The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is one of the most extreme EVs you can buy at the moment. With over 600 horsepower delivered to all four wheels, plus a plethora of drive modes that help you do everything from circuit racing to drifting, it's a truly wild ride.
But it's about to get even wilder. Meet the new Hyundai Ioniq 5 N eN1 Cup car. This is a lightweight, caged, and big-winged version of Hyundai's rocket ship, tuned to such an extreme level that it isn't even road legal. Yes, this one's strictly for racing, and Hyundai is launching a focused racing series for the 5 N later this year.
Ahead of that, I headed to Korea to take it for a drive on a closed track. Inje Speedium is a tricky circuit with lots of elevation changes, and despite some inclement weather the Ioniq 5 N eN1 proved to be a masterful drive. And, at $100,000, for a track-ready machine, it's surprisingly value-priced. Watch the video above for the full story.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hyundais-ioniq-5-n-en1-cup-car-brings-extreme-ev-performance-to-the-track-160024376.html?src=rss
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is one of the most extreme EVs you can buy at the moment. With over 600 horsepower delivered to all four wheels, plus a plethora of drive modes that help you do everything from circuit racing to drifting, it's a truly wild ride.
But it's about to get even wilder. Meet the new Hyundai Ioniq 5 N eN1 Cup car. This is a lightweight, caged, and big-winged version of Hyundai's rocket ship, tuned to such an extreme level that it isn't even road legal. Yes, this one's strictly for racing, and Hyundai is launching a focused racing series for the 5 N later this year.
Ahead of that, I headed to Korea to take it for a drive on a closed track. Inje Speedium is a tricky circuit with lots of elevation changes, and despite some inclement weather the Ioniq 5 N eN1 proved to be a masterful drive. And, at $100,000, for a track-ready machine, it's surprisingly value-priced. Watch the video above for the full story.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hyundais-ioniq-5-n-en1-cup-car-brings-extreme-ev-performance-to-the-track-160024376.html?src=rss
Smart Swim is a pair of fancy swim goggles with a chunky box (the “tech pack”) attached to one eye cup and a crystal in the corresponding lens. With it, you can see your statistics like your heart rate, distance, split times and more on a waveguide display without ever having to break your cadence.
Plenty about Swim 2 is carried over from the first model, including the two-button user interface, display resolution (72 x 40) and many of the internals. The addition of the heart rate sensor (which the company says has been tweaked to work well in water) has shaved down the battery life down to 12 hours from 16. But I’m not sure that’s a real issue unless you’re planning on swimming the English Channel.
Instead, Form has nipped and tucked at the existing model, with the tech pack being 15 percent smaller than its predecessor. Comfort and fit have also been worked on, with longer, more adjustable straps and a broader range of swappable nose bridges. Oh, and there were a couple of features that Form built into the first-generation hardware that have, until now, remained dormant. More on that later.
History
Form founder Dan Eisenhardt was in on the ground floor of the wearables craze of the 2010s. His last company, Recon Instruments, was building head-mounted displays long before Google pushed Glass out of the door. After initially considering, and then abandoning plans to make a swimming-focused wearable, it launched a pair of smart goggles for skiing in partnership with Oakley before making Jet, a cycling-focused unit under its own name.
These early successes attracted the attention of Intel while it was looking for the next big thing in computing. It bought Recon, among other wearables companies, with the smart business strategy of… running them all into the ground before cutting its losses a few years later. Once Recon had been scuttled, Eisenhardt and his colleagues went back to the product they had originally founded Recon to pursue, a head-worn swimming display.
Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget
In use
It’s not a complicated process to get started once you’ve downloaded the app and paired it with your goggles. Turn it on with a long press of the power button and cycle through the options menu with the other button. You can opt for a pool, open water or a swim spa — the latter available for specific partner gyms. If you’re in the pool, you can then select its length from a list of standard options and press start, with the headwear tracking your motion automatically.
If I’m honest, not a huge amount has changed from the first version in terms of operation and use. If you’d like more details, then you can head back and read my original review which will hold you in pretty good stead. The only differences, really, are that you get your heart rate on the display. And, if memory serves, the markers showing you when the headgear thinks you’re swimming and when you’re at rest are clearer and more regularly updated. But that’s it, really.
Now, remember when I referenced that the first-generation Form had some extra gear on board that was left dormant? SwimStraight is making its debut on the Swim 2 but will also come to the first-generation hardware — so long as you sign up for the premium app subscription. You see, there’s a magnetometer in the tech pack that can act as a compass, and will give you a live directional bearing as you swim. When activated, the bottom half of the display transforms into the compass view, showing you a relatively precise heading.
SwimStraight is designed for open water swimmers who would otherwise rely upon landmarks to chart their course. For instance, if you’re doing a lap in a lake or out at sea, you might be breaking your stroke once every few minutes to make sure you’re lined up with a buoy. But the company showed me GPS telemetry data showing that these intermittent corrections cause swimmers to veer off course a lot. Whereas, if there’s a live compass bearing in your eye at all times, you’ll be able to keep more or less to your intended path.
I’m not going to lie, this feature impressed me far more than it had any business doing, given the low-ish tech nature of the hardware. Thrash your head around and you might force a slight delay as the compass catches up to your orientation but otherwise it’s very quick.
HeadCoach, meanwhile, launched last fall on the first-generation goggles and is similarly held behind the Premium paywall. The system looks at various elements of your form, like the pitch and roll of your head, and how quickly you turn your head to the side to breathe. It then scores you out of 99 for each of these facets, with video lessons and suggestions to get better. You can then set these suggestions onto your goggles for the next time you go into the pool, so you can get a real sense of what you’re doing and how to improve matters.
Form’s Smart Swim 2 is available today across the world, priced at $249 in the US and $339 in Canada. Its predecessor now has a 1 appended to its name and will remain on sale for $179, offering a more affordable entry-point for wary would-be swimmers. Here’s the thing, I actually think that the Smart Swim 1 with Premium is probably a more compelling option for many people. That’s not a diss against the 2 so much as praise for how good the existing model already was. Look, if you’re a Serious Triathlete who cares about your split times and owns a Garmin the size of the Cullinan Diamond, get the 2. But if you’re a better swimmer than I am (and it wouldn’t be hard) but would like some real-time data in the water, get the 1.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/forms-smart-swimming-goggles-get-refined-for-2024-150056789.html?src=rss
Smart Swim is a pair of fancy swim goggles with a chunky box (the “tech pack”) attached to one eye cup and a crystal in the corresponding lens. With it, you can see your statistics like your heart rate, distance, split times and more on a waveguide display without ever having to break your cadence.
Plenty about Swim 2 is carried over from the first model, including the two-button user interface, display resolution (72 x 40) and many of the internals. The addition of the heart rate sensor (which the company says has been tweaked to work well in water) has shaved down the battery life down to 12 hours from 16. But I’m not sure that’s a real issue unless you’re planning on swimming the English Channel.
Instead, Form has nipped and tucked at the existing model, with the tech pack being 15 percent smaller than its predecessor. Comfort and fit have also been worked on, with longer, more adjustable straps and a broader range of swappable nose bridges. Oh, and there were a couple of features that Form built into the first-generation hardware that have, until now, remained dormant. More on that later.
History
Form founder Dan Eisenhardt was in on the ground floor of the wearables craze of the 2010s. His last company, Recon Instruments, was building head-mounted displays long before Google pushed Glass out of the door. After initially considering, and then abandoning plans to make a swimming-focused wearable, it launched a pair of smart goggles for skiing in partnership with Oakley before making Jet, a cycling-focused unit under its own name.
These early successes attracted the attention of Intel while it was looking for the next big thing in computing. It bought Recon, among other wearables companies, with the smart business strategy of… running them all into the ground before cutting its losses a few years later. Once Recon had been scuttled, Eisenhardt and his colleagues went back to the product they had originally founded Recon to pursue, a head-worn swimming display.
Photo by Daniel Cooper / Engadget
In use
It’s not a complicated process to get started once you’ve downloaded the app and paired it with your goggles. Turn it on with a long press of the power button and cycle through the options menu with the other button. You can opt for a pool, open water or a swim spa — the latter available for specific partner gyms. If you’re in the pool, you can then select its length from a list of standard options and press start, with the headwear tracking your motion automatically.
If I’m honest, not a huge amount has changed from the first version in terms of operation and use. If you’d like more details, then you can head back and read my original review which will hold you in pretty good stead. The only differences, really, are that you get your heart rate on the display. And, if memory serves, the markers showing you when the headgear thinks you’re swimming and when you’re at rest are clearer and more regularly updated. But that’s it, really.
Now, remember when I referenced that the first-generation Form had some extra gear on board that was left dormant? SwimStraight is making its debut on the Swim 2 but will also come to the first-generation hardware — so long as you sign up for the premium app subscription. You see, there’s a magnetometer in the tech pack that can act as a compass, and will give you a live directional bearing as you swim. When activated, the bottom half of the display transforms into the compass view, showing you a relatively precise heading.
SwimStraight is designed for open water swimmers who would otherwise rely upon landmarks to chart their course. For instance, if you’re doing a lap in a lake or out at sea, you might be breaking your stroke once every few minutes to make sure you’re lined up with a buoy. But the company showed me GPS telemetry data showing that these intermittent corrections cause swimmers to veer off course a lot. Whereas, if there’s a live compass bearing in your eye at all times, you’ll be able to keep more or less to your intended path.
I’m not going to lie, this feature impressed me far more than it had any business doing, given the low-ish tech nature of the hardware. Thrash your head around and you might force a slight delay as the compass catches up to your orientation but otherwise it’s very quick.
HeadCoach, meanwhile, launched last fall on the first-generation goggles and is similarly held behind the Premium paywall. The system looks at various elements of your form, like the pitch and roll of your head, and how quickly you turn your head to the side to breathe. It then scores you out of 99 for each of these facets, with video lessons and suggestions to get better. You can then set these suggestions onto your goggles for the next time you go into the pool, so you can get a real sense of what you’re doing and how to improve matters.
Form’s Smart Swim 2 is available today across the world, priced at $249 in the US and $339 in Canada. Its predecessor now has a 1 appended to its name and will remain on sale for $179, offering a more affordable entry-point for wary would-be swimmers. Here’s the thing, I actually think that the Smart Swim 1 with Premium is probably a more compelling option for many people. That’s not a diss against the 2 so much as praise for how good the existing model already was. Look, if you’re a Serious Triathlete who cares about your split times and owns a Garmin the size of the Cullinan Diamond, get the 2. But if you’re a better swimmer than I am (and it wouldn’t be hard) but would like some real-time data in the water, get the 1.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/forms-smart-swimming-goggles-get-refined-for-2024-150056789.html?src=rss
T-Mobile’s annual deal for baseball fans is back. From Tuesday through Sunday, the carrier’s customers can claim a free yearlong subscription to MLB.TV for live and on-demand streaming access to the entire Major League Baseball season.
This is the ninth straight year T-Mobile has offered the deal, which the companies have extended through 2028. MLB.TV lets you watch all out-of-market regular-season games and select Spring Training games. (Unfortunately, blackout restrictions, universally loathed by everyone not profiting from them, apply to in-market games.) They stream in HD, and the service supports DVR and in-game playback controls.
The streaming package usually costs $150 for the season or $30 per month, so this is a nice perk for baseball fans. You can claim the offer in the T Life (formerly T-Mobile Tuesdays) app (iOS and Android) from tomorrow through Sunday only, so don’t forget to claim it during that short window.
As a promotional gimmick to help plug the deal, T-Mobile is introducing a “Secret Baseball Button.” The Bluetooth device connects to your computer and can be set to “discreetly switch from baseball to ‘work’ with the literal click of a button.” (It’s the same idea as the March Madness Boss Button, only in physical form.) If you care about such things, you can enter a sweepstakes for a chance to win one.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/its-almost-time-for-t-mobile-customers-to-claim-their-free-year-of-mlbtv-204327276.html?src=rss
The social network Threads is going to start showing live sports scores, starting with NBA basketball. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the initiative and wrote that it’ll be adding more leagues in the near future.
Here’s how it works. During a game, just search for the teams and you’ll see an up-to-date score. If the game is over, a search will bring up the final score. You can also find out when a game will start by searching for it ahead of time. This obviously resembles how X does things, as the platform began showing live sports scores back in 2017, when it was called Twitter.
Each score is accompanied by the two team logos. Tapping on these logos redirects users to a conversation about that team. Threads, along with Instagram, recently decided to stop recommending political content, so emphasizing sports is a decent way to capture the “real time” vibe of a hip and happening social network.
To that end, Instagram head Adam Mosseri has been, sigh, courting NBA diehards for months, calling the community of basketball fans on Threads a “great example of the kind of thing we hoped to see” on the app. A Threads spokesperson told Engadget that “basketball has become one of the most popular topics” and that “NBA Threads has become one of the app’s most active sports communities.”
This makes sense, as NBA discourse is also huge on X. NBA Twitter, as it's still called in sports media, regularly drives coverage and conversation about the pro basketball league. It sure seems like Meta hopes to siphon away some of that influence. Apple also recently announced its own sports-related initiative. The first-party Sports iPhone app offers real-time stats for a number of major leagues, including the NBA, and throws up live score data on the lock screen during a game.
Threads is all over the place this week. The platform introduced a new algorithm-tuning feature that works by swiping left and right on posts and announced a beta test that lets users share content to Mastodon and other fediverse services. The live scores feature is also in its testing phase.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/threads-is-getting-into-live-sports-scores-starting-with-the-nba-185616086.html?src=rss
The 2024 Summer Olympics are just 128 days away. They'll be here before you know it, so what better time to learn about all the groovy features that the Games' streaming home, Peacock, has lined up?
The platform will host more than 5,000 hours of live coverage across the two weeks, including each of the 329 medal events. That's far more than anyone could possibly watch during the Games, so to help you keep track of several events at once, Peacock is offering several multiview options. On TVs, tablets and desktop browsers (but not phones, sadly), you'll be able to watch four matches at the same time in sports such as track and field, soccer and wrestling in a traditional multiview format.
A mode called Peacock Discovery Multiview aims to direct you to the most important events. Here, you'll see on-screen descriptions telling you what's at stake (such as whether there's an elimination risk or if it's a medal event) or if you're watching a first-time Olympian. In both multiview modes, you can move the screens around, choose the audio track you want to listen to and click through to watch an event in full screen. Peacock will offer you up to four multiview options at any given time.
Peacock / NBCUniversal
Another key new feature is called Peacock Live Actions. The idea here is to help you follow the events you're most interested in. So, if you're really enjoying a live gymnastics session but the whip-around coverage on the Gold Show broadcast is about to switch over to weightlifting or something, you can hit a button to keep watching the action on the parallel bars. Peacock says the feature will also allow those watching the NBC primetime simulcast to add events to their My Stuff list to watch later.
Elsewhere, you'll be able to browse through the coverage by sport and check out an interactive schedule. The Catch Up with Key Plays tool will be available for basketball and golf on top of soccer. And along with up-to-date medal standings, you'll be able to search for your favorite athletes. This will bring you to live events and replays including your favorite competitor, regardless of whether they're competing individually or as part of a team.
While the Olympics don't start for another few months, you can subscribe to Peacock now. If you do so and opt for an annual plan, you'll get 12 months of access for the price of 10.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/peacocks-2024-paris-olympics-coverage-includes-enhanced-multiview-options-190047120.html?src=rss
You still have a few more days to save 40 percent on a year's subscription to Max. The discount is available to new subscribers (and some existing ones) and includes every plan the streaming service offers. The top tier subscription is for the ad-free, 4K plan which will now cost $140 annually instead of $240. The mid-level plan is also ad-free but doesn't support 4K content. Thanks to these Max streaming deals that level is $105 for the year, instead of $192. The cheapest Max subscription is ad-supported and now $70 yearly, which works out to $5.83 per month as opposed to the usual $10. Max will run the discounts until Tuesday, April 9th.
Not only is the deal open to all new subscribers, existing subscribers who buy their service direct from Max.com can also take advantage. If you're a returning subscriber and previously went through Max.com, the Apple App Store or Google Play, you can also get the discount. Unfortunately, only new subscribers via Fire TV are eligible. The timing of the deal is tied to March Madness promotions, as Max will stream all 2024 Division I NCAA men's basketball championship games live, along with other live sports.
For those who don't remember, Max is the name given to the streaming service that combines HBO's programming with Discovery+ content. While the name may be less memorable, the smooshing of the two services means more content to peruse — from brands like HGTV and Food Network — in addition to fine HBO fare like The Last of Us and True Detective. It's also where you can find Studio Ghibli films and A24 movies. Plus Our Flag Means Death, though canceled, was superb. There's a reason we named Max one of the best streaming services out there.
Blizzard is finally making it easier to unlock new heroes in Overwatch 2. This is big news, as players regularly complain about how difficult it is to obtain new characters in the live-service shooter. Currently, people get new heroes by paying for and grinding through a battle pass, buying them outright or waiting until they become available as a reward for winning a certain number of games. That changes with the forthcoming season 10, as the company will make new and old heroes available for free to all players.
This not only pertains to Venture, a new hero created for season 10, but all of the game’s previously released heroes, like Mauga, Illari, Sojourn and Lifeweaver, among many others. New players will still have to complete the intro, but “once the heroes from the original Overwatch roster have been unlocked, all Overwatch 2 heroes will also become available.”
This will even extend to future heroes. The entire roster of Overwatch 2 characters will be playable in all game modes when season 10 officially begins this April.
This is just one change coming to how the game handles its battle pass, as suggested by director Aaron Keller in a video. Blizzard is also going to start selling mythic skins that were previously available only through a paid battle pass, though pricing and availability is still up in the air.
In addition, Overwatch Coins, the game’s dominant currency, will soon be easier to earn. Right now, people accrue coins by accessing a premium battle pass, completing weekly challenges or buying them outright. In season 10, they’ll become available in the free tracks of the game’s battle pass system. Fans will be able to earn up to 600 coins per season for free, up from 540.
Finally, there’s a new in-game competition called Clash, which was first announced at last year’s Blizzcon. This team-based PvP mode features five points lined up in a row, and the first team that captures all five points or reaches a maximum score wins. It looks like the full Clash mode won’t launch alongside season 10, but will come later this year and will include two dedicated maps.
Blizzard also previewed season 11 today, which is due later this year and will include a new Push map set in Peru, as well as a reworked version of the Rome-based Colosseo map.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/overwatch-2-players-wont-have-to-pay-or-grind-through-a-battle-pass-to-unlock-new-heroes-183729811.html?src=rss
Blizzard is finally making it easier to unlock new heroes in Overwatch 2. This is big news, as players regularly complain about how difficult it is to obtain new characters in the live-service shooter. Currently, people get new heroes by paying for and grinding through a battle pass, buying them outright or waiting until they become available as a reward for winning a certain number of games. That changes with the forthcoming season 10, as the company will make new and old heroes available for free to all players.
This not only pertains to Venture, a new hero created for season 10, but all of the game’s previously released heroes, like Mauga, Illari, Sojourn and Lifeweaver, among many others. New players will still have to complete the intro, but “once the heroes from the original Overwatch roster have been unlocked, all Overwatch 2 heroes will also become available.”
This will even extend to future heroes. The entire roster of Overwatch 2 characters will be playable in all game modes when season 10 officially begins this April.
This is just one change coming to how the game handles its battle pass, as suggested by director Aaron Keller in a video. Blizzard is also going to start selling mythic skins that were previously available only through a paid battle pass, though pricing and availability is still up in the air.
In addition, Overwatch Coins, the game’s dominant currency, will soon be easier to earn. Right now, people accrue coins by accessing a premium battle pass, completing weekly challenges or buying them outright. In season 10, they’ll become available in the free tracks of the game’s battle pass system. Fans will be able to earn up to 600 coins per season for free, up from 540.
Finally, there’s a new in-game competition called Clash, which was first announced at last year’s Blizzcon. This team-based PvP mode features five points lined up in a row, and the first team that captures all five points or reaches a maximum score wins. It looks like the full Clash mode won’t launch alongside season 10, but will come later this year and will include two dedicated maps.
Blizzard also previewed season 11 today, which is due later this year and will include a new Push map set in Peru, as well as a reworked version of the Rome-based Colosseo map.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/overwatch-2-players-wont-have-to-pay-or-grind-through-a-battle-pass-to-unlock-new-heroes-183729811.html?src=rss