Sky Glass, an all-in-one TV with a six-speaker sound bar and 4K Quantum Dot Display, came out in late 2021. Now the system is getting its successor: the Sky Glass Gen 2. One of the biggest improvements is sound quality, with a seven-speaker Dolby Atmos sound system, including a new dual sub-woofer.The second gen Sky Glass model also has a brighter 4K Quantum Dot display, a wider viewing angle and a better contrast. It gets a newly designed stand, which just slots right into the TV without any nuts and bolts. The TV also now fits on universal wall mounts.A lot of things do remain the same between the new and older model. The TV's core offerings remain the same, filled with Sky Originals, Sky Exclusives and access to apps like BBC iPlayer and Netflix. The new model also keeps Playlist, a feature that lets you add your favorite shows and movies to their own tab. Plus, it's still available in 43-inch, 55-inch and 65-inch models. However, the Gen 2 comes in three new colors: Volcanic Grey, Arctic Silver and Atlantic Blue.Get the Sky Glass Gen 2 43-inch model for 699, 55-inch model for 949 or the 65-inch model for 1,199.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/the-sky-glass-gen-2-offers-a-brighter-display-and-better-sound-113000277.html?src=rss

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Picture this: Youre driving on a crowded highway, preparing to change lanes and pass a tractor-trailer. As you check your mirrors, a loud chime on your cars infotainment screen rings out.Its Google Maps, asking whether a stalled car is still on the shoulder, as other drivers have reported. A prompt appearsYes or Norequiring a response within seconds. Your already taxed brain now has another decision to process, all while youre moving at 60 miles per hour.Scenarios like this became possible last summer, when Google overhauled its popular navigation app. Since then, drivers using Google Maps frequently receive prompts to confirm an incident, such as a police vehicle or stalled car, that other users have flagged. These prompts are announced with a chime as well as text and a timer that consume the bottom chunk of the app display. If there is a way to turn off this incident verification feature, I havent found it. (A Google spokesperson did not respond when I asked.)These prompts can be annoying to drivers who find them intrusive. More troublingly, experts in UX and human factors worry that they will cause distraction that leads to crashes.If the request happens on a stretch of road where there isnt that much one going around you, its probably not a problem, said Birsen Donmez, a professor of industrial engineering at the University of Toronto who researches distracted driving. But if it pops up when you know your turn is coming up and you really need to focus, it could confuse you and divert your attention.Thats an unsettling problem for the hundreds of millions of people who use Google Maps, as well as for everyone who shares the road with them.This is an irrelevant piece of informationGoogle has dominated navigation since launching Maps in February 2005. Though competitors have appearedApple, MapQuest, and TomTom GO among themnone has come close to matching Googles user base. In 2013, Google solidified its lead by acquiring the Israeli startup Waze, whose crowdsourced traffic and incident reporting technology later shaped key features of Maps even though it remained a separate app.Today, Google Maps guides far more journeys than other wayfinding tools. According to a 2024 MarketWatch analysis, 70% of U.S. drivers used Google Maps, compared to just 25% for both Waze and Apple Maps. MapQuest, once ubiquitous, is no longer a market leader but still had 17 million regular users as of 2022.But for the first time in years, Google Maps now faces a credible threat. Fully recovered from an inauspicious 2012 launch, Apple Maps is now a vastly improved service that has garnered praise for design elements like object-based instructions (Turn left after the next traffic light) that can seem more intuitive than Google Maps directions (In 500 feet, turn left). Meanwhile, the iPhonewhich features Apple Maps as its defaulthas been grabbing market share from Android.With competition with Apple Maps intensifying, Google unveiled major revisions to its mapping tool last summer. Google Maps had already invited users to submit information about observed traffic incidents, which the company would then share with other drivers. Now, with its new update, the company announced, other drivers can confirm the incident with just a tap.What that means in practice is that drivers frequently hear a chime as a question appears on their infotainment screen, such as Stalled vehicle reported 51 minutes ago from Google Maps drivers. Is this still there? A countdown progress bar pushes drivers to quickly tap a Yes or No button. It makes you feel like you have to respond or get it off of your screen, said Kate Moran, vice president for research and content at Nielsen Norman Group, a UX advisory practice.After a few seconds the prompt disappears, either because the driver answered the question or because the timer hit zero.Innocuous though it may seem, demanding just a tap can be dangerously distracting, University of Torontos Donmez said, because infotainment touchscreens inevitably require users to look away from the roadway ahead. She added that inexperienced or elderly drivers are more likely to struggle to suppress irrelevant stimulus.Donmez is particularly concerned by the urgency of Google Maps requests for confirmation. Drivers typically modulate their distraction engagement based on whats coming up on the road, and thats why crashes dont happen, she said. For instance, many drivers instinctively wait until after completing a lane change before they select a new podcast or adjust the air conditioning. But Google Mapss chime and countdown progress bar are designed to demand immediate attention, regardless of road conditions.Defenders of Google Mapss new UX might note that Waze, the other navigation app owned by Alphabet, has long asked users to confirm past reports of traffic incidents. But that doesnt mean Wazes design is safe. In a 2019 paper, a team of Carnegie Mellon researchers noted that Waze is dangerous to not only the driver but also to nearby drivers, pedestrians, and bicyclists.When I asked how Google Maps evaluated the safety of its UX update before rolling it out, a corporate spokesperson replied in an email, We take safety very seriously and regularly test our features for driver distraction.According to a corporate blog post, Google Mapss new UX has been distributed globally. The company does not appear to have offered users an option to turn off the verification prompts or limit them to specific types of incidents. One user asked on the Google Maps Community forum how to disable the still there? questions while driving, but that query went unanswered.Notably, many of the incidents flagged by Google Maps are unrelated to traffic safety, such as vehicles on the shoulder that passing drivers often encounter without second thought. Most of the time this is an irrelevant piece of information for safety, Donmez said.Given their potential for annoyance as well as distraction, these prompts shouldnt be inescapable, she said. Some drivers may find the feature useful, she said, but they should have the ability to easily override it.Moran agreed. Its not that the intention behind the feature is bad, but the way its been implemented is the problem, she told me. A good experience would be allowing people to say, Dont prompt me with these dialogues anymore. But even better would be to require people to opt in. Instead of turning it on by default, allow people who might be more excited about being in the Google community to say yes, Ill answer these questions and proactively provide data.Instead, all Google Maps users are now being peppered with verification requests, whether they like it or not.It could just be a lack of foresightAs to why Google Maps changed its UX to request user confirmations, Moran suggests the company probably wants to build a more current dataset of road conditions. If you really want to know if something is still on the road, the fastest way to get that information is to ask the person driving by, she said.But there is another possibility: The prompts unavoidable and aggressive design may be the brainchild of project managers instructed to increase user engagement by any means necessary.People who make UX product decisions are often under lots of pressure to achieve short-sighted, short-term metrics, Moran said. It could just be a lack of foresight that this was going to be distracting or annoying. (Google Maps did not respond to questions about its reasons for demanding that all users confirm road conditions).For now, at least, Google Maps users are stuck with its new UX. It is too soon to know whether the design will increase crashes, but the threat is real, particularly given the apps huge user base. Road safety advocates have already expressed concern about distraction due to increasingly complex infotainment systems, as automakers strive to offer the flashiest designs (even though many car owners find touchscreens woefully inferior to the knobs and dials they replaced). In a 2022 study, researchers at Drexel University concluded that the comparatively simple infotainment systems of the early 2010s were already a statistically significant risk factor for crashes.Yet, infotainment systems remain unregulated in the U.S. In 2012, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued voluntary guidance proposing maximum thresholds for the time drivers must look away from the road to accomplish an infotainment task, but within a few years automakers were routinely violating it. They have paid no penalty for doing so.With the Trump administration reflexively hostile to regulations, new federal safeguards pertaining to navigation tools or infotainment systems are unlikely. Still, Moran thinks that lawsuits involving crashes caused by distracted driving might force Google Maps to change course. The first time I noticed this new feature, I thought Wow, Im surprised their legal team is okay with this, she said.Alternatively, the markets invisible hand might render its own verdict about Googles UX design: Its users can always switch to Apple.

In a 2014 commencement address at her alma mater Dartmouth College, TV writer and producer Shonda Rhimes told students, Whenever you see me somewhere succeeding in one area of my life, that almost certainly means I am failing in another area of my life. If I am killing it on a Scandal script for work, I am probably missing bath- and storytime at home.Her comments are true reflections of what work-life balance is, says Janna Koretz, clinical psychologist and founder of Azimuth, a Boston-based provider of therapy services.When people think about balance, they think about it feeling good and being the right amount of everything, she says. I thinkespecially moment to momentthat doesnt exist. Instead, we should be thinking about how to successfully integrate [the] two things so that most of the time theyre possible.To find the right blend, you need to examine your work life and determine where its negatively impacting your personal life. Koretz shares four common signs:Your identity is too tied to workTo know if your work is infringing on your personal life, consider how you would respond if someone asked, Tell me about yourself?Can you say things that arent about work? asks Koretz. A lot of times, [people] cant come up with anything. They feel, I dont know who I am, especially if theyve lost their job, and dont have anything else.If your job becomes your sole identity, its likely crowded out or replaced important things in your personal life.You feel guilty about other commitmentsFeeling guilty that youre not doing enough in other realms is another sign that work is creeping into your personal life. For example, you may feel guilty that you have to pick up your kids because you have a lot of work waiting for you back at the office, says Koretz.Its not feeling guilty all the time, but guilty about the choices youre making, whether they be personal or professional, she says.Youre avoiding small tasksWhen people think about burnout, they usually think about being exhausted. While Koretz says thats a big part of it, another aspect is avoidance. Avoidance and irritability go hand in hand during burnout, says Koretz. If you are avoiding small tasks at home, such as walking the dog, or at work, such as responding to emails, it could indicate that you dont have enough emotional energy.If theres too much of this in your life, its getting in the way, says Koretz. Life becomes all about little irritants. They grate on you and become a chip on your shoulder.You feel disconnectedIn addition to avoiding small tasks, you may start disconnecting from activities and interests you normally enjoy, which could be another sign that your emotional energy is drained. You may also feel emotionally disconnected from the people in your life.A lot of people talk about living in a roommate stage with their significant other, says Koretz. While people can go through ebbs and flows, its about not knowing whats going on with your friends, not feeling like you have friends, or not feeling like you can call them with your worries because you havent spent a lot of time with them lately.Spending time with friends and hobbies is about finding joy and having more baskets for your eggs, explains Koretz. We are very tribal, social beings; its biological, she says. A World Health Organization study on older adults found that loneliness contributed significantly to cognitive decline and depression and death.How to correct the problemIf you recognize yourself, Koretz suggests asking yourself, Why am I unhappy? Go beyond the general reasons, such as feeling like you have too much work to do and dig a little further. Identify your core beliefs and values to make sure your job is still aligned with them. While your work doesnt have to be meaningful 100% of the time, you shouldnt feel like a cog in the wheel all the time, either.A lot of people are doing work that isnt meaningful to them and that contributes to overwhelm, says Koretz. What motivates people, what brings them joy, is finding meaning.Once you understand what is meaningful to you, make a plan to design your life around it. Koretz says it doesnt have to be executed right away, nor do you have to make giant strides. Identify small steps you can take and create a career map, figuring out whats possible and when it makes sense. For example, you may decide to keep your high paying job until you pay off your student loans in five years.Knowing something isnt forever can make it easier to bear, which Koretz likens to how doctors get through the burdensome schedule of the residency or fellowship stage.Burnout can be due to feeling stuck, says Koretz. When you realize you can get out and you have tangible steps, you can become excited about where youre heading, and that changes the dynamic so you can be better at integrating your personal and work life.

In normal cases, speakers are meant to be heard and not seen. After all, their primary purpose is to convey sound, hopefully of fine quality. But speakers are products that take up space in any room, and their presence could very well make or break the atmosphere youve set up through carefully curated designs and colors. Sound itself has a kind of subtle visual quality to it, generated in our minds through the emotions they evoke, so why shouldnt speakers?Speaker design has vastly improved in recent years now they have truly become mainstays in our homes, but some brands have been pushing luxurious designs for decades now. One of those is coming out with a limited run of its existing speakers, giving the Beosound 2 a bit more expressiveness through the use of striking combinations of colors.Designer: Bang & OlufsenClubThe Beosound 2 itself is already quite the looker on its own. Eschewing the customary cylindrical shape, the conical 360-degree speaker also wholly embraces the use of aluminum, polished to a shine to give it a lustrous finish. It already commands a striking presence, but Bang & Olufsen believes it can definitely do better.Capitalizing on the link between sound, emotions, and colors, the Beosound 2 Gradient collection offers a blend of colors that flawlessly transition into each other, just like how emotions and music flow from one moment to the next. The collection includes colors such as brown Baritone, jelly Jam, and electrifying Riff, among other moods conveyed through sound. Whether these compositions truly match your image of these emotions or not, theres no denying they will definitely spark some feelings upon seeing their unique aesthetic.BaritoneJamRiffThe Beosound 2 Gradient, however, is just as much a demonstration of the marques design abilities as it is its audio expertise. Anodized to perfection and crafted to have the colors effortlessly flow, the speakers represent Bang & Olufsens Atelier program, inviting customers and designers to create their own styling options and send them in. If it can pull this off with this collection, then it can do almost anything.Beautiful as they may be, these gradient speakers wont be around for long. There are only 10 color combinations available and B&O will only make 10 of each as well. In other words, there will only be a total of 100 Beosound 2 Gradient speakers ever made. That magic number happens to coincide with Bang & Olufsens 100th anniversary this year, marking its heritage of combining technical audio prowess with unmatched style.The post Beosound 2 Gradient Limited Edition speakers give sound emotions you can see first appeared on Yanko Design.

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