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Vizio is now a member of the Walmart corporate empire. The retail company announced the completion of its $2.3 billion acquisition of the TV manufacturer on Tuesday. Walmart didnt just buy a TV brand. It now owns a new advertising platform. Vizios SmartCast OS collects huge amounts of data from its 19 million active accounts, and the company makes the majority of its money from the platform. Walmarts new partnership with Vizio and its other smart TV brand Onn is sure to stir up the lucrative competition for advertising revenue, according to the Wall Street Journal. Walmart officially announced its plans to buy Vizio in February following early reports about its deal. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/walmart-completes-its-23-billion-purchase-of-vizio-222449239.html?src=rss
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This is not a drill, people: Tetris for the NES will join the Nintendo Switch Online library on December 12. Nintendo of America announced this exciting arrival out of the blue today on X. The NES port of Tetris initially launched all the way back in 1989, so it's been a very long time coming for this classic title to return to Nintendo hardware. That's not to say there haven't been many other ways to get your tetrimino fix. Tetris is a perennially popular puzzle game, with many official releases and plenty of knockoffs. And plenty of them, like the dazzling Tetris Effect, are extremely good. But the NES version is the one most frequently hailed as the best of the bunch. It's the iteration primarily used in the fascinating competitive Tetris circuit, and even after more than three decades, a player only just managed to 'beat' the game by, well, breaking its little computer brain. For those of us who missed out on the NES era, or those whose NES hardware bit the dust long ago, finally having a modern-day way to play this iconic version of Tetris is very exciting news. The Switch Online service has gotten a couple notable updates in the past few weeks. A trio of Sega Genesis games joined the online Switch library, and Nintendo also released a music streaming app for members of the subscription plan. While that's all well and good, the really exciting development will be the hotly anticipated announcement of the Switch 2, expected in March.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nes-tetris-is-coming-to-the-nintendo-switch-online-library-this-month-194523784.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
When an established company enters a new product category, theres a lot of pressure on it to immediately impress the masses, especially when it has a proven track record in its industry. Thats what Cambridge Audio faced this year when it debuted its first wireless headphones, the Melomania P100 ($279). It had already made the Melomania M100 wireless earbuds, but with a reputation largely built on hi-fi amplifiers, digital-to-analog converters (DACs) and speakers, the company was entering uncharted waters. With the P100, Cambridge Audio managed to leave a lasting first impression right out of the box. Starting with the refined look, its evident that the company is serious about taking aim at the best in the category. It partnered aesthetics with long battery life, user-friendly maintenance options and a crisp, clear sound profile for a very compelling package on its first attempt. Whats good about the Melomania P100? The P100 certainly looks like a set of flagship headphones. In an age when a lot of companies opt for plastic-heavy builds, even for their high-end models, its nice to see a polished design for less than $300. Cambridge Audio combined aluminum accents with vegan leather and soft memory foam ear cups to do most of the heavy lifting here. Theres also cross-hatched fabric on the underside of the headband that offers a textural contrast while maintaining the color scheme. Cambridge Audio didnt make any sacrifices on battery life with the P100, promising up to 60 hours of use with active noise cancellation (ANC) turned on. Whats more, the company says you can eke out up to 100 hours of play time with ANC disabled, depending on volume levels and other settings. I had no trouble hitting 60 hours during my battery tests, which I run almost entirely while employing noise cancellation. And to keep the P100 running longer than some headphones would, the company allows users to replace the battery themselves when performance dips (ear pads are also replaceable). The P100 uses the same Class AB amplification that powers Cambridge Audios CX series hi-fi amps. This provides sound performance thats audibly better than whats found in nearly all wireless headphones, according to the company. Three-layer 40mm drivers complete the audio platform, which is tuned for precise highs and dynamic lows. During my tests, the P100 excelled at reproducing crisp, clean details across every genre I threw at it. Even in the heaviest parts of Sleep Tokens Vore, the snare hits remained punchy, cutting through distorted guitar riffs with vocals layered in. Prominence is given to treble and mids though, as bass-heavy tracks like that one dont quite have the booming punch they typically do. As such, the P100 was at its best for styles that demanded less low-end growl genres like country, jazz and 90s grunge. Whats not so good about the Melomania P100? Billy Steele for Engadget My notes on the overall sound profile of the P100 arent great news for those who crave a bombastic blast when listening to music by Kendrick Lamar, Kaytranada and other bass-heavy tunes. Cambridge Audio does offer a selection of presets to alter the tuning, as well as a full EQ for custom profiles. The changes were more subtle for the EQ sliders, so they didnt deliver the thump I was after. But, unlike a lot of equalizer options from other companies, none of these muddied the sound or made things worse. Despite the soft touch of the P100s ear pads, they dont offer enough buffer from the ridges of the ear cups during longer listening sessions. I used these on a cross-country trip that involved a full day of air travel and wearing headphones for a solid six hours. After about 30 minutes, I could start to feel those edges. And while they never became painful, this kept the P100 from competing with the likes of the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones and Sonys WH-1000XM5 in terms of overall comfort. Cambridge Audio id well to cover all the basics on the P100. Theres reliable, easy-to-use physical controls, solid adaptive ANC performance and support for aptX Lossless. Wear detection and multipoint Bluetooth are also in tow, as is wired listening at 24-bit/96kHz quality and a five-minute quick charge tool. What you wont find are things like speech detection, any mention of spatial audio or some of the automated features the competition offers. Sure, I can excuse the omissions on the P100 given the price, but these are the types of conveniences that are increasingly becoming core specs, so one or two wouldve been nice to have. Final verdict on the Melomania P100 Im impressed by what Cambridge Audio has built for its first set of wireless headphones. Its obvious the company knows how to produce clear, balanced audio, even if the P100 could use a smidge more low-end tone. The combination of design, sound, repairability and battery life make this a compelling option at well under $300. And now that the company has a solid foundation to build on, I expect to be blown away by whatever comes next. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/cambridge-audio-melomania-p100-review-an-impressive-headphone-debut-192412530.html?src=rss
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