Waiver wire deep dive

Feature AppleInsider is supported by its audience and may earn commission as an Amazon Associate and affiliate partner on qualifying purchases. These affiliate partnerships do not influence our editorial content. The HomePod stands to be an audiophile's ideal speaker when it ships on Feb. 9, in no small part due to the considerable effort Apple has put into audio processing for the device. Audio expert Matt Hines of iZotope explains some of the technical hurdles Apple and other smart speaker producers have to overcome to provide a high-quality audio experience in a wide variety of environments. The first problem Apple and similar firms face when creating an intelligent speaker, like the HomePod , is to ensure there is an optimal audio experience for the user, regardless of where they are in the room. Hines, product manager of Spire by iZotope and guest on this week's AppleInsider Podcast , says the exact position of the user can dramatically affect … [Read more...] about A deep dive into HomePod’s adaptive audio, beamforming and why it needs an A8 processor

Going down: Dũng prepares to dive. — Photo thanhnien.vn Viet Nam News BẾN TRE — It is a risky, dangerous job with little protection and not much income, but many people in Bến Tre Province dive into rivers and search for scrap metal, sunk boats and other pieces of usable junk. Some do it in groups, and others work independently. Nguyễn Thanh Dũng, 52, leads a group of five divers in the southern province. He has been doing this for 32 years, he told the Thanh Niên (Young People) newspaper. Dũng said that when he was a child, often followed his father to dive in rivers in Cần Thơ City to earn a living. He learnt much from his father. He has followed in his father’s footsteps, earning a living in Bến Tre. The equipment Dũng and his team use is rudimentary: an oxygen air pump and a long plastic tube that they put into their mouth to breathe. Dũng said apart from swimming well, a person, who wants to dive deep had to be brave and in really good health to be able to stay … [Read more...] about Intrepid Bến Tre residents dive to survive

A diver about to dive in the waters off Cô Tô District in the coastal province of Quảng Ninh. — Photo thanhnien.vn Viet Nam News QUẢNG NINH — Ngô Văn Tính, 19, a diver with seven years’ experience, went to sea with his father when he was a child and had his first dive at 12. Tính is the second son of Ngô Văn Trung, 50, a diver born in Nam Định Province who moved to the coastal province of Quảng Ninh some 30 years ago to earn a living as a seafood diver. Tính’s older brother, Ngô Văn Hoàng, 25, has also taken up the job and now works with his father and brother. The waters off the Cô Tô, Vân Đồn and Móng Cái districts are ripe for natural and cultured fish, oysters, snails, clams, abalones and sea cucumbers. Since these types of seafood have to be gathered by hand, diving has become a well-paid occupation that attracts several locals and immigrants, the Thanh Niên (Youth) newspaper reported. Seafood collectors often sail in teams of four divers and three to … [Read more...] about Diver teams risk life and limb to catch seafood

YouGov, Decision Lab join forces to benefit brands in Vietnam The Saigon Times HCMC – YouGov, the international research and data analytics group headquartered in London, has announced a new partnership in Vietnam with leading research company Decision Lab to bring state-of-the-art data solutions to brands in Vietnam, representing the next step in the expansion of YouGov’s Global Partnerships Program across the Asia Pacific region. The Global Partnerships Program offers affiliate partner research agencies access to YouGov’s platforms, panels and expertise and establishes the company’s brand and data products at a local level. Affiliate partners can use the panel data that sits within YouGov’s Cube database to develop their online research businesses as part of the partnership. This new partnership combines global expertise with local insight, bringing innovative platforms to brands in Vietnam and offering them unrivalled access to the latest data on consumer trends, attitudes … [Read more...] about YouGov, Decision Lab join forces to benefit brands in Vietnam

Review The new AirPods Max are turning heads with a high price tag and excellent audio quality. But is what you get worth the $549? AirPods Max design AirPods Max come in five different colors, sky blue, green, pink, silver, and space gray. Each color is two-toned, featuring a lighter color on the anodized earcups and a darker one for the headband. AirPods Max have one of the most bespoke designs ever created for a set of headphones. The top portion of the headphones is made of stainless steel before being coated with a premium soft-touch material akin to silicone. The canopy is made from a proprietary mesh that is designed to wrest just atop your head. AirPods Max Each arm of the AirPods Max extend to accommodate user's heads of different sizes. Anodized aluminum makes up the cups themselves, which is lighter than the steel and allows for the svelte anodization Apple is known for. Each of the cushions on the earcups are a similar mesh … [Read more...] about Review: AirPods Max don’t make it easy to justify the price

Locals use simple tools such as timber, sand bags and steel wires to limit the landslides. — VNA/VNS Photo Lê Thúy Hằng Viet Nam News VĨNH LONG — Scores of households living along the Hậu River in Thành Phước Ward, Bình Minh Town, in the southern province of Vĩnh Long have faced the risk of landslides for years. The threat to residents’ lives has grown increasingly serious, according to the residents. They said the ward has seen a number of landslides in the area, including one that was some 10m deep and 100m long on August 22 and 23 last year. The landslides razed two houses and damaged many others. After the incident, local authorities moved residents to safer spaces and helped them resettle, but the landslides reoccurred. The hazard has become more common since February, leaving deep potholes in the roads in its wake. To limit these landslides, residents use simple tools such as timber, sandbags and steel wires. Phạm Văn Nhàn, a … [Read more...] about Landslides threaten lives of Bình Minh Town residents

The road leading to the illegal soil exploitation area in Sóc Sơn District, Hà Nội, is barricaded with wires. — VNA/VNS Photo Mạnh Khánh Viet Nam News HÀ NỘI — Unclear management responsibility of land in the capital city’s Sóc Sơn District has given way to illegal soil exploitation. A large amount of soil has been illegally exploited in the district over the last few years, but it was only discovered at the beginning of this month. On December 5, the Hà Nội police caught red-handed three diggers digging soil in an area barricaded with wires and 19 heavy duty dump trucks transporting the soil to other places for consumption. The illegally exploited area looked like a 25-30m deep coal mine, with a track on one side for the trucks that came to transport the soil. According to the province’s People’s Committee, the 1,2ha illegally exploited area belongs to Xuân Bách Village of Quang Tiến Commune. However, since it lies next to an … [Read more...] about Loose management facilitates illegal soil exploitation

We’ve reviewed a great many Bluetooth speakers over the years – I half-suspect Seth has built an extension to his home out of them. I’ve generally not been tempted myself. If I’m at home, I’m either streaming to the hifi in the living-room, or playing through the (wired) B&W MM-1s in my office. If I’m out & about, I’m listening through my B&W P5 headphones. But there are times when you get chatting with friends about music and you all try to listen to an example on the iPhone speaker, and that doesn’t really cut it. A very portable speaker with a decent enough volume level for a few people to hear would be handy. While I’m generally pretty fussy about sound quality, this scenario isn’t enough to justify investing in anything expensive, but this one looked the part and for $55 (down from $99) it seemed worth a listen … Ok, I’ll admit it: it was the anodised aluminum that got my attention. It definitely looks a lot more expensive than it is. The speaker … [Read more...] about Review: Inateck MercuryBox, a $55 portable Bluetooth speaker that hits the right notes

A serious fire that occurred on Lê Văn Sỹ Street in HCM City’s District 3 killed six people and injured five last December. — VNA/VNS Photo Mạnh Linh Viet Nam News HCM CITY - HCM City People’s Committee and local agencies are making efforts to protect local households and home-run businesses from fire. Lê Tấn Bửu, director of the city’s Fire Fighting Department, said at a meeting this week that nearly 2 million households, including more than 300,000 home-run businesses, faced high risk of fire. Most houses in the city were built before 1975, while many households do not comply with fire safety regulations. The firefighting department said that promoting fire prevention in household businesses was difficult. Electricity problems cause 70 per cent of fires in the city, the department said. Trần Thanh Châu, deputy director of the department, said that residents’ lack of awareness of fire prevention and the risks they face contributed to the problem. … [Read more...] about City strengthens fire prevention efforts

Naim Audio isn’t a household name outside of audiophile circles, but this British company has for many years made some of the most respected amplifiers in the business. Naim long had an informal partnership with Linn, and if the standard audio system fitted to Bentley’s ultra-expensive cars isn’t good enough for you, the optional audio upgrade is to a Naim system. You’ll also find it available through the Apple Store . The company is notoriously conservative when it comes to new technology, refusing to even consider making a CD player for most of the 1980s, relenting only in 1989, when it felt the technology had developed sufficiently to allow it to deliver the quality it sought. It’s therefore no surprise that Naim has waited so long to launch its first wireless speaker system, the mu-so – nor that it has done the job properly when it finally did so. The price is also no great surprise … Getting your hands on the Naim mu-so will set you back a cool $1500. Like the even … [Read more...] about Review: Naim’s first wireless speaker, the mu-so, is worthy of the company’s audiophile heritage