Erin Kennedy has been building robots for over a decade now, with a focus on smaller bots that interact with, or maybe even clean up, the outdoor environment. Still other bots are made to interact with people, and when the people are outside in the park, that’s where your robot needs to go.

Whatever the reason, Erin’s talk at Hackaday Europe 2026 is an invitation to take your projects out into the outdoors. But the great wide world outside of your lab is not necessarily the most friendly place for a little bot, and the other half of this talk is about practical design tips and lessons learned to help it survive.

Environments

She structures the talk around different environments, which gives her an opportunity to focus on her bot cleaning up plastic trash on the beach, but also to point out the absolute horrors that sand can work on robot motors. She goes through a number of strategies for dealing with this, including going slow, keeping the motors as high up as you can, and designing the body of the robot to be full of holes and shed sand.

Taking to the water, she demos Otter Force One, which aims to capture invasive sea urchins. But underwater means under pressure, and she gives us some good tips on how to get the cables out while keeping the water in – double-o-ring cable glands potted with marine epoxy. I especially love the Nalgene-bottle-on-a-string with a radio that can be deployed to help retrieval. Her lessons-learned section is as deep as it is understated, including underwater hazards from low visibility to accumulated silt messing up your presumed center of gravity. Over the long term, rubber leaks and barnacles accumulate. Double seals, durable hooks, tether ropes, and bright colors are your friends. Underwater bots have it hard.

Erin’s air-inspired bots are the wildest. Some are just whimsical, like the flappy square bird, or beautiful like the butterfly bots. But her Atmosphinder bot uses the wind for actual propulsion. It’s a rolling wheel with sails that aims to explore long distances on Mars. Whether it’s going to get there or not, it’s got a bunch of great design elements for anything you have that’s going to have to roll. “Magic toboggans” make great plastic sails. But beware, while you can turn off a motor, you can’t turn off the wind. Be prepared to stake your bot down before or after its mission.

Experiences

Whatever the environmental challenges of taking your bot outside, it’s the non-laboratory environment that’s the most challenging, and rewarding. Erin tells the story of when a bird settled down in the shade cast by Bowie, or when the wind blew all of the Aruco markers away. But people and animals are just as delightful and unpredictable as the weather, and that’s an extra level of adventure. If you’re going far, bring hydration for the humans and spare batteries for the bots. Rolling with the changes seems to be the key to having a good time outside with your bots.

And of course, bringing your robot outside is a great opportunity to share what you’ve been working on with the offline world. We absolutely love the mission: normalizing robot hacks among the general public by hanging out with your bot in the park is right up our alley. She has had tremendous success with random encounters – folks just coming up and asking about what it’s doing. Making your bot seem friendly and/or beautiful seems to go a long way here. Don’t neglect the aesthetics.

Take Your Bot Outside

We left Erin’s talk absolutely inspired to build something that can make it through the rough environment that lies just outside our basement. It reminded us of our old days experimenting around with BEAM robotics, another bio-inspired practice aimed at the outdoors. With 3D printable parts and cheap geared motors, you don’t even have to break the bank to build your own Mars neighborhood rover. Watch this talk and get inspired!

An Australian company will build data centres in Malaysia and fill them with American chips. It will sell the output to an American company. Its co-chief executive calls this the moment Asia-Pacific stops consuming intelligence and starts producing it.

Firmus announced the partnership from Sydney on Tuesday. OpenAI will contract dedicated compute from two Firmus sites in Malaysia under a multi-year deal. That makes it an anchor customer, and takes total contracted capacity past 900MW.

“This multi-year partnership marks the moment Asia-Pacific becomes a producer of intelligence, not just a consumer of it,” said Tim Rosenfield, co-founder and co-chief executive.

Test the claim

It is a good line and it is worth taking apart.

The hardware is Nvidia. Firmus will deploy Vera Rubin NVL72 systems on Nvidia’s DSX platform. The customer is American. The tokens serve OpenAI users worldwide, as the company says plainly.

What Malaysia supplies is land, grid connection and power. That is not nothing. It is also not production of intelligence. It is a new position in somebody else’s supply chain, which is a real economic gain and a different claim from the one being made.

The genuinely Australian part is smaller and more interesting than the slogan. Firmus builds units it calls HyperCubes, combining liquid cooling, mechanical systems and electrification. It prefabricates them in regional New South Wales. That is manufacturing, and it is being exported.

Malaysia had a busy day

Hours before this announcement, TNW reported that Malaysia is weighing Huawei chips for a sovereign AI project. Washington has warned it about US export controls.

So within a single day, one country is being courted from both directions. Chinese silicon for the state’s own systems, American silicon for an American customer, on the same soil.

That is not a contradiction on Malaysia’s part. It is the strategy. A country that hosts both sides sells capacity to both and commits to neither. Most governments have not managed anything nearly as comfortable.

It has a precedent. Armenia’s AI factory exists because Washington signed a licence. That made the site an instrument of American policy as much as an Armenian asset. Malaysia appears to be avoiding that trap by taking both.

Contracted is not built

The 900MW figure deserves a qualifier the release does not give it.

Firmus has seven AI factories across four countries: Australia, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. Two are operational. The other five are under development, targeting service over the next 24 months.

So the number describes commitments, not concrete. That is normal in this industry, and it is how the sector gets financed. But a contracted megawatt and a delivered megawatt are different things. The gap between them is where data centre projects usually fail.

The Indonesian site gives some sense of scale. TNW reported in June that Firmus would build a 360MW campus in Batam, going live in the first quarter of 2027. Expected offtake there runs to $25bn or $30bn over six years.

The other announcement, one day later

Firmus is preparing to float.

The Australian Financial Review reported that the company is setting up investor meetings for next week. It is working on a pathfinder prospectus and has instructed its bankers, the paper said, citing unidentified people. There is no timeline for an ASX debut, though the AFR describes the path as accelerated. Carmeli Argana carried the report for Bloomberg.

Sign the world’s most recognisable AI company as an anchor customer, then meet investors the following week. Nothing about that sequence is improper. It is simply worth seeing plainly: the OpenAI contract is the most valuable page in the prospectus.

The company has raised heavily already. TNW reported in August that Firmus raised $2bn at more than $10.5bn, roughly double its valuation four months earlier. Coatue, Nvidia, Blackstone Tactical Opportunities and Jane Street all took part.

It would be joining a queue. Anthropic is expected to list within weeks, OpenAI has pointed at 2027, and Moonshot AI is seeking a Hong Kong listing.

Where this company came from

Firmus was a Tasmanian Bitcoin miner in 2019.

That history explains more than it might seem to. Mining taught the founders to chase cheap power, manage heat at density and treat energy as the primary input. Firmus now describes itself as energy in and tokens out. It is the same business with a different buyer.

It also explains the geography. The company went looking for stranded renewable power in Tasmania before anyone was calling any of this an AI factory.

What Australia gets

Alongside the OpenAI deal, Firmus says it intends to establish an Australian AI Access Program. It would serve researchers and organisations working in science, education, agriculture, energy and climate resilience.

Intends is the operative word. The company gave no budget, no capacity allocation and no start date. For now the programme is a stated intention rather than a commitment.

The harder question sits underneath it. The compute is in Malaysia. The customer is in California. The modules are made in New South Wales, and the company is about to list in Sydney. Australia gets the factory that builds the factories. That is a genuinely good position, and a narrower one than producing intelligence.

What to watch

Whether the five sites under development reach service inside 24 months. That is the only test of the 900MW figure that matters.

Whether the AI Access Program acquires a budget and a capacity number.

And what OpenAI is actually paying. Neither company disclosed a value. Until one of them does, the size of this deal is a megawatt figure rather than a revenue one.

SECURITY

Medical device giant warns August intrusion will hit Q3 and full-year sales and earnings as recovery drags on

Boston Scientific says that last month’s cyberattack caused enough disruption that it is unlikely to meet its sales growth and adjusted earnings guidance for either the third quarter or the full year.

The medical device giant disclosed the expected financial hit in an SEC filing published Tuesday, two weeks after an intrusion knocked systems offline and disrupted operations worldwide.

Boston Scientific detected unauthorized activity on its network on August 25 and took some systems offline as it scrambled to contain the attack. At the time, it said the resulting outage had affected business applications used to process and ship customer orders, but couldn’t say what the incident would ultimately cost it.

It now has a better idea, and the news isn’t great.

In its latest filing, Boston Scientific said the disruption is likely to have a “material impact” on its third-quarter and full-year results, leaving it unlikely to meet the net sales growth and adjusted earnings-per-share guidance ranges issued in July.

Boston Scientific expects to recover some of the affected revenue as it clears the backlog, but does not yet know the incident’s full financial impact. The company plans to update its operational and financial outlook when it reports third-quarter results on October 28.

The recovery is at least moving along. Boston Scientific said it had substantially restored its distribution network, with major distribution centers processing and shipping orders at or above normal levels. Its sterilization facilities are operational, and manufacturing has resumed at most sites worldwide.

An interruption affecting new patient activations for remote monitoring of certain cardiac devices has also been resolved, according to the filing.

The company has previously said it knows of no impact on devices that are not connected to a Boston Scientific network.

Still, the company hasn’t put a date on when everything will be back to normal. It said some systems and business applications remain affected and that it cannot yet estimate when it will achieve full operational recovery.

Boston Scientific said it has identified no evidence of ongoing unauthorized access to its systems, although its investigation remains underway.

Exactly what happened remains a mystery. The company has yet to say how the attackers got in, whether ransomware was involved, who was responsible, or whether any data was stolen. No ransomware group had publicly claimed responsibility at the time of writing.

Boston Scientific said it does not expect the incident to materially affect its long-term financial condition, even if its outlook for 2026 looks considerably less healthy since intruders breached the network. ®

Last October, Google said it would bring an Iowa nuclear power plant back from the dead. Now, the facility’s owner, NextEra Energy, has received a $1.9 billion loan from the U.S. Department of Energy to finance the refurbishment.

The sizable loan is the second of its kind, suggesting that the Trump administration views revived nuclear power as a key source of electricity for tech companies seeking to power their AI data centers. Last year, the Department of Energy extended a $1 billion loan to Constellation Energy to restart a reactor at Three Mile Island.

James Danly, Deputy Secretary of Energy, said that the Iowa power plant’s restart in 2029 will “drive down electricity costs,” though he did not explain how. Just 50 megawatts will be set aside for the local power cooperative, NextEra CEO John Ketchum said during an earnings call last year. That capacity would cover 18% of Iowa’s demand growth since 2021, the year before ChatGPT was released.

Google is reportedly looking to build up to six data centers near the Duane Arnold Energy Center, which hasn’t operated since 2020 when an intense rainstorm damaged the power plant. Rather than repair it, NextEra decided to mothball it. At the time, cheap natural gas was flooding the market, making nuclear power economically unappealing.

A lot has changed in the last six years, though. After decades of little growth in demand, the sudden rise of AI coupled with broader electrification of the economy meant that utilities and power providers were suddenly scrambling to find new generating sources of electricity. New data centers are expected to nearly triple the sector’s electricity demand by 2035.

Shuttered nuclear power plants are becoming one of the tech industry’s favorite choices to quickly provide clean, firm power.

Microsoft signed a deal with Constellation Energy two years ago to restart a reactor at Three Mile Island that last operated in 2019. The reactor is scheduled to restart in 2028 and generate 835 megawatts. 

Another facility in Illinois, Constellation Energy’s Clinton Clean Energy Center, was in danger of closing down before its parent found a new customer in Meta, which is buying all of the clean energy attributes from the 1.1 gigawatt power plant. The arrangement will see Clinton sending its electrons to the local grid, while Meta will use the certificates to offset emissions it is producing elsewhere. The tech giant’s Hyperion AI data center, for example, will need 10 natural gas power plants to operate. If completed, the data center will consume more electricity than all of South Dakota.

Duane Arnold is smaller, but in the process of refurbishment, NextEra will squeeze an additional 14 megawatts from the facility, bringing the total to 615 megawatts.

Altogether, the three power plants represent the lowest hanging fruit in the U.S. There might be one or two more, according to a report from UtilityDive, though those candidates, including San Onofre in California, have been shuttered for longer and would require more work to bring back online.

CanJam SoCal arrived a little earlier on the calendar this year, which may have beaten the usual avalanche of September product launches to the punch. The show at the Irvine Marriott felt larger than ever, both in attendance and the number of booths and listening rooms, but there were fewer headline launches from major brands such as Focal, Audeze, HiFiMAN, Dan Clark Audio and others than we have seen in previous years.

That doesn’t mean there wasn’t a lot of new gear. There certainly was. Much of the activity, however, came from smaller boutique manufacturers and the rapidly expanding IEM sector, where seemingly everyone has a new driver configuration, tuning philosophy or flagship that costs more than your first car.

Our resident IEM expert, Aaron Sigal, tackled that increasingly competitive category in our separate CanJam SoCal 2026 IEM Roundup, leaving me to wander in the opposite direction. I quickly fell down the rabbit hole at the extreme high-end of Head-Fi, where the concept of a price ceiling has apparently been abandoned.

At the other end of the market, FiiO, Fosi Audio, iFi, SMSL, Topping, SIVGA and others continue to offer tremendous performance for the money. Personal audio is increasingly being pulled toward two extremes: remarkably affordable equipment that would have been considered high-end not that long ago, and flagship headphones, IEMs, DACs and amplifiers that can push a complete desktop system well beyond $50,000. Spend enough time in the wrong room at CanJam and $10,000 starts sounding almost reasonable. It isn’t.

Rather than chasing everything new, I used CanJam SoCal 2026 as an opportunity to hear products and complete systems we have not spent much time with before. These are show impressions rather than full reviews, and some of the listening environments were less than ideal, but the following systems were the ones I kept thinking about after leaving Irvine.

RAAL 1995 MAGNA EVO I + Allnic HPA-300B + D-15000 Signature DAC

System Price: ~$46,600

When cost is almost beside the point, there was something very special about listening to the RAAL 1995 MAGNA EVO I ribbon headphones, quoted around $7,000 in the show configuration, with Allnic Audio’s HPA-300B ($13,200) tube amplifier and D-15000 Signature OTL/OCL DAC ($26,400).

The MAGNA EVO I is not another planar magnetic headphone wearing a different hat. Its R²e1 transducer uses complementary tuned dual True-Ribbon drivers made from corrugated pure aluminum, with a combined 16.8 cm² surface area and a native impedance of just 0.038 ohms. That unusual electrical load requires either one of RAAL’s matching interfaces or amplification specifically designed for direct-drive operation.

That is where the Allnic HPA-300B becomes particularly interesting. The pure Class A amplifier uses a pair of 300B output tubes and can produce up to 8 watts, while a factory RAAL Direct Drive option can be specified at no additional charge. The D-15000 is equally unconventional, combining dual-mono ESS ES9039PRO DACs with Allnic’s full-tube OTL/OCL analog output stage.

The speed, detail and realism of this system were hard to overstate, but what surprised me was how little it sounded like the stereotypical analytical ribbon setup I expected. There was body, energy and real physical impact behind the presentation, without sacrificing the transient speed that makes ribbon headphones so compelling.

Was that the 300B tubes, the direct-drive implementation, the DAC or simply unusually good system synergy? Probably some combination of all four. I tried the MAGNA EVO I with a less expensive Allnic amplifier and an Immersiv DAC afterward, and while still excellent, the same drive and impact were not quite there.

I also found the MAGNA EVO I more comfortable than RAAL’s flagship IMMANIS, which matters when the goal is to listen for hours rather than survive a 15-minute demonstration. At nearly $47,000 for the system, nobody is going to call this sensible. Mesmerizing is another matter.

Chord Quartet + DAVE + Meze Audio ARTA

System Price: $56,895

Rob Watts spent years developing the Chord Electronics Quartet ($35,995), and there is considerably more going on inside it than the word “upscaler” might suggest.

Quartet uses Chord’s new four-million-tap Blackbird WTA filter running across five Xilinx FPGAs with 3,700 DSP cores. Chord says that represents roughly five times the FPGA processing power of its DAVE DAC, not that Quartet somehow makes DAVE five times better. Digital signals can be processed at sample rates up to 768 kHz, while an integrated Pulse Array ADC also allows analog sources to be converted and processed through the same architecture.

The CanJam system combined Quartet with DAVE ($14,900) and the new Meze Audio ARTA ($6,000). ARTA uses Rinaro’s MZ5 HΩ high-impedance planar magnetic driver, rated at 225 ohms and 98 dB SPL/mW. Unlike most modern planar headphones, it is designed around a high-voltage, lower-current operating model and benefits from serious desktop amplification.

I was able to compare Quartet in pass-thru mode with its upscaling engaged, but the roughly three-second delay in the demonstration made rapid A/B comparisons difficult. The differences were subtle enough that I would not pretend a noisy show environment allowed me to define exactly what Quartet was doing to familiar recordings.

The more convincing demonstration involved a recording Chord had recently captured at Glenwood Studios using its developing A/D technology. Quartet itself incorporates Chord’s Pulse Array ADC, and the company is also exploring professional applications for the technology, although nothing beyond that should be considered a finalized product announcement.

What I heard was one of the most lifelike recordings I can remember hearing at an audio show. I have been fortunate enough to hear live feeds during recording sessions, and the immediacy of this demonstration reminded me of that experience more than conventional playback. There was an almost unsettling sense that the performers existed on the other side of the headphones rather than inside a recording.

Meze’s ARTA certainly deserves some of the credit here. Whatever one ultimately thinks about spending almost $36,000 on an upscaler, this was one of those demonstrations where I stopped thinking about the equipment for a few minutes.

Wow. Just wow.

SJY Argos + Apos x ES Lab HYDRA + Denafrips Ares II

System Price: ~$5,000

Coming back down to a system that does not require liquidating a retirement account, Apos had one of the genuine surprises of the show with the SJY Argos electrostatic headphones ($1,800) and Apos x ES Lab HYDRA integrated amplifier ($2,200).

The source was a Denafrips Ares II, an older discrete R-2R DAC that offers both non-oversampling and oversampling modes. It originally sold for under $1,000, but its latest generation version, Ares 15th, retails for $1,199.

The Argos uses a 6,375 mm² electrostatic transducer operating at the standard 580V Pro Bias voltage and terminates in a conventional 5-pin electrostatic connector. At 431 grams without its cable, it is also considerably easier to wear than some of the more ambitious flagships crowding the category.

The HYDRA may be the more unusual component. Its dedicated electrostatic section supplies the required 580V DC bias through Japanese-made step-up transformers, but there is also a conventional Class AB amplifier producing 20 watts per channel into 8 ohms. That allows one chassis to drive Pro Bias electrostatics, dynamic and planar magnetic headphones, and suitable passive loudspeakers.

Perhaps it was system synergy again, but the entire setup was full of surprises. The Argos sounded exceptionally revealing and airy while retaining a slightly warm tonal balance, which is not something I automatically associate with electrostatics. Bass extension and weight were also far better than I expected.

Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five” became one of my regular comparison tracks during the weekend, and the drums and hi-hats through the Argos were exceptionally fast and convincing. The bass was not merely present; it was tight, textured and had enough weight to keep the recording from becoming another impressive but overly lean electrostatic demonstration.

The Argos and HYDRA cost $4,000 together before the DAC, which is certainly not inexpensive. Compared with some of the electrostatic systems occupying the summit of Head-Fi, however, this felt like one of the stronger system values at CanJam.

Grado Signature S550 + Chord Hugo 2

System Price: $3,590

At $995, the Grado Signature S550 is currently the least expensive model in the company’s Signature Series, and pairing it with Chord’s Hugo 2 ($2,595) produced one of the more enjoyable and relatively sane systems I heard all weekend.

The S550 uses Grado’s 50mm S2 dynamic driver in an open-air design, with a nominal impedance of 38 ohms, 112 dB sensitivity and detachable Signature Silver cable. At 335 grams, it is also refreshingly light compared with many high-end planar and electrostatic designs.

The stock B cushions place the drivers very close to the ears, and the fit can feel snug until the headband is adjusted properly. That close positioning contributes to the immediate Grado presentation, but listeners who prefer a roomier fit can experiment with the larger G cushions. As with most Grados, changing pads also changes the presentation, so comfort is not the only variable.

Hugo 2 remains a remarkably capable partner despite having been around for years. Its FPGA DAC uses a 49,152-tap WTA filter and a Class A output stage, with enough flexibility to function as a portable DAC, headphone amplifier or desktop source.

The combination was rich, immediate and easy to enjoy. After spending time with systems costing ten or fifteen times as much, the S550 and Hugo 2 were a useful reminder that one does not have to approach the price of a compact car to assemble a seriously entertaining headphone rig.

Relatively speaking, of course. We are still talking about $3,590 worth of headphone equipment.

HiFiMAN HE6 Remastered + GOLDENWAVE SERENADE Wireless

System Price: $2,898

Year after year, HiFiMAN finds some way to pull me back into its booth, and the HE6 Remastered ($1,899) with the GOLDENWAVE SERENADE Wireless DAC/headphone amplifier ($999) was one of the easier systems to recommend from the show.

The HE6 Remastered is an open-back planar magnetic design rated at 50 ohms with a sensitivity of only 83.5 dB, so “easy to listen to” should not be confused with “easy to drive.” It remains a demanding headphone from an amplification perspective and weighs 522 grams, although I found the fit more comfortable than that number might suggest.

SERENADE makes a lot of sense as its partner. The wireless version combines HiFiMAN’s HYMALAYA Pro R-2R DAC architecture with a balanced Class A headphone amplifier capable of delivering up to 4 watts into 32 ohms. It also adds network connectivity to a component that can serve as both DAC and headphone amplifier.

Sonically, this was one of the easiest systems at CanJam to settle into. The HE6 Remastered sounded balanced and detailed without pushing detail so far forward that I wanted to remove it after three tracks. There was enough resolution to keep things interesting, but it did not strike me as fatiguing.

At just under $2,900 for the complete DAC, amplifier and headphone combination, this is the one from the list that feels closest to something a relatively normal audiophile might actually purchase.

Put it on your audition list.

oBravo H2040BT-A and H2040BT-R: The Wireless Surprise

There were plenty of capable wireless headphones at CanJam this year, but oBravo managed to hide one of the more interesting demonstrations in a pair of headphones that could easily be mistaken for something far more conventional.

The H2040BT-A combines a dynamic driver with an Air Motion Transformer, while the visually similar H2040BT-R substitutes a planar tweeter. Hybrid driver systems are hardly unusual in IEMs anymore, but using these technologies inside wireless over-ear headphones is still decidedly uncommon.

The plastic housings did not exactly scream “boutique audiophile engineering,” but listening quickly changed the conversation. The H2040BT-A’s AMT delivered considerably more top-end resolution and speed than I expected from a Bluetooth headphone, while the dynamic driver kept the bass substantial without letting it overwhelm everything above it.

The less expensive planar hybrid was also surprisingly capable and probably the more obvious value of the two.

There is one problem: U.S. pricing and availability remain unclear. We were quoted $699 for the H2040BT-A and $299 for the H2040BT-R at CanJam, but I have not been able to locate either model through a U.S. retailer. Audio Concierge currently lists them in the U.K. at £699 and £299, respectively.

Until oBravo clarifies its U.S. rollout, consider these two headphones worth watching rather than something we can tell American readers to go out and buy today.

The Bottom Line

CanJam SoCal 2026 did not deliver the same volume of major headphone launches we have seen in some previous years, but that ended up making the show more interesting for a different reason. Instead of racing from one new flagship announcement to another, I spent more time listening to complete systems and combinations that I might otherwise have missed.

The RAAL 1995 MAGNA EVO I and Allnic stack delivered the most intoxicating ribbon demonstration I heard all weekend, while the Chord, DAVE and Meze ARTA system showed just how far digital processing and headphone playback can be pushed when budget becomes almost irrelevant. Neither system makes any financial sense to most people, but that has never stopped the extreme high end before.

The SJY Argos and HYDRA were probably the biggest surprise. Electrostatic systems often require expensive, specialized hardware and still leave some listeners wishing for greater bass weight. This combination delivered the speed and openness I expected while sounding fuller and warmer than anticipated, and the HYDRA’s ability to drive electrostatics, conventional headphones and loudspeakers makes it genuinely useful.

Grado and HiFiMAN provided the reality check. Neither system is cheap, but both demonstrated how much performance is now available around $3,000 for a complete desktop setup. In a category where $6,000 headphones and $35,000 digital processors barely raise an eyebrow, that almost qualifies as fiscal responsibility.

And that may have been the larger story of CanJam SoCal 2026. Personal audio continues to stretch in both directions. Affordable equipment keeps getting better, while the summit of the category keeps moving higher and becoming more expensive.

The gap between those worlds is widening.

Fortunately, great sound still exists on both sides of it.

Related Reading:

from the desperate-measures dept

We’ve well established how the $111 billion Paramount and Warner Brothers merger is terrible for labor, creatives, consumers, and markets. But the kind of behaviors Paramount leadership have been engaged in to sell the deal also give a pretty clear indication what kind of company we’re dealing with, and why they shouldn’t be allowed to control an even bigger slice of U.S. media.

Recent desperate moves by the company include accusing all deal critics of being “antisemitic,” threatening to take Paramount out of California if states attempt to enforce U.S. antitrust laws, and running press leak and PR campaigns (in close collaboration with their Trump allies) making all sorts of patently false claims as to why more media consolidation is great for America.

Paramount’s also been caught using an “astroturf” — or fake grass roots organization — to try and make it appear that the giant merger has more public support than it does.

The Intercept notes that the company has been employing the use of a nonprofit named Neighbors for Strong Communities to bombard California residents with text messages urging them to pressure on California AG Rob Bonta to drop his antitrust lawsuit against the company, claiming that enforcing antitrust law will be bad for Californians:

“In text messages to Californians that went out earlier this week, Neighbors for Strong Communities asked recipients to send Bonta messages raising the concern that his opposition to the merger will cost the state thousands of jobs — because of Ellison’s reported threat to move Paramount to Texas.”

In reality, mergers like this — particularly when involving Warner Brothers — have a long history of resulting in mass layoffs, higher prices, and lower-quality product as the merged company tries to pay down debt from the deal. There’s also nothing stopping Ellison from offshoring film and TV production if the deal is approved, continuing an existing trend for Hollywood.

A coalition of consumer rights groups under the banner of the Committee For The First Amendment (which actually defends consumers and discloses its funding) say the astroturf group was only formed three months ago by industry lobbyists and refuses to disclose its donors:

“The sender organization’s website is less than three months old. It discloses no founders, board members, staff, or funders, and the organization does not appear in ProPublica’s nonprofit database. Its newly updated address (1902-A Lincoln Blvd, Suite 1314, Santa Monica, CA) is a private PO Box at a UPS store. These are classic hallmarks of a corporate-backed astroturf campaign designed to manufacture the appearance of grassroots opposition.”

As is always the case with these groups, there’s usually no discernable paper trail, allowing both Paramount and Neighbors for Strong Communities to confidently insist the entire effort is authentic. And when you have to covertly pay organizations to support your giant merger, you just know the giant merger is great for everyone involved.

Filed Under: astroturf, california, consolidation, david ellison, labor, larry ellison, layoffs, media, mergers, rob bonta

Companies: neighbors for strong communities, paramount, warner bros.

When I showed my 21-year-old daughter a new pair of Sony headphones I was reviewing, she said, “Yeah, I know dad. They’re Sony. My roommate has a pair just like them.” She wasn’t exactly right – I had the WH-1000XM6, where her roommate had the earlier WH-1000XM4 (to be fair, they do look very similar). But the fact that my daughter clearly recognized something I was reviewing by name – and it wasn’t an Apple product – was unusual.

#TikTokMadeMeBuyIt

It turns out Sony has been quite effective at selling to Millennial and Gen Z consumers by partnering with influencers and online personalities on social media sites like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. But it’s the headphones themselves that seal the deal. Top notch noise cancellation allows college students and remote workers to concentrate on their study or work, or enjoy their music – even when things get a bit distracting in the real world. And Sony’s stylish color choices complement the current understated style of clothing and “Athleisure” wear that has grown in popularity among younger consumers. But it is the sound quality that sets them apart: nicely balanced and musical – even when noise cancellation is engaged – with the option to customize the sound to your specific tastes.

This week, Sony is expanding its on-ear and over-ear headphone line-up with three new models, intended to appeal to younger consumers who care not only about how their headphones look, but how they sound. The model that stood out to me, at the company’s launch event last month, was the WH-1000XM4C (M4 2nd Generation). It is a lower cost version of the previous flagship first released in 2020, the WH-1000XM4, with slightly lower playback time, at a price tag that’s $50 lower than its predecessor. The original XM4 sold for $349, but the new XM4C will be available at a list price of $299. With the inevitable discounts that will follow over the various holiday sales, we expect these headphones to be very popular indeed.

The XM4C is lightweight and foldable, and comes with a sturdy case that is well-suited for travel. It features 27 hours of playback on a full charge (compared to 30 hours on the original XM4), but otherwise the specs are similar to the earlier version. If you forget to charge it before a run or a study session, a 3-minute quick charge will get you around an hour of playback time. The unit features five built-in microphones both for noise cancellation and for improved call quality. The XM4C features a new 10-band EQ available in the Sony Sound Connect app for precise customization of sound.

The XM4C is available at a suggested list price of $299.99 in three colorways: Black, Platinum Silver (off-white) and Lavender. The lavender version will be exclusive to Sony and Amazon, while the black and platinum silver options will be more widely available at authorized Sony retailers.

Less Expensive, But Certainly Not “Cheap”

For those who want a hint of that Sony style and performance at even lower price points, Sony is offering new versions of their popular CH series over-ear and on-ear headphones, the WH-CH730N and WH-CH530.

The WH-CH730N wireless over-ear headphones deliver high quality sound and noise cancellation, now with a lighter, foldable design. The new model features longer battery life and improved call quality, compared to its predecessor the CH720N.

The CH730N is rated to last for up to 50 hours on a full charge, with noise cancellation on. A 3-minute quick charge will get you around 1 hour of playback. High quality built-in beamforming microphones and AI noise reduction enable clear voice and video calls.

WH-CH730N is available now in Black, White, Pink, and Blue from September 2026 with a suggested price of $179.99 USD / $249.99 CAD at Sony, Amazon, Best Buy, and other authorized retailers. A new “Oat” color (looks beige to me) will be exclusive to Sony and Amazon.

The budget-priced WH-CH530 on-ear headphones lack noise cancellation, but feature similar sound quality to their big brother at a lower price point. They will be available in six “playful” colors, sure to appeal to younger music lovers. The CH530 lasts up to 55 hours on a charge, and includes a quick charge option for about 1.5 hours of listening time with just a 3-minute charge. The CH530 features clear call quality thanks to AI voice recognition and noise reduction.

WH-CH530 is available now in Black, Cobalt, White, and Pink, from September 2026 with a suggested price of $69.99 USD / $99.99 CAD at Sony, Amazon, Best Buy, and other authorized Sony retailers. The Coral and Mint color options will be exclusively available from Sony and Amazon.

In the words of Masaaki Hori, Vice President of personal entertainment, Sony Electronics North America: “The release of the WH-1000XM4C reflects continued consumer interest in a headphone model recognized globally for its combination of noise cancelling performance, sound quality, and comfort. Alongside the WH-CH730N and WH-CH530, as well as the recently announced 1000X THE COLLEXION and acclaimed WH-1000XM6, the WH-1000XM4C further strengthens our wireless headphone lineup, giving consumers a clear range of choices designed to meet different needs and budgets.”

Hello, Kitty!

But wait! There’s more! Sony also announced an exclusive collaboration with Hello Kitty with limited-edition headphone bundles that will include an exclusive Hello Kitty carrying case and tote bag and will be available in limited quantities for pre-order exclusively online at the Sony store. The collaboration will feature selected Sony headphone models, including the current flagship WH-1000XM6, WH-CH730N and WH-CH530.

Launched in the 1970s, the “Hello Kitty” brand has broad appeal not just among teens and young adults, but even among 30-somethings and 40-somethings who are looking for a little nostalgia and comfort in this chaotic world.

The Bottom Line

Sony is killing it in the on-ear and over-ear headphone market among younger consumers. But not every college student or young professional can afford the $450 price of the current flagship XM6 or even the $350 price tag of the XM4. By offering the XM4C with nearly identical performance and style at a lower price point, Sony will likely have a winner on their hands. And for those with more moderate budgets, the CH530 and CH730N offer a taste of that Sony performance at a much lower price tag. Also, the partnership with “Hello Kitty” seems perfectly suited to the target demographic of these headphones. Sony headphones seem to be well poised for a strong holiday sales performance in 2026.

Stay tuned for a full review of the WH-1000XM4C coming soon.

Where to Buy WH-1000XM4C

Where to Buy Sony Headphones

Note: All Sony headphones are also available direct from Sony Electronics. To get notified when the Limited Edition Hello Kitty headphones are available, sign-up here.

Related Reading

For a diehard fan of Donnie Darko, meeting director and screenwriter Richard Kelly is a thrill in itself. But to first encounter him as a silhouette in a darkened movie theater is to feel almost like a character in one of his films—unmoored by indefinite space and physics, questioning your altered perception.

It’s a hot Friday in mid-August when I sit down with Kelly, 51, at Santa Monica’s Aero Theatre, a beloved repertory venue that makes a key appearance in Donnie Darko, his remarkable debut feature. Released in October 2001 with virtually no marketing due to the tragic events of 9/11 weeks prior (the plot hinges on a plane accident), it couldn’t get a toehold at the box office. But in the months and years that followed, the film became a hit on the home video market and gained a fervent cult fandom thanks to its unique supernatural mystery.

To mark its 25th anniversary, the movie will enjoy another limited theatrical run, beginning on October 2, the date that launches mentally disturbed suburban teenager Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) on a surreal journey that may or may not lead to the end of the world. Kelly has just finished recording an intro for the new 4K restoration, and snippets of it play without sound on the big screen as we talk.

“My memories of this film run the entire spectrum from fear to love,” Kelly jokes, alluding to the corny pop psychology peddled by Patrick Swayze’s self-help guru in the film. This occasion, Kelly says, is all about the “love,” as he couldn’t be more grateful to “all the people who have continued to support” his work.

That camp should be pleased to hear that on December 15, Kelly will publish his mammoth first novel, The Philosophy of Time Travel, available for preorder now. The 800-page volume picks up right where the movie left off and is intended to set the stage for a film sequel as well. “It’s been very inspiring for me to remain focused on continuing the journey that began 25 years ago, on my own creative terms,” Kelly says. “This film has defined my entire career, but at the same time, it’s set a benchmark in the sense of the movies that I want to continue to make.”

Here, the auteur revisits the unforgettable dreamscape that put him on the map, and considers the artistic possibilities still ahead.

On when he realized Donnie Darko was becoming a cult hit:

There was one specific moment, I think in March of 2002, when I was in New York City. I was walking through the East Village, and I walked past a pizza restaurant called Two Boots, and my poster for Donnie Darko was hanging in their window. I saw the poster and I was like, “What’s going on? This is bizarre. Why does a pizza restaurant have a movie poster?” I went inside and I asked the manager, and he said, “Well, we have a little theater in the back, the Pioneer, and we’re playing your movie every Saturday night at midnight—and it’s selling out.”

I showed up the next Saturday night at about two in the morning, when the movie was finishing. I expected there’d be maybe 10 people there, and he wasn’t joking, it was sold out, and there were people with camcorders and lights in my face, and Michael Musto from the Village Voice was there. I was just completely bowled over by the fact that there were people who cared, who were really, really connecting with the movie. That was the moment I knew that it wasn’t over, that the movie was going to have a second wind.