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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.
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?
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.
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.
Projectors get smart and simple: Checking out the new Hisense laser projector range shows just how much easier owning a projector gets these days. With two short throw options, PX2-Pro and PL1H, to suit subtle differences in needs plus a long range option, the C1, the way they run and the features they offer make for a fast trip from unboxing to watching whatever you want.
Crispy colours, Dolby Atmos (both pictures and audio), Game Modes for gamers, and full smart TV features so all your streaming apps are built in and you can be having a good time without plugging any other devices into this one (but of course you can if you want to)? It's a good time to explore projection if it's never been on your radar before.
Smart lighting is getting smarter, thankfully, but the new Nanoleaf outdoor string lights show it's also getting prettier. This will launch in both 15M and 30M lengths in June, and they are 'addressable' which means you can build colour settings across all the bulbs in the string. RRP is $199/$329.
Eat the grass: I missed this when it launched last year, but wanted to pay respect to the great name for a robot mower – the Goat. The Ecovacs Goat G1 does away with the need for wire boundaries and instead uses beacons to track lawn edges and promises a traditional neat lawn cutting motion instead of randomly driving around all day and hoping it eventually cuts everything. Plus nice bonuses like remote camera access. RRP is $2,999 with specials dropping it closer to $2,500 now and then.
Paleblue lets you keep traditional batteries charged on the go
Just when you thought traditional batteries were dead, here comes Paleblue with a full range of classic cells that recharge over USB.
One of the first ever Sonos products was an amplifier to connect traditional speakers to its wireless music delivery system. The company left things like in-ceiling and outdoor speakers to other companies. But now Sonos completes its own range of 'architectural' speakers, working with Sonance to offer 8-inch in-ceiling speakers. One Sonos Amp can drive up to 3 pairs. These will go for $1,599 per pair – check out the whole architectural section of the Sonos site if you're after ceiling, in-wall, or outdoor Sonos speakers.
Nanoleaf started out with a range of clever wall mountable panel lights, then shifted into options like light strips and smart bulbs. This year the range expands into new territory. The GU10 and Downlight give smart options for track and recessed fixtures, and the new Skylight offers a very new approach to ceiling smart light design. Lots to play with for those getting serious with their smart lighting.
Great designs stand out yet again. In a mesh wireless router setup, you need a few devices dotted around the house. But usually that means very "router" looking devices sitting here and there. But these? The D-Link Aquila Pro M30 just look like lovely little sculptures that also happen to spread Dual-band Wi-Fi 6 around the house. They come in 2-pack and 3-pack setups (but they're selling out with hot demand).
Absolutely stunning. The LG Cinebeam Qube is a 4K laser projector. But just look at it! Absolutely gorgeous design. More gadgets, more home devices, take note! LG has been leaving its competitors for dead with its approach to industrial design lately. I adore this one.
The LG StanbyME is a very clever smart TV you can wheel to wherever you need it around the home. A 27-inch Full HD touch screen with webOS offering all the important streaming apps built-in. It rotates and tilts to suit your needs and just generally oozes cleverness. At $1,999 it feels like a high utility extra TV that is quite an alternative to sticking an iPad on the kitchen counter.
How to hack your Netflix profile recommendations
If your profiles are just people's names, you're doing it wrong.
Logitech Litra Glow makes your face look good in video calls
Litra Glow is an easy-to-use and powerful USB light from Logitech perfect for content creators and office workers alike.
The best TVs: 4K, OLED, QLED and more
We've scoured the reviews to find the best TVs on the market to give you clear, easy recommendations on what to buy next.
Blast your ass with Razer's new haptic gaming chair
Razer's Enki Pro HyperSense gaming chair supports haptic feedback from games such as F1 2021 and Forza Horizon 5 in addition to music and movies.
Free-to-air networks lobby for better placement on smart TVs
Australian commercial TV networks want more help to compete against Netflix and Disney+, despite more people streaming Aussie TV than ever.
Major Nvidia Shield TV update adds Android 11 support
Nvidia Shield owners, you're gonna want to download this update, with Android 11 OS, more Bluetooth headset compatibility and plenty more.
