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Unlike most speaker companies, Focal creates its own drivers in-house, meaning it’s able to precisely tweak each driver for a given speaker model. The company created a new woofer material for the Chora line dubbed ‘Slatefiber,’ comprised of a thermoplastic polymer with non-woven recycled carbon fibers. All that translates into improved damping, rigidity, and lightness over its predecessor’s polyglass cone, promising clearer midrange. It also just looks cool: For the tweeter, Focal is its trusty aluminum/magnesium inverted tweeter set into a waveguide that presumably controls the directivity of the high frequencies and improves the soundstage....

The web is full of surprises for the uninitiated. If you want to build a website, it’s pretty simple logic to assume you can just get one of those website building apps or services, build your site and you’re off and running. But wait…once you’ve built your site, where do all of those graphics and other assorted web mechanics actually live so your audience out in the blogiverse can visit them?...

The idea of networking makes me cringe. Here’s the thing, though: I actually love connecting with people, and that enthusiasm works out for me professionally. I was referred to my job at Zapier because of a friend I made on Twitter, and the job before this was the same way. That’s networking. Now, I didn’t reach out because I wanted a job. I reached out because I thought the people in question were interesting and doing admirable work....

The 45 second ad, which was released earlier this month, pictures a futuristic looking car melting into the ether, as sounds and images of congestion, police cars, riots, crisis, and protest play over the top. For the times we live in, it’s poignant stuff — but it seems too powerful for the French. Check it out below: According to Dutch marketing news outlet, Adformatie, the advert was banned by the French advertising watchdog ARPP for inciting a “climate of fear....

Founded in 2017 and having raised €5 million, French deeptech startup Equium is seeking to provide a more ecological alternative. With this aim, it has developed a novel, acoustic heat pump core that harnesses the energy of sound. The so-called Acoustic Heat Pump (AHP) can cover a household’s heating needs without the use of refrigerants. Instead, its operation is based on the phenomenon of thermoacoustics — the convergence of thermics, acoustics, and fluid mechanics....

Since my last post, the US patent office issued over 31,961 patents and published over 24,383 patent applications. Each patent asset adds a little something new to the human knowledge base. As I cannot list all these patent assets here, the PatentYogi team has selected the five most interesting patent assets. Enjoy! Microsoft will transform how you engage with your virtual assistant (20190187787) There are a number of virtual assistants that you use through your devices: Siri, Google Assistant, Alexa, and Cortana are the most prominent examples....

It also just looks really cool. Where most modern synths are basically computers digitally modeling waveform, Gamechanger’s synth uses pickups to react to the changing magnetic field of its eight spinning motors. This is where the drone tech comes in; since the sounds are created by the spinning motors, the synth needs to be able to precisely control their speed. And though the motors are controlled digitally, it’s the fact that pickups are reacting to a physical behavior that imparts the synth with its unique sound....

Last summer, kids in Ohio went to camp not to canoe or learn archery or make crafts. No, these kids went to camp to race drones. Of course, the whole camp was virtual anyway, so it was never going to be like a traditional camp, but just the existence of a drone camp for kids is another example of the red-hot drone phenomenon. Even the youngest pilots can’t wait to grab a controller and fly....

According to a recently released analysis report from Grand View Research, the AI market is expected to reach nearly $100 billion in 2021 and nearly ten times that by 2028. Per a report from Grand View Research: This is based on numerous data points, but the most indicative might be the year-over-year growth we’re seeing from 2020 (where the market was evaluated at approximately $60 billion) to this year’s predicted evaluation of just shy of $100 billion....

While the feature previously made it possible to sift through a slew of four-year programs, Search engineer Sitaram Iyer announced the function now also pulls results for “two-year colleges, and popular certificate and associate programs available at four-year institutions.” For those new to college search, the tool works similarly to Google’s job search feature, but with a focus on helping students find a university that suits their interests and professional aspirations....

Translation: Huawei can no longer implement a full-fledged version of Android on future devices, losing access to Google services and more. Instead, it’ll only be allowed to use the open source components of Android. That means no Google Play Store, no Gmail, no YouTube – at least not without major workarounds. We have since independently confirmed the Reuters report, as have several other publications. If the breakup is permanent, it could be a major blow to Huawei’s smartphone business almost everywhere outside China....

Google is far from the first browser (not to mention extensions) to implement tab grouping, but Chrome’s approach is nicer than most. Right-click on a tab and select ‘add to group;’ the associated tabs will then be color-coded to indicate they are related. You can also label each group, helping you keep things more organized. You can also reorder the tabs within groups to your liking, and the groups are saved so you can get back to work next time you open Chrome....

XDA‘s report shows that Photos v5.18 includes four strings of code pointing to the change: “As a Google One member, you get access to extra editing features” “Get extraediting features with a Google One membership” “Unlock this feature and more with a Google One membership” “Unlock more editing features and {storage_amount} of storage with a Google One membership” So it’s pretty clear some degree of a paywall is coming. In fact, the company has already started....

Former competitors such as AltaVista and AskJeeves are long dead, and existing alternatives such as Bing and DuckDuckGo currently pose little threat to Google’s dominance. But shifting our web searching habits to a single supplier has significant risks. Google also dominates in the web browser market (almost two-thirds of browsers are Chrome) and web advertising (Google Ads has an estimated 29% share of all digital advertising in 2021). This combination of browser, search and advertising has drawn considerable interest from competition and antitrust regulators around the world....

This week, Google introduced Meena, a chatbot that can “chat about… anything.” Meena is the latest of many efforts by large tech companies trying to solve one of the toughest challenges of artificial intelligence: language. “Current open-domain chatbots have a critical flaw — they often don’t make sense. They sometimes say things that are inconsistent with what has been said so far, or lack common sense and basic knowledge about the world,” Google’s researcher wrote in a blog post....

The company’s password manager — built into Chrome and Android — will automatically send you an alert when one of your saved passwords is part of a data breach. But that’s not all: the company is introducing will let you also change it quickly in Chrome, so you don’t have to sign in to the site, and go to the change password field. Here’s how it works: when you perform the Check password action through Chrome, and if it finds a compromised password, the browser will show a “Change Password” button....

Sign up for updates: https://t.co/e3U0f0wgAV pic.twitter.com/SbBjZ0smb8 — HBO Max (@hbomax) April 21, 2020 HBO Max works in much the same way any streaming service does: it’ll be a handful of originals augmenting a veritable treasure trove of classics. HBO would seem to be a big winner in the bidding over existing content, which has become a sort of currency among the various companies — on which service will X end up, where X is a classic movie or show....

If you’re an avid tech news hound, headphone enthusiast, or Apple follower, you might’ve heard about the recent issue with noise-cancelation on the AirPods Pro. Basically, a firmware update (the alluringly named 2C54) has reduced the effectiveness of this sound-supressing feature for many users. Now, you might be suffering from this very issue — or maybe you’re just interested in the particulars of your AirPod’s firmware version — but whatever the reason for being here is, remember one thing: we’re here to help....

Google Maps is a great way to find your way around cities and towns of the world. However, it’s not perfect. You might find yourself at a dead-end in the app, while there’s a perfectly good road in front of you in reality. I know, I’ve been there. As someone who lives in complex geography like India, I’ve seen more roads than I could count that are not listed on Google Maps....

Today, while futuristic gadgets will still have a place, the focus for the homes of the future is on sustainability. It’s not a question of, “what kind of world are we leaving to our children or grandchildren?” Climate change is happening in front of our eyes. And, if we don’t act now, it could have catastrophic consequences. The target is clear: keeping global temperatures below 1.5°C. But to reach this target, we need to change our lifestyle and consumption habits, starting at home....