Google wants to bring AI out of your pocket and into the living room, and its making its own take on the Apple TV to do it. Today, the company announced the Google TV Streamer, a set top box that replaces the Chromecast while also being a Gemini-powered smart home hub.An oval-shaped wedge, the freestanding device is 6.4-inches longnot large, but certainly less of a space saver than a small puck that just hangs from the back of your TV. Its meant to sit in front of your TV rather than behind it, and while you can probably mount it to the back of your screen with some well placed adhesives or zip ties, theres no mounting equipment included in the box.What you get with that bigger form factor is 32GB of storage space, 4GB of memory, enough power to run HDR streams at up to 4K@60 FPS, and an onboard thread radio for smart home integration. Like on higher-end Chromecasts, Dolby Vision and Atmos are also supportedand importantly, theres more room for ports, meaning you can now connect an ethernet cable rather than relying on wifi or clunky adapters. Credit: Google The included remote also has a slight redesign that now offers voice control, but the real difference here is in the software. Ditching the popular Chromecast brand for a set top experience is a bit of a risky move, and like many recent tech rebrands, theres two letters that explain it all: AI. Beyond fresh new looks and visual fidelity, the Google TV Streamer also boasts what Google says is about 22% more processing power, which is just enough to bring a few Gemini experiences onto the big screen.Did you want AI Overviews while watching House of the Dragon? Because youre getting AI Overviews while watching House of the Dragon. When selecting a TV show on the Google TV Streamer, youll now get AI-generated boxes that summarize topics like whats it about, what people are saying, and what to know. Credit: Google There are also promises of AI-curated content suggestions, although Google hasnt made it clear how those differ from the existing Google TV algorithm. A video advertising the Google TV Streamer shows a user asking for movies that feel like a vacation and being shown My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3.When in ambient mode, youll be able to generate AI screensavers using voice prompts on the remote. Or you can display pictures from your Google Photos, if youd rather keep a foot in reality. Credit: Google Speaking of reality, the Google TV Streamers thread radio gives it Matter connectivity, but more importantly, access to the Google Home panel. From here, you can adjust connected smart lights or thermostats, or monitor connected smart cams. Like on Apple TV and Chromecast, youll be able to cast content to your Google TV streamer from your phone, as well as add it to speaker groups so you can play music from your TV.The Google TV Streamer is up for pre-order now and starts shipping on September 24. It costs $99 and comes in porcelain (white) and hazel (gray), although hazel is a Google Store exclusive within the United States.

Up until now, Googles Chromecast line has been largely focused on making it easy to watch shows and movies on your favorite big screen. But with the new Google TV Streamer, Google finally has a proper set-top box for binging content that also supports a much broader range of smart home controls. Design: From dongle to wedge Coming just a week ahead of Google's upcoming Made By event, perhaps the biggest change for the TV Streamer is switching from being a simple dongle that hangs off your TV to a truly standalone device that lives on your media console. Google says its wedge-shaped design is meant to blend in easily with your decor when sitting in front of your TV so that it offers better reception for its included remote and other smart home devices (more on that later). The Google TV Streamer will be available in two colors: porcelain white and hazel, the latter of which will be exclusively direct from Google. Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget Google has also given the Streamer TV a massive hardware upgrade compared to the Chromecast with Google TV from 2020, including a 22 percent faster CPU, double the RAM (4GB instead of 2GB) and four times more storage (32GB total). That might not sound like a ton, but considering that the previous model often ran out of space for downloading basic streaming apps, thats a much-needed improvement. Streaming resolution caps out at 4K/60fps, though you do get support for HDR, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos and spatial audio (when paired with Google Pixel Buds). Furthermore, theres an HDMI 1.1 jack, a powered USB-C port and a dedicated Ethernet slot for people who want peak bandwidth for streaming. Google also made the remote a touch longer while moving the volume rocker to the top and adding a customizable button that can be set to launch your favorite app, switch inputs or summon the new smart home control center. And just like before, theres a built-in microphone and a button for summoning the Google Assistant. Smart home: Becoming a proper device hub Here's a sample of what the Google TV Streamer's new smart home control panel looks like. Google This brings me to the Google Streamers improved smart home capabilities. Not only does it support Matter, it also features a built-in Thread border router for easily communicating with the other devices in your house. On top of that, the TV Streamer is getting its own version of the Google Home panel (which weve seen on previous Pixel phones and Nest Hubs) so that it's easier to adjust things like smart lights while also giving you the ability to view feeds from your security cameras and video doorbells. New AI features Finally, it wouldnt be a 2024 Google device without some new AI features. Thanks to Gemini, the TV Streamer can create custom recommendations based on the kind of content you watch and generate summaries, reviews or even season-by-season breakdowns for stuff you havent. Theres also an ambient TV mode that allows you to pull screensavers or memories from your Google Photos library. However, if you want something a bit more unique, you can also use AI to generate something fantastical. Meanwhile, if you lose the remote, you can ask the Google Assistant (not Gemini) to help you find it or you can simply press the dedicated button on the back of the box. Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget So while I havent had much chance to dive into its features, with the new TV Streamer, at last it feels like Google has a significantly more capable smart home hub thats also a true rival to the Apple TV 4K and other Android-based boxes like the NVIDIA Shield TV. The Google TV Streamer costs $100 and is available for pre-order today with official sales beginning September 24. It will be available in two colors: porcelain white and hazel, the latter of which will be available exclusively from the Google Store. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/the-google-tv-streamer-is-the-next-big-upgrade-to-the-chromecast-line-130034951.html?src=rss

The prison management simulation game, Prison Architect 2, has been delayed indefinitely.

The huge plunge in the crypto market on Monday will test the resolve of investors new to the market through spot ETFs.

Its hard to contextualize just how revolutionary the Nest thermostat was when it launched in 2011. Designed by Tony Fadell, a key figure behind the iPod, its simple silver ring and black screen bucked decades of plastic, white-boxed convention to become the closest thing the smart home has to an icon.Now, 13 years later, Google is giving Nest its biggest makeover in history (available today for $280). Its now made from recycled materials. It has improved AI that knows, for instance, if its sunny outside it should take that into account for heating. And yes, like any good gadget update, the display is now 60% larger. But the Nest doesnt look like another TV on your wall. Instead, it appears to be a piece of floating glass with a curvature reminiscent of the Pixel Watch (which is itself inspired by the surface tension of water).Not that people [are comparing these products] but theres a design ethos thats . . . coherent, that gets me personally very excited, says Ivy Ross, Chief Design Officer of Consumer Devices at Google.[Photo: courtesy Google]Inside the floating glass designThat glass is really the hero of the device. Capturing the spirit of some of the most contemporary international designI squint and see the work of Sabine Marceliseach is glazed in multiple coatings to match its silver, black, and gold colorways. [They] arent only beautiful, but help eliminate the visual bezels, saysIsabelleOlsson,Senior Design Director forNestand Wearables portfolio. The reason thats important to us is this is a product people keep in their home for 10 years or more . . . and one of the first tells of a device if its outdated is the bezel.[Photo: courtesy Google]To create the floating effect, Google didnt rely on some new breakthrough in miniaturization or other technology. And like any good magic trick, its almost head-slappingly obvious when you realize how it works. While the user sees the glass floating from the wall, a base with a smaller diameter tethers it there in the shadows, much like the stem of a mushroom.[Photo: courtesy Google]There wasnt a ton of reduction we can make regarding depth, says Olsson of the hardware trick. But looking at wall sconces, its not a too-uncommon gesture in the furniture industry. So that made us confident to start exploring it . . . from most angles, you get the magical effect. The Nest team tested many versions of the form to get it right. At one point, Google designers descended upon Olssons home with 20 early prototypes, placing them on different walls to see how they fit into a lived environment.[Photo: courtesy Google]The new adaptive UX of the Nest ThermostatAlongside the new hardware, the Nest thermostat will be getting significant updates to both its UX and the automated AI that promises to more efficiently warm and cool your house. The most striking difference is its new Dynamic Farsight display that displays different information depending on your proximity an idea Google has been experimenting with for some time and continues to be bullish on.It has some hints of whats to come, says Ross of the UX. I think it represents a thoroughly modern piece that tips its hands to the future.[Photo: courtesy Google]From a distance, users can customize the screen much like the face of a smartwatch, to display the temperature or time in digital and analog presentations. As you move closer, the Nest screen glows just a bit to acknowledge your presence, before displaying a denser layer of information. Whereas you might see temperature from far away, at a closer level, youll also see the weather through the day. The deepest level of the interface, which appears only when you touch the device, is the densest, and it isnt customizable, but thats because its the core UI of the product necessary to its operations.Without testing the product yet, its hard to know if these animationswhich will include new weather effects like lightningwill be a welcome acknowledgement or a distraction. But the overall goal of the new Nest is that it should ask less of your attention (thanks to ever-improving AI).One of the bigger pieces of evolution is the integration of AI, and living up to the premise of smartness, says Olsson. In my experience, Ive had to interface with it less.

Mathieu Lehanneur's designs have played a starring role at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. In this interview, the French designer explains why his "flying" Olympic cauldron may become a permanent Parisian landmark.Lehanneur, who is known for his playful and often thought-provoking product designs, began work on the cauldron and the Olympic torch in early 2023 and says he was given free reign over the designs.Mathieu Lehanneur designed a floating cauldron for this year's Olympics"It was a kind of carte blanche," he told Dezeen."For the torch, we received constraints in terms of size big enough to be visible from the public, high enough to not burn the hairs of the relay runners, and on top of the list was the constraint that the flame cannot be extinguished; it has to always be visible whatever the weather conditions."Designs were informed by waterThe torches and the relay cauldrons lit along the route from Greece, also designed by Lehanneur, have a rippled design informed by the River Seine, which runs through Paris and saw athletes arrive on boats during the opening ceremony."I wanted to express the context and took inspiration from Paris itself," Lehanneur explained."Instead of being inspired by the historical monuments or the Eiffel Tower, the super well-known postcard monuments, I took inspiration from the river because La Seine is the stage for the opening ceremony, but also because in a larger sense, the water is a kind of a common link in the journey of the torch relay," he added."It started in Greece, and arrived in France from the Mediterranean Sea, arrived in Paris and has been moving into the Seine River and also it took the ocean to reach the Guadeloupe and Martinique islands."Read: Mathieu Lehanneur "flying cauldron" lit for Paris 2024 OlympicsLehanneur's visualisation of water for his Olympic designs was also inspired by his fascination with making tactile representations of things that are "impossible to catch"."When you are playing with air, fire or water, I love the fact of trying to freeze something that by definition is impossible to freeze," Lehanneur said."It's not far away from the Impressionist painters, they did the same with the light," he added."Painters like Monet were always trying to catch a moment; it's this fragility of life and I play on the same idea."The Olympic cauldron rises into the air every nightHis design for the Olympic cauldron, which resembles a hot-air balloon and rises into the Paris sky every evening at sunset, was created to make the cauldron visible not just close up but from all across the city.Rather than being lifted by hot air, the balloon is filled with helium, which is lighter than air and allows it to ascend.And while the flame carried by the torch relay athletes still burns in a lantern next to the cauldron, the balloon's main ring of fire is made from electric lights and misted water.Read: The race to reduce the Olympic ImpactCreating a flying cauldron was conceived as a way to bring it closer to the sun that started the original Olympic flame, Lehanneur explained."The very first torch in Greece at the beginning of every new Olympic Games is lit by the sun you install parabolic mirrors to catch the rays of the sun," he said."And in this way, you create the flame, and it means the sacred fire that people are transmitting during the torch relay for thousands of kilometres is always part of the sun because the rays come from the sun," he added."The idea of the cauldron is to close the journey and close the story by bringing back the flame up to the sun."New cauldron design avoids "insane" use of gasThe unusual design of the flame marks a change from previous games in that it is entirely fossil-fuel-free, a suitable choice for an Olympics that has set an ambitious sustainability agenda."In the past it used to be wood, but it's mainly been gas for the last decades, and you cannot image the quantity of gas you have to use, it's absolutely insane," Lehanneur said."At the very beginning when we started to talk about the idea of creating a flying cauldron and a flame that would be a new type of flame, the International Olympic Committee (IOC)told us it makes sense we cannot keep going like we always did, for obvious sustainability reasons."However, the aesthetics of the flame still had to be present."The IOC wanted to be sure that the flame would be beautiful enough, because the flame is a symbol there is no function in the Olympic flame, it's only a question of ritual and symbol," Lehanneur said.The balloon sits in the Jardin des Tuileries in central ParisThe cauldron also has a hidden, functional part of its design inside the platform on which it stands that isn't visible to viewers."You have to imagine that this platform is full of machines; for electricity, for creating the mist, for the water pressure, and you get many guys under this piece," Lehanneur said."You need many people operating it continuously, for the opening ceremony but even every single night when the balloon goes up."Read: Symmetrical Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic torch unveiledOnce the games conclude, the torches, which were made from recycled steel, and the relay cauldrons will be donated to museums and the cities where the torch relay stopped.The main Olympic cauldron, however, could end up staying in its spot in the Jardin des Tuileries, where it has become a popular attraction for tourists and Parisians."With the Olympic cauldron, we had actually planned for it to be entirely recycled," Lehanneur said. "But something incredible happened just the day after the opening ceremony, people started to want to keep it permanently.""And we never thought about that, we never thought about that option," he added. "But people adopted this piece almost immediately."Cauldron could stay in ParisBoth France's prime minister Gabriel Attal and Paris' mayor Anne Hidalgo have said they want to keep the cauldron, Lehanneur said.However, every four years the flame has to be transmitted to the next city that hosts the Olympics, which means that the designer would have to think of what the cauldron's function could be after that."The question is, is it better to get an amazing souvenir that will remain in our minds or to keep something permanently that, for any type of monument even an inflatable monument will turn to become normal?" he said.The Olympic cauldron is lit up by electric lightThe balloon, which rises at 10pm, is currently watched by thousands of people every night."When it rises up, all the people ask for silence you can hear the shushing," Lehanneur said. "You have 4,000 to 5,000 people and nobody talks they just want to live this very specific moment in silence."Dezeen has done a deep-dive into the sustainability aspect of this year's Olympics in our Olympic Impact series, including a roundup of the eight ways in which it is attempting to be the most sustainable games ever.The photography is by Felipe Ribon for Raf studio.Dezeen In DepthIf you enjoy reading Dezeen's interviews, opinions and features,subscribe to Dezeen In Depth. Sent on the last Friday of each month, this newsletter provides a single place to read about the design and architecture stories behind the headlines.The post Mathieu Lehanneur's Olympic designs reference the "fragility of life" appeared first on Dezeen.

In this age of digital music, you still see some true-blue music lovers that collect vinyl records. To be able to fully appreciate the quality of this high-fidelity kind of music though, you also need to have a pretty good vinyl player. The quality though of whats available in the market can be hit or miss, especially for those that have limited budget. So when we see something thats relatively affordable but you know can bring you great music, we cant wait to add to cart.Designer: 1 By One1 By One is one such brand that can give you quality vinyl players while not killing your wallet. Their High Fidelity Belt Drive Turntable has a lot of features that will make music lovers pretty happy. This includes built-in speakers so you dont need to spend for external speakers if you dont have them already. But it can also be connected to your system if you prefer something more powerful than what is already included in this turntable package. It is also a vibration-damping belt-drive turntable system so youll get stable sound. It can spin both 33 and 45 RPM speeds and has magnet-type cartridge and adjustable counterweight which are necessary to give you rich and warm audio and also balances each channel. The Audio-Technica stylus cartridge included here is diamond-tipped and is able to track the vinyl records grooves so you get high-definition audio. The turntable uses wood and metal materials while the transparent cover gives it a more aesthetic look. If you also want to play music from other sources rather than a vinyl record, you can do Bluetooth streaming from your phone, tablet, computer, or any mp3 player. Theres also an Aux-in port so you can connect music sources and other speakers manually. As I am on the lookout for a vinyl player I can afford, this can be an option (well, if its available where I live, that is). The post Vinyl player has built-in speaker and high-fidelity belt drive first appeared on Yanko Design.

Palworld's massive success won't be used to fund a game with a huge budget, Pocketpair CEO says.The next game will remain small, despite the studio's massive success.

The new ad from Libresse explores the gaps in period education.