We liked the Versa 2’s design, battery life, Alexa voice control and sleep tracking on top of Fitbit’s usual exercise focus. If you or your recipient is serious about improving their fitness, it could be a smart choice whether you’re using an Android phone or iPhone. We did notice a flaky connection with our review unit, but there have also been updates since then that have fixed bugs and introduced minor feature updates.
Just remember that the Versa 2’s long-term support isn’t clear. Google acquired Fitbit with a mind to improve Wear OS, not Fitbit’s platform, and there are no guarantees you’ll get support in the long run. There will likely be support in the months to come, but you’ll be buying the Versa 2 for what it can do now, not for what it might do in the future.
The EQC arrived in Europe earlier this year, and apparently it “generated high interest,” enough so that Mercedes’ parent company Daimler made a “strategic decision to first support the growing customer demand” in Europe.
The EQC base model is expected to start at $67,900 — less than the $74,800 Audi E-Tron and the $84,990 Tesla’s Model X. Both of those models are on sale now, so they have a head start. Delaying the sale of the EQC in the US will likely cost Mercedes a significant number of sales.
As The Verge points out, the US is on par with, if not behind, Europe when it comes to EV sales, in part because Europe has strict emissions regulations. Beginning in 2020, those regulations will stipulate that only five precent of each automaker’s fleet can exceed 95 grams of CO2 per kilometer, Autoblog explains. By 2021, the regulations will be even stricter, so Daimler’s decision could be an attempt to comply and avoid fines.
When the EQC does finally reach the states we can expect high-end luxury and the MBUX infotainment system.
The full-statement, which Mercedes shared with dealers last week, is below:
“The EQC launch in Europe and other markets earlier in 2019 generated high interest worldwide for the EQC. In a recent direction from Daimler AG, it is a strategic decision to first support the growing customer demand for the EQC in Europe. As a result of this decision, the U.S. market launch date of the Mercedes-Benz EQC will be rescheduled to 2021 (originally Q1 2020).”
Even on the biggest sale days, you don’t usually see super steep discounts on music gear. It’s one of the many reasons I don’t get that pumped for Black Friday. But this year I decided to treat myself and plug a glaring hole in my pedal board by picking up a Slö from Walrus Audio. By combining a few different deals I managed to snag this $200 reverb pedal for just $123. And, honestly, it would have been money well spent even if I paid full price.
I am deeply, deeply in love with the sound of this thing.
Ask most guitarists and they’ll probably tell you that reverb is the most essential tool in their arsenal. But for whatever reason it was something I’d largely ignored. My amps have always had built in reverb and I had a small Danelectro reverb pedal, but frankly it’s pretty useless for anything other than low-rent rockabilly.
But I’ve been craving a bigger sound. Something more ambient and rich. And the Slö has provided just that. It was the best selling pedal on Reverb.com that was new for 2019. And while it’s a great pedal that certainly deserves the honor, it’s also sort of odd because it’s actually kind of a niche effect. It doesn’t do your standard hall, plate or spring reverbs. It’s not trying to recapture the sound of a vintage Fender amp. Instead it provides thick modulated tones that are more at home in styles of music that have “post” slapped on the front of them like post-rock and post-metal.
The Slö has three different modes — dark, rise and dream — that are all unique takes on one particularly epic reverb sound. Dark adds a note an octave below what you’re playing. At lower levels it can add a subtle pad like vibe. To the point that you feel it more than you hear it. But when turned up (and especially when combined with fuzz) it somehow becomes both cavernous and crushing at the same time. Rise swells in the reverb behind your notes. At extreme settings it can mimic a guitar being played in reverse or being faded in with a volume pedal. A second footswitch on the pedal lets you momentarily max out the decay as well, so you can really let specific chords and notes ring out almost forever.
Dream might be my favorite of the bunch, though. It adds vibrato to your reverb which, when combined with the modulation found across all three modes can create everything from gentle waves to extreme broken record warbles. The second footswitch also functions differently in this mode, instead of momentarily maxing out the decay, it grabs a chunk of audio and freezes it. This allows you to play over pad of your own guitar tone. It’s a bit of a cliche at this point, but being able to make my guitar subtly sound like an old warped record just brings me immense joy.
The Slö manages to be surprisingly deep and flexible without being overwhelming either. The five knobs are relatively straightforward, other than X which changes based on which mode you’re in to control its special feature. And part of that is due to clever design that allows you to access some secondary functions by holding down the main bypass footswitch while flicking the mode switch or turning the depth knob, to change the modulation shape and speed respectively. And also the 50/50 point for the wet/dry mix knob clearly labeled, which is huge.
Over the last few years I’ve fallen back in love with playing my guitar and music in general. But I have been struggling to coax the sounds I wanted out of my existing pedal collection. The Slö has solved a surprising amount of my problems, though. On its own it’s a pretty formidable ambience machine. And once you start connecting to fuzzes, delays, and even other reverbs it can turn a single guitar into a vast wall of otherworldly sound.
Glarry Electric Bass Guitar Full Size 4 String
Chris Velazco Senior Editor, Mobile
Every few years or so, I fall down some weird rabbit hole and come out on the other end wanting to buy a musical instrument. In high school, an obsession with a scream-y Japanese band called Sambomaster prompted me to splurge on an electric guitar. Then, I found myself fixated on this catchy, upbeat tune from the now-defunct National Aerobics Championships and nearly bought some synths. Now, thanks to the wonder of bass YouTubers like Davie504 and the tremendous funk band Vulfpeck, I’m the somewhat proud owner of the cheapest, most disposable bass Amazon had to offer.
A few things are worth noting right off the bat. First, the product listing has perhaps the most inane name I’ve ever seen — I shelled out $80 for the “Glarry Electric Bass Guitar Full Size 4 String Rosewood Basswood Fire Style Exquisite Burning Bass (Burly Wood).” I never bought an amp so I can’t tell if the components are bunk, and the bass itself is almost shockingly light, which I suppose makes sense since it costs a third of what my first, largely unused guitar went for nearly a decade ago. And lastly, did I mention I am in no way a musician? I can carry a tune at karaoke (or so I like to think), but that’s as far as I’ve ever really gotten.
Despite all that, I’ve really enjoyed my first few weeks as a lousy bass player. I know I’ll never be the sort of multi-instrumental, Jacob Collier-esque genius I dreamed about as a kid, but there’s still something immensely satisfying about getting the bassline to “Animal Spirits” mostly right. Now, noodling on the bass has become a key part of my work process. Whenever I have a few minutes to spare after vetting news stories or pinging PR contacts for more info, I’ll sort of idly pick up the Glarry and practice a few licks before moving on to the next pressing issue.
At this rate, it’ll probably be about 40 years before I could even think about playing alongside Joe Dart, but that’s not a problem — I’ve already pushed aside any serious musical ambitions I had. It’s too late for me. Instead, I’ve embraced the Glarry for what it is: A cheap thrill that helps punctuate my day with moments of unexpected joy. It might not be the best thing I’ve ever spent $80 on, but, well, it’s damned close. Now, if you’ll excuse, I need to watch some tutorials on how to strum faster.
“IRL” is a recurring column in which the Engadget staff run down what they’re buying, using, playing and streaming.
Straight lines are so last year. Introducing the first curved OLED in the industry, with over 38″ diagonal of total display on the 2021 #Cadillac#Escalade. First look February 2020, available late 2020. pic.twitter.com/AoW4SvXhYA
Most infotainment systems occupy a space in the center of the dashboard, and even the largest are typically no bigger than a tablet. Cadillac’s video makes it look like this screen will stretch across the interior of the car.
As Autoblog points out, the teaser video suggests that the 2021 Escalade will have semi-autonomous driving technology, indicated by the green light across the steering wheel. We won’t have to wait too long to learn the specifics, as the reveal is scheduled for less than two months away.
If you’ve seen footage of a rocket launch, you’ll have some sense of all the moving parts involved with trying to recover a nose cone — even if you don’t know the name of the components.
The nose cone of a rocket is made up of two halves, called the payload fairing. These shield the rocket’s cargo during flight. Once the vehicle reaches orbit, they’re designed to separate and fall back to earth, burning up on reentry or breaking apart once they hit the surface of the ocean. SpaceX, however, has developed a way to catch and reuse them.
By adding a guidance system, thrusters and a parachute to each fairing half, SpaceX can actively control their descent. On the planet’s surface, the company will have two boats on patrol with massive nets, ready to catch the halves before they touch the ocean. In the past, SpaceX has only had the capability to recover one of the fairing halves because, as The Verge notes, the company only had one fairing boat at its disposable.
As for the payload the company will attempt to get into space, it’s a dual-purpose communications satellite called JCSAT-18/Kacific1. Notably, the Kacific1 half is designed to provide internet access to underserved communities in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Island. SpaceX has used the rocket that will ferry the satellite in two previous missions.
If everything goes according to plan, the Falcon 9 rocket will deploy its payload 33 minutes after takeoff. Approximately 45 minutes after takeoff, SpaceX will attempt to catch the two fairing halves before they touch the ocean. The mission’s launch window will open at 7:10PM ET and close approximately 90 minutes later at 8:38PM ET.
You can watch the entire mission on the company’s YouTube channel. If SpaceX can’t launch the rocket tonight, it’ll attempt to do so again tomorrow at the same time. For the moment, however, the weather at Cape Canaveral looks like it will cooperate.
The revival is supposedly reimagined and full of twists. It will star adults, likely those who grew up watching the show in which kids raced through an obstacle course in search of treasure.
“Bringing back Legends for Quibi is a dream come true,” executive producer Scott A. Stone said in a statement shared with E! News. “I have been so lucky to be part of this defining millennial show, and now there is a defining millennial platform to go with it. I couldn’t be more excited.”
Legends of the Hidden Temple will join other remakes, like Reno 911, Punk’d, Singled Outand The Fugitive, on the short-form, mobile-only platform. Quibi, as you might remember, is the video startup by former Dreamworks exec Jeffrey Katzenberg. It hasn’t exactly taken off yet, but that hasn’t kept heavyweight investors like Disney, 21st Century Fox and Warner Bros from investing millions in it.
The first three episodes of The Decade Wrapped are already available, and the remaining seven will be released daily starting on Tuesday. Overviews for each are already up on Spotify’s website, so if you’re curious, you can check out who came out on top and which songs listeners most frequently streamed.
The decade saw the breakthrough of artists like Drake and Ariana Grande, plus the explosion of K-pop and bands like BTS. The Decade Wrapped sounds like a fun way to relive those moments — as long as your taste falls squarely within the top 40.
The key, according to JBL, is Powerfoyle material from Exeger that, like Logitech’s solar keyboards, can draw energy from indirect and indoor light as well as the Sun. Unless you prefer to listen in total darkness, your cans will always be charging. JBL estimates that an hour and a half of outdoor time is enough for 68 hours of listening if you’re starting with a fully-charged battery. Even if the conditions aren’t nearly as favorable (say, winter), there’s a good chance you won’t have to plug in. There is a backup, of course — you can plug the headphones in through USB and get two hours of playback in 15 minutes.
These are otherwise garden variety headphones. They pack 40mm drivers with a 20Hz to 20kHz frequency response range, hands-free calling, a mode to amplify ambient audio, multi-device pairing and control over your voice assistant of choice. They’re even IPX4-rated, so they can endure some rain or gym sweat.
JBL has already met its crowdfunding target for the Reflect Eternal, so pledging $99 before the campaign’s end on January 14th makes it highly likely that you’ll get a pair around the estimated October 2020 release date. At this point, it’s mainly a question of whether anything will change between now and launch. JBL and Exeger are using the crowdfunding to gauge feedback and tweak the design, so there’s a possibility that complaints you have now might be addressed by the time you can start listening.
For the female runner in your life, you could just buy a $6 armband for their phone. But if you want to score extra points, you might want to consider the Koala Clip. Unlike an armband or belt, the Koala Clip attaches to the strap of a sports bra and rests against the wearer’s back, promising zero slippage or bouncing mid-run. The flat, wide design also means your recipient can stash more items than regular pouches, so money for a post-jog ginger beer can stay close at hand without the need for an overflowing bag.
The Koala Clip comes in three sizes and five creatively named color options. So if Fierce Flamingo or Salty Sapphire sound more like pet names for the one you love than colorways, this gift is the perfect, practical choice. — James Trew
Verizon (Engadget’s parent company) is still rushing to meet its 5G coverage goals for the year, and it just crossed another big city off its list. The carrier has launched 5G ultra wideband access in Los Angeles, including areas in downtown, Chinatown, Del Rey and Venice. As elsewhere, though, you’ll have to stick to certain major locations to have a hope of getting those promised speeds. The initial rollout focuses on landmarks like the LA Convention Center, Staples Center, Grant Park and the Venice Beach boardwalk. You may notice the speeds if you’re attending a Lakers game or E3, then, but you won’t have much luck keeping a signal as you walk to get your morning coffee.
