Most audio brands guard their designs like trade secrets, but Head(amame) showed up at AXPONA 2026 and did the exact opposite. The Vancouver-based company is handing over schematics, specs, and build plans for its 3D printed headphones, inviting users to print and assemble their own at home with a parts kit for what cannot be fabricated on a desktop printer. While 3D printed speakers have been circulating in DIY circles for years, this is the first time I have seen the concept executed this openly and completely in the headphone space.

Morgan Andreychuk explained that Head(amame) gives away the files to 3D print the cups, yoke, and headband whether you buy the finished headphone or build it yourself. The price difference is a big part of the appeal: the completed Head(amame) Pro starts at $369 for Kickstarter backers, while the Head(amame) parts kit sells for $130 through the company’s site. That means buyers can pay more for a finished product with QC and warranty coverage, or spend a lot less on the kit and print most of the structure themselves.

Either way, the open design is the real hook. Owners have the files needed to recreate most of the structural parts if something breaks, wears out, or if they want to tweak the design later. The tradeoff is straightforward: choose the DIY route and you give up the company’s finished-product QC process and warranty, but not its support. Andreychuk and the team were clearly willing to discuss materials, printing options, and possible improvements, which makes this feel less like a sealed consumer product and more like a headphone platform built for people who actually want to tinker.

Head(amame) Pro 3D Printed Headphones

The Head(amame) Pro uses a semi closed back design that will feel familiar in concept to the Fostex T50RP, even if it looks nothing like it. The structure is unmistakably its own. The headband and yoke form a plus shaped frame that dominates the face of the cup, while a series of radial baffles wrap around the perimeter, giving it an almost floral appearance. You do not see the driver from the rear, but each “petal” hides a vent that becomes visible from the side.

Even the cable placement refuses to follow convention, mounted vertically on the rear face but closer to the front. My first instinct was that I had them on backwards. Morgan acknowledged that clearer left and right markings are still a work in progress.

The first real surprise comes when you pick them up. For something this large, the Head(amame) Pro is extremely light. That is not by accident. The goal is to go even further, with plans to swap a brass pin for aluminum and replace another internal component with carbon fiber. It is already more than 100 grams lighter than the AirPods Max and still trending downward.

That kind of weight reduction changes the equation. A non padded headband might raise eyebrows on paper, but here it is not the liability you would expect because there simply is not enough mass to make it one.

The Head(amame) Pro uses dynamic drivers with a glass diaphragm intended to improve speed and clarity, but the platform is not locked down. Builders can experiment with a range of 40 mm dynamic drivers as long as the specifications line up, which reinforces the open, modular nature of the design. Head(amame) shared a booth with Capra Audio, who assisted with tuning the Pro.

That collaboration came after some disagreement over the voicing of an earlier model, prompting Morgan to bring Capra into the process for this revision. Given Capra Audio’s presence in the DIY space with aftermarket parts and headbands, the partnership makes sense and will likely resonate with the community this product is aimed at.

Sound, at least in that environment, leaned close to reference with a slight roll off in the lowest octaves and a bit of lift up top. It is an easy signature to listen to and, more importantly, one that invites experimentation. That matters here because the entire premise is that you are not stuck with a fixed outcome. The reality of a busy show floor limits how far I am willing to go with sonic conclusions, but the early impression was positive enough to warrant a deeper look. If I can get a set printed for review, there is clearly more to unpack.

As a concept, Head(amame) is doing something few others are willing to try. It is a more sustainable approach than most full size headphones, and at roughly 280 grams with plans to go even lighter, it is also one of the more comfortable options for listeners who usually tap out early because of weight.

Where to order: $589 $399 at Head(amame)

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,400 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc’s Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

Strands is the NYT’s latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it’s great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc’s Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the app is technically ready and will be available to citizens soon.

The European Commission yesterday (15 April) unveiled a digital age verification app aimed at shielding children from harmful content online, with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen declaring there are “no more excuses” for platforms that fail to act.

Announcing the tool in Brussels on Wednesday (15 April), von der Leyen painted a stark picture of the risks children face in the digital world. “One child in six is bullied online. One child in eight is bullying another child online,” she said, warning that social media platforms use “highly addictive designs” that damage young minds and leave children vulnerable to predators.

Users set up the app using a passport or ID card, after which they can confirm their age anonymously. The free app, which the Commission says is technically ready and will soon be available to citizens, allows users to verify their age when accessing online platforms “without revealing any other personal data”, according to von der Leyen. “Users cannot be tracked,” von der Leyen stressed, adding that the app is fully open source and compatible with any device.

Drawing a comparison with the EU’s Covid certificate – adopted in record time and used across 78 countries – von der Leyen said the age verification tool follows “the same principles, the same model.” Seven member states, including France, Italy, Spain and Ireland, are already planning to integrate the app into their national digital wallets.

The announcement comes ahead of the second meeting of the Commission’s Special Panel on Children’s Safety Online, which is due to deliver its recommendations by summer. Von der Leyen was unambiguous about the Commission’s direction of travel on enforcement. “Children’s rights in the European Union come before commercial interest. And we will make sure they do.”

Platforms were put on notice that voluntary compliance alone will not suffice. “We will have zero tolerance for companies that do not respect our children’s rights,” she said, adding that the Commission is “moving ahead with full speed and determination on the enforcement of our European rules”.

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Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin successfully re-used one of its New Glenn rockets for the first time ever on Sunday, but the company failed at its primary mission: delivering a communications satellite to orbit for customer AST SpaceMobile.

AST SpaceMobile issued a statement Sunday afternoon that the upper stage of the New Glenn rocket placed BlueBird 7 satellite into an orbit that was “lower than planned.” The satellite successfully separated from the rocket and powered on, the company said, but the altitude is too low “to sustain operations” and will now have to be de-orbited — left to burn up in the atmosphere of Earth.

The cost of the loss of the satellite is covered by AST SpaceMobile’s insurance policy, according the company, and there are successive BlueBird satellites that will be completed in around a month. AST SpaceMobile has contracts with more than just Blue Origin, and the company said it expects to be able to launch 45 more to space by the end of 2026.

But this represents the first major failure for Blue Origin’s New Glenn program, which only made its first flight in January 2025 after more than a decade in development. This was the second mission where New Glenn carried a customer payload to space, after launching twin spacecraft bound for Mars on behalf of NASA last November. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The apparent failure of New Glenn’s second stage could have wider implications beyond Blue Origin’s near-term commercial ambitions. The company is pushing hard to become one of the main launch providers for NASA’s Artemis missions to the moon and beyond. The space agency — and the Trump administration — has put pressure on Blue Origin and SpaceX to be able to put landers on the moon by the end of President Donald Trump’s second term, before advancing to returning humans to the lunar surface.

Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp has even said his company “will move heaven and Earth” to help NASA get back to the moon faster.

Blue Origin recently completed testing its first version of its own lunar lander, which the company is expected to try and launch at some point this year (without any crew). Blue Origin had suggested last year that it was considering launching this lander on New Glenn’s third mission, but ultimately decided to launch the AST SpaceMobile satellite instead.

The third New Glenn launch seemed to start just fine on Sunday, with the the mega-rocket lifting off at 7:35 a.m. local time from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It was the first time Blue Origin re-used a previously-flown New Glenn booster — the same one that flew during New Glenn’s second mission. Roughly 10 minutes after liftoff, the booster came back down and landed on a drone ship in the ocean, just like it had last November. Jeff Bezos even shared drone footage of the booster’s landing on X, the social media site owned by his rival Elon Musk. (Musk offered congratulations.)

Roughly two hours after the launch, though, Blue Origin announced in its own post that the New Glenn upper stage placed AST SpaceMobile satellite in an “off-nominal orbit.” The company has not released any more information since that post.

Blue Origin spent a long time developing New Glenn, and it has been taken as a sign of confidence in that process that the company decided to start launching commercial payloads during these early missions. By comparison, SpaceX has spent the last few years flying test versions of its massive Starship, but has stuck with using dummy payloads as it works out the rocket’s kinks.

SpaceX did lose payloads deeper into its Falcon 9 program. In 2015, on the 19th Falcon 9 mission, the rocket blew up mid-flight and lost an entire International Space Station cargo spacecraft. In 2016, a Falcon 9 exploded on the launch pad during testing, causing the loss of an internet satellite for Meta.

Good morning! Let’s play Connections, the NYT’s clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you’ve finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I’ve also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc’s Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

Digit is seen performing deadlifts with a 65-pound weight in the center of a lab. Agility Robotics shared the video a few days ago, and to be honest, the robot maintains a fairly steady balance and completes the task from beginning to end. Someone mentions that the new version can lift significantly more weight than the previous one, while another laughs about how it can run all day without stopping.

The engineers designed the test so that Digit had to work harder than usual. Every additional pound it must lift causes the robot to modify its entire body at simultaneously, including its arms, legs, torso, and everything else. The system must keep the weight centered and avoid tipping over, therefore the legs, arms, and rest of the robot must all function together. These actuators and joints can withstand repeated load without breaking down. Digit’s video simply shows the robot grasping the weight, rising up, then effortlessly placing it down repeatedly in a standard indoor location built for people.

Unitree G1 Humanoid Robot（No Secondary Development）

• Sleek & Durable Design: Standing at 132cm tall and weighing only approx. 35kg, the G1 is constructed with aerospace-grade aluminum alloy and carbon…
• High Flexibility & Safe Movement: Boasting 23 joint degrees of freedom (6 per leg, 5 per arm), it offers an extensive range of motion. For safety, it…
• Smart Interaction & Connectivity: Powered by an 8-core high-performance CPU and equipped with a depth camera and 3D LiDAR. It supports Wi-Fi 6 and…

Simulation is where all of the training takes place, because before it touches a real weight, an engineer creates a digital copy of the same thing in a virtual world. Then they anticipate what will happen when the weight shifts. The grip pressure remains constant, with no slipping or lowering. Any changes to the robot’s equilibrium are registered extremely instantly. The policy learns the perfect lift in the simulated environment with no complications before being transmitted directly to the real robot. When you see the real robot perform it, it looks fairly natural because it has already handled every potential variable thousands of times in the simulation.

Engineers chose deadlifts for the test because the movement requires complete body control. A simple arm raise would not put the hardware under the same level of stress. By incorporating weight into the simulation loop, the team is able to handle balancing changes that a pre-programmed script cannot handle alone. As a result, Digit lifts consistently, with no wobbling or resets. This method is easily adaptable to other objects or larger loads in future tests.

Digit was built by Agility to manage long, repetitive jobs that wear people out, such as working in factories or warehouses where you must squeeze into tight spaces, pick up oddly shaped goods, and continue without taking a break. This deadlift test demonstrates Digit’s ability to lift weight on ordinary floors while remaining steady, which is ideal for picking up boxes, carrying tools, and stacking things in human-designed places.

It also illustrates how far they’ve come in teaching robots to perform physical tasks. Whole-body synchronization was originally a nightmare, with hand-tuned code for each joint angle. But now they can simply train a policy in simulation that adapts on the go. Digit detects weight using its sensors, corrects itself in real time, and completes the lift without assistance, while the hardware can keep up because the training has already taught the actuators and joints to be more durable.
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