CREATIVE Archives - Page 2 of 80

Creative announces extremely affordable USB-powered Pebble Plus 2.1 speakers

Creative’s Pebble speakers are very popular with budget-focused shoppers. Over on Amazon, it has 4.5 stars with over 500 reviews. It’s not hard to see why that is — for a mere $25, you get a respectable 2.0 audio experience from a well-known brand. No, they aren’t audiophile quality, but at this price, you should know that. They should be better than your laptop’s built in speakers, however. One of the coolest aspects of the Pebble speakers is they are USB-powered — you don’t need an AC adapter when connecting them to your computer. You doneed to simultaneously connect a 3.5mm audio cable, however, as audio is not transmitted over USB — only power.

One of the big drawbacks to Pebble is a lack of bass. This really shouldn’t be surprising, as they are small 2-inch speakers, and they don’t have a subwoofer. Well, Creative heard the user feedback loud and clear and decided to bring a little boom to its budget offering. Called “Pebble Plus,” it is the same stereo speakers, but now with a small subwoofer added. Amazingly, the price is barely higher than the non-plus variant. Seriously, folks, the price will shock you.

“Featuring formidable 2-inch mid-range drivers that are angled perfectly at 45 degrees to ensure that the sound reaches you through a precise and elevated sound stage, the Pebble Plus speakers are designed with the user as the center of attention. Together with the addition of a brand new 4-inch down-firing ported subwoofer, Pebble Plus simply puts the user in the audio limelight,” says Creative.

The Sound Blaster-maker further explains, “Powered entirely by USB connectivity, Pebble Plus provides additional convenience by eliminating the need of a wall power socket. Devices are connected to the speakers through the universal 3.5mm AUX-in cable. The front-facing controls are located at the front of the main speaker for quick and easy access. With a simple switch of a button, Pebble Plus is driven into High Gain mode, increasing its power output to 8W RMS for stronger bass and room-filling audio — at zero loss to audio quality!”

Believe it or not, the USB-powered Pebble Plus will only cost $5 more than the non-plus variant! Yes, for just $29.99, you can score yourself a nice little 2.1 speaker system for an office, bedroom, or other small place. Pebble Plus will go on sale next week, April 19. Keep in mind, while these speakers are designed for a computer, you can use them with any 3.5mm device (iPod, Echo Dot, etc.) — as long as you plug the USB port into an AC adapter — any USB-Type-A charger you have lying around the house should work fine.

[“source=betanews”]

Prestitia awards creative mandate to Aaron Idea Communications

Prestitia, the online women comfort wear shopping website, has awarded its creative mandate to Aaron Idea Communications following a multi-agency pitch. The brand plans to bring insightful integrated campaign with this tie-up.

The agency will handle the creative strategy and execution for the brand and the account will be handled from the agency’s Delhi office led by Preeti Dogra.

Vikas Madhwar

Vikas Madhwar, Managing Director, Prestitia, said, “We were impressed with Aaron Idea’s strategic insights and articulation of recommended path forward for our advertising. We are delighted to have them as our creative partner, and we look forward to working with their passionate team to continue delivering insightful and impactful integrated campaigns.”

Amit Verma

Commenting on the win, Amit Verma, Director, Aaron Idea Communications, said, “It is a moment of pride for us to be associated with Prestitia and we are delighted with the trust that the company has shown in us. The opportunity to partner Prestitia during this high growth phase is extremely stimulating for all of us at Aaron. The greatest strength of Aaron is strategy and we are committed to creating innovative, cutting-edge work for Prestitia.”

The brand started in 2013 stands for innovation and creativity creating intimate wear with superior comfort, quality and high fashion quotient.

[“source=bestmediainfo”]

Creativity and Passion, Intimately Linked According To New Research

Researchers at Northwestern University and University of London, Goldsmiths have teamed up to carry out research will found the link between creativity, and sustained romantic passion in relationships.

I have written a lot about creativity in the past and how it is one of the most important skills to have in the modern world, but this research brings a new detention to the importance creativity.

The authors carried out research where they have hypothesized that more creative individuals would keep romantic passion longer. To test their hypothesis they screened individuals based on the personalities and responses to survey questions. They had 500 people participate, and evaluated people who participated based on their creative personality score, and in a subset study according to their personality habits or behaviors. Both studies indicated that individuals who exhibited a more creative personality sustained a greater romantic passion in their relationship. Although this was a positive finding, the authors wanted to test for time. To do so, they followed participants over a course of 9-months and at the end of the course of 9-months they also asked participants to perform a physical intimacy task, where the passion would be attested by independent coders. In doing so, they wanted to remain as objective as possible and help rule out the self-reporting bias. What the found again that those who exhibited a more creative personality maintained greater passion over time in the relationships, and this was found evident in the physical intimacy task as well.

You may wonder – what it is about creative individuals that keeps the passion in the romantic relationships longer? To answer this question, the authors performed another study. In this study they wanted to understand whether creativity was associated with a positive illusion of partner’s physical attractiveness. In other words, do creative individuals allow their imagination take over and create an illusion or mystery in regard to their partners qualities? The results of this study indicate that this is indeed the case! Thus, individuals who scored higher on the creativity scale had more positive illusions of partner’s attractiveness, than those of the lower score.

Thus, it all comes back to our creativity and imagination. Being able to image a positive illusion, allows us to sustain passion for longer because we are able to overlook certain imperfections and replace them with positive illusions. Thus, rather than be discouraged by our perception of what we see, if we turn on our creativity and imagine something better, it indeed can help us change the situation and help sustain a romantic relationship.

Dr. Anna Powers is an entrepreneur, advisor and an award winning scientist. Her passion is sharing the beauty of science and encouraging women to enter STEM fields.

[“source=forbes”]

EU copyright reforms pit creative industry against internet activists, consumers

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Europe’s creative industries are urging EU lawmakers to back a proposed overhaul of the bloc’s copyright rules, putting them at odds with internet activists who oppose a requirement to install filters to block copyright material.

People protest against the planned EU copyright reform in Berlin, Germany March 23, 2019. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke

The European Commission wants to reform copyright rules to protect Europe’s cultural heritage and ensure fair compensation to publishers, broadcasters and artistes. The European Parliament is due to vote on the Commission’s proposal on Tuesday.

More than a thousand artists have signed an online petition calling on EU lawmakers to endorse the overhaul while others have ran op-eds in newspapers in support of the changes, lobbying group Impala said in a statement.

Artists in favour of the proposed changes include film producers Pedro Almodovar and Michel Hazanavicius, Benny Andersson from Abba and author Ali Smith, as well as independent music labels.

A vote in favour by the European Parliament would pave the way for the reforms to become law.

Google, internet activists and European technology start-ups, however, oppose the overhaul and were joined on Monday by consumer lobbying body BEUC.

A requirement for Google’s YouTube, Facebook’s Instagram and other sharing platforms to install filters to catch copyright violations known as Article 13, but now renumbered to Article 17, has triggered protests, with an online petition www.savetheinternet.info garnering more than 5 million signatures so far.

Google senior vice-president for global affairs Kent Walker has said the article could prompt online platforms to over-block content to limit legal risks.

Critics also say filters are costly and could lead to erroneous blocking.

Publishers, artistes and actors had also originally been vocal critics of the Commission’s proposal to rewrite the copyright rules but reversed their position after successfully lobbying for Google to pay them for using their work online.

BEUC said it opposed the copyright reforms, arguing that consumers may not be able to share pictures and holiday videos with background music if automated filtering becomes the norm.

“This is not the modernised copyright law that creators and consumers need, but rather another attempt to protect an industry that has consistently resisted to deal with the impact of technological change on their business model,” BEUC’s Director General Monique Goyens said in a statement.

The European Parliament’s approval is the final step in a process which the European Commission kicked off two years ago.

[“source=reuters”]