Audio

There are plenty of noise-canceling headphones on the market today, and what they all have in common is an internal battery that has to be charged periodically. A company called Urbanista has revealed a new set of noise-canceling over-the-ear headphones called the Los Angeles, hailed as the first self-charging, wireless, active noise-canceling headphones. The company claims that headphones can charge themselves from sunlight or indoor lighting.

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Bang & Olufsen has been making high-end audio gear and other products for several years. The company has announced its latest product, the Beosound Emerge, designed by Benjamin Hubert of Design Agency LAYER. Emerge is a home speaker that has a very slim silhouette while being able to deliver powerful sound suited to any space. Beosound Emerge aims to be a balance of beauty suited to an interior object combined with the performance of a speaker built for longevity.

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In the multimedia experience, audio almost always gets the short end of the stick compared to video and graphics. Lately, however, there has been a growing awareness of the role that sound plays in the overall experience, especially with the rise of Bluetooth earphones and earbuds. Technologies that were once limited to large speakers are now coming to accessories as small as TWS buds and Android might soon be embracing one such technology, marketed as 360 Reality Audio, thanks to the partnership between Google and Sony.

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The Cardlax EarBuds Washer is exactly what its name implies. Because of the way most earbuds are designed, there's a good chance they scoop up earwax and all manner of other sorts of dirt and grime on a daily basis. With the device called "Cardlax EarBuds Washer", the process of keeping earbuds clean becomes a slightly more professional operation than what's otherwise pretty standard, but still not recommended: cleaning said earbuds with a toothpick.

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Google has had a terrible time keeping its upcoming Pixel phones under a tight lid. From the Pixel 3a to the current Pixel 5, leaks have left Google with almost nothing else to surprise. This time, it seems to be the one causing the leak as an unrelated email about the Google Nest confirms the existence and appearance of what may be known as the Pixel Buds A, which, considering where it appeared, also hints it might be coming really soon now.

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LG has announced the global rollout of its 2021 lineup of soundbars. Some of the models in the line promise a premium audio experience along with versatility and community control while sporting eco-conscious designs and packaging. The entire line is also designed to complement LG's 2021 line of televisions.

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Google quietly acquired Dysonics, a 3D audio startup, back in December 2020, according to a new report. The discovery was made via a recent USPTO filing and seemingly confirmed by multiple employees who now list Google as their employer on LinkedIn. Though Google hasn't commented on the acquisition, the nature of the startup hints at a bright future for Pixel Buds and Nest speakers.

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A couple of years ago, Spotify introduced a test device referred to as Car Thing, a product that featured a small display, controls, and voice command support. The device was designed for use in cars, though only as something like a tool for better understanding how subscribers listen to the service. Now, a new leak suggests, an actual consumer product may be planned.

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Samsung Free, the app that used to be known as Samsung Daily, has added a podcast player so that Galaxy users can access their favorite audio shows in the same app they use to browse news and more. This is the first time Samsung has offered a pre-installed podcast app on its phone, though it's not surprising it decided to add this functionality given podcasts' wild popularity at the moment.

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NASA has an ongoing sonification effort, which involves translating visual data into sounds. The resulting 'music' gives people an entirely different way to experience a particular image, including observations of space from various missions like the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The latest installments in the series cover three particular space scenes.

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No, we’re not talking about vinyl body wrapping, which the Lexus IS Wax Edition sports with pride. We mean vinyl records from the past, specifically a full-size 12-inch record player specifically built inside your car, and the Lexus IS Wax Edition is precisely that.

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Much of today's technology has an obsession with things we can see, from photorealistic computer graphics, through increasingly sophisticated computer interfaces, to new virtual and augmented reality experiences. Our senses don't stop at our eyes, though, and sound is an equally important part of having an immersive and believable experience. With the focus on visuals, however, creating evolved audio experiences has been traditionally more difficult and more expensive, leaving would-be soundscape creators priced out even if they know what tools they should be looking for. That's the situation that startup Spatial is trying to address, with a suite of tools and services to make creating such soundscapes more accessible to hobbyists and professionals alike.

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