Kalakshar US

When Amazon introduced its Fire TV Omni line last year, it mostly offered affordable sets oriented toward budget-conscious consumers. At its fall hardware event today, the company announced two new models with QLED panels. Priced at $800 and $1,100 for 65- and 75-inch 4K models, the Omni QLED TVs feature “up to” 96 local dimming zones, support for Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10 Plus Adaptive. Those are features that should significantly improve the picture quality the new sets can offer over their predecessors.

New presence and ambient light sensors also allow the Omni QLED TVs to offer a feature Amazon is calling “Ambient Experience.” Taking a page from Samsung’s Frame TVs, the Omni QLED TVs can display artwork when you’re not watching a TV show or movie. At any time, you can ask Alexa to tell you more about the piece or the artist who created it. The Ambient Experience automatically turns on when you enter the room and off again when you leave. 

If you want something more practical, the TVs can also display Alexa widgets with information on the news, weather and more. You can disable the built-in far-field microphones at any point if you don’t want Alexa listening, and it’s even possible to use the TV to play music without keeping the display on. Preorders for the Fire TV Omni QLED series open today, with orders shipping in October.   

Follow all of the news from Amazon’s event right here!

 

Google is making it easier to find search results from Reddit and other forum sites. The search engine is adding a new module that will surface discussions happening on forums across the web for queries that may benefit from crowd-sourced answers.

The “discussions and forums” module will surface relevant posts from sites like Reddit and Quora alongside more traditional search results. It’s not clear exactly how Google is determining what types of searches are best suited to forum posts. The company says the new “forum” results will “appear when you search for something that might benefit from the diverse personal experiences found in online discussions.”

The feature is already rolling out for mobile searches in the United States. Google didn’t specify when it may be available more widely, but said they will consider updates in the future.

Google is also adding a new feature to news-related searches that will make it easier to browse international headlines that are published in languages other than English. With the change, news-related searches will also turn up relevant local coverage translated by Google.

The company uses the example of the recent earthquake in Mexico. With the update, search results will also show “news from Mexico,” which will highlight coverage from local outlets originally written in Spanish, but translated into English. Of course, Google Chrome and other browsers are already able to translate web pages. But Google says that by elevating stories from international outlets directly in search will help provide “new global perspectives” on important stories.

The feature, which is labeled as being in beta for now, is starting off with the ability to translate headlines and stories from Spanish, French and German into English, though the beta designation means Google is likely to add more languages over time.

 

Ubisoft has once again delayed its long, long-awaited pirate sim Skull and Bones. Last we heard, the game was scheduled to hit Xbox Series X and S, PlayStation 5, Steam, Epic Games Store, Google Stadia, Amazon Luna and Ubisoft Connect on November 8th. That’s no longer the case, as the publisher has pushed back the release date to March 9th.

“We’re very eager for you all to get your hands on Skull and Bones and dive in headfirst to the dangerous and exciting world of building your own pirate empire,” the company wrote in a blog post. “To give you the best possible experience we’ve decided to take a little more time to make sure we can deliver exactly that.”

Skull and Bones was already four years behind schedule. We had our first hands on with it in 2017 and it was supposed to be out the following year. However, Ubisoft went back to the drawing board when the game was already deep into development to turn it into a more realistic pirating experience.

While the news of yet another delay will come as a disappointment to those who’ve already been waiting five years for the game, you still might be able to get your hands on it before March. Ubisoft is planning to run an open beta of Skull and Bones. It will share more details soon.

 

You’ll soon have an alternative if the Monster Hunter games are feeling a bit stale. EA and Dynasty Warriors creator Omega Force have introducedWild Hearts, a feudal Japan-inspired twist on the beast slaying formula. You (and your friends, in co-op) take on giant creatures using not just the usual bows and swords, but gadgets you build on the spot. You can craft giant mines that explode when a monster draws near, or harpoons that hold these enemies in place.

Omega Force isn’t a stranger to the concept. It developed the monster-slaying Toukiden franchise in the 2010s. In that sense, the team is mainly refining an experience it has been developing for years.

Wild Hearts will arrive on February 17th, 2023 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC (via Epic Games Store, Origin and Steam). You’ll learn more about the gameplay in an “extended” debut on October 5th. It’s too soon to say if the game will be derivative or a fresh take, but it could serve as a welcome fix for Monster Hunter fans who’ve exhausted the most recent titles and are looking for more.

 

Over the last year, Valve has been more forthcoming about plans for its biggest Steam sales, including by revealing the dates well ahead of time. The company says the cadence will change starting in 2023. It will replace the Lunar New Year sale (which debuted in 2016) with the spring sale, which will run from March 16th to 23rd.

Valve said a spring sale was a popular request from developers and publishers, many of whom believed that the Lunar New Year edition (which typically took place in late January or early February) ran too close to the December holiday sale. “It will allow us to create more space between our four major seasonal sales and provide more opportunities throughout the year for developers to expand and execute their discounting calendar,” Valve added in a blog post. “We think many publishers will still opt to discount games around the Lunar New Year holiday, using the custom discount tools. But we suspect customers will be better served by a little bit more time between the big Steam-wide seasonal sales.”

This makes sense, as the winter sale is arguably one of Steam’s two biggest events of the year, alongside the summer one. Spacing things out more could be helpful for developers and publishers (that said, there’s not much time between the autumn and winter editions). Moreover, this move will shorten what was a lengthy gap between the Lunar New Year and summer sales, which could be handy for those who receive a Steam Deck and don’t want to wait too long to pick up a ton of discounted games for it.

Meanwhile, Valve reiterated the dates for the next two major sales. The autumn edition will run from November 22nd to 29th, while the blockbuster winter sale will take place between December 22nd and January 5th.

 

Nearly 15 years after introducing the first Kindle, Amazon is finally adding a stylus to one of its e-readers. At its fall hardware event, the company introduced the Kindle Scribe. The device features a 10.2-inch, 300ppi display with an adjustable front light and a stylus that magnetically attaches to it. According to Amazon, you don’t need to charge or sync the Scribe’s stylus, and you can use it for jotting down notes, journaling and making annotations in books you’re reading. Starting next year, it will also be possible to send Microsoft Word documents to Kindle Scribe.

Kindle Scribe will start at $339 when it arrives later this year. In addition to different storage options, Amazon will let you choose between a “basic” and “premium” pen. The latter includes a customizable shortcut button and a dedicated eraser on the top. In the US, the e-reader will come with a complimentary four-month trial to Kindle Unlimited. 

Follow all of the news from Amazon’s event right here!

 

Amazon wants to help you get better understanding of your sleep, but knows that many of us hate wearing something to bed just to track our rest. That’s why it made the Halo Rise — a bedside lamp and sleep tracker that works without a camera or microphone to track the person resting closest to it. It’ll also use machine learning to detect what sleep zones you’re in and will cost $140 when it’s available later this year.

It uses a “no-contact, low-energy sensor” to sense movement and respiratory patterns. Together with machine learning, Amazon can tell from the rising and falling or expanding and contracting of your body to determine your sleep stages throughout the night. Amazon says it “trained and validated the device’s sleep algorithm against the clinical gold standard for sleep analysis called… overnight polysomnography.”

If there’s another person or animal sharing your bed, Amazon said its algorithm can detect and exclude their activity and only include your data in your sleep summary, which you’ll see every day. The company will then offer you tips on how to sleep better, including suggestions on how to optimize your environment.

The Rise also has sensors to gauge the temperature, humidity and brightness of your room, and is also a lamp. It’ll glow in accordance with sunrise times so you can wake up to a gradually brightening grow instead of having your retinas scorched off when you open your curtains. You can also set a smart alarm that will monitor your sleep stages and wake you at an ideal time instead of disrupting you in the middle of deep sleep. 

The Rise will also work with Alexa and you can set a compatible Alexa device to start playing your favorite song as you’re waking up, based on the Rise’s insights. If you have personalized sleep routines, the Rise can also trigger them when you get in bed, turning off your lights and other devices for you. 

Those concerned about privacy can turn off the sleep-tracking sensor whenever they want, and Amazon said that all Halo health data is encrypted in transit and at rest in the cloud. You’ll also be able to download your health data, limit access to it or delete it altogether.

Though Amazon describes this as a “first of its kind bedside sleep tracker,” Google already introduced something similar last year with the second-generation Nest Hub. That device uses the company’s Soli radar sensor to monitor your breathing and is designed to be used by your bed, too. It doesn’t offer the alarm and lights that the Halo Rise does, but is based on the same principle. Google’s version didn’t work perfectly — it was tricky to set up and didn’t always know when I’d awoken. We’ll have to wait till we can test the Halo Rise for ourselves to see how well Amazon’s tracking works, but for now, it’s an intriguing device, especially for those of us keen on getting sleep insights without having to wear a gadget to bed.

Follow all of the news from Amazon’s event right here!

 

Amazon has revealed new Echo speakers, although they don’t look much different on the outside. Once the centerpiece of the company’s Alexa lineup, Amazon didn’t debut a new “regular” model last year. In 2020, it unveiled a completely redesigned Echo with a spherical shape instead of its previous cylindrical construction. The “regular” Echo isn’t getting a tune-up this time around either. Instead, the company says it has improved the audio performance of both the high-end Echo Studio and the compact Echo Dot while keeping the same overall design for both.

The retooled Echo Studio comes with new spatial audio processing that improves on Amazon’s previous 3D sound technology. The company says we can expect better stereo sound with “greater, width, clarity and presence.” The frequency range also got an update with increased mid-range clarity and deeper bass. The company’s high-end speaker now comes in a white color option and the updated version will ship next month for $200. 

For the Echo Dot, which Amazon says is the world’s bestselling smart speaker, the company has improved the audio as well. Amazon explains that it redesigned the interior to fit a larger speaker while keeping the device the same size as the previous model. The new driver offers twice the bass and clearer vocals over the last Echo Dot, according to the company. 

Developing…

Follow all of the news from Amazon’s event right here!

 

Building off of its success convincing the public to outfit their homes and offices with various Alexa-enabled Echo devices, Amazon introduced the very first Echo Auto in 2018. More than a million pre-orders and four years later, the Echo Auto is getting an upgrade, Amazon announced Wednesday at its 2022 Device and Services event.

The new unit will be slimmer than its predecessor and will include a mounting plate that adheres more securely than the last version — so make sure you really like where it’s positioned before taking off the backing film. The unit still leverages five separate mics to pick up commands over road noise so you’ll still have a good amount of flexibility in where you can place it. Once installed, it does what every Alexa does: respond to voice commands. It handles the standard fare of playing music — including a “follow me” function that allows you to switch audio from your home stereo to the vehicle as you get in — as well as navigation and hands-free calls. 

“Ambient technology is at its best in environments where people are focused on other tasks, and nowhere is that more important than in the car,” Heather Zorn, Amazon’s vice president for Alexa said during the event. “Voice can minimize distractions and help you keep your eyes on the road so you can focus on the fun of driving.”

What’s more, with help from Amazon’s cloud the $55 Echo Auto will also be able to alert the driver when their pre-ordered Whole Foods grocery order is ready for pickup will also summon a tow truck if you run out of gas. Simply say, “Alexa, call Roadside Assistance.”

 

BMW began incorporating smart voice features into its infotainment systems using Amazon’s Alexa in 2018. In the intervening years, the number of models sporting the digital assistant have only increased. At Amazon’s 2022 Devices & Services Event on Wednesday, the two companies announced a deepening of their partnership: BMW’s next-generation of infotainment systems will feature an Alexa-based assistant specifically developed with the driver in mind.

The as-of-yet unnamed BMW assistant will be constructed from an Alexa Custom Assistant, “a comprehensive solution that makes it easy for BMW and other brands and device makers to create their own custom intelligent assistant tailored to their brand personality and customer needs.” Those capabilities might include a proactive notification from the vehicle’s assistant alerting the driver that the battery charge is low while automatically reserving a charging slot at the next off-ramp or preemptively scheduling regular service with the local dealership, and “will enable an even more natural dialogue between driver and vehicle,” per a Wednesday BMW press release.