вторник, 5 января 2016 г.

uMonster Unveils New Headphones, Declares Return Of Boombox, Teases Partnership With Bentleyr


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  • After taking a break from his high-energy emceeing duties at CES 2015, Monster CEO Noel Lee (and his blinged-out Segway) returned to the CES International stage this morning to declare that “Monster is back in the game,” with the company re-entering the gaming world and announcing some sort of partnership with luxury carmaker Bentley.

    Lee opined from the podium that Monster wants to reinvent retail and is in the industry to be a platform for creativity, collaboration, and innovation.

    He highlighted a slew of new devices that were born from partnerships – new and old – with celebrities and other tech and sports companies that will debut in 2016.

    While Lee quickly announced that the most valuable collaboration in 2016 would be with Bentley, he wasn’t able to elaborate on just what the two companies have cooking until tomorrow.

    Instead, he provided updates on collaborations with Shaquille O’Neal, Super Bowl-winning quarterback Drew Brees, and soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo.

    In furthering its partnership with Ronaldo, the company will introduce RoC by Monster wireless headphones and a new wireless BackFloat speaker — not to be confused with the speaker shilled by Shaq last year.

    It wasn’t just celebrities that Monster innovated with for its 2016 lineup. Lee also announced a new line of Monster and Adidas headphones, noting that consumers deserve better than the white earbuds that come with their phones.

    As for new product announcements, Lee energetically unveiled what he called “the return of the Boombox,” with the Monster Blaster. The $399 boombox has an integrated subwoofer, but Lee promises it “doesn’t use D cells.”

    Additionally, the company’s new foray into the gaming world will include two hands-free gaming headsets in partnership with Fatal1ty Gaming Gear.

    Also in the headphone arena, Lee announced “the world’s first smart headphone” MonsterElements, “inspired by Nature, Powered by Monster.” The Bluetooth, over-ear headphones come in rose gold, white, silver, black, and other finishes.

    Lee promised that Monster wasn’t done with its new product releases, that the company’s booth on the CES floor would feature more celebrity visits and unveilings.



ribbi
  • by Ashlee Kieler
  • via Consumerist


uFord Plans To Triple Its Autonomous Vehicle Fleetr


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  • (courtesy: Ford)
    Less than a month after Ford said it would take an autonomous, driverless vehicle prototype for a few spins on the West Coast, the carmaker revealed plans to accelerate its foray into cars of the future by tripling its fleet of self-driving cars.

    According to Ford’s announcement at CES International in Las Vegas, the company will increase its existing fleet of self-driving Fusion Hybrid cars to 30, up from existing number of 10. While that might be a molecule in a drop in the bucket, Ford claims it would be the largest fleet of autonomous vehicles operated by any carmaker.

    The car manufacturer plans to test the cars in California, Arizona, and Michigan this year.

    “I predict that 2016 will be a revolutionary year for the auto industry,” Ford chief executive Mark Fields said at the press event. “We are completely rethinking how we approach the business, with one foot in today and one foot in tomorrow.”



ribbi
  • by Ashlee Kieler
  • via Consumerist


uFitbit Announces New “Smart Fitness Watch,” Still Not A Smart Watchr


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  • purpleFitbit isn’t a watch company: they’re a fitness tracker company. They’re sticking to this concept, even as smartwatches that can track your steps, flights of stairs climbed, and heart rate as well as let you read your e-mail have hit the market, and some people are actually buying them. Today, Fitbit announced its newest product: an even more watch-like fitness tracker called the Blaze.

    Do not let its appearance fool you. This is not a smartwatch, even if the main tracker unit does look a bit like an Apple Watch with the corners lopped off. Yes, that is a color touchscreen, and the company plans to offer a variety of interchangeable bands, but they really don’t want to get into the watch business.

    “One of the problems with general-purpose smartwatches is that no one’s really figured out why a consumer would want to wear one of these devices,” Fitbit co-founder and CEO James Park said last year at CES, the annual festival of consumer gadgetry in Las Vegas. This year, the company launched the Blaze at the same exposition, but at least their watch with a color touchscreen does have a purpose: in addition to tracking steps, heart rate, flights or hills climbed, and sleep, the device also provides access to professionally-designed workouts on FitStar.

    While the swappable bands are good news to critics of the company’s Force tracker bands, which some customers reacted to badly, they aren’t cheap. A metal band and frame for the Blaze costs $130, which puts the price up near that of a standard Apple Watch. Yet we all may be better off focusing on fitness and not checking our e-mail sometimes. Maybe.



ribbi
  • by Laura Northrup
  • via Consumerist


uVolkswagen Reportedly Having Trouble Finding “Defeat Device” Fixr


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  • (Eric Arnold)
    Just a day after the Department of Justice filed a potential multibillion-dollar civil lawsuit against Volkswagen for installing so-called “defeat devices” in vehicles to skirt federal emissions standards, a new report says that the German automaker has run into difficulties finding a fix for the nearly 500,000 affected “clean diesel” cars in the U.S. 

    Reuters, citing unnamed VW sources, reports that the car company is struggling to agree with U.S. authorities on a remedy to ensure that affected vehicles meet emission standards during testing and regular road use.

    According to the source, coming up with a proposed fix for the issue has been more difficult than expected because it involves creating new components, which would then require testing.

    Officials with VW, including chief executive Matthias Mueller, are expected to meet next week with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the Environmental Protection Agency — the agencies which revealed VW’s defeat devices in September.

    The VW source says that while the company has run into trouble creating a fix for the emissions cheating vehicles, it’s still hopeful to meet a mid-January deadline to have a plan in place.

    VW and officials for the EPA and CARB previously met in late November to discuss potential remedy plans for the vehicles.

    The carmaker submitted an initial proposal at the time, and the EPA said it would review that plan. However, it’s unclear if that same plan will be discussed in upcoming meetings, or if the agencies are seeking a new remedy.

    Volkswagen struggling to agree fix for U.S. test cheating cars: source [Reuters]



ribbi
  • by Ashlee Kieler
  • via Consumerist


uLG Refrigerator Has Door That Becomes Transparent When You Knock On Itr


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  • lgfridegMost of LG’s Tuesday morning was given over to ooh-and-ah displays of its big, beautiful, super-thin (as skinny as 2.5mm), Ultra-HD OLED TVs, but we’ve all seen really large, expensive TV sets displaying vibrant images. The company’s more novel innovations were shown off during the tail-end of the event, when LG showed off its new line of premium appliances.

    For instance, there was the LG Signature washing machine that does away with the standard panel of buttons and dials and puts all the controls on the glass window.

    lgwash

    lgwashcloseup

    And not only does this machine retain the in-the-pedestal mini-washer that LG introduced at last year’s CES, this version is also a combination washer/dryer. According to LG, the machine’s drying function requires half the electricity of a traditional electric clothes dryer.

    Another cool idea with this washer: push-to-open. So if your arms are full of laundry — or maybe you’re talking on your phone and trying to load the washer at the same time — you can just push the door in and it will open; no having to put anything down to pull the handle.

    Speaking of easy-open, the new LG Signature fridge features two interesting innovations. The first is a floor-level sensor that allows people to use their feet to tell the refrigerator to open the door. LG claims that a nosy pet won’t trigger the sensor, but we’ll believe that when we see it.

    lgsensor

    Then finally there’s the fridge door with a panel that turns transparent and lights up when you knock on it. Want to see if there’s milk, or if the butter is running low? Just knock and — assuming what you’re looking for is visible through that panel — you’ll know without having to open it.

    The fridge also comes with an interior clad in stainless steel, which doesn’t just look rad, but which LG claims will better moderate the inside temperature.



ribbi
  • by Chris Morran
  • via Consumerist


uLumosity Ordered To Quit Claiming Their Games Make Users Smarter, Prevent Dementiar


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  • delightful_gamesImproving every day at a casual mobile or computer game might make you feel like you’ve accomplished something, but does it make you smarter? It’s possible, but if recent ads from Lumosity made you wonder how a company can legally claim that playing a simple game can help stave off Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, well, they can’t. The Federal Trade Commission must pay $2 million to customers and a $50 million judgement to the FTC, though the latter has been suspended because the company doesn’t have that kind of money.

    You’ve probably seen or heard ads for Lumosity, which promised to provide a workout for your brain in just a few minutes a day of playing fun games on your computer, phone, or tablet. They advertised on TV, radio, podcasts, and bought ads on Google that popped up when users looked for information about various brain diseases.

    In addition to refunds and the the potential $50 million penalty, here’s what Lumosity has to do to avoid further wrath from the FTC and possibly the Food and Drug Administration:

    1. Lumosity is no longer allowed to make claims that using their games improves cognitive ability to increase performance or helps stave off damage from phyiscal, age-related, or psychological illnesses that can affect thinking and memory, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Turner syndrome, or post-traumatic stress disorder.

    2. The company can only make claims based on scientific research when it’s performed by qualified professionals and is completely randomized, blinded, and independent from the company itself.

    3. Lumosity and its representatives can’t call their product or a similar one “clinically proven.”

    4. If Lumosity’s claims about improved thinking and memory are true, that would make their game a drug, and subject to approval and regulation by the Food and Drug Administration.

    5. User testimonials are great, but Lumosity solicited testimonials through a contest offering prizes like a lifetime subscription to the service, or a trip to San Francisco.

    If you subscribe to the service, you should receive a notice soon telling you how to end your auto-renewing subscription if you have one, and also letting you know about this settlement once it’s finalized.

    FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION v. LUMOS LABS, INC [Proposed Final Judgement] (via Courthouse News)



ribbi
  • by Laura Northrup
  • via Consumerist


uWhat You Need To Know Before You Take A Sleeping Pillr


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  • (poopoorama)
    When you’re having a hard time getting a good night’s sleep, you might reach for the pill bottle for a simple, chemical solution. And you’re not alone — according to a new survey from our colleagues at Consumer Reports, more than one-third of adults who complained of sleep problems at least once per week said they had used an over-the-counter or prescription sleep drug in the previous year.

    And why not? The Food and Drug Administration has approved these drugs to treat sleep problems, which means the agency has determined that their benefits outweigh the risks.

    “But those benefits aren’t as great as many people assume, and the drugs have important harms,” said Lisa Schwartz, M.D., a drug-safety expert at Dartmouth College’s Geisel School of Medicine, who has worked with Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs on investigating sleeping-pill effectiveness and safety.

    As part of a deep dive into the problems we have sleeping, the Consumer Reports survey found that around half the folks who take sleep aids use the drugs in potentially harmful ways — by taking them more often than they should or for longer than recommended, or mixing them with other drugs or supplements.

    In general, sleeping pills should be reserved for short-term insomnia—such as that caused by jet lag, anxiety after the death of a family member, or job loss—says Watson at the AASM. For those limited situations, CR experts recommend following these precautions, which apply to prescription and over-the-counter sleep drugs:

    • Tell your doctor about all of the medications you take, including supplements. Many common drugs, such as certain antibiotics and antidepressants, can interact dangerously with sleep drugs.
    • Take the drugs only if you have time for at least 7 or 8 hours of sleep. Even if you’ve had that much sleep, don’t drive if you feel drowsy.
    • Do not take an extra dose if you wake up in the middle of the night.
    • Never mix sleeping pills with alcohol, recreational drugs, or other sleep drugs or supplements, including over-the-counter nighttime pain relievers and antihistamines, such as Benadryl Allergy, that contain the sedative diphenhydramine.
    • Start with the lowest recommended dose, especially until you know how the drug affects you.
    • Be cautious about frequent use. Taking sleep drugs regularly can breed dependence and raise the risk of adverse effects.

    You should also know what’s what before you take whatever happens to be in your medicine cabinet:

    Benzos: These drugs swam into the public awareness around the 1960s when diazepam (Valium) — part of a class of drugs known as benzodiazepines — was prescribed for restless housewives. Other benzodiazepines — estazolam, flurazepam (Dalmane), and temazepam (Restoril) are approved sleep aids, but they can still breed dependence and trigger side effects such as confusion and grogginess.

    “Z” Drugs: Doctors hoped these meds — eszopiclone (Lunesta), zaleplon (Sonata), and zolpidem (Ambien) — wouldn’t cause troublesome next-day drowsiness. But the FDA says they are prone to that, too, and linked to rare, though frightening, behaviors such as sleep driving and sleep eating.

    Belsomra: This is the first in a new class of sleep drugs to target orexin, a brain chemical linked to wakefulness and appetite. But it doesn’t seem to work better than older drugs, and it can trigger worrisome side effects, such as “sleep paralysis,” in which you are awake but unable to move.

    Trazodone: This medication is commonly prescribed for sleep — even though it’s approved by the FDA only for depression. Consumer Reports’ experts say not to take the drug for sleep unless you also suffer from depression.

    Over-the-counter: Sleep drugs you can buy without a prescription aren’t much safer than Rx drugs. In fact it’s easy to high doses of them because their active ingredients — the antihistamines diphenydramine and doxylamine — aren’t only in OTC sleep products such as Sominex and ZzzQuil. They’re also in nighttime pain relievers such as Advil PM and Tylenol PM, as well as allergy meds such as Benadryl.

    Why Americans Can’t Sleep [Consumer Reports]



ribbi
  • by consumerist.com
  • via Consumerist