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Sony and Yamaha are making a self-driving cart for theme parks
Remember how we said Sony's self-driving SC-1 concept would make for a great party bus? Apparently, Sony had the same idea. The company is partnering with Yamaha on the SC-1 Sociable Cart, an expansion of the concept designed for entertainment purposes like theme parks, golf courses and "commercial facilities." The new version seats five people instead of three (and in greater comfort), lasts longer through replaceable batteries and uses additional image sensors to improve its situational awareness.
Ask Engadget: What's the best connected guitar amp?
This week in Ask Engadget: What's the best connected guitar amp?
Yamaha's Sonogenic keytar is equal parts instrument and party trick
Keytars, almost by definition, are charmingly goofy. How could they not be? They're wearable pianos that lend themselves well to pageantry. Racks of meticulously prepped synths come with a sort of gravitas that doesn't exist when keys are slung across a musician's body, making the person as much a part of a show as the music. It's all just a little more fun.
Yamaha's latest turntable streams multi-room audio via WiFi
You can pair a turntable with a multi-room audio setup (Sonos even offers a bundle), but that usually means wiring your record player into that setup at some point. Yamaha thinks it can do better. Its newly launched MusicCast Vinyl 500 turntable uses WiFi to stream records wirelessly to MusicCast speakers in your home. If you don't insist on that distinctive vinyl sound, the machine will natively stream digital services like Spotify, Pandora and Tidal.
Yamaha's AI transformed a dancer into a pianist
Artificial intelligence is already everywhere, so it's inevitable that it would invade the arts. Yamaha showed a new kind of AI tech that translated the movements of renowned dancer Kaiji Moriyama into musical notes on a piano, "a form of expression that fuses body movements and music," the company said. He used it during a concert in Tokyo entitled Mai Hi Ten Yu, dancing and "playing" the piano with his body, accompanied by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Scharoun Ensemble.
The best digital piano for students
By John Higgins This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter, reviews for the real world. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here. After researching more than 80 digital console pianos and testing nine with a panel of professionals and amateurs, we think the Yamaha Arius YDP-181 is the best digital console piano for a student who doesn't want an acoustic piano because of space or budget considerations. Its action has a good feel, the piano sounds are excellent, the control panel is well laid out and easy to navigate, and the piano comes with a bench. It's an excellent choice for a beginning or intermediate student and should ease the transition to an acoustic instrument as they progress.
Yamaha's MX88 synth turns your iPhone into a real instrument
I hate, hate, hate computers and phones/tablets on stage. To me, a Macbook sitting next to a keyboardist or percussionist is just asking for trouble. Computers freeze, apps crash and sometimes you forget to turn off notifications and now everyone in the audience knows you got a new Facebook message. And frankly, they're not very "rock 'n' roll." So imagine my surprise when, while using the Yamaha MX88 keyboard, I found myself launching the FM Essential companion app -- on my iPhone!
Yamaha's smart pianos work with Alexa and teach you how to play
Of the many things we expected to see at IFA 2017, cutting-edge instruments weren't one of them. But Yamaha is using its time in Berlin to showcase the Clavinova all-electric smart pianos, which use an iOS device and LEDs above each key to teach you how to play. With the Smart Pianist application, which will also be available on Android next year, you can learn how to play tracks in real-time thanks to blue and red lights that will come on every time you're supposed to hit a key. (Red LEDs are placed above white keys, blue above the black ones.) Not only that, but if you can read music, there's a chord chart being displayed on the iPad in real-time for whatever song you're playing.
The best receiver
By Chris Heinonen This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer's guide to the best technology. When readers choose to buy The Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here. We spent 10 hours researching and more than 70 hours performing hands-on testing to determine that the Denon AVR-S720W is the best receiver for most people. It offers by far the easiest setup process we've ever seen in a receiver, and it's the simplest to use of the models we tested, with none of the usability flaws of its competitors. It provides very good sound quality and every new feature you might need, including AirPlay, Bluetooth, Pandora, and Spotify Connect support plus the ability to connect directly to Internet radio stations and local DLNA servers.
The best soundbar
By Chris Heinonen and Dennis Burger This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer's guide to the best technology. When readers choose to buy The Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here. After conducting a thorough survey of Wirecutter readers and combining those insights with extensive research and testing, we think the Sonos Playbar is the right soundbar for most people. The Playbar sounds fantastic and it's easier to set up and operate than any other soundbar we've tested.
The 11 best tech gifts for movie buffs
We're guessing this person on your list already owns a TV. (And if they don't -- or you just love them very much -- we have a couple suggestions.) But there are other ways to help your movie-loving friend round out their home theater setup. If money is tight, why not go for one of Roku's recently released media streamers? They come in at different price points, but we ultimately recommend them all. Alternatively, perhaps your friend could use a sound bar or a 4K HDR receiver for better audio, or a projector to make movie nights at home feel that much more cinematic. Or, you know, you could just get them some Blu-rays. Just make sure you exercise good taste. Here at Engadget, we recommend Lone Wolf and Cub, the Horace and Pete digital box set and the Mad Max "High Octane" edition. For our full list of recommendations in all categories, don't forget to stop by our main Holiday Gift Guide hub.
ICYMI: VR Mars bus tour, self-assembling nanowire and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-456992{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-456992, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-456992{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-456992").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Lockheed Martin is encouraging kids to get into STEM with a Mars Experience Bus, with giant displays that look as though they're actually driving on the surface of Mars. Rice University created nanotubes that quickly self-assemble into nanowire. And Yamaha created an acoustic guitar that can store and loop back reverb and chorus sounds. We are also collectively irritated by the latest smart mattress with sensors inside, designed to catch your partner cheating, on your own mattress, when you're not at home. Ugh. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
It takes a village: The rise of virtual pop star Hatsune Miku
The crowd waves neon green glow sticks in the air. The performer they came to see is loading on a screen. After a kaleidoscopic burst of magic dust, Hatsune Miku, one of Japan's preeminent pop stars, appears on stage. As she breaks into a song-and-dance routine, her long aqua-colored pigtails brush her ankles. The thunderous roar inside New York's Hammerstein Ballroom is for an artist who doesn't exist. She's a computer-generated virtual singer projected on a screen.
ICYMI: Future motorcycle, brain membrane breakthrough & more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-801049{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-801049, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-801049{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-801049").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Doctors were able to bypass the blood-brain barrier to deliver medicine to the brain quickly. Yamaha's new electric concept motorcycle is getting attention from even the non-motorcyclists in the office. And a YouTuber constructed a real-life Dejarik gaming table that took him 11 months to complete; well worth seeing.
ICYMI: Humanoid moto bot, engineered desk marvel and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-121846{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-121846, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-121846{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-121846").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Altwork Station is a $3,900 computer desk that can sit, stand and fully recline, levering the screen and desk up to keep that ergonomic alignment you've realized you need to actually care about. Being an adult can be so overrated. Meanwhile there are two pieces of fun robot news: Yamaha is teasing its autonomous motorcycling robot and MIT researchers built a robotic cube that can jump over uneven terrain.
Yamaha's robot motorcycle rider could challenge real racers
Humans might not be the fastest things on two wheels before long. Yamaha has unveiled Motobot, a robot designed to ride superbikes much like you would -- it even has to twist the throttle to get moving. This initial version travels slowly and needs training wheels to avoid tipping over in a turn, so it's not about to compete on the MotoGP circuit just yet. However, Yamaha ultimately hopes to get Motobot blasting along at more than 120MPH on a race track. It goes so far as to put racing legend Valentino Rossi on notice, as you'll see in the promo video below.
MusicCast is Yamaha's answer to Apple Airplay and Google Cast
There's no shortage of WiFi-networked speakers for consumers, but Yamaha wants to bring its own solution and products to the market. Enter MusicCast, the audio manufacturer's version of Google Cast or Apple Airplay, which lets you use an app to wirelessly play music across multiple devices in a home (or office) -- so long as they're all connected to the same WiFi network. Of course, this isn't only designed to be a competitor to Google or Apple's technology, with Sonos being another main player in the space. But Yamaha hopes to stand out by offering MusicCast on more than just speakers. According to the company, its High-Fidelity-ready tech will also work with streaming services, internet radio apps and Bluetooth devices, as well as external sources like set-top boxes, sound bars and Blu-ray players.
Yamaha's Reface mini keyboards put classic sounds in compact instruments
New keyboards and synthesizers that carry not only classic tones, but some classics stylings as well, are becoming quite popular. Despite leaking a bit early, Yamaha officially debuted its Reface line of mini keyboards at the summer session of NAMM this week. The compact instruments are meant to be used on the go, whether it's in the backseat or in a dressing room before a show. Members of the group include the CS analog modeling synth, DX FM synth, CP electric piano and YC combo organ. For the sake of our discussion, we'll focus on the two synthesizers. The Reface CS is an 8-note polyphonic "Virtual Analog" synth that's said to be capable of sounds comparable you'd normally get from both analog and digital instruments. The FM (frequency modulation) synthesizer, the Reface DX, is the only one of the four with built-in patch memory, and it also packs in mulit-touch controls. In terms of audio, the DX offers sounds that range from "retro 80s to cutting edge modern at the flick of a switch."
Yamaha's motorcycle design team made this 360-degree drum kit sphere
Like some kind of corporate Freaky Friday, Yahama tasked its motorcycle design team with making some instrument concepts -- and asked the opposite of its instrument design team. With no constraints like commercial viability, designers were able to (and did) go to town. While the fruits were revealed back in the spring, the company has publicly exhibited the results over the weekend to the well-heeled residents of Roppongi, Tokyo. Here's a closer look.
'Blade Runner' tech gives 'Borderlands' its signature sound
"The Commodore 64 is like my Bible; that's when [game] music began because that's when they put an analog chip into a computer," composer Jesper Kyd says of the nearly 33-year-old home computer. "Before that it was PC or Atari and everything was like 'beep, beep, beep, beep-beep beep' and who the fuck wants to listen to that?"
