You have quite few different options to keep your hands warm on the go, but few of them work as well as the Zippo Heat Bank you see here. This rechargeable, reusable hand warmer is…
The post Zippo Heat Bank first appeared on Cool Material.
For bargain deals on electronics, shop refurbished. The naysayers will tell you that “new” and “just like new” aren’t the same thing — but in many cases, they are. A lot of refurbished gadgets haven’t even been used by their previous owners, so they are effectively new. And as Kyle Wiens, CEO of the tech-repair site iFixit, explained to Consumer Reports, all refurbished electronics need to be inspected by real-life technicians before they can be sold again. That’s an extra bit of reassurance when navigating the wide world of refurbished products.
Of course, there’s a reason people are skeptical of these products, and you’re right to assume that shopping in the “refurbished” section comes with a few extra guidelines. You need to do more research before pulling the trigger, basically, but if researched diligently, steals can be had on MacBook Pros, Amazon Echoes, Bose QC35 wireless headphones, new 4K televisions — the possibilities are huge. Here’s what you need to know.
Both terms essentially mean that the product has been returned. Open-box means that the product was most likely an unused return that’s in perfect condition. Refurbished means that the product was preowned and returned, and then inspected or repaired by a professional. These products might show minor wear, but otherwise they work as good as new.
The more established the company you’re buying from, the better your chances of getting a quality refurbished electronic (meaning it’s been properly tested and comes with a long warranty). Apple, Dell, HP, Amazon and Nikon all have designated places on their sites for selling refurbished products.
Best Buy is a good option because it has the manufacturer or an authorized repair center look at all the refurbished products it sells. If you’re looking for Apple devices, JemJem is a trusted online reseller that includes a 90-day warranty with all of its refurbished products. NewEgg is an authorized refurbisher of Microsoft electronics. For video games and consoles, GameStop is another solid retailer.
After purchasing, you want ample time to test the device to make sure it works properly. Certain companies, like Apple, offer year-long warranties on any refurbished products you buy directly from them — in Apple’s case, it’s the same-length warranty as Cupertino’s new products. The lowest warranty you should consider is 30 days; otherwise, you won’t have a long enough period to feel out any defects.
You should be cautious of websites and outlets that don’t accept returns or only have a short window for them. This gives you less time to realize if the product you just bought has a defect. A lot of places will lower prices exorbitantly, but also eliminate returns altogether. (eBay is notorious for this.)
(Reminder: A warranty and a return policy are two different things. A warranty ensures that if anything happens to the device in a given window of time, the company is required to fix and/or replace it. A return policy simply means that if you return the item within that window, the company will refund you.)
Sony WH-1000XM3 (Refurbished)
$350 $180
The WH-1000XM3 are the predecessor to the WH-1000XM4, but they’re still excellent noise-canceling headphones.
Bose QuietComfort 35 II (Refurbished)
$300 $245
While a few years old, the QuietComfort 35 II are still one of the best noise-canceling headphones.
Bose Headphones 700 (Refurbished)
$399 $280
The Headphones 700 are the company’s flagship noise-canceling headphones.
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YouTube is the first place we go for how-to videos, music videos, podcasts and most video content. Want to store your favorites from the site? Check out 4K Video Downloader, the free and easy-to-use app…
The post The 4K Video Downloader Lets You Store Your Favorite YouTube Videos first appeared on Cool Material.
If you use Chrome as your default web browser (like so people do) and you’re somebody who constantly has too many tabs open at one time (like so many people do), there’s a neat feature called Tab Groups that’s designed to help you stay better organized. It essentially lets you organize your tabs like a color-coded filing system.
Tab Groups isn’t a super complicated feature, but it is really helpful. It allows you to group tabs together and organize them by color, custom group name or even an emoji. This is helpful in case you’re researching a specific topic or you’re prioritizing specific tabs to focus on. It basically solves the problem of opening several different windows as a way to organizing your tabs.
• Right-click on a tab in your Chrome browser.
• Select “Add Tab to Group” in the drop-down menu.
• Type the group name and select the color you want the group organized by.
After you’ve created a tab group from a single tab, you can then right-click on any other tab and add to that specific tab group. Or you can create a new tab group by following the above steps and using a new name and selecting a new color.
Once you’ve created one or more tab groups, they’re really easy to use.
• You can move entire tab groups within your web browser just by drag-and-dropping.
• You can minimize entire tab groups by simply clicking on the color circle at the beginning of the tab group; this is great because it declutters your browser window.
• You can easily ungroup a tab from a tab group by right-clicking “Remove from Group.”
• And you can delete entire tab groups by right-clicking on the name of the tab group (or the first color icon) and selecting “Ungroup.”
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Welcome to Product Support, a column devoted to helping you get the most out of the gadgets and software you already use.
Whether you’re a long-time Mac user or somebody who’s acclimating to their first, there’s a good chance you’re not using the Menu Bar to its full potential. And thus, you’re making your life a lot more frustrating.
The Menu Bar is the thing that runs along the top of your Mac’s screen where all the menus — Apple, File, Edit, History and more — are located. The icons on the far right of right, which are called status menus, such as Wi-Fi and battery, are also part of the Menu Bar.
The thing to understand is that while the menus on the left side of the bar are pretty permanent, the status menus on the right side are infinitely more customizable. You can add, remove and rearrange basically all of them. And you’ll want to do just that because the more you use the Mac, the more crowded that the Menu Bar will likely get.
The Menu Bar is there to help you navigate your Mac seamlessly so that you can be your most productive self. You may like it crowded or minimalist crowded. Either way, below you’ll find a few quick tips to help you customize so that it’s best for you.
Every status menu can be removed save from the Notification Center (the icon on the far right with the two yin yang horizontal stack). This includes the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, battery, Siri and Spotlight menus, as well as any other that might appear. While right-clicking a status icon doesn’t allow you to remove it, you can hold the Command key and drag the icon off of the Menu Bar. Then simply unclick and it’ll disappear. Boom.
This same Command key trick can be used to rearrange any status menu on the menu bar. For example, if you want the battery menu icon to be as far left as possible, simply hold the Command key, click and hold the battery menu icon, and drag it left. Then unclick and it’ll there.
If for some reason a status menu that you want to appear on your menu bar isn’t there. you can populate it pretty quickly. All you have to do is open System Preferences, select one of the icons and check the box at the bottom that says “Show [blank] in menu bar.” Not every icon allows you to add it to the menu bar, granted, but this is an easy way to re-add the Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, volume or battery menu icons back to the menu bar.
The same way you can make your Mac’s Dock disappear, you can do the same with the menu. Simply open System Preferences, select General and select the box that says “Automatically hide and show the menu bar.” The advantage here is that you get more usable screen space because the menu bar isn’t there. You can still access the menu bar by hovering your cursor at the top of the screen, of course.
The battery icon is on the status menu by default, but it’s not that helpful. Sure, it shows you how full the battery is, but it’s small and not that exact. Fortunately, you can click on the battery icon and select “Select Percentage” to see exactly how much battery you have left. If you’re noticing that your MacBook’s battery is depleting quickly, you can also select “Open Energy Saving Preferences” to see which programs are causing the drain.
You can customize how your clock looks on your Menu Bar. Simply open System Preferences, select “Dock & Menu Bar” and then scroll down and select “Clock” in the menu bar on the left side of the window. From here you can change your clock from digital to analog under “Time Options.” You can also select whether you want the date and the day of the week to appear in the Menu Bar.
The same way you can change the appearance of the Menu Bar’s clock, you can also change how the date looks. Follow the exact same steps (above) to adjust the clock’s appearance — open System Preferences > “Dock & Menu Bar” > “Clock” — and from here you can select whether you want the date to appear in the Menu Bar, as well as the day of the week.
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A platter mat is a thin record-shaped material that sits on the turntable’s platter and below the actual record. Its job is to hold the record firmly in place and absorb any extra vibrations that could cause distortion (unlike a “slip mat,” which serves the opposite purpose for DJs). It’s one of the last links in your hi-fi system’s puzzle. And it’s often overlooked.
Your turntable undoubtedly has a platter mat already, but it’s an element you can easily and cheaply upgrade, for performance or aesthetic reasons. When buying a platter mat, there are two main things to consider. The first is the material of the platter mat. They are available in a number materials — such as felt, cork, rubber, leather and acrylic — and which you pick will impact effect the overall sound quality.
Felt is a good material because it’s so cheap, but it’s also more prone to static and slippage. Cork is a good and inexpensive option, but it’s not the most durable. Rubber and Leather are both higher-end options because they’re both durable and do a great job of sticking to the record.
That said, most people choose their platter mat based on how it looks. This is because, admittedly, unless you’re an audiophile with a really fine-tuned ear, you probably won’t be able to hear the difference. So it kind of comes down to how you want to show off your turntable when there’s not a record being played.
Most turntables come with cheap felt platter mats, but if you’re thinking about upgrading or replacing it, these are a few we’d consider.
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Material: Cork
Price: $13
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Material: Felt
Price: $18
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Material: Rubber
Price: $20
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Material: Acrylic
Price: $23
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Material: Leather
Price: $59
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In the past, there has been a clear divide between what was a fitness tracker and what was a smartwatch. A fitness tracker was a band with sensors that relayed data to your smartphone, while a smartwatch had a screen that was essentially an extension of your smartphone, a wrist-bound device that allowed you to check texts, emails and even social media. Over the last few years, however, the two devices have converged.
Fitness trackers became more complicated, adopting screens and even the ability to show smartphone notifications, while smartwatches really leaned into the fitness side of things. Today, the old guard of fitness trackers, like Jawbone and Pebble (and even Misfit, to some extent), are pretty much extinct. And the most popular device for fitness tracking (the Apple Watch) is actually a smartwatch.
That said, there are a number of reasons why you would choose a basic fitness (also referred to as activity bands) like a Fitbit Inspire 2 ($70) or a Garmin Vivosmart 4 ($99) instead of a smartwatch like an Apple Watch or a Garmin Forerunner. Here’s what you need to know.
The main difference between a fitness tracker and a smartwatch is the list of features and smart abilities. A smartwatch is generally going to have all of the same fitness tracking abilities as a fitness tracker and then some; for instance, most smartwatches have heart rate sensors and built-in GPS for more accurate health tracking, along with coaching and specific workout-tracking, which only the most advanced fitness trackers have.
Smartwatches have more advanced smart features, too, like music control and built-in Bluetooth (to connect to wireless headphones), built-in mics for calls and voice assistant, and NFC for on-the-go payments. They also come in cellular models, which allows them to operate fully independently from a smartphone. Again, some of the more advanced fitness trackers can have some of these smart features and capabilities, but generally, most fitness trackers are way less versatile.
The one feature that most feature fitness trackers have is battery life. Because smartwatches have large bright displays and are way more demanding in terms of power, the also generally have worse battery life. For instance, the Apple Watch (any model) needs to be charged almost every day, while Fitbit’s Inspire 2 ($70) or Garmin Vivosmart 4 ($100), which are two of the most popular fitness trackers, have a long battery life.
Fitness trackers are definitely smaller than smartwatches, and that is arguably the biggest appeal for them. A lot of people don’t like wearing watches because they’re big and bulky, but they still want something to track their steps and tell them how many calories they burned — that’s exactly what a fitness tracker is good at. They don’t have large displays and relatively lightweight, meaning they’re also more comfortable wearing while you sleep.
The most affordable smartwatches are all around the $200 mark. That’s about how much the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 ($175), Apple Watch Series 3 ($199), and Fitbit Versa 2 ($200) all cost. However, the cost of smartwatches can way up depending on its size, the materials its made of, if it’s a cellular model and what fitness-focused features you want it to have. For example, a Garmin Forerunner, which is a rugged smartwatch with some really advanced runner-specific features, can cost around $600. And you can get an Apple Watch that’s made out of more expensive materials, like titanium or ceramic, are it can cost well over $1,000.
On the flip side, most of the popular fitness trackers, like the Fitbit Inspire 2 ($70) and Garmin Vivosmart 4 ($92+), are significantly cheaper.
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If you’re a hi-fi enthusiast or music professional, there’s an obvious advantage to using open-back headphones. Their unique design allows them to deliver an incredibly immersive audio experience with a soundstage that’s absolutely enormous. They basically make it sound like you’re at live concert or listening to the artist in the recording studio. It’s amazing.
But open-back headphones aren’t for everybody. Their open-back design means that everybody near you is going to hear what you’re listening to. It’s also going to let outside sounds seep in, which can easily ruin the audio experience. Basically, you need to listen to open-back headphones in a quiet environment, which is why open-back headphones are perfect for at-home listening.
Of course, open-back headphones tend to be more expensive than traditional closed-back headphones. They generally have superior drivers, support high-resolution audio and made of nicer materials. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get a great affordable pair. We’ve rounded up the best open-back headphones that are under $500.
To get the best performance out of these open-back headphones, you should seriously consider buying an external DAC/amplifier for your headphones. For more info, check out our guide to building a great work-from home audio system.
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These are some of our favorite open-back headphones. They sound excellent, especially considering that you can find a pair for under $200 right now (because they were first released over 15 years ago). And they’re some of the most comfortable headphones you’re likely to ever wear. I mean, just look at those ear cups! They’re made of memory foam and wrapped in super soft velour.
Price: $299 $169
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The AKG K712 Pro is the successor of the company’s classic K701 open-back headphones. Both have a very similar designs, but the K712 Pro have been upgraded with superior drivers. The K712 Pro are excellent reference quality headphones designed for mixing and critical listening. And they’re definitely comfortable, with big cushy ear cups. The only real downside is that they leak a lot of noise, which is something expected with open-back headphones. But these leak more than most.
Price: $399
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The Sennheiser HD 600 true audiophile headphones that are designed for critical at-home listening. They have neodymium magnet drivers that are designed to minimize distortion, which are very similar to some of the company’s higher-end and more expensive headphones; Sennheiser is able to keep the price of the HD 600 down by giving it a mostly plastic design. The HD 600 have a replaceable cable (in case you want to upgrade) and replaceable ear cups (in case you want to get nice new ones).
Price: $399
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Audeze is well-known for it headphones that use planar magnetic drivers, which are able to achieve incredible fidelity with virtually zero distortion, and they’re typically really expensive. Think well over $1,000. But Audeze has been able to keep the price well down on LCD-1, and right now they’re some of the best-sounding headphones you can buy for under $500.
Price: $399
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Grado’s Reference Series headphones are some of the best-sounding and most beautiful open-back headphones you’ll find. The RS2e are made of real mahogany wood and genuine leather; they’re essentially a smaller version of the company’s RS1e headphones (which cost an extra $200). They deliver a warm sound with excellent mids and highs, and a huge soundstage. If you’re fan of classical or jazz specifically, these are the headphones you want.
Price: $495
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No matter what others say, we’ll never outgrow our fascination for stuff that light up. Even experts are not entirely sure why humans have this predisposition towards glowing objects. Over the years, technological advancements allow us to practically install LEDs on almost anything. Of course, it didn’t take long until these made their way to footwear. The ZOOOII are a pair of sleek sneakers with smart functionality that puts you in control.
We would just like to say that this is perhaps the most advanced light-up kicks that we’ve seen in a while. What sets the ZOOOII apart from every other of its kind out there is the overall comfort it promises the wearer. You have to admit that generic models and brands are not exactly crafted with ergonomics in mind.
The folks behind the ZOOOII have done their homework and have designed a pair of shoes that can adapt to your active lifestyle. That’s right, the lights are not only for show. You’re getting sneakers that have excellent cushioning to protect your feet. Furthermore, the sole and midsole not only effectively absorb impacts, but also provide great energy return.
These are also using water-resistant and breathable fabrics which keep them super comfortable at all times. Meanwhile, to keep nasty odors at bay, the material has anti-bacterial properties as well. Under the translucent outsole is an electroluminescent cord that produces a soft glow upon activation.
Users can manually activate the lighting via a button on the heel counter. Another way would be to use the companion app via Bluetooth. Up to 17 color options are available along with other parameters for unique adjustments. Finally, the ZOOOII uses a hassle-free magnetic charging system.
Images courtesy of ZOOOII
After making a name for itself with the launch of the Find X, Oppo is becoming one of the leading Android OEMs across the globe. This Chinese brand is competing with the likes of Huawei, Xiaomi, OnePlus, POCO, and Samsung in the mid to flagship ranges. Following its growth, the company announced its foray into smart wearables with a Wear OS smartwatch. Now it’s entering the TWS race with its Enco X earbuds.
At first, we were thinking this might be just one of those average true wireless models. Thankfully, Oppo is not heading in that direction but is instead offering class-leading features with the Enco X. They might know their way around smartphones, but when it comes to high-end audio a little help will go a long way
As such, they are co-developing their firs premium earphones with Dynaudio. With years of experience under their belt, the company sound engineers are sure to deliver the best. The Enco X undergoes extensive testing and recalibrations until it meets their strict standards.
Instead of relying on established codecs such as SBC, aptX, and AAC among others, Oppo is using LHDC. Audio experts point out that this wireless transmission technology retains more detail than the others. Therefore, users will enjoy clarity, dynamic range, and an immersive output.
Another aspect where the Oppo Enco X likewise shines is the triple-microphone setup. This ensures your calls are audible as it filters out unwanted background noise. Average runtime on a single charge is 5.5 hours and up to 25 hours with the charging case. You can grab it in two colors: White or black.
Images courtesy of Oppo
Welcome to Product Support, a column devoted to helping you get the most out of the gadgets and software you already use.
If you’ve gotten a new TV recently, or just never bothered to dive into its settings whenever you did get it, now is the perfect time to make sure your picture is up to snuff.
With so many makes and models on the market, it’s tough to provide exact directions for every single set out there, but we can point you towards the options to look for, even if they’re named or applied slightly differently in each case. If you’re stuck, seek out your manufacturer’s website for the appropriate manual.
Your TV will make its best guess about how to show the colors and set the brightness on its display, and most of the time that guess is going to be a pretty good one. Sometimes, however, TVs come with default settings tuned to the showroom instead of your living room, which results in oversaturated, too-bright picture that will sear your retinas. So dive into your set’s color and brightness settings and you’ll find a lot of variation in terms of the options available, depending on the manufacturer, but all the basics should be covered.
For example, you just head to Picture in Settings on most Samsung TVs to start playing around with brightness, contrast, and tint. A search on the web for your specific make and model of TV should turn up some tips from other users about how to configure these settings, and you can also get some very detailed and very helpful advice from the videos produced by the experts at Rtings.com.
You should also turn off—or at least experiment with—any settings that attempt to enhance or digitally manipulate the colors on your set. How effective and useful these are will vary between devices, so make yourself aware of the options at your disposal and see if disabling any of them leads to any improvements.
Another option to look out for and potentially disable is ambient brightness, where your TV attempts to adjust the brightness on the fly in response to the available light in the room—something which can end up giving you a very weird-looking picture. On some recent Sony sets, for example, the setting is under Picture and Light sensor.
Out of the box, a lot of modern-day TVs like to apply what’s known as motion smoothing, which works exactly the way it sounds—it applies some behind-the-scenes trickery to make fast motion in action films or sports games appear smoother.
Essentially, TV sets will create extra frames to pack more frames into each second, which should mean less jank and blur. These frames aren’t created out of thin air—they’re calculated based on the frames either side, so if a ball is traveling from point A to point B, it should be possible to come up with a mid-point too.
The problem is, motion smoothing ends up making a lot of movies and TV shows look homemade or low-budget (it’s often called “the soap opera effect”). At the very least, it’s worth turning it off just to see if you prefer the way your TV picture looks.
Confusingly, TV manufacturers use a host of different names for motion smoothing—it’s Auto Motion on Samsung sets, TruMotion in LG world, and MotionFlow if you’re using Sony products, for example. The option to disable it should be somewhere prominent in the picture settings or advanced settings menu.
Modern-day TVs have to display content from a whole host of sources, from the latest 4K Netflix shows to early episodes of the Simpsons in 4:3 aspect ratio. Most of the time, they’re clever enough to work out how to display each format, but that’s not automatically always the case.
You’re going to have to do a bit of digging here because all sets handle this differently and serve up a different set of options: Look for mentions of aspect ratio or cropping in the picture settings, or any kind of automatic resizing. Some televisions apply names like Zoom or Wide to the picture manipulations that are going on.
You might need to do this separately for the different inputs plugged into your TV, if you’ve got (for example) a games console plugged into one HDMI port and a streaming box plugged into another. If you can see an option to just display the picture as it’s being broadcast from the input, then select it.
On modern Samsung sets, for instance, from the main settings menu you can go to Picture then Picture Size to make changes: A variety of options then present themselves, including the newer 16:9 aspect ratio, the older 4:3 aspect ratio, and a Custom option that lets you control the aspect ratio manually.
And once your done with the picture settings, it is the perfect time to settle some privacy matters as well. TV manufacturers love user data as much as any other company, which is why working through the setup process on a new TV today can involve accepting a whole host of terms and conditions about how your television usage is going to be monitored.
Some of these terms and conditions are non-negotiable if you want to actually use the TV set, but it’s worth a few minutes of your time to review what you’ve agreed to. On new LG sets, for example, go to All Settings, About This TV then User Agreements—here you can opt-out of features like targeted advertising and voice command control.
If you’ve got a set powered by the Roku TV software, meanwhile, you can go to Settings, Privacy, and Smart TV Experience: The next screen lets you stop the set from tracking some of the programs you watch, and put a limit on targeted advertising.
Remember that any streaming apps you’ve installed on your TV (or on a streaming device plugged into your TV) are going to have privacy policies and settings of their own to think about, covering the data that’s collected about you. Consumer Reports has a good guide to your options here.
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This was a big week for new audio product releases. Klipsch announced an updated version of one of its best-selling speakers of all time. The French hi-fi company Devialet introduced a new-and-improved version of its fancy wireless speaker. And KEF finally gave us its first pair of wireless earbuds, which look to be a serious rival to AirPods Pro. And then there were a number of hi-fi components aimed toward audiophiles. We’ve rounded them all up below.
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Pro-Ject announced its latest flagship phono preamp, the Phono Box RS2, and it’s designed to be paired with Austrian company’s higher-end turntables. It’s incredibly fine tune-able, with wide gain control and support for both RIAA and DECCA equalization standards. Throw in the fact that it’s steel-and-aluminum chassis — it’s available in either silver or black — and it’s just a great looking audio component for people looking to upgrade their home hi-fi system.
Price: $1,999
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We’ve been big fans of Devialet’s beautiful-yet-alien-looking wireless speakers for years, and this week we got a new one: the Phantom I. It still looks and works the same as the company’s previous Phantom speakers — its two opposing woofers pulsate against one another, in perfect symmetry, without ever touching — but the French audio company has made the Phantom I more power efficient, so it supposedly sounds way better. They also gave it support for AirPlay 2 and a fancy new physical remote. As for price, well, it’s still expensive. The Phantom I comes in two versions — 103dB or 108db — and they cost $2,200 and $3,200,
Price: $2,200+
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Poly’s new 21-inch monitor is pretty neat because it’s specifically designed for video calls. It has an excellent microphone and a webcam with a built-in shutter. There are ambient lights built into the sides of the monitor to make sure your face is always well illuminated. Additionally, the base of the P21 monitor works as a wireless charger. You can check out The Verge‘s article for more information on the P21 monitor. (Other information, like screen resolution, have yet to be released.)
Price: $815
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In my mind, KEF is best known for its superb passive and active speakers, like the new LS50 Meta and LS50 Wireless II, but the company has thrown its hat in the true wireless ring for the first time. The KEF Mu3 are wireless earbuds with active noise-cancellation and they’re priced very similarly to their main competitor, Apple’s AirPods Pro. The Mu3 promise to have an excellent battery life (nine hours per earbud, with the case adding an extra 15 hours ) and support for high-resolution audio. They also have an IPX5 water-resistance rating. You can buy them now from KEF’s website.
Price: $230
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McIntosh pulled out all the stops for its new super-fancy headphone amplifier. The MHA200 is packed with glowing vacuum tubes, a pair of the company’s Unity Coupled Circuit output transformers (which are also integrated in McIntosh’s much larger speaker amplifiers), a multitude of connectivity options, a wonderfully tactile volume knob and a signature McIntosh look. It’s expensive, for sure, but it’s also designed for discerning audiophiles for who care about one thing: pristine sound.
Price: $2,500
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The Beosound Level is a unique take of the portable home speaker because, well, Bang & Olufsen expects that it will last you a really long time. Like many many years. It has built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, similar to the Sonos Move, but it also has what B&O is calling a “modular design.” Basically, it’s designed so that it can be taken apart and that its various components can be replaced, like the chipset or the battery, when they become antiquated in the future. It’s also designed to sound and look great for years and years. The Beosound Level will be available in late April.
Price: $1,499
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The Forte IV are the newest addition to Klipsch’s famed Heritage Series. They’re an improved version of the original Forte loudspeakers, which were first debuted in 1985 and one of the company’s best selling speakers of all time. The Forte IV have a vastly improved sound thanks to a host of acoustic enhancements, but they still have the classic wood exterior that make them look timeless. You can buy them in four finishes: American Walnut, Natural Cherry, Black Ash and Distressed Oak.
Price: $4,500
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Mounting a TV isn’t as simple as punching a few holes in the wall, pulling the power cables through and plugging the whole ensemble into an electric outlet (which, for starters, is technically against code, as the power cables and components on the backs of TVs aren’t rated for in-wall use). Beyond that, mounting a TV also depends on the size of the TV, the dimensions of the room, what kind of aesthetic the homeowner wants and how he/she is planning to watch TV. In other words, it’s complicated, and it’s different for every TV and every viewer.
So to be completely sure you’re fully prepped to mount your TV, we asked John Manouel, VP and sales manager at Honest Install, a residential and commercial TV installation company from the Dallas and Fort Worth area, for guidance.
Consider size, weight and how the TV will be viewed. The first thing to factor in is the size of the TV. This is important because you need to be sure that the brackets you buy will be able to hold the size and weight of the TV. Once that’s determined (and double-checked), then consider how you’re going to watch the TV. If the TV will be in a fixed location on the wall, you’ll want tilt (also called fixed) brackets. They hang the TV on the wall like a painting. If you want the TV to articulate out from the wall, which allows for multiple viewing angles, opt for full-motion brackets.
Plan the location of the components. The next main thing to consider is what will sit next to the TV. Most people have a cable box — either AT&T, DirecTV, or Verizon — and a Blu-ray player or Apple TV. Some of these components are small enough to strap to the back of the TV, like a Chromecast. But for larger components, you’re going to have to find a place to put them. Most people have a media credenza or a media center right below the TV, but that isn’t an option if the TV will be mounted over a fireplace. So, have a wiring plan long before that TV is up on the wall.
Wires or no wires? For people who don’t want to tackle in-wall wire concealment, Manouel suggested cable raceways, which are conduits that stick to the wall and channel wires. They can also be painted to match your walls. “It’s kind of a quick and dirty way of concealing the cables,” Manouel said. These raceway conduits are great at hiding wires for mounted soundbars as well. If you have a receiver and 5.1 surround sound system spread around the room, in-wall wire concealment can be tricky. For that, Manouel suggests having an installer come out to take a look at it. They’ll tell you if the project requires significant wall surgery.
“Our cardinal rule is that you should really be able to hang on to the bracket before you put a TV on it,” Manouel said. “And do pull ups.”
“If the overall goal is to just get the TV on the wall and you don’t really care about cables, then you can really accomplish anything you need with a good bracket and raceway,” Manouel said. “If you’re looking for a more clean aesthetic — a floating TV on the wall with no components anywhere — there’s a lot more that goes into that.” That’s when it’s time to talk to a pro. Also, check if there’s attic space directly above the room. An accessible attic space can be used to conceal components and wires, and is often easier than routing through walls.
Finally, know this: you can’t just plug all the wires from your cable or set top box into any outlet. It has to be a Cat-5 outlet. “If you want the TV on an adjacent wall or on an opposite wall,” Manouel said, “you either have to move that outlet or you have to wire an HDMI cable from a coax outlet all the way over to the TV.”
Seating and TV positions. The first seat should sit the same amount of distance as the diagonal of the screen or greater, according to Manouel. If you have a 70-inch TV, you do not want your first seat less than 70 inches away. If too close, you’ll be looking only at parts of the screen — “you’ll have that tennis effect where you’re looking to the left, then right, then left, then right.” Also, you want to situate the TV based on how the seats and couches are dispersed throughout the room. If you have a modular furniture setup, you want to place the TV where all seats will have a good viewing angle. (This is common sense, really.)
People who have to worry about being too close to the TV are those with huge screens (70+ inches), or projectors. In most residential settings, however, you really can’t go too big. The more typical issue, Manouel points out, is going too small. A common complaint from people is that the TV shrinks when placed on the wall. “They may be used to seeing a 45-inch TV on a table, but they put that on the wall it looks more like a 32-inch TV,” Manouel said. This is why he suggests mounting larger TVs.
The height of the TV is subjective, but Manouel’s rule of thumb is: when you’re standing up you want the top third of the TV to be in line with your eyes. “We try to tell people don’t put it up too high because we get a lot of complaints of necks hurting,” Manouel said, then added: “but most people get used to that, by the way.”
Follow instructions, or talk to a pro. The easy takeaway regarding installation: don’t do it. For most people, it’s best to pay a TV installation company to mount the TV for you — or consult a well-skilled Task Rabbit. But for those DIYers who know their way around power tools, here’s Manouel’s elementary tips. “You’ll need a magnetic stud finder (the ones that just click and beep, those are junk — don’t get those) and then use a really small drill bit to find exactly where the stud is,” he instructed. In other words, be damn sure you know where your studs are before you begin to drill. If you can’t hit all four studs, that’s when toggle or lag bolts can come into play, but this introduces complication.
Don’t go out of your DIY comfort zone, and follow the instructions on your bracket carefully. If you’re not sure, consult a pro. “Our cardinal rule is that you should really be able to hang on to the bracket before you put a TV on it,” Manouel said. “And do pull-ups.”
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You may think “hi-fi” means “expensive” but as far as headphones are concerned, you can get great sound without breaking the bank. Sure, you might have to sacrifice modern conveniences, such as Bluetooth and a dedicated button for Alexa. But if you’re OK with wires, you’ll find a whole bevvy of otpions. Below you’ll find some of our favorite high-end headphones that cost $150. All are wired. And all great for at-home listening.
Amazon
Beyerdynamic is one of the biggest names when it comes really high-end (and usually pretty expensive) studio headphones. That said, its DT 240 Pro are excellent closed-back headphones that push well ahead their modest price. They’re well built, comfortable to wear and boast a detailed sound.
Price: $69
Grado
The SR60e are some of favorite budget headphones because they combine great sound with a cool industrial design that’s straight out of the 1940s. They also come with a wonderfully heavy duty cord. The cherry on top is that they’re made in the USA – Brooklyn, in fact. The only catch is that they’re open-back headphones, so they’re not ideal if you have work in close quarters with others.
Price: $79
Amazon
The Sony MDR-7506 are a blast from the past — originally released in 1991 — but these iconic headphones are still worth your money. Their sound is still vibrant and warm. They’re surprisingly great at blocking out outside sounds even without active noise-cancelation. And their soft earcups and lightweight design make the Sony MDR-7506 some of the most comfortable headphones you can find.
Price: $89
Grado
The Grado SR80e are identical in almost every way to the company’s SR60e that are already on this list. They have the same exact design — same earcups and headband — but the difference is that Grado gave them improved drivers so the SR80e sound a little more detailed and punchy. If you’re truly value sound quality and the extra $20 isn’t a big deal, we recommend upgrading these bad boys.
Price: $99
Audio-Technica
You can probably tell just by looking at Audio-Technica ATH-AD700X what they sound like. These open-back headphones are rather large, swallowing your entire ears, and boast a huge and detailed soundstage. They’re ideal for enjoying hi-fi music at home when nobody else is around.
Price: $120
Audio-Technica
Audio-Technica’s ATH-M50x are an entirely different beast from the company’s previous mentioned ATH-AD700X. The ATH-M50x are closed-back headphones that support the company’s signature design and solid build quality. So while the ATH-AD700X are ideal for listening in quiet environments, the ATH-M50x are studio-quality headphones that are good for just about any situation.
Price: $149
Amazon
V-Moda makes some of the most conspicuous headphones in the world, and they’re the headphones of choice for some of the most popular DJs in the world, such as Martin Garrix and Kygo. The company’s flagship Crossfade headphones have side panels, called “shields,” that you can swap out and customize. The Crossfade LP2, specifically, are several years old but they have excellent 50mm drivers that produce vibrant and punchy sound. They’re also surpassingly rugged and well built, so these are perfect for the person who usually just tosses their headphones in their backpack.
Price: $149
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Apple has finally started to sell refurbished models of the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max. So if you’ve been waiting to get a really good deal on pretty new iPhone with a pretty excellent camera, these are the refurbished deals you want to jump on.
Apple is selling refurbished iPhone 11 models for as low as $549, which is $100 less than its selling new iPhone 11 models. The refurbished iPhone 11 models are already out of stock on Apple’s website. We’ll update when they become available again, but it looks like you’ll need a keen eye to snag one.
As for the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max, Apple is selling refurbished models of both (in various storage capacities) for as low as $849, which is a savings between $150 and $170. It’s a little interesting that Apple is selling both refurbished models of the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max for the same price.
One of the big advantages of buying a refurbished iPhone directly from Apple is that makes life easier if something were to potentially go wrong. Just like new iPhones, all refurbished models come with same one-year warranty (and there’s a 14-day return policy in case you just change your mind). You can also purchase AppleCare+ in case you want extra protection for your refurbished iPhone.
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With a tech-forward and design-oriented approach, the Arcwave Ion is a sex toy that changes the game when it comes to intimacy and self-love. It’s packed with features that set it far beyond its competition, like Pleasure Air™ — a powerful new type of stimulation based entirely on changes in air pressure. Pleasure Air targets highly sensitive nerve endings (like the Pacinian pleasure receptors) that its competitors can’t. It’s also completely silent thanks to its Smart Silence™ tech, which automatically starts and stops stimulation when it senses skin contact. Plus, it’s sleek enough not to stand out on your bedside table and easy to clean — simply twist it apart and rinse with water. Then to dry it and charge it, place it back on the discreet base. The Arcwave Ion is the first product on the market to offer this completely new type of sensation — and it does so without disrupting your carefully curated side table.
Price: $199
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Everybody is wearing a mask these days and that’s been an inconvenience for pretty much everybody who owns an iPhone because it’s rendered Face ID much less useful. Fortunately there is a fix, if you have an Apple Watch.
Last May, Apple attempted to remedy this issue when it rolled out iOS 13.5, which enabled Face ID to be detect if you were wearing a mask, and then quickly switch to the passcode screen. Now, in the upcoming iOS 14.5, and there’s a new feature that promises to help you unlock your iPhone even quicker if you’re wearing a mask and an Apple Watch. The feature, when enabled, will automatically unlock your iPhone even if you are wearing a mask, and vibrate your Apple Watch to let you know that it happened. That’s it!
Apple
There are a few caveats to this new feature. First, your iPhone and Apple Watch just have to be in close proximity to one another; if your Apple Watch isn’t nearby, your iPhone will make you type in your passcode. Also, this feature won’t work if you have a passcode on your Apple Watch. And finally, if you unlock your iPhone with this new method, you’ll still have to enter your passcode (or take off your mask for true Face ID) when making in-app purchases.
The main release of iOS 14.5 hasn’t happened yet, but you can register as a beta tester and pick it up that way if you’re really jonesing.
As is true with all beta software updates, we strongly recommend backing up your iPhone beforehand because beta versions often have bugs and could potentially cause you to lose things that you hold dear, like photos or iMessages.
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While it might not look as slick or operate as well as a modern iMac, this 1976 Apple-1 is a legend… and it actually works. The Apple-1 is a collector’s item and an icon in…
The post .5 Million 1976 Apple-1 Computer first appeared on Cool Material.
Welcome to Product Support, a column devoted to helping you get the most out of the gadgets and software you already use.
Here in the high tech future of 2021, it is basically guaranteed: your home does not have as many outlets as you need. In your endeavors to create more, you’ll find help from power strips, which simply give you more places to plug, and surge protectors, which offer additional outlets as well as protection from dangerous surges of electricity.
But if you haven’t given much thought to your wires-and-0utlet situation, odds are you’re due for an audit. Surge protectors can wear out, leaving you vulnerable to losing gadgetry if the worst should happen.
Most surge protectors function by using an element called a “metal oxide varistor” (MOV) which can redirect power surges away from your gadgets and into the ground wire of the outlet they’re plugged into. MOVs can only pull this stunt so many times, however, after which you are left with a mere power strip.
Cheaper surge protectors may not give any indication as to the state of their MOV, leaving you to guess whether or not it has any capacity left. If that’s the case with your current kit, there’s no time like the present to ditch it and upgrade to a more sophisticated model.
Others, like the Tripp Lite TLP1208TELTV, will actually stop providing any power at all once their protection is worn out and include integrated breakers that will trip in the case of a surge. A hassle, but one that will keep your gadgets safe. Power conditioners like the Furman PST-8 are a further step up, actively smoothing out the power to your gadgets to reduce noise and interference that can come from “dirtier” power — at the cost of a higher price tag, of course.
Other often more affordable surge protectors instead opt to include integrated LED lights to indicate when a strip is properly grounded, and whether or not its protection is still active. These lights will simply turn off if the strip has taken more than it can bear or is improperly configured, which means you won’t be left powerless, but also need to keep an eye on your strips.
Many surge protectors also come with insurance policies where the manufacturer will agree to reimburse the cost of equipment damaged by a surge, to a varying degrees. While they may add a little peace of mind, they also come with very stringent requirements on how the surge protector needs to be installed and used. In short: correctly. It may sound boring, but read the manual. Daisy-chaining, overloading, and using ungrounded outlets can both open your gadgets up to danger and also negate any insurance.
So if you haven’t thought about your surge protectors in a while, or decided to skim the last time you expanded your outlet situation, there’s no time like the present to do a check. You may never know if you’ve saved yourself from a disaster, but that’s better than getting hit by a surge and finding out the hard way that you definitely didn’t.
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If Xiaomi’s latest announcement is anything to go by, we might soon bid goodbye to traditional charging methods. Over the years, technological advancements have given us wireless chargers. Although a cable and a power brick can still juice up our devices quicker, the other offers cord-free convenience. The company claims its new Mi Air Charge system will charge gadgets remotely. This hints at a true-wireless future for the consumer electronics industry.
As it stands right now, so-called wireless chargers face an annoying drawback. Using electromagnetic technology, our smartphones, smartwatches, and other supported electronics must be in close proximity for the induction coils to work. What the Mi Air Charge from Xiaomi envisions are living rooms with fully wireless smart home products and so much more.
These include speakers, desk lamps, handsets, smart wearables, among others. According to Xiaomi, it will deliver 5W remote charging to compatible devices within a certain radius. The exact number was not available as of this writing, but it should be several meters. In addition to simultaneously charging multiple gadgets, stuff like furniture apparently does not affect its charging efficiency.
“Beacon antenna broadcasts position information with low power consumption. The receiving antenna array composed of 14 antennas converts the millimeter wave signal emitted by the charging pile into electric energy through the rectifier circuit, to turn the sci-fi charging experience into reality,” explains Xiaomi. When the Mi Air Charge system becomes commercially available, it will be a major milestone that will completely change the way we use our smart devices and design our homes.
Images courtesy of Xiaomi
