Xiaomi Sound Outdoor SpeakerPrakhar KhannaXiaomi launched its new Sound Outdoor Bluetooth speaker alongside the Redmi Note 14 Pro Plus last month. It overshadowed the Redmi phone in terms of value proposition. For the asking price of INR 3,999 (approx. $45), it punches above its weight and delivers impressive performance. Heres what you need to know about Xiaomis best value-for-money product this season.The Xiaomi Sound Outdoor Bluetooth speaker is small enough to fit in any backpack youd take trekking. Weighing 597 grams and measuring 196.6 x 68 x 66mm, the speaker is designed to be your portable travel companion, and it reflects in its design language. The device is rated IP67 for dust and water resistance and features a rubberized lanyard for hanging it on your bag or a hook.While I havent felt limited by it, I prefer a Sony Ult Field 1-style threaded lanyard because its more versatile and can be tied to more places. That being said, it ticks all the right boxes for an outdoor portable, budget Bluetooth speaker.Xiaomi Sound Outdoor speaker's controls and USB-C port for chargingPrakhar KhannaMORE FOR YOUThe Xiaomi Sound Outdoor features a lot of buttons, including three over the lanyard Power, Bluetooth, and Link. On the top, youll find volume controls and a play/pause button that doubles as a call pickup button, which is possible because of the included mic for hands-free calling. I picked a few calls on this and my callers said that my voice sounded clear and free of echo.Setting up the Xiaomi Sound Outdoor is effortless and requires just one press of the power button. It automatically enters pairing mode when switched on for the first time. If you have two of these speakers, you can pair them using the Link button to create a stereo output. Theres also a multi-speaker mode that delivers a standard mono mix better for setups with more than two speakers.Xiaomi claims you can link up to 100 Sound Outdoor speakers, but I couldnt test that. However, pairing two of them is simple. The process involves pressing the Link button, and thats it. The stereo effect is very good, with no latency between the two speakers.Xiaomi Sound Outdoor Bluetooth speakerPrakhar KhannaComing to sound quality, this budget-friendly Xiaomi portable speaker offers an impressive music experience with a 30W power output. For context, the more expensive JBL Flip 5 offers a 20W power output with an IPX7 rating and similar battery life. While the JBL speaker has a wider soundstage, the Xiaomi speaker isnt far behind impressive for a speaker priced 40% less.The Xiaomi Sound Outdoor Bluetooth speaker exceeds expectations for its size. Its equipped with dual woofer radiators on both sides to deliver a fuller bass. Its energetic and powerful. The speaker has a bass-heavy tuning but vocals remain clear, and the mids and highs are well-balanced. It gets surprisingly loud for its size, with no noticeable distortion at high volumes.Plus, you wont have issues hearing vocals at lower volumes. Its usually a problem as higher frequencies become overwhelming to drown the mids. But Xiaomis smart volume balancing feature adjusts the audio to ensure a consistent listening experience across volume levels.The company promises 12 hours of battery life at 50% volume. In my testing, it lasted approximately nine hours at 60%-80% volume, which is better than many more expensive portable speakers.Xiaomi Sound Outdoor Speaker Review: VerdictXiaomi Sound Outdoor Bluetooth's volume controls and play-pause buttonPrakhar KhannaThe Xiaomi Sound Outdoor Bluetooth speaker offers exceptional value at INR 3,999 (approx. $45). Its available for $70 at Amazon.com in the USA, and its stil good value.For that price, youre getting a good-sounding outdoor speaker with an IP67 rating for dust and water resistance, alongside a full suite of controls, and the ability to take calls via its included mic a feature typically found in more expensive Bluetooth speakers. I highly recommend buying two of these for your next trek or outdoor activities.

As we near the CES event in Las Vegas, which runs from January 7th and is expected to offer plenty of PC hardware announcements, we finally have information on when Nvidia's GeForce RTX 5000-series could be available. Widely expected to be announced in Las Vegas next week, it appears that the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 could be hitting the shelves first a couple of weeks after the show, shoving aside last year's RTX 4080 Super in the process.Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4080 Super graphics cardAntony LeatherWhen will the RTX 5080 be released?January 21st is the date given by Twitter user HKepcmedia (via Videocardz), who offered no more information about other models such as the RTX 5090, so for now it appears the RTX 5080 will be the first card you can buy, with other cards following.When will other models such as the RTX 5090 and 5070 Ti arrive?If the RTX 5080 does come first, this would suggest, based on the RTX 4000 card launch schedule, that the RTX 5090 would be released a month or so later in mid-February/early march. That's assuming a similar time scale to what we saw with the RTX 4090, with availability a few weeks after the initial announcement, followed by the RTX 4080 a month later and RTX 4070 Ti.MORE FOR YOUThe second card too launch seems to follow a month later, but the third - with the RTX 4000 series that being the RTX 4070 Ti - took even longer, not appearing for another eight weeks, albeit with Christmas and new year in between. That would mean we'd be unlikely to see an RTX 5070 Ti before April.Pricing could also be announced next week, at least for the first wave of cards, which would likely include the RTX 5080 and RTX 5090, which have been rumored to cost as much as $1,500 and $2,500 respectively. There's hope that the pricing might be less eye-watering than that, but we'll hopefully get some clarity during Nvidia's announcement.The RTX 5000 series is unlikely to have a competitor at the top end, with AMD likely to stick to RTX 4080-level performance, but with an emphasis on value and gaining market share, starting with a Radeon RX 9070 XT. Memory capacity hasn't increased much across the board, but the RTX 5090 is likely to offer an enormous 32GB of GDDR7 VRAM, with all models offering the same memory type as well as PCIe 5.0 support.The RTX 5080 is expected to have 16GB, while the RTX 5070 Ti is rumored to have 16GB too. This isn't an increase over the RTX 4070 Ti Super, but is more than the RTX 4070 Ti. Meanwhile, at the bottom of the stack the RTX 5060 is rumored to stick with the same 8GB as its predecessor, which hasn't gone down well with some gamers and commentators.While some of the new graphics cards are also rumored to use more power, a representative from Chinese PSU manufacturer Segotep claimed the RTX 5090 would use the same 16-pin 12VPWR connector as the RTX 4090, with a single 600W connector being enough to power the card.There will likely me more news and leaks over the next week as we approach CES in Las Vegas and I'll be covering the hardware launches announced at the event including the GeForce RTX 5080 so follow me here on Forbes using the blue button below, Facebook or YouTube to get the latest news and reviews.

Nature, Published online: 01 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08331-xNanoparticle-based microgauges are developed for in vivo force sensing and deployed in C. elegans to investigate how mechanical force correlates with electrical signalling in neuromuscular organs.

Nature, Published online: 01 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08317-9The p53 target FBP1 is elevated in senescent-like metabolic-dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis hepatocytes but suppressed through promoter hypermethylation and proteasomal degradation in most human hepatocellular carcinomas.

Nature, Published online: 01 January 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08352-6Previously undescribed hierarchical arrangements in haematopoietic stem cells and their niches that mediate both regenerative potential and immune privilege are identified.

The world of assassins is often complex in any media, and anime is no different. Whether they are yakuza members, fantasy rouges, or any other kind of deadly hitmen, anime has always explored complex setups for these assassins, both in groups and solo ventures. Two main organizations rule over the assassins when it comes to the Sakamoto Days universe; the JAA, and X's organization. These two powerful forces in the assassin world are often at odds with each other, causing problems for our main cast of characters to get tangled up in.

A GTA Online player experienced a glitch wiith a police helicopter that ended with hilarious results. The moment may have been due to lag in GTA Online, but it's nonetheless funny to see play out.

Weapons and armor in Metaphor: ReFantazio can give characters bonuses to their stats or grant them special effects, like the ability to nullify elemental magic like ice. While these effects are nice bonuses, they can be rare compared to accessories, which is exactly the point of the items.

I am an EDM / Trap EDM artist who has always wanted my music in some video games. I would love to allow my songs in a few games for free. I have over 50K streams on Spotify and about 5K on SoundCloud. Here's my SoundCloud if you want to listen. https://soundcloud.com/nomoredeathmusicI would also be open to composing some tracks specifically for a game, but I would most likely w

The fangame is about a detective who, for personal and work reasons, has to investigate "Sparky's pizza food and fun" a pizza place abandoned since the 90's that has now returned. In the game there are 5 animatronics; Sparky, Tom, Max, Cindy and Daisy each with their different functions and stories they will try to kill you to defend yourself you will have objects such as stones or any object that will slow down or distract you depending on the animatronic a