If you ever want to see how a company can destroy years of goodwill in a few seconds, look no further than the recent Sonos kerfuffle involving software updates. Sonos has been around since 2001 and their original gear – speakers and a clever little tablet that predated the iPad by almost a decade – was revolutionary.
(more…)Author: John Biggs
This horrifying, opera-singing robot will hunt for your orifices
What do you get when you pair a beautiful orchestra with a robot that looks like it’s trying to sneak into your body? Whatever this thing is. This wild robot, called an Alter, is part of the ScaryBeauty project. It’s designed to conduct an orchestra and even sing a bit.
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No highs, no lows, no stores: It’s Bose!
Bose is shutting all of its stores in North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia, leaving 130 stores in Asia and UAE open for now. The Bose stores have long been one of the first places consumers learned about Bose’s good-but-not-great products and it looks like online sales and the slow-moving retail apocalypse is taking down another niche player.
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Tumi is the Bose of bags… and that’s good
I’ve always avoided Tumi. They seemed a little too expensive, a little too boring, and a little too… snooty? A Tumi booth at a conference I attended featured guards that didn’t let anyone inside to see the bags and, while I can understand the desire to protect against copycats, it was a bit of overkill.
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Goodbye, Windows 7
What will you miss most? The Start menu that was actually a menu? The glossy, translucent windows? The escape from the nightmare of Vista?
After 11 years, Microsoft is officially pulling Windows 7 support. The OS, which launched in 2009, was aimed at bringing Windows users back to the platform. Hailed as an OS made for PC users, 7 tried mightily to right Microsoft’s missteps and, to a degree, achieved its goal.
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The Withings Scanwatch can detect sleep apnea
As a consummate snorer I’ve always wondered how much I’m killing myself/annoying my wife at night. I found out by going to a doctor but the folks at Withings might have a better way.
Their new Scanwatch can sense when you’re suffering from sleep apnea and watch for heart arrhythmia, two silent killers. From the release:
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Das Keyboard 4C Tenkeyless (TKL): My favorite keyboard now comes minimized
Right now I’m clicking away on a DasKeyboard that I’ve had for almost six years. It’s a wonderful keyboard, click as the day is long, and wildly comfortable. I’ve tried others – including a failed affair with a 60% keyboard that left me wanting – and I’ve always come back to Das.
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These graphene headphones are super light and super responsive
Graphene is great for audio. It’s a light material and offers exquisite audio performance when formed correctly. The folks at Ora-Sound have figured it out.
Their new GraphenEQ headphones look like fairly typical wireless headphones. They have a nice tapered design and spacious ear cups. But when you turn them on you find out what graphene headphones can really do.
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Win an iPhone 11 case from Knapsack
Hello, Dear Readers,
We’ve been running Knapsack for a few months now and we feel like we might be missing something: your input. I’d like to grab a few comments from you all about what you’re looking for in a gadget/gear site and what we’re missing.
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The WWR Gift Guide for watch lovers
OK. It’s 10 days until the big day. You have a few options for your favorite watch lover: you can give up, buy them a gift card, and call it a day or you can hook them up with one of our favorites. Before we begin, let’s offer a little buying advice.
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