Latest news with #SALTZMAN
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
SALTZMAN: Easy – and free – ways to optimize your TV picture and sound
Here's the thing about your TV: because it's not side-by-side with another television, you really don't know if the picture is as good as it can be. Unless there's an obvious issue – like a faded spot or lines on the screen – you might think your television looks great. But you might not be getting the most out of your investment. There are a few simple things you can do to significantly improve your TV's picture and sound – and the end result could be night and day. While it might seem obvious, make sure your main TV source (like your cable or fibre broadband) is the best your provider has to offer (or rather, the best you can afford). In other words, considering you can pick up a 70-inch brand name model for as low as $800, chances are you have a big-screen 4K TV by now, and so you'll want a 4K box to match. Ensure you're using an HDMI cable to handle your audio and video. You can pick one up at your local dollar store. Streaming services – like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and Apple TV+ – all support 4K TVs. Start with the right picture mode. For sports fans, go into the Settings/Options of the television and select Sports mode, if it exists, or even the Movie/Cinema mode, which is also ideal for fast-moving action. While not every home theatre enthusiast will agree, a tip to vastly improving picture quality of your television is to turn up the contrast and reduce the brightness to below half. This little-known trick makes blacks blacker, colours richer, and gets rid of the washed-out look some entry-level TVs have. Sports, videogames and action flicks look best in higher refresh rates, so if your TV can upconvert to a higher refresh rate, enable it. Depending on your TV, it may be called 'frame rate,' 'motion rate,' or 'hertz,' in the Settings menu. While the picture certainly looks sharp on your TV, you might see something a bit odd about the image. You can't quite put your finger on it, but that TV show or blockbuster movie you're watching almost looks like it was shot with a cheap camcorder instead of professional-grade video camera. You're certain Severance wasn't filmed on the same set as The Young and the Restless, though it appears to be so. The 'soap opera effect' is really called 'motion smoothing' or 'motion interpolation,' designed to decrease motion blur and make movements seem smoother and more lifelike. Your new TV might see low frame-rate source material and try to fill in the gaps between frames with additional ones the TV generates, to help smooth out fast motion. If you're not a fan, enter the Settings menu on your television to turn off the feature or at least adjust its intensity. SALTZMAN: Spring into new tech SALTZMAN: Is the new iPhone worth it? SALTZMAN: World's thinnest smartphone, solar-powered laptop among highlights of MWC Rather than spend a couple hundred dollars to have someone properly set up your television for you, many Disney, Pixar and LucasFilm discs have a bundled calibration tool called THX Optimizer, and it can be found in the Special Features or Set Up area. Don't have a DVD/Blu-ray player, any longer? There's a free app, too, called THX Tune-Up to get the most out of your TV (or projector) and sound setup. Let the wizard help you calibrate the video and audio settings (especially if you have a surround sound speaker system or soundbar, see below). The test will walk you through contrast, brightness, colour, tint, aspect ratio (such as 4:3 and 16:9), speaker assignment, and more. The thinner TVs are getting, the worse the audio tends to be. After all, how good do you think sound will be coming out of pancake-shaped speakers? If you don't have the budget, space, or technical know-how to set up a surround sound system for your home theatre – which usually consists of a multi-channel audio-video (AV) receiver and at least six speakers spread through the room (including a subwoofer for low-frequency bass) – at least consider a soundbar to add some boom to your room. Sitting just below or above your television, soundbars house multiple speakers in a horizontal enclosure, and deliver multichannel sound from your movies, TV shows, sports and games (or in some cases, simulated surround sound). How big is your wall? Or your wall-et? Hisense, now one of the biggest television brands in the world, showed off one of the biggest televisions on the planet at a media appreciation event in New York on Wednesday, with journalists (like yours truly) invited from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. As the name suggests, the 136MX MicroLED is a whopping 136 inches. Yes, you read that correctly. It's made up of individual panels, and so it's modular – therefore, the TV size could be made smaller or bigger – and delivers high brightness and contrast, rich colour, and a wide viewing angle. (Each pixel is its own light source, composed of independent red, green and blue LEDs, eliminating the need for a traditional backlight.) No word yet on when it'll be available in Canada and for how much. According to Hisense USA President David Gold, the company has seen revenue top $30 billion USD globally and it is currently the number two TV-maker in Canada (behind Samsung) in units sold, for the past three years. 'Our philosophy, our strategy is really about bringing great products, innovative technology, best-in-class quality and performance, at slightly more affordable prices,' Gold said in an interview at the event. 'We no longer see ourselves as an up-and-comer, but a leader in delivering innovation across multiple product lines.'
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SALTZMAN: Alexa gets ‘her' biggest upgrade in a decade
Alexa is about to get much smarter. Amazon's popular personal assistant has already powered more than 600 million devices worldwide over the past 10 years, says the company – including its many Echo-branded smart speakers and Echo Show smart displays – but this cheeky chatbot is getting infused with a much bigger brain, more personality, and a memory that recalls your previous preferences. Called Alexa+, tech journalists like yours truly recently attended 'her' coming-out party, which includes several demos to showcase her improvement – mostly tied to recent advancements in generative AI ('genAI') and large language models ('LLMs'). 'Every once in a while a technology comes around and changes literally everything,' Amazon's Senior Vice President of Devices and Services Panos Panay said Wednesday at the company's devices launch. 'The creation of GenAI has shaken up everything.' 'Alexa+ now understands you, is more conversational and contextual, connects you to your favourite services and actually takes action,' Panay continued, while onstage at the NYC event. 'She knows the devices you have, the apps you use, and brings it all together to help you get stuff done. It's magical.' SALTZMAN: Wildly wearable gadgets SALTZMAN: Gear up for your next ride SALTZMAN: Cool things you didn't know your Smart TV can do Alexa+ will work with most existing Echo, Echo Show and Fire TV devices, but a new phone app and revamped web experience ( will compliment the hardware support. First rolling out to some U.S. users in late March, followed by Canada and other markets at some point, the following are some examples of Alexa's new capabilities. According to Amazon, you only need to say the wake word 'Alexa' once and then you can converse with your assistant as you would with a fellow human. Some live demos from the event: It remembers your tastes and distastes, allergies and more Tell Alexa your food preferences, such as 'I like Indian and Greek food' and perhaps 'I'm also a pescatarian' and it can suggest relevant meatless recipes for you, takeout/food delivery options, or restaurant recommendations. You can say something like, 'We also have a picky five-year-old coming to our dinner party, so what would you recommend?' (The answer may be chicken bites or pasta, along with recipes.) If you tell Alexa you're craving pizza and ask where should you order a pie from, it will search for nearby pizzerias and tell you the highest rated ones. She may add what the establishment is famous for (e.g. 'best-known for its wood-fired 12-inch Neopolitan-style pizza'), and Alexa may ask you want it delivered now or later. Build smarter shopping lists Speaking of food, when creating a shopping list for groceries, in one demo the Amazon person reviewed the spoken items on a screen and said, 'Actually, I'd prefer two half gallons of milk instead of a one-gallon jug as I find it lasts longer,' and Alexa will remember details like that going forward. Unlike the previous Alexa, the new Alexa+ is more forgiving if you stutter or say 'um' or 'uh' a lot, if you talk over 'her,' change what you're asking on the fly, and so on. Have Alexa+ perform actions for you Alexa can access your info, like a calendar and contacts, to perform tasks. For instance, Alexa+ may proactively alert you to a calendar conflict, such as your child's dance recital at the same time as picking up your visiting father-in-law from the airport. Alexa+ may ask you if you'd like to send an Uber to the airport instead (and at what time) to bring him to your home, and send a text to him with the rideshare details. Or if you upload, say, a party invitation to your assistant will analyze the details of the invite and automatically put the party in your calendar. Documents can be analyzed and summarized Another example of document uploading: Alexa+ will remember what you've archived and refer to it. An example given by Amazon is if you move into a new home and upload a PDF of the HOA (Homeowner Association) rules for the community to in the future you can ask Alexa+ if solar panels are allowed on your home, and you may hear a response like, 'Yes, you're allowed, so long as they cannot be seen from the road.' Scrub through videos In another AI-based demonstration, an Amazon Echo Show smart display recognized who walked up to it (without you even needing to say 'Alexa' first), and the Amazon employee asked, 'Did anyone walk Buddy today?' This particular Alexa+ knows the family dog is named Buddy and then scrubbed through Ring doorbell videos of any comings and goings of your beloved Bernedoodle, and shows you relevant video clips. Similarly, you can ask if there were any deliveries today and it will only look for couriers. This is part of Amazon's recently launched 'Smart Video Search' functionality, currently in beta. Magic for music lovers At the New York event, Alexa+ was asked, 'What was the name of that song from Bradley Cooper, it's a duet, from that movie?' And Alexa+ immediately answered and played Shallow, with Lady Gaga, from the film A Star Is Born. The Amazon presenter then said, 'Show me this part of the movie,' and a nearby Fire TV-branded television loaded A Star Is Born at the exact moment Cooper and Gaga began to sing together. Unlocking kids imagination Kids can ask Alexa+ to make up a story before bedtime. Children may also be prompted for more details like 'make it about a peacock who plays electric guitar and wants to go on an adventure.' Without missing a beat, Alexa+ will generate and narrate a made-up story – that could be recalled at a later time if it was good enough – and even add generated images to compliment the narration on a device with a display (like an Echo Show 15). A FEW MORE DEETS Along with Alexa's friendlier and more upbeat tone, if you're talking with a smart display (opposed to a smart speaker), a flowing blue animation appears on the bottom of the device screen when Alexa responds, showcasing her more expressive user-interface. Amazon also showed a series of new 'widgets' on the Echo Show home screen, including ones that display animated weather info, suggested recipes, recent apps you've used, an ongoing shopping list, and connected smart home devices. Alexa+ is optional. While price isn't confirmed for Canada yet, it will cost U.S. users $19.99 a month – but it will be free if you're an Amazon Prime member.
