Gadgets
JBL Launches Three New TWS Earbuds, Wireless Gaming Headset: All Details
Alongside the wireless headphones and TWS earbuds, JBL also launched the Flip 6 Bluetooth speaker and new PartyBox portable party speakers on Thursday. Read on for more details about the new slew of JBL audio products.
Quantum 350 Wireless: Price, specifications
The new addition to JBL’s Quantum gaming headset range, the JBLQuantum 350 Wireless uses a lossless 2.4G wireless connection via a USB dongle, with 40mm drivers featuring the company’s QuantumSound Signature and QuantumSurround tech. The ear cushions are constructed out of PU leather finish memory foam, and it is lightweight at 252 grams. PC gamers can use the JBL QuantumEngine software to customise the headset.
The Discord-certified Quantum 350 Wireless headset has a detachable boom mic, so it can also be used separately. JBL claims that the Quantum 350 Wireless has a battery life of 22 hours, and the speed charge gives up to 60 minutes of playback from just a 5-minute charge. With Power & Play, users can charge the headset simultaneously during gameplay via a USB cable.
The JBL Quantom 350 Wireless headset will be available for EUR 119 (roughly Rs. 10,300) from September. It is priced at $99.95 (roughly Rs. 7,200) in the US.
JBL Reflect Flow Pro: Price, specifications
The JBL Reflect Flow Pro fitness TWS earbuds feature the company’s Powerfin design, and feature an IP68 certification for dust and water resistance. The company is touting its Adaptive Noise Cancelling with Smart Ambient tech for intelligent noise cancellation. To that end, the earphones also feature six microphones including two beamforming ones, for voice clarity and wind suppression.
They also feature Bluetooth v5.0 connectivity, Google Fast Pair tech, and has Qi-compatible wireless charging support. JBL Reflect Flow Pro offer up to eight hours of playtime when noise-cancelling is on, and up 10 hours with it off. The case provides up to 20 hours of additional playback, bringing total battery up to 30 hours. The company claims with the speed charge feature, 10 minutes of charge provide up to 60 minutes of playtime.
The touch control of the earbuds can be customised through the JBL Headphones App. JBL Reflect Flow Pro will be available on JBL.com from September at EUR 179 (roughly Rs. 15,500) in Black, Blue, Pink, and White colours. In the US, it is priced at $179.95 (roughly Rs. 13,100).
JBL Tune 130NC and Tune 230NC: Price, specifications
The new JBL Tune 130NC and Tune 230NC are the successors of the Tune 125TWS and Tune 225TWS earbuds. Both have many similarities that include Pure Bass Sound, active noise cancellation (ANC), IPX4 water resistance, Bluetooth v5.2, touch controls, and a four-microphone array for calls. The Tune 230NC and Tune 130NC offer up to 8 hours of battery life with ANC on and an extra 24 hours of playtime from the case, going up to 10 + 30 hours when ANC is off. With the speed charge feature, users will get up to 60 minutes of playback with a 10-minute charge. Both the Tune 230NC and Tune 130NC support Dual Connect + Sync and work with the JBL Headphones app.
The biggest differences between the two true wireless stereo earphones are in design. The Tune 230NC feature a stemmed design while the Tune 130NC have a more compact round shape. The JBL Tune 230NC use 5.8mm drivers, in contrast to the Tune 130NC’s 10mm drivers.
Both the JBL Tune 230NC and JBL Tune 130NC will be available on October 17, for EUR 99 (roughly Rs 8,500). In the US, they are priced at $99.95 (roughly Rs. 7,200 ). Both models will be available in Black, Blue, and White colours.
JBL Endurance Race: Price, specifications
The JBL Endurance Race fitness-focussed true wireless earbuds were launched in the US as well, and will go on sale in the country from October 17 priced at $79.95 (roughly Rs. 5,800). Features include a bud design, IP67 dust, and water resistance, up to 30 hours of battery life (10 hours on earbuds and 20 in the case), touch controls, as well as TwistLock and Enhancer tech.
Gadgets
Microsoft Partners With Inworld to Bring AI Game Development Tools to Xbox
“At Xbox, we believe that with better tools, creators can make even more extraordinary games,” Haiyan Zhang, GM, Xbox Gaming AI, said in a blog post. “This partnership will bring together: Inworld’s expertise in working with generative AI models for character development, Microsoft’s cutting-edge cloud-based AI solutions including Azure OpenAI Service, Microsoft Research’s technical insights into the future of play, and Team Xbox’s strengths in revolutionizing accessible and responsible creator tools for all developers.”
The aforementioned AI design copilot is a toolset that will help game designers turn prompts into scripts and dialogue trees. In contrast, the character runtime will enable dynamically generated plot beats and quests. We’ve already seen heavy AI integration in games by way of procedural generation — a more recent example being the 1000+ planets in Starfield. Not to mention, enemy AI has been around for way longer.
Inworld made headlines in August when it launched a modded story mode for Grand Theft Auto V, Sentient Streets, in which players had to investigate the rise of a bizarre AI-worshipping cult — a segment loaded with characters that spoke in AI-generated dialogue, on the fly. The mod was later taken down by publisher Take-Two, leaving a permanent strike on the creator Bloc’s YouTube channel. As per The Verge, Inworld’s AI technology can also be used for narration in top-down RPGs to warn players about any events awaiting off-screen and respond to questions like we’ve seen in the past year with AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Bing Chat. Microsoft has also been heavily banking on artificial intelligence, having made a $10 billion (about Rs. 83,254 crore) investment in OpenAI. The company has also integrated AI tools into its popular suite of services and also added an AI copilot to Windows.
Despite being a Microsoft-affiliated AI toolset, it would be interesting to see whether titles using them will be allowed to thrive on other platforms. In July, Valve claimed that it would be cracking down on games that included AI-generated assets if the developer didn’t own the copyright to the piece of art. For the uninitiated, when you insert a prompt to create something in AI, the software simply repurposes existing assets found online and mushes them together — basically stealing from other artists and writers without appropriate commercial licenses. Infringing them would lead to the game not being distributed on Steam, forcing the developers to seek proper licenses for the asset by reaching out to the AI companies involved. It’s unclear how Microsoft’s partnership will play out — as long as AI content is being used as a catalyst to innovate and create something new, it should be fine.
Gadgets
BSNL Offers Free 4G SIM Upgrade: Here’s How to Get It
In a post on X shared by BSNL’s Andhra Pradesh (@bsnl_ap_circle) unit, the company confirmed that BSNL users can upgrade their older 2G or 3G SIMs to a 4G SIM for free. Not only will the upgrade be free, but a promotional image shared with the post suggests that users who opt for the upgrade will also receive 4GB of free data that will be valid for three months. It is speculated that BSNL is aiming to boost its upcoming 4G services with this offer. The announcement was first spotted by Telecom Talk.
To access the free data offer and the free upgrade, BSNL users are requested to get in touch with executives at BSNL’s Customer Service Centre, franchisee or retailer stores, or contact one of their Direct Selling Agents (DSA). The promo image also adds in a finer print that the offer is available with certain terms and conditions, but hasn’t detailed any, so far.
Reliance’s Jio recently launched the 4G-supported Bharat B1 feature phone in India. The handset is priced at Rs. 1,299 in India. Alongside 4G connectivity, the phone comes with JioCinema and JioSaavn applications pre-installed.
The Jio Bharat B1 is equipped with the JioPay application, which is said to allow users to make UPI payments. Aiming to increase accessibility, the phone supports 23 languages overall, including multiple regional languages.
Gadgets
Realme GT 5 Pro Teased to Feature 3,000 Nits Display; More Details Revealed
Realme, via Weibo, announced the arrival of the Realme GT 5 Pro in China. The display of the handset is confirmed to offer 3000 nits peak brightness. It has also been teased to offer heat dissipation with a surface area of around 10,000mm2. It is confirmed to ship with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. The post doesn’t specify the exact launch date of the smartphone, however, given the release of the teasers, the launch could be just around the corner.
The Realme GT 5 Pro has been in the news a lot lately. It is expected to feature a 6.78-inch (1,264×2,780 pixels) AMOLED display and is tipped to come in 8GB, 12GB, and 16GB RAM options along with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB inbuilt storage options.
For optics, the Realme GT 5 Pro is said to have a triple rear camera unit comprising two 50-megapixel sensors and an 8-megapixel shooter at the rear. The camera setup might include a Sony LYTIA LYT808 sensor, an OmniVision OV08D10 secondary sensor, and a Sony IMX890 telephoto sensor. For selfies, there could be a 32-megapixel sensor at the front. It is said to carry a 5,400mAh battery with support for 100W wired charging and 50W wireless charging.
The Realme GT 5 Pro is expected to come with upgrades over Realme GT 5. The latter was launched in China in August with a price tag of CNY 2,999 for the base model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
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