This TV Backlighting System Fucked Me Up. This is opulence. Android Software Links: For the Android Mobile Telephone/Tablet Operating System by Google. Content by Respective Authors. Dr. George Church is a real-life Dr. Frankenstein. The inventor of CRISPR and one of the minds behind the Human Genome Project is no longer content just reading and. Suddenly, there is extra light blasting from behind my TV screen, making a day- glow title sequence positively atomic. The Dream. Screen, a backlighting system that’s designed to make your TV viewing more immersive, is a luxury that I absolutely don’t need. In theory, the supplementary lights change color based on the pixels on the TV screen for an “immersive theater experience.” In practice, it’s an overstimulating, distracting, nauseating novelty, and I can’t get enough of this shit. ![]()
![]() What is it? A group of LEDs on the back of a television that make viewing more immersive. Like. Those lights are very pretty. No Like. It can be really distracting and there are a lot of wires. I’m a fan of the Phillips Hue wireless LED lights, and find the ability to change the color of my room with my phone delightful. Dream. Screen, loosely based on the original Philips Hue- adjacent Ambilux television, works in the same vein, so I was keen on it. I do a lot of stupid things to entertain myself, like acquiring a 5. Samsung television with a gimmicky curved display. Dream. Screen seemed like an upgrade. I was naive. I didn’t realize how much I could loathe and love one product. Depending on what kind of TV you have, the kit costs between $1. HD or 4. K, and the size of your screen). The setup is a small feat in and of itself. There are chunky LED light strips to tape to the back of a TV, differently spaced depending on the size of your tv (there’s a guide). There’s a smartphone app that works with your wi- fi to download and set up. Then you need to plug your video source into the video input of the round HDMI splitter, and plug the output into your TV. There are also two optional “sidekick” lights for extra glow ($6. This thing takes up three fucking outlets. Get ready for a wire rat king. You do get the “bigger, brighter” TV the product’s website promises, but the lights don’t exactly extend the screen space; they sometimes echo, and sometimes compliment the colors of pixels around the very edges of your screen, sending rays of color from behind your television across your walls in time with whatever is on. In the case of a dramatic explosion, this is all very sensible, as a good part of your wall will look onfire. It really shines with material intended to be trippy—like whatever the hell that was in episode eight of Twin Peaks: The Return (above), or that psychedelic 2. A Space Odyssey sequence. The more you give it—pink and blue neons, deep reds—the more you get. But it can be confounding in undramatic sequences, with bright blurry bits of clothes and other immovable objects echoing off screen, like dislocated fuzzy chunks. Daylight and black- and- white sequences result in a bright bluish- white screen halo. Letterboxing also presents an obvious, chasmic problem—gaps. I want to emphasize the visual loudness of this thing. Even at the lowest brightness, without the two sidekicks, the Dream. Screen is really bright. I like to watch movies in complete darkness and concentrate on the screen. With the Dream. Screen, the entire room is illuminated, including the dirty laundry in the far corner that I’m trying to ignore. Say you’re the type of person with serious respect for cinematography. The screen bleeding out of the frame in blurry puddles every which way might not be what the cinematographer intended. Despite and because of its flaws, this truly is an accessory of visual excess. There’s also the product’s weird “health benefits” claim that it “reduces digital eye strain.” The claim cites a single 2. TV not hurt your eyes so much. But the study also says that these results are “modest” and sometimes even the opposite. Speaking from personal experience, staring into a significantly brighter TV area is the opposite—my eyes ache after a while. So I wouldn’t take this study very seriously. Where Dream. Screen really shines is gaming. I sit closer to the TV while I game and my focus is more sharply drawn to specific sections of the screen. This position allows the peripheral edges of the game space to blend with the Dream. Screen light extensions and I’m significantly more immersed, just as Dream. Screen wanted. When I’m not watching the entire screen, the patchiness of Dream. Screen’s illumination isn’t a big deal. It’s also more dynamic because more is happening faster, so it’s swishing around me. That’s neat. For most everything else, it’s immersive, but kind of like watching TV wasted is immersive. You’re going to get pulled into the light. You’ll want to squint. Your eyes might skid. You might ask yourself, do I really need to do this? Am I enjoying it? Why am I doing this? Excess and novelty are perfectly good reasons to try something. Getting overwhelmed and bored is a great reason to stop. Until then, the trick is getting used to something completely unnecessary. Awhile back, I saw Wonder Woman in 4. DX, which is extra 3. D, with moving theater seats and “effects.” For two hours in the theater the seat jostled me back and forth and gently spit water into my hair. It was completely unnecessary. But now I wonder, how am I supposed to watch another movie again without steamy, bumpy smell- o- vision? I wasn’t even sure I liked 4. DX, but I’m going back, obviously. Maybe I want to be thrown around. Maybe I’ll always want a “bigger, brighter” TV. Maybe I want to be perpetually overstimulated by entertainment technology. Maybe I want bright lights strapped to the back of my TV, for extra explosions. Nothing in life is perfect. A lot of the things aren’t even good. I think this thing is bad, but also good. No one really needs it, but it’s awfully easy to get used to. When I don’t use the lights, I miss them. Sometimes I’ll even put them on the ambient setting when I’m doing something else. Like “rainbow.” Or “fireplace.” Twinkling in the background. Completely fucking with my head. READMEIt takes up to three outlets. It’s really bright and dramatic. Best for really bright and dramatic sequences in movies and games. Great for gaming and explosions, not so much for movies you respect. How much you’ll like it really depends on your definition of “immersive.”Easy to hate, hard to leave. SUVs In Europe Aren't Going Away Anytime Soon. Good morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one place every weekday morning. Here are the important stories you need to know. Gear: It’s A Goddamn Takeover. When I think of European roads, I think of small and compact cars. Cute lil’ hatchbacks and wagons. Or powerful sedans cruising on the Autobahn. News from March—where 2. European car market has lost itself to SUVs (!?)—shook me up good. Good morning! Welcome to The Morning Shift, your roundup of the auto news you crave, all in one…Read more And the trend doesn’t seem to be stopping either, reports Automotive News Europe. From the story: The rise shows no signs of slowing. In Europe, SUVs accounted for 2. JATO. This year automakers are forecast to sell more than 4 million SUVs in Europe, which would push the market share up to 2. LMC Automotive predict. By 2. 02. 0, Europe’s SUV volume is expected to reach nearly 5. LMC believes. European SUVs face an issue that we don’t really have here, however: backlash against diesel. A gasoline- driven SUV in Europe would simply be out of the question. Either they hit the new CO2 targets—or they electrify. With diesel falling so fast out of favor, automakers will have to act quickly to keep people interested. As it stands, Volvo, Jaguar and Audi have already started making moves towards electrifying crossovers and SUVs. Gear: Post- Brexit UK Isn’t Doing So Hot. It’s not been good for Britain so far after it voted to leave the European Union. Construction, exports and car manufacturing were all in decline in June, giving the UK “an uninspiring end to the weakest first half of any year since 2. Reuters puts it. From the story: Britain’s goods trade deficit jumped to a nine- month high of 1. June from 1. 1. 3 billion pounds in May, exceeding all forecasts in a Reuters poll, and the figures also showed the growing importance of exports to the European Union just as Britain is preparing to leave the bloc. Car production recorded its biggest quarterly fall since 2. If anything, these figures emphasize the importance of EU markets to Britain, which is where over half of the country’s goods go. And, adds Reuters, “over the past year these exports to the EU have grown almost twice as fast as those heading elsewhere.”However, a Reuters poll from today shows economists expecting Britain to grow, on average, by 0. So, there’s that. Gear: Camaro Versus Mustang And Challenger. The Chevy Camaro, Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger are three, closely competitive American muscle cars. Any and all Camaro/Mustang/Challenger comparison tests have been written to death—but that’s beside the point here! The point here is that GM is thinking of decking out the Camaro a bit more to help it better compete with the other two, according to Automotive News. GM product chief Mark Reuss said, “I think we’ve got opportunities at the very low end of the Camaro range and some remix of some of the V- 8 options on it so we don’t force people to buy all the options with a V- 8, just to get a V- 8.”The company refused to elaborate further, but personally I’ve got my fingers crossed for a four- cylinder Camaro with rocket propulsion capabilities. Gear: Germany Checking Up On Ford. For obvious reasons, Germany is on high- alert for any more emissions- cheating diesel engines. Now, the German transport ministry has its sights set on the Ford Mondeo (the Ford Fusion for us), according to Automotive News. From the story: Germany has ordered its road transport watchdog to look at whether Ford’s mid- sized Mondeo model contains an illegal emissions cheating device, business weekly Wirtschafts. Woche reported on Thursday, citing the transport ministry. Wirtschafts. Woche said the inspections were prompted by emission test data that could indicate the use of such devices. In an email to Automotive News, Ford’s German division said that each one of its cars and engines totally comply with current emissions regulations, okay? It is not using illegal cheats to pass emissions tests, alright? God. Ford has also said that it will cooperate with the German government during this inspection. Here’s to hoping that everything is fine, dandy and normal. Gear: Uber And Lyft D- I- S- R- U- P- T- I- N- G Car Buying, Maybe. Yesterday, we reported on ride- sharing and ride- hailing services like Uber and Lyft becoming popular and viable options over rental cars, especially in urban areas. A study conducted by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, Texas A& M Transportation Institute and Columbia University looked at Austin, Texas, where Uber and Lyft withdrew after a spat with the local government, reports Reuters. I hope you’re not stuck somewhere in Austin where you’re unable to drive yourself today. Uber and…Read more Researchers studied Austin residents’ car buying patterns after Uber and Lyft left the city. Here’s what they found: The study found that 4. Uber and Lyft, and 9 percent purchased a vehicle for this purpose. Can you imagine using Uber or Lyft so much that you were forced to buy a car after they left? Reverse: JUST KIDDING!!! On this day in History, Reagan jokes about bombing Russia on Aug 1. Learn more about what…Read more Neutral: What are your feelings on SUVs? Hate ‘em, love ‘em or meh?
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