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.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: German for “Mrs.”
Answer: FRAU

5A clue: Small stall at a mall
Answer: KIOSK

6A clue: Bring to mind
Answer: EVOKE

7A clue: Surprised exclamations upon seeing mice
Answer: EEKS

8A clue: Dramatic end to a World Cup game, for short
Answer: PKS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Race that equates to 3.1 miles … or a hint to one letter’s frequent appearance in this grid?
Answer: FIVEK

2D clue: Chess “castles”
Answer: ROOKS

3D clue: Poses a question to
Answer: ASKS

4D clue: Hawaiian stringed instrument, informally
Answer: UKE

5D clue: Not go bad
Answer: KEEP

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.”

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.

“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.

• 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.
• Network Connectivity: Wired Ethernet and Wi-Fi.
• Streaming Support: Bluetooth and Roon Ready.
• Maximum Video Pass-Through: Up to 4K UHD at 60Hz.
• Audio Frequency Response: 20 Hz to 20 kHz.
• Surround Sound Format Support: Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital, Dolby Surround, DTS:X, DTS Neural:X, DTS-HD Master Audio, Auro-3D, and Auro-Matic.
• 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.

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.

Related Reading:

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.

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.

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.

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.

DevOps

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

“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?

Design: Not Every Speaker Needs to Look Like Vader

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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
• Wall mount and floor stand accessories cost extra

Where to buy:

Related Reading:

Virtualization

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.

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.

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.

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.

“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. ®

Off-Prem

Orbital compute platform, which launched on a mission to the ISS last year, gets an immutable upgrade alongside refreshed container images

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.1 has powered up on board a datacenter orbiting 250 miles or about 400 km above the earth.

That RHEL-powered satellite is Voyager’s LEOcloud Space Edge “micro” datacenter, which launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and hitched a ride on the International Space Station (ISS) back in September.

The system is designed to demonstrate the advantages of processing data gathered directly in orbit, rather than sending info back to a terrestrial conventional datacenter.

Voyager boasts the reduction in latency makes the system as much as 30x faster than sending all the data back to Earth.

Originally developed by LEOcloud prior to its acquisition by Voyager last year, Space Edge is, as its name suggests, a low-power edge compute platform for orbital data processing.

Voyager and Red Hat contend that “as commercial and government organizations increase their reliance on space-based data, the ability to process data in orbit is increasingly critical.”

And they certainly wouldn’t be the first to suggest that. Faced with power constraints, SpaceX, Amazon, Google, Nvidia and others have all announced plans to put large clusters of AI datacenters in orbit, with some designs aiming to cram 100kW worth of compute onboard a single satellite.

The company hasn’t disclosed the hardware used in Voyager’s Space Edge, stating only that it’s a “space-hardened managed cloud infrastructure.”

Hardening is certainly a concern for complex electronics operating outside Earth’s atmosphere, where charged particles and radiation can corrupt data or do permanent damage over time.

HPE’s Spacebourne compute platform demonstrated many of these challenges during its first mission aboard the ISS in 2017.

Over the course of its mission the system, which was composed of mostly off-the-shelf components, suffered several upsets including a power failure and SSDs that failed at an “alarming rate,” HPE’s Mark Fernandez said at the time.

We’ve reached out to Voyager for comment on the system and what kind of data its “micro” datacenter will process during its mission. We’ll let you know if we hear anything back.

It’s safe to assume Space Edge’s compute capacity is limited compared as promotional images show its systems are little larger than a shoebox – and therefore offer less room for components than servers used on earth.

What we do know is that RHEL 10.1, along with Red Hat’s Universal Base Image (UBI), are up and running on the ISS.

Specifically, Space Edge is running RHEL in image mode, an immutable build of the OS where changes to the most directories will reset to a known good state upon reboot.

This means that any issues related to what they call “configuration drift” can be addressed by turning the machine off and back on again, a feature we’ll sure will be popular among many in the IT crowd.

Alongside the base OS, Space Edge is also running Red Hat’s UBI container image under Podman, a container runtime interface (CRI) similar to Docker that is rootless and daemonless by default.

RHEL 10.1’s arrival in orbit comes amid renewed interest in space driven by the yearning of every great hyperscaler to boldly go and generate tokens where no one has before. Actually, they have, but not at scale.

But that’s exactly what SpaceX, Amazon and others have proposed. In pursuit of unlimited power, the two companies have independently filed to put large constellations of AI satellite compute platforms in sun-synchronous orbit.

In February, SpaceX filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission to lob a million space-based datacenters into orbit.

Meanwhile, Amazon has proposed a slightly smaller constellation with 51,600 data processing satellites. 

Of course, these plans do have one small problem left to solve. How will they get those sats into orbit for less than the cost of simply building more terrestrial infrastructure? According to one space datacenter startup, the economics of orbital datacenters won’t be viable until the cost to orbit falls to around $10 per kilogram. As of writing, a rideshare aboard a Falcon 9 runs about $7,000 a kilogram. ®

Apple’s interest in AI models and their applications in spatial computing shows no signs of slowing down, even as some claim the Apple Vision Pro is dead.

In April 2026, it was argued that the Apple Vision Pro was an outright failure and that, as a result, we’d never see a successor product. That rumor, though it always seemed unreasonable, has since come into question.

Even though the company’s Vision Products Group may have seen some changes, there’s ultimately still hope for a new generation of the Apple Vision Pro. Apple’s AI research suggests the company hasn’t abandoned its spatial-related projects.

On the contrary, new studies posted on the Apple Machine Learning blog explore the use of LLMs in sign language annotation, 3D head modeling, and more. Apple’s researchers also developed a new benchmarking system to evaluate the spatial-functional intelligence of LLMs.

Benchmarking spatial-functional intelligence for multimodal LLMs

The paper titled “From Where Things Are to What They’re For: Benchmarking Spatial-Functional Intelligence for Multimodal LLMs” outlines a new testing and grading system for MLLMs.

Apple’s researchers developed a benchmarking framework that tests the spatial reasoning capabilities of MLLMs. Image Credit: Apple

As the study explains, to mimic human understanding of a space and its objects, AI models rely on two distinct structures. This includes “a spatial

representation that captures object layouts and relational structure, and a functional representation that encodes affordances, purposes, and context-dependent usage.”

In other words, a multi-modal LLM needs to understand the geometry of a particular space, along with the purpose and location of the objects inside it. Apple’s researchers say that existing benchmarking methods, such as VSI-Bench, only test the first aspect, largely ignoring the latter.

To combat this, they developed the Spatial-Functional Intelligence Benchmark, abbreviated as SFI-Bench. It’s described as a video-based benchmark with 1,555 expert-annotated questions derived from 134 indoor video scans.

As for what SFI-Bench tests specifically, the study explains this in a fairly straightforward manner:

“Beyond spatial cognition, SFI-Bench incorporates functional and knowledge-grounded reasoning, probing whether models understand what objects in the scene are for, how they are operated, and how failures can be diagnosed.”

In other words, the benchmark tests if AI models comprehend what an object is, where it’s located, how it’s used, what it’s used for, and how it can be fixed.

Apple’s AI researchers tested how well LLMs understand the world around them. Image Credit: Apple.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because Google has had tools with this type of spatial awareness since at least 2024. At its i/o conference that same year, Google’s AI model correctly identified an object in front of it as a record player and even suggested how to repair the device.

In practice, SFI-Bench would serve to test similar and more advanced AI models. Some of the tests mentioned include asking an LLM to identify the largest subset of the same brand bottles on a cabinet, asking it to cancel the current program on a washing machine, what a TV remote is used for, and more.

Apple’s researchers tested several open-source and proprietary AI models with their SFI-Bench framework. Unsurprisingly, Google Gemini 3.1 Pro achieved the best overall result, while Gemini-3.1-Flash-Lite placed third. OpenAI’s GPT-5.4-High scored second.

However, the study notes that “Across all models, global conditional counting emerges as a key bottleneck, revealing persistent limitations in compositional and logical reasoning.”

In other words, most current MLLMs “struggle with spatial memory, functional knowledge integration, and linking perception to external knowledge.” Still, the study noted that models with internet access performed better, relative to offline-only models.

As for potential applications within iOS, we could see Apple unveil a version of Siri with both spatial and contextual awareness. This would make sense, given that the company has partnered with Google for Apple Intelligence features.

It remains to be seen if and when that would debut, though, or how well the AI might perform.

Using AI models for sign language annotation

In a separate study, dubbed “Bootstrapping Sign Language Annotations with Sign Language Models,” Apple’s researchers explored how AI could be used to annotate sign language videos.

Apple’s researchers explored using AI for ASL annotation. Image Credit: Apple

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The company’s research team says it developed a “pseudo-annotation pipeline that takes signed video and English as input and outputs a ranked set of likely annotations, including time intervals, for glosses, fingerspelled words, and sign classifiers.”

In doing so, they seek to reduce the time and cost of annotating hundreds of hours of sign language manually. This approach involved creating “simple yet effective baseline fingerspelling and ISR models, achieving state-of-the-art on FSBoard (6.7% CER) and on ASL Citizen datasets (74% top-1 accuracy).”

Apple’s researchers developed nearly 500 manual English-to-glossary annotations. They validated them through back translation, manual annotations, and pseudo-annotations for over 300 hours of ASL STEM Wiki and 7.5 hours of FLEURS-ASL.

For testing, Claude Sonnet 4.5 was given a gloss-to-English variation of a prompt and had to translate it from manual ASL STEM Wiki annotations to the reference English text that signers interpreted.

The study notes that “Errors were predominantly in cases where a sentence does not have any fingerspelling.” While additional work remains to be done, the researchers say their “approach for fingerspelling recognition and isolated sign recognition can be trained with modest GPU resources and could also be used for further iteration on pseudo annotation pipelines.”

As for why Apple is researching this, it could have something to do with the long-rumored camera-equipped AirPods. Perhaps the company plans to expand its Live Translation feature to include sign language.

3D gaussian head Reconstruction from multi-View captures

Another study called “Large-Scale High-Quality 3D Gaussian Head Reconstruction from Multi-View Captures” explores how head models can be made from images with the help of AI.

Apple’s AI researchers explored how LLMs can be used to create 3D head models from multi-view captures. Image Credit: Apple.

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Apple’s researchers developed “HeadsUp, a scalable feed-forward method for reconstructing high-quality 3D Gaussian heads from large-scale multi-camera setups.”

In essence, the study explores how different head views can be converted into Gaussian blobs and then into 3D models through a series of encoders and decoders.

To test their image-to-3D-model method, those behind the study used “an internal dataset with more than 10,000 subjects, which is an order of magnitude larger than existing multi-view human head datasets.” The 3D head models were also animated using expression blendshapes.

Overall, the study explains that “HeadsUp achieves state-of-the-art reconstruction quality and generalizes to novel identities without test-time optimization.”

In terms of practical applications, the study could be related to the Apple Vision Pro and its Persona feature. Apple may be looking for ways to improve how expressions are rendered, or how faces themselves are captured and rendered within visionOS.

There may also be hardware or comfort-related applications. During the development of the headset, AppleInsider was told that the company included various 3D head types alongside Apple Vision Pro models.

Time will tell what Apple does with the information its researchers create. While we have to wait and see what its next product will be, one thing is for sure: the company isn’t backing down when it comes to AI and spatial computing.

Apple is set to announce iOS 27 and its corresponding OS updates at WWDC 2026, which will begin on June 8.