Also today: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos gets hungry and buys a whole grocery chain, make your ears happy with some amazing KEF bookshelf speakers.
Homer never had an Odyssey like this
The DT team that’s been roaming the back alleys at E3 are headed home, but not before they handed out a few awards at the annual gaming expo in Los Angeles. Let’s get right to it: DT’s Best of Show award goes to Super Mario Odyssey, a surprisingly fun and engaging adventure game that has Mario getting into all kinds of trouble by essentially “getting into” other characters in the game by way of his now magical red cap.
The clever trick greatly expands what Mario – or whoever Mario is currently using as an avatar – can do, and there are plenty of nods to Nintendo’s long history, as well as a lot of really fun new adventures. Naturally, the game is coming out for the new Switch system, and you’ ll have to wait until nearly Halloween of this year to get your white-gloved hands on it. We handed out more than a few other well-deserved awards at E3, so hit this link for the complete list.
Welcome to Prime Foods Market
Maybe you heard the news this morning that Amazon just bought upscale grocer Whole Foods Market, for almost $14 billion, and here we were getting all excited yesterday about a possible deal between Amazon and Slack for just 9 billion. Looks like Mr. Bezos has been saving his nickels. Anyway, beyond the obvious sudden addition of over 400 retail points for Amazon’s wares, the acquisition brings up many questions about Amazon’s future.
The online retail juggernaut, which essentially started out as a online bookstore operating out of founder Jeff Bezo’s garage, has never had a large retail presence, and focused instead on streamlining shipping things through the mail, as we all know. Now, with Amazon “lockers” popping up all over, their experimental retail location in Seattle, and the acquisition of Whole Foods, it seems like Amazon is making a move on having a retail – and actual physical – presence.
Is the world ready for Whole Foods by Amazon? If we can pick up our Crocs and fidget spinners while scoring that $10 dollar pint of Kale ice cream, you bet we are.
Makes those golden ears ring
Hey, if you’ re really into great-sounding music and maybe have a couple grand lying around with nothing to do, then we have a set of speakers for you to check out.
They’ re called the LS50 Wireless by K-E-F, and they just picked up an Editor’s Choice award from our hyper-critical speaker tester Ryan Waniata. Like the name implies, these glossy heavyweights are set up to stream, and don’ t be deceived by the “one” speaker there in the middle of the piano-black cabinets – it’s actually a unique multi-driver setup KEF calls “Uni-Q, ” and suffice to say, it gets the job done.
An internal bi-amp system pump out 230 watts of power per speaker, and there’s a dedicated app for sculpting the sound just how you like it. You can even plug a powered sub into the system easy-peasy. Like we said, not cheap. The LS50 Wireless system runs $2,200 bucks, and the speakers weigh in at 22 pounds each, so make sure you’ ve got a strong bookshelf for these top-shelf bookshelf speakers. Check out Ryan’s full review at this link.
We’ ve got more news on our Facebook page and YouTube channel, and be sure to tune in to this week’s DT podcasts: Close to the Metal (computers and such) on Tuesday, Trends with Benefits (general tech shenanigans) on Thursdays, and Between the Streams (movie and TV topics) every Friday.
