Bose’s new Lifestyle Ultra speakers are now available
Sonos has a new rival in town. Bose’s new Lifestyle Collection includes a $299 Lifestyle Ultra Speaker, a $1,099 Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar, and the $899 Ultra Subwoofer, all of which are now available directly from Bose and third-party retailers like Amazon and Best Buy.
Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker
Where to Buy:
The $299 Lifestyle Ultra Speaker is essentially Bose’s version of the Sonos Era 100. It’s available in either black or white from Amazon, Best Buy, and Bose, as well as a $349 beige build that’s currently exclusive to Bose’s online storefront. Of all the new Lifestyle devices, my colleague John Higgins was particularly impressed with the smart speaker. It offers a front-firing woofer and tweeter, and, unlike the Era 100, an up-firing driver. In his brief hands-on time with it, he was surprised by how big it sounded for its size and by its crisp vocal clarity.
Like the Sonos Era 100, the Lifestyle Ultra Speaker supports both Apple AirPlay and Spotify Connect, though the addition of Google Cast provides yet another way to stream audio from supported apps. It can also be grouped with compatible non-Bose speakers via AirPlay and Google Cast if you want to play music in multiple rooms, and it’s the first third-party speaker to support Amazon’s generative AI-powered Alexa Plus.
For home theater fans, Bose also introduced the Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar, which supports Dolby Atmos and is now available from Amazon, Best Buy, and Bose. Dialogue came through clearly in our demo, and the speaker’s soundstage felt wide, even if the low end was somewhat lacking on its own. Bose’s new Ultra Subwoofer — also currently available in black and white from Amazon, Best Buy, and Bose — can help fill that gap, though. When paired with the soundbar, it noticeably filled out the missing bass and delivered fuller, more balanced sound.
Read our hands-on impressions of the Bose Lifestyle collection.
X agrees to crack down on illegal hate and terror content in the UK
British online safety regulator Ofcom says it has accepted new commitments from X that aim to better protect UK users from seeing illegal hate and terror content on the platform. Under the agreement announced today, X says it will withhold access in the UK to accounts reported posting illegal terrorist content and determined to be operated by UK terror groups and assess "at least 85 percent" of terror and hate speech reported by users "within a maximum of 48 hours."
X has also agreed to work with experts regarding reporting systems for illegal hate and terror content and will submit quarterly performance data to Ofcom over the next 12 month …
AI research papers are getting better, and it’s a big problem for scientists
Last summer, Peter Degen's postdoctoral supervisor came to him with an unusual problem: One of his papers was being cited too much. Citations are the currency of academia, but there was something unusual about these. Published in 2017, the paper had assessed the accuracy of a particular type of statistical analysis on epidemiological data and had received a respectable few dozen citations in other research papers over the years, but now it was being referenced every few days, hundreds of times, placing it among the most cited papers of his career. Another professor might be thrilled. Degen's adviser asked him to investigate.
Degen, a postd …
Honda’s hybrid future starts with new Accord and RDX prototypes
Honda revealed prototypes of two new hybrid models, an Accord sedan and the Acura RDX SUV, during its annual business briefing this week, built on a platform that it says will begin launching next year. The RDX was announced earlier this year as Honda's first SUV to feature the next-gen version of its two-motor hybrid system.
Honda also announced it's dropping the goal of having one-fifth of its sales be EVs by 2030 and for 100 percent of its sales to come from EVs and fuel cell vehicles by 2040. Honda now plans to "reallocate more development and production resources into hybrid models."
- Honda is planning to launch 15 next-generation hy …
Closing time
Today was closing arguments in the Musk v. Altman trial, and I almost feel bad writing about the unbelievable demolition derby I just witnessed. Steven Molo, Musk's lawyer, stumbled over his words. He at one point called Greg Brockman - a co-defendant - Greg Altman. He erroneously claimed that Musk wasn't asking for money and had to be corrected by the judge. He made it clear we've heard from many liars over the past few weeks, but offered little evidence for Musk's actual legal claims.
OpenAI's lawyer, Sarah Eddy, countered this by simply arranging the mountain of evidence that the company introduced in chronological order. She didn't spen …
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond got its first big discount
The most graphically-impressive first-person shooter made for the Nintendo Switch is $20 off at Best Buy. Right now, you can buy the physical version of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond for $39.99 ($20 off). The game looks surprisingly good on the 2017 hardware, but runs way better on the Switch 2 with the additional $10 upgrade pack that unlocks hi-res textures, faster loading times, and Joy-Con mouse mode.
If you’re gaming on a Switch 2, getting the discounted game and the digital upgrade pack costs $50 versus its normal $70 price for the Switch 2 Edition version. Yeah, it’s a little confusing.
The latest Prime game is a departure from the previous entries, the last of which was released all the way back in 2007. Beyond features an open-world design with plenty of associated trappings. There are map markers, collectibles, and a slick motorcycle to take bounty hunter Samus Aran across the huge desert where Beyond’s story unfolds. I agree with our review by Andrew Webster that these new additions feel out of place in the franchise, but I still had a good time, and the campaign doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Meta brings virtual writing to everyone with Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses
Meta is rolling out new features to its Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses, including bringing the ability to write messages just with hand gestures to all users. You'll be able to use the feature in WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and with "native Android and iOS messaging," Meta says.
The feature, which relies on the Meta Ray-Ban Display's included neural wristband, was one of the most impressive features of the Meta Ray-Ban Display when it was first announced. However, it wasn't available at launch, but in January, Meta launched it in early access for WhatsApp and Messenger.
Meta is bringing a few other upgrades to the Meta Ray-Ban Dis …
Behold, the Elon Musk jackass trophy
Yesterday, in Musk v. Altman, before the jurors came in, Sam Altman's team passed up what looked - from a distance - like a little league trophy. It was not. Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers had the lawyers read the inscription aloud for the press: "Never stop being a jackass." It's a commemoration OpenAI employees bought for research scientist Josh Achiam, who testified yesterday.
How exactly did this come up in a trial about nonprofit contract law? Allegedly, when Elon Musk was leaving OpenAI, he talked about wanting to race ahead of Google. Achiam, who worked on AI safety, asked if that was really such a good idea. Musk called him a jackass. Years …
Leaked images reveal Xbox Elite 3 controller with mysterious new buttons
Hours after a smaller Xbox Cloud Gaming controller appeared online, Brazil's Anatel regulator has also accidentally published images of what appears to be Microsoft's upcoming Xbox Elite 3 controller. Tecnoblog has posted images that show the successor to the Elite 2 controller, with an interchangeable D-Pad, paddles, and two new mysterious buttons.
The Elite 3 controller design appears to be more refined this time, with the addition of two new scroll wheels at the bottom that could be related to controller adjustments or a new input method for games like Microsoft Flight Simulator.
The Elite 3 will also have a new pair button that …
OpenAI’s Codex is now in the ChatGPT mobile app
OpenAI is going to let users access Codex, its desktop AI tool that can write code and use apps on your computer, from the ChatGPT app on your phone.
Following the surge in popularity for Anthropic's Claude Code, OpenAI has been working quickly to try and catch up, including by cutting back on "side quests," shutting down projects like the Sora video-generation tool, and focusing on growing its enterprise business. The company's push included the recently released major update for Codex that lets it operate apps on macOS - a potentially major step as part of its ambitions to make a desktop "superapp."
Codex in the ChatGPT mobile app lets …