Will technology ever deliver a perfect speaker or headphone?

Aside from a handful of audiophiles, no one really wants that -- even if it were compact and affordable. Everyone just wants a sound that sounds good to them.

It's got to be the No. 1 audiophile fantasy: someday we'll have a breakthrough that allows speakers to perfectly reproduce sound. Once the engineers find a new way of moving air -- presumably a more accurate method than a vibrating cone, dome, or flat diaphragm -- the heavens will part and we'll suddenly hear the sound of real instruments and singers through our hi-fis. Not so fast -- that would be a great start, but once the sound leaves the speakers and interacts with your living room's acoustics, all bets are off. Put aside the perfect speaker fantasy for a second, even if you had Radiohead in your 14-by-21-foot living room, it wouldn't sound very good. A symphony orchestra would have even less of a chance of unleashing its full potential in such a small space. Remember, the acoustics and spatial characteristics of a club or concert hall have a huge impact on the sound of real instruments; reproduced instruments in your living room wouldn't stand a chance. Unlike a concert hall, your home's acoustics weren't designed with sound in mind.
Then again, perfect fidelity to the original sound of a band playing in a studio wasn't part of the engineers and production team's agenda, and chances are high that a song's final mix never includes the band actually playing the tune from start to finish. Today's music is assembled from bits and pieces of sound, some real, some not. Then it's pitch corrected, processed, compressed, and manipulated in various ways, and perfect speakers would just make all of the trickery all that much more obvious. Fact is, the engineers know that most folks will be listening to their handiwork over less-than-stellar Bluetooth speakers or free earbuds. Play those recordings over a speaker or headphone that exactly reproduces the intricacies of the mix, and it's not going to sound so good.
I'm not claiming that's true for all recordings; just the majority of them. Most people don't buy music based on sound quality and that's fine, but the audiophiles yearning for perfect-sounding gear rarely consider that inconvenient truth. A not-quite-perfect recording can never sound truly lifelike. A perfect speaker won't change that.
We don't really want perfect sound reproduction -- we want sound that sounds good to us. I'm suggesting that instead of waiting for that unattainable breakthrough, just go ahead and buy hi-fis and headphones that make the music you like sound good to you. You like tons of bass? Buy the bassiest headphones or speakers you can find. If you like to listen at superquiet volume levels and still hear all the details in the music, there's gear that will take you there. Good sound truly is in the ear of the beholder.
There's still time to write an article for the You can be the Audiophiliac for a day "contest." Next month, I'll turn over the reins of this blog to one lucky reader. It could be you.

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Apple's quest for an iWatch on every wrist

The challenge for Apple and others trying to crack the code on wearables is to produce an appealing device for a mass market that doesn't need a watch to tell time and doesn't want to get all wound up by an overly complicated gadget.

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Many signs are pointing to Apple incubating a wearable wristband, perhaps an "iWatch," given all the trademark applications the company has filed for the name. Apple is reportedly moving around some of its top engineers, and is hiring experts in sensors and in digital fitness and medical technologies, to build up a special task force to create a product that can follow in the grand footsteps of the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. The company has also filed 79 patents containing the word "wrist."
Read: 9to5Mac: iWatch's novelty emerges as Apple taps sensor and fitness experts
During an interview at the D11 conference in May, Apple CEO Tim Cook, who wears a Nike Fuel Band and has been on Nike's board of directors since 2005, coyly said that he found wearable computing "profoundly interesting" and "ripe for exploration."
It could be that Apple is working on a competitor to Google Glass, but the company isn't telling. Cook has categorized Google Glass, which works with the iPhone, as more of a niche item that's "probably more likely to appeal to certain markets." In any case, the iGlass name is taken -- it's a 3D glassblowing simulation iOS app.
Cook pointed out the difficult task in front of Apple's growing team dedicated to wearables. He cautioned that "you have to convince people it's so incredible you want to wear it," noting that most young people don't wear watches on their wrists.
Apple's team has a great deal of research material to work with in its quest to develop an "incredible" iWatch. The smartwatch category is littered with failed products and teeming with new attempts to crack the code. So far, none of the candidates, which are primarily accessories for Android and iOS smartphones, have reached critical mass.
The Pebble Watch, which has music controls, text messaging, call notifications, and a mini-app platform, and the Martian Passport Watch, which screens phone calls and messages and even makes phone calls, are among the recent entrants. Sony is revamping its Smart Watch, and Samsung and Microsoft are reportedly also working on wrist-bound devices.

A modern smartwatch wouldn't be complete without sensors and apps for fitness and health monitoring, such as those provided by the Jawbone Up, the Nike FuelBand, the Fitbit Flex, and the Basis Band.
No doubt Apple can come up with a compelling design and engineering magic to deliver the most elegant looking smartwatch that materials science and industrial design can render.

Do an image search on "iWatch" and you'll discover plenty of fanciful renderings of the rumored device, from various blogs and Web sites.

(Credit: Screenshot by Edward Moyer/CNET)

The challenge for Apple and others trying to crack the code on wearables is producing a device that appeals to a mass market that doesn't need a watch to tell time or view blockbuster movies. The user experience for the tiny screen must feel intuitive and be simple to operate -- otherwise it will scare away the nongeeks. It can't frustrate users with physical or virtual button controls that require complex combinations to perform a function, or a battery that lasts only a few days.
Apple has done this kind of development triage with its other mobile products, which involves eliminating functions rather than trying to satisfy every possible user need. CNET's Scott Stein has reviewed most of the smartwatches in recent history and is a fan of the iPod Nano watch. He suggests that the key to a successful iWatch is replicating the app platform formula and cool design that fueled the growth of the iPhone and iPad, but at a price far less than that of an iPhone or iPad.
Read: Nine things the iWatch (or any other smartwatch) needs

I'd expect a wearable device to work with multiple apps, not just one. And I'd want to interact via touch, voice, or both, with software hooks into supported apps. Most smartwatches I've seen are limited to a custom app that funnels certain functions. Apple could bake a deeper level of iWatch support right into iOS, and even let other app developers build support for it via an SDK, too. Imagine motion-tracking games, health tech providers building monitoring systems that work via an iWatch...or specific watch apps for other outdoor needs (sports, travel, weather, and so on). Follow a live sports event on your watch with second-screen updates. Load custom Twitter or IM feeds. Turn it into a remote control, or even a wearable baby monitor screen. If there's any way for a smartwatch to break out of its definitional niche and become a killer device, it's with app support.

The iWatch has been pegged by Apple watchers for launch either later this year or next year. Whenever an iWatch appears, the expectations are high that it will redefine the smartwatch category as an extension of the iOS platform, and sell in the tens of millions in the first year. If not, the Apple watchers will start to question whether the company is losing its magic touch.

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Google finalizes Chrome App Launcher for Windows

Moving from developer preview to completed build, the App Launcher lets users open Web-based apps outside of the Chrome browser.

Chrome users who want to open their Web apps without having to first fire up the browser can do just that via the Chrome App Launcher for Windows.
Initially released in February as a developer preview, the App Launcher now is finished and in completed build mode for Windows users.
To grab the App Launcher, open Google Chrome and surf to the launcher link in the Web store. Click on the button to Get the launcher. The App Launcher icon then appears on your Windows taskbar and desktop. Close Chrome. Now, anytime you want to open one of your Chrome Web apps, simply click on the App Launcher icon, choose the app you wish to run, and it automatically pops up in Chrome.
Mac OS X and Linux users still need to stay tuned. Google is reportedly still working on versions of the launcher for those two systems.

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Google Nexus 7 rumor mill churns out leaked photos

Ahead of a mysterious event next week with a Google Android exec, Android Central leaks images and video said to be of the next generation of the pure Android tablet.

If there wasn't enough fanning the Google rumor flames, Android Central posted pictures and video of what it purports to be the likely successor to Google's Nexus 7.
Members of the press received an invitation to a Google event next week, with the only hint about the subject being a host in Sundar Pichai, the head of Android. He took over Android chief Andy Rubin's role when Rubin took on new projects.
Rumors and images were already circulating around a Nexus 7 tablet successor, and the event may be just the way Google decides to unveil it.
The latest images, which have been slightly altered to protect their source referred to as "Brett," show a device with Nexus emblazoned on the back beneath a spec sticker, but there's no telling if this is a prototype, a final product, if the specs are accurate, and so on.

(Credit: Android Central)

Whatever this thing is, it's said to be manufactured by Asus, as the original was. It has two cameras, a Qualcomm APQ8064 motherboard with a Snapdragon S4 pro processor, 4 gigabytes of DDR3L RAM, and stereo speakers.
If this turns out to be the heir to Nexus 7's crown, it still looks a little chubby compared with an iPad Mini.
But a screenshot adds 5 pounds -- isn't that what they always say?
Here's another image of the device, perhaps a little clearer:

Image of alleged Nexus 7.

(Credit: Brett)

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Google joins tech ranks pushing for streaming TV deals

Google revives an attempt to stream television over the Internet, having talked with media companies about licensing their content, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The field is getting crowded with tech companies vying to bring television to the masses over the Internet.
Google has made overtures to media companies about licensing their content for an "over-the-top" service, the kind that delivers video through networks other than cable providers and satellite services, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.
That revives a preliminary attempt by the Mountain View, Calif., company a couple of years ago, according to the report, which adds that Google's pitch has evolved to include a demo of the product.
But before such a service can even become a reality, it's already part of a competitive landscape. Not only will over-the-top services have to compete with cable-television providers like Comcast and satellite pay-TV providers like DirecTV that have been bringing consumers thousand of content options for decades, a handful of tech heavyweights are racing to produce a broadband-based alternative.
Intel has been pursuing a similar service, expected to launch this year, in an effort to be part of the next big tech market, after the company missed the boat on smartphones.
And Apple has long been said to be working on an Internet TV service to fill out its current Apple TV device, which currently has on-demand video services but few live options and nothing that replicates the experience of flipping through multiple channels of live television.
Google already beat Apple to the punch on another form of streaming media. It launched a streaming music service in May, putting Google in competition with the likes of Pandora and Spotify and -- later -- Apple with its iTunes Radio.
Google launched a TV software platform, morphing the Chrome browser to overlay on a Smart TV, in 2010, but it wasn't met with a particularly warm response.
With so many players chasing an over-the-top service, Google and the rest clearly are expecting a welcome embrace for this.

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Superman Memory Crystals Can Store Up to 360TB

 

Scientists are working on a new type of computer memory which would allow the safe and long-term storage of hundreds of terabytes of data. And by long term, they mean theoretically forever.
Using high speed lasers, they have been able to record and retrieve information from glass, leading to the discovery of what its inventors endearingly call Superman memory crystals.

This impressive data storage system developed by University of Southampton researchers will have practically unlimited lifetime and a storage capacity of up to 360TB of data – the equivalent of 580,000 CDs.
While regular hard drive memory can last a couple of decades and is vulnerable to strong temperature variations, moisture, magnetic fields, this memory crystal is extremely dense and durable, having the potential to last indefinitely. The nanostructured glass crystal used in the research can also withstand temperatures of up to 1,800° F.
How it works
The data is written on the memory crystal, which is about the size of a normal CD, with a femtosecond laser (femtosecond stands for a millionth of a billionth of a second).
The information is encoded in five dimensions – the dimensional position of the glass nanostructures plus intensity and polarization of the laser beam, making for what researchers named 5D data storage.
The process used practically changes the manner in which light travels through glass and thus creates polarized light which can be read with a polarizer and an optical microscope, just like the data in optical fibers.

Researchers have already been able to successfully record and retrieve a 300kb text file. Interestingly enough, the memory crystal would work just like a rewritable disc, meaning that the stored information can be erased and replaced with new data. The current writing speed is 12 Kbit/s, but scientists hope this can rise to about 8 Mbit/s and even several Gbit/s with future research.
This Superman memory crystal can have multiple uses in fields for storage of high capacity important data. Not to mention the obvious use any sci-fi fan has already considered: storing the entire history of humankind for the next generations or for some alien race that may stumble upon our planet long after humans are extinct.

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Apple said to be working on ad-skipping tech for TV

A new report says Apple's trying to woo cable companies on ad-skipping technology for TV programs.

There's new fuel for the fire that Apple's working on technology for an updated TV set-top box or TV platform.
Citing unnamed sources, tech writer Jessica Lessin (formerly of The Wall Street Journal), says Apple's been meeting with cable companies to pitch a service that would enable TV viewers to skip commercials.
That feature would be worked into a "premium" service Apple TV owners would buy into, the report says, adding that Apple would then pay networks when it occurred.
Apple's TV set-top box remains limited to prerecorded content instead of live TV channels, though that's expected to change. Apple has dabbled in offering live programming, but only its own presentations, like keynote addresses and concerts. A series of rumors has pointed toward the company expanding from selling content a la carte to a subscription that would rival what people purchase from their cable providers. Earlier this month, Apple was said to be in late-stage talks with Time Warner Cable to add live channels to the set-top box, presumably inside an app.
Apple would not be the first company to offer users a way to skip ads on TV programming. TiVo and ReplayTV offered the feature to consumers more than a decade ago, and it's since permeated to the DVRs cable providers offer to customers. More recently, companies like Dish and its Hopper technology can skip commercial blocks, though the feature can be limited on certain programming and has raised legal ire from major broadcast networks which say it violates copyright law. (Disclosure: CBS is one of those broadcast networks, and CBS Interactive is the publisher of CNET News).
Apple declined to comment on the report, calling it rumor and speculation.

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Bill Gates says Microsoft Bob will make a comeback

Speaking Monday at the Microsoft Research event, the chairman said Microsoft Bob didn't get it right, but he thinks the personal assistant feature will reemerge with a bit more sophistication

Rick Rashid, former head of Microsoft Research, and Bill Gates take questions at the Microsoft Research Faculty Summit at the company's Redmond, Wash., headquarters.

(Credit: Microsoft) Bill Gates thinks that Microsoft Bob, or at least the concept, will come back to life as intelligent personal agents become part of everyday computing. Microsoft Bob, introduced by Gates at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 1995, provided a virtual house with rooms and doors and cartoon character assistants to help users navigate Windows and perform tasks with Microsoft applications. For example, users could log in by clicking on a door knocker or launch the calendar application by clicking on a calendar hanging on a wall. (Read Harry McCracken's fine history of Microsoft Bob.)
Speaking Monday at the Microsoft Research Faculty Summit at the company's Redmond, Wash., headquarters, the chairman said Microsoft Bob didn't get it right, but he thinks the concept will reemerge with a bit more sophistication. "We were just ahead of our time, like most of our mistakes," he said.

Microsoft Bob for Windows 3.1 circa 1995.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft Bob failed to impress users, who were content to live with their simple icons and folders and without cute dogs providing instructions in cartoon bubbles. Bob lived a brief, much pilloried life, exiting the stage in early 1996. But the idea persisted in the Office assistant helper, Clippy, also a subject of derision by critics and featured in Microsoft Office 97 through 2003.
The new generation of personal agents will be more adept at planning activities, such as finding a gift or organizing a trip in a certain way, Gates said. Microsoft Bob won't come back as a dog, but will morph into a disembodied voice from the cloud. Wrapped in the Windows 8 tiled interface, the new Bob will "understand" all that you do -- or are willing to share online -- as well as anticipate your needs and present relevant information anytime, anywhere, and on any device. So far, Apple's Siri and Google Now are alone in providing modestly intelligent personal assistance from the cloud. Bob needs to get back to work. In fact, he should talk to Larry at Microsoft Research.

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Microsoft cuts price on Surface RT tablets by up to 30 percent

Tech titan reduces the prices to two of its in-house tablets by $150 in apparent attempt to drum up sales.

Microsoft cut the prices on its Surface RT tablets on Sunday by as much as 30 percent as the company tries to boost lackluster sales of the in-house tablets.
The software giant's entry-level 32GB model without a touch keyboard was reduced from $499 to $349, while the 64GB model's price was also reduced by $150, now selling for $499, a price cut of 25 percent.
The price cuts come a few weeks after Microsoft reduced the price of a version of the tablet for schools and universities for a two-month window this summer. Under that program, Surface RTs without keyboards sell for as low as $199.
Before that, Microsoft was offering substantial discounts on Surface RT and Surface Pro devices to attendees of some of its recent conferences. Microsoft also tried to drum up Surface RT sales in May by kicking in a free cover.
Sales of Surface RT tablets, which debuted a year ago, have been seen as tepid. In March, Bloomberg reported that Microsoft likely sold around 1.5 million Surface tablets to date. Though 1 million of those sales were for the RT version, that number was about half of what Microsoft initially expected, according to Bloomberg.

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Moto X will sport always-on voice commands, leaked video shows

New voice command feature will allow users to initiate commands without touching a button, according to a new purported demonstration video.

If you ever get the feeling that no one is listening when you pick up your smartphone, it appears you won't have that problem with the Moto X.
Motorola's new flagship smartphone, which is expected to be released later this summer, will sport an always-on voice command feature that will allow users to initiate commands without touching a button on the handset, according to a new demonstration video that appears to come from Canadian wireless carrier Rogers. First spotted by Ausdroid, the video shows a user retrieving weather information on the handset by speaking the words, "OK Google Now."
"Your Moto X is ready to listen and respond. Talk to it and it learns your voice. With the power of Google Now, it tells you what you need to know even when you're not touching the screen," according to the video.

The video also shows off a feature called "Active Updates," a discreet notification system meant to deliver useful information automatically and instantly.
"Instead of a blinking light that doesn't actually tell you anything, information quietly appears on the screen," the video says.
The video also shows new photo features that allow users to launch the camera with a twist of the wrist and snap photos by tapping any where on the screen.
Motorola representatives declined to comment on the video.
The Moto X, the first flagship handset released by Motorola Mobility since being acquired by the Web giant a year ago, represents Motorola's best chance in years to make inroads against Apple and Samsung. Google is reportedly expected to allow the unit to spend up to $500 million marketing the highly anticipated smartphone in the U.S. and overseas.

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