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Not content with adding multiple new models to its Bravia TV range today, Sony has also unveiled a series of new additions to its home theater home audio range comprising two new soundbars and a revamp of its rear speaker and subwoofer accessory series.The two new soundbars are targeted at the relatively affordable end of Sonys range, below the Bravia Theater Bar 9 and Bravia Theater Bar 8 premium soundbar models Sony launched in 2024. The Bravia Theater Bar 6 is soundbar-plus-subwoofer proposition (the Bar 9 and Bar 8 models dont ship as standard with a subwoofer), while the Bravia Theatre System 6 is a full surround package including a subwoofer and wireless (kind of!) rear speakers.Sony has launched four new additions to its home theater audio range.Photo: SonyThe new additions to the extra speaker options Sony provides as options for adding to its core soundbars are new Bravia Theater Rear 8 speakers, and a Bravia Theater Sub 7 subwoofer. Ill go into detail on each of these new Sony audio offerings below - and as with my article on Sonys new TVs, since Ive had the chance to experience multiple demos of Sonys new home theater audio products Ill also include brief first impressions of them all alongside their official specification and feature information.The new Sony Theater Bar 6 soundbar features the main bar and an included wireless subwoofer.Photo: SonySony Theater Bar 6The BasicsA two-piece system, comprising the main bar and a subwooferDesigned to replace the Sony HT-G700Dolby Atmos and DTS:X playback3.1.2-channel configuration, including dedicated center speaker and two up-firing drivers350W total powerSonys Vertical Surround engine and S-Force PRO Front Surround technologies on hand to deliver a virtual surround effectSony Upmixer system for converting stereo sources into surround soundSony Voice Zoom 3 AI voice isolation technology if partnered with a compatible Bravia TV, so you can raise or reduce the level of dialogue in whatever youre watching without impacting the rest of the soundControllable via the Bravia Connect appThe Theater Bar 6 is a new more affordable addition to the Bravia Theater Bar range launched in 2024 with the impressive Bar 9 and Bar 8 models. We dont have confirmed pricing on the Bar 6 yet, but as well as it notably being called the Bar 6 when the Bar 7 slot is still available, Sony confirms that its designed to replace the aggressively priced G700 soundbar, which cost $600/450 when it launched in 2020.During a demonstration of the Theater Bar 6 pitched against a Samsung Q600C (which features the same channel count and almost the same amount of power), the Bar 6 clearly came out on top. Dialogue, for starters, sounded much clearer during a clip of one of the in-plane training sequences in Top Gun: Maverick. Dialogue also sounded better positioned, appearing to come from the mouths of the people talking on screen rather than from the soundbar sat under the screen.Detail of one end of the new Sony Bar 6 soundbar, complete with one of its up-firings speakers.Photo: John ArcherThe roars of Mavericks plane engines enjoyed much more dynamic range on the Sony Bar 6 too, giving their sound much more impact and a sense of raw grunt that helps put you much more convincingly inside the cockpit with Cruise and co.The Bar 6s improved sound staging, meanwhile, delivered a much more convincing and potent sense of the differences in space as the Maverick sequence cuts between the cockpit and outside shots.The Bar 6s sound didnt feel trapped in or thin at any point, and the provided subwoofer fleshed out the bass end of the audio spectrum without sounding baggy, detached or prone to distortion. If this all holds up in more intensive testing conditions with a wider range of content, Sony could have a real mid-range hit on its hands.The new Sony Theater System 6Photo: SonySony Theater System 6The BasicsFour-piece package, with two rears, subwoofer and main soundbarRear speakers have to physically connect to a wireless receiver box, rather than directly establishing a wireless connection with the main bar or subwooferSubwoofer carries the main audio connections and processing5.1-channel system1000W of claimed powerDolby Atmos and DTS:X supportVertical Surround engine and S-Force PRO Front Surround technologiesVoice Zoom 3 with compatible Bravia TVMulti stereo feature lets you replicate stereo sound from front left/right to centre/rears for a party-friendly multi-directional sound boost.Upmixer feature for remixing stereo to use the systems full speaker array.Controllable via the Bravia Connect appDespite comprising four separate speakers to create a true surround sound plus subwoofer experience, the Theater System 6 is actually positioned some way below the Bar 6. In fact, an overview slide of Sonys home theater audio range at a Sony unveiling event showed it slipping into a slot beneath the two-channel SF150 soundbar, which only costs around $140/130!Clearly, then, the System 6 is designed to cater for the lots of power and impact for not much buck soundbar crowd. But does that mean it doesnt sound very good?Sony's Theater System 6 surround sound audio package.Photo: John ArcherDuring two separate demos of the system Ive experienced so far, it really doesnt sound bad at all. Particularly impressive for whats looking like being essentially a budget surround package is the size of the soundstage it creates. It handles its massive amounts of power well enough to fill even quite a large room with a full surround experience without anything sounding distorted or incoherent. Dialogue is impressively clear, too, overcoming right away one of the most common issues with value-focused soundbars.The Multi Stereo feature is an unexpected success, too, as repeating the stereo mix from the front speakers in the rear speakers really does greatly increase the extent to which music fills your room. Surprisingly, the rear speakers achieved a good tonal match for the main bar even in this repeat the front channel sound mode, despite their relatively compact design.I did note a slight funnelling effect when watching film clips, where the rear soundstage feels wider than the front soundstage. Also, although clean and clear, vocals occasionally felt a bit small versus the rest of an action scene mix. But if thats all I uncover during more formal, wide-ranging tests of my own, it wouldnt stop the system from still feeling like a massive home theater bargain.Sony's new Theater Rear 8 speakers.Photo: SonyBravia Theater Rear 8The BasicsOptional rear speaker designed to be added to compatible Bravia soundbarsReplaces the RS3SsWireless connectivityCompatible with Sonys 360 Spatial Sound Mapping Technology, which uses clever room assessment technology to create virtual speakers alongside the rear ones to deliver a fuller surround sound experience100W of power output4-channel amp (2 + 2 channel)Feature both a woofer and a tweeterShips in pairsThe Theater Rear 8s are designed to be direct (and physically larger) replacements for Sonys RS3S optional upgrade rear speakers. The RS3Ses were the more affordable of Sonys two optional rear speakers, sitting below the more powerful RS5s. The RS5s are to continue in Sonys range.Sony went to the trouble of putting on demonstrations at its launch events of the Theater Rear 8s versus the RS3Ses they replace, switching between the two speakers in the middle of various movie scenes. As with all Sonys demonstrations, this one again paid off handsomely in the Rear 8s favour.The crowd sounds around the track and pit while watching the Gran Turismo film sounded much crisper and cleaner on the Rear 8s, for instance. In fact, the Rear 8s make the RS3Ses sound a little muddy by comparison.Detail of the top of a new Sony Theater Rear 8 optional rear speaker.Photo: John ArcherSeemingly superior sensitivity helps the Rear 8s sound more detailed and achieve a more convincing relative level of impact between different details than the RS3Ses do. Plus the Rear 8s produce markedly more dynamic range than the RS3Ses, delivering both a richer, deeper sense of bass and a cleaner, less harsh feel to very shrill effects. All of which makes them sound better matched tonally with the sound from whatever Sony soundbar theyre partnered with.Finally, the Rear 8s project their sound more effectively than the RS3Ses do, helping the rear soundstage to sound larger and more immersive. Not least because you feel less aware of the Rear 8s physical position and existence, making it easier to get lost in the sound theyre making.The new Sony Bravia Sub 7.Photo: SonyBravia Theater Sub 7The BasicsOptional subwoofer for adding to Sony soundbars that dont ship with oneReplaces the previous SW3 optional subwoofer100W power handling130mm driverSeparated notch edgeDesign supports two-way placementWireless connection with compatible Sony soundbarsThe Theater Sub 7 is designed to replace the more entry level model of Sonys previous two-strong subwoofer upgrade options, the SW3. The bigger and more powerful SW5 subwoofer continues in the range.The Sub 7 appears to have been designed so that Sony can offer a more "lifestyle" subwoofer option thats easier to hide away/accommodate in a living room. Its significantly slimmer, for one thing, and its new driver design means it can be positioned either sideways next to, say, a wall near your screen, or facing forwards towards the screen from a position down the side of a chair or sofa.Again, Sony wasnt afraid to demo the Sub 7 in action, running alongside a Theater Bar 8 soundbar to show what a difference it makes to the Bar 8s sound. Not surprisingly, it was instantly obvious that it greatly extended the low frequency response that the Bar 8 can achieve by itself, delivering deeper sounds at a pressure level that didnt sound incongruous with the sounds coming from the Bar 8.The Sony Theater Sub 7 features a strikingly slim design. Photo: John ArcherThe Sub 7s enhancements of the Bar 8 sound are at their most obvious with general deep rumbles of the sort produced by giant space ships, fleets of tanks, approaching sandworms and so on; its not quite as impactful with sharp impact bass sounds. Though it still certainly improves with these moments on what the Bar 8 can manage by itself.I was also impressed by how well the Sub 7s low frequencies "tie up" with the lowest frequencies being produced by the Bar 8 soundbar, leaving no glaring and distracting gap in a film mixs low frequency range.It was striking, too, how adding the Sub 7 actually improved the performance of the Bar 8, as removing the bass burden from the soundbar freed it up to deliver a cleaner, more dynamic response with a film mixs mid frequency range sounds.The Sony Bar 8 picture with a new Sub 7 and two Rear 8s.Photo: SonyI did find myself wishing during a demo of a sandworm sequence from Dune 2 that maybe the Sub 7s low frequencies could plunge a bit deeper still. That would likely be impossible, though, from such a slender subwoofer design and its clear that this design was a big part of Sonys motivation for replacing the SW3. The SW5 is still there albeit at a higher price to deliver another level of bass for people who care more about that than aesthetic concerns.As with the new additions to Sonys Bravia TV range, all four additions to Sonys Home Theater Audio range are set to launch this spring, with pricing yet to be confirmed.Related ReadingSony Unveils New Bravia TVsIncluding A Premium QD OLED RangeSony Unveils Eye-Popping Next-Gen TV Technology And Again, It Isnt OLEDSony Unveils Two New High Performance Gaming Monitors Including A Flagship OLED With 480Hz Support

Rami Sinno is crouched beside a filing cabinet, wrestling a beach-ball sized disc out of a box, when a dull thump echoes around his laboratory.I just dropped tens of thousands of dollars worth of material, he says with a laugh.Straightening up, Sinno reveals the goods: a golden silicon wafer, which glitters in the fluorescent light of the lab. This circular platter is divided into some 100 rectangular tiles, each of which contains billions of microscopic electrical switches. These are the brains of Amazons most advanced chip yet: the Trainium 2, announced in December.For years, artificial intelligence firms have been dependent on one company, Nvidia, to design the cutting-edge chips required to train the worlds most powerful AI models. But as the AI race heats up, cloud giants like Amazon and Google have accelerated their in-house efforts to design their own chips, in pursuit of market share in the rapidly-growing cloud computing industry, which was valued at $900 billion at the beginning of 2025.This unassuming Austin, Texas, laboratory is where Amazon is mounting its bid for semiconductor supremacy. Sinno is a key player. Hes the director of engineering at Annapurna Labs, the chip design subsidiary of Amazons cloud computing arm, Amazon Web Services (AWS). After donning ear protection and swiping his card to enter a secure room, Sinno proudly displays a set of finished Trainium 2s, which he helped design, operating the way they normally would in a datacenter. He must shout to be heard over the cacophony of whirring fans that whisk hot air, warmed by these chips insatiable demand for energy, into the buildings air conditioning system. Each chip can fit easily into the palm of Sinnos hand, but the computational infrastructure that surrounds themmotherboards, memory, data cables, fans, heatsinks, transistors, power-suppliesmeans this rack of just 64 chips towers over him, drowning out his voice.Large as this unit may be, its only a miniaturized simulacrum of the chips natural habitat. Soon thousands of these fridge-sized supercomputers will be wheeled into several undisclosed locations in the U.S. and connected together to form Project Rainierone of the largest datacenter clusters ever built anywhere in the world, named after the giant mountain that looms over Amazons Seattle headquarters.Project Rainier is Amazons answer to OpenAI and Microsofts $100 billion Stargate project, announced by President Trump at the White House in January. Meta and Google are also currently building similar so-called hyperscaler datacenters, costing tens of billions of dollars apiece, to train their next generation of powerful AI models. Big tech companies have spent the last decade amassing huge piles of cash; now they're all spending it in a race to build the gargantuan physical infrastructure necessary to create AI systems that, they believe, will fundamentally change the world. Computational infrastructure of this scale has never been seen before in human history.The precise number of chips involved in Project Rainier, the total cost of its datacenters, and their locations are all closely-held secrets. (Although Amazon wont comment on the cost of Rainier by itself, the company has indicated it expects to invest some $100 billion in 2025, with the majority going toward AWS.) The sense of competition is fierce. Amazon claims the finished Project Rainier will be the worlds largest AI compute clusterbigger, the implication is, than even Stargate. Employees here resort to fighting talk in response to questions about the challenge from the likes of OpenAI. Stargate is easy to announce, says Gadi Hutt, Annapurnas director of product. Lets see it implemented first.Amazon is building Project Rainier specifically for one client: the AI company Anthropic, which has agreed to a long lease on the massive datacenters. (How long? Thats classified, too.) There, on hundreds of thousands of Trainium 2 chips, Anthropic plans to train the successors to its popular Claude family of AI models. The chips inside Rainier will collectively be five times more powerful than the systems that were used to the best of those models. Its way, way, way bigger, Tom Brown, an Anthropic co-founder, tells TIME. Nobody knows what the results of that huge jump in computational firepower will be. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has publicly predicted that powerful AI (the term he prefers over Artificial General Intelligencea technology that can perform most tasks better and more quickly than human experts) could arrive as early as 2026. That means Anthropic believes theres a strong possibility that Project Rainier, or one of its competitors, will be the place where AGI is birthed.The flywheel effectAnthropic isnt just a customer of Amazon; its also partially owned by the tech giant. Amazon has invested $8 billion in Anthropic for a minority stake in the company. Much of that money, in a weirdly circular way, will end up being spent on AWS datacenter rental costs. This strange relationship reveals an interesting facet of the forces driving the AI industry: Amazon is essentially using Anthropic as a proof-of-concept for its AI datacenter business. Its a similar dynamic to Microsofts relationship with OpenAI and Googles relationship with its DeepMind subsidiary. Having a frontier lab on your cloud is a way to make your cloud better, says Brown, the Anthropic co-founder who manages the companys relationship with Amazon. He compares it to AWSs partnership with Netflix: in the early 2010s, the streamer was one of the first big AWS customers. Because of the huge infrastructural challenge of delivering fast video to users all over the world, it meant that AWS got all the feedback that they needed in order to make all of the different systems work at that scale, Brown says. They paved the way for the whole cloud industry.All cloud providers are now trying to replicate that pattern in the AI era, Brown says. They want someone who will go through the jungle and use a machete to chop a path, because nobody has been down that path before. But once you do it, theres a nice path, and everyone can follow you. By investing in Anthropic, which then spends most of that money on AWS, Amazon creates what it likes to call a flywheel: a self-reinforcing process that helps it build more advanced chips and datacenters, drives down the cost of the compute required to run AI systems, and shows other companies the benefits of AI, which in turn results in more customers for AWS in the long run. Startups like OpenAI and Anthropic get the glory, but the real winners are the big tech companies who run the worlds major cloud platforms.To be sure, Amazon is still heavily reliant on Nvidia chips. Meanwhile, Googles custom chips, known as TPUs, are considered by many in the industry to be superior to Amazons. And Amazon isnt the only big tech company with a stake in Anthropic. Google has also invested some $3 billion for a 14% stake. Anthropic uses both Google and Amazon clouds in a bid to be reliant on neither. Despite all this, Project Rainier and the Trainium 2 chips that will fill its datacenters are the culmination of Amazons effort to accelerate its flywheel into pole position.Trainium 2 chips, Sinno says, were designed with the help of intense feedback from Anthropic, which shared details with AWS about how its software interacted with Trainium 1 hardware, and made suggestions for how the next generation of chips could be improved. Such tight collaboration isnt typical for AWS clients, Sinno says, but is necessary for Anthropic to compete in the cutthroat world of frontier AI. The capabilities of a model are essentially correlated with the amount of compute spent to train and run it, so the more compute you can get for your buck, the better your final AI will be. At the scale that they're running, each point of a percent improvement in performance is of huge value, Sinno says of Anthropic. The better they can utilize the infrastructure, the better the return on investment for them is, as a customer.The more sophisticated Amazons in-house chips become, the less it will need to rely on industry leader Nvidiademand for whose chips far outstrips supply, meaning Nvidia can pick and choose its customers while charging well above production costs. But theres another dynamic at play, too, that Annapurna employees hope might give Amazon a long-term structural advantage. Nvidia sells physical chips (known as GPUs) directly to customers, meaning that each GPU has to be optimized to run on its own. Amazon, meanwhile, doesnt sell its Trainium chips. It simply sells access to them, running in AWS-operated datacenters. This means Amazon can find efficiencies that Nvidia would find difficult to replicate. We have many more degrees of freedom, Hutt says.Back in the lab, Sinno returns the silicon wafer to its box and moves to another part of the room, gesturing at the various stages of the design process for chips that mightpotentially very soonhelp summon powerful new AIs into existence. He is excitedly reeling off statistics about the Trainium 3, expected later this year, which he says will be twice the speed and 40% more energy-efficient than its predecessor. Neural networks running on Trainium 2s assisted with the teams design of the upcoming chip, he says. Thats an indication of how AI is already accelerating the speed of its own development, in a process that is getting faster and faster. Its a flywheel, Sinno says. Absolutely.

Something to look forward to: Meta's love of smart glasses is set to continue with a new device codenamed Hypernova that sounds distinctly cyberpunky. The glasses will feature a tiny heads-up display integrated into one of the lenses, which partly explains why it will cost anywhere between $1,000 and $1,400. The Hypernova smart glasses will arrive later this year, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, so we could see them unveiled at the Meta Connect conference scheduled to take place on September 17 and 18.The big selling point could be the miniature monocular panel in the right-hand lens. It's expected that this screen could show app notifications from a user's phone, let them access their photos, or even see directions from an app such as Google Maps.The glasses' functions will be controlled using hand gestures and capacitive touch on the side of the frame. Gurman writes that the screen is in the lower-right quadrant of the right lens and is best viewed when looking downward. When the glasses are turned on, a home screen will load up and show icons horizontally, much like the Meta Quest. Expect to interact with Meta's AI assistant while wearing them, too.Hypernova will also have a more advanced camera system than the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, able to capture higher-quality photos than the 12MP sensor found on that device, which costs $300 or around $380 for versions with transition lenses.Meta's next-gen glasses will have to offer something quite special for users to spend anywhere from $1,000 to $1,400 on a pair. The mini screen does sound intriguing, but it's something that Google tried with Google Glass in 2013. It used a mini-projector that beamed images onto a semi-transparent prism positioned above the user's right eye, displaying a 640 360 image. Google discontinued the consumer version of Google Glass in 2015, while the Enterprise Edition was discontinued in 2023.Hypernova is different from Orion, the in-development augmented reality glasses from Meta. Those feature eye-tracking, hand-tracking, voice controls, and even a neural interface although it reads signals from your wrist rather than your brain. It's believed that Hypernova will come with this same wristband controller, codenamed Ceres.Meta seems confident that Hypernova will be a success, as it is also working on a successor, Hypernova 2, that will feature two screens and could launch in 2027. // Related Stories

Forward-looking: The NFL has announced it will use Sony's high-tech Hawk-Eye cameras instead of traditional chains to measure the line to gain. The new technology is expected to speed up the process of determining first downs, but it won't necessarily take human error out of the equation. The change will take effect in the 2025 26 season, beginning with the kickoff game on September 4 in Philadelphia. The NFL expects the technology to add "a new level of precision and speed" to the decision-making process, offering a faster and more advanced alternative to the long-standing method of walking chains onto the field to manually measure the ball's distance from the line to gain.Hawk-Eye technology, which uses six 8K cameras for optical tracking of the ball's position, will be deployed at all 30 NFL stadiums in the U.S., as well as at international venues hosting NFL games. The system will be operated from the NFL's Art McNally GameDay Central Officiating Center (AMGC) in New York and is integrated with the league's existing replay system.According to the NFL, the new measurement process will take only about 30 seconds potentially saving up to 40 seconds compared to the traditional chain-based method. However, the chain crew won't be retired just yet. They will remain on the sidelines as a backup, and will be called upon to do the measuring in traditional style in case something goes wrong with the technology.TV audiences and in-stadium spectators will be able to view virtual recreations of measurements in real time, adding a new visual dimension to the game. Still, questions remain about whether the high-tech system will lead to more accurate calls.Fans have noted that the most controversial line calls typically stem from the initial spotting of the ball by on-field officials, rather than errors in measuring the distance to the line to gain. One example is last season's AFC Championship Game between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs, when Bills quarterback Josh Allen was controversially ruled short of the line to gain by the on-field officials on a critical play. // Related StoriesThe call was reviewed, but unfortunately for the Bills, the position of the ball could not be determined by the cameras, leading to the confirmation of the on-field ruling. Hawk-Eye would not have been of use in this instance, as the positioning of the ball by the on-field referees was the controversial aspect, not the first down measurement.Hawk-Eye technology is already used by 23 of the world's 25 top sports leagues and international sporting events, including various World Cups. It plays a key role in sports such as soccer, tennis, cricket, and rugby, where it helps determine line calls. Proponents argue that the technology has matured significantly in recent years, offering a more accurate and fairer experience for athletes, officials, and fans alike.

Table of ContentsTable of ContentsHow to train your Spotify algorithm dragonMy new tasty profileIm part of a Spotify family. Sure, the work I do means that Im also a regular user of other music streaming services such as Apple Music, Tidal, and Qobuz, but more often than not its my Spotify account thats streaming through the devices in my familys home, car, and on my phone. Dont get me wrong, Im not complaining. While Spotify doesnt have that pristine clarity and definition of the hi-resolutionstreams of those other services, Spotify has them all beat when it comes to its user friendliness, music discovery, and its algorithm-generated playlists. Well, except for one little problem thats dogged me for years.You see, I have tinnitus. This means that when I sleep, I use white noise to help cancel out the annoying tone that rings in my head when its quiet at night. It kind of sounds like a low idling a truck or like when you put your thumb on the tip of a live guitar patch cord and hold it there indefinitely. It can be maddening.Recommended VideosThe only thing that Ive ever found that stops it dead in its tracks is a 180Hz Brown Noise track that I found on Spotify. Its only 3:26 in length, so I play it on repeat all night when I sleep. Its blissful and I cant live without it.My Brown Noise 180Hz tinnitus track Derek Malcolm / Digital TrendsThe problem is, the repetition wreaks havoc on my Spotify algorithm, and it thinks that all I want to hear is weird new-age ambient music, zen ocean sounds, and soothing night rain storms with rolling distant thunder. My new release suggestions and other generated playlists, especially the all-popular Discovery Weekly, have been wrought with the stuff forever, and while Spotify does offer several other ways to discover new music, Ive longed to just fire up that weekly, tailored playlist, enjoy the tunes and maybe find something new.RelatedFirst-world problems, I know. Like I mentioned before, I do listen to other music services, and that track is available on those services as well, so finding a fix for this hasnt been a top priority. But enough is enough, so I recently decided to get to the bottom of it. It took about a week, and Im happy to report that it worked.This isnt a new technique, but it was new to me. To train your Spotify algorithm to ignore certain music you dont want fouling up your generated playlists, you can remove things from whats called your Taste Profile. Its easy to do, but it only works with playlists and not albums or individual tracks. Luckily, my sleep playlist is just called Tinnitus Relief, and it just has the one track in it. Heres what I did.Step 1:Create a playlist with all the tracks or examples of tracks and music genres that you want the algorithm to avoid. In my case, its just that one brown noise track, but it has to be on a playlist.Step 2:Open the playlist and tap the three-dot menu.Step 3:Scroll down and tap Exclude from your taste profile. A notification is generated that says Listening to this playlist will have less impact on your taste profile and recommendations. Thank the maker.1. Tap the three-dot menu2. Select Exclude from your taste profile3. Let it work its magicStep 4: One thing to note is that your algorithm is also based on tracks and albums that youve liked. Also, if you play any of the tracks in your excluded playlist(s) on their own from outside the playlist, then it is tracked and may inform your taste profile.Step 5: If you want to go one step further, before going to bed I also went through the Spotify apps Settings andPrivacy and social areas and selected Private session. This apparently also hides whatever youre listening to from the algorithm, but only for a period of up to 6 hours. I did both, just to be thorough.I didnt see results immediately, as the Discover Weekly playlist is updated, um, weekly on Mondays. But lo and behold, the following Monday my Discover Weekly playlist was no longer dominated by night-time cricket sounds, spacey ambient artists, and rain storms. It instead features a nice mix of music I frequently listen to as well as some surprises and even stuff Ive never heard of before. Much better.1. My old, ambient-sound, sleepy-time Discover Weekly2. My new, much cooler Discover WeeklyIm going to keep training it with new playlists to see how dialed in I can get my algorithm. I also have a 13-year-old daughter who has several playlists on my Spotify account, and while shes developing an excellent taste in music, theres some lingering Katy Perry and other anomalies on there that are worse than an idling truck.Editors Recommendations

work-in-progress Some original Switch games will run better on Switch 2; some wont run at all Some Switch games will get free updates to improve Switch 2 performance. Andrew Cunningham Apr 2, 2025 12:33 pm | 0 Nintendo's Switch 2 console. Credit: Nintendo Nintendo's Switch 2 console. Credit: Nintendo Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreWe've known for a few months now that the Nintendo Switch 2 will support backward compatibility for older Nintendo Switch games, and as of today's presentation, we also know that some Switch games will get special Switch 2 Editions that add new features and support higher resolutions and other features.Nintendo's product pages for the Switch add more details, including the status of backward-compatibility testing for original Switch games and a small handful of first-party Switch games that will get "free updates" to enhance them for Switch 2.First, some good news. There will be a second tier of updates for original Switch games that Nintendo says "may improve performance or add support for features such as GameShare in select games." These won't include the extra features or higher resolutions of Switch 2 Edition games, but they'll be available for free, and they ought to improve playability. Nintendo lists a dozen first-party Switch games that will benefit from free Switch 2 updates:ArmsCaptain Toad: Treasure TrackerSuper Mario OdysseySuper Mario 3D World + Bowser's FuryClubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide ClassicsThe Legend of Zelda: Link's AwakeningThe Legend of Zelda: Echoes of WisdomGame Builder GarageNew Super Mario Bros. U DeluxePokmon ScarletPokmon VioletBig Brain Academy: Brain vs. BrainNintendo says "the contents of these free updates will differ depending on the game."Compatibility testing is ongoingWe still don't know whether non-updated Switch games running on the Switch 2 will perform better by virtue of the updated hardware; we'll have to wait to test the console ourselves to know for sure. (There are, for better or worse, many Switch games with performance issues that we could use to test.) The current state of Switch 2 backward compatibility testing. The vast majority of first-party games are good to go; third-party testing is a work in progress. Credit: Nintendo Though Nintendo's plan is to support the vast majority of the Switch library on the Switch 2, there are some games that won't run, some games that will have specific requirements, and others that are still being tested.All of Nintendo's first-party games have passed "basic compatibility testing," meaning they should play more or less as reliably as they do on current Switch hardware. The one incompatible game is the Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 04 VR Kit, which requires you to put the Switch into a cardboard VR headset; since the Switch 2 is a lot bigger than the original Switch, it won't work.Other games, including most of the other Labo stuff, will require the use of original Switch Joy-Cons rather than the updated Switch 2 versions. These games are generally ones that were built specifically around the Joy-Cons, including Ring Fit Adventure, 1-2-Switch, and WarioWare: Move It!Third-party games are more of a work in progress. Nintendo says that roughly 20 percent of the "over 15,000" third-party Switch games have cleared the "no issues found during basic compatibility testing" bar, while the vast majority of the remaining games are still being tested but will at least start up without crashing.There are three other compatibility statuses: games that aren't compatible at all, games that won't start up properly, and games that are playable "with issues in certain parts of the game." Nintendo has published a full list of the games with start-up issues (PDF) and those that will start but have compatibility issues (PDF).The company says it is working to address these issues, "including by working with publishing and developing partners." This implies that some of the problems, whatever they are, can be resolved on Nintendo's end via Switch operating system updates, while others will require patches to be released by developers.For the games where testing is still in progress, Nintendo says it will provide another compatibility update "later in April." So while backward compatibility isn't a foregone conclusion, it seems that Nintendo is evaluating the Switch library pretty comprehensively and wants to make sure that the vast majority of Switch games on the new hardware will run as well as or better than than they do on the original Switch.Andrew CunninghamSenior Technology ReporterAndrew CunninghamSenior Technology Reporter Andrew is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica, with a focus on consumer tech including computer hardware and in-depth reviews of operating systems like Windows and macOS. Andrew lives in Philadelphia and co-hosts a weekly book podcast called Overdue. 0 Comments

Revenge of the nerds RIP Val Kilmer: Celebrating cult classic Real Genius is now a moral imperative The 80s comedy has stood the test of time, even inspiring a 2009 Mythbusters episode. Jennifer Ouellette Apr 2, 2025 12:21 pm | 6 Mitch (Gabriel Jarret) and Chris (Val Kilmer) play young science whizzes trying to build a 5-kilowatt laser in the 1985 film Real Genius. Credit: TriStar Pictures Mitch (Gabriel Jarret) and Chris (Val Kilmer) play young science whizzes trying to build a 5-kilowatt laser in the 1985 film Real Genius. Credit: TriStar Pictures Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreActor Val Kilmerstar of Top Gun, The Doors, and Batman Forever, among other roleshas died at the age of 65 of pneumonia, Deadline Hollywood reports.Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015 and while chemotherapy and two tracheotomies helped him defeat it, the procedures destroyed his voice. He spoke in a rasp or used an electric voice box for the remainder of his life and largely left acting. (He made a brief cameo in 2022's Top Gun: Maverick, for which his voice was digitally altered.) The 2021 documentary Val, narrated by his son Jack Kilmer, followed his life and health struggles.Kilmer had a reputation for being eccentric and difficult to work with, but he also had his champions, and his talent was undeniable. While working with Val on Heat, I always marveled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Vals possessing and expressing character," Michael Mann, who directed the actor in 1995's Heat, told Deadline. "After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news.Sure, there were some stinkers over the course of Kilmer's career, but he leaves behind an impressive list of roles that have stood the test of time. His portrayal of rock star Jim Morrison in The Doors (1991) was widely praised, as was his work in the 2004 black comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang opposite Robert Downey, Jr.And who could forget his deliciously profligate Doc Holliday ("I'll be your Huckleberry") in 1993's Tombstone or his colorful turn as Elvis Presley in True Romance that same year? Then there was the cocky "Iceman" opposite Tom Cruise's Maverick in 1986's Top Gunand Madmartigan in the classic fantasy adventure Willow (1988) that turned him into a major star.But here at Ars, we'd like to remember him as Chris Knight in Real Genius, the rebellious, irreverent science whiz kid at the fictional Pacific Tech (a thinly disguised Caltech) who befriends a shy young 15-year-old freshman (Gabriel Jarret). It was only his second feature film role, but Kilmer was unforgettable. So we're re-upping our 2020 tribute to the film in Kilmer's honor.[Original article:]Back to the Future justly dominated the summer box office in 1985, but it's too bad its massive success overshadowed another nerd-friendly gem, Real Genius,which debuted one month later, on August 9. Now celebrating its 35th anniversary, the film remains one of the most charming, winsome depictions of super-smart science whizzes idealistically hoping to change the world for the better with their work. It also boasts a lot of reasonably accurate sciencea rare occurrence at the time.Real Geniuscame out the same year as the similarly themed filmsWeird Sciencewhich spawned a 1990s TV sitcomand My Science Project, because 1980s Hollywood tended to do things in threes.But I'd argue that Real Genius has better stood the test of time, despite being so quintessentially an '80s filmright down to the many montages set to electronic/synth-pop chart-toppers. The film only grossed$12.9 million domestically against its $8 million budget, compared to $23.8 million domestically for its fellow cult classic,Weird Science.(My Science Project bombed with a paltry$4.1 million.) Reviews were mostly positive, however, and over time it became a sleeper hit via VHS, and later, DVD and streaming platforms.(Spoilers for the 35-year-old film below.)Fifteen-year-old Mitch Taylor (Gabriel Jarret) is a science genius and social outcast at his high school. So he is over the moon when Professor Jerry Hathaway (William Atherton), a star researcher at the fictional Pacific Technical University, stops by the science fair to inform Mitch he's been admitted to the university. Even better, Hathaway has handpicked Mitch to work in his own lab on a laser project. But unbeknownst to Mitch, Hathaway is in league with a covert CIA program to develop a space-based laser weapon called "Crossbow," designed for precisely targeted political assassinations. The only remaining obstacle is the weapon's power source: they need a 5-megawatt laser and are relying on Hathaway to deliver.The first act is a nerdier version of the classic fish-out-of-water tale, as Mitch arrives at Pacific Tech and tries to fit in. His roommate, Chris Knight (Val Kilmer), is a senior who was once a bright young star like Mitch but has since rebelled against the high-pressure academic grind and embraced a goofy YOLO approach to life, urging his fellow students to allow themselves to blow off a little steam now and then. Mitch butts heads with Kent (Robert Prescott), a less gifted older proteg of Hathaway's who is jealous of the attention Mitch receives. He finds friends and allies not just in Chris, but also fellow science nerds "Ick" Ikagami (Mark Kamiyama) and Jordan Cochran (Michelle Meyrink), a hyperactive young woman who rarely stops talking or inventing gadgets, and by her own admission almost never sleeps.Then there is Lazlo Hollyfeld (Jon Gries), a former star student who cracked under the pressure and is now an eccentric hermit living in the dormitory steam tunnels. Fun fact: Lazlo's steam tunnel hideout, accessible through Mitch's closet, is an elaborate homage to Leonardo da Vinci. As depicted when Mitch finally figures out how to gain access, it features a multidirectional elevator built out of a small car controlled by a rotating screw. The car descends to a horizontal track and is propelled forward by a hidden drive chain. The automated scribbler Lazlo uses to submit more than a million entries to the Frito-Lay Sweepstakes was inspired by a sketch in one of Leonardo's notebooks.Eventually, Mitch and Chris succeed in solving the power problem for their laser, only to realize (thanks to Lazlo) that it will be used to build a powerful directed-energy laser weapon. The five of them team up to foil Hathaway's big military test of the system, in their usual eccentrically ingenious way. 15-year-old Mitch Taylor (Gabriel Jarret) is admitted to the fictional "Pacific Tech" to work on lasers. TriStar Pictures 15-year-old Mitch Taylor (Gabriel Jarret) is admitted to the fictional "Pacific Tech" to work on lasers. TriStar Pictures Mitch's rival, Kent (Robert Prescott), and his rather shady mentor, Dr. Jerry Hathaway (William Atherton). TriStar Pictures Mitch's rival, Kent (Robert Prescott), and his rather shady mentor, Dr. Jerry Hathaway (William Atherton). TriStar Pictures Mitch's roommate is the equally brilliant but idiosyncratic Chris Knight (Val Kilmer). TriStar Pictures Mitch's roommate is the equally brilliant but idiosyncratic Chris Knight (Val Kilmer). TriStar Pictures Mitch's rival, Kent (Robert Prescott), and his rather shady mentor, Dr. Jerry Hathaway (William Atherton). TriStar Pictures Mitch's roommate is the equally brilliant but idiosyncratic Chris Knight (Val Kilmer). TriStar Pictures Jordan (Michelle Meyrink) surprises Mitch in the men's room with the sweater she knitted. TriStar Pictures Lazlo Hollyfeld (Jon Gries) is a former genius who cracked and keeps mysteriously going into Mitch's closetand vanishing. TriStar Pictures Mitch discovers the passage to Lazlo's secret lair. TriStar Pictures Conked out. TriStar Pictures Of course Chris sleeps like a pretzel. TriStar Pictures Chris engineers a "pool party" so everyone can let off some steam. TriStar Pictures Jordan and "Ick" Ikagami (Mark Kamiyama) help Chris and Mitch take revenge on Kent. TriStar Pictures "Is that you, Jesus?" TriStar Pictures Yes that is a giant pile of unpopped popcorn in Jerry's foyer. All it needs is a bit of heat. TriStar Pictures Hacking a defense department laser weapon provides that heat. TriStar Pictures Hathaway realizes his system has been hacked. TriStar Pictures The team celebrates a job well done. TriStar Pictures It fell to film consultant Martin A. Gunderson of the University of Southern California (who has a bit part as a math professor) to help ensure that the science and campus culture depicted in the film were plausible, even if certain liberties were taken. Certain details were deliberately left out, according to Director Martha Coolidge, such as those for Mitch's flash-pumped ultraviolet laser at the science fair, and technical details pertaining to a directed-energy laser weapon. ("We didn't want to inspire any lethal tinkering.")I've always appreciated how closely the laboratory laser setups hewed to reality: Gunderson himself provided the blue-green argon laser and tunable dye laser used in those scenes. Chris uses a cube beam splitter to create the laser light show announcing the Tanning Invitational pool party that incurs Hathaway's wrath. That said, a 5-megawatt laserhad certainly not been achieved in 1985. While Chris' construction of a xenon-halogen laser to solve the power problem was purely theoretical at the time, the underlying scientific details were later outlined in a scientific papera fitting example of how science and Hollywood can both benefit from such collaborations.For the "Smart People on Ice" scene, the crew used a frozen volatile gas, pumped through thousands of feet of tubing beneath the corridor flooring that was connected to a refrigeration unit to keep the gas cold. And as Ick explains when Kent asks him what will happen when the ice melts, the frozen gas shifts directly from a solid to a gaseous state, rather than melting into a liquid.Then there is the famous popcorn scene that marks the group's triumph over Hathaway. Mitch, Chris, Ick, Jordan, and Lazlo fill his newly renovated house (accomplished with funds embezzled from his CIA grant) with unpopped popcorn covered in tinfoil. They place a prismatic-like piece of glass on the window sill and hijack the computer during Hathaway's big military test to redirect the laser energy through that window. The kernels start popping, expanding to fill the entire house until it quite literally bursts at the seams.Real Genius movie clip: Jerry's House of Popcorn. In a 2010 interview with the AV Club, Atherton revealed that the studio had six ten-foot-high air poppers devoted to popping popcorn all day for three months, filling a massive storage tank. Since the popcorn had been treated with fire-retardant to keep it from combusting, additional measures had to be taken to ensure the birds didn't eat it. All that popcorn was then carted out to a new subdivision being built in Canyon Country just northwest of Los Angeles and then stuffed inside a Victorian frame house specifically built for the film. That way the crew could pull the whole thing down in the climactic scene with the help of an elaborate network of conveyor belts, hydraulic lifts, airblowers, and vacuum hoses. "Now they'd do it digitally, I guess, but in those days, you had to pop the dang popcorn and put it in a truck and schlep it out to the valley," Atherton said.As evidence of the film's enduring popularity with the nerdy set, the Mythbusters decided to test the feasibility of popping that much popcorn in 2009 with a laser and destroying a house. The initial test went well: the team successfully popped a single kernel wrapped in aluminum foil with a ten-watt laser. Unfortunately, they weren't able to get a sufficiently powerful laser for their scaled-up experiment, relying instead on a large pan used to cook the popcorn via induction heating. They also built a scaled-down model of the house in the film with a piston on the floor pushing popped popcorn upward to see if it could generate sufficient force to break apart the house. Alas, the Mythbusters determined it would require several tons of force. So myth: busted. But it's still an entertaining movie comeuppance.Real Genius is admittedly a bit cheesy. The plot is predictable, the characters are pretty basic, and the dialogue can be clunky. And it goes without saying that the sexually frustrated virgin nerds ogling hot cosmetology students in bikinis during the pool party reflects hopelessly outdated stereotypes on several fronts. But the film still offers smartly silly escapist fare, with a side of solid science for those who care about such things. And its yearning idealism is a good antidote to the current prevailing cynicism.Jennifer OuelletteSenior WriterJennifer OuelletteSenior Writer Jennifer is a senior writer at Ars Technica with a particular focus on where science meets culture, covering everything from physics and related interdisciplinary topics to her favorite films and TV series. Jennifer lives in Baltimore with her spouse, physicist Sean M. Carroll, and their two cats, Ariel and Caliban. 6 Comments