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Carl Pei's Nothing has revealed two new wireless earbuds at an event in Tokyo. It calls the Ear, the more expensive model of the two with prices starting at $149 and £129, a refinement of its older model the Ear (2). The Ear retains the brand's transparent design and looks very similar to the previous model. But it's powered by a new custom 11 mm dynamic driver and comes with a dual chamber design that allows it to deliver clearer sounds compared to its predecessor. 

It also features a new smart active noise cancellation (ANC) algorithm that can check for noise leakage between the earbuds and the ear canal and then add more noise cancellation accordingly. Plus, it can automatically apply the level of noise cancellation needed — high, medium or low — appropriate for the environment the user is in. Nothing says the model's noise cancellation rated at 45 dB is almost twice that of the Ear (2), as well. 

When it comes to battery life, the Ear's was also designed to last longer. It can last for up to 40-and-a-half hours after a full charge with its charging case, or up to eight-and-a-half hours of non-stop playback. In addition, the model comes with a new mic that enables less obstruction and interference, support for LHDC 5.0 and LDAC codec for high-resolution streaming over Bluetooth and the ability to quickly switch between connected devices. 

Nothing

Meanwhile, the Ear (a) is the more fun and more affordable model between the two new releases. It's the first Nothing model that isn't just black or white — though those colors are also available — with one version's non-transparent parts and case colored in vivid egg yolk-yellow. Even though its prices start lower than the Ear at $99 and £99, it also features the same ANC technology and the brand's new smart ANC algorithm that can check for sound leakages. It even supposedly has a better battery life than its more expensive sibling and can last for up to 42-and-a-half hours of music playback after a full charge with its charging case.

Both Ear and Ear (a) are now available for pre-order from Nothing's website. They'll start making their way to buyers and will be available for general purchase on April 22. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nothings-ear-and-ear-a-earbuds-with-active-noise-cancellation-are-now-available-for-pre-order-104546636.html?src=rss

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[via @gray]

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Attention, fans of carbohydrates! It’s time to warm up your online purchasing fingers. The Neverending Pasta Pass goes back on sale at Olive Garden today, but there’s a new twist this year: 50 passes will be available that entitle the bearer to neverending pasta for eight weeks, and a weeklong trip to Italy. Update: And they’re gone: 22,000 passes and the 50 Passports that come with the free trip sold out in one second.

This is more of a sweepstakes than a travel deal, since the version of the Pass that comes with eight weeks of pasta, soft drinks, sides, and an all-expenses-paid trip to Italy costs $200, while the regular version that just has the pasta costs $100. You can try to buy both for half an hour beginning at 2 P.M. Eastern time today at PastaPass.com.

The normal version, as longtime Consumerist readers and fans of food-related publicity stunts know, is a card that entitles the bearer to as many lunch and dinner visits to Olive Garden for unlimited plates of pasta as they can stand during a two-month period.

Last year, the company put 21,000 of the passes up for sale, and told Consumerist that the passes “were claimed immediately.” This year, the company will sell 22,000 regular passes and 50 of the vacation version.

The trip is for two people, and has stops in Siena, Florence, Assisi, Rome, Vatican City, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The announcement doesn’t mention whether the guests will get to visit Olive Garden’s cooking school in Tuscany, which actually exists.

Brand Ambassadors

The Pass isn’t just a quick publicity stunt: It’s about people who genuinely like Olive Garden’s food serving as “brand ambassadors” and bringing their friends and family to dine with them. Those friends and family pay full price for their meals, of course. Pass holders visited the restaurant an average of 28 times over the eight weeks of the promotion.

Olive Garden sent along this useful chart to help you decide which pasta pass is right for you, if you do get the opportunity to buy a pass.

If you do have luck buying your own pass, with or without a vacation included, let us know how the sale went!

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In response to a series of CIA documents leaked this morning that outline exploits the government used to gain access to Macs and iOS devices, Apple gave a statement to TechCrunch claiming that the documents are old and that the vulnerabilities outlined in the leak have long since been patched.

Apple says the iPhone vulnerability only affected the iPhone 3G and was fixed in 2009, while all Mac vulnerabilities were fixed in Macs launched after 2013.

We have preliminarily assessed the Wikileaks disclosures from this morning. Based on our initial analysis, the alleged iPhone vulnerability affected iPhone 3G only and was fixed in 2009 when iPhone 3GS was released. Additionally, our preliminary assessment shows the alleged Mac vulnerabilities were previously fixed in all Macs launched after 2013.

We have not negotiated with Wikileaks for any information. We have given them instructions to submit any information they wish through our normal process under our standard terms. Thus far, we have not received any information from them that isn't in the public domain. We are tireless defenders of our users' security and privacy, but we do not condone theft or coordinate with those that threaten to harm our users.

The new documents, part of an ongoing "Vault 7" leak focusing on the United States Central Intelligence Agency, were released by WikiLeaks this morning. Codenamed "Dark Matter," the documents primarily covered techniques for exploiting and accessing Macs through a peripheral device like a USB stick.

An iPhone exploit, called "Night Skies 1.2," was also featured, adding to the range of "Year Zero" iPhone exploits that were shared by WikiLeaks last week.

All of the Dark Matter and Year Zero documents can be found on WikiLeaks. Additional Apple-related hacks and exploits may surface as the Vault 7 series continues, and it will take time for security analysts and experts to determine the impact of the leaks.

While Apple says all of the exploits have been patched, its results are preliminary. Should any remaining exploits be unaddressed, Apple will undoubtedly fix them quickly.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.


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Kreepsville's $65, 8" x 10" x 6" Skull Collection Handbag glows in the dark, gets top marks from reviewers, features a spooky lining and an inside pocket, and can be delivered by Dec 24! Also available in black and pink. (via Punk Fashion)

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Her 5-year-old brother Ocean is pretty good, too! Here he is when he was 3 and Sky was 7.

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And Cherry Circle Room won a best design award

The James Beard Foundation Awards came to Chicago for the second time last night — and Chicago represented well with three award winners. Alinea won one of the top prizes of the evening, taking home the Outstanding Restaurant honor for in its first year of eligibility, while its temporarily closed for a full renovation.

Grace chef/owner Curtis Duffy won the Best Chef: Great Lakes award, besting four other top Chicago chefs for the honor. "You put in your work and do what you should be doing and hopefully it pays off," Duffy said after the win. "This is something as a young cook that you always aspire to do, to win a James Beard Award. Finally tonight is that night."

Curtis Duffy and his daughters after the win [Photo: Matthew Kang]

Also, Land & Sea Dept won the Outstanding Restaurant Design Award: 76 Seats and Over for the beautifully restored Cherry Circle Room in the Chicago Athletic Association hotel.

Congratulations to all the winners from around the country, which you can read in full over on Eater National. The James Beard Awards will be back in Chicago for a third year next spring.

It's happening

This morning's photo reveal was just the start, as Roister is opening on Friday, according to the Alinea Group's Nick Kokonas. Kokonas revealed plenty of details about his new restaurant via a detailed Medium post he published this afternoon that explains the concept. Furthermore, the group released tickets on Tock, as diners can buy them online this very minute. (UPDATE: The first two weeks are already sold out, according to Kokonas, but they're seating 20 to 30 walk-ins each night.)

Roister appears radically different from Grant Achatz and Kokanas' other stalwarts Alinea and Next. The open design also means they're not distinguishing between the kitchen and dining room. That means Achatz and chef Andrew Brochu could be servers: "The restaurant is the kitchen. The kitchen is the restaurant," is the tagline on the website's opening page. Diners are welcome in jeans and a T-shirt, and the staff won't wear uniforms.

"Very quickly we realized that for us, casual did not mean simple," Kokonas wrote.

Kokonas describes the rustic-yet-refined menu, and a commitment to "accessible pricing, but not inexpensive," while retaining "super-high quality." The open fire is also meant to be "a core tool and centerpiece." There's a hearth menu for $85 with multiple courses. If guests want a la carte, they can reserve their seats for $10 via Tock. The a la carte menu includes a variety of sharable dishes, including an 8-ounce A-5 Japanese Wagyu with sea urchin butter and togarashi.

There's also what Kokonas described as "lively, loud, good mood music," and for the last few months Roister has invited the public to submit songs for the restaurant's Spotify playlist. That playlist hasn't surfaced, as of yet. The opening has been delayed for a variety of issues. One may have been where to store dry goods. The answer was "Everywhere. Allow them to be visible to diners."

What's abut the restaurant's name? Kokonas explained, and credited that to Brochu: "It means to enjoy and celebrate in a boisterous manner. To engage in noisy revelry. Think: bluster, rustic, without restraint."

"Hundreds of decisions later, dozens of menus drafted, created and tested, budgets and goals expanded, we are finally seeing our dreams transpire," Kokonas added.

Check out the full a la carte and beverage menus below. They'll eventually offer lunch, too.

I want the playlist for this weird video.

(more…)

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