Tag: Tiny

Categories
News

Beats Solo Buds Launching in June With 18-Hour Battery Life and a Tiny Case for $79.99

[ad_1]

Alongside the new Beats Solo 4 headphones, Apple’s Beats brand is announcing an all-new entry-level model of earbuds, Beats Solo Buds. Priced at $79.99 and shipping in June, Beats Solo Buds deliver 18 hours of battery life and come in the smallest case ever designed for Beats earbuds.

beats solo buds purple
Beats Solo Buds feature a custom-built acoustic architecture and an ergonomic design with four ear tip size options for a precise fit. There is no active noise cancelation on the Beats Solo Buds, but they do offer passive noise isolation to improve audio quality. A custom microphone design paired with an advanced noise-learning algorithm help deliver improved call quality.

When it comes to battery life, Beats Solo Buds offer up to 18 hours of playback right in the buds themselves without needing to recharge, which is easily the longest battery life for any Beats earbud product.

But when their batteries do run out, you’ll need to find a power source, as the charging case does not include any additional battery storage onboard for recharging directly from the case. That not only helps keep costs down, but also allows for the tiny case that slips easily into a pocket and is 40% smaller than the case for Beats Studio Buds +.

beats solo buds black pocketbeats solo buds black pocket
With up to 18 hours of battery life in the buds, most users will be able to go multiple days without needing to recharge Beats Solo Buds at all. When that time comes, however, all they have to do is to connect a power source to the USB-C port on the case, and that power source can even be an iPhone 15. A Fast Fuel feature provides an hour of playback time with just five minutes of charging.

beats solo buds gray chargingbeats solo buds gray charging
As with most other recent Beats headphones and earphones, Solo Buds include a custom Beats chip platform that allows for tight integration across both iOS and Android with one-touch pairing, automatic setup across devices, and support for Apple’s Find My and Android’s ‌Find My‌ Device services. The Beats ‘b” buttons on the buds can be configured for a variety of functions, including music and phone call controls, voice assistant activation, and volume control.

beats solo buds red pairingbeats solo buds red pairing
Beats Solo Buds will begin shipping in June and will be available in four colors: Matte Black, Storm Gray, Arctic Purple, and Transparent Red. With the introduction of Solo Buds, Beats will be discontinuing the standard Beats Studio Buds but will be retaining the more advanced Beats Studio Buds +. The Beats earbud lineup will also continue to include the Beats Fit Pro and Powerbeats Pro, so there will be a full range of truly wireless earphone options to suit all types of users.

[ad_2]

Source Article Link

Categories
Featured

Tiny heat pump that relies on changing ambient temperature could be key to powering IoT devices and sensors without batteries forever — Nanoparticles are critical to the process, posit scientists

[ad_1]

As IoT technology progresses, the question of how to power these devices, particularly in locations where reliable electrical sources are scarce, presents a significant challenge. 

Researchers at the University of Utah’s College of Engineering have pioneered a new form of battery that could help solve this dilemma. The solution, which is at the proof of concept stage, comes in the form of a pyroelectrochemical cell (PEC).

[ad_2]

Source Article Link

Categories
Computers

Ceretone Core One OTC Hearing Aids Review: Tiny and Barely Useful

[ad_1]

Indiegogo-backed Ceretone is yet another hearing aid company aimed at people looking for a low-cost, low-complexity way to give their hearing a boost. At $349 for a pair—or $229 for a single ear’s aid—the tiny hearing aids are designed to have only a modest impact on hearing. Fortunately, they also make an equally modest impact on the wallet.

The first thing you’ll notice about the Core One is how small the hearing aids are. I weighed them at 0.96 grams each (with a small ear tip), which makes them perhaps the smallest aids I’ve tested to date—just a hair lighter than the Sony CRE-C10. The glossy white aids slip entirely into the ear canal, with only the recovery thread sticking out a few millimeters for retrieval. Unless you closely examine your ears, they are functionally invisible.

Out of the ear, they’re not so unobtrusive. Color-coded, cone-shaped ear tips (one blue, one red) provide a somewhat garish indication of which aid goes where. Only six ear tips, a pair of each in three sizes, are included in the box—although Ceretone also sent some clear tips on the side which I found a bit more comfortable. All of Ceretone’s ear tips are considered “closed” domes, which created a moderately distorted, echolike effect in my testing. At the very least, a broader selection of ear tips, including open domes that are more appropriate for users with mild hearing loss, would help to improve audio fidelity.

Two white inear hearing aids one with a blue cushion on the left and one with a red cushion on the right

Photograph: Ceretone

Echo aside, I found the Core One experience to be initially a little rocky, primarily owing to significant, screeching feedback whenever I touched the aids or the recovery thread in the slightest. While the amplification impact was readily apparent, the aids were hampered by this high-pitched interference. This was further exacerbated by problems getting the aids seated in my ears properly. It may not look like it at first, but there is a “right side up” to these aids, as the recovery thread is meant to angle downward out of the ear canal. I found this surprisingly hard to achieve owing in part to the small size of the aids, which resulted in me constantly having to fiddle with them.

The Core One hearing aids are not tuned to your audiogram, nor are any frequency equalization options available. Like many low-cost hearing aids, the volume boost is across the board, providing a steady but blunt amplification to all sounds in the spectrum. You’ll need the mobile app to control the aids, as there are no onboard hardware controls available (and no way to reach them anyway).

Even these controls are on the blunt side: Six volume settings and two program modes (standard and restaurant) are available in the app—and each has to be set individually for each aid. Bizarrely, there’s no indication of what the active volume or program setting is in the app. Instead, you have to tap a control button (say, “Volume up”) and listen for beeps to guess whether the audio is loud enough; three beeps mean you are either at minimum or maximum volume. The same goes for the program mode: One beep means you’re in standard mode, and two beeps mean you’re in restaurant mode. Again, visual cues that indicate the live status of these settings seem like a bare minimum to ask for, even in a budget hearing aid product.

[ad_2]

Source Article Link

Categories
Featured

Onyx Boox Palma review: a tiny ereader like no other

[ad_1]

Onyx Boox Palma: One-minute review

There are plenty of 6-inch ereaders, but there’s nothing quite like the Onyx Boox Palma. It mimics a smartphone’s design, right down to a rear camera, side buttons and a speaker on the top bezel. 

With an aspect ratio of 2:1 on its 6.3-inch display as opposed to the roughly 4:3 (technically 8.9:6.7) of other 6-inch ereaders like the Amazon Kindle (2022) or the Kobo Clara 2E, the Palma doesn’t offer as much width while reading. It will, however, allow you to read in both landscape and portrait orientation, a feature that no other 6-inch ereader that I’ve tested offers. 

[ad_2]

Source Article Link

Categories
Life Style

Scientists discover first algae that can fix nitrogen — thanks to a tiny cell structure

[ad_1]

1000x magnification micrograph of Braarudospharea bigelowii cell.

A Braarudosphaera bigelowii cell magnified 1,000-fold.Credit: Tyler Coale

Researchers have discovered a type of organelle, a fundamental cellular structure, that can turn nitrogen gas into a form that is useful for cell growth.

The discovery of the structure, called a nitroplast, in algae could bolster efforts to genetically engineer plants to convert, or ‘fix’, their own nitrogen, which could boost crop yields and reduce the need for fertilizers. The work was published in Science on 11 April1.

“The textbooks say nitrogen fixation only occurs in bacteria and archaea,” says ocean ecologist Jonathan Zehr at the University of California, Santa Cruz, a co-author of the study. This species of algae is the “first nitrogen-fixing eukaryote”, he adds, referring to the group of organisms that includes plants and animals.

In 2012, Zehr and his colleagues reported that the marine algae Braarudosphaera bigelowii interacted closely with a bacterium called UCYN-A that seemed to live in, or on, the algal cells2. The researchers hypothesised that UCYN-A converts nitrogen gas into compounds that the algae use to grow, such as ammonia. In return, the bacteria were thought to gain a carbon-based energy source from the algae.

But in the latest study, Zehr and his colleagues conclude that UCYN-A should be classed as organelles inside the algae, rather than as a separate organism. According to genetic analysis from a previous study, ancestors of the algae and bacteria entered a symbiotic relationship around 100 million years ago, says Zehr. Eventually, this gave rise to the nitroplast organelle, now seen in B. bigelowii.

Defining organelles

Researchers use two key criteria to decide whether a bacterial cell has become an organelle in a host cell. First, the cell structure in question must be passed down through generations of the host cell. Second, the structure must be reliant on proteins provided by the host cell.

By imaging dozens of algae cells at various stages of cell division, the team found that the nitroplast splits in two just before the whole algae cell divides. In this way, one nitroplast is passed down from the parent cell to its offspring, as happens with other cell structures.

Next, the researchers found that the nitroplast gets the proteins it needs to grow from the wider algae cell. The nitroplast itself — which makes up more than 8% of the volume of each host cell — lacks key proteins required for photosynthesis and making genetic material, says Zehr. “A lot of these proteins [from the algae] are just filling those gaps in metabolism,” he says.

The discovery was made possible thanks to work by study author Kyoko Hagino at Kochi University in Japan, who spent around a decade fine-tuning a way to grow the algae in the lab — which allowed it to be studied in more detail, says Zehr.

“It’s quite remarkable,” says Siv Andersson, who studies how organelles evolve at Uppsala University in Sweden. “They really see all these hallmarks that we think are characteristic of organelles.”

Upgraded plants

Understanding how the nitroplast interacts with its host cell could support efforts to engineer crops that can fix their own nitrogen, says Zehr. This would reduce the need for nitrogen-based fertilizers and avoid some of the environmental damage they cause. “The tricks that are involved in making this system work could be used in engineering land plants,” he says.

“Crop yields are majorly limited by availability of nitrogen,” says Eva Nowack, who studies symbiotic bacteria at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf in Germany. “Having a nitrogen-fixing organelle in a crop plant would be, of course, fantastic.” But introducing this ability into plants will be no easy feat, she warns. Plant cells containing the genetic code for the nitroplast would need to be engineered in such a way that the genes were transferred stably from generation to generation, for example. “That would be the most difficult thing to do,” she says.

“It’s both a pleasure and very impressive to see this work build up to what is certainly a major stepping stone in understanding,” says Jeffrey Elhai, a cell biologist at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Vriginia.

[ad_2]

Source Article Link

Categories
Entertainment

Logitech’s tiny G Pro X 60 gaming keyboard has some big competition

[ad_1]

Logitech has unveiled the G Pro X 60, its latest mechanical gaming keyboard. Similar to the peripheral maker’s G Pro X TKL from last year, this is a wireless model aimed at competitive-minded gamers first and foremost. Unlike that device, it has a smaller 60 percent layout, which means it lacks a dedicated function row, number pad, arrow keys and nav cluster but takes up much less space on a desk. This can be a boon for games because it leaves more room to flick a mouse around while retaining the most common action keys. Naturally, it’s also more portable.

The G Pro X 60 is up for pre-order today for $179 in the US or €229 in Europe. It’s available in three colors (black, white or pink) with either the linear or tactile version of Logitech’s GX Optical switches. The company says it’ll be available at major retailers in “late April.”

I’ve had the keyboard on hand for a few days prior to today’s announcement and have mostly been impressed, though I’d have a hard time calling it a great value.

Let’s start with the good: This thing is well-built. Its aluminum top plate is surrounded by a plastic frame, but it all feels sturdy, with no real flex or give when you press down. Its doubleshot PBT keycaps are pleasingly crisp and should avoid any of the shininess that’d develop with cheaper ABS plastic over time. The legends on the keycaps are neatly printed and transparent, so any RGB backlight effects you set will come through cleanly. All the keys are angled comfortably, and there’s a set of flip-out feet on the back.

A woman in a gray sweater holds up a white Logitech G Pro X 60 gaming keyboard up to the camera with her left hand.A woman in a gray sweater holds up a white Logitech G Pro X 60 gaming keyboard up to the camera with her left hand.

Logitech

I’m not crazy about the side-mounted volume roller — once you’ve blessed your keyboard with a full-on rotary knob, it’s hard to give up — but it’s easy to reach with your pinky, so you can adjust volume without having to lift your other fingers during the heat of a game. There’s also a dedicated switch for flipping on Logitech’s “game mode,” which deactivates keys you might otherwise hit by accident; those include the Windows and Fn keys by default, but you can add others through Logitech’s G Hub software.

The keyboard can connect over a detachable USB-C cable, Bluetooth or a 2.4GHz wireless dongle. Per usual with Logitech gear, the latter’s connection is rock solid; I’ve had none of the hiccups or stuttering I’ve seen with some wireless keyboards from less established brands, particularly when waking the device from sleep. There are buttons to swap between Bluetooth or the 2.4GHz connection built into the board, as well as a handy compartment for stashing the adapter itself. You can also connect the G Pro X 60 and certain Logitech mice simultaneously using one dongle. Logitech rates the battery life at up to 65 hours; that sounds about right based on my testing so far, but the exact amount will fluctuate based on how bright you set the RGB backlight.

The best thing about the G Pro X 60 might have nothing to do with the keyboard at all — it’s the fact that Logitech includes a hard carrying case in the box. More companies should do this! It makes the device much easier to transport.

Alas, this probably isn’t a keyboard you’d want to take to the office. The linear GX Optical switches in my test unit feel totally pleasant: They’re fast enough for gaming, and they come pre-lubricated, so each press goes down smoothly. Since they’re optical, and thus not reliant on any physical contact points, they should also prove durable over time.

The side profile of a white Logitech G Pro X 60 gaming keyboard, with its dedicated Game Mode switch in view.The side profile of a white Logitech G Pro X 60 gaming keyboard, with its dedicated Game Mode switch in view.

Logitech

But they aren’t exactly quiet. Logitech has fit a couple layers of silicone rubber inside the board, but there isn’t the wealth of sound-dampening foam you’d find in some other options in this price range. To peel back the curtain a bit: I received the G Pro X 60 just after testing a bunch of mechanical keyboards for an upcoming buying guide, so I’m a little spoiled on this point. Some people may like the obvious clack of each press here, too. I can’t imagine their coworkers or roommates being as thrilled, though, and some modifier and nav keys like Alt, Ctrl and Tab sound hollower than others.

Besides that, my issues with the G Pro X 60 are more about what’s missing than anything the keyboard does wrong. For one, its switches aren’t hot-swappable, so you can’t easily remove and replace them without desoldering. Yes, this is a niche thing, but so are $180 gaming keyboards as a whole. Being able to pop in new switches isn’t just a plus for long-term repairability; it’s half the fun for some keyboard enthusiasts in the first place. Swapping keycaps is straightforward, though.

Taking a step back, a growing number of the G Pro X 60’s peers have some sort of analog functionality, which means they can respond to varying levels of pressure. The top pick in our gaming keyboard buyer’s guide, the Wooting 60HE+, is a good example: Its magnetic Hall effect sensors let you set custom actuation points, so you can make each key extra sensitive while playing a fast FPS, then make them feel heavier and more deliberate while typing. They also enable a “rapid trigger” feature that lets you repeat inputs faster, which can be helpful for, say, strafing back and forth during an in-game shootout. Other models from Razer and SteelSeries provide similar functionality. But the G Pro X 60 lacks any sort of adjustable actuation or rapid trigger mode. That’s probably not a dealbreaker for most people, but the people who would use those features are the kind of hardcore gamers Logitech is targeting with this device.

Three Logitech G Pro X 60 keyboards -- one white, one pink, and one black -- sit stacked on top of one another against a white background.Three Logitech G Pro X 60 keyboards -- one white, one pink, and one black -- sit stacked on top of one another against a white background.

Logitech

What is here is a new remapping system called “Keycontrol.” Through G Hub, this allows you to assign several different commands or macros to each key, with three separate control layers. This is a convenient way to get around some of the design’s missing keys: I made it so holding Alt temporarily turns WASD into arrow keys, for example. But it also lets you base different actions on whether you press, hold or release a key, so you could tie complementary actions in a game — casting a couple of buffs in an RPG, perhaps — to one press. Some of the analog keyboards noted above can work like this, too, and you need to have G Hub open for some bindings to stay active. Still, it’s better to have this sort of flexibility than not. Logitech says more of its keyboards will receive Keycontrol support in the future but declined to give more specific details.

All of this makes for a keyboard that’s solid in a vacuum but faces some stiff competition. Rival gaming keyboards like the Wooting 60HE+ and SteelSeries Apex Pro Mini Wireless are a little richer with performance-focused features, while a slightly larger option like the ASUS ROG Azoth sounds better and offers more customizable hardware for keyboard geeks. There are plenty of great non-gaming keyboards that cost much less, too. But the G Pro X 60 isn’t a bad choice if you want something compact and wireless, so it might be worthwhile during a sale.

This article contains affiliate links; if you click such a link and make a purchase, we may earn a commission.

[ad_2]

Source Article Link

Categories
Bisnis Industri

This tiny gadget can do it all

[ad_1]

Photo of Tokk Cam C2+, a tiny device that's a combination bodycam, dashcam and security camera. Also shown: smartphone with view of Tokk Cam's video.
Save big on a tiny Wi-Fi camera you can use to capture video in practically any situation.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

You can’t see everything. If you’re out of the house, you might miss a package delivery. On the road, you might not see the person who cut you off in traffic. You might not even notice an animal right in front of you during a hike. But you can capture practically anything on video with Tokk Cam C2+ — a combination bodycam, dashcam and security camera.

You can mount this 1.5-inch Wi-Fi camera discreetly on your clothes, your dashboard or at home. And for a limited time, you can get one for just $48.79 with code SECURE20.

A security camera, bodycam and dashcam in one

Dashcams aren’t just a cool way to relive the most frustrating moments of your commute. If you’re driving and someone else causes you to get into an accident, your objective video record of what happened might go a lot further than your word does for your insurance provider.

The Tokk Cam saves your recordings automatically onto a microSD card, but you also can watch your video feed live using the free iCookyCam app for iOS and Android. Or you can save your videos to the cloud. (Thirty days of cloud storage comes free with your purchase.)

This little camera even boasts a built-in microphone, so the Tokk Cam can listen to people talk. (That’s super-useful when you’re using it as a bodycam.) Plus, the discrete size and maneuverable stand make it much easier to hide than full-size security cameras. Put one on your porch if you want to know when the delivery driver arrived. Or use the included clip to stick the device to your clothes as a bodycam.

The Tokk Cam even utilizes automatic night vision. Hear a weird sound at your door in the middle of the night? Pull up your phone, access your camera’s view and see what’s causing the fuss.

Save on a Tokk Cam C2+

Don’t miss your chance to save on this versatile device that works as a security camera, a bodycam and/or a dashcam.

Get the Tokk Cam C2+ on sale for just $48.79 with code SECURE20. That’s nearly 50% off the regular price of $89.99. Note: This price drop ends April 7, 2024.

Buy from: Cult of Mac Deals

Prices subject to change. All sales handled by StackSocial, our partner who runs Cult of Mac Deals. For customer support, please email StackSocial directly. We originally published this deals post on July 31, 2023. We updated the pricing info.



[ad_2]

Source Article Link

Categories
Featured

This tiny box from Samsung can hold 2TB of a special kind of RAM worth tens of thousands of dollars — CXL Memory Module Box hailed as the future of expansive server memory in the age of AI

[ad_1]

At MemCon 2024, Samsung showcased its latest HBM3E technology, talked about its future HBM4 plans, and unveiled the CXL Memory Module Box, also known as CMM-B, the latest addition to its Compute Express Link (CXL) memory module portfolio.

CMM-B is essentially a memory pooling appliance for rack computing leveraging CXL. It supports disaggregated memory allocation, allowing memory capacity available in remote locations to be shared across multiple servers. Through this, CMM-B enables independent resource allocation in the rack cluster and allows for larger pools of memory to be assigned as needed. With up to 60GB/s bandwidth, Samsung says CMM-B is ideal for applications like AI, in-memory databases, and data analytics.

[ad_2]

Source Article Link

Categories
Featured

HP’s lightest laptop could be the most powerful sub-1Kg notebook released yet — Aero 13 ultrabook has a tiny price tag, a super fast Ryzen 7 CPU but you have to wait till May to buy it

[ad_1]

Last year we called the HP Pavilion Aero 13 “probably the best value-for-money light laptop on the market right now” and it’s about to get an upgrade that will make it ever better.

The Pavilion Aero 13 2024 model, which could potentially be the most powerful sub-1Kg notebook on the market, packs a punch with its AMD Hawk Point Ryzen 7 8840HS processor. Other processor options include the AMD Ryzen 5 8640U and Ryzen 7 8840U.

[ad_2]

Source Article Link

Categories
News

Locally run AI vision with Moondream tiny vision language model

Install a local AI vision language model using Tiny AI

If you would like the ability to run AI vision applications on your home computer you might be interested in a new language model called Moondream.  Capable of processing what you say, what you write, and even what you show it. Moondream, is a small size sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) vision language mode that’s offers impressive performance from such a small AI model. With a staggering small 1.6 billion parameters, Moondream is poised to redefine how we interact with machines, making them more intuitive and responsive to our needs.

Moondream is not just another AI tool; it’s a leap forward in machine learning. It’s designed to comprehend a wide array of inputs, including spoken language, written text, and visual content. Moondream1 is a tiny (1.6B parameter) vision language model trained by @vikhyatk that performs on par with models twice its size. It is trained on the LLaVa training dataset, and initialized with SigLIP as the vision tower and Phi-1.5 as the text encoder.

This means that whether you’re a developer looking to integrate AI into your app, a student eager to learn about the latest in technology, or simply an AI enthusiast, Moondream is tailored for you. It’s a versatile model that can convert various types of information into text or speech outputs, enhancing the way we communicate with our devices. Moondream is a 1.6B parameter model built using SigLIP, Phi-1.5 and the LLaVA training dataset. Weights are licensed under CC-BY-SA due to using the LLaVA dataset.

Tiny AI Vision Language Model 1.6B

Getting started with Moondream is a breeze. The developers have made sure that anyone interested can easily set it up by providing detailed installation instructions on GitHub. Whether you’re incorporating it into a complex project or just tinkering with it for personal learning, these guidelines make the process straightforward. But Moondream’s commitment to education doesn’t stop there. In collaboration with Brilliant.org, it offers interactive courses that delve into AI, helping users to understand and harness the power of this cutting-edge technology.

Some other articles you may find of interest on the subject of the latest developments in the field of artificial intelligence vision :

The performance of Moondream is as impressive as its versatility. It has been rigorously tested to ensure that it not only understands inputs accurately but also responds rapidly. These tests aren’t hidden away in some lab; they’re openly available for anyone to see on GitHub. This transparency allows users to set realistic expectations for how Moondream can be applied in real-world situations, from powering smart home devices to enhancing customer service interactions.

Moondream is more than just a tool; it’s a a fantastic example to the incredible strides being made in local AI technology. It’s a model that not only processes complex inputs with ease but also offers flexible outputs that can be tailored to a wide range of uses. The educational resources provided by Brilliant.org further highlight its value, not just as a technological innovation but also as a learning platform. By joining the community and engaging with others, you can help shape the future of this remarkable AI vision language model. For more information jump over to the official GitHub project page.

Filed Under: Technology News, Top News





Latest timeswonderful Deals

Disclosure: Some of our articles include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, timeswonderful may earn an affiliate commission. Learn about our Disclosure Policy.