Hello, I have recently tried to learn a bit about programming shaders. I am now working on a screen space reflections shader for URP 17 in Unity 6. The shader is used in a renderer feature. I have a basic working version of the shader that's pretty stable and where the reflections are visible from a long enough distance.Below is a link to the current shader i have right now.

A lot of horror fans discover Stephen King on their own, pretty early in their lives, if only because it seems like hes always in the news over one release, adaptation, event or another. Take the most recent batch of King-related screen projects, for instance. Oz Perkins goofy, gory short-story adaptation The Monkey is in theaters as of this writing. Midnight Mass creator Mike Flanagan is working on an adaptation of Kings Dark Tower books, and has another movie adaptation, The Life of Chuck, coming to theaters in June. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World director Edgar Wright has his own King adaptation, The Running Man, coming in November. King himself has a new novel, Never Flinch, coming in May, and a childrens picture book with Where the Wild Things Are author Maurice Sendak set for release in September. And at any given moment, there are at least half a dozen new movies or TV shows based on Kings work in development somewhere.This level of cultural saturation can be intimidating when it comes to taking a first step with a creator and so can Kings massive back catalog of work, which at this point includes more than 60 novels and more than 125 short stories over the past 50-plus years. But for King fans, that library isnt intimidating its exciting, once you start reading him and realize Theres a whole library of books out there that are this immersive, expressive, and hypnotic. Heres how to join the tribe.Where should you start reading Stephen King?There are a lot of potential jumping-on points for Kings work, depending on whether your horror-hyphenate tastes lean more toward fantasy, crime drama, modern-day thriller, supernatural terror, or a specific, familiar horror trope, like ghosts, vampires, or werewolves. But if you really want the purest King experience, youll get it in the neatest, most efficient package with Misery, his 1987 novel about a popular writer who falls into the hands of his self-proclaimed biggest fan, who demands he revive her favorite character and write her a new installment of her favorite series on pain of worse things than death.King has always put a lot of himself into his work. A lot of his protagonists are writers or other creative types, a lot of them struggle with addiction as he famously did early in his career, and a lot of them live in his home state of Maine. When he was hit by a van and nearly killed in 1999, he wrote the event into several of his stories, even showing up as a character himself late in his Dark Tower books, where his characters intervene to save his life.And yet Misery still comes across as his most directly personal work, because its so clearly about a writer struggling with what made him famous and what hed rather be known for, with the disjunction between what he wants and what his fans want, and with the existential writers problem of having to be creative on demand for a judgmental audience, or lose everything. Putting his protagonist, novelist Paul Sheldon, at the mercy of mentally ill fan Annie Wilkes lets King explore the feeling of writing, from the first genesis of an idea to the development process to the sensation of completion, and its easy to imagine him writing much of the book directly from his own experience.That dynamic keeps Misery insightful and engaging, and lets it feel like a real window into Kings head. But what makes it such a breathless, streamlined read is the fact that its demonstrably set in the real world. There are no world-spanning fantasy settings to establish, no suspension of disbelief to overcome around boogeymen and monsters and magic. Annie Wilkes isnt scary because she has supernatural powers, shes scary because she has simple, real-world power over Paul, and because shes a classic entitled, toxic fan.Misery was written before the internet-era phenomenon of noisy, demanding, eternally angry fandoms dominating online discussions, but Annie is still a recognizable and fairly believable type, particularly in her conviction that her tastes are sacrosanct and no one elses opinions matter. Add in the addition of absolute control over Pauls life, no barriers about what shes willing to do to him, and Misery is an efficient encapsulation of a writers nightmare. Its twists are surprising and authentically frightening.King is known for his narrative sprawl and large, carefully realized casts in doorstop books like IT or The Stand, but Misery focuses tightly on two characters locked in mortal combat, with nothing but a typewriter and a shared story as a barrier between them. Its the most pared-down version of King in thriller mode.Next stepsIf you like Misery, there are a lot of different directions to go from there. If youre a short-story fan, Ive always held that Skeleton Crew, the collection featuring some of Kings all-time greatest shorter works (including The Mist, which ends very differently from Frank Darabonts movie version) is an efficient introduction to his range: It includes science fiction, a few poems, some creature stories, some people are scarier than monsters stories, and my personal favorite King story, the endlessly nasty Survivor Type, about a man stranded on a tiny, barren island with nothing to eat but himself. And he makes a pretty good go of it.If youre just into King for the horror aspect, The Shining tops most ranked lists of his scariest books and once again, its strikingly different from the best-known movie adaptation, directed by Stanley Kubrick. (Which King often reminds audiences of when trashing Kubricks movie though Kings approved TV adaptation is a horrendous mess that undermines everything that works in the book.) As a novel, The Shining is a master class in dread and foreshadowing, a steady pileup of threatening events that turn a familys retreat to a snowed-in hotel for the winter into an exercise in slow-burn horror, right up to the explosive ending.If, on the other hand, you want to see more of Kings range through his novels, hes jumped genres often in his career, and his bibliography is full of distinctive one-off projects that make him particularly enjoyable to explore. The Eyes of the Dragon is pure dark fantasy, set in a world of castles, kingdoms, and dragons. The Stand is an epic exercise in reshaping our familiar world into a place where stark, symbolic good-versus-evil battles can take place: It starts as one of his more grounded, real-world novels, until a pandemic sweeps across the globe and remakes it in a new form. Hes done memorable takes on the time-travel story (11/22/63), the creepy shop that sells people whatever they want but exacts a terrible price (Needful Things), and of course, the monster that turns into whatever you fear most trope (IT).One of his sleekest and most absorbing recent novels, The Outsider, is also a contender on his scariest list, and its much more of a police procedural than a classic horror novel, even though it is built around an impossible monster out of folklore. And while The Outsider stands on its own extremely well, anyone who enjoys that cops-and-monsters mode can explore the rest of the series around it, centering on neuroatypical amateur (and eventually professional) sleuth Holly Gibney. (Wicked star Cynthia Erivo plays her in Maxs adaptation of The Outsider, which is both one of the more faithful King-to-screen adaptations, and one of the more thoughtful and well-realized ones.)Finally, if you polled 20 King fans about their favorite of his works, youd probably get at least a dozen answers, especially if you took his most famous, most discussed books off the table. My personal favorite the only one I routinely pick up and reread on a lark is The Long Walk, originally published in 1979 under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, during an era when King was experimenting to see whether his writing could still find an audience without his famous name attached.The Long Walk is another horror story without even a hint of the supernatural, a dystopian-future tale about an annual contest where a hundred teenagers set off walking together, accompanied by a cordon of soldiers who shoot anyone who drops below a certain speed. The final survivor gets to ask for anything he wants.Long before Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games turned dystopian futures and teen survival contests into an international trend, The Long Walk zoomed in on the mindset involved in this kind of fatal contest why young men would volunteer for it, and what the experience would be like. Its another efficient, well-described exercise in doom, dread, and inevitability, a propulsive and immersive experience in falling into the head of someone going through a terrifying and inescapable experience.But thats something all of Kings best books share a strong sense of perspective and a close attention to small, realistic detail. Its easy to get swept up in his stories because they simultaneously move so fast and make space for convincing, close world-building and character-building. If youre just getting started with him now, you have a fun time ahead of you. King has often described how readily and completely he falls into writing, and how the world falls away in the process. Reading his best work is often exactly like that as well.

Konami is once again entrusting Bloober Team, the developer of 2024s outstanding remake of Silent Hill 2, with its intellectual property for a new game. The publisher and developer announced a second collaboration on Tuesday, but did not disclose which game or IP Bloober Team would be developing.Our collaboration with Konami has been incredibly fruitful, and the success of Silent Hill 2 speaks for itself, Bloober Team CEO Piotr Babieno said in a news release. By sharing knowledge and experience, we have been able to create high-quality production together. Of course, we cant reveal too many details at this time, but we are confident that fans will be just as excited about our collaboration as we are. We cant wait to share something truly special with players when the time is right.The only clue Konami and Bloober Team provided about their new mystery game is that its based on Konamis intellectual property. Konami will once again serve as publisher of the untitled project.If its another remake, Bloober Team certainly has plenty of material to work with. Konamis Silent Hill series has a handful of beloved entries, and remakes of the original Silent Hill and Silent Hill 3 seem like logical candidates. Given Bloober Teams expertise with horror games, it seems less likely that the Polish studio would tackle Konami IPs like Metal Gear, Bomberman, or Frogger.Its also possible that Bloober Team could be developing an original game based on the Silent Hill IP. The studio is also working on sci-fi horror game Cronos: The New Dawn, which it describes as a twisted time travel story set in an unforgiving post-apocalyptic future in 1980s Poland.Konami has a lot of Silent Hill projects on its plate, including new games Silent Hill f from NeoBards Entertainment and Silent Hill: Townfall from No Code. Theres also another Silent Hill 2 adaptation coming this year in the form of Christophe Gans Return to Silent Hill, a cinematic retelling of the Konamis seminal psychological horror game.Silent Hill 2 is available on PlayStation 5 and Windows PC. In Polygons review of the remake, we praised the game for its impressive visuals, its attention to detail, and Bloober Teams efforts to add new layers to the games open-ended storyline.

Me, judgmental? Only for a good causeOn behalf of Design Milk and humbly at the behest of our friends at Design Within Reach (DWR), purveyors of authentic modern design I accepted an invitation and the awesome responsibility to judge the finalists competing in their Champagne Chair Contest, held in partnership with Pommery, now in its 21st iteration. This years proceeds will benefit Docomomo, a non-profit organization dedicated to the documentation and conservation of the modern movements vulnerable buildings, sites, and neighborhoods. Its perfect timing given the existential threats this genre of design now faces.So just a few weeks ago, I traversed the Lower East Side of Manhattan, stumbled down narrow stairs in an unassuming restaurant, then sauntered into an intimate banquet room covered in tone-on-tone red velvet. With great pleasure I sat alongside two architects and designers from the Docomomo community, as well as miniature model maker Aspen VanHooser, who submitted winning designs two consecutive years prior. Im happy to report an unexpected turn of events along my redemption arc, which originated days after the 20th anniversary edition where I dreamt an imaginary rivalry with the prolific VanHooser. Were now creative co-conspirators sharing our favorite artist gadgetry and trauma dumping memories from studio life.Trolleys were nestled into two opposite corners and staged with chair designs that ranged from the literal to conceptual, loose interpretations of seating. As in the past, submissions were judged according to one of three categories: most original, best likeness to an iconic piece, and Pommery prize for those who used the supplies provided. Each maker worked their materials to fit within a 4 x 4 x 4 volume once assembled.But it was no simple task. Each participants idea appeared to be realized through an alchemic process that transformed caps, wrappers, corks, and labels into clearly articulated chair designs. And each concept was a testament to craft and the resilience required to survive studio art of that nature. Entries boasted personalities as diverse as the personalities behind them. After much deliberation and a few passionate pitches, we had our winners.Best Craftsmanship: Brut Royal Daybed by Rob MetzgarBest Craftsmanship: Rob Metzgars Brut Royal Daybed was a personal favorite of mine as this typology operates in some liminal space between seated and sleeping. Its design boasts an elegant silhouette, an extreme level of craft in its caning, and a clear intention behind how or where colors are employed. The delightful cap and cork throw pillows atop two-tone upholstery pushed my vote for best craftsmanship far over the edge.Most Original: Infinity Lounge Chair by Monte A.Most Original: The Infinity Lounge Chair by Monte A. is deceptively simple, but the astute judges took notice of this most original design quickly. Its backrest to seat proportion is as finely tuned as the texture and granular scales of cork comprising each section. Whats more, the cage has been masterfully manipulated into legs and an actual structure for the chair without showing any signs of stress or kinks from bending.Best Likeness: La Chaise, inspired by the Eames La Chaise, by Ann T. DinhBest Likeness: Inspired by the original Eames design, Ann Dinh recreated La Chaise and likely whatever mold or amalgam went into producing it. The curvaceous shape is near perfect, the finish is super slick, and the legs are crisp in contrast to the organic nature of the other elements. Its shiny topcoat catches and tracks light beautifully across its surface.For more information about the DWR Champagne Chair Contest, visit dwr.com.Our very own Managing Editor, Joseph Sgambati III, previously participated in the competition check out his entry here!Photography courtesy of Design Within Reach.This post contains affiliate links, so if you make a purchase from an affiliate link, we earn a commission. Thanks for supporting Design Milk!

Renowned architect and artist Suchi Reddy and historic Indian brand Asian Paints recently presented Chromacosm, the largest and most comprehensive architectural color system with over 5,300 unique shades. Reddy brought her imaginative eye and sense of style to the Asian Paints installation during the Architecture and Design Film Festival in Mumbai, India, creating a sense of smallness among meadows of gradients. Like a creature among grass, the viewer walks among tall stalks of colored cylinders, all adorned with a myriad of color. Inspired by ancient Tantric paintings and the science of light and absorption, Reddy imagines each hue in three dimensions, gently yet definitively held under the forces of light, shadow, and space.Immersive, tall, and mysterious, the exhibit, which incorporates over 2,000 shades from the Chromacosm library, takes the viewer on a journey through gradients and color combinations of all types, hiding certain values from certain angles while openly revealing others. The multitude of the black tubes are pleasing to the eye, with white bands delineating an optical illusion of planes rising above the earth. Regular and expansive, these bands carry a cohesion throughout the exhibition, instilling a sense of normalcy among the explosion of color.The tops of the tubes are adorned with a multitude of shades, compiled from different aspects of Indian culture. Its only fitting that the worlds largest color library comes from India, says Reddy. This project celebrates our heritage while setting new benchmarks for creativity and innovation in design. Asian Paints spent over a decade compiling colors from Indias rich traditions, technological innovation blending seamlessly with historical context. The Chromacosm library organizes the 5,300 shades by hue and depth, allowing extensive exploration of color families and combinations. Taking inspiration from ancient traditions like Ajrakh and Kalamkari, the collection blends centuries of artisanal experience with scientific advancements in color.Suchi Reddy, a renowned New York City-based designer, artist, and architect, has a strong sense of space delineation and color that is highly apparent here. Founder of Reddymade, a studio that revolves around their core belief that form follows feeling, she spans the width of design from public art to large-scale commercial spaces. Neuroaesthetics, the belief that good design promotes well-being, is crucial to understanding the influences in her work. Receiving numerous accolades, she uses cutting-edge materials to create a world where architecture puts people first.Suchi ReddyFor more information on Chromacosm, please visit reddymade.design.Photography courtesy of Reddymade and Asian Paints.

Why learning to mitigate shadow planning matters in the age of AIContinue reading on UX Collective

We may earn a commission from links on this page.Smart lights were there at the beginning of the smart home tech revolution, and over the years, these clever bulbs and LED strips have gradually evolved to offer more by way of both features and form factorsso much so that you might not be aware of everything you can do with smart lights, even if you've been using them for years.If your own smart light setup is mostly limited to switching your bedside lamp off with a voice command, controlling them remotely from your phone, or perhaps changing up the colors or adding an automation or two, then you're not taking advantage of everything these lights can do for you. These are some of the best smart light tricks you can try.Sync your lights with your TVHaving your smart lights change color and flash in time to action happening on your television can really add to the experience of watching movies and showsand a number of smart light manufacturers now offer the necessary kit and apps to easily make this happen.For Philips Hue lights, for example, you need either a syncing box or a native app, depending on your TV model. It's also something you can do with Nanoleaf lights, via a system called Screen Mirror that uses a small camera to see what's on your television. Nanoleaf Essentials Smart Multicolor HD Lightstrip $69.99 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $69.99 at Amazon Set up random schedulesOne of the ways that smart lights can be useful when you're away from home is giving potential robbers the idea that you haven't gone away at all. You can almost always control your smart lights remotely, as long as your home wifi is still running.If you don't want to have to remember to turn your lights on at home every evening while you're at the beach or in the mountains, Philips Hue has a randomize timings setting available when you set up an automation, which will automatically vary when the lights turn on each day. You can randomize timings in the Philips Hue app. Credit: Lifehacker Get notifications via your lightsAdd some third-party services to the mix and the list of possibilities grows even more. IFTTT (If This Then That), for example, can set up routines based on specific triggers that lead to specific actionsand smart light brands including Philips Hue and Lifx support the protocol.Because IFTTT can plug into a variety of social media, mobile, and app systems, you can have events on these platforms trigger a flash or a change in color for your lights. One idea would be to turn a desk lamp blue when the weather forecast is predicting rain.Group your lights into scenesYou can do even more with your smart lights by grouping them together and setting specific scenes you can switch between. Most platforms let you do this fairly easily, so all the lights in a certain room can be managed together, and changed over time.You could set up scenes for early morning or late at night, for example, or for movie nights or for studyingthe Nanoleaf app can even creates scenes for you based on a keyword or two. Check inside your smart light companion app to see what you've got available, or explore your customization options.Wake up with a "sunrise"Ease yourself more gently into the day by having your smart lights turn on gradually in the mornings, mimicking an actual sunrise. You could even use this trick to replace your alarm clock.This works for a wide variety of smart lights, and some can even sync the feature to your local sunrise times. You can use this with any smart light connected to Google Home, for example, by saying "hey Google, wake my lights at..." and adding a time to Google Assistant. The Nanoleaf app can create Magic Scenes for you. Credit: Nanoleaf Add a motion sensorCombine a compatible smart motion sensor with your smart lights and you don't even need to go to the trouble of tapping on your phone or speaking out a voice command to activate your smart lightsthey'll come on as soon as there's movement in a room.A few smart light platforms offer this functionality, including Philips Hue. You're able to set the brightness of the lightsso you're not suddenly dazzled as you stumble to the bathroom, for exampleand you can have the lights turn off after a certain time as well. Philips Hue Motion Sensor $44.99 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $44.99 at Amazon Set up automated routinesYour smart lights are even more useful when you combine them with other devices. For example, you can set the lights to dim as a chill out mix begins to play on your smart speaker at a certain time of night. Or you can set your lights and smart thermostat to all turn off together when you leave the house.These tricks are known as routines or automations, and you can set them up in Google Home (via the Automations tab), in the Amazon Alexa app (via More > Routines), and in other smart home hub platforms (including Samsung SmartThings and Apple Homekit).

We may earn a commission from links on this page.Before this review, I had never heard of Brane, but now, it's all I want to hear when I play my music. The Brane X is many things, but cheap isn't one of them. But for $499, you get a multi-use premium speaker that can handle itself underwater, has Alexa voice assistant, connects through wifi for better audio, has the best bass of any wifi speaker, and can be used as a soundbar and subwoofer combo. The Brane X is a great wifi speaker for someone who values bass, would like to take their speaker outdoors, and needs a soundbar and subwoofer combo for their home theater. However, it isn't perfect and at its price, it competes with the best. The Sonos Move 2 is slightly cheaper, offers a replaceable battery with 24 hours of juice, and better treble and mids (but nowhere near the same range or bass power fo the Brane X).Brane reached out to me to review the Brane X and sent me the speaker for my honest thoughts, which is exactly what you'll get in this review. Brane X Smart Speaker $499.00 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $499.00 at Amazon Brane X speaker pros, cons, and specsProsBest-in-class bass and sub-bass for smart speakersWifi streaming over Spotify and AirPlay 2Compact and portablePowerful 98dB stereo speakerIP57 dust and waterproofDoubles as a soundbar and subwoofer combo in one with an AUX connectionCompanion app with EQConsExpensiveUpper registers sound compressed at max volume when using BluetoothNo Chromecast supportNo speakerphone functionSome features make a whirring noise No USB-C charging (only DC)SpecsBattery Life: About six hours of battery at a moderately high volume (about 12 hours at a moderate level, according to Brane).Connectivity: Wifi supports 802.11a/b/g/n/ac standards, Bluetooth version 5.1, streaming services compatible with AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, and Amazon Alexa.Inputs: Auxiliary input 3.5 mm jack for wired connections.App: Brane companion app for fine-tuning bass, customizing EQ settings, managing speaker groups, and adjusting various settings.Drivers: One 6.5" by 9" Repel-Attract-Driver (RAD) subwoofer, two 2.5" midrange drivers, two 0.75" dome tweeters.Power Output: Four Class-D digital amplifiers delivering a combined output of over 200 watts (98dB).Water Resistance: Rated IP57, making it fully waterproof and dust-protected.Size: 6.1 inches x 9.3 inches x 7 inches (H W D)Weight: 7.7 lbsFirst impressions of the Brane X speaker Credit: Daniel Oropeza I have to be honest: First impressions of the Brane X weren't good. Turning it on wasn't intuitive, since the power button doesn't provide any feedback that I pressed it properly. The same can be said about the media controls on top, but I'll get more into those details later. There is also a weird whirring sound that the speaker makes once you turn it on that made me think my speaker was defective (it goes away after a few seconds). The sound is actually an air pump equalizing the air pressure inside the speaker, which is a patent technology that Brane called Repel-Attract-Driver (RAD). RAD is what makes this speaker unique, giving it the best bass range output I've heard on any speaker. Try this frequency range test on your wifi or Bluetooth speaker and see how it performs. The Brane X didn't just play through the whole range but vibrated my entire office with its powerful bass. And because of that, I'm willing to put up with the humming sound it makes when it's turned on.Design The Brane X uses touch controls for media. Credit: Daniel Oropeza The design is, well, boring. All black is a safe option and with no color variations, it leaves me wanting to fill it with stickers to give it some personality. But that leads to my next issue: touch controls. To control the speaker you have a few options on top of the speaker, none of which provide haptic feedback. And since their touch controls, you don't really know if your command when though unless you hear the speaker. There is also no play/pause button, so I can only control it with my phone (or Alexa if using it to play music).Considering this is also an outdoor speaker with an IP57 rating that can be completely submerged underwater, physical buttons could've come in handy. The handle on the top is useful considering the speaker almost weighs eight pounds. The Brane X charger is DC, so no USB-C. Credit: Daniel Oropeza The charger is DC, so no USB-C for fast universal charging, unfortunately. The battery is marketed as 20 hours of battery life at a moderate volume, but I only got around six hours of juice at around 75% volume (which to be fair, is very loud indoors unless you're having a house party). It'll take about three hours to fully charge it once it is drained. Sound Credit: Daniel Oropeza The sound is where the Brane X blows away the competition and really shines, especially if you love bass (and I do). As I explained earlier, the RAD technology really pumps out incredible power out of this small speaker. Considering this is less than 10% the size of JBL's PartyBox Stage 320 (my favorite party speaker), it's impressive that it nearly matches its 240 W of output power (the Brane X gets to 200 W), only about a 2dB difference in volume to my favorite party speaker. I will caveat that this isn't a party speaker, and you can really hear it struggle on upper registers when getting it to its max volume. Unless I'm blasting the Brane X, though, the sound quality is pristine. Because the frequency range of the bass is so wide, you can really hear and feel the lower registers, giving it a full sound without needing to get too loud. It makes for a fun sound that is distinctive to the Brane X. I listened to MONACO by Bad Bunny and could hear the sub-bass parts of the bass clearly. The sensation of feeling the bass at this level usually means blasting the music on regular speakers or headphones, but the Brane X manages to provide that feeling without scaring my neighbors. Features of the Brane X speaker Credit: Daniel Oropeza The Brane X is a wifi speaker first, meaning it performs better than Bluetooth speakers in terms of connectivity with a wider range, better sound quality by streaming higher bitrate audio, and other features. Instead of connecting to the speaker over Bluetooth, you can play music directly into it through Spotify Connect, so you'll get a better connection and sound quality. You can also connect via AirPlay 2 and Amazon Alexa. The Amazon smart assistant performs as well as any Alexa device. The Brane app Left: Main screen. Middle: EQ. Right: The AUX Pass-Through feature to minimize delay with the TV. Credit: Daniel Oropeza My experience with the companion app was like most speaker apps: It does its simple job well, but it can disconnect on occasion and can be slow at times. The main things I used the app were to check the battery life, mess with the EQ (you get a five-band equalizer) which adjusts your changes in real time, and setting the AUX Pass-Through feature when setting it up as a soundbar. The app gives you the option to link up groups if you have more than one Brane X speaker. As I only have one speaker, I wasn't able to try this feature. The Brane X as an outdoor speaker Credit: Daniel Oropeza As I do with all of my outdoor speakers, I took it out to the court while hosting my Street FC soccer games. We played five on five on a hockey rink with walls, so the sound bounces off to give it a "surround" feel. Even then, the Brane X struggles to fill the court completely. This is by far the smallest speaker I've ever taken to my games, however, and I'm comparing the sound decibels to party speakers, which is an unfair comparison. The fact that the Brane X is even a contender here speaks volumes to its versatility. With that said, the audio did sound compressed at maximum volumes sometimes. Since it's a Bluetooth connection outdoors instead of wifi, the compression sound is more noticeable at max volume (it'll sound better indoors with a wifi connection). The Brane X comes with an IP57 rating, making it fully waterproof and dust-protectedgreat for an outdoor speaker. The Brane X as a soundbar The Brane X doubles as a soundbar and sub woofer combo with an AUX cable. Credit: Daniel Oropeza If you want to use the speaker as a soundbar, you'll need an AUX cable (at least the end that connects to the speaker needs to be AUX). I wish the Brane X had Google Chromecast support so it could connect wirelessly to my smart TV, but you can't have everything in life. You can still connect it with Bluetooth, but you won't be able to use the AUX Pass-Though feature on the app to get rid of the sound delay (the delay is not bad, but sticklers will notice it). You won't get eARC sound quality, but the speaker itself has a subwoofer, so the sound is surprisingly good as a soundbar and subwoofer combo. I decided to re-watch Dune to hear how well the Brane X performed as a soundbar and subwoofer combo and compared it to the speaker system on my TCL QM7 TV, which has a subwoofer speaker on the back. The Brane X really brought Dune to life compared to the television speakers. I could feel every thud of the thumpers as they hit the sand when calling the worms. The soundtrack and vibrations of the explosions really put the excellent broad frequency range the Brane X has to use. The speaker is able to handle the dynamic audio you want from a soundbar, hearing whispers and feeling explosions. Bottom line Credit: Daniel Oropeza The Brane X is a powerful wifi speaker with a subwoofer that gives it an incredible range in the sub-bass frequencies. It's the best wifi and smart speaker for bass lovers. With Spotify and AirPlay 2, most people's needs for music will be met. Its small compact size also makes it a great portable and outdoor speaker, with a waterproof IP57 rating and up to 12 hours of battery life. It can get very loud with a maximum of 98 dBs, and it doubles as a soundbar and subwoofer combo, making it great for watching movies. However, all that versatility comes at a high price of $499. If you're looking to blast the Brane X at max volume, know that playing over Bluetooth will lead to some compression being noticeable. There is no speakerphone option despite its many microphones, and you'll need to depend on the DC charger, which isn't ideal for portable speakers. The Brane X is ideal for someone looking for a wifi speaker that can do a bit of everything. A one-stop speaker that you can take to the beach, use as a soundbar, fill your living room for a party, or take on a whim to your next adventure. It definitely rivals the Sonos Move 2, and would recommend it to anyone who isn't in the Sonos ecosystem already and/or loves to feel bass in their life.

Integrated into Creative Cloud, Firefly can be used to generate images, edit photos, change art styles and more. Heres why you should be using it.

You can now unlock and start your Polestar 3 with an Apple Watch.