Category: Technology

It feels like social audio had its moment, doesn’t it? That it was a pandemic-induced trend, which is still valuable to some degree, but is unlikely to become the transformative, connective tool that many envisioned back when Clubhouse had a $4 billion valuation.

Clubhouse is now struggling to maintain growth, Facebook has all but abandoned its audio social initiatives, and other apps, while they keep trying, don’t really seem to be gaining a heap of traction with their copycat functions.

Which leads to Twitter Spaces.

Of all the audio social additions, Spaces seemed to gain the most traction, and with Twitter’s established network to latch onto, it also seemed like the most likely to succeed, long term.

But it hasn’t become a big element of the Twitter experience just yet.

Can it? It definitely appears as though Twitter still has faith, as it continues to experiment with new Spaces options and tools, while Spaces also still has its own tab in the lower function bar of the app, highlighting the potential that Twitter sees in it enhancing the user experience.

And the next stage might be coming – according to new screenshots, Twitter is getting closer to launching a revamped version of the Spaces tab which will separate audio broadcasts, both live and recorded, into topics, in what looks similar to a podcast display.

As you can see in this extended layout exampleposted by app researcher Alessandro PaluzziTwitter’s new topic-based approach to Spaces will make it easier to find content on key discussions of interest, including dedicated displays of the latest broadcasts on ‘News’, ‘Sports’, ‘Music’ and more.

Twitter’s been working on the new format for some time, with its initial topics layout spotted in testing back in June, which also, at that time, included popular podcasts in the feed.

That, along with the addition of recorded Spaces, seemed to suggest that Twitter was looking to incorporate podcast discovery into its audio tools, expanding its listings beyond Spaces content alone.

That could make Twitter a more essential audio companion, while also providing more capacity for Spaces hosts to convert their streams into downloadable, potentially monetizable shows, while the more dedicated topics approach would improve the discoverability of Spaces content, which has been a key issue impeding Spaces take-up.

Because, most of the time, the majority of in-progress Spaces are not relevant. Tap on the Spaces tab and you’ll see a heap of Web3 and NFT chats. But if you’re not into those topics, there’s generally not a heap of variety at any given time.

Accessible, categorized Spaces recordings solves this, while the addition of other popular podcasts could also get more people turning to the app when they’re looking for audio content – ​​though it is notable that this latest example doesn’t show existing podcasts in the same way as the original test.

That may be why Twitter recently asked TechCrunch not to share these early images, as it’s still working on the format. Maybe Twitter couldn’t secure licensing to include outside podcasts in the new display – though, either way, it still seems like an improvement, which, if nothing else, will give Spaces the best chance to succeed.

And it still might. Time Magazine, for example, is regularly broadcasting via Spaces over summer, which could result in it making Spaces an ongoing content avenue.

That could get more people listening – but the main issue with Spaces remains the same as it was with video live-streaming before it.

When you open up a broadcast tool to everyone, you’re going to get a lot of bad content. That’s inevitable – as more people get the opportunity to broadcast, they’re going to, and only a finite number of creators have the actual talent and skill required to create consistent, engaging content, with broad audience appeal.

As such, you need filters, you need tools to be able to highlight the best, to showcase the cream of the crop, in order to deliver the best experience, which will then keep people coming back.

At present, Twitter’s Spaces tab doesn’t do that, but maybe, with more specific curation, and the addition of recordings, and potentially outside podcasts, that could still happen, and could make Spaces a more valuable element.

Bose’s Noise Canceling Headphones 700 are now on sale at Amazon for 20% off or $300 (opens in new tab)down from their retail price of $380.

We are generally big fans of Bose headphones, and the 700 are no different, with us giving them a solid four-star review. They’re stylish, comfortable, produce a crystal-clear sound, and add excellent noise-canceling into the bargain.

Best Bose 700 deal

One of the most frustrating hobbies I ever took up was archery, but not because it’s hard to hit a target on the wall (it is, but I got pretty good at that). My problem was that one of the popular ways to go out and have fun with archery was to do “3D shoots,” where you would have to shoot at a series of statues of animals, each positioned at an unknown distance.

Estimating distance turned out to be my downfall. If you don’t have a good sense of how far away the fake deer is, you’ll end up shooting way over its back or burying your arrow under the ground beneath its feet. At the time, I assumed that estimating distance was less a learnable skill and more a gut feeling. Hence my surprise when I recently came across a quick eyeball-and-mental-maths trick that allows anyone to estimate distance pretty accurately.

The technique involves some gut-level estimation, but a much easier type. Then you just multiply by 10. Here’s how it works:

1. Hold your thumb in front of you (with your arm fully outstretched), and close one eye. Line up your thumb with an object whose size you have some sense of (for example, a car).
2. Without moving your thumb, close your open eye, and open the other one. Your thumb will appear to be in a different place.
3. Estimate how far your thumb “moved” relative to the object you’re looking at. For example, a car is about 4.57 m long, so if your thumb moved half a car length, that’s about 2.29 m.
4. Multiply by 10. In this example, you’d calculate that the car is about 22.86 m away from you.

Too good to be true? I walked around and tried it out. I also carried a laser distance-finder and a tape measure with me to verify. One thing I noticed right away is that I was tempted to measure the space in between my two thumb images; instead, you need to measure from, say, the left side of the first thumb image to the left side of the second thumb image.

Standing in the kitchen, eyeballing the TV in the other room, I figured the TV was somewhere between 3 and 1.22 m wide, and that my thumb moved a little more than half its distance, so about 0.61 m. Calculation: TV must be 6.10 m away. Laser level says: 7.62 m. OK, not bad.

From my desk to a nearby bookshelf, my thumb moved 6 inches, maybe a little more. Calculation: 60ish inches. Actual measurement: 59 inches.

From a spot in my driveway to a garden shed: I turned my head and sideways to measure against the height of the door. Thumb distance should be about 6 feet (most of the height of the door), thus the shed must be 18.29 m away. Actual measurement: around 21.34 m. Not perfect, but once again, not too far off.

The reason this trick is supposed to work is that the distance from your eye to your thumb is about 10 times the distance from one eye to the other. I measured this, too. Looking into the mirror with a measuring tape in front of my face, my pupils are 2 and 5/16″ apart, or 2.3 inches. The distance from the spot between my eyebrows to my outstretched thumb is 23.5 inches. That’s a factor of 10.2, impressively close to the 10 I was promised.

Bottom line: This trick isn’t going to give you a precise distance, but as a tool for estimating, it actually kind of works! And by the way, if you ever need to estimate how far away a deer-shaped statue is: a deer’s body length is roughly 1.52 m.

Japan is currently witnessing an adverse situation when it comes to unfavorable economic factors. The national currency Yen has seen a dip in the last few days and the value has gone down a lot. As a result, many renowned companies have raised prices on their devices. However, gaming giant Nintendo is proving to be a complete exception to this growing trend.

Nintendo has yet again delighted many fans in Japan by its recent stance on the falling Yen value and inflation. Despite the unwanted scenarios, the company has no plans to shoot the cost on its console in the Asian nation. Well, that is a commendable step, at least from the perspective of fans. Because not everyone has a huge budget these days to purchase a highly-priced gaming device.

Nintendo decides to not raise console prices for the Japanese fans despite a falling Yen

As reported by VGC, the economic factors in Japan have forced various brands to increase the cost of their products. For example, Apple’s iPhones are currently 25 percent more expensive in the country, year-on-year.

Interestingly, though, none of the console makers have escalated the prices for their products despite the inflation. Simply put, the gaming consoles are approximately $100 cheaper in Japan, based on the conversion against the US dollar.

DIVE DEEPER

Going by what VGC reported in its piece, media outlet Bloomberg had asked three gaming giants if they planned to increase console prices in Japan. Microsoft had declined to comment while Sony had refused to provide any kind of clear response to this question. On the other hand, Nintendo replied by mentioning it has “no plans” to make the consoles expensive.

All things considered, it’s a positive approach by the Mario maker. Especially from the perspective of gamers themselves. Those who are not into buying consoles more frequently and are restrained by a tight budget can take a breath of relief for now. They can go for the Switch or other Nintendo devices without having to pay an extremely higher price than usual.

Meanwhile, Nintendo is set to reveal more new games for the Switch in the remaining half of 2022. There are multiple awaited projects lined up to make their debuts in the coming months. To name a few of them, there’s Splatoon 3, Bayonetta 3, and Mario+Rabbids Sparks of Hope.

Not to forget the new Pokemon entry as well, in the form of Scarlet and Violet. It will be the first title in the ninth generation of the Pokemon video game franchise.

WATCH THIS STORY: Ranking The Highest Selling Nintendo Games of All Time

New smart light devices designed using quantum dots are more efficient, have better color saturation than standard LEDs, and can dynamically reproduce daylight conditions in a single light.

Researchers have designed smart, color-controllable white light devices from quantum dots – tiny semiconductors just a few billionths of a meter in size – which are more efficient and have better color saturation than standard LEDs, and can dynamically reproduce daylight conditions in a single light .

The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, designed the next-generation smart lighting system using a combination of nanotechnology, color science, advanced computational methods, electronics, and a unique fabrication process.

The team found that by using more than the three primary lighting colors used in typical LEDs, they were able to reproduce daylight more accurately. Early tests of the new design showed excellent color rendering, a wider operating range than current smart lighting technology, and wider spectrum of white light customization. The results are reported today (August 3) in the journal