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Poly’s Voyager Free 60+ might be the slickest earbuds for work yet
Thanks to a screen built into its charging case and an innovative broadcast mode, Poly's Voyager Free 60+ earbuds boast a couple unique features designed for workers on the go.
HP buys Poly, the company formerly known as Plantronics
HP has bought Poly, the company formerly known as Plantronics — but not for its headphones.
Google is shutting down Poly, its 3D model sharing service
Google just announced that it’s shutting down Poly, its 3D object library and platform that arrived in 2017 aimed primarily and VR and AR creators.
The best workout headphones
The gym can be a dull, boring place for some of us. Myself included. Fortunately, you've got a smartphone -- or an MP3 player. Whether it's for a music streaming service, a finely curated list of ripped tracks or a backlog of podcasts, what you need now are some workout headphones. It's 2019, and while not all wired headphones will work with your smartphone of choice, all phones have Bluetooth. There's also the fact that moving around with headphones, whether for a bench-press session or a run around the block, is better without wires. As long as your headphones stay put, that is. That's why all of our recommendations are wireless models. We've pulled together a few picks that should suit most workouts. While you can expect decent audio quality from all of them, decisions about workout gear, come down to personal preferences. Because of that, we've included over-ear models, noise-canceling champions and some reasonably priced headphones that punch above their weight.
Plantronics' new headphone lineup includes three true wireless options
Plantronics may not be a name that immediately comes to mind when you're shopping for new headphones, but it should be one you consider. Even though the company rebranded as Poly after acquiring Polycom, products still bear the Plantronics name. And like it did last year, the company is debuting a full slate of new headphones in early September. That lineup includes true wireless and sport models that are all under $200.
Plantronics rebrands as Poly to get its groove back
Plantronics was close to being acquired by Logitech last year, but unfortunately that deal fell through. Now Plantronics, best known for being one of the first companies to make Bluetooth headsets, is trying to craft a new image. Together with Polycom, the teleconferencing outfit it snapped up a year ago, they're rebranding as Poly -- a punchier name meant to show they're not stuck in the past.
Google makes it easy to create your own VR tours
With Google Expeditions, you can take tours of ancient sites like Machu Picchu, visit attractions like the Burj Khalifa or even take a trip to the International Space Station and now Google is making it easier to create tours yourself. With a new platform called Tour Creator, anyone can now put together a VR tour of whatever they'd like using their own 360-degree photos and Google Street View images. "The tool is designed to let you produce professional-level VR content without a steep learning curve," says Google.
Google lets developers find 3D assets without leaving VR
Google recently unveiled Poly to give VR and AR developers an easy way to find 3D assets for their virtual worlds. Now, it has introduced Poly API to help developers work with and discover those assets directly in virtual reality. "It's just so much more natural to work in VR in something like [VR painting tool] Tilt Brush and then use it in a VR project," said CEO Max Weisel from VR developer Normal.
Google's Poly is a one-stop shop for AR and VR objects
It isn't easy to build a virtual reality app, especially when it comes to filling out those immersive worlds. Even a semi-realistic world requires tons of objects, which isn't always practical for a small studio. What to do? Google might have an answer: it just introduced Poly, a library of free 3D objects for augmented and virtual reality apps. Some of them are simple (like trees and fortune cookies), but others are elaborate and interesting in their own right -- yes, that Wonder Woman image you see above is 3D. You're frequently allowed to modify the models in case they don't quite fit your needs, and you can share them as GIFs or explore them in VR viewers.
China has a microwave pain weapon of its own
The US may never have used its microwave pain gun in combat, but that isn't stopping China from exploring the concept of non-lethal force. Local manufacturer Poly has unveiled the WB-1, a millimeter-wave weapon that heats the water under your skin (much like the US' Active Denial System) to deliver intense agony without injury. It currently works at a relatively short range of about 262 feet, but extra power can bump that up to 0.6 miles -- if you know where to shoot, you could cause misery from afar. It's reportedly meant to be used on the high seas, where it could enforce China's territorial claims without the need to capture or destroy wayward vessels.
Druids get polar bear form in Wrath with new Glyph list
The fine folks at MMO Champion have a small preview of the new talent calculators and, even more interesting, how the Inscription ability will work to change our abilities with glyphs. The majority of the new glyphs previewed so far seem to be for druids as of this posting (but who knows what the future may bring) but the one for mages, Glyph of the Penguin, seems extra awesome to me.Empowers a Minor Glyph to cause your Polymorph: Sheep spell to turn the target into a baby penguin.Not only does this suggest that the days of learning separate poly spells for turtles, pigs and so on are gone, it's a cool way to help bring variety to a standard ability. Of course, since the vast majority of glyphs are for druids, we're seeing a lot more straigtforwardly useful ones, like Glyph of Frenzed Regeneration and Glyph of Shred, but Glyph of the White Bear looks pretty cool as a possible harbinger of what's to come: imagine a whole host of such glyphs for each and every druid form? Glyph of the Black Lion, anyone?This suggests a lot of potential for personalization in the new Inscription profession. Anything you're looking forward to? I hope the ones for warriors are as cool, myself.
Blue Notes: No free respecs, Polymorph bug is a bug
Several classes are having talents changed in 2.1, but apparently no-one's going to be getting free respecs. From Drysc to you:Free respecs are only given in cases where talent positions actually move and would break a build, and not in cases where talents are simply altered as far as the benefit they provide.So if I read this right, it means you will only ever get a free respec if they move a talent, not if they change it, no matter how radically. Yes, Improved Sap Dirty Tricks, I'm looking at you -- I'm sure there are a lot of Rogues, myself included, who had seven points in subtlety that will no longer be there post-patch. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy about the change, but this seems like the kind of situation where a respec is merited, at least for players who had points in the affected talents. On the other hand, even the maximum respec cost of 50g is fairly painless to make these days, so perhaps it's a non-issue.And in case there were any doubts, Polymorph is still meant to restore health; the version on the PTR right now is bugged:This is a bug on the PTR at current, yes.
