The great mystery of the Walmart remote control has been solved. Mostly. As you’ll recall from our Onn 4K Pro Streaming Device review, ours came with a remote control that doesn’t have backlit buttons and also lacks an unsightly “Free TV” button. But some folks who also got in early on the $50 Google TV device had a different remote control — one whose buttons do light up, and with a big blue “Free TV” button in the middle.
We reached out to Walmart on May 13 to try to clarify things. Here’s what its outside PR agency had to say via email: “Of note, the remote does have two versions. The first wave of products released with the non-backlight version of the remote. The backlight version will be available with the product soon.”
So that’s that. Mostly. As of May 16, the product listing on Walmart’s website shows the same remote control we have. But that wasn’t always the case. The other version of the remote has been listed previously. (Note that it didn’t mention backlit buttons either.)
Is the backlit remote control — the one Walmart says will eventually be the only one that ships with this device — more “premium,” as some have taken to calling it? I don’t know. I’ve used a lot of remote controls in my day. I’ve had the Logitech Harmony Elite, and the beautifully designed Logitech Harmony Companion. Those are premium remotes.
This is one that comes with a $50 streaming device, and I’m already tired of thinking about it.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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