Sonos has focused most of its efforts on two categories: portable speakers and home theater products, like its soundbars. The company’s main pair of music-focused speakers, the One and Five, have been getting a little old. The Sonos Era 100 and Era 300 aim to refresh that lineup.
The $250 Era 100 is a complete redesign of the Sonos One, introduced in 2017. It’s a mono speaker, just like the One and the Play:1 before it. But don’t let that simple description deceive you. The improvements over the One are immediately obvious in sound quality and new features, like line-in, Bluetooth and easier Trueplay setup. The Era 100 isn’t the most exciting speaker Engadget editor Nathan Ingraham’s ever listened to, but it provides impressive performance at a reasonable price.
The $450 Era 300 has a slightly strange place in the Sonos portfolio. Its higher price means it won’t be as broadly appealing as the Era 100. It’s closer to the $550 Sonos Five, arguably a superior speaker, but it still sounds notably better than the Era 100.
– Mat Smith
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You’ll see how the ‘Breath of the Wild’ sequel plays.
Nintendo
Nintendo and series producer Eiji Aonuma will showcase 10 minutes of Tears gameplay in a live premiere on YouTube at 10 AM ET or 7 AM PT. It’s not clear what you’ll see, but it’s safe to presume the demo will feature new mechanics and less of a focus on worldbuilding or story.
We’re expecting the same open-world experience that made Breath of the Wild a hit, but with a new airborne environment (the floating islands above Hyrule) and an abundance of new ways to traverse the landscape. You can fly on a giant hoverboard and even grind rails.
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Updates for the Mac, iPad and Apple Watch are also live.
Apple has officially released updates for each of its major platforms. The MacOS 13.3, iOS / iPadOS 16.4 and WatchOS 9.4 updates include 21 new emoji, improved voice isolation for calls and a smattering of minor bug fixes. Emoji additions include five new animals, two new hand gestures, three colored hearts and objects, including a folding fan, maracas and a flute.
Cellular calls now have Voice Isolation, designed to block out ambient noise. The Duplicates album in Photos will now cross check with images stored in the iCloud Shared Photo Library to keep your albums clean. There’s even a new accessibility feature that helpfully dims the screen when it detects flashing lights or strobe effects in video content.
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Sadly, glasses-free 3D is just pointless.
Photo by Devindra Hardawar / Engadget
Acer’s Predator Helios 300 SpatialLabs Edition has the company’s glasses-free 3D screen in one last bid to make 3D content happen. It’s meant to unlock an entirely new dimension of gameplay in titles like God of War and Forza Horizon 5 – and it does, to a degree. But it’s also obscenely expensive, starting at $3,499, and the 3D means you miss out on higher refresh rates and a better quality screen.
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The order is likely to affect known government spyware makers like NSO Group.
In an executive order signed Monday, President Biden barred federal agencies from using commercial spyware that threatens US national security or carries a risk of improper use by foreign governments and individuals. The order applies to all departments, including those involved in law enforcement, defense and intelligence. It also prohibits the use of spyware that, in the past, was used to disclose non-public information about the US government.
As TechCrunch reported, security researchers have long warned of the dangers posed by commercial spyware. With NSO Group’s infamous Pegasus spyware, it exploited a vulnerability in iOS that allowed the program to infect an iPhone without the victim needing to tap anything. While many governments claim to use spyware sparingly to investigate serious crimes, that hasn’t stopped some from using the software for domestic surveillance and to target political dissidents.
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The publisher will host its own show instead.
You can add Ubisoft to the list of companies not attending the first in-person E3 in four years. Before this week, it was one of the few major publishers to come out supporting the revamped event. On Monday, however, Ubisoft told VGC it would not be at the tradeshow and would instead host its own event at around the same time: “While we initially intended to have an official E3 presence, we’ve made the subsequent decision to move in a different direction and will be holding a Ubisoft Forward Live event on 12th June in Los Angeles.” You’ll have to wait, then, for your Skull and Bones update…
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