Kalakshar US

After a few years of staying mostly under the radar, Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger are back with a new project. It’s an app called Artifact, a name Systrom told Platformer’s Casey Newton is designed to evoke the project’s three tenants: “articles, facts and artificial intelligence.” In short, it’s a news aggregation app driven by a TikTok-like recommendation algorithm.

When you first launch Artifact, you’ll see a central feed populated by stories from publications like The New York Times. As you read more articles, the app will begin personalizing your feed. According to Systrom, the recommendation system Artifact’s team of seven built prioritizes how long you spend reading about certain subjects over clicks and comments. He added Artifact will feature news stories from both left and right-leaning outlets, though the company won’t allow posts that “promote falsehoods.”

In the future, the app will also feature a social component. Systrom and Krieger plan to roll out a feed that will highlight articles from users you follow, alongside their commentary on that content. Additionally, you’ll be able to privately discuss posts through a direct-message inbox. At the moment, Systrom and Krieger are funding the project with their own money. They say Artifact represents a first attempt to imagine what the next generation of social apps could look like. If you want to give what they created a try, you can join a waiting list for the app’s iOS and Android beta. Systrom said the team plans to invite new users quickly.

 

As the Super Bowl approaches, Airbnb rival Vrbo announced its use of “unauthorized event prevention technology,” algorithms that try to avoid house parties at rental properties. Similar to a credit system, the tech generates a risk score for each booking, giving hosts a chance to call it off.

The Expedia-owned company will score renters based on their length of stay, lead time, number of guests and other factors. Vrbo is careful to add that it doesn’t use demographical information (race, sex, gender, age and so on) to evaluate risk. If a renter triggers a warning, Vrbo sends the host an email alert, giving them the option to cancel without a penalty; guests also receive a message reminding them of the policy.

Although Vrbo is rolling out the new system nationally, it recently conducted a yearlong pilot test in the Phoenix area, where Super Bowl LVII takes place on February 12th. The trial allegedly prevented over 500 unauthorized bookings in the US, saving hosts $2.5 million in cleanup and repairs. Vrbo will also restrict same-day bookings, team up with noise-monitoring and neighborhood watch services and share data with Airbnb about troublesome renters.

The new system will automatically apply to all US bookings. Vrbo says fewer than 0.25 percent of all weekend bookings in the US have led to party-related complaints.

 

Westworld fans who’ve been mourning the show’s disappearance from HBO Max will soon have another way to watch it. Warner Bros. Discovery is bringing free, ad-supported streaming (aka FAST) channels to Roku and Tubi in the coming months. One of those channels, called WB TV Series, will feature premium shows such as Westworld, Raised by Wolves, The Nevers and The Time Traveler’s Wife. WBD yanked all of those shows from HBO Max in December.

WB TV Series, and two other channels focused on reality and family-friendly shows, will debut on Tubi as soon as February 1st, according to Variety. Eleven more FAST channels from WBD are coming to the platform soon, including ones centered around baking competition series, classic movies from the late 20th century and true crime shows. The channels will arrive on the Roku Channel this spring. All told, WBD is bringing more than 2,000 hours of shows and movies to both platforms.

Meanwhile, WBD is preparing to merge HBO Max and Discovery+, a move that’s slated to start in the US this spring. The company hasn’t announced the name for the combined service just yet, but at one point the frontrunner was reportedly just “Max.”

 

The rumors of Tesla facing a Justice Department investigation were true. The EV designer has confirmed in an SEC filing that the DOJ has requested documents linked to Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) features. Tesla says that no government body has determined “wrongdoing” as part of an active investigation, but warns that enforcement could have a “material adverse impact” on its business.

Tesla didn’t detail the nature of the request, and doesn’t usually comment on issues since disbanding its communications team. We’ve asked the DOJ for comment. However, it comes after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigated 35 crashes where Autopilot or FSD was reportedly involved, including collisions with emergency vehicles. California’s DMV and other officials have accused Tesla of falsely suggesting that its cars are truly driverless when even FSD frequently requires intervention. The state DMV and the NHTSA are worried Tesla drivers might grow complacent and fail to take evasive action when necessary.

The brand has issued mixed messages on its cars’ abilities. While Tesla’s support site make clear that Autopilot and FSD don’t represent complete autonomy and require a “fully attentive driver,” the FSD marketing page claims that you’ll only need to “tell your car where to go.” Company chief Elon Musk has long promised that true self-driving is just around the corner, but mentioned in October 2022 that Tesla was “not saying it’s quite ready” to go driverless. FSD remains in beta, although it’s now open to anyone who has paid to unlock the functionality.

The DOJ investigation comes as Tesla and its leadership face mounting scrutiny over their practices. Musk is embroiled in a shareholder lawsuit over his tweets about taking Tesla private. The National Labor Relations Board recently accused Tesla of breaking the law by asking Florida staff to keep quiet about pay and a firing. There are also lingering questions about build quality following a string of recalls. Tesla is facing growing pressure to alter its practices, and potential DOJ charges are just the latest concern.

 

Amid stern competition from other streaming platforms, Paramount Global is combining two of its services. It will fold Showtime into the Premium tier of Paramount+ later this year. The combined offering will be known as “Paramount+ With Showtime.”

Showtime’s linear TV network will be rebranded with the same name in the US. As part of the move, some Paramount+ original programs will air on the cable network — so maybe more people will finally recognize the brilliance of The Good Fight.

“Now, with Showtime’s content integrated into our flagship streaming service, and select Paramount+ originals joining the linear offering, Paramount+ will become the definitive multiplatform brand in the streaming space — and the first of its kind to integrate streaming and linear content in this way,” Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish said in a memo to staff, as Variety reports. “This change will also drive stronger alignment across our domestic and international Paramount+ offerings, as international Paramount+ already includes Showtime content.”

Showtime debuted its own streaming service in 2015, a year after CBS All Access arrived. The latter was rebranded as Paramount+ in 2021. Last year, Paramount Global integrated Showtime content into its namesake streaming service as part of a bundle. Now, it’s going a step further by unifying them.

While the move may come as a disappointment to those who are only interested in Showtime’s content and aren’t sold on Paramount+, the move makes sense from a business perspective. There’s a wave of consolidation across the media industry, including in streaming, where HBO Max and Discovery+ will combine in the coming months.

Paramount will look to cut some costs and funnel extra resources into its more successful properties amid the transition. Just as news of the streaming merger broke, it emerged that Showtime has canceled American Gigolo and Let The Right One In (a series based on one of the best films of the last 20 years), while it’s reportedly trying to offload a new show called Three Women.

“As a part of Paramount+, we can put more resources into building out the lanes that have made the Showtime brand famous, as well as turning our hit shows into global hit franchises,” Chris McCarthy, president and CEO of Showtime and Paramount Media Networks, wrote in a staff memo. “To do this, we will divert investment away from areas that are underperforming and that account for less than 10 percent of our views.”

 

If you’ve been thinking about adding Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint to your home office, this may be a good day to sign up. Today only, Amazon is offering a 12-month subscription to Microsoft 365 Family bundled with a $50 Amazon gift card for $100. The price of the yearly subscription is usually $100, so you’re essentially getting a free gift card for signing up. The deal is only good through the end of the day and the subscription will auto-renew at the end of the year, so set a reminder if you want to cancel before that kicks in.   

The year-long subscription will come as a digital download and runs on PCs or Macs as well as smartphones and tablets running Apple’s iOS or Android OS. It covers up to six people and can run on five devices at the same time, with offline access included. Microsoft 365 is the new branding for the well-known Office software and the Family subscription includes access to Word, Excel, Outlook email and PowerPoint. It also comes with the Microsoft Teams video calling app, which updated last year to include a Live Share feature enabling easier real-time collaboration. You also get Clipchamp video editor, which Microsoft acquired in 2021. Included security add-ons like Microsoft Defender and ransomeware protection will help protect your data and devices. 

Each person gets 1TB of OneDrive personal cloud storage, which not only lets you store a large amount of files in the cloud, it lets you share photos and files with other OneDrive users, across pretty much any device. 

The Microsoft 365 family subscription is activated as a digital download, but the $50 gift card will arrive as a physical card in the mail. And as we said, the deal ends today, so take advantage if you want to add Microsoft’s productivity apps to your setup. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

 

When Apple debuted the HomePod in 2018, it was already late to the smart speaker game. Sure, the company has never been worried about tardiness, choosing instead to focus on being the best. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case with its first attempt. The HomePod sounded good, but lacked a lot of the basic functionality and voice assistant smarts the likes of Amazon and Google offered. Apple has spent the last five years improving both HomePod and HomePod mini, adding features like multi-room audio, multi-user support and an intercom tool.

In 2021, Apple discontinued the original model in favor of the $99 HomePod mini. But now, the larger version is back with a familiar look, but lots of changes on the inside. Like the first, the new HomePod ($299) is best suited for those who’ve committed to Apple’s ecosystem. So if that’s not you, I understand if you don’t want to go any further. If it is, just know that the company has given its speaker a lot more tools than it had at launch five years ago, including more capable assistance from Siri and more smart home abilities. Plus, the second-generation HomePod is $50 cheaper than the original was at launch.

A familiar design updated on the inside

If you were hoping for a wholesale redesign with the new HomePod, Apple undoubtedly disappointed you. However, there are some noticeable changes upon close inspection. First, the speaker’s touch panel is now slightly recessed like the HomePod mini. On the original version, that panel sits flush with the top rim. When you trigger Siri, lighting for that panel now goes all the way to the edge too. Next, the power cord is now detachable. This means if you have an issue with that very necessary component, it should be easier to get a replacement (via Apple Care). If you have excellent vision, you might also be able to discern the 2023 model is 0.2-inches shorter at 6.6-inches tall (vs. 6.8 inches) if they’re sitting side by side.

On the inside though, Apple made a host of changes. Both versions have an upward facing woofer with a group of tweeters around the bottom. For the second-generation, Apple reduced the number of tweeters from seven to five, angling them slightly upward where previously they were almost perfectly side-firing. The company also cut the number of voice microphones from six down to four. And perhaps the most important change internally, Apple swapped the iPhone 6’s A8 chip for the much more modern S7 – the silicon that powers the Apple Watch series 7.

Software and setup

Despite the lack of changes on the outside, the second-gen HomePod is a better speaker because Apple has been improving it and the HomePod mini over time. The company added stereo pairing and multi-room audio alongside AirPlay 2 a few months after launch of the first generation model. Multi-user support and audio handoffs were added in 2019 and the intercom feature arrived ahead of the HomePod mini in 2020. And in 2021, HomePod gained the ability to play any TV audio via an Apple TV 4K over eARC and both spatial audio and Apple Music lossless streaming. So many of the key features Apple is chatting up on the new HomePod are things it has been slowly adding since 2018. And many of which, I’d argue, should’ve been there from there from the start.

Everything you need to set up and control the HomePod is found in Apple’s Home app. First, you’ll need to add a new speaker like you would any other smart home device with this software, including assigning it a room or location in your home. The app allows you to set up Automations and Scenes along with configuring how you’d like to interact with Siri.

You have the ability to disable voice cues or the long press on the HomePod’s touch panel in order to activate the assistant (both are enabled by default). You can also have the speaker light up and play a sound when using Siri – or do one or neither. The Home app will let you use Siri for Personal Requests too, where the speaker can recognize your voice for things like messages, calls and reminders so long as your iPhone is close by. The software allows you to disable the HomePod’s intercom feature as well, should you prefer not to use that tool.

Like the first HomePod, the 2023 model is equipped with room calibration. This detects reflections off of walls and other surfaces to configure the sound for the best performance. The HomePod does this the first time you play music, but it isn’t constant monitoring. Instead, like it did on the previous generation, the setup leverages an accelerometer to determine when it has been moved. If it has, the speaker will then reinitiate the room sensing process when music is played.

A smart home with Siri

When we reviewed the original HomePod in 2018, one of our biggest gripes was with Siri’s limited abilities. Sure the speaker sounded good, but the lack of polish with the voice assistant made it seem like a work in progress. Apple has done a lot to improve Siri over the last five years, so a lot of those issues with the original have been fixed.

First, the HomePod, like Siri on your iPhone, is capable of recognizing multiple users. Personal Requests can allow it to peek at your Calendar, Notes, Reminders, Messages, Find My and more when you ask. Plus, HomePod can give each member of your family (up to six people) their unique responses from certain iPhone apps. What’s more, Siri can create recurring home automations without you having to pick up your phone and swipe over to the appropriate app.

Even with fewer microphones to pick up your voice, the new HomePod doesn’t suffer any performance setbacks. It’s just as capable as ever at picking out your voice even in a noisy room. And, while playing music with voice commands used to be limited to Apple Music, services like Pandora, Deezer and several others can now be controlled via Siri.

HomePod is also a smart home hub, easily pairing with HomeKit and Matter accessories. The new model is equipped with temperature and humidity sensing, and that info is displayed prominently in the Home app. Of course, you can use that data to create automations with other smart home devices. I don’t have a compatible smart thermostat, but I was able to successfully trigger a smart plug once the HomePod detected a certain temperature in my living room.

Sound Recognition is arguably the most notable new feature that Apple is debuting with the new HomePod, but it’s not ready yet. It can listen for smoke or carbon monoxide alarms and send a notification to an iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch. What’s more, you’ll be able to “check in” on what’s happening via an audio feed or camera. Sound Recognition won’t arrive until later this spring, so we’ll have to wait to test it.

Sound quality

Audio quality wasn’t an issue with the first-gen HomePod and it’s still great here. But like the first version, Apple’s choice for tuning won’t appease everyone. There’s a continued emphasis on voice, so things like vocals in music or dialog on a TV show or movie take center stage. At times it’s fine though, with some genres and content, it leads to a rather subpar experience.

Don’t get me wrong, for the most part HomePod sounds outstanding, especially when you put it up against other smart speakers. The fact is many of those don’t sound very good at all, so Apple continues its track record for making a device that has serious audio chops and smart features. RTJ4 has ample bass for its bombastic hip-hop beats while Sylvan Esso’s No Rules Sandy gets enough low-end for its synth-heavy rhythms. Thanks to the HomePod’s excellent clarity, detailed styles like bluegrass and jazz shine. Sometimes the bass is a little too subdued for metal (Underoath’s Voyuerist) or full-band country (Zach Bryan’s 2022 live album), and the vocals too forward, but overall, it sets the standard for smart speaker sound. And the HomePod only shines brighter as a stereo pair.

When you add the second HomePod in the Home app, the software asks you if you want to use them together. Once you tell it which side the additional unit is on (left or right), the app completes the setup for you, assigning the appropriate channel to each speaker. Now everywhere you previously saw a single HomePod icon, you’ll see two, constantly reminding you of the stereo arrangement. The double speaker option is great for music. On Béla Fleck’s My Bluegrass Heart, the two-speaker arrangement adds a lot of dimensionality to each track. There was already a spatial element to the tunes, but dual HomePods heightens the sensation, making it seem like you’re in the middle of the musicians while they record each song.

When you select a HomePod for use with the Apple TV you still need to deselect your TV speakers. Those aren’t disabled just because you’ve asked the streaming box to also send audio to a HomePod or two. TV audio with stereo pair is fine, but I can’t see using a single unit for the same purpose. In a multi-room setup you might want to send the sound from a live event like the Super Bowl to a solo speaker, but having just one as your lone living room audio from a TV isn’t a great experience. While the HomePod beams sound in all directions, with a single speaker it’s clear the sound is coming from a fixed location – something that’s a lot less noticeable with a pair or with a soundbar.

As is the case with vocals, dialog takes prominence with a HomePod and Apple TV. At times it can seem slightly muffled when watching things like live sports. Otherwise, there’s good clarity, nice bass and great dimensional audio when streaming Formula 1: Drive to Survive or Slow Horses. But, honestly, if you’re looking to improve your living room audio, a soundbar and sub is a better option. The driver arrangement in those speakers does a better job of filling a room completely and evenly. Plus, most companies give you the ability to use adjustments or presets to dial in how much you want those speakers to focus on dialog so you can fine-tune things to your liking.

The competition

Because the HomePod is best suited to people who have married themselves to Apple’s ecosystem, the best alternative to the second-gen HomePod is the cheaper HomePod mini. If all you’re after is some Siri assistance with your smart home and a speaker that’s good enough for casual listening and podcasts, the $99 option will work well for you. Plus, Apple just unlocked the smaller speaker’s inactive temperature and humidity sensor and it’s due to get Sound Recognition.

Wrap-up

Apple has been preparing for a new HomePod for five years, constantly improving both the original version and the HomePod mini. And the fact that the company has made Siri a more capable companion certainly helps. Plus, there’s more smart home abilities than before. Apple hasn’t strayed from its emphasis on the spoken (or sung) word for HomePod’s sound profile, but that’s okay. It’s clear that the company is focused on expanding the toolbox for its smart speakers after their debut, so I’d expect that much like the original HomePod, this is just the beginning for the second generation.

 

Ever found yourself turning down the radio so you can focus on finding a parking spot? Music didn’t stop you seeing, but it was taking up some tangible mental resources. But what if you had a way to immediately make the music more calming? Or to change that distracting string section? That, effectively, is the promise of Aimi’s interactive music player app. It won’t help you find a parking spot, though, you’re on your own with that.

If the name Aimi sounds familiar, that’s because its self-described “generative music platform” has been available online for a while. What’s new is the mobile app, launching in beta today with 5,000 slots open globally. The mobile experience takes the endless mood-based music feeds from the Aimi website and adds the option to tweak them to your heart’s content. It’s not a full-bore music making app, more of a tailored soundtrack for when you want a certain vibe, or as Aimi calls them: Experiences. The basic app will be free, but unlocking the majority of those controls will cost $10 a month.

The app offers experiences with names such as Serenity, Flow, Electronica and Push. Each gives a clear hint at what the vibe is and there are 10 of them at launch. The slowest, Serenity, starts at 64 BPM and they ratchet up to Push’s time-honored throb of 128 BPM.

As a listener, you could just open one of the experiences, tap play and go about your business. The idea being that if what the app serves you up isn’t quite what you wanted, you can mash the shuffle button and it’ll reconfigure the track with new sounds and energy. Or maybe you liked it, so there’s a thumbs-up option to tell it “more of this please.” That’s the most basic use case, which is also the extent of the free tier – but you can take it a few steps further with a subscription.

For premium users, once you have an experience playing, swiping left will give much more detailed control. The first screen shows a cluster of circles, each one labeled after a musical part (Beats, FX, Bass and so on). Hold down one of these circles and, as long as it’s active, it’ll solo just that part. If you tap a circle, you’ll enter a sub menu where you can adjust the volume of that part along with a shuffle option for just that element and more thumbs up/down.

If you swipe left one more time, you’ll find a selection of sliders which can vary from experience to experience, but tend to include “Intensity,” “Progression,” “Vocals” and “Texture.” It’s here that you can tell the app to do things like add a little intensity, mix things up more often or deliver more/less vocals. The changes are usually quite subtle – it’s more re-adjusting than remixing. These settings are remembered, too, so the next time you fire up that experience it’ll be to your taste. Or, at least the taste you had the last time you listened to it.

All the music on offer here is of the electronic variety. And despite the relatively wide range of BPMs, there’s definitely a thread that runs through them. That’s to say, this isn’t genre-hopping in the sense that you might want a Hip Hop vibe before moving over to some Indie and back to EDM. It’s more like being at a large House club with different areas with different BPMs along with a few well-stocked chill out rooms.

According to the company, the musical loops in Aimi are created by a pool of over 150 artists including some big names like Carl Cox. Once the loops are fed into the platform, AI takes over to match the pitch, BPM and general vibe. Theoretically, you have an endless radio station of music you can interact with, and the library is set to keep growing over time. Let’s hope that includes some other genres. Hip Hop and anything with a breakbeat would instantly provide a shot of different energy here, for example. Likewise, something on the more acoustic side of things would at least provide an option for those less into electronic music.

Generative music has seen an increase of interest in recent years as technology has developed enough to make it more fluid than just burping up clips that are in time and key. Mostly this has been focused on the headspace area, meditative apps, concentration soundtracks and so on. Aimi’s main rivals here would include Endel ($15 a month) and Brain.fm ($7 a month).

While Aimi does occupy this space too, its emphasis on interactivity with its mood-based streams sets it apart. In fact, Aimi CEO, Edward Balassanian, sees it as a gateway for the musically curious. “One of the strengths of generative music is that we can use it to attract casual listeners with continuous music experiences and then introduce them to interactive music by letting them take ownership of their music experience.” he told Engadget.

This hints at a broader plan. Right now there’s the linear player on Aimi.fm and the new interactive app launching today. In the future, there will also be Aimi Studio, which Balassanian says will be released this summer. “Once we get you hooked on interacting with music through our player, we want you to feel inspired to try making music using Aimi studio. Aimi studio will be offered in both basic and pro editions for everyone from aspiring amateurs to professionals.” he added.

I’m uncertain if this will appeal to users that use something like Note by Ableton or Maschine by Native Instruments. The actual amount of impact you can have on the music in Aimi is very limited as your effectively just giving nudges to the AI rather than being directly hands on. Likewise, the section of the app where you can solo parts isn’t immediate, this means if you were hoping to remix on the fly DJ-style by cutting the bass and beats before dropping them back in on the next phrase, it’s not really designed for that.

Likewise, sometimes you can find yourself distracted by the thing that’s meant to help you focus. When I tried the “Flow” stream, the first “idea” it presented was actually a bit irritating to me, so it served the opposite purpose. Of course, I could shuffle it to something more agreeable, but the irony of being taken out of the moment, even if just temporarily, was not wasted on me.

To that end, it’s hard to see where the interactive arm of Aimi excels, at least at launch. The genres, while varied, do overlap quite a bit. The control you have over the music is quite gentle in the scheme of things and feels more like fine-tuning than an actual creator tool. The core experience of listening to chill vibes is a great alternative to your tired Spotify playlist, but that part is free and has been available in some form for a while.

Balassanian says that even more experiences from more artists will be coming after launch and once the Studio app is released anyone will be able to make loops and upload them to the platform for users to enjoy. In the meantime, you can sign up for early beta access here and start configuring your own soundtrack today.

 

Marshall already launched a few rugged, weatherproof portable Bluetooth speakers, but so far they’ve been relatively small. That changes today with the launch of the Middleton. It’s still portable enough to chuck into a backpack, but has an IP67 rating, 20+ hours runtime at mid-volume, dual woofers and tweeters pushing out 50-watts of 360-degree sound and moves into the bassier 50hz to 20kHz frequency range. It’s available in black starting today and priced at $299.

The Middleton is being pitched as the new flagship for Marshall’s portable Bluetooth speaker line and rightly so. Aside from the Tufton, which isn’t all that rugged and is significantly bigger, the Middleton is now one of the more powerful portables in the company’s stable. It’s the largest IP67 rated speaker they have on offer, measuring 4.3 x 9 x 3.75 inches, and one of the first to pump out sound from all four sides. It also ditches the rubber port stopper seen on other models, since the company has already waterproofed the components.

As mentioned, the Middleton is rated for more than 20 hours of playtime on a single charge, at low to mid volume of course. I haven’t had the chance to test this on full blast for long periods of time, but the charge does seem to hold up well. The speaker has three battery cells totaling 9,600mAh, and you can use the speaker as a USB-C power bank if needed. Also, if your charge is running low while you’re jamming out, you can always use it while its charging.

The 360-degree sound is driven by two 15-watt woofers, two 10-watt tweeters and a pair of passive radiators that serve to pump music out of the smaller ends of this chunky rectangle. The output from this four-pound device is respectable and it handles low frequencies well. You also get the trademark Marshall sound that gives you a good dynamic range and provides significant depth to whatever sounds you’re vibing on.

Just like the Emberton and Willen, the Middleton has a soft-touch exterior composed of 55-percent post-consumer recycled plastic and is 100-percent PVC free. It also has a carry strap you can easily fit your hand through. On the top, you’ll find onboard controls that provide more hands-on adjustment than its siblings. There’s a Bluetooth button (which doubles as the Stack Mode control) and a multi-use joystick for power on/off, volume control and track selection (forward or back). You also get bass and treble controls, which are a welcome addition and a first for one Marshall’s speakers without physical knobs. The level indicator works in conjunction with most of the above. It displays battery level, but also indicates volume, bass and treble levels all with backlit red lighting.

This speaker is also the biggest model to support Marshall’s Stack Mode feature. You can start a session using the Marshall Bluetooth app and pair with any other Middleton, Emberton II or Willen speakers using a double press of their Bluetooth buttons to join. It helps if you aren’t already paired with speakers joining the session. Like most Bluetooth portables, two (or more) sound much better than one and a double dose of the Middleton sound is a pleasure. The company claims you can pair a good deal of compatible speakers together, having tested up to 60 at one time. I’ve “stacked” two Middletons, an Emberton II and a Willen which worked well — once I unpaired all but the main speaker from my phone, that is.

For reference, the UE Megaboom 3 ($199) is a good model for comparison in terms of scale, although it’s been around for several years. As usual, this puts the Middleton in a slightly higher price bracket than some others out there in its size, but Marshall products have usually been priced at a slight premium. The excellent sound quality and better low-end capability definitely makes this model worth checking out.

You can order the Marshall Middleton in black from the company’s website starting today for $299. If you prefer the cream-colored option, you’ll have to wait until around Spring this year.

Specifications

Frequency Range: 50Hz-20kHz

Drivers: Two 15-watt woofers, two 3/5-inch tweeters, two passive radiators

Amplifiers: Two 20-watt class D amps for the woofers, Two 10-watt class D amps for the tweeters

Battery Type: Built-in rechargeable Li-ion 

Power Bank: Charge devices from the speaker with USB-C

Play Time: 20+ hours

Quick Charging: 20 minutes gives you two hours of play

Charging Time: 4.5 hours for a complete charge

Weatherproof: IP67

Aux: 3.5mm input

Bluetooth Version: 5.1

Range: 30 feet

Size: 4.29 x 9.06 x 3.74 inches

Weight: 4LBs

 

The European Union is eager to crack down on Big Tech’s alleged privacy abuses, but the reliance on individual countries to enforce General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules has led to lengthy cases with punishments that are frequently modest. There will soon be pressure to act decisively, however. The European Commission will now require that EU nations share overviews of “large-scale” GDPR investigations every two months. This includes “key procedural steps” and actions taken — national regulators will have to show they’re moving forward.

The tougher approach comes after the EU Ombudsman recommended closer monitoring of Big Tech cases that fall under the Irish Data Protection Commission, which regulates Meta and other industry giants. The rights group Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) made a complaint to the Ombudsman accusing Ireland’s commission of being too slow and lenient against privacy violations. Just weeks ago, Europe’s Data Protection Board forced Ireland to raise a data processing fine against Meta from €28 million to €390 million ($30.4 million to $423.3 million).

As Bloombergobserves, the European Commission is already issuing reports every two years on the overall status of GDPR enforcement. However, it hasn’t conducted thorough, frequent reviews of individual countries’ privacy regulators. This new requirement will theoretically hold all EU member states accountable if they delay investigations or don’t apply the law when necessary. This could include legal repercussions at the European Court of Justice.

Critics might not be happy with the transparency. Ireland and other nations will share their progress on a “strictly confidential basis,” according to the Commission. The public might not know if a regulator is mishandling a case unless the EU takes visible action in response. Nonetheless, this may encourage Meta, Amazon, Google and other tech heavyweights to take European privacy laws more seriously — they may see quicker investigations and stiffer fines.