11 Apr
Blog

Why Plantar Fasciitis is More Common Than You Think

Hasewaga et al. (2020) claim that one in ten people will develop plantar fasciitis when they investigate minimally invasive treatment for plantar fasciitis. The term itself refers to inflammation and microcracks of the plantar fascia. Your plantar fascia is a thick band of tissue that runs along the arch of your foot from your toes to your heel.

The plantar fascia becomes a source of pain in trainees who overpronate or wear flexible, minimalist shoes without the appropriate strength in their foot muscles. Symptoms are pain and tenderness along the arch of the foot and heel.

Read on to find out why plantar fasciitis is more common than you think at its original source of broken muscle: https://breakingmuscle.com/fitness/why-plantar-fasciitis-is-more-common-than-you-think

11 Apr
Blog

Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) Cuffs for Boundary Pushers

When we think of fitness products that are paired with smartphone apps, the first thing that springs to mind is whether that product can be properly paired with the app on the smartphone. Fortunately, I can say with confidence that SAGA Fitness did an excellent job developing its smart Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) cuffs.

If you are preparing for competitions like the Crossfit Open, martial arts tournaments, or want to get a head start in your training, this product is a must have.

Let's discuss the various components of this product and how it has helped me improve my training efficiency.

Excellent quality and user feedback

The cuffs themselves are made of high quality material. You can feel it as soon as you put it on your arms or legs.

Anna Davey wears BFR cuffs

The cuff will inflate to match the settings you entered into the app and you can hear it.

From a user experience perspective, this is a great way to provide feedback to the user that the cuffs will adjust to the athlete's desired settings. I mean, the fact that you can feel the cuffs tighten around your limbs is one thing, but how else can you tell if they are no longer inflated?

I tried using the cuffs while working on my chin ups and bar muscles. The results have been phenomenal. After ten days of training, I was able to increase my repetitions. Note, however, that you should read up on BFR training before using it.

The app gives you recommendations based on the suggested settings. However, I'm sure you can agree that we should try to make every workout count. Also check out the infographic from Brad Schoenfeld, author of Science and Development of Muscle Hypertrophy. Great roundup of what BFR can and can't do for you (click the image for source).

Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) cuffs for Boundary Pushers - reviews, crossfit, martial arts, muscle building, crossfit open, pull-ups, fitness apps, fitness technology, training to restrict blood flow

Easy to use app and an intuitive user interface

Designing an application takes a lot of work.

However, designing an intuitive and easy-to-use application requires work and attention to detail.

The design of the user interface is simple and minimalist. This design enables the athlete / trainee to perform tasks in the app intuitively.

When I received the shipping package, it only contained the cuffs, USB charger, and Erin's note, the general manager of SAGA Fitness. There were no instructions.

However, please do not let that stop you from ordering the product.

It shows how simple and intuitive the entire product is.

It was a seamless process to download the app, set up a profile, and finally use the cuffs in training. An instruction manual wouldn't make it any easier.

If you love pushing boundaries

This is a product that I would recommend to serious exercisers and athletes.

If you love to push the boundaries of your limits, then most likely you will enjoy this product as much as I do.

Imagine that; I went from one bar muscle to five in a row in 10 days.

However, I am by no means saying that this is guaranteed to be the case for anyone who chooses to purchase a set of BFR cuffs on the SAGA fitness website.

What I am going to say is that if you exercise consistently, learn about BFR training, and finally introduce these BFR cuffs into your workout, you will see remarkable results.

I'm sure we can all agree that a weapon or device is only as good as the person using it.

11 Apr
Blog

Asus ZenBook 13 OLED (UM325) Review: AMD Laptop Perfection?

asus zenbook 13 oled um32 review 1

Asus ZenBook 13 OLED UM325 Review: AMD Laptop Perfection?

"The Asus ZenBook 13 OLED is an indispensable laptop as long as you don't need a headphone jack."

  • Awesome OLED screen

  • Excellent touchpad and keyboard

  • The battery life is spectacular

  • Very thin and light

I may have found the perfect laptop. Or at least something that comes very close.

It's not made by Apple, Microsoft, or even Dell. From the outside, it doesn't even look particularly remarkable. When I pulled the Asus ZenBook 13 OLED out of the box, I fully expected it to be another solid mid-range laptop.

Then I tested the 1080p OLED screen. And benchmarking the AMD Ryzen 7 5800U processor inside. And then he noticed how long it took on a single charge.

The Asus ZenBook 13 OLED has it all. Nearly. Despite a few flaws, the ZenBook 13 OLED (UM325) is a laptop that all potential buyers should consider when it hits general availability in May.

design

The appearance of the Asus ZenBook 13 OLED is the least noticeable feature. It's by no means a bad looking laptop – but if you've seen a ZenBook, you've seen this one. I'm not a big fan of the concentric circle on the lid or the plastered logo on the front, but it's one of the prettier laptops Asus made recently.

This is especially true when you open the lid and see what the laptop has to offer inside. Everything is beautifully laid out, including the oversized touchpad and new keyboard. The layout and keycaps are reminiscent of HP's Specter laptops – but that's not a bad thing. The extra column of buttons under the power button offers some extra functionality, and the font with the keycap feels modern and clean.

At 0.55 inches and 2.5 pounds thick, the ZenBook 13 OLED is both thinner and lighter than most of its competitors, including the Dell XPS 13, HP Specter x360 13, Surface Laptop 3 13, Razer Book 13, and MacBook Pro 13 in. This makes a very portable laptop that is great for on the go. Even if it just moves from room to room, the small footprint comes in handy.

Despite its size, the chassis is robust. You may feel some flexing when applying extra force, but it's not something you will notice in daily use. The hinge opens with one finger and is lifted off the table when it is opened, creating a slight ramp for comfortable typing. I usually don't like these kind of raised hinges, but Asus pulled them off in a way that isn't distracting or ugly.

The aspect ratio of the screen is the main disadvantage of the ZenBook 13 OLED's design. It uses 16: 9, which went out of style in 2021 in favor of larger, more productive sizes like 16:10 or 3: 2. When you go back to 16: 9, the screen feels stocky. More importantly, the screen has a chubby chin bezel due to the size at the bottom. It's not a thorn in the side, it's just not quite as modern as the Dell XPS 13 or the Razer Book 13.

Asus decided that you don't need a headphone jack on your laptop.

My final complaint with the design of the ZenBook 13 OLED is ports. For some reason, Asus decided that you don't need a headphone jack on your laptop. If Asus were going for a more minimalist setup, that would probably make sense. However, the ZenBook 13 OLED has HDMI and USB-A. Yes, it's an odd choice that is likely to piss people off who didn't realize there wasn't a headphone jack until they needed it.

Fortunately, Asus includes an adapter in the box, but it lets you close either of your two available USB-C ports.

Display and speakers

The Asus ZenBook 13 isn't the first 13-inch notebook with an OLED screen – it was the HP Specter x360. However, this laptop is the first to implement a 13-inch 1080p OLED screen. That's a big deal as OLED panels keep getting cheaper – and hopefully reach more people.

It's not that the ZenBook 13 OLED is super cheap, but compared to the 4K models that OLED is exclusive to. What's the big deal with OLED? Well you will tell the difference when you see it in person. With OLED, pixels are rented out individually, which means that black levels and contrast ratio blow conventional LEDs out of the water. It's not even close, especially on a glossy screen like this one.

The OLED panel feels like the future of laptop displays.

397 nits are bright enough to prevent reflections, but it's the colors that really make this display pop. 100% sRGB and AdobeRGB color spaces are unknown on a 1080p screen, and the color accuracy is among the best I've ever tested with a Delta E of 0.49. Photographers may complain about the lack of a 4K option, but they definitely won't complain about the colors.

The display is non-touchable, as is common with 1080p screens.

When it comes to panels and calibration, the ZenBook 13 OLED is the future of laptop displays.

The same is not true of the speakers. The chintzy audio comes from underneath the laptop and points directly at your table or lap. The sound is messed up, especially when compared to all MacBooks. With speakers in this location, this will always be a problem.

Keyboard and touchpad

I am very happy with the inputs on the ZenBook 13 OLED. I've already mentioned the keyboard's appearance, but it's also very precise and comfortable to type. The layout is comfortable and the 1.4mm key travel feels heavenly compared to many of the 1mm keyboards.

The keyboard does not contain a fingerprint reader. This is an odd feature that a premium device left out.

My only problem was the backlight. There are three levels of backlight brightness, but there are some noticeable uneven spots. It's quite light over the middle zone while others are darker. This is a pity.

The touchpad is similarly successful. It's extra wide, but great for rejecting palms when typing. Tracking is smooth, as are gestures. My only sucker? The click is a little louder than I like. This is especially noticeable if you're coming from a MacBook.

The laptop has a sloppy 720p webcam over the display. It's no surprise how bad it is, but this should be reserved for emergencies only. However, it does include a built-in IR camera for Windows Hello facial recognition.

performance

Thanks to the new Ryzen processors from AMD, the Asus ZenBook 13 OLED offers remarkable performance for a laptop of this size. My device came with the Ryzen 7 5800U, an eight-core processor with a base clock of 1.9 GHz. When you add 16 GB of RAM and one TB of SSD storage, you have a pretty powerful little computer.

This is the first laptop I tested with this chip and I was disappointed. This is a significant improvement over last year's Ryzen 4000 processors and a clear head start over what Intel offers. This is especially true of multi-core performance, of course, thanks to the additional cores and threads that AMD's 7nm chips offer.

Geekbench (single / multi) Cinbench R23 (single / multi) PCMark 10 3DMark Time Spy
Asus ZenBook 13 OLED 1423/6758 1171/7824 6034 1342
Dell XPS 13 (Core i7-1185G7) 1549/5431 1399/4585 n / A 1380
HP Specter x360 14 (Core i7-1165G7) 1214/4117 1389/3941 4728 1457
Razor Book 13 (Core i7-1165G7) 1548/5374 1508/4519 4878 1776
MacBook Pro 13 (M1) 1707/7377 1487/7547 n / A n / A
Lenovo Yoga 9i 14 (Core i7-1185G7) 1532/5415 1435/4409 4800 1648

What's the use of this for performance in the real world? All of the laptops listed above are great for everyday work activities such as multitasking, web browsing, office applications, and video conferencing. That is to be assumed.

The reason the Asus ZenBook 13 OLED beats its competitors in PCMark 10 is mainly because of its excellent content creation performance. If you want to run some creative applications like Photoshop or Lightroom on the side, the ZenBook 13 OLED will surprise you how fast it is with these heavier tasks.

The ZenBook 13 OLED remains an undeniable argument for AMD in 2021.

It's even a decent video production machine. It's 41% faster than the Razer Book 13 in H.265 video encoding in Handbrake, which shows the big difference those additional cores make. In Handbrake it is even 7% faster than in the Ryzen 7 4800U from last year when I tested it in the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7.

Now the ZenBook 13 OLED will obviously never again be compared to a 15-inch laptop with a discrete graphics card in real video editing. Even a modest 15-inch laptop like the HP Specter x360 15 (Core i7-10750H / GTX 1650 Ti) was 45% faster in PugetBench's Adobe Premiere Pro benchmark. This is also where the incredible performance of the MacBook Pro M1 exudes, which is just as fast as that of the Specter x360 15 in the same test.

That said, the ZenBook 13 OLED remains an undeniable argument for AMD in 2021, especially if you're not interested in a move to macOS.

Battery life

Battery life is the final trick in the case of the ZenBook 13 OLED. It took an amazing 15 hours and 46 minutes on our web browser test, which is as good as it gets for a laptop of this type. That was true for last year's AMD laptops, and it is true for this year as well. It beat the HP Specter x360 14 by nearly 9 hours and the XPS 13 by 7.5 hours. In fact, it only takes 19 minutes to keep up with the MacBook Pro!

The ZenBook 13 OLED's lower resolution explains some of this, but even when compared to other 1080p laptops, the ZenBook 13 OLED is way ahead of the competition.

Meanwhile, the ZenBook also lasted 15.5 hours while the video was looping. This is another test in which the MacBook Pro M1 dominates and it lasts over 21 hours. But here, too, the ZenBook 13 OLED is at least 3 or 4 hours ahead of many of the best Intel laptops.

Of course, your mileage can vary depending on how hard you push the system. With the ZenBook 13 OLED as my daily driver for almost a full week, I found it easy to get through a work day without a charge, and there was enough juice left to handle a couple of hours the next morning.

Our opinion

The Asus ZenBook 13 OLED is way ahead of the competition in almost every important category. The OLED screen is a standout feature, as is AMD performance and fantastic battery life. Do I wish it had a headphone jack and a 16:10 screen? Naturally. But the strengths more than make up for these mistakes.

The only caveat is pricing, which is still ongoing. Some international prices suggest the base configuration will be around $ 1,000 while our pimped up model is likely to cost a few hundred more.

Any alternatives?

The best choice is the 13-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 chip. It's cheaper, faster, and has a higher resolution screen. Of course, it has neither an OLED screen nor a USB-A and HDMI connection.

However, if you don't want to upgrade to a Mac, the Dell XPS 13, HP Specter x360 14, and Razer Book 13 offer a competitive package. The XPS 13 is still the prettiest of the range and would still be my pick of the four laptops.

How long it will take?

The Asus ZenBook 13 OLED should last at least four or five years. The 16: 9 aspect ratio will continue to be a bit dated going forward, but the chassis and components are all sturdy and future-proof.

Should you buy it?

Yes. It's one of the most exciting laptops of recent times, especially if you're looking for an AMD device in 2021.

Editor's recommendations




10 Apr
Blog

10 Do Anywhere Exercises for Strong Arm Muscles

10 Exercise for Strong Arm Muscles Anywhere - Fitness, Pushups, Hypertrophy, Dumbbells, Shoulders, Biceps, Triceps, Curls, Arm Strength, Exercise at Home, Workout at Home, No Equipment, Stay Fit at Home

When the weather is nice, you want to show some skin. You haven't hit the gym as often as you wanted and your arms look a little flat. You may want to devote some time to exercises specifically targeting your arms to make them slim, sexy, and shaped so that you are ready to go to the nightclubs, go on vacation with your best friends, or take photos while out to look great at an upcoming event.

To shape your arms and prepare them for photos, here are 10 exercises to help you inflate your arms with items that you can find almost anywhere (no gym or exercise equipment required).

Repeat each exercise for 5 sets of 30 seconds each (in other words, repeat as many repetitions as possible for 30 seconds), taking 20 seconds to rest between sets.

pushups

There's a reason pushups are the first exercise most of us learn. Push-ups strengthen the front of your shoulder and chest, as well as your triceps, which make up the back of your arm.

This really is the king of body weight arm exercises Due to the fact that you are training your pulling muscles on the concentric (lowering) component of the exercise, and you are training all three heads of your triceps equally on the eccentric (pressing) component.

Instead of doing a traditional push-up, you can make a variation here to increase the intensity. With your hands slightly outside the width of your shoulders, lower your body and push your elbows in as far as possible to activate your lats and chest. Lower your chest to the floor, then push yourself up.

Curls

With just two dumbbells in hand, curls pump up your biceps. However, if you don't always have dumbbells, you can use whatever you have available that has some weight and that you can easily hold on to and maneuver, such as a gym. B. a water jug. Your biceps is the forward-facing part of your arm.

Curls emphasize every component of the biceps and work all parts of your biceps evenly.

If you do this correctly, you will be working on both the long and short heads of your biceps, the deep part of your biceps that is responsible for the shape of your arm that is closer to your elbow, as well as your forearms.

Start with your hands at thigh level. Then, raise your hands to your shoulders, twist them inward, aiming to point your pinky finger outward, toward the outside of your arm.

Equipment needed: a pair of dumbbells, a pitcher of water, or other household items.

Diamond pushups

Diamond pushups will continue to work your triceps. By inserting your hands, you emphasize the collarbone head of your rib cage. It will also emphasize the side head of your triceps, the outer head. This variation allows you to feel more in your triceps.

Use the same movements as the basic push-up. With this push-up variation, however, you bring your hands in to shape a diamond on the floor. From there, lower yourself to the floor until your chest touches the floor. Then get up again.

Hammer curls

As the name suggests, hammer out the long head of your biceps with hammer curls.

This variation in curl accentuates the long head of your biceps, making your arms fuller.

Using a pair of dumbbells or a pair of weighted household items, hold your palms facing each other at thigh level and bring the weights onto your shoulders.

Focus on squeezing your biceps muscles during the curl movement. Each rep should be quick and last at least two seconds each.

Equipment needed: a pair of dumbbells, a pitcher of water, or other household items.

High low plank triceps extension

The high-low-herbal triceps extension will engage your core. This accentuates the long head of your triceps which gives your arms width and size. Your core strength is a factor in your ability to perform the exercise smoothly.

Start on a high plank or push the position up and lower your body into a low plank. Your body will not rock from left to right during the entire movement.

You will know that you are getting this right by hitting your elbows and forearms on the floor at the same time. Your elbows will be highlighted at an angle of approximately 45 degrees.

Then, pressing your hands down into the floor, extend both arms and raise them together, bringing them back into a push-up position. Make sure you keep your triceps squeezed throughout all of your movements.

Flat curls

Yes, you read that right, a different type of curl – we're going to frizz and frizz and frizz even more. We'll make these arms scream!

These curls accentuate the short head of your biceps which gives your arm the climax. This will most likely be the toughest arm exercise for you.

This time, keep your palms facing outward and do a curling motion. Focus on holding your upper arms by your side and bringing your palms up to your shoulders. Push your arms firmly towards your body and don't let go of the weight.

Equipment needed: a pair of dumbbells, a pitcher of water, or other household items.

Dips

Dips are another total arm movement that involves pressing on the triceps, deltoids, and pectorals.

Dips can be done with your feet and hands on various surfaces to increase or decrease difficulty and core activation as needed.

An L-sit dip is a great dip for activating your core. Use two chairs for an L-sit dip (larger chairs provide more stability. The bigger the better). With one hand on each chair, lift yourself up and kick your legs out.

You want to get a perfect 90 degree angle with your body. Lower until your hands are roughly in your armpits. Then press up until your arms are straight again while maintaining the L-sitting position to optimize the engagement of the core.

Equipment needed: 2 large chairs.

Concentration ripple

Yes, another curl! This variation removes any movement from the back of your arm by propping it against your leg. As the name suggests, you will make sure that all of your energy is focused on the biceps (and not being fooled).

You will work your biceps evenly if you have your hands up towards the ceiling. This variation on curls will make your arms burn if they aren't already.

To do a lock of concentration, press your triceps against your inner thighs to keep your arm from moving. Then put your weight on your shoulders. Again, focus on squeezing the triceps muscles. Don't rush through your repetitions.

The amount of time you spend under tension is one of the most underrated variables when it comes to exercise. By increasing the amount of time under tension, you increase the amount of work your body has to do.

Equipment needed: a pair of dumbbells, a pitcher of water, or other household items.

Slide up to the side

Side pushups will get your shoulders doing a lot of work. You're removing one of your arms from the movement you're doing, forcing a deeper, more intense burn in your triceps.

With this type of push-up, push your hands out as far as you can reach on both sides of your body. Then bend one elbow to push your body toward your elbow while keeping the other arm straight. Then go to the other side and contract your triceps on each rep.

Zottman curls

Yes, for our final arm-specific exercise, we're going to do another variation of a curl! The Zottman curl will add significantly to your time under tension.

You force the brachialis to do additional work with the rotation at the top and bottom of the exercise. The movement will squeeze you, pushing even more pump into your arms. These will consume extra energy that you left in your arms and let it go completely.

On the way up, do a traditional curl and twist your arms outward with your pinky finger. Then, at the top of the motion, flip the dumbbells over so your little finger is pointing inward. Then bring the dumbbells back up to your thighs. Turn back and repeat.

Equipment needed: a pair of dumbbells, a pitcher of water, or other household items.

See more fun workouts and easy exercises to do at home.

10 Apr
Blog

Wyze Home Monitoring Review: Great Savings, Gaps to Fill

Wyze Home Monitoring Components

Wyze Home Monitoring Review: Big Savings, Bridge the Gaps

"Wyze comes at a compelling price for home security, but it takes more work to catch up."

  • Very affordable home monitoring plan

  • Inexpensive hardware

  • Option for wired or wireless connection with hub

  • No cellular backup connection

  • Limited selection of accessories

When it comes to making noise in the smart home space, nobody is doing it better lately than Wyze. The company has tirelessly expanded its portfolio over the past year, which surprisingly now includes vacuum cleaners, headphones and fitness trackers. The latest offering is Wyze Home Monitoring, a 24-hour home improvement security system designed to protect your home when you are there or not.

After a series of hits with its surveillance cameras, the Wyze Home Monitoring is pursuing the same strategy of being extremely affordable. At $ 5 a month, it's without question the lowest priced subscription. However, are there any compromises with such low cost?

Cover basics

First, let me explain what comes with the Wyze Home Monitoring System. The Core Starter Kit ($ 110 MSRP) is exactly what you'd expect. It consists of a 5-piece kit that consists of a hub, a keyboard, a motion sensor and two input sensors. What's especially important here is that this starter kit is almost a fraction of the cost of its closest competitors – between $ 150 and $ 200 – for packages from Ring, SimpliSafe, and Blue from ADT.

Wyze Home Monitoring KeyboardJohn Velasco / Digital Trends

For the price, you get the same basic components as the other home security systems. So in that regard, it's more for the money. However, a comprehensive selection of accessories is always an advantage when it comes to fully covering your home. With its current portfolio, Wyze lacks the depth of accessories that its competitors offer. While you can have additional motion and entry sensors for the system at a much lower cost than the competition ($ 20 for three entry sensors and $ 8 for one motion sensor), it comes down to the breadth of accessories you have still not close gonna find anywhere else.

However, if you are concerned that someone might be intruding on your home, hitting additional sensors can provide more security. While external threats are paramount, Wyze needs to add other accessories like carbon monoxide detectors, flood sensors, and more to monitor other potential threats around the home.

Optimizations required with experience

Wyze's inexperience in this area will be exposed after I check out the app. The activation and deactivation of the alarm system can be done either physically via the keyboard or via the app. You can select a countdown to have enough time to activate / deactivate. There are three main arming modes: Home, Away and Disarmed.

This starter kit is almost a fraction of the cost of its closest competitors.

As you would expect when a system is armed, the hub will emit a loud siren when any of the sensors are triggered. If you have a Wyze surveillance camera, you can also set it up to automatically record when one of the sensors is triggered. For example, if the front door is opened while it is armed, you can have the Wyze Cam in your living room to automatically start recording. Oddly enough, cameras themselves do not trigger an alarm if movement is detected and the system is armed. Instead, you will receive an app notification.

While the basics are well covered here, some additional tweaking is needed before it can be compared to the major players in the field. In particular, the hub cannot emit any distinguishable noises each time a sensor is triggered – not even at home. Personally, I like being at home to hear a sound when the front door is opened. You don't have that option here.

What is even more puzzling is that the system continues to sound the alarm in home mode and also dispatches law enforcement agencies. Fortunately, I had it in test mode whenever it went off, but I would love to see a proper home mode where I can still have the sensors active but only send me notifications (or play a sound on the hub) when they are always activated. In disabled mode, everything is simply disabled so that there are no notifications or alarms.

24/7 surveillance with Noonlight

Wyze Home Monitoring offers 24-hour monitoring via Noonlight, which not only triggers alarms when sensors are triggered, but also emergency helpers who are on standby in emergency situations. When you consider that the service cost is $ 5 per month or $ 60 per year, it undercuts most other home security systems.

Wyze Home Monitoring HubJohn Velasco / Digital Trends

However, when it comes to protection, there are still some loopholes that need to be addressed in the future. Take the Wyze Hub, for example. I am happy to have the option of connecting it wired or wirelessly to my house's network and having my own emergency power supply in the event that the power fails. However, without an active internet connection at home, it will become unusable. Other systems, such as the base stations from SimpliSafe and Ring, have an integrated cellular connection as a backup. In Wyze's situation, no internet connection means there is a coverage gap.

Our opinion

It's a good start, but there is certainly still a lot of work to be done before Wyze Home Monitoring can deliver the same solid and complete home security service that its competitors offer. The accessories portfolio in particular does not make it quite as robust and experience requires additional optimizations and improvements. The cost is hard to miss, however, as you will not find anything that cheap remotely otherwise.

How long it will take?

All components of the system are made of plastic. It's enough, but the design and build quality is obviously a step behind what you get from names like SimpliSafe and Ring. There is a one-year limited warranty that covers the hardware components against defects.

Is there a better alternative?

SimpliSafe and Ring offer two of the most comprehensive home improvement safety systems on the market. Ring, in particular, has one of the deepest accessory rosters that can cover your home inside and out, while SimpliSafe offers impeccable service that goes above and beyond most – for example, the ability for a service dispatcher to access a camera, to review real threats.

Should you buy it?

Yes, but only if you are in need of cost. I expect it will get better over time as more accessories become available and the experience improves.

Editor's recommendations




10 Apr
Blog

Are Ripped Hands Still Cool in CrossFit?

Are torn hands still cool in CrossFit? - Fitness, crossfit, crossfit games, chalk, crossfit open, liquid chalk, callouses, torn hands, barbell knurling, exercise belts

For CrossFit addicts, the crushed palm trees that come from endless bar work are the most telling sign of their addiction. Is that cool? If you're bleeding from your passion, it's probably cool when it comes to real blood. Is a tattered hand a sign that you are on the right track in your workout? Definitely not. And let's be fair, you can tear our hands apart while climbing, rowing, or doing gymnastics.

I would love to believe that there is one simple rule to follow when scraping your skin with metal: if it interferes with your workout, it is bad, and if it happens during competition it may be inevitable, but you do want it to keep operating at maximum capacity anyway, so it may be best to reduce the amount of blood lost through your palms.

The 5 best ways to keep your grip tight but smooth

The first step in smoothing your hands during exercise is with smoother hands during exercise. Ideally, your hands would be smooth and no one would think less of you for it.

If you can keep your skin smooth and silky, you can give yourself a better playing surface to avoid the awkward catches on the exercise bars or the knurls on the dumbbells, even the imperfections in cast iron kettlebells that can pick up your skin and peel it back . Here are some ways you can help your hands exercise young.

Grip right – No matter what level you are at, you want to think about your grip. As you grip, the dragging on your palm can make it worse. Think about how you will actually grip the bar.

Do you grab it at the very bottom of the palm of your hand? Or do you pack it more around the base of your fingers? Think about how climbers use their fingers more than their hands. Think about the fact that you are pulling, not pushing, on something.

The bar shouldn't be all the way to the bottom of your palm. This only causes more folds of skin to clump together and you are more likely to tear. And you are compelled to get callouses and cuts from learning the ropes, but only in so far as you learn whether you are effective at getting your grip right. Also, think of the cuts and callouses as warnings.

Training gloves – You can get workout gloves, you know the fingerless things that are likely to be frowned upon by the cool kids in your gym. Here's the thing, no one should be frowned upon wearing exercise gloves, and there are plenty of manufacturers willing to advertise CrossFit-grade gloves, but it's likely impractical.

First, weightlifting is just as much about the touch as the grip of holding on to the bar. Gloves can be thick, they can tighten, and you need to wrap your hand around the bar, position the bar correctly, and keep those fingers together just right.

So you could protect your hand, and we don't have a recommendation for a glove that could help you in this regard, but they could also adversely affect your training and technique.

Are torn hands still cool in CrossFit? - Fitness, crossfit, crossfit games, chalk, crossfit open, liquid chalk, callouses, torn hands, barbell knurling, exercise belts

Gym hand protection – Handguards, on the other hand, are cool. Sure, you didn't see them much in the early days of CrossFit, and even with the competition, you had a first aid tent full of torn and shredded hands dealing with antiseptics and duct tape.

But not now. The people were wise and were serious about hand guards. Gymnasts have been training and using grips for a long time and they know a thing or two about them.

A post from Victory Grips (@victorygrips)

For CrossFit, companies like Victory Grips and Bear KompleX specialize in products for the community and seem to get consistently good reviews.

They're expensive, but probably a better investment than an expensive, moisture-wicking workout t-shirt that you will toss in the corner of your industrial warehouse gym about five minutes after you work out. If you want to train really hard at CrossFit or compete, invest in handholds. It's a no-brainer.

chalk – Chalk is a double-edged sword. Small amounts will keep your hands dry and help your grip. This means you are less likely to be holding the bar too tight, which is a good thing for callus prevention.

Chronic chalk, on the other hand, can actually create more friction when you've got that much chalk on your hands. Be sparing with the chalk and towel dry your hands between sets.

On the other hand, liquid chalk can get expensive. We have reviewed Spider Chalk on these sites in the past. It's not for everyone, but some athletes swear by the sticky film that builds up over the palm of your hand. Or just go for simple old weightlifting chalk and create those clouds of chalk dust for little money.

Hand care – There's no shame in moisturizing and protecting your hands. More importantly, you need to get into the habit of shaving your callouses and smoothing out the rough skin that forms from lifting, bar, ring, and rope work.

It's okay to be nice to your hands. Wodwelder is a nice little online shop in this regard. It contains lotions, callus shaves, pumice stones, and ointments that target CrossFitters.

Remember that unless you are a full-time CrossFit athlete, you are likely to have a day job and meet people. There will come a time when you need to shake hands with someone or show your palms in a business setting. Maybe when you close magic to close the big thing you were working on and when that happens nobody wants to look at your hands and think you just escaped from prison by digging your own tunnel?

Workouts for blood, guts, and fame

If we just look at things through the prism of CrossFit, the Open and Games season is when you may face the greatest likelihood of tearing skin across your palms.

Fortunately, as noted above, there are things you can do to protect yourself. However, if you are training for the Open and Games during the other nine months of the year, you want to be able to perform at their best and the only thing that should be certain is calluses that don't bleed.

The headline asks whether torn hands are still cool in CrossFit, and the answer is no, it's not cool to tear your hands apart. You need to take care of the things that affect your performance and your ability to do the real work.

It doesn't matter if it's CrossFit, rowing, or climbing. Injuries are possible but not inevitable, although at the highest levels, the likelihood is that they are most likely to occur. Real athletes know they need to protect themselves.

09 Apr
Blog

Nokia 5.4 Review: Resist the Temptation

hmd global nokia 5 4 hand review screen

“The Nokia 5.4 hasn't improved on its predecessor, but the price has gone up and there have been a few other issues. It's not the phone to buy. "

  • The build quality is excellent

  • Camera is sufficient

  • Poor quality screen

  • Mediocre performance

  • Android 11 not installed

The $ 249 price tag associated with the HMD Global Nokia 5.4 makes it jump off flagship smartphones that cost $ 1,000 or more during this time. But take a closer look and it's actually $ 50 more than the Nokia 5.3 it is replacing. Now that it's more expensive, it has to prove it's worth the extra by improving the specs of the old model and fixing some of the issues it had too.

In reality, the Nokia 5.4 isn't all that different from the Nokia 5.3, and that's not good news. Let's go into that in more detail.

design

From the back, the Nokia 5.4 looks very similar to the Nokia 5.3 and many other Nokia phones. There's a circular camera module on top, a fingerprint sensor underneath, and on my test model, a lovely blue color scheme called Polar Night that looks great in the right light. The phone is made of plastic and can get quite greasy with fingerprints. While it should prove to be quite tough, it is not waterproof.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

At 181 grams it is not very heavy and the body is modestly large, but quite broad. I can almost use it with one hand, but my thumb barely extends across the other side of the screen. However, swipe entry is possible. In addition to the usual volume rocker and the on / off switch, Nokia has placed a Google Assistant button on the left side of the device. While it can be disabled if you don't want to use it (or keep pressing on it like I did), there is no way to reconfigure it. It's unhappy and the button feels like a waste of space.

I've kept coming back to the question of desirability because the Nokia 5.4 is basically the same (from the back) as the 5.3, and that was released around this time last year. It's not ugly at all and I really like the Polar Night color, but it would have been nice if it wasn't just a facsimile of the last one. From a materials and design perspective, the extra $ 50 you'll be spending isn't apparent here, and the recycled design makes it a little dated.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

No, this is not the newest iPhone. Since you're not spending $ 1,000, design may not influence your purchasing decision. However, for a workhorse or a first phone for someone young, it's a pretty and very solidly built phone.

screen

You won't get a better screen with the extra $ 50 either. It measures 6.39 inches, so it is slightly smaller than the Nokia 5.3, but has a resolution of 1560 x 720 pixels with the same pixel density. However, with a maximum of 400 nits, it is even less bright than the Nokia 5.3. It's very dark and it's really suffering from it. It is a waste of time to look at it in sunlight or generally outside at almost any angle except the front. It can also be turned off.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

In the real world, this means that taking photos is cumbersome because you cannot see the viewfinder. When used for Google Maps in the car, a hint of sunlight means the contents of the screen go away and notification notifications on the lock screen are essentially invisible. The screen is at its maximum brightness all the time, but you will be forgiven for thinking it was on the lowest setting.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Brightness is not an issue indoors, but the poor viewing angle of the screen is emphasized. It's right with the Nokia 5.4 or nothing. Video performance is disappointing, with washed out colors and a lack of vibrancy. The only good news is that the teardrop cutout for the 5.3's selfie camera has been replaced with a hole punch in the top left of the screen. This is a far better design choice and makes the phone look more modern from the front.

That small point aside, the Nokia 5.4 has one of the worst screens I've used on a smartphone in a while.

camera

Now we come to one of the areas where you will find a specification difference that may have resulted in a higher price. The main camera is 48 megapixels, up from 16 MP in the old version, but there is still a 5 MP ultra-wide camera and a pair of 2 MP depth and macro cameras. The 48-megapixel camera has a higher number of megapixels, but it still has the same aperture of f / 1.8.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

It's not bad at all, provided you ignore the macro camera, which, as always, is useless. The main camera takes pretty photos in good conditions, but it can lack color and pop, especially when lighting is poor. The wide-angle camera injects more color, but it lacks some dynamic range, which leads to more shadows. Portrait mode is decent too, with edge detection accurate enough to be used, and night mode brightens things up, provided it's not too dark.

Overall, it's a step up from the Nokia 5.3, and given the price of the phone, your daily casual shots won't disappoint. However, the Pixel 4a's excellent camera cannot be questioned.

Battery and performance

The Nokia 5.4 uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 processor and has either 4 GB or 6 GB of RAM and an internal storage capacity of 64 GB or 128 GB. My test model has 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage. The battery has a capacity of 4,000 mAh. Frustratingly, the phone has Android 10 and not Android 11 on board, despite being an Android One phone. Many will consider purchasing the Nokia 5.4 in the hopes of timely software updates, so this is cause for concern. It really should be installed from the start with Android 11.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The performance is not great. The entire operating system is slow as some apps take several hits too long to open and even keystroke detection suffers from frustrating pauses. Playing Asphalt 9: Legends shows some slowdown and low frame rate as expected, but it runs well enough to play. I found the Wi-Fi range to be pretty short, the connection unstable at times, and constant issues with WhatsApp video calls dropping out. The fingerprint sensor on the back is easy to locate with your finger, but it is finicky and does not respond well to wet or very dry fingertips. There's also a face unlock that's more reliable but a little slow.

hmd global nokia 5 4 rating gamesAndy Boxall / Digital Trends

hmd global nokia 5 4 review appsAndy Boxall / Digital Trends

hmd global nokia 5 4 check fingerprintAndy Boxall / Digital Trends

The battery life depends on your activities. It takes two days with basic use, but play lots of games and take photos and it quickly drops to just over a day. There is no wireless charging and no simple 10W wired charging. While I may have been indulged in high-end phones lately, the Nokia 5.4 quickly became frustrating for me due to its clumsy performance when used for everyday activities.

Price and availability

The Nokia 5.4 costs US $ 249 without a contract in the Nokia online shop or on Amazon. It costs £ 159 in the UK and is available through the same outlets. Both prices refer to the 4 GB / 64 GB model.

Our opinion

Looking back at how I felt about the Nokia 5.3, it was easier to forgive the phone's drawbacks because of its low price in the US and that it was more than a year ago when I was using it. It's much harder to forgive that a year later the Nokia 5.4 had essentially the same issues – poor performance and a bad screen. That it costs more and is still running Android 10 makes it worse. HMD Global has revamped its smartphone lineup for early 2021, and the disappointing Nokia 5.4 shows that a revamp was needed.

Is there a better alternative?

Yes. If you want to own a Nokia phone, wait and see how the new Nokia G10 and G20 phones from HMD Global work. They are slated to be released in the next few months, and prices are similar to 5.4. Now if you need a phone, consider spending a little more on the Google Pixel 4a for $ 350 or the Samsung Galaxy A52 5G for $ 399. Both have better performance, screens and cameras.

Alternatively, check out the Motorola Moto G Play for $ 170 or the Moto G Power for $ 250, depending on whether you want a big screen and long battery life, or whether you want to spend as little as possible on a new phone want. The Moto G Power is a better buy when $ 250 is your limit.

How long it will take?

The Nokia 5.4 is not waterproof, but the plastic shell should be durable and moderately protective in the event of a small fall. Android One should guarantee software updates. However, since Android 11 is not yet available on the phone, you should wait for future versions to arrive. The phone will almost certainly outlast your patience in handling its problems.

Should you buy one?

No, while the Nokia 5.4 is cheap, the phone's drawbacks will still be frustrating.

Editor's recommendations




09 Apr
Blog

Ask A Dermatologist: How Often Should You Moisturize Your Face?

How Often Should You Moisturize Your Face? And what is the “correct” amount? If you have oily skin, should you moisturize as often as dry skin type? Whether you go through a tub of moisturizer for a week or rarely use one, these questions may come up as you build your skin care routine.

That's why we turned Dr. Hooman Khorasani to unpack your moisturizer concerns. Dr. Khorasani is a triple board certified, scholarship trained cosmetic and skin cancer surgeon. After Spicing Up After you see Dr. Having peppered Khorasani with questions, here's what he said in our Q&A about the most frequently asked questions about moisturizers.

What does moisturizer do to the skin?

Answer: Your skin is your largest organ and the most important barrier against harmful substances. Above all, hydrated skin strengthens the barrier function of your skin. Ceramides and other lipids are the main components of our skin barrier function. Sebocytes in our sebum glands help in the production of these lipids, which are needed for an optimal barrier function, by protecting your skin against moisture loss. Even people with oily skin need moisture as the oily skin is usually due to a negative feedback loop. The less moisture your skin receives, the more signals are sent to the sebum glands, for example, to produce more oil.

Does Moisturizer Benefit All Skin Types?

Answer: Generally yes. Moisturizing your skin will help prevent dryness, flaking, redness, and itching. Different parts of the body usually have different hydration requirements. This is just a function of the density of the sebum in the skin. Typically, the sebum areas of the face require less moisture than the rest of the face. The sebum areas include the forehead, nose, medial cheek, and mouth, commonly referred to as the "T-zone" of the face. Most of us have fewer sebum glands on our torso and lower extremities, so we need more hydration in these areas.

Some skin types have higher base oil production and therefore require less moisture than other skin types. The production of sebum is controlled by sex hormones and can fluctuate with hormone cycles. This is seen more often in women, but it can also be seen in men.

In certain people with eczema, there is a basic loss of lipid biosynthesis and thus a loss of the barrier function. These people are more prone to skin infections. Therefore, patients with eczema have a higher need for moisture than the average population. For these patients, preventing moisture loss is just as important as adding moisture. Taking quick showers with lukewarm water and adding humidifiers around the house can greatly improve moisture loss. Occasional use of baths with antiseptic solutions can also reduce bacterial stress and reduce the risk of skin infections.

What is the difference between humectants, occlusive materials and plasticizers?

Answer: We usually use the word "moisturizing" to indicate the application of any type of topical agent to the layers of the skin that will improve the hydration of those layers. However, there are generally three different categories of moisturizers, namely humectants, occlusive agents, and emollients. Humectants can pull water molecules out of the air and bring them to the surface of the skin. They are basically microscopic humidifiers on the surface of the skin. Examples of … organic humectants are honey, molasses, egg white and egg yolk, and aloe vera.

Emollients are various butters, oils, lipids, and fatty acids that can be applied to the skin. Depending on the active ingredients they contain, they are divided into ointments, creams, lotions and gels. Ointments are the most moisturizing but the least aesthetic. At the other end of the spectrum, gels are the least moisturizing, but the most aesthetic because they apply to the skin quickly and without major consequences.

Occlusions act as a physical barrier against water loss from the surface of the epidermis, the first layer of skin. They are the additional protective layer against external influences. For lovers of organic skin care, beeswax and thicker oils made from coconut, soybeans and olives are among the most popular occlusive products. These occlusions are a must have for people with extreme dryness and eczema.

Can you over-wet?

Answer: In any case, everything in life should be in moderation. I mentioned earlier that the negative feedback loop signals the sebocytes to produce more oil when your skin is too dry. Similarly, when your skin is too hydrated, your skin will signal to sebocytes to stop producing essential lipids. Excessive use of topical agents can also block your pores and lead to breakouts.

How Much Moisturizer Should You Apply?

Answer: Make sure your skin is washed with a gentle detergent to remove toxins and bacteria on the surface of the skin, and make sure your pores aren't clogged. If you have too much flaky skin, you can use a gentle scrub or scrub to get rid of the dead skin first. This dead skin layer prevents the effective absorption of moisture. After exfoliating, use a pea-sized amount of moisturizer on each side of the face. You can be much more generous with topical applications on other parts of the body.

How often do you use moisturizer? Let us know if the comments are below or on social media. You can also explore our range of moisturizers at an Eminence Organics Spa Affiliate and find one that suits your skin type.

09 Apr
Blog

Sony SRS-RA5000 360 Speaker Review: An Expensive Experiment

Sony SRS-RA5000 360 speakers

"A fascinating but expensive speaker that doesn't quite live up to the hype."

  • Easy adjustment

  • Crystal clear sound

  • Chromecast support

  • Works with Google Assistant / Amazon Alexa

  • Expensive

  • Polarizing design

  • Difficult placement requirements

  • Overwhelming 360 RA effects

  • No hi-fi bluetooth codecs

When Sony unveiled its 360 Reality Audio (360 RA) music technology – a stunning 3D format designed to restore listening to live music – the only way to hear it was through headphones.

Starting in March, you can now listen to 360 RA tracks aloud through two models of wireless speakers: The Small Room for $ 300 Sony SRS-RA3000 and the much larger $ 700 SRS-RA5000.

They're both designed to optimize 360 ​​RA playback, but also have the ability to make regular stereo tracks an even more immersive experience if you so choose.

Sony was kind enough to send Digital Trends a RA5000 to try out. So we tested the unusual looking speaker to see if it actually offered a listening experience worth investing in.

What's in the box?

Sony SRS-RA5000 360 speakersSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

Sony keeps things simple with the RA5000. In the fully recyclable box you will find the speaker, its power supply and a collection of printed materials such as a quick start guide, safety information and warranty documentation. It's a bit of a surprise – especially considering the $ 700 price tag – that Sony didn't use a 3.5mm cable or two, but you might be expected to buy one when you need it.

With its copper-grilled speakers; curvy body wrapped in cloth; and tall stature, it will be controversial.

design

Sony SRS-RA5000 360 speakersSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

In recent years, Sony has been enthusiastic about black or anthracite-colored devices with copper accents. You can find this color scheme on the WH-1000XM4 wireless headphones and the excellent WF-1000XM3 wireless earphones, but the most bombastic display comes with the RA5000.

With his trio of copper-grilled step-up speakers; his curvy body wrapped in cloth; I suspect it will be a controversial purchase. I really like the way it looks, but my family members are divided about the aesthetics.

If a speaker isn't your cup of tea in terms of design, you can usually just stick it in a bookcase or in a corner behind a plant. That won't fly with the RA5000.

Although it can fill a room with sound from almost any position, the closer you get to it in a central location, the better able it is to accomplish its mission of true 360-degree sound.

However, this raises two questions: How can you supply a central location with electricity (there is no on-board battery) and how do you disguise the enormous power supply module?

Unfortunately, I don't have an answer to either question. For my assessment, I simply placed the RA5000 on a coffee table and let the power cord dangle over the edge. A nearby extension cord under my couch served as a power source, but the trip hazard it created (not to mention how unsightly it looked) means it would never work as a permanent place.

There are a total of six touch-sensitive buttons along the top edges that allow you to access the most frequently used functions such as playback, volume, source, Bluetooth on / off / pairing and sound calibration.

Sony does not include a remote control, presumably because a phone is required to use the RA5000.

Another difficult aspect of the RA5000 design is the use of metal grids over the three high-boosting drivers. These thin shields are eye-catching, but seem to be very easy to dent. Our test device arrived with a very noticeable and a slightly smaller bruise. This is something to keep in mind if you want to put the speaker in a very central location (exactly where Sony suggests it).

Setup and configuration

The Sony Music Center app serves as a guide for configuring the RA5000 and gives you access to settings such as EQ and turning the speaker’s Immersive Audio Enhancement mode on and off. You can also use it to trigger the speaker's automatic sound calibration. However, this can also be done using the touch-sensitive controls that line the upper edge of the housing.

Using the SRS-RA5000 as a Bluetooth speaker is a breeze. Just long press the power button to enter pairing mode, then select the speaker from your phone's Bluetooth device list.

To get the most of it, we recommend that you take the extra step of adding it to the Google Home app so that you can enjoy Chromecast audio.

This opens up all the functions that make the RA5000 unique: It enables 360 RA streaming, which is not supported via Bluetooth. This allows you to stream stereo tracks with much higher quality (up to CD quality), which is also not possible via Bluetooth. Finally, if you have other Chromecast-enabled devices, you can manage the speaker as part of a larger multiroom audio system. If you have a Google Assistant smart speaker, you can use your voice to control the RA5000.

Amazon Alexa users can also control the speaker using voice commands by adding the RA5000 as a device in the Amazon Alexa app.

Sound quality

Sony SRS-RA5000 360 speakersSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

The SRS-RA5000 is a speaker with a mission: to enable people to listen to Sony 360 RA music without headphones, while “upgrading” their non-360 RA sources for an even more immersive sound experience. Given the high price tag, these two scenarios should better be fantastic. Otherwise it will be difficult to give the RA5000 our recommendation.

I just don't appreciate what 360 RA brings to the noisy listening experience.

To really get a feel for how it handles these tasks, I created several playlists in the Tidal app. I started by searching through Tidal's 360 RA track library for songs I'd heard countless times before – Heart's Barracuda, Billy Joel's Big Shot, Pharrell Williams' Happy, and Dave Brubeck's Take Five. Then I added the standard HiFi stereo versions of these tracks so I could easily switch back and forth between the two formats.

I also listened to these stereo versions with and without Sony's Immersive Audio Enhancement feature.

Sony SRS-RA5000 360 speakersSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

The judgment? The RA5000 does a good job rendering 360 RA tracks with its signature open-air ambient sound. The up and side firing drivers add both width and height to these songs, making for an even more immersive experience than listening to the stereo version, even when using Immersive Audio Enhancement. Not sure if you are actually hearing 360 RA audio? An LED indicator light under the speaker glows cyan when the format is recognized.

But as noticeable as the effect is, I just don't appreciate what 360 RA brings to the loud listening experience. I find that opening up and “stretching” the music to fill the room with sound tends to hollow out the recordings. Intimate details in the mids that I know own these tracks are harder to spot. Lushness and immediacy give way to the ambience, and I think a lot of the songs don't survive this transition intact. Then there is the question of consistency. It turns out that not all 360 RA tracks are the same.

The upward and side fire drivers give these songs both breadth and height, making for an even more immersive experience.

Fire up the 360 ​​RA version of Heart's Barracuda, and the RA5000 does an excellent job of making the iconic rapid-fire guitar licks fill the room. But Ann Wilson's normally soul-piercing vocals sound like she's singing with her back to the audience.

Big Shot loses much of the deep bass thrumming that gives this song so much of its nuance, which is very strange given that the RA5000 is more than capable of producing excellent bass response.

Pharrell Williams' Happy 360 RA is a much better mix, and on the RA5000 at least, it's more fun to listen to than the stereo version. But I still prefer the way this song sounds when played on a traditional stereo pair of speakers. Only Dave Brubeck's Take Five sounded much better in its 360 RA version.

Is this an inherent problem with the 360 ​​RA format? I do not believe that. Some of the above issues can also be heard when listening with headphones. With headphones, however, the spatial rendering is much better controlled and can better convince your brain that the songs are being played by a band on stage in an open space.

The RA5000, despite its 360 degree driver suite, still acts as a very identifiable sound source, reducing the effectiveness of the 360 ​​RA spatial audio effect.

Now, if you gave me a choice between the 360 ​​RA tracks that play on the $ 700 RA5000 and Dolby Atmos Music tracks that play on the $ 800 Sonos Arc soundbar, I'd be Atmos take on the arc every day.

One thing that particularly confused me about the RA5000 is the Bluetooth capabilities. According to Sony, the speaker is designed for high resolution audio, which means it can accurately reproduce frequencies from 20 Hz to 40 kHz. The problem is that only SBC and AAC bluetooth codecs are supported, neither of which can carry high resolution audio.

That would be a bit understandable if there wasn't a better Bluetooth codec. But there is and Sony invented it. LDAC is one of only two Bluetooth codecs recognized as high definition by the Japan Audio Society. However, for reasons known only to Sony, the RA5000's LDAC was not supported.

More than music?

Sony SRS-RA5000 360 speakersSimon Cohen / Digital Trends

Comparing it to the Sonos Arc soundbar raises another consideration: for $ 700, can this $ 700 spatial audio speaker do anything other than let you listen to streaming music?

The answer: it depends. You can connect the RA5000 to a newer Sony Bravia TV via Bluetooth. According to Sony, a signal is delivered with very low latency, which means that the audio and video remain well synchronized. However, Bluetooth doesn't allow for multi-channel audio like 5.1 or 7.1, and it definitely lacks the bandwidth required for Dolby Atmos, which is a huge missed opportunity given the RA5000's upstream drivers.

The TV connection feels like an afterthought. It is not officially endorsed by any other TV brand. Since the RA5000 has neither an HDMI port nor an optical port, it is pretty clear that Sony would prefer to use this speaker primarily for listening to music.

Our opinion

The $ 700 Sony SRS-RA5000 is a bold experiment – an eye-catching design that aims to bring immersive live music sound to rooms of all sizes. However, this experiment is not entirely successful, making the RA5000 difficult to recommend.

Is there a better alternative?

For a lot less money the $ 200 Amazon Echo Studio uses a similar multidirectional driver setup to support 3D sound formats like Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 RA. Plus, it can be connected via WiFi to select Fire TV streaming devices for home theater sound, and it's a full-fledged smart speaker from Amazon Alexa. It can't match the overall clarity and depth of the RA5000, but it's pretty impressive for the price.

For a traditional wireless speaker that's $ 700 Denon Home 350 has many of the same features (other than spatial audio) and offers bigger, bolder, more powerful sound, as well as decent stereo separation.

How long it will take?

Sony builds high quality products and the SRS-RA5000 is no exception. Since there is no internal battery to worry about and an additional analog input is no longer available, it should function without any problems for many years as long as you take care not to damage it (e.g. by accidentally pulling the power cord).

Should you buy it?

No. With the SRS-RA5000's unique design, cumbersome placement requirements, and high price tag, only those who want to experiment deeply with Sony's 360 Reality Audio should take the plunge.

Editor's recommendations




09 Apr
Blog

30-Day Plank Challenge and It’s Benefits

Exercising your core strength is an important way to maintain fitness and overall wellbeing. Since we often neglect our core and strength training, a 30 day plank challenge can help you overcome the negatives. Yes, this type of workout is practical and ensures your fitness game will change forever.

If you're wondering if this is just another workout on the plank, don't worry. It contains a list of everyday exercises that are simple, effective and will bring you quick results for you. In summary, they are a complete solution to your fitness goals. So don't waste your time and get on your way!

What is the 30 Day Plank Challenge?

The 30 Day Plank Challenge is an exercise program for you that will help you build your body's core strength and endurance. It contains 30 different daily exercises that you can do that are extremely versatile and efficient. With each 12 day lapse, your potential to hold a plank increases by 2 minutes. The program is safe to perform and provides stunning results that will get you started training right away. Oh, and if you're not ready to go the extra mile for an activity this might be the trailblazer for you. There are also a number of benefits that you can learn about below.

What are the benefits of this plank challenge?

The plank challenge comes with surprising benefits that will blow you away with its results. Let's take a close look at them.

Improve stability

We often suffer from instability in the body that makes us weak and lazy. However, the active plank challenge that you must complete daily will help you build your stability in a precise manner. In this way, you can acquire a solid and stable core to carry out your daily functions unhindered.

Reduces back pain

Many people suffer from constant back pain due to weakened bones in the body. However, if you do these exercises daily, you can allow your muscles to exercise and build flawless strength. As a result, the back pain will go away in no time.

Promote endurance

Over time, we find that our physical endurance is decreasing. This could pose a potential threat to our health over time. However, if you do the Plank Challenge every day, you can get rid of this problem once and for all. It helps build incredible stamina in our body that can also help us break out of injury problems and constant body aches and pains.

Strengthens every core muscle

If you are having trouble strengthening every core muscle in the body, this exercise is all you need to try. The various plank challenges for 30 days in a row ensure that you build impeccable strength in no time.

What types of plank challenges to perform?

The plank challenges are full of different plank exercises that you need to do for 30 days in a row. No two activities are alike. So you can play a change every day without feeling monotonous. As a result, every day becomes a learning experience for you. Any plank workout is easy to do and ensures you are exposed to minimize injury. So you don't have to worry at all. Some of the primary day plank workouts may include forearm planks, high-side planks, and high-plank pats on the back. Over time, the plank exercises will increase in potential, which automatically improves the plank holding strength.

How do I complete the plank challenge?

1. Get into a plank position. Your arms should be fully extended for a tall plank. If the challenge is more improvised, you can try one on your forearms.

2. Make sure your palms and toes are on the floor and your back is neutral. At this point, your core should be tight.

3. Your body should be in a straight line at this point. Don't let your head hang down.

4. Hold the position for a while. Gradually, when you feel like your shape is dissolving, lower yourself to your knees.

5. Repeat the training.

frequently asked Questions

1. Is the plank training easy?

Yes. All 30-day plank workouts are straightforward to perform.

2. Do I need a personal trainer for this?

No. You do not need a personal trainer for this training. However, if you feel the need to do so, you can rent one.

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