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epos’-new-$119-h3-wired-gaming-headset-is-basic,-but-comfortable

EPOS’ new $119 H3 wired gaming headset is basic, but comfortable

The gaming audio company EPOS has debuted a new wired gaming headset called the H3. It’s not as exciting as its GTW 270 truly wireless earbuds for gaming, and depending on your needs, its short list of features might not be worth its $119 price. But a few things stick out in the H3’s favor after spending a few days with it.

EPOS has a knack for using a rotating dial for volume controls on its headsets, and if you read my review of Microsoft’s excellent Xbox Wireless Headset, you know I’m all about dials. On the outside of the H3’s right earcup, there’s a dial controlling the volume that’s easy to adjust with two fingers. Opposite that, on the left earcup, there’s an articulating boom microphone that can be muted when it’s in the up position. Any time it’s lowered, the mic will be on, unless you mute it on your device.

I also like that these have broad compatibility with consoles, mobile devices, and PC — not that they’re the first to do this. The H3 includes two swappable braided cables, one made for PC that extends from the headset and splits into a dedicated audio 3.5mm plug and a microphone plug (most desktops and some gaming laptops feature both of these ports). There’s also a cable that outputs to a single 3.5mm plug that can go into a phone, a controller, a PC, an Oculus Quest 2, or any other device you own with this kind of audio jack. I do wish that EPOS included a 3.5mm-to-USB-C adapter to broaden compatibility further for devices that lack a headphone jack.

On the right side of the H3, you’ll find this volume knob.
EPOS

You don’t have to spend $119 on a wired gaming headset to get features like the ones I explained above, but the H3’s comfort and sound performance help to justify their price. The earcups fit snug around my head, but not too snug, and they have a wide range of motion (though they don’t swivel to lay flat on the chest.) The headband’s size adjustments snap into place and don’t move, even when I yank the headset off. The passive noise isolation of the ear cups is decent, partially because of the closed-back design, but its plush pads do a better-than-average job at keeping outside sounds out because the cups can be tilted to fit your head shape. I’m short on qualms about the build quality, though the earcups might not be as good a fit for people who have larger ears.

The H3 is a solid performer when it comes to gaming and listening to music. Its closed-back earcups provide a clear, balanced sound without an overwhelming amount of bass. Yet, the palpable bass line in “Book of Slim” by Gene Harris & The Three Sounds came through just fine. Switching over to games, I was happy with how games like Ratchet & Clank (2016) and Ghost of Tsushima sounded on the H3 while connected to a PS5 controller. The sound quality rivals many of the sub-$150 headsets I’ve tried in my gaming headset buying guide.

The mic is muted when it’s flipped up, as it is in the picture.
EPOS

The microphone quality is also solid for the price, picking up all of the little details in my voice. It’s easy to tell my “p’s” from the “t’s” in voice recordings. It sounded crisp when connected to my PC, and within Google’s Recorder app while plugged into my Pixel 3 via a USB-C dongle. I got similarly good results plugged into my PS5 controller. Though, I wouldn’t suggest this headset over a dedicated microphone, if you’re planning on making any podcast appearances soon.

Other than the USB-C adapter that I wish was included, the other big omission from the H3 compared to other headsets in its price range is the lack of microphone monitoring. I love being able to hear my own voice, but I swear I’m not a narcissist. Monitoring is useful to hear someone yelling for you across the room when you’re distracted in a game.

If you aren’t totally sold on going wireless for your gaming headset because you don’t want another device to recharge, or some other reason, the H3 is a solid alternative. Its sound quality and comfort mostly make up for not having many features. That said, its price borders on what you’ll pay for one of several good wireless gaming headsets that have many more features.

google-adds-pac-man,-hello-kitty,-gundam-mechs,-and-more-to-ar-search

Google adds Pac-Man, Hello Kitty, Gundam mechs, and more to AR search

Google has added a bunch of popular Japanese characters to its AR feature in mobile search, which has previously featured animals, historical artifacts, and dinosaurs. The list of characters is taken from Japanese pop culture including anime, TV, and video games, with names like Pac-Man, Hello Kitty, mechs from Evangelion and Gundam, and more. The feature works on Google search on Android and the iOS Google app.

When you enter the characters’ names, you’ll see an option to “see in your space” below the main search result, and that’ll let you drop a 3D model into your camera view. The models can appear at various degrees of scale, with an option to render at life size, though I’m not sure quite how accurate those measurements are. I was under the impression that Hello Kitty was five apples tall, for example, but she towered over my desk when I tried it out.

The full list of characters is here:

  • Ultraman
  • Ultraman Zero
  • Ultraman Belial
  • Gomora
  • Evangelion (EVA-01 Test Type)
  • Gundam (Odysseus Gundam, Xi Gundam, Penelope)
  • Cogimyun
  • The drums from Taiko no Tatsujin
  • Pac-Man
  • Pompompurin
  • Little Twin Stars

Google says that Pac-Man is by far the most searched-for character out of the list, with more than twice as many searches as for Hello Kitty at #2. Apparently, the top country for Pac-Man searches is Peru.

samsung-wants-to-make-sure-nobody’s-tracking-you-with-its-smarttags

Samsung wants to make sure nobody’s tracking you with its SmartTags

Samsung has announced that customers will soon be able to scan for unknown Galaxy SmartTags trackers using Samsung’s SmartThings Find service. The feature, called Unknown Tag Search, will be coming to the SmartThings app starting next week.

Users will be able to scan the nearby area for any SmartTags that don’t belong to them but that are moving along with them. This feature could be a big win for safety, providing an easy way to make sure that nobody’s tracking you with a tiny SmartTag that they slipped in your backpack, purse, coat pocket, etc. It’s a nice feature if you’re concerned about the privacy or security implications of Tile-like tracking devices.

Samsung also announced that its assistant, Bixby, will gain the ability to find SmartTags. If you’ve placed a SmartTag on a certain item and named it, you’ll be able to use Bixby to find that tag. For example, if you’ve got a SmartTag on your keys, you could say “hi Bixby, where are my keys?” and it will set off the tag’s ringer.

Apple currently has a feature similar to Unknown Tag Search in the iOS 14.5 beta, and it seems like it would be a natural fit for the company’s long-rumored AirTags item trackers. The company is hosting its “Spring Loaded” event tomorrow, so perhaps we’ll see Apple officially unveil its rumored competitor to Samsung’s Galaxy SmartTags.

parler-will-relaunch-on-apple’s-app-store-next-week

Parler will relaunch on Apple’s App Store next week

The embattled social network Parler is slated to reappear on iOS on the week of April 26th, following its re-acceptance into Apple’s App Store earlier today. However, the iOS app will block some content that’s available on the Android and web versions of Parler — a compromise that apparently satisfies Apple’s developer guidelines.

Parler announced the news in a press release. Interim CEO Mark Meckler said the company had “worked to put in place systems that will better detect unlawful speech and allow users to filter content undesirable to them, while maintaining our strict prohibition against content moderation based on viewpoint.”

Apple reaccepted Parler after a months-long ban under pressure from lawmakers, two days before a hearing on Apple’s App Store policies. The company said Parler — which promotes itself as a less strictly moderated alternative to Facebook or Twitter — had engaged in “substantial conversations” with Parler, resulting in a set of proposed changes that would meet Apple’s content policy.

According to Parler’s press release, that includes filtering some content on iOS. “While the App Store version of Parler will prohibit some posts that Parler allows, those posts will still remain visible on the web-based and Android versions of Parler,” the release notes. Parler didn’t elaborate on what kinds of content that would include, but Apple broadly requires a system for filtering “objectionable” material posted by users.

Apple, Google, and Amazon all banned Parler after the January 6th attack on the US Capitol, saying Parler had failed to police violent threats and hateful content. Parler sued Amazon, which it had worked with for web hosting, but the suit has so far fared poorly in court. Google has continued to bar Parler from its Play Store, but users can install the app directly on Android — making the ban far less of a liability.

nextdoor-will-alert-users-if-it-thinks-they’re-about-to-post-something-racist

Nextdoor will alert users if it thinks they’re about to post something racist

Nextdoor is introducing a new anti-racism notification, which asks users to reconsider posting content if the app thinks it may be offensive. As with its previous Kindness Reminder, if a user tries to post something with words or phrases Nextdoor thinks may be objectionable, it will give them the option to edit the post before it actually goes live. The users can, however, ignore the warning and post it anyway.

The notification users may receive if they try to post something containing the phrases “all lives matter,” “blue lives matter,” etc.
Image: Nextdoor

In the blog post announcing the anti-racism notification, Nextdoor says that its similar Kindness Reminder has reduced “incivil content” by 30 percent. It’s hard to say whether this new feature will be as effective. The example that Nextdoor shows — someone responds to a Black Lives Matter post by saying “all lives matter,” then decides that they’d actually like to hear the person out after seeing the anti-racism notification — doesn’t really seem to match up with real-life behavior.

Nextdoor is probably aware of this. In its support page for the feature, the company says that it’s mostly aiming to make sure people are aware that they could be violating the social network’s discrimination policy — according to the announcement blog post, comments about blue lives matter, all lives matter, or white lives matter are already regulated on Nextdoor. While the new notification may not change many people’s minds, hopefully it can at least reduce some of the bad behavior on the platform, making it a safer place for everyone.

facebook’s-clubhouse-competitor-is-coming-this-summer

Facebook’s Clubhouse competitor is coming this summer

Facebook is going all in on audio. The company announced multiple products on Monday that emphasize voice content over text, images, or video. The products will be released over the next few months and, in some cases, will start with a limited set of people.

Most notably, Facebook is indeed launching a competitor to the buzzy social audio app Clubhouse with a feature called Live Audio Rooms, which will be available this summer. It’ll first roll out to groups and public figures as a test, but it will eventually make its way to Messenger, too, so people can hang out with friends. Users will be able to record their conversations and distribute them, and eventually, people can charge for access to these rooms through either a subscription or one-time fee.

To get people to join, Facebook says it’s introducing an Audio Creator Fund to “support emerging audio creators.” All of these conversations can also be turned into “Soundbites,” a forthcoming feature that allows people to create and share shortform audio clips along with an algorithmic feed to promote them. Think TikTok, but with audio clips.

The Soundbite creation tool will let people put effects on their voices.
Image: Facebook

Soundbites will live within the broader News Feed. Users will be able to record them in a separate tool within Facebook, which the company describes as a “sound studio in your pocket.” In a chat with Casey Newton, the author of Platformer and a contributing editor at The Verge, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg equated Soundbites to Reels, Instagram’s TikTok competitor, but for audio.

He also added that he likes audio over video or images because it allows people to multitask and host longer, nuanced conversations.

“The high-level picture here is that we think that audio is, of course, also going to be a first-class medium, and that there are all these different products to build across this whole spectrum,” Zuckerberg said.

Facebook also plans to take on a bigger role in podcasting. The company says it’ll start recommending shows and episodes based on people’s interests and that people can comment on them and recommend them to friends. The company says 170 million people on Facebook are connected to a page that’s linked to a specific podcast, and more than 35 million people are members of fan groups around podcasts.

Facebook wants to support podcasts with direct monetization.
Image: Facebook

Zuckerberg says a partnership with Spotify is forthcoming, too, which will bring the company’s player over to Facebook, letting people stream music and podcasts from their News Feed. Zuckerberg emphasized that this feature is for music. But still, Facebook users will be able to share Spotify podcasts and let people listen without having to leave the Facebook world — they just have to link their accounts.

“Our ambition has always been to make Spotify ubiquitous across platforms and devices — bringing music and podcasts to more people — and our new integration with Facebook is another step in these efforts,” a Spotify spokesperson said in a statement. “We look forward to a continued partnership with Facebook, fueling audio discovery around the world.”

Finally, Facebook’s tipping system, Stars, will be coming to Live Audio Rooms as well as for individual creators and public figures.

How serious Facebook is about audio and whether users actually want it over other formats is still unclear. On one hand, the audio industry is hot right now, with most major tech companies wading into the broader podcasting industry. Clubhouse and other audio startups have also made live audio a popular way to interact, and already, multiple big platforms have integrated the format into their apps.

On the other hand, live audio has clearly found its moment during the pandemic, when everyone’s been starved of human interaction and mostly confined to their homes. Podcasting offers edited, on-demand conversations, which people have enjoyed for years, but whether the live formats will survive remains an open question. Facebook has also routinely gone all in on a format, only for it to languish. It went for longform video with IGTV but has since pivoted to a focus on Reels. It launched and subsidized Facebook Live content, which has since mostly fallen by the wayside. The same could happen for audio, but Facebook is clearly using its size to try to make its mark on the industry.

microsoft’s-new-xbox-update-speeds-up-downloads-by-suspending-games

Microsoft’s new Xbox update speeds up downloads by suspending games

Microsoft is rolling out a new Xbox April dashboard update today that will improve the way games are downloaded. A new feature will now let Xbox owners suspend games to speed up download speeds. Currently, Xbox One and Xbox Series X / S systems throttle game updates and new game downloads if another game is active.

This new suspend option can be coupled with Quick Resume on the Xbox Series X / S to quickly pause a game, download game updates, or download a new game altogether and then resume the suspended game later. It’s a much cleaner option than having to manually quit a game or app to ensure download speeds aren’t getting throttled.

The new suspend option.

Alongside this new dashboard option, Microsoft is finally improving its Xbox mobile app to bring achievements back. The newly designed app launched on Android and iOS back in October, but it was missing achievements functionality and many other features that the mobile app previously included. Monthly leaderboards for achievements are also starting to appear for some Xbox mobile app users, and Microsoft says “everyone will see these updates in the app by the end of the month.”

fitbit’s-luxe-is-a-fashion-focused-fitness-band-that-costs-$149.95

Fitbit’s Luxe is a fashion-focused fitness band that costs $149.95

Fitbit has announced its new Luxe fitness tracker that looks like a more fashion-focused take on the Inspire 2. It leaked last week, but Fitbit is making it official with the news that the Luxe is available for preorder starting today, April 19th, for $149.95. This cost includes six months of the Fitbit Premium service, which usually costs $9.99 per month. The service recently launched the new Mindful Method program created by Deepak Chopra that packs in over 30 audio and video sessions on mindfulness and wellness.

A specific release date for the Luxe hasn’t been shared, but the company is aiming for a spring launch, so it shouldn’t be too long of a wait.

The Luxe was designed for “a diverse range of wrist sizes and skin tones for 24/7 wear.” Fitbit says the Luxe is its thinnest touchscreen tracker yet, and the company thinks most people should be able to sleep comfortably with it on. To that end, you won’t need to charge it every night, as Fitbit claims it’ll last up to five days per charge.

The Luxe includes an interchangeable silicone strap with several size adjustments. Other straps will be available at launch, including silicone bands in a few colors for $29.95 each, woven fabric bands for $34.95, leather bands for $49.95, stainless steel mesh bands for $79.95, going all the way up to $99.95 for stainless steel link bracelets from luxury jewelry brand Gorjana. If you just want the Luxe with the Gorjana band, a limited-edition version of the tracker costing $199.95 will include one starting in June.

The Fitbit Luxe in black.
Image: Fitbit

The Luxe is angled toward people who want their fitness tracker to be taken for jewelry. The company even went as far as using a metal injection molding process to craft the Luxe’s stainless steel case, which is apparently a traditional technique for jewelry-making.

The Luxe is a buttonless tracker, and inputs are delegated to its color OLED touchscreen. Like its previous smartwatches and trackers, Fitbit’s Luxe will be supported for iOS and Android devices. It’ll also support Google Fast Pair to pair more quickly to Android devices. The Luxe supports connected GPS while paired to your phone, so you’ll need to bring your phone along if you want to track runs or walks. If having built-in GPS is important to you, Fitbit’s Charge 4 includes that and other features like Fitbit Pay and Spotify controls.

Fitbit is using this launch to announce that the Luxe, along with the company’s other heart rate-enabled trackers and watches, support the companion app’s Stress Management Score that assesses your activity level, sleep schedule, and heart rate to help you manage stress. Through the app, the Luxe can track a host of other metrics, like your breathing pattern, your resting and variable heart rate, skin temperature, mood, sleep, and menstrual cycles. Sometime after launch, it’ll be able to record your blood oxygen levels (Sp02).

fitbit-luxe-vs-charge-4-vs-inspire-2:-what’s-the-difference?

Fitbit Luxe vs Charge 4 vs Inspire 2: What’s the difference?

(Pocket-lint) – Fitbit announced the fashion-focused Luxe activity and wellness tracker in April 2021, joining the Charge 4 and Inspire 2 in the company’s extensive portfolio.

How do the three devices compare though? You can read how all of Fitbit’s devices stack up against each other in our separate feature, but here we are looking at how the Fitbit Luxe compares to the Charge 4 and the Inspire 2. 

Price

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The Fitbit Luxe starts at £129.99 in the UK and $149.95 in the US, with the Special Edition model costing £179.99 in the UK and $199.95 in the US. There are a range of accessories available, including a Gorjana bracelet.

The Fitbit Charge 4 starts at £129.99 in the UK and $149.95 in the US, with the Special Edition models costing £149.99 in the UK and $159.95 in the US.

The Fitbit Inspire 2 is priced slightly lower than the Charge 4 and the Luxe, costing £89.99 in the UK and $99.95 in the US.

Design

  • Luxe: Waterproof, slim, stainless steel, colour touchscreen, buttonless, interchangeable straps
  • Charge 4: Waterproof, aluminium, large touchscreen display, inductive button, interchangeable straps
  • Inspire 2: Waterproof, plastic body, touchscreen display, physical button, interchangeable straps

The Fitbit Luxe is the most premium of the three Fitbit devices being compared here, offering a stainless steel body, coloured touchscreen display, a buttonless design, rounded edges and a focus towards fashion and style, with a range of accessories available.

The Fitbit Charge 4 has an aluminium body, and it too offers a premium design like the Luxe, but it has squarer edges and a more sporty look, along with a monochrome touchscreen display and inductive button on the side. Different accessories are available, but they are more standard compared to the bracelets and stylish straps available for the Luxe.

The Inspire 2 has a plastic body so it’s a little cheaper in its appearance compared to the Luxe and Charge 4. It also has a smaller touchscreen display than the Luxe and Charge 4 and it has a physical button on the side, making for a less streamlined design than the other two models.

All models being compared here are waterproof and they all feature a PurePulse heart rate monitor on their underside, as well as charging pins. The Charge 4 has an SPO2 monitor too however. 

Features

  • All: Steps, distance, calories, heart rate, advanced sleep, Active Zone Minutes, Auto exercise reognition, smartphone notifications
  • Luxe: Adds stress monitoring, Mindful Minutes
  • Charge 4: VO2 Max, NFC, Smart Wake

Many of the basic features offered by Fitbit are available across the Inspire 2, Charge 4 and Luxe fitness trackers, though there is some variation. 

All three trackers being compared here offer steps taken, distance travelled, calories burned and heart rate monitoring. They also all offer advanced sleep tracking with Sleep Score, swim tracking, Active Zone Minutes and they are able to automatically recognise some workouts with Fitbit’s SmartTrack, whilst offering the ability to specifically track others using the Multi-Sport Mode.

You’ll also find silent alarms on all the trackers, Reminders to Move, smartphone notifications with Quick Replies for Android users, Guided Breathing and female health tracking.

Beyond those features, things change a little between the devices. The Fitbit Charge 4 has NFC on board for Fitbit Pay, while the Inspire 2 and Luxe miss this off. The Charge 4 and Inspire 2 offer Cardio Fitness Level – which is a VO2 Max measurement – though it isn’t clear if the Luxe also offers this. The Charge 4 also offers Smart Wake, which uses machine learning to wake you up at an optimal time.

The Luxe meanwhile, has stress management like the Fitbit Sense, offering a Stress Score within the Fitbit app. It also launches a feature called Mindful Minutes, though this will come to the other Fitbit trackers and smartwatches.

Specs

  • Luxe: 6-day battery, Connected GPS, no NFC
  • Charge 4: 7-day battery, Built-in GPS, NFC, Altimeter
  • Inspire 2: 5-day battery, Connected GPS, no NFC

The Fitbit Luxe has Connected GPS on board, which means you’ll need to bring your phone with you in order to map a walk or a run. It offers six-day battery life, but as we mentioned above, there is no NFC for Fitbit Pay. 

At the time of writing, we didn’t know if the Luxe has an altimeter to measure elevation, though we would expect it to. 

The Charge 4 has built-in GPS, enabling you to map your route without your phone. It also comes with NFC on board and it features a seven-day battery life. It has an altimeter on board for measuring elevation.

The Inspire 2 has Connected GPS like the Fitbit Luxe. It comes with a five-day battery life and like the Fitbit Luxe, it doesn’t offer NFC for Fitbit Pay. There is no altimeter on board.

Conclusion

The Fitbit Luxe offers many of the same features and benefits as the Charge 4, though it trades built-in GPS and NFC for a more stylish and fashionable design. 

There are a couple of extra features on the Luxe compared to the Charge 4 and Inspire 2, such as Stress Monitoring and Mindful Minutes, though the Charge 4 is likely to get some of these through a software update. 

The choice between these devices will likely come down to which features are most important to you. If you want built in GPS and NFC, the Charge 4 is the one you’ll want. If you want a stylish tracker that is packed full of features but misses off a couple then the Luxe appears to be a great option. If you want most of the features Luxe offers but in a cheaper package with a more basic design, then the Inspire 2 will likely be adequate. 

Writing by Britta O’Boyle.

latest-windows-10-update-causes-frame-rates-to-plummet-and-bsods

Latest Windows 10 Update Causes Frame Rates to Plummet and BSODs

(Image credit: Microsoft)

A recent Microsoft update for Windows 10 appears to be wreaking havoc on some computers since its release several days ago. Update KB5001330 for builds 2004 and 20H1 and update KB5001337 for builds 1909 and 1903 are causing serious issues, from annoying frame rate bugs all the way to BSODs, as spotted by ComputerBase.

The issues don’t end there, apparently. For some people, the gaming-related issues vary wildly: some users experience unstable FPS with v-sync enabled and when sharing a screen on discord. For others, the issues are completely game-dependent.

Additionally, there have been numerous reports of other issues that aren’t related to gaming, like DNS issues and boot-looping. For some, the update won’t even install and will stay stuck at a certain percentage while installing.

Probably one of the worst issues related to this update is a nasty old bug that can potentially delete user files. Windows Latest reported a few days ago that the ‘temporary user bug’ is back again, causing your user login to disappear, along with your files located within that user profile (like the Documents folder). Luckily this is a very rare issue.

How To Delete the Windows 10 Update

If you are one of the unlucky people to have problems pertaining to this update, you can uninstall it manually with little to no effort.

All you need to do is head into the settings app, go to ‘Update & Security,’ click on the ‘View Update History’ section, and in that menu, there’s an option to uninstall updates.

Once there, uninstall KB5001330 for 2004 and 20H1 builds and KB5001337 if you’re running a build older than 2004.

Hopefully, Microsoft will get to the bottom of this problem by either withdrawing the update completely from its servers and/or rushing out another update to fix all these issues.

Generally, it takes Microsoft around 2 weeks to a month to permanently fix bugs like this, so we’d recommend pausing Windows Updates for that amount of time.