SIVGA is a Chinese HiFi audio brand that was founded in 2016. They’re an end-to-end organization, running their own R&D, branding, and manufacturing, in-house. This all-original approach gives SIVGA freedom to experiment and innovate, but also creates a distinct “SVIGA-iness” across their lineup. The company builds both over-ear headphones and in-ear monitors, and its latest release, the Nightingale Pro, revisits the original planar magnetic Nightingale IEM with revised tuning and execution.
The first Nightingale earned a loyal following but never crossed into broad market relevance. The question now is simple and unavoidable: does the Nightingale Pro finally have the balance, refinement, and accessibility to break out of the niche—or is it still speaking mainly to the faithful?
About My Preferences
This review is a subjective assessment, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest. I do my best to separate personal taste from performance-based criticism, but bias never fully disappears—it just gets managed. So consider this your calibration point. My ideal sound signature prioritizes competent sub-bass, textured mid-bass, a slightly warm midrange, and extended but controlled treble. I also have mild treble sensitivity, which means I’m quick to notice glare, edge, or artificial sparkle.
Sources, DAPs, and Dongles Used
Listening was split between dedicated digital audio players and dongles to reflect how most people will actually use the Nightingale Pro. DAPs included the HiFiMAN SuperMini, Hidizs AP80 Pro MAX, and the Astell&Kern PD10, covering everything from ultra-portable to genuinely high-end. Dongle testing included the Astell&Kern HC5, Audioengine HXL, Meze Audio Alba Dongle, and the ubiquitous Apple USB-C dongle.
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Testing equipment and standards can be found here.
Build
As is typical for SIVGA, the Nightingale Pro is constructed from a carefully chosen mix of high-quality, tactile materials. The faceplate is carved from polished zebrawood and set into a precisely anodized aluminum chassis, giving the IEM a premium, handcrafted feel that’s immediately apparent in the hand and consistent with the brand’s design ethos.
The Nightingale Pro uses metal nozzles with an integrated debris filter positioned just below the lip, a practical touch that should help with long-term durability and maintenance. At the top of each shell is an extruded 0.78 mm two-pin socket, firmly set into the housing to ensure a secure cable connection and reduce long-term wear from repeated swaps.
Because of the extruded design of the Nightingale Pro’s sockets, the pool of compatible third-party cables is smaller than with a standard flush 0.78 mm connection. Fortunately, that limitation is softened by the fact that the included cable is genuinely solid.
It uses a two-tone twisted braid paired with metal hardware and feels purpose-built rather than disposable. SIVGA also employs a substantial spring as strain relief near the base of the fixed 4.4 mm termination, lending the cable an almost industrial look while adding real-world durability. From a construction and longevity standpoint, there’s nothing here that raises red flags.
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Comfort
Comfort is inherently personal and heavily dependent on individual ear anatomy, so mileage will vary. The Nightingale Pro features a shallow fit profile, with nozzles that are slightly shorter than average. As a result, some experimentation with eartip sizes and shapes is likely required to achieve an optimal seal.
That said, the IEMs themselves are neither heavy nor bulky, and once dialed in, they proved comfortable for multiple consecutive hours of listening. The trade-off is isolation. The shorter nozzle and shallower insertion mean passive noise attenuation is below average, especially compared to deeper-fitting designs. For that reason, the Nightingale Pro isn’t an ideal choice for air travel or consistently noisy environments, where isolation matters as much as comfort.
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Accessories
The Nightingale Pro’s accessory bundle is fairly bare-bones. Inside the box, you’ll find a semi-hard carrying case and six pairs of silicone eartips—and that’s about it. Unfortunately, the included eartips are the weak link here. Paired with the Nightingale Pro’s shallow fit profile, they simply didn’t work well for my ears and made achieving a consistent seal more difficult than it should be.
For an IEM in this price range, the accessory selection feels underwhelming. At a minimum, higher-quality silicone eartips would be a welcome upgrade. Including a pair or two of Comply-style foam tips would also go a long way toward improving comfort, seal, and perceived value out of the box.
The Nightingale Pro’s carrying case is a bright spot in an otherwise modest accessory bundle. It offers enough internal space to comfortably store the IEMs, the attached cable, and even a compact dongle without feeling cramped. With a bit of careful arrangement, you can also fit a few spare pairs of eartips. Protection is solid but not exceptional—best described as average—making the case well suited for static storage and light travel rather than heavy-duty, throw-it-in-a-bag use.
Technical Specifications
The Nightingale Pro is built around a 14.5 mm planar magnetic driver, a relatively large diaphragm for an in-ear monitor. With a 16 ohm impedance and 107 dB sensitivity, it’s an easy IEM to drive and performs well from dongles and portable sources without requiring excessive power.
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Its rated frequency response of 20 Hz to 40 kHz aligns with the Nightingale Pro’s airy top-end and controlled low-frequency extension, while the supplied 1.25 m cable terminates in a 4.4 mm balanced connector, reinforcing its intended use with modern balanced sources. At 14 g, the shells remain light enough for long listening sessions, even with the slightly shallow fit. Overall, the specs point to a planar IEM designed for portable versatility rather than source dependency, with few practical barriers to entry for everyday listening.
Listening
The Nightingale Pro presents a largely linear tuning with a subtle warm tilt. Its low end is well extended and lightly emphasized in the lower registers, while the midrange remains even and neutrally voiced overall. The upper mids receive a modest lift to improve instrumental separation and vocal clarity without pushing the presentation forward.
Treble is expressive but deliberately restrained, never asserting itself as the focal point. By carefully attenuating energy around the 8, 10, and 12 kHz regions, the Nightingale Pro avoids sharpness and metallic timbre. Extension, however, is excellent, reinforcing the point that convincing air and detail don’t require aggressive treble peaks to fully articulate the upper registers.
Glittering, Gleaming, Subtlety
The Nightingale Pro is not an in-your-face IEM, and that restraint is most evident in its treble tuning. While planar drivers are often associated with a boisterous or overly dramatic upper register, that reputation is more a byproduct of inconsistent tuning than an inherent trait of the technology itself. Here, the Nightingale Pro operates firmly in the realm of linearity, delivering strong resolution, texture, and dimensionality while integrating treble information naturally into the soundstage rather than spotlighting it.
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The gentle, muted snares in the background of “Anna Sun” by Walk the Moon peek through the edges of the soundstage during the intro, then open up and sit more forward in the mix during the chorus. The Nightingale Pro’s carefully measured treble makes that kind of finesse easy to follow. A brighter treble would have been more “exciting,” sure—but it also would have been more likely to smear that detail and mask what the track’s mastering is actually doing.
Muted Mids
SIVGA tuned the Nightingale Pro’s midrange to be deliberately linear, resulting in a warm, smooth presentation that stands in clear contrast to the more aggressive upper-midrange peaks often associated with planar IEMs. This predictable, even-handed approach makes the Nightingale Pro a strong candidate for reference-style listening, but it also places it outside the comfort zone of more mainstream tastes. Certain genres and mastering styles can come across as overly warm, which in turn affects the perceived width and scale of the soundstage.
EDM tracks like “Light Up The Sky” by Wooli are largely unaffected by this tuning, retaining their drive and structure. Rock recordings, however, such as “Lost in the Echo” by Linkin Park fare worse. On tracks like these, the soundstage can feel compressed, with vocals and guitars sounding dense and constrained.
Male vocals, while full-bodied and weighty, can lean heavy at times. Female vocals and higher-pitched male vocals are better served by the tuning and tend to sound clearer and more balanced. Even so, lyric intelligibility remains strong, and instrumental layering is consistently well handled. The Nightingale Pro presents music in an intimate, close-up manner, but it avoids sounding muddy thanks to its solid technical performance. Listeners accustomed to a more recessed lower midrange may take issue with this tuning choice, as it meaningfully reshapes how instruments and vocals are positioned within the mix.
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Gentle and Firm Bass
Thanks to its mildly lifted bass shelf, the Nightingale Pro is reasonably well equipped to resolve low-frequency information. Drum hits carry a touch of punch and a hint of rumble, though not to the extent you’d expect from a traditional dynamic-driver design. The lower register isn’t boisterous, but it is clean, quick, and well controlled, which makes the Nightingale Pro a capable partner for fast-moving genres like metal.
Electronic music can also fare well, depending on the mastering. The Nightingale Pro is able to dig into the sub-bass to resolve deep synth lines and will occasionally deliver a convincing sense of rumble. This gives it enough low-end contrast to support tracks like “Swimming in the Sky” by ARMNHMR, helping establish tonal depth without overwhelming the rest of the presentation. It won’t shake your skull, but it also avoids the flat or anemic low-end character that plagues some planar IEMs.
Comparisons
Kiwi Ears Aether
The Kiwi Ears Aether is a $170 planar IEM built around plastic shells with metal nozzles and a thin 0.78 mm two-pin cable. It uses a fixed 3.5 mm termination, rather than the fixed 4.4 mm balanced termination found on the Nightingale Pro. At roughly $130 less, the Aether clearly targets more cost-sensitive buyers—and it looks the part. Build quality and material choices fall short across the board, from the faceplates and nozzles to the cable itself. Nothing about the Aether’s physical execution approaches the Nightingale Pro’s level of refinement.
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Sonically, however, the gap narrows considerably. The Aether ranks among the stronger planar IEMs currently available, offering a well-balanced, natural tuning and solid technical performance at an accessible price. The Nightingale Pro, by contrast, caters more directly to listeners who favor linearity and a flatter, reference-leaning presentation. The Aether brings slightly more mid-bass presence and a less emphasized lower midrange, while its upper mids are marginally more forward. Treble is another point of divergence: the Nightingale Pro is more restrained overall, whereas the Aether’s lower treble is noticeably more forward, making it easier to create a sense of air and openness.
Between the two, the Aether is the easier recommendation for everyday listening. Its broader genre compatibility and less linear tuning make it more forgiving and more enjoyable across a diverse music library. Listeners who are treble-averse or specifically seeking a more reference-oriented presentation, however, will likely find the Nightingale Pro better aligned with their preferences.
7Hz Divine
The Divine is a relatively recent planar IEM from 7Hz, typically priced around $150. It features polished metal shells and a detachable cable that’s noticeably thicker and heavier than the Nightingale Pro’s. That cable terminates in a fixed 3.5 mm plug rather than a 4.4 mm balanced connection. Despite costing roughly half as much as the Nightingale Pro, the Divine ships with a larger carrying case and a more generous selection of eartips.
In terms of tuning, the Nightingale Pro leans more linear and reference-oriented, with a warmer overall balance than the Divine. Both IEMs employ modest bass shelves, but the Divine’s low end comes across drier and more matter-of-fact. The Divine also features a larger upper-midrange lift and a more pronounced upper treble, giving it a cooler, airier presentation. From a technical standpoint, both perform competently, though the Nightingale Pro does a better job of capturing fine vocal inflections that the Divine tends to smooth over. The Divine can surface certain details more readily, but it misses some of the subtler mastering nuances that the Nightingale Pro renders more convincingly.
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Between the two, the Nightingale Pro edges ahead. While the Divine offers broader genre flexibility, the Nightingale Pro’s bass tonality is more satisfying, and its overall presentation is easier to live with over long sessions. Comfort also plays a role: despite its attractive design, the Divine can become fatiguing to wear, whereas the Nightingale Pro proves more accommodating for extended listening.
Juzear Harrier
The Juzear Harrier is a tribrid IEM built with resin shells and metal nozzles, typically priced at $330, though it was available for $300 at the time of writing. It includes a modular 0.78 mm two-pin cable with both 3.5 mm and 4.4 mm terminations. The cable itself is quite good—noticeably thicker than the Nightingale Pro’s—and feels more substantial in hand. In terms of construction, the Nightingale Pro’s metal-and-wood chassis is clearly sturdier than the Harrier’s resin build, though the Harrier does fit my ears more comfortably.
Sonically, the Harrier takes a very different approach. It is the bassier of the two, with a much more pronounced low end and a particularly forward mid-bass. The Nightingale Pro counters with tighter, more controlled mid-bass and sub-bass performance, along with stronger technical discipline. The Harrier leans cooler overall, with a larger upper-midrange lift and greater treble emphasis.
By comparison, the Nightingale Pro sounds more linear and noticeably more cohesive from top to bottom. While the Harrier’s treble is more forward, it can also come across as grainier. The Nightingale Pro generally exhibits superior technicalities, though it can sound congested when directly A/B tested against the Harrier on certain tracks.
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Between the two, the Nightingale Pro takes the nod. Its sturdier build quality, stronger technical performance, and greater tonal cohesion work in its favor. The Harrier is still an appealing option, but it feels like a less fully realized execution of its tuning vision. Listeners who are sensitive to warmth or prefer a more open, brighter midrange and treble balance may gravitate toward the Harrier. Personally, I’m comfortable sticking with the Nightingale Pro.
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The Bottom Line
The Nightingale Pro is a thoughtfully built planar IEM that sticks closely to SIVGA’s established design language and tuning philosophy. Its presentation leans linear and reference-minded, with real sub-bass reach, a touch of warmth through the mids, and a treble response that stays extended without ever tipping into sharpness or sibilance. The craftsmanship is legitimately excellent—shells and faceplates feel premium in a way that’s immediately apparent—but sound quality, not aesthetics, is where buying decisions are made.
And this is where the Nightingale Pro becomes selective rather than universal. The restrained mid-bass and more relaxed treatment of male vocals and electric guitars limit its emotional punch, especially for listeners accustomed to more forward or dynamic presentations. In a price range crowded with strong alternatives, build quality alone isn’t enough to move it to the top of the list.
That said, there is a clear audience here. Listeners chasing a clean, sharpness-free planar sound, engineers looking for balance over excitement, and anyone drawn to a controlled, reference-style tuning will find a lot to respect. Bassheads, V-shaped devotees, and those who want vocals pushed front and center should keep moving. The Nightingale Pro doesn’t try to win everyone over—and that may be its most honest trait.
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Pros:
Sibilance-free tuning that stays composed even on hot recordings
Expressive, nuanced midrange with strong vocal and acoustic texture
Genuine sub-bass extension with reach and control
High-quality craftsmanship that feels deliberate, not mass-produced
Excellent layering and separation, especially in complex mixes
Impressive upper-treble extension that adds air without bite
Cons:
Mid-bass lacks authority, limiting slam and rhythmic weight
Cable feels wiry above the Y-split, detracting from overall ergonomics
Included silicone eartips are sub-par and do the IEM no favors
Shallow shell profile demands careful tip selection to get proper seal
Below-average passive isolation, especially for commuting or travel
Male vocals and electric guitars sound muted on select tracks
A dual Chinese and St. Kitts and Nevis national was sentenced to 20 years in prison in absentia for his role in an international cryptocurrency investment scheme (also known as pig butchering or romance baiting) that defrauded victims of more than $73 million.
In pig butchering scams, criminals use messaging apps, dating platforms, and social media accounts to build trust with their targets before introducing fraudulent investment schemes. In the end, rather than investing the funds to deliver the promised huge profits, the scammers drain victims’ cryptocurrency wallets.
42-year-old Daren Li pleaded guilty in November 2024 to conspiracy to launder funds obtained through “pig butchering” scams operated from centers in Cambodia after his April 2024 arrest at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
However, Li fled in December 2025 after cutting off his ankle monitor, becoming a fugitive before sentencing in California federal court. In addition to the 20-year prison sentence, he also received three years of supervised release after the prison term.
“As part of an international cryptocurrency investment scam, Daren Li and his co-conspirators laundered over $73 million dollars stolen from American victims,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Criminal Division. “The Court’s sentence reflects the gravity of Li’s conduct, which caused devastating losses to victims throughout our country.”
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Court documents revealed that Li and co-conspirators were part of an international crime syndicate that used a network of money launderers to move millions stolen from dozens of victims to U.S. bank accounts linked to approximately 74 shell companies, then transferred funds to domestic and international accounts and cryptocurrency platforms to conceal their origins.
He instructed accomplices to open bank accounts and transfer more than $73 million to Deltec Bank in the Bahamas for conversion into cryptocurrency, including Tether. The investigators also discovered more than $341 million in cryptocurrency in one of the crypto wallets the fraud ring used for money laundering.
Li is the first defendant directly involved in receiving victim funds to be sentenced among eight co-conspirators who have also pleaded guilty.
The Justice Department charged four additional suspects in December with involvement in another pig butchering scheme linked to over $80 million in losses.
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The FBI’s 2024 Internet Crime Report noted that investment scammers stole over $6.5 billion from 47,919 victims, up from $4.57 billion in 2023.
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In classrooms across the country, children are showing progress in reading, yet many students cannot tell you what those words mean, why they matter or how the text connects to their lives.
My first grade multilingual learner asked for help with an assignment that required reading the word and matching it to the corresponding picture. I assumed that my student had not read it. My student replied, “I read the word, but I don’t know what it means.”
At that moment I realized that my students were decoding but not understanding what they read. According to the simple view of reading, students must be able to decode and have linguistic comprehension to attain reading comprehension. Multilingual learners are developing language, which makes comprehension more challenging.
Data from national assessments revealed that reading comprehension outcomes have worsened nationwide (Figure 1). More students scored below proficiency in reading in the 2024 report than in the 2022 and 2019 reports (Figure 2).
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Figure 1: National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2024
The sharpest declines, according to NAEP and the Department of Public Instruction, are among African American, Hispanic, Native American, and multilingual learners. The data highlights that despite widespread science of reading reforms emphasizing foundational literacy skills, minority students continue to struggle with comprehension.
Culturally and Linguistically Sustaining Practices Matter
America’s classrooms are more diverse today than at any point in history. There are over 5 million multilingual learners in the United States.
Yet science of reading curricula rarely reflect this diversity. Many curricula assume that students come from white, English-speaking, middle-class households.
Research shows students improve in reading when texts reflect their racial, cultural and linguistic identities, because culture shapes the oral language needed for comprehension. When curricula ignore students’ experiences, understanding suffers, not from lack of ability, but from lack of relevance.
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Science of reading reforms have boosted decoding, but they were built for monolingual, culturally narrow classrooms.
Grounded in English-only assumptions, many science of reading curricula lack multilingual learners’ home languages and cultural knowledge, making it harder for them to comprehend texts. Decodable texts deepen this gap because they are designed to practice phonics rather than to develop rich vocabulary, complex language or connections to texts.
As a result, students may look strong on decoding data while continuing to lag in comprehension, confirming NAEP’s widening comprehension gaps even with decoding gains.
Classroom solutions
Despite these challenges, teachers have powerful tools at their disposal that do not require abandoning foundational skills. Instead, they ask us to expand our definition of literacy beyond decoding and provide instructional time for students to develop language comprehension.
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1. Choose culturally representative texts
Research with African American, Latinx, Indigenous, and multilingual students shows that literature that affirms identities improves comprehension, motivation and critical thinking. Representation matters.
2. Make read-alouds a daily nonnegotiable
Read-alouds provide students with rich vocabulary and syntax, model fluent reading, and build shared background knowledge, all essential for reading comprehension. Choose read-alouds that are 2-3 levels above students’ reading levels to provide opportunities to learn new vocabulary.
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3. Explicitly teach vocabulary before, during and after reading
Building vocabulary is needed for students to construct background knowledge and linguistic comprehension.
Multilingual learners and some students from lower-income backgrounds may require images or visuals to support comprehension. I discovered that students were unfamiliar with simple consonant-vowel-consonant words like “fig” or “hut.”
Additionally, vocabulary instruction is more effective when woven into the lesson rather than as an afterthought. Students also benefit from thematic units that reuse vocabulary words, which provide students with opportunities to practice new oral language.
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4. Use collaborative talk structures frequently
Oral language develops language comprehension, one of the two main components necessary for reading comprehension. According to the simple view of reading framework, reading comprehension is the product of decoding words and language comprehension.
While foundational literacy science of reading curricula teach students to decode, students must engage in collaborative learning through turn-and-talks, small-group discussions and shared inquiry to develop language comprehension.
5. Allow translanguaging for multilingual learners
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When students use their home languages to process ideas, compare concepts or discuss texts, comprehension deepens. It is a powerful cognitive tool, validated by decades of research in bilingual education.
Try using strategies such as identifying cognates, teaching children to use bilingual dictionaries or apps, and providing a space within the lesson for students of the same home language to brainstorm.
We Can’t Do It Alone
Teachers cannot solve the literacy crisis without the support of parents and community partners.
I recently read an article about a literacy initiative in a refugee camp, which found that sending home tablets with stories in families’ home languages increased students’ motivation and improved reading comprehension.
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When parents are given tools to read with their children, regardless of language, students develop literacy skills. Teachers can improve literacy efforts at home through bilingual books, multilingual reading apps, family literacy nights, community tutoring partnerships and take-home literacy kits.
One of my most successful classroom projects was a “Bilingual Book in a Bag.” Students took home a bilingual book, a stuffed animal, creative activities and a writing journal to complete with their families. The joy students brought back to the classroom, and the growth in their writing and comprehension, proved what research has long shown: Children learn best when their languages and families are valued.
A Call for a More Humanizing Literacy Future
If we expect students to improve reading comprehension, we must move beyond narrow, English-only interpretations of the science of reading. Foundational skills matter, but decoding is only the beginning.
Children need oral language, background knowledge and cultural connections. Reading is not simply sounding out words. It is making meaning, connecting text to identity, culture and lived experience. The future of literacy depends on our willingness to honor the full humanity of every child.
On Monday, Databricks announced it reached a $5.4 billion revenue run rate, growing 65% year-over-year, of which more than $1.4 billion was from its AI products.
Co-founder and CEO Ali Ghodsi wanted to share these growth numbers because there’s so much talk about how AI is going to kill the SaaS business, he told TechCrunch.
“Everybody’s like, ‘Oh, it’s SaaS. What’s going to happen to all these companies? What’s AI going to do with all these companies?’ For us, it’s just increasing the usage,” he said.
To be sure, he also wants to distance Databricks from the SaaS label, given that private markets value it as an AI company. Databricks on Monday also officially closed on its massive, previously announced $5 billion raise at a $134 billion valuation, and nabbed a $2 billion loan facility as well.
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But the company is straddling both worlds. Databricks is still best known as a cloud data warehouse provider. A data warehouse is where enterprises store massive amounts of data to analyze for business insights.
Ghodsi called out, in particular, one AI product that’s driving usage of its data warehouse: its LLM user interface named Genie.
Genie is an example of how a SaaS business can replace its user interface with natural language. For instance, he uses it to ask why warehouse usage and revenue spike on particular days.
Just a few years ago, such a request required writing queries in a specific technical language, or having a special report programmed. Today, any product with an LLM interface can be used by anyone, Ghodsi noted. Genie is one reason for the company’s usage growth numbers, he said.
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The threat of AI to SaaS isn’t, as one AI VC jokingly tweeted, that enterprises will rip out their SaaS “systems of record” to replace them with vibe-coded homegrown versions. Systems of record store critical business data, whether it’s on sales, customer support, or finance.
“Why would you move your system of record? You know, it’s hard to move it,” Ghodsi said.
The model makers aren’t offering databases to store that data and become systems of record anyway. Instead, they hope to replace the user interface with natural language for human use, or APIs or other plug-ins for AI agents.
So the threat to SaaS businesses, Ghodsi says, is that people no longer spend their careers becoming masters of a particular product: Salesforce specialists, or ServiceNow, or SAP. Once the interface is just language, the products become invisible, like plumbing.
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“Millions of people around the world got trained on those user interfaces. And so that was the biggest moat that those businesses have,” Ghodsi warned.
SaaS companies that embrace the new LLM interface could grow, as Databricks is doing. But it also opens up possibilities for AI-native competitors to offer alternatives that work better with AI and agents.
That’s why Databricks created its Lakebase database designed for agents. He’s seeing early traction. “In its eight months that we’ve had it in the market, it’s done twice as much revenue as our data warehouse had when it was eight months old. Okay, obviously, that’s like comparing toddlers,” Ghodsi says. “But this is a toddler that’s twice as big.”
Meanwhile, now that Databricks has closed on its massive funding round, Ghodsi tells us that the company is not immediately working on another raise, nor prepping for an IPO.
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“Now is not a great time to go public,” Ghodsi said. “I just wanted to be really well capitalized” should the markets go “south” again as they did in the 2022 downturn, when interest rates rose sharply after years of near-zero rates. A thick bank account “protects us, gives us many, many years of runway,” he added.
The IBM MWave sound card is still talked about in retro computing circles today, though not in a good way. It’s remarkable how many people can’t stop thinking about how disappointing it was. Launched around 1992 and utilized in IBM’s Aptiva desktops and ThinkPads, the MWave was designed to be a nifty little combo of sound playback and dial-up modem on a single chip. The idea promised convenience and cost savings during an era when sound cards carried prices similar to today’s graphics cards, but reality delivered something far different.
IBM created the MWave around a unique digital signal processor that was expected to handle audio and modem functions. It had a separate chip for digital to analog conversion and another for dealing with the very rudimentary game audio of FM synthesis, as well as General MIDI wavetables for fuller sound and, of course, modem functions up to 28.8 kbps. Later drivers touted 33.6 kbps, since this all appeared to be a forward-thinking approach at first, with one card handling game sound effects, MIDI backgrounds, and internet connections without the need for additional hardware. You have some useful features, such as wake on ring for the Aptivas resume functionality. Few other manufacturers were attempting this tight integration at the time.
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The compatibility concerns began almost immediately, with owners complaining about the modem and audio conflicts at startup. The shared CPU simply wasn’t powerful enough to manage both tasks. Owners experienced frequent failed connections, garbled audio, or no audio at all, with the modem failing in one instance while the audio worked in another. From the start, the drivers seemed suspicious. People frequently had to manually meddle with restarts and fiddling around the edges in the hopes that their system would even recognize the card.
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Users who used Windows reported a host of issues, beginning with frequent crashes and system errors, particularly when attempting to run Sound Blaster emulation in Windows 95 and 98. DOS games had to be booted up in specific ways so that when you heard audio, it was actually there rather than just gone.
The audio quality suffered significantly as a result of FM synthesis, which was intended to replicate the iconic sound of the soundblaster but instead produced horrible distorted sound. Pitches would shift unexpectedly, notes would vanish, and percussion would just evaporate, while sound effects such as reverb, chorus, and so on would become muddy. The wavetable MIDI was considerably worse, with instruments sounding out of sync, missing vibrato pitch bends, and terrible timbres that sounded if a game’s original soundtrack had been blended. Some audio clips from games like as Duke Nukem 2, Commander Keen, Descent, and Tyrian 2000 demonstrate the severity of the issues, with severe artificial echoes, warped melodies, and what should have been magnificent sound effects reduced to glitches as well as awful basic tones.
It wasn’t only Windows; even DOS-based games suffered from static and poor audio quality. Most consumers were vocal about their dissatisfaction, and IBM faced a class-action lawsuit in the late 1990s, which was eventually settled in 2001. Some customers received a check and a modem in exchange for their quiet and a non-disclosure agreement, while others just had their forum postings “disappear” when they dared to report difficulties. IBM eventually removed the MWave from new systems in 1998, nearly 6 years after it initially began failing, and replaced it with separate sound cards and a modem. [Source]
For sixty seconds during Super Bowl LX, Google Gemini managed to seem like a tool the average person might like. That’s a surprisingly rare feat, but one that many of the biggest AI companies attempted during the big game.
In a soft-spoken, emotionally textured ad titled “New Home,” a mother uses Gemini to help her young son imagine what their new house might feel like. She pulls up a photo of the empty bedroom and asks Gemini to recreate it with her son’s toys, bed, and even the dog’s bed from a photo in their current home. They decorate. They wander through a photorealistic version of the new yard, dreaming up possibilities. The tech is present, but never central.
New Home | Google Gemini SB Commercial 2026 – YouTube
It seems Google learned what it got so wrong during the 2024 Summer Olympics with its miscalculated “Dear Sydney” ad. That spot featured a dad asking Gemini to write a heartfelt fan letter to an Olympic athlete for his daughter. It landed with a thud. Replacing an earnest parent’s voice with AI-generated prose wasn’t clever or efficient.
The Olympics ad showed Gemini as a shortcut for human expression. The Super Bowl ad showed it as scaffolding.
Welcome to the AI Bowl
Super Bowl ads are always a strange cultural litmus test. Every year, we get a peek at what advertisers think Americans care about, and what they believe we’re ready to laugh at, cry about, or trust. In 2026, that apparently meant AI.
This year, more than 23% of Super Bowl ads involved artificial intelligence. Not just tech giants like Google or Amazon, but everyone from Anthropic to TurboTax found a way to shoehorn AI into their creative pitch. Some did it with wit. Others leaned hard on emotional pull.
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The big AI players opted for sentimentality over spectacle. Anthropic took a shot at OpenAI’s new plans to serve ads by mocking algorithmic overload with a scene-stealing grandma. Amazon’s Alexa+ ad starred Chris Hemsworth and played like a buddy comedy. Even the TurboTax ad managed to slide AI into a punchline about finding human help after too much chatbot confusion.
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Google’s attempt felt less like a push against its rivals and more like an effort to reach people who don’t care about AI at all. Since Google has been racing to catch up in AI mindshare after OpenAI leapfrogged it with ChatGPT, it has shown remarkable confidence and restraint. And after the Olympics stumble, it was clear that Google needed to recalibrate how people think about using AI tools.
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Sentiment with clarity
Every second costs a fortune in a Super Bowl ad, but Google may get its money’s worth with “New Home” if it resonates with the average person. Though arguably a little too neat, the feeling behind it is at least easy to empathize with. And it works here because the technology being sold isn’t a search engine or a Pixel phone, but the idea about how AI, specifically Gemini, should fit into everyday life.
The Olympics ad misfired by acting like AI could do the feeling for us. This one succeeds because it knows better. I’m not saying it will work. There’s a little underlying cynicism that might be off-putting. But there are times when people want a little help that AI can offer, and the ad doesn’t throw it in your face.
Plenty of ads this year tried to show AI as friendly, useful, and accessible. Google’s made it feel normal. And making AI feel normal is one of the hardest things to do, and one that most companies struggle with. When people hear about generative AI, they still think of scary deepfakes or fake Drake songs or layoffs or hallucinated facts. It’s hard to ask people to let AI into their homes when so much of what they see in the news is framed as loss.
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Google’s ad doesn’t address any of that directly. But it offers a different kind of counterargument. Not It says, here’s how this could help you get through something, not by doing it for you, but by helping you do it more clearly, more playfully, and maybe with a little less stress. Because it might turn out that what people want from AI isn’t to be amazed. It’s to feel a little more at home with whatever comes next.
Sentiment with clarity
There’s a deeper shift underway here, one that trademark law can’t resolve. As synthetic media becomes easier and more convincing, the question of ownership becomes not just legal but cultural. If people expect to be able to remix and regenerate anything, then the law alone won’t be enough to stop them. There will need to be new norms, new taboos, and new expectations around consent.
McConaughey’s line is clear: if you want to use his voice, ask him. That shouldn’t be controversial. Consent and attribution are low bars, and yet they’re absent in much of today’s AI landscape. Most AI voice tools don’t tell users where the source material came from. M
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In some ways, McConaughey’s actions set a precedent. If a famous phrase or moment can be legally protected, maybe yours can too. If not through trademark, then through pressure on platforms to flag synthetic content, on lawmakers to draft modern regulations, and on AI developers to build with consent in mind. The truth is, most people won’t have the means to file lawsuits every time their face appears in an unauthorized AI video. But maybe they shouldn’t have to.
We need a broader shift in how synthetic identity is treated, including penalties for violating consent. We’re all walking toward an uncertain era where the most persuasive versions of ourselves might not even be ours.
This era demands new legal constructs, regulatory clarity, and international cooperation to govern how AI can use and reuse personal identity. Without that, celebrities might end up fighting a series of narrow battles without winning the larger war. And even someone who just likes to upload videos of themselves telling stories could find their voice snatched away without their permission to sell a product they’ve never heard of. And that’s not alright, alright, alright.
Valentine’s Day gifts get tricky when you want something that feels thoughtful but also genuinely useful. That’s why a foot massager can be a sleeper hit. It’s comfort, stress relief, and “I noticed you’ve been tired lately” wrapped into one box. Right now, the RENPHO Foot Massager Machine with Heat is $79.99, down from $149.97 for 47% off. If you’re shopping for someone who’s on their feet all day or simply loves at-home comfort upgrades, this is one of those deals that makes the gift feel smarter than the price tag.
What you’re getting
This is a shiatsu-style foot massager with heat, designed to deliver that kneading, pressure-based sensation people associate with a real massage. It’s positioned for common soreness issues like plantar fasciitis and general foot fatigue, and it comes with cordless control so it’s easy to adjust settings without fumbling around mid-session.
Why it’s worth it
The best gifts are the ones that become part of someone’s routine. This is ideal for the person who finishes a long shift, gets home, and wants ten minutes of peace. It’s also a solid pick for anyone who works out regularly, travels often, or just carries a lot of daily stress in their body.
At $79.99, this is a great value buy because you’re getting the heated massage feature at a price that usually sits closer to “basic” massage gadgets. If you want to make it feel extra intentional, pair it with a simple add-on like cozy socks or a note that says, “Use this whenever you need a reset.”
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The bottom line
If you want a Valentine’s Day present that feels personal, practical, and likely to be used all year, this RENPHO heated foot massager at $79.99 is a great deal. It’s especially well-suited for anyone who’s on their feet a lot or loves easy, at-home relaxation.
The Artful Dodger, the much-loved Australian period crime drama, is returning for a second season and will see Jack facing a new wave of trouble. Based on characters from Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, the series reimagines the life of former pickpocket Jack Dawkins – aka the Artful Dodger – 20 years after the original novel.
Here’s how you can stream The Artful Dodger season 2 online from around the world.
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Now in his mid-30s, Jack works as a surgeon and tries to leave his criminal past behind. However, old ghosts continue to haunt him as he struggles to balance his professional and personal life. The Artful Dodger season 2 sees Jack hunted by Inspector Boxer, the new lawman in Port Victory. He’s unable to meet his love interest, Lady Belle, without risking arrest and execution. Meanwhile, Fagin – his former mentor – returns, hoping to pull Jack back into a dangerous new heist.
The new season also focuses on Lady Belle’s journey as she pursues a career in medicine, something almost unheard of at the time. Viewers can also expect a brewing love triangle, with Inspector Boxer competing for Belle’s attention. Jack now faces some life-changing choices. Should he abandon his past and commit to a respectable career in medicine, or give in to his old instincts and rejoin Fagin? With his freedom and love life on the line, every decision carries serious consequences.
Read on to learn how to watch The Artful Dodger season 2online, on TV and from anywhere.
There are a number of different Hulu plans and prices available. However, you don’t have to pay a dime if you’re a new member, as Hulu also provides first-time subscribers with a 30-day free trial. After this free trial elapses, plans begin from $11.99 a month.
You can also opt to add Disney Plus and ESPN to your Hulu membership and save yourself money with the various Disney Plus bundles.
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How to watch The Artful Dodger season 2 around the world
How to watch The Artful Dodger season 2 online in UK, Canada, Australia and worldwide
What you need to know about The Artful Dodger season 2
The Artful Dodger season 2 trailer
The Artful Dodger | S2 Official Trailer | Hulu – YouTube
Episode 1: “Hangman” (Feb 10): Jack has a date with the noose. Will Belle and Fagin be able to help our hero dodge his fate?
Episode 2: Entry Level Toff (Feb 10): Belle and Jack find themselves up to their elbows in blood and trouble.
Episode 3: Belle of the Ball (Feb 10): As Boxer closes in, Jack gatecrashes the masquerade ball to steal a dance with Lady Belle.
Episode 4: Platinum (Feb 10): Belle finds herself out of her depth while Fagin and Dodger plot to steal something priceless.
Episode 5: Ice Melts (Feb 10): Belle and Jack’s secretive romance comes under threat, and Fagin’s enemy prepares to strike.
Episode 6: Bellybutton (Feb 10): A revelation threatens Belle and Jack’s romance, before a strange surgery forces them together.
Episode 7: Salt Peter (Feb 10): As the cholera outbreak ravages Port Victory and the body count rises, Belle and Jack race against time to find the source. Fagin hatches a truly explosive scheme and Inspector Boxer comes face to face with a gruesome revelation.
Episode 8: Change Of Heart (Feb 10): Lady Jane’s secret shocks Belle to her core. Fagin considers a drastic way out of his predicament.
The property management platform aims to help asset managers streamline and utilise fragmented contract data.
A Dublin-based property management AI start-up named MARC has raised $1m from angel investors in a pre-seed funding round.
The platform uses AI to analyse fragmented sources of vendor contract and invoice data related to property units and consolidates the information for use by owners and managers to help identify discrepancies leading to overpayments.
No VC investors were involved in the recent funding round, but there was participation from 23 individuals including Ireland-based backers like Jack Pierse, Tom Kennedy, Susan Spence and Eoghan Quigley, as well as multiple institutional real estate investors and US-based multifamily executives, according to the company.
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Since launching in 2024, MARC has expanded from working with local Irish property managers into the US and Canadian markets, with some clients managing up to 30,000 units. MARC’s customers now hold a company estimate of over $75bn in assets under management.
CEO Aaron Devitt – who was 22 when he founded the start-up – said: “When you manage thousands of units, contract data directly affects asset values, but most teams can’t access that data quickly or reliably.”
“On top of this, the relationship between the accounts payable systems and contract management systems have been historically disconnected, causing marginal and continuous overbilling at scale – to the tune of many millions of dollars for larger residential portfolios.”
The platform works by reading existing property contract data, which may be dispersed in multiple locations and systems, and extracting information around key terms like fees, renewal dates and termination clauses to create a live “source of truth” for asset portfolios, the company said.
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Devitt said the aim is to “ensure every portfolio contract is accurate, up-to-date and being billed for accordingly, without thousands of human hours required to find, vet and verify thousands of contracts”.
“Backing founders like Aaron is how we continue to build Ireland’s next generation of global technology companies,” said Jack Pierse, co-founder of Wayflyer.
“MARC is tackling a deeply entrenched problem in real estate with an AI-native approach, and the early traction in the US speaks for itself. This is the kind of ambition and execution we should be supporting more of from Irish startups expanding internationally.”
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There’s nothing worse than going to the hardware store, knowing exactly what you need, asking an employee where to find it… and realizing you don’t even know how to pronounce the name of thing you’re searching for. It’s a common cause of embarrassment for Ryobi shoppers, most of whom have heard at least two different pronunciations for the green-and-black brand: “Rye-oh-bee” vs “Ree-oh-bee.”
The debate’s been raging for years, of course, but it was recently reignited when after a Reddit user by the name of @Sea-Flamingo1969 decided to go straight to the source. Instead of polling friends or trusting gut instinct, they contacted Ryobi customer service directly and asked a simple question: What’s the official pronunciation of the brand name? The response was definitive: According to the brand itself, it’s pronounced “Ree-oh-bee.” Have you been confidently wrong about this mundane thing your entire adult life, or were you right on the money?
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The debate has been settled by the company itself for years
ZikG/Shutterstock
For skeptics who don’t consider customer service representatives a reliable authority (much less Reddit), Ryobi itself offers additional confirmation in the form of its YouTube videos. Across the channel, voiceovers pronounce it “Ree-oh-bee” again and again. Just check out the product highlight for 2026’s new 40V HP Brushless String Trimmer for proof. Clearly, the company hasn’t been keeping this a secret. It’s been saying it this way in plain sight forever… some of us clearly never noticed it before.
For anybody who knows Ryobi company history, the “Ree-oh-bee” pronunciation aligns more closely with the company’s Japanese origins. Ryobi was founded in Hiroshima in 1943 by Yutaka Urakami, originally as a die-casting operation rather than a power tools brand. Over decades, the company grew into finished products, global manufacturing, consumer goods, and eventually power tools. “Ree-oh-bee” fits more naturally in line with Japanese phonetics, even if it feels strange to native English-speaking customers.
ASUS has expanded its AI PC lineup in India with the launch of new Zenbook and Vivobook laptops powered by AMD Ryzen AI 400 Series processors. ASUS has confirmed that the official launch of the new Zenbook models will take place on February 12. The latest lineup focuses on on-device AI capabilities, improved battery life, and OLED displays across multiple price segments.
Pre-orders for the Zenbook S16 and Zenbook 14 are now live in India. ASUS is offering pre-order benefits worth ₹5,599 on both models. Buyers can also opt for an extended warranty package that includes two additional years of warranty and three years of accidental damage protection for ₹1. These offers are valid until February 11.
ASUS Zenbook S16
The Zenbook S16 is designed for users who want strong performance in a thin and premium form factor. It uses the AMD Ryzen AI 9 465 processor with a 50 TOPS NPU for AI-powered computing. The laptop features a 16-inch 3K OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a six-speaker Dolby Atmos system. ASUS claims the battery can last up to 23 hours on a single charge.
ASUS Zenbook 14
The Zenbook 14 is a compact AI-powered laptop aimed at mobile professionals. It uses the AMD Ryzen AI 5 430 processor with a dedicated NPU for smarter computing. The laptop features a 14-inch FHD+ OLED touchscreen with HDR support and includes Copilot Key and NumberPad 2.0. Furthermore, it claims the battery lasts up to 25 hours.
ASUS Vivobook S16
ASUS has made the Vivobook S16 a stylish AI laptop for working professionals. It runs on an AMD Ryzen AI 400 Series processor and supports Copilot+ PC features. Additionally, the device offers an FHD+ OLED display with strong colour accuracy and up to 23 hours of claimed battery life. It focuses on delivering AI capabilities without premium pricing.
ASUS Vivobook 16 (M1607GA)
The Vivobook 16 focuses on productivity with its spacious screen and durable design. It uses the AMD Ryzen AI 7 445 processor for efficient multitasking. Moreover, the laptop comes with a slim-bezel display and is MIL-STD 810H certified.
ASUS Vivobook 15 and Vivobook 16 (M1605NAQ)
The Vivobook 15 and Vivobook 16 are designed for general use and entertainment. The Vivobook 15 features an AMD Ryzen 7 processor and a Full HD anti-glare display with a 180-degree hinge. Vivobook 16 delivers a larger FHD+ display with a NanoEdge design. Both laptops support up to 16GB DDR5 RAM and fast SSD storage.
Pricing and Availability in India
ASUS Laptop
Starting Price in India
Where to Buy
Zenbook S16
INR 1,69,990
ASUS Exclusive, ROG, Hybrid Stores, ASUS Eshop, Amazon
![Strategi 1% rule: Kenapa simpan RM50 lebih baik dari berangan RM10k [Kewangan]](https://wordupnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/1770720522_maxresdefault-80x80.jpg)
