Redwood Materials has laid off around 135 employees, or roughly 10% of its workforce, as it restructures to better accommodate its growing energy storage business, TechCrunch has learned.
The cuts come just five months after Redwood cut 5% of its workforce, and three months after it closed a $425 million funding round that boosted the battery recycling company’s valuation to north of $6 billion, as TechCrunch previously reported.
It’s been a difficult time in the battery industry lately. Earlier this month, battery recycler Ascend Elements filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, citing “insurmountable” financial challenges. Some battery-makers have also restructured or gone out of business as the automotive industry in the U.S. has backed away from its most optimistic and ambitious plans to transition to electric vehicles.
But Redwood Materials founder and CEO JB Straubel told employees that this new round of cuts is not a sign that the company is heading down the same path.
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“Redwood today is the strongest it’s ever been,” Straubel wrote in an email to the workers who weren’t laid off, according to a copy viewed by TechCrunch. “The materials business is well on its way to profitability and has an exciting roadmap ahead.”
Straubel noted that Redwood “continue[s] to dominate the US battery recycling market” but also touted the company’s “great momentum” in its new energy storage business. Redwood has recently announced deals with Crusoe AI and, most recently, electric automaker Rivian to provide recycled batteries that can be used to power those companies’ facilities. The company declined to comment beyond the contents of Straubel’s email.
In his message, Straubel wrote that “parts of the company have expanded faster than needed to support the direction” of Redwood. As a result, he said Redwood is making cuts across multiple divisions, including the engineering and operations organizations, according to an employee who was granted anonymity to discuss the layoffs.
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“We are confident that we can deliver on our critical projects with a smaller team that is more focused,” he wrote. “We have successfully adapted to changes in the market that have bankrupted many of our competitors.”
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Straubel went on to write that he is “more excited than ever with our path ahead as we build the most integrated and cost-effective critical materials and energy storage business in the world.”
“This is a self-sustaining business and will continue to make this company more valuable over time. We have the team and the technology to do what no other company can,” he wrote.
Workers who were laid off were told by Redwood’s chief HR officer that the layoffs were made “to sharpen our focus, our work and the size of our teams to support the direction Redwood is going in the future,” according to a copy of her email, which was viewed by TechCrunch.
Employees who were laid off are receiving severance and paid health benefits, according to Straubel’s email, as well as “career transition assistance.”
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“I am grateful to the approximately 135 employees who we say goodbye to today — they’ve all contributed to building Redwood,” he wrote.
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UPDATED: Sorry, kids, everything’s back up so get to work on your new assignment – An essay on the ethics of paying ransoms, because it looks like that’s what happened here
Ed-tech giant Instructure confirmed two rounds of unauthorized activity affecting its online learning platform Canvas within two weeks as data-theft-and-extortion crew ShinyHunters threatened to leak data it claims belongs to more than 275 million students, teachers, and staff tied to nearly 9,000 schools worldwide.
In a security incident update, Instructure apologized for the disruption when Canvas went offline last Thursday, leaving thousands of colleges, universities, and K-12 schools without access to course materials, grades, and due dates during final exams and Advanced Placement testing for many.
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As of Saturday, the parent company claimed, “Canvas is fully back online and available for use.”
And it finally broke its silence on Monday about what happened, admitting not one but two intrusions after criminals exploited a security vulnerability in its Free-for-Teacher learning system, and saying the data thieves stole information including usernames, email addresses, course names, enrollment information, and messages.
“Core learning data (course content, submissions, credentials) was not compromised,” the Monday disclosure said. “We’re still validating all findings, but we want to be clear about what we understand was and wasn’t affected.”
On April 29, the online education firm “detected unauthorized activity in Canvas,” immediately revoked the intruder’s access, and initiated a probe into the breach, according to Instructure’s notice posted on its website.
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On May 7, the company “identified additional unauthorized activity tied to the same incident.” ShinyHunters defaced about 330 Canvas school login portals, also exploiting the same Free-for-Teacher vulnerability, and that caused the ed-tech firm to take Canvas offline and “into maintenance mode to contain the activity.”
ShinyHunters claims it stole 3.65 TB of data, including about 275 million records from about 8,800 schools including Harvard, Columbia, Rutgers, Georgetown, and Stanford universities. After moving the pay-or-leak deadline multiple times, ShinyHunters set a final deadline of end-of-day May 12 for individual institutions to contact them directly to negotiate payment – or the group will publish the full dataset.
In response, Instructure said it temporarily shut down its Free-for-Teacher accounts. It also revoked privileged credentials and access tokens tied to compromised systems, rotated internal keys, restricted token creation pathways, and added monitoring across all platforms.
The education platform hired CrowdStrike to assist with its forensic analysis and incident response, and said it also notified the FBI – which published its own alert on social media – and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
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This is Instructure’s second breach in less than a year. ShinyHunters claimed to have breached Instructure’s Salesforce environment in September 2025, and while Instructure didn’t name the crew in its latest disclosure, it did address the intrusion. “The prior Salesforce-related incident and this Canvas security incident are distinct events involving different systems and circumstances,” the company said. ®
UPDATED AT 01:10 UTC MAY 12 Instructure At 10:21 UTC on May 11, Instructure updated its incident report to state “All Canvas environments are available.”
The company also admitted it “reached an agreement with the unauthorized actor involved in this incident” and secured stolen data.“
“We received digital confirmation of data destruction (shred logs),” the company said, adding “We have been informed that no Instructure customers will be extorted as a result of this incident, publicly or otherwise.”
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Further: “This agreement covers all impacted Instructure customers, and there is no need for individual customers to attempt to engage with the unauthorized actor.”
The statement makes it hard not to conclude that Instructure took the controversial decision to pay a ransom.
“While there is never complete certainty when dealing with cyber criminals, we believe it was important to take every step within our control to give customers additional peace of mind, to the extent possible,” the statement adds.
You normally think of fiber optic as something used in network cables. However, scientists employ dedicated fibers to detect earthquakes. In simple terms, they fire a laser down the fiber and watch reflections caused by imperfections. When vibrations hit the cable, it changes the defects, which show up in the return pattern. However, with the right techniques, those vibrations could just as easily be from people speaking near the cable.
If you are alarmed, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that the technique seems to be limited to coils of fiber that are not buried, and you have to be within about 5 meters of the fiber. The bad news is that there is plenty of dark cable all over the place. Besides, if researchers can do this successfully, you would imagine three-letter agencies around the world could do it even better.
Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.
Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? There’s a fun little twist involving how many times a certain letter is used. (The 1-Down clue explains it further.) Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.
If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.
Swedish digital audio specialist Dirac is continuing the expansion of its Dirac Live Active Room Treatment (ART) platform with support for the Monoprice Monolith HTP-1 home theater processor. With this update, ART—designed to coordinate multiple speakers and subwoofers to reduce room-induced distortion and timing errors—moves further into the enthusiast AV processor segment, delivering tighter bass integration, improved clarity, and more precise spatial performance in real-world rooms.
More importantly, this signals where the category is heading. Advanced room optimization is no longer a boutique feature reserved for ultra-high-end systems from brands like Trinnov Audio and StormAudio. With Monoprice and Dirac joining that short list, expectations are shifting: buyers shopping for serious AV processors and increasingly high-end AV receivers—now assume this level of room correction and system-wide control is part of the package, not a luxury add-on.
Introduced in 2023, Dirac Live Active Room Treatment uses a system’s existing speakers and subwoofers as a coordinated acoustic control network. Rather than treating each channel in isolation, ART actively manages low-frequency resonances and time-domain interactions across the room, reducing modal ringing and reflections while preserving phase coherence and spatial accuracy.
“Dirac Live ART is redefining what’s possible in home theater sound correction,” said Fredric Tapper, Vice President and Head of Business Development at Dirac. “By bringing this technology to the Monolith HTP-1, we’re empowering more users to experience a level of realism, control, and immersion that previously required professionally treated rooms or highly complex systems.”
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Powered by Dirac’s patented MIMO (Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output) processing, Dirac Live Active Room Treatment allows all speakers and subwoofers in a system to operate as a coordinated whole rather than as independent channels. By controlling low-frequency energy, managing decay times, and addressing time-domain interactions across the room, ART delivers smoother bass response and more consistent tonal balance across a wider listening area—results that traditionally require extensive physical room treatment.
Dirac Active Live Room (ART) Treatment Diagram
“Our collaboration with Dirac reflects a shared commitment to advancing home theater performance,” said Hobie Sechrest, Business Unit Manager for the Monolith Series at Monoprice. “By bringing Dirac Live Active Room Treatment to the Monolith HTP-1, we’re giving customers access to professional-grade acoustic control in their own homes. This collaboration marks an important step in making studio-grade performance more accessible to serious enthusiasts around the world.”
Dirac Live Active Room Treatment builds on the company’s established Dirac Live Room Correction, which optimizes both magnitude and phase response to address limitations inherent to traditional EQ approaches, and Dirac Live Bass Control, which uses machine-learning–based processing to co-optimize speakers and subwoofers for more consistent low-frequency performance across the listening area. Together, Dirac Live ART, Dirac Live Room Correction, and Dirac Live Bass Control form Dirac’s most advanced home theater optimization platform to date.
Monolith HTP-1 AV Processor Key Features
As an AV preamp/processor, the Monoprice Monolith HTP-1 is designed to serve as the control and signal-routing center of a dedicated home theater system, handling source selection, audio and video processing, and delivering line-level outputs to external amplification.
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Channel Configuration: 16-channel home theater preamp/processor supporting advanced multichannel and immersive surround formats.
HDMI Connectivity: HDMI 2.0b with 8 inputs and 2 outputs; one HDMI output supports ARC and eARC.
Audio-Only Inputs: Analog stereo RCA (2), digital coaxial (3), digital optical (3), balanced XLR (1).
Audio Outputs: 16 balanced XLR line outputs for connection to external power amplifiers; 1 pair of unbalanced stereo RCA outputs.
Room Correction and Equalization: Dirac Live Room Correction included with HTP-1 ownership, optional Dirac Live Bass Control, and support for Dirac Live Active Room Treatment.
Additional Audio Controls: Bass and treble tone controls, plus a 16-band parametric equalizer with independent speaker control for each band.
Dimensions (W x H x D): 17.1 x 5.7 x 12.0 inches.
The Bottom Line
It’s rare to see 6+ year old products get enhancements, but this update seems squarely aimed at existing owners running multi-subwoofer, multi-channel systems who want measurably better bass control, tighter decay, and more consistent performance across the listening area without resorting to extensive physical room treatment. Although the HPT-1 is still available today, Dirac functionality is not included in the purchase price, and requires a licensing fee. Dirac ART + Bass Control licenses run $598 $549 when bundled, or $299 individually.
Casual users may balk at the added cost, but for serious home theater builders chasing precision and repeatability, this is exactly the kind of upgrade that justifies the expense.
Price & Availability
The Monolith HTP-1 AV Preamp/Processor (Product Number: 37887) is available for $3,999 at Monoprice.com.
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Owners of the HTP-1 can add Dirac Live ART for $299 by purchasing a license, but you’ll also need Dirac Live Bass Control when used with one or more subwoofers, which costs another $299. Currently the combo is available for $549 if purchased together.
The Apple Savings account is meant to be accessed via Apple Wallet on iPhone, but Apple has created a limited web portal for downloading statements and tax information.
There are various reasons why you might need to manage your Apple Savings account from a device that isn’t an iPhone or iPad. That’s especially true if you’ve left the Apple ecosystem.
Until recently, that has been basically impossible since everything Apple Savings was handled on Apple devices. There is now a very limited Apple Savings portal that can be accessed via the web.
Apple Card holders can go to the web portal that has existed since 2020: card.apple.com. After logging in, the “Savings” option will be visible in the sidebar.
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The only things you can do from this tab are view your current balance, your interest information, and account documents. You cannot add or withdraw money from this website.
The tax documents and statements available here are the same ones available in the Apple Wallet app on iPhone or Settings app on iPad. Those that no longer have an Apple Savings account or an iPhone can get these details on the new web portal.
The portal is useful because the only other option previously would have been contacting Apple Support and requesting the documents. However, many users might find this solution lackluster.
I personally like and prefer managing everything in Apple Wallet. That said, some would at least like the option of a fully-functional website that can perform all the same functions as the app.
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Apple clearly wants its users to stick with the app on iPhone where it has more control. There’s at least one obvious reason for this — phishing.
If there’s a website with a login page, it is easily spoofed. Bank logins are one of the most targeted, and having a website and a login at all opens you up to abuse.
Apple Wallet is an app on iPhone that has all of the protections of the device, like the Secure Element and biometrics. There’s no login, nor any way for phishing emails to get ahold of account data.
Users can manage Apple Card on the website, but from a different perspective. There is no way to manipulate the Apple Card website to get money to an external account.
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While I’m sure Apple would have preferred not to have the website at all, there are likely laws against it. At the least, if someone wants to break into your Apple Card page, all they can do is pay your bill and view your payment history.
A robotic hand interacts with a code display, illustrating AI-assisted software development.Summit Art Creations / Shutterstock
Code hosting biz is trimming its global footprint and flattening its management layer
GitLab has opened the voluntary separation window and hopes an unspecified number of employees will exit the busniess to help it become “the trusted enterprise platform for software creation in the AI era.”
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According to CEO Bill Staples, the company’s effort to trim its workforce differs from other AI-related layoffs.
“This restructure process is not like others you may be seeing in the news,” wrote Staples in a blog post. “Of course AI is changing the way we work and is part of our transformation plan, but this is not an AI optimization or cost cutting exercise.”
What is it then? Well, according to Staples, GitLab plans to use most of the money it saves by sacking staff to invest in its business.
We note that the five fundamental architectural bets at the heart of this business reorientation – agent-specific APIs; reworked CI/CD; a data model for surfacing context; governance; and support for human-owned, agent-assisted, and autonomous workloads – sound like infrastructure investments, the very thing other companies fuel with vacated payroll obligations.
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But GitLab isn’t (so far as we can tell) returning freed funds to investors, initiating a stock buyback, larding executive bonuses, or launching an ill-advised metaverse venture that will consume $80 billion over five years. So maybe that’s the difference to which Staples alluded.
The other difference Staples cited is his company’s plan to have managers chat with employees about staying or going.
“Starting today, managers across the company are entering deeper conversations with leadership about how the restructuring principles land inside their teams,” he said. “Those conversations will inform the decision of impacted roles.”
There’s no word on the rubric for these retention-or-departure chats. Presumably employees deemed insufficiently enthused about the new direction will be encouraged to exit through the voluntary separation window. Absent that cooperation, defenestration at the hands of managers will likely follow.
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While Staples has not provided target for the number of desired layoffs – details will be revealed during the company’s Q1 FY2027 financial report on June 2nd – he did set a territory footprint goal. “We’re reevaluating our operational footprint, and are planning to reduce the number of countries by up to 30 percent where we have small teams,” he said.
GitLab currently operates in 60 countries. That’s a lot of different corporate entities to run, tax laws to master, and offices to rent.
The code biz did not immediately respond to a request to clarify how “small teams” is defined. Nor does it disclose its headcount in recent annual reports. According to analytics biz Unify, GitLab has about 1,800 employees, of whom almost 1,500 work outside the US.
Another goal of the layoff plan is to reduce GitLab’s organizational layers. “We’re flattening our organization because eight layers is too deep for a company our size and management layers are slowing us down,” said Staples.
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GitLab is betting heavily on its Duo Agent Platform (DAP), which entered general availability in January.
As recently as its 2025 annual report [PDF], GitLab talked up the possibility of continued hiring. “We intend to grow our international revenue by strategically increasing our investments in international sales and marketing operations, including headcount in the EMEA and APAC regions,” the biz said during a more optimistic time.
Now, not so much. Beyond other challenges like soft government business, one reason for the AI remake appears to be the company’s decision to raise prices back in 2023.
In March, during GitLab’s Q4 FY2026 [PDF] conference call for investors, Staples admitted that price-sensitive organizations didn’t much appreciate having to pay more.
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“Our 50 percent Premium price increase a few years ago also coincided with rising AI code experimentation and flattish SaaS budgets,” he said.
“Simultaneously, our upmarket shift reduced technical resources at the lower end of the market. Together, these have slowed Premium growth, particularly among price-sensitive customers which we estimate at roughly 20 percent of our ARR, including the SMB weakness that we have been discussing recently.” ®
The new Bluesound PULSE FLEX P130 is the 2025 version of Bluesound’s compact BluOS wireless speaker, replacing the long running PULSE FLEX 2i. Compact wireless speakers are no longer background noise for kitchens, bedrooms, home offices, cottages, second homes, and the one shelf in the living room that somehow becomes everyone’s audio system. People buy a lot of these things, and the category has gotten a lot more serious than it used to be.
The new Bluesound PULSE FLEX arrives at $379 with BluOS streaming, hi-res and lossless audio support, Apple AirPlay 2, Bluetooth, USB-C audio, and the ability to work as a standalone speaker, part of a multi-room system, or as wireless surround channels with compatible Bluesound home theater products. That puts it directly in the path of the Sonos Era 100, WiiM Sound, and the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker, which starts at $299 and rises to $349 depending on finish. We previewed the Bose last week, and our full review lands on May 15 when the embargo lifts. So yes, this fight is getting crowded. Good.
Bluesound also has something Sonos and WiiM cannot copy overnight: the Lenbrook ecosystem behind it. NAD Electronics, PSB Speakers, and BluOS give the PULSE FLEX a stronger hi-fi foundation than most compact wireless speakers chasing the same shelf space. That matters because this is not a throwaway category anymore. Build quality is improving. Sonic performance is improving. Connectivity is improving. And consumers are no longer just looking for a small speaker that makes noise while they burn toast.
The real question is whether the new PULSE FLEX actually lives up to the name. At $379, does Bluesound’s compact BluOS speaker play hard in the corners against Sonos, WiiM, and Bose, or does it merely have a pulse?
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Design: Not Every Speaker Needs to Look Like Vader
PULSE FLEX (white)
The PULSE FLEX has the kind of compact footprint that makes sense on a desk, nightstand, bookshelf, kitchen counter, or side table without announcing itself like a piece of networking gear from 2009. The rounded edges and cleaner cabinet design are a step in the right direction, and the finish options give Bluesound some needed visual flexibility.
Bluesound sent me the White Pebble Grey version, which is probably the safest choice for most homes. It is neutral enough to disappear into a lot of rooms without looking sterile, and that matters when these speakers end up in public spaces where spouses, partners, kids, guests, and people with actual taste get a vote.
The PULSE FLEX 2025 works as a standalone mono speaker, which is how many buyers will likely use it: on a desk, nightstand, bookshelf, kitchen counter, or in a home office. Add a second unit and it can run as a stereo pair, or serve as rear surrounds with compatible Bluesound home theater products.
At 5.15 x 7.73 x 4.37 inches and 3.55 pounds, it is compact enough to fit into real rooms without becoming the room. Bluesound includes 120V and 230V AC power cords, a Toslink mini adapter, safety and warranty documentation, and a quick setup guide. Not glamorous, but useful.
The top panel includes physical controls for play/pause, volume up/down, and track forward/back. There are also three preset buttons that can be assigned in the BluOS app to favorite radio stations, playlists, podcasts, or other commonly used sources. It is a small but useful touch, especially if the speaker ends up in a kitchen, office, or bedroom where reaching for the phone every time gets old fast.
Unlike the WiiM Sound, the PULSE FLEX does not include a touchscreen or display. Bluesound clearly expects you to control the speaker through the BluOS Controller app on your phone, tablet, or computer, with the top panel buttons handling basic playback and presets. That is not necessarily a problem, but it does make the PULSE FLEX feel more like a serious BluOS endpoint than a smart speaker trying to run the room from its own front panel.
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The PULSE FLEX is also available in White, Tan and Black Charcoal, with interchangeable fabric grilles in tonal weaves for those who want the speaker to blend in rather than become the room’s main character. Bluesound also offers the WM100 Wall Mount for cleaner wall installations and the FS230 Adjustable Stand for floor placement, which makes sense if you are using a pair as surrounds or trying to keep them off furniture already losing the war against charging cables.
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Inside the PULSE FLEX
The Bluesound PULSE FLEX is built around a Smart DSP amplifier delivering 50 watts total system power, split between a 4-inch woofer and 0.75-inch tweeter. That makes it a compact mono wireless speaker, not a stereo miracle box pretending physics had the day off. Add a second unit and you can create a proper stereo pair, or use two as rear surrounds with compatible Bluesound home theater products.
The new FLEX supports hi-res audio up to 24-bit/192 kHz, along with FLAC, MQA, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, MPEG-4 SLS, MP3, AAC, WMA, WMA-L, OGG, and OPUS. It also supports DSD256, which gives it a stronger file support story than a lot of compact wireless speakers in this category. MQA and DSD “support” require a more detailed explanation, so let’s break down what those formats actually mean on the PULSE FLEX.
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PULSE FLEX (tan)
DSD256 and MQA?
DSD256 is not something most people will stream from TIDAL, Qobuz, Spotify, AirPlay 2, Bluetooth, or their phone. That is not how this works. On the PULSE FLEX, DSD support is mainly for people who already own downloaded high resolution music files and keep them on a USB drive, NAS, or computer-based music library.
Bluesound lists the USB Type-A port as being for external storage in Local Server Mode, which means you can connect a compatible USB drive with music files directly to the speaker. BluOS can also index music stored on a NAS or computer, making those files available through the BluOS Controller app. That is where DSD256 support actually matters.
The USB-C port is listed as a PC input, but Bluesound’s available information does not clearly state that it supports DSD256 playback from a computer over USB-C. Until Bluesound confirms that, it is safer not to make that claim or expect it to work. We will update if that question ever gets answered.
For most buyers, the more important formats and services will be FLAC, ALAC, WAV, Qobuz Connect, TIDAL Connect, Spotify Connect, Apple AirPlay 2, Bluetooth aptX HD, and Roon Ready.
MQA is more complicated. Lenbrook acquired MQA’s assets in 2023 and later created Lenbrook Media Group to commercialize BluOS, MQA, and SCL6 across the hi-res audio chain. But TIDAL officially removed MQA from its apps and integrations on July 24, 2024, replacing MQA content with FLAC where available.
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For 99% of users, neither format will ever be part of the buying decision. But there is always one guy with a NAS, six versions of Kind of Blue, and the emotional stability of a Leafs fan in overtime, so we might as well be thorough.
Connectivity: More Reliable Than Rogers on a Friday Morning
Connectivity is solid for a speaker this size. The PULSE FLEX includes Wi-Fi 5 dual band, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 5.3 with aptX HD, a 3.5mm optical/analog combo input, USB Type-A for external storage in Local Server Mode, and USB-C for PC input. It also offers IR learning, three onboard preset buttons, physical playback controls, and integration support for Crestron, Control4, RTI, Nice, URC, and Lutron.
The one spec that feels a step behind is Wi-Fi 5. It should be fine for most users, especially with hi-res streaming and BluOS multiroom playback, but plenty of homes have already moved to Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7. At $379, Wi-Fi 6 would have been a welcome update.
That said, the PULSE FLEX offers more than the basics. It has useful wired and wireless options, practical control features, and enough integration support to work beyond a simple desktop or bedroom setup.
The BluOS Controller app remains one of Bluesound’s strongest advantages. It is detailed, mature, and gives users access to EQ adjustment, input level control, stereo pairing, multi-room setup, presets, music services, and system management without making the process feel like a firmware negotiation.
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That matters. BluOS has had almost a decade of real world development, updates, and use across Bluesound, NAD, and other Lenbrook products. It is one of the better multiroom platforms out there, especially for listeners who care about hi-res audio, local libraries, and more serious system integration.
There are limits. EQ adjustment is fairly basic, and the PULSE FLEX does not offer room correction, which is something WiiM includes with the WiiM Sound. Voice control is available through Amazon Alexa Skills, but you will need the patience to set that up properly. Nobody said the smart home was actually smart.
I also ran the PULSE FLEX with multiple iPhones. The iPhone 14 and iPhone 17 worked without issue, but the older iPhone 11 was less consistent with BluOS. That tracks with my own experience using earlier PULSE FLEX models and other Bluesound speakers over the years: BluOS is very good, but not completely free of quirks, especially with older phones.
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Listening
I came into the new PULSE FLEX with some preconceptions, mostly because I have owned and used other Bluesound speakers in the lineup. That prior experience led me to expect a somewhat bold presentation, which is not automatically a bad thing. But it can be.
Bold can work very well outside on the deck while eating char dogs with the kids and watching the dog get the zoomies across the lawn like he just stole something from a federal evidence locker.
At 5 a.m., it can be a different story.
I am a very early riser because sleep and I have a complicated arrangement, and some of my listening happens in the kitchen while I am making a pot of rooibos tea and staring into the backyard. That is usually when the fox and deer are sizing each other up like two extras in a Kurosawa film, while Tyrion the Westie scratches at the windowsill, furious that I will not let him outside to start a war he has absolutely no chance of winning.
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That kind of listening tells you something useful about a compact wireless speaker. It is not just about how loud it can play, or whether it can sound impressive for 90 seconds in a demo. It is whether the tonal balance still works when the house is quiet, nobody else is awake, and you need music that has presence without behaving like it drank three espressos.
Right out of the box, after the mildly annoying LED light show that tells you whether the speaker is pairing, connecting, updating, or silently judging your Wi-Fi, it was obvious that the new PULSE FLEX does not sound like the older models.
The older Bluesound speakers I have owned leaned more bold and bass forward, with a presentation that could feel somewhat V-shaped. That is not what I heard here. The new PULSE FLEX sounds cleaner, more open, and more balanced through the midrange and treble. The tradeoff is that the lowest bass does not hit with the same weight. The sub bass has not left the building, but it definitely took the morning off.
That showed up across Nick Cave, The Orb, deadmau5, and Talking Heads. The presentation felt more spacious and better sorted, with less bass bloom getting in the way, but also less physical impact than I expected based on earlier Bluesound models.
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Think less Vladdy Jr. sending one into the upper deck, and more Ernie Clement sneaking one just over the wall in left. It still counts. It just does not make the pitcher stare into the middle distance and reconsider his decision to leave Toledo.
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Another positive change is that the new PULSE FLEX sounds more spacious than previous models I have used. That matters because this is still a mono speaker, and Bluesound, unlike Bose, did not send a stereo pair for evaluation. So no, it is not going to overwhelm a room with a huge wall of sound or create the kind of left/right separation you get from two properly placed speakers. Physics remains undefeated, even in Jersey.
What it does manage rather well is a sense of openness and placement within reasonable limits. The PULSE FLEX does a better job than I expected keeping vocals, percussion, and electronic textures from stacking up in one congested lump. Imaging from a single mono speaker is always going to come with an asterisk, but this version feels less boxed in than earlier Bluesound compact models. That is a meaningful improvement.
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Another positive change is pacing. With less low end thickness, the PULSE FLEX sounds quicker, cleaner, and more open. There is more detail, better organization, and a little extra snap on rhythm driven tracks. It gives up some bass weight, but gains speed and clarity.
PULSE FLEX vs. Bose Lifestyle Ultra
Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker in Nueblack
I am slightly limited in what I can say about the new Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker until my review publishes on May 15 under embargo, but there are too many similarities here to ignore.
Where the PULSE FLEX has the immediate advantage is software. BluOS gives Bluesound easy access to multiple streaming platforms, local libraries, multiroom playback, and system control from one app. The Bose app is more focused on setup, configuration, and system management. That is not a criticism, but it is a different approach.
The Bluesound also supports Spotify Connect, TIDAL Connect, and Qobuz Connect natively. Bose supports Spotify Connect, while TIDAL and Qobuz playback run through Apple AirPlay or Google Cast. For listeners already using Qobuz or TIDAL every day, that matters. Fewer steps. Less friction. Fewer reasons to mutter at your phone like it owes you money.
The real difference is how each speaker handles control and streaming access. Bluesound puts more of the music experience inside BluOS, especially for Qobuz Connect, TIDAL Connect, Spotify Connect, local libraries, and multiroom playback. That is a major advantage if you already use BluOS or want one app to manage everything.
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PULSE FLEX (black)
But there is a counterargument. Some users do not want to live inside another control app, even a good one. They would rather open their preferred streaming app and cast directly from there. Bose leans more in that direction with Spotify Connect, Apple AirPlay, and Google Cast handling broader streaming access, while the Bose app focuses more on setup and system control.
So the PULSE FLEX has the stronger platform for serious BluOS users and local library playback. Bose may feel more natural for listeners who prefer to stay inside the apps they already use. Pick your poison: one deeper ecosystem, or fewer reasons to open another app before coffee.
The Bottom Line
The Bluesound PULSE FLEX P130 is not trying to be the loudest compact wireless speaker in the room, and that is probably a good thing. Compared to older PULSE FLEX models, the new version sounds cleaner, more open, and better paced, with improved detail and less of the bass heavy thickness that defined some previous Bluesound compact speakers. The tradeoff is impact. If you want deeper bass and more room filling weight from one small speaker, this is not the obvious first pick.
What makes the PULSE FLEX unique is the combination of BluOS, strong file support, native Spotify Connect, TIDAL Connect, Qobuz Connect, AirPlay 2, Bluetooth aptX HD, Roon Ready, real wired inputs, and the ability to work as a standalone speaker, stereo pair, multiroom endpoint, or surround channel with compatible Bluesound home theater products. That is a lot of flexibility in a speaker this small. It also helps that the build quality and finish options finally feel more appropriate for public rooms, not just a shelf in the basement next to the router.
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What is missing? Room correction, deeper EQ control, Wi-Fi 6, a touchscreen or display, and true stereo playback from a single unit. The WiiM Sound has a stronger feature story in some of those areas, and the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker offers a different kind of integration for users already inside that ecosystem. Bluesound’s answer is BluOS, and for the right listener, that still matters.
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The PULSE FLEX is best for someone who wants a compact wireless speaker for a desk, nightstand, bookshelf, kitchen, home office, cottage, or second home, but does not want to give up real streaming flexibility or local library support. It is also a smart buy for existing Bluesound, NAD, or BluOS users who want to expand into another room without starting over. Just know what you are buying: this is a refined compact BluOS speaker with better clarity and pacing, not a tiny subwoofer with fabric on it.
Pros:
Cleaner, more open tuning than previous PULSE FLEX models
Better pacing, detail, and snap with less low end thickness
BluOS remains one of the strongest multiroom platforms
Native support for Spotify Connect, TIDAL Connect, Qobuz Connect, Apple AirPlay 2, Bluetooth aptX HD, and Roon Ready
Strong connectivity for the size, including Gigabit Ethernet, optical/analog input, USB Type-A, and USB-C
Compact enough for a desk, nightstand, bookshelf, kitchen counter, or home office
More spacious presentation than earlier models, within mono speaker limits
Can be paired with a second PULSE FLEX for stereo playback
Can be used as surround channels with compatible Bluesound home theater products
Strong build quality and attractive finish options, especially White Pebble Grey
Cons:
Less bass impact than previous Bluesound compact speakers
Still mono unless you buy a second speaker
No room correction, unlike the WiiM Sound
EQ controls are limited
Wi-Fi 5 feels slightly behind the times at $379
No touchscreen or display, unlike the WiiM Sound
BluOS can still be quirky with older phones
Alexa is supported through Alexa Skills, but not built-in
Some users may not want to rely on another control app
We love when astronomers share the images they capture with the James Webb Space Telescope because they are so dang beautiful and cool. But of course, science is about more than just pretty pictures. A research team has used the telescope to map out the cosmic web, a collection of dark matter, gas and filaments that connects larger entities in space. As the blog post from the University of California, Riverside describes it, the cosmic web “forms the underlying architecture of the cosmos, linking galaxies and clusters into a single, intricate, and far-reaching structure.” Used the James Webb Space Telescope, this team has created the most detailed map to date of this foundational structure.
“The jump in depth and resolution is truly significant, and we can now see the cosmic web at a time when the universe was only a few hundred million years old, an era that was essentially out of reach before JWST,” said Bahram Mobasher, UCR professor and an investigator on the study. “What used to look like a single structure now resolves into many, and details that were smoothed away before, are now clearly visible.”
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“For the first time we can study the evolution of galaxies in cluster and filamentary structures across cosmic time, all the way from when the universe was a billion years old up to the nearby universe,” according to lead author Hossein Hatamnia, a graduate student at UCR and Carnegie Observatories.
The academic paper covering the development of this survey was published in The Astrophysical Journal.
OpenAI has just launched Daybreak, a cybersecurity initiative that’s clearly the company’s competitor to Anthropic’s Project Glasswing. If you’ll recall, Glasswing uses Anthropic’s unreleased AI model, Claude Mythos Preview, to provide its clients’ cyber defense needs. It’s been promising, so far: Mozilla revealed in April that Mythos helped it find and patch 271 vulnerabilities in the latest release of the Firefox browser. OpenAI says Daybreak uses its various AI models, including its specialized security agent Codex.
In its announcement, the company explained that Daybreak is built around the premise that cyber defense should be built into software from the start and not just revolve around finding and fixing vulnerabilities. Daybreak aims to prioritize high-impact issues and reduce hours of analysis to minutes, to generate and test patches within repositories and to send back results with audit-ready evidence to the clients’ systems. In OpenAI’s example, it asked Codex Security to scan a codebase, validate the highest-risk findings and fix them.
Daybreak will use GPT-5.5 for general purposes and GPT-5.5 with Trusted Access for Cyber for most defensive security workflows, including “secure code review, vulnerability triage, malware analysis, detection engineering and patch validation.” It will also rely on GPT-5.5-Cyber for “preview access for specialized workflows, including authorized red teaming, penetration testing and controlled validation.” OpenAI is already working with several partners under the initiative, including Cloudflare, Cisco, CloudStrike, Palo Alto Networks, Oracle and Akamai.
Analyst says modernizing applications is probably a better use of your time than hypervisor migration
Organizations that decide to reduce their VMware footprints, or quit Virtzilla entirely, will emerge with more complex and less capable infrastructure.
That’s the view of Paul Delory, a research vice president with analyst firm Gartner, who yesterday told the company’s IT Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies Conference in Sydney that there is no technical reason for VMware users to adopt a rival hypervisor, and that no vendor offers a one-for-one replacement for the virtualization pioneer’s flagship Cloud Foundation (VCF) suite.
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But Delory said Broadcom’s licensing policies, which see it only sell VCF, mean VMware users’ licensing bills typically rise by 300 to 400 percent. Broadcom argues that the full-stack private clouds VCF makes it possible to build are so efficient that VCF quickly pays for itself.
The analyst told the conference he thinks those contemplating a move off VMware will do better if they instead focus on application modernization. But he said Broadcom’s price changes, and the prospect the company might hike prices again in future, mean many VMware users will look elsewhere.
Those who do, he warned, will end up with more complex infrastructure for two reasons.
One is that few organizations will be able to quit VMware entirely, as they run applications with dependencies that aren’t easy or economical to unwind. Reducing or eliminating a VMware rig therefore means adopting multiple replacements, which creates more infrastructure to manage and therefore extra complexity.
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The other is that no rival hypervisor can match the efficiency or VM density possible when using VMware’s products, so moving means acquiring more hardware.
Delory said the best alternatives to VMware are the public cloud, or HCI vendors – these days that acronym denotes both hyperconverged infrastructure and hybrid cloud infrastructure.
The analyst warned that HCI vendors, with the exception of Nutanix, have weak migration tools that will leave users needing to create bespoke migration automations using “Ansible and a Rube Goldberg machine.”
Public clouds, he said, will welcome customers who move 1,000 or more VMs with free migration services.
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He recommended against considering OpenStack, which he said remains “too big, too complex, and has too many moving parts for the typical IT shop to handle effectively.”
Delory also warned VMware users that migration projects are significant engineering undertakings that require extensive assessment of every application in a fleet to determine its best destination, and the work required to get it there.
He reminded VMware users that not every workload is certified to run under non-VMware hypervisors, and that some vendors now offer cloud-native versions of their wares and therefore offer an easier on-ramp to containerised applications.
Delory advised exploring those options, and not making architectural decisions that mean you can’t consider moving off VMware.
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“VMware is betting that you can’t move off and they can jack the price way up,” he said. “That may be a good bet. But don’t make it easy.”
The analyst finished his talk by predicting most users will minimize their VMware footprints, rather than eliminating them, and restated Gartner’s prediction that 35 percent of workloads currently running under VMware will operate on a different platform by 2028. ®
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