Campfire Audio (aka CFA) is a boutique hi-fi brand based in Portland, Oregon. The company specializes in building in-ear monitors, most notably the renowned Campfire Audio Andromeda. The CFA IEM lineup is wide and varied, offering high-performance staples like the Supermoon, all the way to pricey exotics like the Chimera.
Today, we’re taking a look at Campfire Audio’s dynamic-driver flagship IEM, the Trifecta: an enduring model first released in 2022. Initially offered at an eye-watering price of $3,375, its price has recently dropped to $2,699. But a roughly $600 price drop, while significant, doesn’t free the Trifecta from the understandably high expectations placed on it as an ultra-luxury product.
Does this venerable IEM have what it takes to compete in the cutthroat 2026 IEM market? Well, let’s get into it.
About My Preferences: This review is a subjective assessment and is therefore influenced by my personal preferences. While I try to mitigate this as much as possible during the review process, I’d be lying if I said my biases were completely erased. So, for you, my readers, keep the following in mind:
Testing equipment and standards can be found here.
You’ve probably never seen an IEM that looks like the Trifecta before, and that’s because it has a truly unique structure. Embedded within its hand-dyed shells are three mutually opposing dynamic drivers, each independently vented. While not technically isobaric, the Trifecta’s drivers operate cooperatively to move massive quantities of air without distortion.
The Trifecta features firm, high-quality MMCX connectors and precisely cut metal nozzles. The entire IEM feels sturdy and genuinely flagship-grade. There are plenty of IEMs that cost more than the Trifecta yet feel considerably worse in the hand, and that’s not surprising. Campfire Audio’s commitment to luxury construction and sound engineering is real, backed by an excellent two-year warranty and extended-support repair policy.
The Trifecta includes three Timestream Metal cables, each with a different termination: 2.5mm, 3.5mm, and 4.4mm. These are among Campfire Audio’s staple premium cables, and they’re excellent. They feature a two-wire flat braid and are soft, lightweight, and visually striking.
The MMCX housings, termination housings, and Y-splitters are all constructed from silver-finished metal with impeccable fit and finish. You’ll be hard-pressed to find stock cables from another brand that are this ergonomically sound.
Comfort is a metric that relies heavily on factors influenced by your individual ear anatomy. Mileage will vary.
For as large as the Trifecta looks, it is actually quite comfortable. Its shells are reasonably light, and the included Time stream cables pair nicely with it. I was able to complete long, multi-hour listening sessions with the Trifecta without discomfort or irritation.
For me, the Trifecta is more comfortable than several other popular Campfire Audio IEMs, including the Alien Brain, Astrolith, and Andromeda 10.
Inside the box, you’ll get:
I’ve been on Campfire Audio’s case about standardizing the accessory packages for its IEMs, as they’ve become a bit fragmented. Unlike many modern hi-fi brands, Campfire Audio actually keeps its models on sale for more than a year, so updates to staple accessories like cases and eartips that appear with newer models don’t always make their way back to older products like the Trifecta.
Two notable omissions from the Trifecta’s accessory package are a proper carrying case and Campfire Audio’s excellent “High and Clear” liquid silicone eartips. I actually stole a set of those from one of my other CFA IEMs to use with the Trifecta, with great results.
Aside from those two omissions, the Trifecta’s accessory package is fairly well-rounded. You get some nice foam eartips, high-quality standard silicone eartips, and a beautiful leather folding wallet. The wallet is fine for static storage but isn’t suited to protecting the IEMs from crushing forces. A semi-hard carrying case, or even a proper clamshell like the Pelican 1010, would be my choice for storing the Trifecta while traveling or commuting.
The Trifecta’s sound signature is Harman-inspired, offering a hybrid between L-shaped and V-shaped tuning with a focus on mid-bass. Its lower midrange is warm and full, contrasting nicely with its moderately lifted upper mids. There’s a small shelf of emphasis blending the upper mids and treble, followed by a few small peaks in the upper treble before a roll-off in the 12 kHz region. The Trifecta may as well have a single driver inside, as its sound is so incredibly cohesive that you’d never guess there are multiple drivers at play.
The Trifecta’s treble is moderately bright, rendering high-pitched elements with clarity and distinction but not sharpness. The Trifecta’s upper treble, while not airy in the way that EST-based TOTL IEMs are, still captures a nice sense of space when the track demands it. As much as it would be cool, I can’t say that the Trifecta matches the incredible treble performance of other similarly priced IEMs, even within the Campfire Audio lineup. Models like the Andromeda 10 and Astrolith render micro-details with more nuance and increased clarity during busy passages. Even the less expensive Alien Brain undercuts the Trifecta in terms of transparency and subtlety in the upper register.
The strength of the Trifecta’s treble, however, is its natural and organic presentation. Hi-hats and cymbals are placed toward the rear of rock and alternative tracks, rendered with plenty of precise decay. You’ll need to listen for them, however, as the Trifecta does not do much to draw your attention to them. Listening to “Bulletproof Heart” by My Chemical Romance demonstrates this behavior, as the Trifecta has absolutely no problem capturing the clashing, crashing slams of metallic percussion, but it does so at its own pace.
The Trifecta’s midrange is warm and welcoming, striking a nice balance between weight and articulation. Vocals are set toward the middle of the mix but don’t sound particularly recessed. Vocal and instrumental separation is excellent, with the Trifecta rendering lyrics with a level of clarity not often heard on dynamic-driver IEMs. Harmonic fullness is on another level with the Trifecta’s midrange, and there’s no track I’ve played that did not sound rich and complete.
The Trifecta layers complex instrumentation nicely but lacks a bit of the separation you can get from modern hybrid setups. Layered instruments are distinct but feel a little close together, a behavior likely linked to the Trifecta’s more relaxed upper register. Hectic tracks like “Born Too Late” by Middle Class Rut demonstrate both sides of the Trifecta’s midrange: incredibly lush and lifelike tonality, plus a denser and decidedly intimate staging habit.
For as much praise as the Trifecta gets for its bass, you’d think it was an absolute bass cannon. While it definitely possesses a strong emphasis on bass, it is actually fairly controlled, distinctly avoiding the bloated presentation common to other mega-bassy IEMs. The Trifecta’s lower register is concentrated around a punchy, weighty mid-bass and capped by a well-extended, very tight sub-bass. Few IEMs carry down below the 50 Hz region as well as the Trifecta, and its incredible bass capabilities allow it to generate a level of visceral immersion that rivals even the best-implemented bone-conduction drivers.
The Trifecta’s bass is prominent but balances its tonal expression very well. It sits right between being truly juicy and tonally neutral, occupying a line between control and fun that feels explicitly unique. There are many IEMs that might sound “faster” in the lower register than the Trifecta, but none communicate the amount of texture and tactility that the Trifecta does. It truly operates on another axis of experience, and it’s one that needs to be felt to be fully understood.
Drum slams in tracks like “Better Strangers” by Royal Blood are communicated with a sense of spatial realism and convincing body. Electronic tracks are a slam dunk, as the Trifecta is more than willing to fill out rumble-heavy passages with texture and precision. Frank Ocean’s “Ivy (Noobody Remix)” is a great showcase of the Trifecta’s capabilities, generating substantial body across both the mid- and sub-bass.
Comparisons are selected solely based on what I think is interesting. If you’d like me to add more, feel free to make a request in the comments below.
The Stella is a much pricier IEM than the Trifecta, costing nearly twice as much at $3,900. It uses high-end luxury materials akin to those found in an expensive watch, as opposed to the Trifecta’s lighter, hand-dyed resin shells. The Stella also has a larger, more complex driver configuration featuring four EST drivers per side, along with a thick, luxurious cable. The Trifecta’s Timestream Metal cables, while more ergonomic, are admittedly less premium-feeling.
Sonically, the Stella has a brighter, more forward upper treble and a similar level of emphasis in the lower treble. Its midrange is cooler, with a more prominent upper midrange and a less linear lower midrange. The Stella’s mid-bass sits further back than the Trifecta’s, but its sub-bass actually has a little more emphasis, giving it a more “casual” sense of depth with certain styles of electronic music.
The Trifecta has much more texture and intensity overall, rendering bass notes with greater precision and realism. The Stella’s midrange is cleaner and feels better composed on very busy tracks, but it lacks some of the organic timbre expressed by the Trifecta. The Stella’s upper register is also more detailed and lacks some of the subtle grain present in the Trifecta, although it can occasionally exhibit sibilance.
Between the two IEMs, I’m going with the Trifecta. There are certainly technical improvements to be found in the Stella’s midrange and treble, but the Trifecta’s impressive bass response and more organic overall presentation make for a much easier listening experience. Once you consider the Trifecta’s substantially lower price, it’s pretty clear which way I’m leaning.
The Meze Astru is an all-titanium IEM with a single dynamic driver per side. It runs $900, costing roughly one-third as much as the Trifecta. It comes with a nice, premium cable that feels weightier in the hand. The Trifecta comes with multiple cables, but your preference between ergonomics and premium hand-feel will ultimately determine which approach you prefer.
Sonically, the Astru is much closer to a “normal” sound signature than the Trifecta. It has a gentle V-shaped tuning with a lifted upper register, a mildly warm midrange, and a forward bass region. The Astru’s bass is more concentrated toward the sub-bass than the mid-bass, unlike the Trifecta. The Trifecta’s insistence on broad, commanding mid-bass and lower mids makes it tonally weightier, and this can make it sound denser on busy tracks.
The Astru is a class act when it comes to dynamic-driver performance, and it appears to capture a greater degree of detail retrieval in the upper register than the Trifecta. That said, the Trifecta absolutely dominates the Astru when it comes to rendering the spirit of excitement. The Trifecta’s ability to so precisely emulate the intensity and tactility of live music is something the Astru, as competent as it is, simply cannot do.
The Astru is cheaper, more ergonomic, and features a more mainstream tuning than the Trifecta. It would not surprise me if there’s a sizable crowd that therefore prefers the Astru. But lovers of bass, and those who truly crave an exotic listening experience, will almost certainly still prefer the Trifecta. As good as IEMs like the Astru are, there’s a level of charisma that simple competence cannot recreate.
The Grand Luna is another experimental IEM from Campfire Audio, featuring one full-size planar driver and one balanced-armature driver per side. It has metal nozzles, resin shells, and a metal faceplate and costs $1,399, about $1,300 less than the Trifecta.
The Grand Luna is a much less dramatic IEM, featuring a more linear, warmer presentation. It has a more forward upper treble that pulls out detail more easily than the Trifecta, but it also has a comparatively relaxed lower treble and upper midrange. The Trifecta’s vocal range is more forward and therefore more intelligible during busy passages, but it lacks some of the smoothness presented by the Grand Luna.
The Grand Luna’s lower register is slightly warmer than the Trifecta’s but is far less weighty. You might enjoy this more relaxed presentation, but the Trifecta’s intensity makes for a far more engaging listening experience for me. The lifelike and visceral reverberation of the drum beats in “Sleep” by My Chemical Romance exemplifies the root of my preference for the Trifecta. It is the more organic and dynamic IEM, and the Trifecta’s uniquely inspiring bass response is consistently more entertaining for me.
If you’re looking to stay within the $1,500 range, the Grand Luna might be the better choice, but only if you’re looking for a linear, warm IEM. If you want something with greater energy or prefer traditional V-shaped tuning, the Grand Luna’s laid-back nature likely won’t work for you either.
IEMs are often described as “exotic” simply because they use uncommon drivers or unusual crossover arrangements, but many of those designs employ novel techniques to achieve fairly conventional tuning goals. The Trifecta is different. From its three full-range dynamic drivers and distinctive physical design to its unconventional acoustics, it genuinely wants to be exotic.
The tradeoff is broad appeal. The Trifecta’s visceral bass response, lifelike imaging, and rich tonal character can deliver a profound listening experience if bass, texture, and musicality sit high on your list of priorities. At the same time, there are plenty of similarly priced IEMs that offer greater technical refinement, stronger upper-treble extension, and cleaner separation, including models within Campfire Audio’s own lineup.
But that isn’t really what the Trifecta is about. It’s about drama. It’s about charisma. It’s about bass.
The Trifecta doesn’t apologize for what it is, and it doesn’t need to. If you want a neutral, analytical reference tool, look elsewhere. If you want an IEM that makes music feel physical, exciting, and unapologetically alive, the Trifecta remains one of the most distinctive high-end IEMs you can buy.
★★★★★★★★★★ Sound Quality
★★★★★★★★★★ Build Quality
★★★★★★★★★★ Comfort
★★★★★★★★★★ Value
Apple appears to be bracing for a double-Apple Watch debut at its Sept. 9 event, with rumors pointing to a new Ultra 4 launching alongside the flagship Series 12. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is preparing both watches with faster chips along with new health and fitness features.
The original Ultra arrived in 2022 with a more rugged titanium build, sapphire crystal display and features aimed at outdoor adventurers and athletes. Since then, it’s added support for recreational scuba diving and emergency satellite connectivity, but it hasn’t followed the predictable yearly release cycle of the flagship Series. There was a two-year gap between the Ultra 2 and last year’s Ultra 3.
A major processor upgrade this year could make a back-to-back refresh easier to justify. All three Apple Watches released last year still run on the S10 chip, and it’s unlikely Apple would leave its most expensive watch behind with an aging processor while upgrading the flagship model. Gurman reports Apple is preparing a faster S11 or possibly an S12 to match the flagship’s naming for both the Series 12 and Ultra 4.
But a bump in processing power could also come with a bump in price. The Ultra 3 already starts at $799, twice the Series 11’s starting price, and while there’s no solid price rumor yet for its successor, Apple has raised prices across parts of its hardware lineup this year. Google and Samsung have also raised prices on their flagship smartwatches in 2026, and I wouldn’t count on Apple holding the line at $799.
The Apple Watch with Siri AI floats your top five apps to the top of your grid.
Apple
One place that extra processing power could come in handy is WatchOS 27, which brings the new Siri AI to the Apple Watch. I’ve already been testing Siri AI in beta on the Ultra 3, and it’s miles ahead of traditional Siri. It can answer more complex and contextual questions, reference information in Apple’s native apps and generally avoid the frustrating “Here’s what I found on the web” response that made traditional Siri feel especially frustrating on the wrist.
I’ve been impressed by what it can do, but I’ve also noticed some lag. Part of that could be because the software is still in beta, but a faster processor could help speed up those interactions.
Battery life is another area where a more efficient processor could help. The Ultra 3 is already Apple’s longest-lasting watch, giving me about two days of consistent day-and-night use in my real-world testing. That’s still well behind traditional sports-watch brands like Garmin and Coros, which can measure battery life in weeks rather than days, with some models even going beyond the 30-day threshold with solar power.
Apple is unlikely to close that gap in a single generation, but any gain will help. Battery life remains one of the biggest pain points for Apple Watch owners and people considering making the jump. Even without a larger battery, efficiency gains from a new processor could help the Ultra stretch its runtime even further.
Gurman has said no major design changes are expected for this year’s Apple Watch lineup, beyond the materials and accessories, which would leave the Ultra 4 with the same general look as last year’s model. The Series 12 is expected to bring back the ceramic cases, but it’s less likely that Apple will swap ceramic for titanium on the Ultra.
WatchOS 26 brings an Apple Intelligence-powered Workout Buddy to the Apple Watch, but it needs the iPhone to work.
Vanessa Hand Orellana/CNET
Some of the Ultra 4’s new tricks won’t require new hardware at all. WatchOS 27 brings expanded one-handed gesture controls, workout updates and new perimenopause insights to the Apple Watch. Workout Buddy, Apple’s hype-person in your ear, will also work in Spanish and without an iPhone nearby.
The new watches may also bring expanded blood pressure features. Apple’s current hypertension notifications can flag patterns associated with high blood pressure, but they stop short of giving you an on-the-spot blood pressure reading. According to Gurman, Apple has tested blood pressure measurement internally but encountered accuracy problems, so there’s no guarantee the feature will be ready this year.
Another potential new addition (albeit using old technology) is Touch ID. MacWorld recently spotted internal Apple code suggesting the company has experimented with biometric authentication on the Apple Watch for either 2026 or 2027. It’s unclear whether Apple would put a fingerprint sensor beneath the display, in the Digital Crown or somewhere else entirely, but the Ultra could be a logical model to debut the new functionality, given its larger case and additional physical Action button.
Of course, all of this remains speculation until Apple makes it official. Check back for our coverage of Apple’s Sept. 9 event for all the details on the new Apple Watch(es).
Threat actors have adopted the ASCII smuggling technique in phishing campaigns, using invisible Unicode characters to evade email security filters.
ASCII smuggling has been used in AI prompt injection attacks to conceal malicious instructions from users by encoding them with Unicode characters from the Tags block (U+E0000–U+E007F).
Microsoft threat researchers discovered a large-scale phishing campaign using this technique, which peaked at up to 2.37 million daily messages in late February. Although the volume has dropped gradually in May, the operation is still active.
“The high-volume phase persisted for roughly three months after February 9 and dropped sharply after May 15, 2026,” explains Microsoft.
“These dates bound the observed use of the specific technique in our telemetry, not the broader campaign, which started earlier without it and continued without it.”
In this campaign, the attacker inserts an invisible Unicode character inside finance-related lure words to split them.
In doing so, a keyword like ‘funding’ becomes something like ‘fun[invisible character]ding’ and evades email filters that rely on word lists to detect suspicious or malicious messages.
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Microsoft says the method has been used in millions of finance-themed phishing messages and works as intended, although Defender still caught over 99% of the messages based on other signals (sender, IP, domain, reputation checks).
On February 9, Microsoft identified a cluster of 148 finance-themed sender domains powering this campaign, accounting for about 96% of all messages its new Defender for Office 365 hunting logic flagged for Unicode-tag signatures.
The domains used words such as “funding,” “capital,” “loan,” “advance,” and “credit,” and the messages promoted business funding, loans, and credit services.
The messages were delivered through infrastructure associated with the legitimate ActiveCampaign email-marketing platform.
After receiving Microsoft’s report of service abuse, ActiveCampaign said its moderation systems detect invisible Unicode characters the same way they detect unobfuscated text and treat heavy use as suspicious.
Microsoft recommends that defenders strip or normalize Unicode tag characters and other invisible code points before applying keyword, regex, or signature-based detection, and treat unexpected tag-block characters as a strong anomaly.
Applying the same normalization before passing email content to AI assistants should mitigate the risk of prompt-injection attacks.
Overall prevention scores can hide what happens after initial access. Once attackers are using valid credentials, prevention drops sharply.
The Blue Report 2026 measures defenses technique by technique across 338 million simulations run in customer production environments.
TCL’s OLED+ 32X3A monitor sits at the head of three new efforts built around dual-mode 4K/240Hz and Full HD/480Hz refresh switching.
TCL is showing the range at IFA 2026 inside its Inspiration Habitat, alongside the 32X3A’s new 27-inch sibling, the 27C2A gaming display and the performance-led 27P2A Pro gaming monitor for competitive play.
“Modern screens need to move effortlessly between work and play, and users shouldn’t have to choose between eye comfort, rapid speed, sleek design or immersive audio,” said Stefan Streit, chief marketing officer at TCL Europe.
The flagship 32X3A pairs a self-lit OLED+ panel with TCL’s Matrix-Pure Pixel arrangement, which reduces colour fringing that can appear around small text and fine edges. A low-reflection treatment keeps the picture visible in brighter rooms.
Users can switch between 4K at up to 240Hz for detailed work and entertainment or Full HD at up to 480Hz when faster motion takes priority, with a 0.03ms GtG response time keeping rapid action immediate.
Sound processing tuned with Bang & Olufsen powers the monitor’s integrated front-firing speakers, while a 6.4mm-thin panel and four-sided frameless Stargate design earned it a 2026 iF Design Award and a Red Dot Design Award. The range now also spans a new 27-inch model, the 27X3B.
The 27-inch 27C2A brings QD-Mini LED technology with 1,196 precise dimming zones and up to 1200 nits of peak brightness, a combination that delivers the bright, vivid contrast QLED panels are known for across games, films and everyday content.
Gamers can choose 4K UHD at up to 160Hz for cinematic detail or switch to Full HD at up to 320Hz for competitive speed, while TCL’s Motion Clarity Technology combines backlight and response-time adjustments to keep fast movement sharp and easy to follow.
The 27P2A Pro takes a similar approach for competitive players, with a QHD display, refresh rates up to 320Hz, a 1ms GtG response time and 180 individually controlled dimming zones through its Mini LED backlight for more precise highlights (the brightest parts of the image) and shadows.
Comfort features such as hardware low blue light, DC dimming and flicker-free control support longer gaming sessions, and a height- and rotation-adjustable stand now sits alongside a new 25-inch model, the 25P2A Pro, aimed at reducing neck and eye strain.
Availability, pricing and retail partners will vary by market, with no confirmed exact release dates for yet.
DATABASES
Baked-in SQL syntax arrives through multi-vendor collaboration, although indexing still needs to catch up
PostgreSQL 19 is set to add standardized SQL syntax for querying property graphs.
The open source database has steadily grown in popularity over the last five years, becoming the most popular among developers for the first time in 2023.
Speaking to The Register, Alastair Turner, PostgreSQL evangelist at open source consultancy Percona, said the property graph query support in PostgreSQL 19 – due later this month or early October – resulted from collaboration among several of the database’s largest contributors.
Graph databases store data as nodes, relationships, and properties rather than tables or documents. They have advantages for certain workloads, but adopting one can mean adding another DBMS to the technology stack.
The relational database has been acquiring graph query capabilities for some time, but PostgreSQL 19 is set to go further, Turner explained. “All the rest of it has sort of been done through Object Relational Mapping over the top. This is actually baked-in graph syntax. It comes from the SQL 2023 standard.”
Turner said the implementation was “very heavily influenced” by some of the engineers behind OpenCypher, the open source query language for graph databases. The work also involved PostgreSQL committers who sit on the SQL standards committee.
“This is one of the most interesting developments because it’s one of the big multi-vendor collaborations. There was lots of coding and review work across quite a few of the big contributors,” he said.
The new capability implements SQL/PGQ, which became part of the SQL standard in 2023.
“It’s on the right path,” Turner said. “The SQL community and the PostgreSQL community are going to try to optimize everything.”
However, he added that the implementation “still needs one or two additional syntax features” before it can displace dedicated graph databases for a significant number of workloads.
Turner said: “The current implementation creates queries across node-edge graphs to satisfy those requests. So some of them perform very well. What’s going to have to happen in the next iteration or two is that indexing add-ons catch up to improve the performance.” ®
While Tim Cook is no longer the CEO of Apple, he isn’t going anywhere soon. Just don’t expect him to take part in the September iPhone event video.
The CEO transition from Tim Cook to John Ternus is continuing to roll on. However, while Cook isn’t leaving Apple, his change in role to the chairman of the board of directors means that he isn’t going to be the usual public-facing executive this time around.
Writing in Sunday’s “Power On” newsletter, Mark Gurman insists that Tim Cook will not be in the Apple Event video at all. He will, however, still be at Apple Park, attending the screening.
The change is obviously due to needing Ternus to be the face of the company and the folding iPhone era. Cook appearing in the video will undermine that change entirely, weakening the new CEO’s position barely a week in the role.
It also helps that Tim Cook has already said goodbye in various forms. He did so during his last earnings call, in a memo to staff, and also publicly during the WWDC keynote.
Cook reappearing in the upcoming event would extend what is already a long goodbye even more.
While the transition will mean a change to the primary host of Apple events, it has also meant more changes out of public view. Cook has to make way for Ternus to work.
That has included Cook moving out of his office in Section 7 of Apple Park, and is instead getting a new office. Ternus will take over the CEO office, moving into the executive suite for the first time and out of his usual location near the hardware engineering teams.
The transition process has also involved Cook and Ternus praising each other in public gatherings and in internal comms. But at the same time, Cook has indicated he will still be at work within the company.
This includes telling employees in his last CEO memo that he looks forward to seeing them in Apple campuses around the world. He’s also going to be paid handsomely, with a base salary of $2 million as well as a potential $45 million in restricted stock units in 2027.
By comparison, non-executive chairman Art Levinson who Cook now replaces, was paid less than $560,000 last year. That figure includes the salary, stock, and other compensation.
With a pay packet that size, it’s expected that Cook will be hard at work in his new position.
This week on the GeekWire Podcast: The NBA suspends former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for a year and hits the Clippers with $30 million in fines and five lost draft picks over allegedly sham endorsement deals for Kawhi Leonard, drawing comparisons to the Microsoft antitrust era.
A new Redfin report says San Francisco’s housing market is booming on AI wealth while Seattle slumps, with the Bay Area-to-Seattle migration pipeline nearly dried up.
And the Seahawks sale to the Khosla family officially closes, ending the Paul Allen era, with two familiar Seattle tech names surfacing in the new ownership group.
Plus, the return of the GeekWire Trivia Challenge.
Ballmer / Clippers
Redfin / SF vs. Seattle housing
Seahawks sale
Subscribe to GeekWire in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
At IFA 2026, TCL announced a flagship soundbar for the UK in the Q85-UK, featuring tuning by Bang & Olufsen and at the head of a four-strong soundbar line-up built to give TVs sound that matches their picture.
Slim television designs often struggle to match picture quality with equally scaled sound, a gap TCL’s new Q Series aims to close through support for immersive audio and automatic room calibration.
The Q85K-UK pairs a soundbar with a wireless subwoofer in one package, featuring a 7.1.2-channel configuration with 16 drivers to place sound in front of, beside and above the viewer.
That placement helps films, sport and games come across as more immersive, with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X content extending sound further into the room, backed by up to 1,180W of maximum audio power for added scale.
Its wireless subwoofer uses two 7-inch drivers in a Push-Push configuration to produce deep, controlled bass while reducing unwanted cabinet vibration during louder, bass-heavy film and music moments across the room.
Audio by Bang & Olufsen provides custom tuning, while B&O’s beamforming technology directs sound to improve dialogue clarity and separate voices, music and effects during complex scenes.
Because every room sounds different, AI Sonic-Adaptation analyses the listening environment and adjusts the audio automatically, a process that helps users reach more balanced sound without navigating complex settings manually.
HDMI 2.1 with eARC simplifies setup through a single compatible cable, while ALLM support keeps gaming responsive and compatible Dolby Vision signals can pass through the soundbar on their way to the screen.
Bluetooth, AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect and Google Cast add wireless playback options, and Tutti Choral lets the Q85K work together with a compatible TCL television’s own speakers as one coordinated system.
TCL has designed the Q85K-UK for televisions measuring 65-inches and above, with the soundbar reaching UK retailers from the end of September 2026 at a recommended retail price of £749.
TCL also lists the ultra-slim A65K soundbar, a 50mm-deep 3.1.2-channel model with Dolby Atmos and Bang & Olufsen tuning available now for £249. The Dolby Atmos FlexConnect wireless Z100-UK speaker system rounds out the range and supports up to four units plus an optional subwoofer at £199 each.
The United Nations has an announcement. “The UN General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to encourage governments, schools and tech companies worldwide to stop using maps that make Africa look far smaller than it really is.”
By 164 votes to one, Member States on Friday endorsed a resolution promoting map projections that more accurately reflect the true size of continents — the culmination of an African-led campaign against the 16th-century Mercator projection, still the most widely used map in the world. The United States cast the sole vote against, dismissing the initiative as part of a “radical ideological project.” Six countries — Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine — abstained.
The resolution does not ban the Mercator projection or impose a replacement. Instead, it encourages governments, schools, international organizations and technology companies to use the Equal Earth projection and other so-called equal-area maps when relative size matters, and to teach the limitations of any flat map in representing a spherical planet.
Behind that seemingly technical debate lies a larger argument about history and power: whether a map designed for European sailors in the 16th century has, over generations, distorted not only geography but perceptions of a whole, vast and complex continent… [With Mercator maps] landmasses appear increasingly enlarged the farther they are from the Equator. Greenland, for instance, can look roughly comparable in size to Africa, even though Africa is about 14 times larger. Northern Europe and North America are similarly magnified, relative to equatorial regions. Despite its original navigational purpose, Mercator remains common in educational, media, digital and official materials. The resolution says those distortions have contributed to the “symbolic minimization” of Africa and perpetuated an unbalanced view of the world…
Equal-area maps do not make Africa larger; they remove the exaggeration Mercator gives landmasses closer to the poles.
The UN notes that hours before the vote, France’s foreign minister announced the country was planning to abandon Mercator for its maps of the world.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Alogic has announced six new monitors, including new 5K and 6K additions to its Aspekt Touch line that work with the Mac mini docking stand, as well as a new 5K ultrawide model with touchscreen support.
The new monitors also include models aimed squarely at the professional and business markets, including a 34-inch ultrawide curved option.
Availability of the newly announced monitors varies. Some will be available soon, others will not go on sale until November 2026.
Alogic is a company we’re familiar with here at AppleInsider, having reviewed the Clarity Touch 6K earlier this year. We also took a look at the company’s monitor + Mac mini dock combo.
The Alogic Aspekt 34-inch ultrawide 5K monitor
Now, the company has announced three new additions to its Aspekt Touch lineup. These touchscreen monitors have built-in docks for laptops and Mac minis, and now have new 27-, 32-, and 34-inch options.
The Aspekt Touch 27-inch 5K monitor features a 5120 x 2880 IPS display with a 600-nit brightness and 100% sRGB, 99% DCI-P3, and 99% Adobe RGB support. The 10-point touchscreen also includes stylus support.
Those who need extra screen real estate can choose the Aspekt Touch 32-inch 6K with its 6016 x 3384 resolution. It achieves 100% sRGB, 100% DCI-P3, and 93% Adobe RGB coverage with the same 10-point touch support.
A new 5K ultrawide joins Alogic’s stable
Larger still, the Aspekt Touch 5K ultrawide comes in at 34 inches with a 21:9 aspect ratio and a 5120 x 2160 resolution. It also offers a 100Hz refresh rate with the same 10-point touch technology.
The Aspekt Touch 27-inch 5K will cost $1,899.99, with the larger 32-inch 6K model coming in at $2,999.99. Both will ship by the end of October. Buyers of the 34-inch ultrawide will have to wait until the end of November.
All three appear to be compatible with the stand that incorporates a slot for a Mac mini.
For those in the business and professional worlds, Alogic also has three new monitors to choose from, ranging from 24 inches to 34 inches.
Alogic’s new monitors include three aimed at business users
The smallest option is the 24-inch Vision FHD Docking Monitor, which has a 1920 x 1080p resolution given its small stature. The panel offers 100% sRGB coverage at a 100Hz refresh rate and a 250-nit brightness. Laptop charging and an array of port options via the built-in dock make it a potential option for MacBook owners.
The Vision 27-inch QHD Docking Monitor offers a 100Hz refresh rate from its 2560 x 1440 IPS panel. Its 300-nit brightness is joined by 100% sRGB coverage. An integrated USB-C dock offers laptop charging and a raft of ports.
The larger Vision 34-inch Ultrawide QHD curved Docking Monitor provides a 3440 x 1440 21:9 display. The panel includes a 100Hz refresh rate and 300-nit brightness with 100%sRGB coverage. A USB-C dock with laptop charging and built-in KVM functionality is also present.
The Vision 24- and 27-inch monitors will be available by month’s end, priced at $199.99 and $299.99 respectively. However, the 34-inch ultrawide will make buyers wait. Expect a shipping date towards the end of November and a $399.99 price point.
Dig out that dusty phone from your junk drawer.
Your phone is more versatile than you think — even that old one that’s been gathering dust for a few years in your drawer. With just a few tweaks and the right apps, you can pretty much give your old phone a new lease on life. One of the interesting things you can do with your old phone is to turn it into a fully functional security camera.
Turning your old phone into a security camera is much easier than it sounds; in fact, you can get it done in under five minutes. Repurposing your old phone or tablet in this way saves you the money you’d spend on actual security cameras and saves you the hassle of recycling or selling these older devices. There are no special skills needed, and best of all, you don’t need to wire anything (except your phone’s charger). All you’ll need to get started is a few minutes of free time, your old phone(s), a stable internet connection (Wi-Fi is better, but mobile data works too) and the AlfredCamera app; it works on both iOS and Android.
First, download the AlfredCamera app on your main phone and the old phone. There are other apps that can do this, but we’re using AlfredCamera because it’s free, cross-platform and easy to set up.
On your main phone: Open the app, sign up, then in the “Prepare another device as your camera screen,” select Mobile Device.
Screenshot by Isaac Egbon (AlfredCamera: Home Security)
Here, you’ll be given two options on how you want to connect your old phone: Log into the same account on your old phone or scan a QR code to pair both devices. Now, grab your old phone, open the app, then pair both devices using your preferred method. And just like that, your old phone is now a security camera. Lastly, make sure your main phone is set to Viewer in the top left corner while your old phone is set to Camera.
Screenshot by Isaac Egbon (AlfredCamera: Home Security)
AlfredCamera doesn’t stop at live video; the free plan includes a full-volume siren alarm, a low-light mode for nighttime viewing, two-way talk and the ability to switch cameras or rotate orientation, all from your main phone. Premium unlocks more: The Standard plan starts at $5.99/month and allows you to add up to four cameras (up from two in the free plan), HD streaming, an eight-hour recording loop, 14-day cloud storage and person/vehicle/pet detection. Premium Plus ($7.99/month) removes the camera limit and adds full HD, unlimited recording and 30-day cloud storage.
If there’s one thing that’s common on most old phones, it’s probably bad battery life. So, if you can, position your new security camera near an outlet and leave it plugged in at all times. If that doesn’t work well with the angle you want, a long charging cable can bridge the gap. A phone stand is also a good addition, so you can get more flexibility on where and how you angle the camera.
If you don’t have any important information on your old phone, you should factory reset it. Although this isn’t necessary, a factory reset not only frees up the phone’s storage for recordings, but it also clears out any old accounts, saved passwords or personal data still sitting on the device, which matters since this phone will now be running around the clock, connected to your Wi-Fi.
Next, check your old phone’s battery optimization settings and disable it for the AlfredCamera app. This step prevents Android or iOS from closing the app when it’s running in the background and keeps the app running 24/7. Lastly, if you’re placing the phone in a place that’s exposed to the elements, consider weather-proofing it with a clear, waterproof phone case, or better yet, mount it just inside a window instead of directly outside.
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