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Even if you bring home as few bags as possible using reusable bags, carrying purchases home with your own two hands soft plastics sill accumulate. I certainly have a collection with one flimsy plastic sack filled with dozens or hundreds of others. I plan to do something with it eventually. Unfortunately, there arent a ton of options for what to do with those soft plastics, as most recycling facilities cant accept them. But no one likes seeing them end up in oceans and rivers and stuck up in trees. So I was excited to see the Clear Drop Soft Plastic Compactor (CPC) at CES. Its a pre-recycler for your home that turns hundreds of bags into a solid brick thats easier to transport. Certain facilities can accept the bricks for recycling. Clear Drop works with 95 percent of soft plastics, sucking up bags, bubble wrap, ziplocks, package wrap and cling film into its maw. It then compresses and heats the plastic to form a compact eight by twelve by four inch brick. I asked Matt Daly, Clear Drops head of product, what the compactor cant take and I was told you cant add ping pong balls, IV bags and camera film. Easy enough. A compacted brick the Clear Drop CPC produced. Amy Skorheim for Engadget It was satisfying to see the little slot on the top gobble up the plastic bags Daly fed it. The Clear Drop wasnt set to smash and heat at the show, but I was assured by another Clear Drop rep that any plastic smell produced during operation was minimal and the company performed safety tests to ensure the machine didnt create any harmful emissions. Daly said it would take about a month for most households to create a brick, which translates to around a 30 gallon trash bag full of other bags. Once that brick is created, it can be shipped to one of Clear Drops partner facilities and pre-paid USPS shipping envelops are included. They work with multiple US-based recycling facilities and do audits to ensure the bricks are actually being recycled. Of course, I was a little disappointed the bricks couldnt be tossed in my blue curbside bin, but Daly said theyre working to bring more recycling partners on board and the ultimate goal is to create an infrastructure that would eventually include municipal recycling. Shipping the bricks somewhere feels a little counterproductive, eco-wise. And the machine itself is not cheap. The price is split up over the course of two years, but it adds up to $1,400. Im happy to see someone somewhere is doing something to address a pretty clear problem. While its not perfect, this is probably the best household-level solution Ive seen to that can ensure your bags dont go down some sea turtles throat. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/clear-drop-is-trying-to-do-something-about-all-those-plastic-bags-under-your-sink-140000254.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
Legos new Smart Play system, announced at CES earlier this week, is an embrace of digital technology the likes of which we havent seen from the company before. And while the demonstration it gave on Monday was a good start towards showing just what Legos Smart Brick is capable of, theres no substitute for seeing it in person. Fortunately, an extended demo answered a lot of my questions on how the system will work once kids and adults get their hands on the first round of sets with Smart Play.As I detailed yesterday, the Smart Play system contains three elements. The Smart Brick is packed with technology like proximity sensors, an accelerometer, color sensors and a speaker, all powered by a tiny chip. Its crucial to know that each Smart Brick is identical at this point; to really bring a set to life, you need to combine it with Smart Tags or Smart Minifigures. Both the Tags and Minifigures contain specific instructions that help the Brick understand the context that it is placed in.The demo started out simply, with three small Lego builds: a car, a helicopter and a duck. Each of those builds had a unique Smart Tag that the Smart Brick uses to understand how it should respond to real-world stimulus. The car started making the sound of a revving engine, and when playing with it to drive it faster and more aggressively, the engine made more noise. Tilting the car would cause it to make some screeching sounds as if it was taking corners hard, and flipping it over would make the sound of a car wreck. The Smart Brick can similarly sense what specific Smart Minifigures is near it and respond accordingly. Since the first three Smart Play sets are all based on Star Wars, its a little easier to explain how they interact with the Smart Brick. Take the Throne Room Duel & A-Wing set it includes Smart Minifigs for Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker and Emperor Palpatine, and there are also Smart Tags that correspond to various actions the characters can take. If you place a Smart Brick behind Palpatines throne, the classic Imperial March theme will ring out and Palpatine himself will chatter a bit. The Minifigures dont actually say real words, but they can still embody their characters well enough. Vader, for example, offers his classic breathing sound and exclaim if hes defeated in a light saber duel.Lego Smart Play Star Wars setsNathan Ingraham for EngadgetThat duel is a clever part of this set. There are moveable mounts you can place Luke and Vader on, along with a Smart Brick. To complete the battle scene, a Smart Tag tells the brick to take on the characteristics necessary for a light saber battle. As such, when you place the Minifigures in the mount, youll hear the classic sound of a light saber humming to life. And if you move the characters around and crash them together, youll hear the sounds of battle. Finally, knocking a Minifigure off its spot will tell the brick associated with that character to make their trademark sound of defeat in Vaders case, thats the iconic noooooooo. The other two new Smart Play sets are Darth Vaders TIE Fighter and Lukes Red Five X-Wing an ideal pair for some space-based dogfighting. The X-Wing shows off how good the Smart Brick is at handling multiple inputs. Adding it to the X-Wing will make sounds of the ship humming to life, thanks to the X-Wing-specific Smart Tile. Sit Luke in the cockpit and youll hear the Jedi theme music play, and seating R2-D2 in the back will make the Droid chatter at you in its familiar tones. The Smart Tile is how the Smart Brick identifies this set as an X-Wing figher.Nathan Ingraham for EngadgetPitting the two ships against each other shows off more of the Smart Bricks capabilities. Grabbing the ships and whooshing them through the air will make the Smart Brick play sounds that arent just generic engine noises you can definitely hear the difference between the X-Wing and the TIE fighter. Each ship also has lasers you can activate, and if two kids are in the same room flying ships around and firing off lasers, youll hear the ships taking damage as well. Firing enough shots while aiming at another ship will eventually cause it to play some exploding sounds to indicate that it has gone up in flames the Minifigures associated with the ship will also make sounds of dismay, as well. At first glance, the sets themselves dont feel wildly different than other smaller-scale Star Wars sets, but the people from the Lego Group giving the demo pointed out a few notable characteristics. The TIE fighter and X-Wing are both specifically designed to withstand more abuse from active play scenarios than the average Lego set, and theyre also specifically designed to fit will in a kids hand so they can run around and propel them through the air. The Throne Room set, meanwhile, has a detachable area where Luke and Vader can battle you can remove and re-attach it to the throne area easily enough, but its good to separate it out for more aggressive light saber battles.Lego Smart Play Star Wars setsNathan Ingraham for EngadgetAll told, Im quite excited to see where Lego goes with its Smart Play system from here. Starting out with some simpler sets from a massive franchise like Star Wars is a logical way to introduce the system. There are obvious play scenarios that make perfect sense as a way to show off the Smart Brick. But Im looking forward to a time when Lego starts selling tiles and Minifigures that can expand the capabilities of existing sets, whether theyre licensed or not. And the idea of smushing together Star Wars with some of the many other properties that Lego has access to (Jurassic World? DC or Marvel? Despicable Me or Bluey?) feels like just the kind of chaotic fun kids will love having.Thats perhaps the most important point about Smart Play. While Lego has made major overtures for capturing the hearts and wallets of adult Lego fans, Smart Play is very clearly aimed at kids right now. There are no screens, apps or setup needed for Smart Play it seems exceedingly easy to just pick up and start playing. Furthermore, Lego is using this technology to make Lego sets more interactive, something the company hopes will encourage more social play amongst kids. Thats a solid use of the technology packed into a Smart Brick if you ask me.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/lego-smart-play-hands-on-using-technology-to-get-kids-to-play-together-133000436.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
Klipsch hasnt debuted new headphones in years, but thats going to change in 2026. At CES, Klipsch announced the upcoming Atlas hi-fi series that includes wireless and both closed and semi-open back models. All three are expected to arrive this summer, but the company hasnt announced pricing or many details on any of them just yet. However, I was able to listen to the Atlas HP-1, the wireless model with active noise cancelation (ANC). Without going into specifics, Klipsch says the HP-1 is designed for both daily wear and travel. This is thanks to the combination of light weight, comfort and standout battery life. Inside, coaxial drivers provide the companys warm signature sound profile. Third-party support for spatial audio and hearing compensation is also in the works. This concludes the info Klipsch announced this week. After seeing the HP-1 in person at CES, I can tell you they look quite similar to Bowers & Wilkins recent headphones designs. Klipsch has opted for wood accents on the outside of the ear cups, likely as a nod to its speaker heritage. But the combination of leather and metal, as well as the headband and ear cups, remind me a lot of B&Ws Px7. Klipsch Atlas HP-1Billy Steele for EngadgetDuring my brief time with the HP-1, the excellent sound quality was the thing that stood out most. Klipsch is demoing the headphones with lossless audio over USB-C, so it will be interesting to see what the audio is like in wireless mode. However, the companys trademark warmth and deft tuning is immediately apparent, giving preference to highs and mids without overbearing bass. Theres ample low-end tone, but it compliments everything else and didnt overpower in the Rage Against The Machine songs and other tracks I listened to. Its difficult to paint a comprehensive picture here since I wasnt only really able to observe sound quality and only for a short time. But the HP-1 is certainly a premium set of headphones that are comfy to wear (at least for the few minutes I wore them) and definitely sound good. The biggest downside will likely be price, which I expect to be at least $500. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/klipsch-atlas-hp-1-hands-on-a-return-to-hi-fi-headphones-at-ces-2026-130000415.html?src=rss
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