Bits: The Byteside Blog
I've had Sonos soundbars in my house for over a decade now. One feature I always have switched on is 'Speech Enhancement'. It never makes a show or movie worse. It always makes dialogue that little bit easier to hear. Now Sonos has announced it worked with the Royal National Institute for Deaf People in the UK to design even better Speech enhancement, offering Low, Medium, High, and Max options. They've added some machine learning to help extract the speech so they can juice just that part of the audio mix more to really help pull it out of the wider dynamics.
The new Speech Enhancement is available for the Arc Ultra now through a software update. Here's hoping owners of previous soundbars might see some of this trickle down in future? Fingers crossed.
The 2025 Lego F1 kits give us something for every fan
Lego sets can be very expensive, but the F1 series this year offers options at prices every fan can afford.
Can Sunderfolk thread the needle to make RPG strategy fun for the whole family?
It's pretty, it's friendly, and you play it with your phone – but not 'on' your phone. Sunderfolk is shooting for an interesting Goldilocks zone for couch co-op we haven't really seen before.
Which Way Up is full of fresh gravity bending mayhem
Australia's own Turtle Flip has just released its Galaxy meets Party game and it's a real treat.
Google dropped its 2024 search trends and while there's no surprises when it comes to elections, sport, and celebrities there's a few fun memes lurking high in these charts. Very demure, very mindful.
My fave surprise is seeing colcannon on the recipe list. A delicious way to make mashed potato a whole lot more delish courtesy of the Irish. When my Mammy busts it out it's always a hit.
Plus a quiet little appearance of "What flavour is the Grimace Shake?" I've tried it and I still don't know...
Also shout out to the 'How to' top ten for having some gems and some worrying signs... #2 was an Infinite Craft question, #5 and #7 were very manosphere related, and #10 was "How to turn off Meta AI" reminding us once again that most normal people don't find the AI being thrust into our apps and services particularly useful.
Petbarn's first ever app has an AI to answer your pet dilemmas
A clever use of generative AI to give you easy answers to pet questions based on a knowledge base of expert advice.
Byteside gift guide 2024: fun, weird, wonderful, nerdy gift ideas
Lets skip the obvious and explore some clever ideas, shall we?
Google Pixel 9 series: what a leap forward... but wait for the 10 if you can
Google has achieved 100% 'flagship' credentials with the Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro Fold. This is the place to spend your money on Android... but the missing feature that should arrive in 2025 is worth waiting for.
Oclean X Ultra S is a very clever portable electric toothbrush
App-enabled smart brushing is great, but even if you never use the app this is an excellent brush for regular travellers who want to teeth.
Blunt instruments won't solve the social media challenge
Parents are absent from the picture as politicians skip science to enact bad laws that create some nice feelings but do nothing to solve real problems.
Labor premiers and federal leaders are sure buying into some solid moral panic on social media and its impact on teens. I'm well on the record as no fan of Facebook, but when it comes to how to write policy we want evidence-based decisions. And one of the world's leading researchers on social media, who also happens to be based here in Australia, shares some choice words about last week's summit over at Crikey.
Axel Bruns
11 great panels to hit at PAX Aus 2024
So many panels, so little time. Here's a few highlights to fit in your schedule at this year's PAX in Melbourne.
Sennheiser Momentum Sport review: seriously smart earbuds
With added heart rate tracking in these earbuds, Sennheiser makes them far more valuable for the money if that's a feature that hits your fitness needs.
Druidic Dualities: Bringing the Cenarion family to Warcraft Rumble
The Warcraft Rumble team explains what goes into planning a whole new faction for the mobile strategy game.
DJI Power 500 review: sneaky power for tech nerd camping trips
A beautifully designed power station with plenty of power to keep your devices running for extended stays away from home.
Shokz OpenRun Pro: the ideal sports headphone experience
Earbuds are doing transparency modes well these days, but nothing does full awareness of the world around you better than bone conduction.
Espresso displays: hitting the sweet spot for portable displays
The Australian startup has designed top quality hardware that is perfect for those who really want two screens wherever they may work.
Sonos Ace: excellent headphones for Sonos devotees
For a debut set of headphones, Sonos has leapt to the top-tier consumer range alongside Sony. If you own a Sonos soundbar, it's a particularly attractive option.
HTC Vive XR Elite: How far have we come?
HTC's latest is another big leap forward for VR fans, but why is it still not enough for everyone else?
Exploding Kittens makes offline games for terminally online families
Making games is hard, but the Exploding Kittens company is nailing simple rules with super fun concepts that give great reasons for spending time together around the table.
