 360 degrees, what happens when you drink and drive. The idea is to make the consequences so real that you’ll be deterred from driving while intoxicated. I tried out the full experience this week (complete with a vibrating “4D” chair), and left feeling less chastened than I thought I would.
I received a link to the 360-degree YouTube video prior to taking the full-fledged demo, and was underwhelmed by what I initially saw. I was hoping for a first-person experience that put me in the driver’s seat; one that would somehow make me feel like I was responsible for the consequences of my decisions. But there is no decision-making for you in this video (which is fair, it’s not a game) and therefore you aren’t really responsible for what happens later. Instead, you’re an onlooker watching the bad choices made by someone else, which somewhat defeats the purpose of using virtual reality as a medium. I could watch a movie the old-fashioned way and get the same results.
Decisions follows a woman who has just received a call while on the road, saying she’s been offered a job she wanted. The film also features two other cars carrying a couple on a date and a trio of friends, respectively. The main character stops for some celebratory drinks with her soon-to-be colleagues, and chugs down a bunch of pints in an effort to bond with her future coworkers.
The video cuts between the three vehicles about eight times throughout its four-and-a-half-minute runtime, which I found distracting. The idea in cutting back and forth between the three cars is to encourage the viewer to connect with the characters, which is a bit morbid because you know from the onset that something horrible is going to happen to them. It’s also a little unrealistic, because drivers in the real world don’t know the strangers in the cars next to them. But Decision‘s creators want you to empathize with the drivers here, so that you can mourn them when they eventually die. Insisting on this relationship between the viewer and characters feels forced, though, especially since the story is finished in all of four minutes.
The heavy-handedness of the video gets especially extreme at the end of the clip. As you look on at the victims of the crash, you start floating in the air, as if you were the spirit of someone who had just died. I know it’s supposed to be poignant, this moment where you’re thinking about the people who were just killed. But it was ultimately distracting and cheesy.
My experience was slightly different at a recent event hosted by Samsung and Diageo, Johnnie Walker’s parent company. There, I was given the latest Gear VR headset and a set of headphones, then strapped into a chair that vibrates, moves and swings around in sync with the video. It simulated the feeling of being in a car, from the gentle rocking of a smooth drive on a highway, to bumping and swerving during the accident.
This was definitely a more immersive experience, and to be honest, sort of fun. I was apparently the only person who started giggling just as the simulation’s car collided with the surrounding vehicles. I felt sheepish, but couldn’t help enjoying what felt like a tame roller coaster ride, despite the awful accident unfolding before my eyes. That’s probably not the reaction the company was hoping for.
Diageo will be taking this experience (with the chair) to shows such as South by Southwest to let more people try it out. Meanwhile, those with their own headsets at home can find the video on YouTube or Facebook. The company says it will be taking in user feedback and using that to come up with new and better content in future.
The question is whether future iterations can ever be effective. My main problem with this version is that it doesn’t make the viewer decide what to do, thus absolving them of any responsibility. But even if an upcoming edition put you in the hot seat, offering options such as “Don’t pound that extra pint” or “Wait till you’re sober,” it still might not be very instructive. Picking the right option is easy, especially when the answers are so obvious. No one experiencing this demo is going to choose to drink too much or drive while intoxicated — not unless they’re curious to see what happens.
If Diageo is going to fine-tune this experience, it would do well to look at more successful efforts to generate empathy through VR. The game The Circle puts you in the body of a wheelchair-bound transgender woman who’s suffering from PTSD. It places objects out of the frame, showing how difficult simple tasks like picking up a phone from the floor can be when you can’t use your legs. The game lets you decide whether you want to engage with family members, or ignore them. Finally, The Circle induces motion sickness — a common side effect of VR — to help you further empathize with the protagonist, who feels uncomfortable in her own body.
To its credit, Decisions does use some tactics that were effective in making me feel as if I were inebriated. During the lead-up to the accident, the surrounding landscape grew blurry, I felt slightly nauseated with motion sickness, and the point of view finally shifted to show me what I had wanted to be focusing on all along: the road in front of me. But before I had time to understand that the blurriness was a result of being “drunk,” I was thrown sideways as the car slid out of control.
That’s something Diageo can improve on for its next iteration: timing. A longer experience that’s more immersive and told from the viewer’s perspective would be a better use of the medium. I also would have needed to be in an enclosed space to truly feel the terror of being in an out-of-control car. Instead, I was in a mostly open area, acutely aware that at least five people were watching my reaction.
Even if Diageo implements those tweaks, though, it still runs the risk of talking down to the viewer. One reason The Circle is so compelling is that it introduces the player to someone they probably don’t know in real life: a transgender woman trapped in a wheelchair. But everyone knows, theoretically, that you shouldn’t get behind the wheel when you’re intoxicated. You can send the same message by making people sit through a civics class full of videos of horrifying car crashes, although a better-executed, more realistic VR experience might be more compelling.
Consider AT&T’s VR experience for its “It Can Wait” campaign to combat distracted driving. That video puts you behind the wheel, and you watch as the character whose body you’re occupying repeatedly reaches for her phone to reply to texts. During your drive to work, you narrowly miss killing several pedestrians, and nearly collide with other vehicles not once, but a few times. It’s only when a car crashes into you at the end of the clip that you’re forced to understand how dangerous distracted driving is. I never saw it coming, because I had been conditioned by the first few close calls to believe that I would not get into a fatal accident.
That’s a big difference between AT&T and Diageo’s efforts: only one felt surprising. While Diageo’s video had better production value and a more dramatic storyline, AT&T’s experience was far more realistic. It also uses the first-person perspective, which I found more effective. Even though both clips have equally noble intentions, it was the subtlety in the “It Can Wait” video that made it scarier — and therefore more impactful.
As a first attempt, Decisions is underwhelming, but Diageo’s willingness to accept feedback is encouraging. But future iterations need to be more subtle and engaging to influence the viewer and let them feel like they could, under the wrong circumstances, make the same bad choices. Together with the chair and an enclosed space, Diageo’s VR setup could eventually create an experience harrowing enough to leave a more lasting impact.
Samsung Plans to Launch ‘Jet Black’ Version of Galaxy S7 in Early December
Samsung plans to launch a glossy black version of its nine-month-old Galaxy S7 smartphone early next month, according to The Korea Herald.
The report claims the new color will help Samsung compete with the popular Jet Black and Matte Black variants of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The new color could also fuel additional Galaxy S7 sales to help fill the void left by the permanently discontinued Galaxy Note 7 following battery safety concerns.
If the report proves accurate, it would not be the first time Samsung has followed in the footsteps of Apple in terms of smartphone colors. Earlier this year, it released a “pink gold” version of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge after Apple launched the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus in Rose Gold last year.
Samsung’s existing Black Onyx variant of the Galaxy S7 already has a somewhat glossy finish, so the new color would presumably be even slicker.
Tags: Samsung, Galaxy S7
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The Wirecutter’s best deals: Samsung’s SmartThings Hub is 50 percent off
This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer’s guide to the best technology. When readers choose to buy The Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, they may earn affiliate commissions that support their work. Read their continuously updated list of deals here.
You may have already seen Engadget posting reviews from our friends atThe Wirecutter. Now, from time to time, we’ll also be publishing their recommended deals on some of their top picks. Read on, and strike while the iron is hot—some of these sales could expire mighty soon.
Breville BFP800XL Sous Chef Food Processor
Street price: $400; MSRP: $400; Deal price: $320
A big $80 drop below the street price on this more powerful pick. While we did see a $300 sale last Black Friday, we haven’t seen many worthwhile deals since. The last drop to $320 was back in March for around a day.
The Breville BFP800XL is our more powerful pick in our best food processor guide. Our staff wrote, “This is the machine you want if you plan to use it several times a week or need a tough motor when cooking for large groups. But it’s twice the price of our main pick, and it’s more powerful (and much bigger) than most people need.”
Panasonic FlashXpress Toaster Oven
Street price: $120; MSRP: $150; Deal price: $100 with code EARLYBF
We haven’t seen this good of a sale since June, and sales on this model were somewhat rare this year. While we used to see $75 and $85 prices over a year ago, those have dried up and it’s consistently been $120 or more. Use the code EARLYBF in your cart to drop the price down to $100.
The Panasonic FlashXpress Toaster Oven is our pick for the best toaster oven. Brendan Nystedt wrote, “For excellent toast, strong baking performance, compact size, reasonable price, and enough room to quickly heat leftovers and frozen snacks, the Panasonic FlashXpress NB-G110P is the best toaster oven we found. It cooked toast and other foods to an even, lovely golden-brown better than most other models we tried, and its toast shade settings were among the most accurate we tested. For a relatively low price, the FlashXpress stands out from a crowded pack of mediocre, cheap models, offering performance and features we found comparable to other models that are much larger and more expensive.”
Netgear Arlo Q Wired Security Camera 2-Pack
Street price: $400; MSRP: $400; Deal price: $280 with coupon
We haven’t seen many deals on the Arlo Q camera since we only recently made it our runner-up pick. We saw it at $330 and that was already the best price we’d seen, but within the past couple of days, Amazon added a $50 coupon which drops it to $280, the best price we’ve seen by far.
The Netgear Arlo Q is our runner-up pick in our guide to the best wireless security camera. Stewart Wolpin wrote, “If the Logi Circle is sold out or otherwise unavailable, get the Netgear Arlo Q, which offers very good A/V and still-photo quality in bright, dim, and no light, relatively easy setup, smart and welcome geofencing alerts, unique and customizable activity zones that limit where the camera will detect motion, and free seven-day video recording and storage, all of which offset its slightly higher-than-average price.”
Samsung SmartThings Hub
Street price: $100; MSRP: $100; Deal price: $50
This is a new low price for the Samsung SmartThings Hub, beating our previous deal by $25 and below the usual price by $50. We’ve seen a number of sales and bundles for this hub in the past few months, but this is an excellent deal on it in standalone form, allowing you to use your savings to pick and choose what companion tech to purchase to pair it with.
The Samsung SmartThings Hub is our pick for the best smart hub. Jon Chase wrote, “The Samsung SmartThings Hub is a polished, powerful option for tech-savvy DIYers who have a desire for an integrated smart home but lack the budget for or interest in a professionally installed system. It’s easy to set up on your home network, and pairing it with other smart devices is largely seamless.”
Deals change all the time, and some of these may have expired. To see an updated list of current deals, please go to The Wirecutter.com.
Bloomberg: An OLED iPhone is coming next year
OLEDs make for better displays because they draw less power and provide much nicer color reproduction. The only thing stopping them from being on every smartphone in the world is that they’re a hassle to make. It’s one of the reasons that an OLED iPhone remains as much-rumored as Half-Life 2: Episode Three. Bloomberg, however, believes that we’ll see the device hit store shelves in limited quantities by next year. At least, that’s what Apple is planning, but like the sapphire crystal display that never was, these things can always change.
The story claims that the change will coincide with a radical new design for the iPhone to celebrate its 10th anniversary. It will be “all glass,” with an edge-to-edge design and a virtual home button in place of the physical one we currently have. But Bloomberg also says that Apple wants to push an OLED iPhone in 2017, despite there being some obvious supply constrains that it can avoid if it just waited a year. It’s believed that suppliers like Samsung, LG, Sharp and Japan Display will only be able to meet Apple’s demand by 2018.
The report says that, in a rush to get OLED out of the door, it will release one device with the specification rather than across the whole line. It doesn’t seem likely that Apple would so radically bifurcate its iPhone product line beyond the two different sizes it already offers (not counting the iPhone SE). The only main difference between the iPhone 7 and its larger sibling is display size, battery capacity and an improved camera. To introduce an OLED display (and a new design) on one and not the other seems uncharacteristic.
Then again, looking at Apple’s strategy with the new MacBook Pro: keeping a lower-priced version with function keys around since the Touch Bar hardware itself is too expensive. Although it seems like it would annoy more customers than it would delight, especially since the company makes a big deal of introducing new technologies across both of its devices. It would also muddy the sensible “Small,” “Big,” “Bigger” philosophy that the company has going on across its mobile range, and make things much more like the cluttered iPad landscape.
Source: Bloomberg
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 is its first 10-nanometer CPU
Qualcomm has unveiled its next-gen Snapdragon 835 flagship CPU and confirmed rumors that it will be built by Samsung using its 10-nanometer FinFET process. Compared to the current 14-nanometer Snapdragon 821 (also built by Samsung), the new CPU packs 30 percent more parts into the same space, yielding 27 percent better performance while drawing up to 40 percent less power, the company says. It also improved the design, which will yield “significant” improvements to battery life
Other companies, including Intel and TMSC, are working on 10-nanometer chips, but Samsung said it’s the first to start building them. Samsung VP Jong Shik Yoon says “this collaboration is an important milestone for our foundry business,” and no doubt a shot of good news to distract from Samsung’s smartphone problems. Qualcomm expects devices with the first Snapdragon 835 processors, possibly including Samsung’s Galaxy S8, to arrive in the first half of 2017. It reportedly has a Snapdragon 830 coming too, but is still mum about that CPU.
The new chip comes with Quick Charge 4, which supports 20 percent faster charging than Qualcomm’s last-gen tech. That, the company says, will give you up to five hours of extra battery life with just a five minute charge. In just 15 minutes, it’ll give Snapdragon 835 phones a half-full battery.
The system uses its “INOV” (Intelligent Negotiation for Optimum Voltge) tech, and says the tech is compatible with Google’s new guidelines for USB Type-C charging. Google previously said that Qualcomm’s Quickcharge 3.0 was not, in effect, compatible with its Nougat specs (above). Mountain View was trying to avoid multiple charge standards that could make it easy to plug the wrong charger into a phone and possibly fry it, or worse, cause a fire or explosion. For instance, OnePlus released a cable that works fine on the OnePlus 2 but can damage other phones or chargers.
However, Qualcomm says its system has “advanced safety features for both the adapter and mobile device.” It can gauge current, voltage and temperature to safeguard the battery, cables and connectors. “An additional layer of protection is also being added to help prevent battery overcharging and regulate current throughout every charge cycle,” its press release notes.
The addition of “compatibility with USB Power Delivery” means that it should meet Google’s compatibility specs. That’s a good thing, as Google said it may take a harder line on future releases. “While this is called out as ‘STRONGLY RECOMMENDED.’ in future Android versions we might REQUIRE all type-C devices to support full interoperability with standard type-C chargers,” its spec says (emphasis theirs).
Samsung Pay rewards program encourages you to shop
Most mobile payment systems don’t really offer incentives to shop besides convenience, but Samsung wants to dangle a bigger carrot in front of its users. It’s launching a rewards program for Samsung Pay (appropriately, Samsung Rewards) that gives you perks whenever you use the service in the US, whether it’s at retail or online. Much like typical banking card rewards, you earn points with each purchase that can go toward bonuses — other Samsung products, a Visa prepaid card and gift cards for certain stores. You can also enter giveaways, and loyalty tiers reward frequent shoppers with point multipliers.
The company is quick to mention that these rewards come in addition to whatever your cards offer, not in place of them. Also, since many debit cards don’t have points programs, this provides bonuses that you won’t get if you’re normally averse to using credit. Samsung Rewards should be available this week, and it should expand to include everything from Samsung’s website through to S Health. Anyone who signs up before the end of 2016 will receive double the usual points, too.
It’s a clever strategy, and it might be a necessary one. As rapidly as Samsung Pay has grown since it launched, it’s still relatively small next to Apple Pay — the iPhone-centric service had the luxuries of both a year-long head start and Apple’s home turf advantage in brand recognition. This would not only give fence-sitting Galaxy owners a better reason to try Samsung Pay, but existing users a reason to stick with it and leave their physical cards in their wallets.
Source: Samsung Newsroom
Samsung Buying Automobile Accessory Company Harman for $8 Billion
Samsung Electronics has announced that it will spend $8 billion to purchase Harman International Industries Inc, a company which designs and manufactures connected automobile infotainment systems. The buyout of Harman is Samsung’s “largest ever overseas acquisition” and sets up the company to become the “go-to supplier” for automobile accessories and systems (via Bloomberg).
Harman’s customers, including BMW, Volkswagen, and General Motors Co., will now become clients of Samsung following the acquisition, placing the South Korean company in the “top ranks of auto technology suppliers.” Harman is a major home audio company as well, with products under brands like JBL, Infinity, Harman/Kardon, and more.
The announcement comes a few days after Jay Y. Lee officially became the vice chairman on Samsung’s board. According to analyst Park Kang-ho, the acquisition is the first of many moves that solidifies Samsung’s “life after smartphones,” which Kang-ho believes to be electric vehicles.
“This is the first deal cut after Jay Y. joined the board and shows his management style is different from his father. He is an aggressive deal maker,” said Park Kang-ho, an analyst with Daishin Securities Co. “In the longer term, Samsung is thinking that life after smartphones is electric vehicles.”
Samsung previously purchased a stake in Chinese electric-car maker BYD Co., but its automotive aspirations appear to momentarily focus solely on continuing its history as a components manufacturer, rather than entering the market with its own vehicle. With Harman, Samsung could produce new products for internet-connected cars with attention focused on navigation, multimedia entertainment, security systems and analytics tools.
“Harman perfectly complements Samsung in terms of technologies, products and solutions, and joining forces is a natural extension of the automotive strategy we have been pursuing for some time,” Vice Chairman Kwon Oh-hyun said in the statement. “Harman immediately establishes a strong foundation for Samsung to grow our automotive platform.”
Besides expanding the scope of Samsung’s future, the Harman acquisition could also help the company find its “next leg of growth” and move away from a reliance on smartphone sales, made worse this year by the Galaxy Note 7 recall. In total, market research firm IDC estimated that Samsung shipped 72.5 million smartphones in Q3 2016, which was down 13.5% compared to the estimated 83.8 million smartphones it shipped in the same quarter in 2015.
Tag: Samsung
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Samsung buys auto and audio giant Harman for $8 billion
Samsung has acquired Harman International Industries, an auto parts supplier best known by consumers for its Harman Kardon audio division. The $8 billion, all-cash deal is the largest in Samsung’s history, and an unusual move for a company that normally develops tech in-house. It instantly makes Samsung a much bigger player in the connected and autonomous vehicle industry dominated by Google, Apple and automakers like Tesla, GM and Volvo.
Harman CEO Dinesh Paliwal says that Samsung’s displays, connectivity and processing tech is a good fit with his firm’s automotive products. “Samsung is an ideal partner for Harman and this transaction will provide tremendous benefits to our automotive customers,” he said in a press release. Samsung Vice Chair Oh-Hyun Kwon added that Harman has an “unmatched automotive order pipeline” and a “strong foundation for Samsung to grow our automotive platform.”
Samsung’s largest previous acquisition was a deal to buy AST for $840 million back in the ’90s. If you don’t remember AST, that’s because Samsung was forced to close the division shortly after purchasing it. That failure is the main reason Samsung decided to do its own research rather acquiring companies to gain new technology.
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Samsung paid a 28 percent premium over Harman’s current share price, but Harman has a projected order backlog of $24 billion, according to the WSJ. While the California-based firm is known for audio products like Harman Kardon, JBL and dbx, about two-thirds of its sales come from the auto industry. The company builds infotainment, connected safety, security and telematics devices and services used in over 30 million vehicles built by BMW, Toyota, Volkswagen and other automakers.
Samsung reportedly put a task force together to figure out how to break into the automotive market and decided it would take too long to do it internally. It chose to go the acquisition route instead, and reportedly started talks with Harman in the summer. Samsung has cash reserves of around $70 billion and “expects to use cash on hand to fund the transaction.” The deal should close in mid-2017.
Via: WSJ
Source: Samsung
ICYMI: Snap Inc. knows people want its video sunglasses
Today on In Case You Missed It: Snap Inc. dropped a Spectacles vending machine in Southern California and the sunglasses were snapped up in no time. If you don’t have the thousands of dollars handy that you’d need to pay for them on eBay, you can virtually try them on inside Snapchat by taking a photo of the ghost logo on the Spectacles site (which is what I did in today’s photo. Ugh.). The video of the vending machine giggling to earth is here.
The story about Samsung filing a patent for a smartphone that folds in half is here. The Nature study about monkeys being able to walk again after paralysis is here. And while there are many things to catch up on this week, we recommend reading up on President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for the Environmental Protection Agency’s transition team. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
AIVAnet 