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The best wireless headphones that sound fantastic and are comfortable to wear
We seriously considered more than 200 models and picked the top four.
Lauren Dragan
Sep 28, 2019 · 11:30 am
Rozette Rago
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This guide was written by the editorial staff of Wirecutter (A New York Times Company). The products in it are independently reviewed. Scroll.in may earn a commission when any of the products are purchased online through the links below.
The Jabra Elite 85h is our favourite pair of Bluetooth headphones because the intuitive operation and comfortable fit make it a pleasure in everyday use. These over-ear headphones are delightfully uncomplicated, with easy pairing and clear, simple controls. And they're versatile performers, offering great sound, clear calls, active noise cancelling, long battery life and water resistance.
Jabra Elite 85h
Great sound, great design
The Elite 85h over-ear Bluetooth headphones do nearly everything better than similarly priced competitors.
Rs 24,990* on Amazon
*At the time of publishing, the price was Rs 24,990.
The Jabra Elite 85h delivers everything you could want in a pair of Bluetooth headphones. These headphones sound fantastic out of the box, and they're more intuitive to set up and use than most competitors thanks to the automatic Bluetooth pairing process and the large, easy-to-access controls. The battery life, rated at 36 hours (with active noise cancellation engaged), is also longer than that of many competitors, and the battery charges quickly, providing five hours of use after only 15 minutes of plug-in time. The Elite 85h works with the Amazon, Apple, and Google digital assistants, and the microphone quality is super clear for phone calls. The Elite 85h is water resistant, too, and protected by a two-year warranty against damage from rain. The active noise cancellation isn't as effective as that of the Sony WH-H900N, but it does reduce enough noise to be useful.
Sony H.ear On 2 WH-H900N
A well-rounded set of headphones
The WH-H900N headphones check all the right boxes: great sound, a comfortable fit, above-average battery life and good noise cancelling.
The Sony H.ear On 2 WH-H900N is a versatile pair of over-ear Bluetooth headphones that's good at just about everything. In our tests, these headphones sounded great – offering a mildly forward bass and clear, clean highs that didn't pierce – though the sound wasn't quite as detailed as that of the Jabra Elite 85h. A battery life of 25-plus hours, a comfortable fit, and super-clear phone calls round out the package. This pair lacks the water resistance and super-long battery life of the Elite 85h, but it does have better noise cancelling, which might be important for commuters and frequent flyers.
Cheaper pick
Jabra Move Style Edition
A great option under Rs 10,000
While most relatively cheaper Bluetooth headphones fall short in some key way, the Jabra Move Style Edition succeeds in the important areas: sound quality, fit and battery life.
Rs 6,999* on Amazon
*At the time of publishing, the price was Rs 6,999.
The Jabra Move Style Edition on-ear headphones sound about 75% as good as many Bluetooth headphones that cost four times as much, and they're great with phone calls, too. The controls are easy to understand and use, and the soft earpads, padded headband, and swivel earcups offer a comfortable fit for most people. A recent upgrade has improved the battery life, which is now listed at 14 hours of talk/listen time (compared with eight hours in the previous version) and 12 days of standby time, and the Move Style Edition will still function while it's charging. These headphones don't have active noise cancelling, but people who don't need that feature can save a bunch of money with this model. This pair isn't flashy, but it gets the job done surprisingly well for the price.
Upgrade pick
NAD Viso HP70
The best sound quality
If you want wireless headphones but refuse to compromise on sound quality, build, or comfort – and you're willing to pay more – these are your headphones.
The NAD Viso HP70 is the best-sounding set of Bluetooth headphones we've heard. It's also one of the most comfortable pairs, with a lightweight chassis and super-soft memory-foam earpads that make it a joy to wear even for long periods of time. It includes decent active noise cancelling, as well. The set has a sleek, minimalist look and easy-to-use controls. The 15-hour battery life is less than we'd like, but you can still get through a couple of workdays before needing to recharge – plus, you can use the headphones in wired mode. Although the active noise cancelling isn't as good as that of the Sony WH-H900N, it is still effective and better than that of the Jabra Elite 85h, especially with airplane noise.
Who should get this
Bluetooth wireless headphones are for people who don't like to be tethered to their music devices and are willing to pay a little more for that freedom. They're also for people who own smartphones that lack headphone jacks and who would rather not deal with special adapters to attach a wired pair of headphones. Bluetooth audio quality has come a long way, so although you'll pay more money to get the same fidelity as with corded headphones, you should still expect headphones in this category to sound comparable to wired headphones.
This guide focuses on over-ear and on-ear headphones, which are obviously larger and heavier than earbuds but also the preferred type for anyone who doesn't like the feel of wearing in-ear headphones. If you're looking for our take on Bluetooth earbuds, check out our wireless earbuds guide. Bear in mind that, with wireless earbuds, the battery won't last as long and you'll likely pay more money to get similar or slightly inferior performance compared with the picks in this review.
Also, if you are looking for a pair of headphones to use while working and your tasks include a lot of video chatting, phone calls or work with dictation software, you may want to consider an office headset with a boom mic. You can find wireless options, even a few that sound pretty good while playing music. Check out our office headset guide to learn more.
Although some of the headphones in this category offer active noise cancelling, their sound quality, comfort and ease of use were our top priorities in evaluating them for this guide. As of now, no single headphone model offers both the best sound and the best active noise cancelling, although some come close. Unfortunately, that means you need to compromise a little in one area or the other. If noise cancellation is your top priority, check out our noise-cancelling headphones guide instead.
One last thing: Wireless Bluetooth headphones are great for watching movies on your computer or mobile device, but not on televisions. Not every television is Bluetooth compatible, so unless you have a receiver that can pair with Bluetooth headphones, you need a transmitter to get the sound from your TV to your headphones, and only one person can listen at a time. Also, Bluetooth transmission takes a few milliseconds, meaning there's a delay ("latency") between the video and the sound. Generally the delay is pretty small, but you might find the effect irritating. If you want to avoid this (or if you're buying for a family that wants more than one person to be able to use headphones), you'll need a purpose-built RF headphone setup, so check out our guide to wireless TV headphones.
How we picked
Photo credit: Lauren Dragan.
Our quest for the best Bluetooth headphones always starts with research. First, we research more than 100 companies to see what they've released since our last update. To date, we've seriously considered more than 200 headphone models just for this guide. To help us narrow down the field a bit (even we can't test everything), we read reviews, both by professionals on sites like CNET and InnerFidelity and by customers on retailer sites such as Amazon and Crutchfield. We take note of what people like and don't like as we look for models that meet what we think are the most important criteria for good wireless headphones.
Fantastic sound quality and a comfortable fit: These are, of course, our top two priorities. If something hurts to wear, you won't use it, and poor fit often affects sound quality. And nobody should have to pay for subpar sound quality. During our research, we eliminate any headphones with several poor professional reviews or consistently low owner reviews.
Easy-to-use-and-understand controls: Batting desperately at your headphones trying to pause a track or answer a call is frustrating. We dismiss any headphones that are confusing to use or too easy to trigger accidentally.
Solid Bluetooth connection strength: Repeated complaints of music cutting out or calls being dropped prompt a dismissal.
Good voice-call quality: Very important if you expect to use the headphones all day.
A minimum eight to 10 hours of battery life, plus the ability to work while charging and/or passively via a cord: A good pair of Bluetooth headphones should last a full workday at minimum, and you should still be able to use it while it's charging or with a cord. Otherwise, if your battery dies in the middle of something important, you could be out of luck.
Legitimate customer support: This is the kind of thing that doesn't seem to matter until you need it. We dismiss any headphones not backed by a company that we can actually contact and receive a reply from, as well as those from a company that has a large backlog of complaints. A lifetime warranty means nothing if you don't have anyone you can call or email for help.
For this round, we called in every model that met these criteria (and either had positive reviews or was too new to have any feedback) for our expert panel to evaluate.
Our expert panelists considered the sound quality, fit, ease of use and comfort of each pair and ranked their top three picks. I then took those favourites and tested the microphones over phone calls. I also checked the Bluetooth signal strength by wandering a good distance away from my phone, putting it in a pocket or bag, walking outside and going several rooms away.
Finally, to make sure that the actual use time lined up with each manufacturer's claims, we tested battery life by playing some music loud enough to drown out an air conditioner and timing how long each set of headphones took to finally die. Once we wrapped up testing, we made our picks based on overall performance and value.
Our pick: Jabra Elite 85h
Photo credit: Rozette Rago.
There is an elegant simplicity to the design of the Jabra Elite 85h over-ear headphones, which may not sound like a big deal – unless you're familiar with the myriad small annoyances present in most of the competition. Whereas other Bluetooth headphones can have confusing and fiddly buttons that often cause you to trigger the wrong task, the Elite 85h has straightforward controls and a painless pairing process across all device platforms. This pair works with the Amazon, Apple and Google digital assistants, too. The sound quality is great for both music and phone calls, the headphones fit comfortably, and the set features a 36-hour battery life. Plus, you get passable noise cancellation and a two-year warranty against rain damage. Overall, the Jabra Elite 85h headphones embody ease of use, and they're just plain enjoyable to pick up and wear. And their reasonable price means you won't be afraid to use them every day.
After testing more than 200 Bluetooth headphones over the past four years, we've paired a lot of headphones with a lot of devices – so for us to say we were impressed by how quickly and easily the Elite 85h paired and connected with all of our devices is a big deal. As soon as you unfold the headphones, they power on. If they aren't yet tethered to a device via Bluetooth, they automatically go into pairing mode, no need for you to press any buttons. If previously paired devices are nearby, the 85h connects simultaneously to the two most recently used. This dual connection is especially helpful if, for example, you are switching between listening to music on a computer and taking calls on a phone; you don't need to go into your Bluetooth settings to swap the connection manually. To power the headphones down, just fold them up again. The simplicity of all this is wonderful.
The Elite 85h headphones feel well built, with fabric accents and soft memory-foam padding. They just feel less plasticky than many similarly priced competitors. And if you get caught in the rain, no biggie, as they're backed by an uncommon two-year warranty against water and dust damage. So feel free to savour that emo moment of walking in a drizzle listening to The Cure without worrying about ruining your headphones. (Just us?)
The Elite 85h's large controls make these headphones very easy to use. Photo credit: Rozette Rago.
The 85h headphones work while charging via USB, and you can use them in wired mode through the 3.5 mm jack. Photo credit: Rozette Rago.
The physical controls are uncomplicated and easy to use without looking at them – you don't have too many buttons to learn, plus they're large and distinct-feeling. Unlike touch controls, which can suffer from interference due to rain or sweat or accidentally trigger when you're adjusting the fit, the Elite 85h's physical controls are water resistant, and you can brush them with your hand without inadvertently messing with your music.
The headphones are lightweight and comfortable to wear for long periods of time. If you wear glasses, you may find that the foam in the earpads doesn't completely seal around the arms of your specs, so isolation and noise cancellation may be mildly compromised. However, we thought that the foam was soft enough that wearing glasses in conjunction with the Elite 85h for several hours wasn't especially uncomfortable.
The battery life is long, lasting 36 hours on a full charge with ANC activated (41 without). If you run out of juice, the Elite 85h features a quick-charge function, which means that you get five hours of listening time from a 15-minute charge. The headphones also detect when you take them off and put them back on, automatically pausing and resuming your music, which helps conserve battery life. Plus, they function while charging, although the included cable is a little short for this to be practical. You can also use the pair in wired mode.
Although the Elite 85h sounds great right out of the box, you can use the free Jabra Sound+ app to alter the EQ to your personal preference. In our tests, the sound was a little more detailed than that of our former top pick, the Sony WH-H900N, with a little less bass bloat. Overall the 85h sounded terrific, with nice clarity on consonants that didn't hiss or pierce in a fatiguing way, a lower frequency range that wasn't blurry or muffling to male vocals or bass guitar, and a more three-dimensional depth of field. The sound quality remained consistent whether we were listening over Bluetooth or corded, with ANC on or off.
The headphones fold flat and fit nicely in the supplied carrying case. Photo credit: Rozette Rago.
On phone calls, the Elite 85h sounds very clear, and its multiple microphones help reduce background noise for your callers. They also feed you some of the sound of your own voice when you're on a call, similar to how phone handsets do, so you don't feel the instinctual need to speak louder for your conversation partner to hear you. When watching video, we found the latency to be so small as to be imperceptible.
If you want to have an in-person conversation or need situational awareness so you're not completely shut off from the world, the Elite 85h's hear-through feature uses the internal microphones to feed the sound of your surroundings into the headphones, similar to the function on the Sony WH-H900N or the Jabra Elite 65t. Jabra does a nice job of balancing the sound of the world with your music in a way that's helpful and not overly harsh or artificial. You can toggle this on and off (as well as the ANC) with a dedicated button on the left earcup, or through the Jabra app.
The active noise cancellation is mild, dimming low-frequency noises but not completely eliminating them. However, if you find intense ANC to be uncomfortable (we call this phenomenon "eardrum suck"), you could see this relatively mild noise cancellation as a good thing. Our sensitive panellists didn't experience the telltale pressure and eventual headache that they got from more aggressive over-ear headphones such as the Bose QuietComfort 35 Series II.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
As mentioned earlier, the active noise cancellation on the Jabra Elite 85h does reduce some lower frequencies a tad but isn't nearly as effective as what you get from the Sony WH-H900N. This fact kept the Elite 85h from being our noise-cancelling pick. But not everyone prioritises active noise cancellation (or even enjoys it), and we liked every other aspect of the Jabra so much that we were able to let this flaw slide.
The Jabra Sound+ app includes a few bonus features that seem nice but don't really deliver. The Smart Active ANC turns ANC or situational awareness on based on your surroundings. We gave it a trial run but found it less than useful and ended up turning the feature off. Find My Jabra is designed to help you find misplaced headphones, but the tracking applies only to where the headphones were last powered on in proximity to the device with the app. If you turn the headphones off and move them, for example, the map doesn't update. Plus, the mapping isn't room-by-room specific, so you'll know your missing cans were last turned on somewhere in the building, but not specifically where, or even if they're still around.
As with most wireless headphones we tested in this category, the included cord doesn't have a remote or mic. However, Jabra's active noise cancelling will work while you're listening via a cord, as will the headphones' volume controls, albeit independently of the device – as a result, you'll probably prefer to turn your device's volume up all the way and then make volume changes through the headphones.
Runner-up: Sony H.ear On 2 WH-H900N
The WH-H900N headphones check all the right boxes: great sound, a comfortable fit, above-average battery life, and good noise cancelling.
The Sony H.ear On 2 WH-H900N is our overall runner-up but our top recommendation for people who want highly effective active noise cancellation. Versatile and comfortable, the WH-H900N headphones do almost everything well: they sound great, they have better-than-average active noise cancelling, and they offer a microphone that sounds clear over phone calls. The 25-hour battery life is very good, but not as good as the 36 hours you get with the Jabra Elite 85h, which is also a more comfortable pair with controls that are even easier to use. The 85h has a longer warranty, too, as the WH-H900N is covered by Sony's limited one-year warranty and is not water resistant.
In our tests, whether active noise cancelling was on or off, the WH-H900N pair sounded great. The bass had a mild boost that made it more forward than natural, but the effect was restrained enough that it didn't overly blur or overwhelm the mids. The bump was just enough to make hip-hop music sound vibrant without muddying up male vocals. The highs were clear and detailed, with no massive spike in the 3 kHz to 5 kHz consonants range that is common in headphones touted as "high-end." You'll hear consonants on lyrics, but they won't become painful as you turn up the volume. If the tuning isn't to your liking, Sony's free app allows for some EQ adjustment in five frequency ranges. We found that, out of the box, the Jabra Elite 85h headphones had more detailed highs and more restrained lows, but the WH-H900N ranked a very close second in sound quality.
The comfortable earpads, the light build, and the 25-hour-plus battery life mean you can wear the WH-H900N all day. That's why it's of consequence that these headphones also sound good over phone calls. During our tests my caller told me that I sounded as though I were speaking directly into my iPhone as opposed to on a headset. When I was watching video or participating in video chatting, the latency was minor enough not to matter. The headphones also work in wired mode.
In our measurements, the active noise cancelling on the WH-H900N measured above average – better than that of the other picks in this guide, but not as good as that of the Bose QuietComfort 35 Series II or the Sony WH-1000XM3.
Speaking of the WH-1000XM3, Sony has told us that the WH-H900N has not experienced the same performance issues in the cold as its more expensive sibling.
The WH-H900N uses relatively intuitive swipe-and-tap touch controls. It also has an "ambient awareness mode" that uses the headphones' microphones to mix in the sounds around you with your music. This feature is helpful if you commute by walking, for example, or if you need to hear when someone in the office is speaking to you. Additionally, if you have the ANC on and music playing, holding a palm to the right earcup triggers the "quick attention" feature, which lowers your music and amplifies your surroundings through the headphones. After your conversation, just release the earcup, and the sound returns to normal.
Out of the box, the WH-H900N can trigger your phone's built-in digital assistant. But if you want to use Alexa or a different voice assistant than the one your phone natively supports (say, Google Assistant on an iPhone), you can program the WH-H900N to do so. You have some hoops to jump through, however: you'll first need to download the Sony Headphones Connect app, update the headphones' firmware, and then go through a series of menus. You'll also need to have that assistant's app downloaded on your phone.
Sadly, as with most wireless headphones we tested in this category, the WH-H900N's included cord doesn't have a remote or mic. In our tests, the sound quality of the headphones while corded wasn't our favourite, with a bit too much bass that could blur into male vocals.
Additionally, this model doesn't work while charging, so you'll need to confirm that it has enough power before making a phone call. But with such long battery life, we don't think needing to remember to charge it every third day is a dealbreaker.
Despite these headphones' active noise cancelling, we'd prefer to have a bit better isolation on them. In our tests in a busy coffee shop, the ANC dramatically reduced the espresso machine noises, but we could still hear a good bit of the female vocals in the store's piped-in music. The effect wasn't enough to be distracting, but better isolation would make these headphones stellar.
Cheaper pick: Jabra Move Style Edition
The Jabra Move Style Edition is the best set of budget wireless Bluetooth headphones because it's great sounding, comfortable, equipped with easy-to-use controls, relatively affordable – and it has solid battery life, too. Overall, we had to look to wireless headphones that cost much more to find anything better. Whereas every other Bluetooth headphone model under Rs 15,000 falls short on at least one of our criteria, the Move Style Edition covers the basics you need – and it does so rather well. The on-ear design may not appeal to everyone, but for people who wear glasses, it can be more comfortable than over-ear headphones.
The Move Style Edition is the new and improved version of our original budget pick, the Jabra Move Wireless, which is now discontinued. Although the two sound the same, the Move Style Edition has slightly better battery life and upgraded padding in both the earcups and headband. The Move Style Edition has a claimed 14-hour battery life, whereas the Move Wireless had a claimed battery life of eight hours, though we got 15 in our test. These headphones started giving an alert that the battery was low around the 14-hour mark, but they lasted 16 hours in our tests.
We found that the sound quality of the Move Style Edition was balanced in our tests, so all genres sounded great. The lower end of the frequencies was defined, so electronic basslines didn't muddy up the sound and kick drums avoided blurring or thudding. The refined bass meant mids were clear and didn't get lost. Male voices sounded smooth and rich, and the lower range on piano had depth.
As for the highs, you'll find a touch of boost in the sibilant range, so you will get a bit of extra "sss" in consonants, but the effect is relatively minor compared with what we've heard from a good number of the other Bluetooth headphones in this price range. Overall, violin, flute, and female voices sounded clear and even. You won't quite get the sense of three-dimensional space that the Jabra Elite 85h or Sony WH-H900N delivers, nor the detail of the NAD Viso HP70, but all of those models cost significantly more.
The Move Style Edition's rubberized controls are easy to find by touch, and we appreciated the dedicated on/off button. Photo credit: Rozette Rago.
The new Move Style Edition features upgraded padding in the headband and earcups. Photo credit: Rozette Rago.
All of our panellists found the Move Style Edition comfortable. Extra-soft earpads, a cloth-coated and padded headband, and a slight swivel to the earcups made this pair feel not only light and comfy but also sturdy and well made. Whereas the foam in the original Move Wireless felt like the kind in an egg-crate mattress topper, the new foam is more like a memory-foam mattress. Although the Move Style Edition headphones don't block out as much noise as the over-ear earcups of the Elite 85h, the on-ear design of this Move pair may be more comfortable for glasses wearers. The clamping force of the headband and the pliable padding don't put too much pressure on the ears, and the earcups stay clear of the arms of glasses.
When you're wearing the Move Style Edition headphones, their rubberised controls are easy to find by touch. During our testing, trying to find the controls on many of the other designs was a frustratingly huge problem. The volume-up and volume-down buttons on the Move Style Edition double as track forward and track back, and you can use the button between them to play, pause, access voice commands and take calls. The pair has a built-in microphone, and in our experience, it sounded about as good on the other end of the line as that of any other wireless headphones we've tested.
Another basic, but somehow lacking, feature in many other wireless headphones we've tested is an on/off button. We know this sounds simplistic, but in many cases we've found it frustrating to figure out whether the power is truly off – when you want to be sure to save your battery life, knowing you've powered down is a big deal. The Jabra Move Style Edition has an easy-to-understand toggle button that slides to the right to power off, to the center to power on, and to the left to pair. Easy peasy.
Upgrade pick: NAD Viso HP70
Photo credit: Kyle Fitzgerald.
If you're in pursuit of the absolute best-sounding pair of wireless headphones – and you're willing to pay more to get it – check out the NAD Viso HP70. Of all the Bluetooth headphones we've tested, this pair is the most enjoyable to listen to, thanks to its natural and more spacious sound. The luxurious-looking stitched-leatherette headband and super-soft memory-foam earcups are comfortable to wear, even for long periods of time. The controls are easy to access and use, and the HP70 folds flat enough to be reasonably portable. The noise cancelling is competitive but not as good as that of the Sony WH-H900N, and the HP70 also has shorter battery life than both the Sony model and the Jabra Elite 85h, around 15 hours.
The main reason to buy this pair is the excellent and natural sound quality. Any kind of music is well served. In our tests, the HP70 delivered more clarity in the highs and sounded almost completely neutral – but it produced just a tad extra bass, which one could argue is what adds a sense of three-dimensional space to music, especially live performances. A mild bump in the vocal range was just enough not to lose details, and it avoided a sibilant, icy, inauthentic tone. The HP70 features the aptX HD audio codec, which according to Bluetooth blind tests can subtly enhance sound quality if you use it with an aptX HD-compatible media device.
The NAD HP70 features super-soft memory-foam earcups that are comfortable to wear for long listening sessions. Photo credit: Kyle Fitzgerald.
The NAD headphones offer dedicated buttons for volume, ANC and track control. Photo credit: Kyle Fitzgerald.
Lightweight and offering excellent padding, the HP70 is very comfortable to wear, which is especially important if you're on a long flight or you like to listen to music through an entire workday. Everyone on our panel was happy with the fit, despite our variety of head and ear sizes. The headphones feel well made.
When you fold the set flat into its leatherette soft-sided case, the profile is slender enough to fit into most laptop cases, which is helpful if you plan to take your headphones on the go. Unfortunately, as with every other model we recommend here, the HP70's included cable has neither a remote nor a microphone – so you can't take calls or toggle songs via remote if you run out of battery power. NAD does include dual-input flight adapters for jet-setters.
The claimed battery life is up to 15 hours with Bluetooth and noise cancelling on. We got 15½ hours in our tests, but your results may vary. Although the Bluetooth range was a solid 30 feet line-of-sight with a Samsung Galaxy S9 in our testing, the call quality wasn't so hot – voices sounded muddy to me, with similar results on the caller's end. It wasn't so bad that we couldn't understand each other, but it lacked the crispness of the phone calls we've taken on our top pick, the Jabra Elite 85h.
The NAD HP70 package includes a soft-sided leatherette case. Photo credit: Kyle Fitzgerald.
The noise cancelling of the HP70 is effective but not the absolute best. You can see how it compares with other ANC headphones in our noise-cancelling headphones guide. Although the noise cancelling isn't as good as that of the Sony WH-H900N, it does the trick for airplane noise. And unlike with the vast majority of ANC headphones we've tested, on this pair the sound quality does not change whether you listen with noise cancelling on or off, or if you listen passively via a cable. That's a rare feat, which makes it clear that NAD spent some time carefully tuning this pair.
A word on aptX
Readers often ask if the Bluetooth headphones we pick support aptX. If you're unfamiliar with aptX, it's a method of encoding and compressing audio that, enthusiasts claim, offers better sound via Bluetooth. For aptX to work, both the device sending the audio and the headphones receiving the audio have to support it, and that's often hit or miss: For example, a MacBook Pro supports aptX, but no iPhones do. So before you consider whether aptX in headphones is a factor worth exploring, find out if your playback device even supports it.
There is some scepticism as to whether aptX encoding is even worth the effort. Testing panellist and Wirecutter writer Brent Butterworth wrote an entire article on the subject. The verdict? It depends on the person. Butterworth made a blind test that you can take yourself, comparing the sound quality of MP3, WAV, MP3 through SBC, and WAV through aptX and aptX HD. Generally speaking, most of us who took the test found that the biggest difference depended on the quality of the original file, not on the software that compressed it, but aptX HD does provide a moderate benefit. We recommend that you give the test a try to see if you can hear the difference before you make a decision as to whether aptX is worth spending the extra money.
What to look forward to
Sennheiser has announced that it will be replacing the HD1. The company has also released a third version of the popular Momentum Wireless headphones. The latest Momentum Wireless model features active noise cancellation, auto on/off and play/pause, EQ capabilities to customize your sound, and Tile tracking technology if you misplace it.
Sennheiser also announced an update to the PXC 550: the PXC 550-II, which will offer active noise cancellation, a 20-hour battery life, auto play/pause, a three-microphone array for clear phone calls, and EQ sound-customization capabilities.
Cleer is planning to release an updated version of its Flow Bluetooth headphones. The Flow II will have longer battery life and built-in Google Assistant. Also later in 2019, Cleer will release the Enduro, which won't offer active noise cancellation but will provide, as the company claims, up to 100 hours of battery life.
Other Bluetooth headphones we like
Anker Soundcore Space NC: A budget pick in our noise-cancelling headphones guide, this pair is a solid choice if you need active noise reduction. It can't match the performance of our top picks here, but it still sounds quite good, delivers a useful degree of noise cancelling, and has a reasonably compact design. With touch-sensitive playback and volume controls, the Space NC includes all of the features that most people want and need.
Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700: Bose is the undeniable master of active noise cancellation, and the new 700 headphones are the best we've tested at reducing noise. If noise cancellation is your top priority, these are the headphones to get. Plus, they're lightweight, equipped with a long battery life and easy-to-use controls, and compatible with the Google, Apple and Amazon Alexa voice assistants. However, if you are prone to what we call "eardrum suck", the highest ANC setting will absolutely affect you. Thankfully, the 700 has a dial that allows you to select a lower level of noise cancellation; our panellists, who are prone to the eardrum suck sensation, found that the 5 setting was where they were able to listen at length comfortably. But at that point, the ANC has about the same efficacy as that of the Sony WH-H900N, which sounds better when you're playing music and is less expensive. So unless you need the best ANC, we'd say to save your money.
JBL Live 650BTNC: This pair falls through the cracks of our picks lineup for several reasons – its active noise cancellation isn't as effective as that of the Sony WH-H900N, it doesn't sound as good as the Jabra Elite 85h, and it isn't as inexpensive as the Jabra Move Style Edition. But if you want something that fits in between the Move Style Edition and the WH-H900N or Elite 85h in performance and price, this set fits the bill. In our tests, the sound was pleasant (balanced but lacking the clarity and low-end definition of pricier models), the ANC was passable, and the fit was comfortable. Plus, the included cable has a remote and mic, which is rare. These headphones are highly recommendable, for the price.
We've tested more than 200 headphones for this guide, which is a lot to digest, so we're sharing our thoughts on only the most notable competitors here.
Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT: This is the Bluetooth version of Audio-Technica's popular studio headphones, and the two models sound very similar. If you like the wired version, you'll like this set. Our panel found that the bass had a tendency to blur the mids, so male vocals got muddled. The highs were slightly edgy but not so sibilant that it was fatiguing – they were just a bit more forward on "s" sounds or cymbal hits than was natural.
Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H8i: The biggest flaw of the H8i was the very intense and fatiguing peak in the high-frequency range, as "s" sounds and cymbals were piercing and could become uncomfortable at moderate volumes. Unfortunately, the EQ settings on the included app didn't address the problem without negatively impacting the overall sound quality. Although the active noise cancelling was a little better than average and the H8i is beautifully built, we'd like a more balanced and accurate sound profile.
Beats Solo3: The W1 chip makes pairing with Apple devices a breeze, and the 40-hour battery life is impressive. The sound was very similar to that of the Solo2, which we also liked, offering nice highs and mids with a slight bass boost. But the Solo3 currently costs too darn much for what you get.
Beyerdynamic Aventho Wireless: This pair sounded really good right out of the box; the bass was a smidgen bloated, so low notes or kick drums could lack definition on attack and decay. The chassis is made of high-quality materials that are a little heavy but balanced, with not too much clamping force. Like many on-ear headphones, this set can make your outer ears ache somewhat after a long period of listening. The controls are swipe-touch style and work intuitively. What sets the Aventho apart is the built-in hearing test, designed by Mimi. However, these kinds of headphones aren't regulated by the Food and Drug Administration; if you think you have hearing damage, we recommend checking with an audiologist before using any hearing-augmentation headphones.
Bose QuietComfort 35 Series II: The QC35 headphones offer some of the best noise cancellation you can get. But you pay a premium for that, and some people may find the aggressive ANC uncomfortable.
House of Marley Exodus: We love the sustainable design and the company ethics, but the sound quality? Not as much. Although the Exodus is comfortable to wear and has easy-to-use controls and a cool look, in our tests the bass was super blurry and made male vocals sound as if they were coming from under a comforter.
Marshall Mid ANC: This pair isn't half bad, with a comfortable, light design, easy-to-operate controls, and a fun, bass-forward sound. What's crazy is that this pair folds up to be rather small, yet the clunky carrying case makes it far more unwieldy to pack than it needs to be. The ANC is only okay but capable of reducing lower-frequency airplane noises. If you like the looks and the on-ear fit, it's a fine alternative to our picks.
Master & Dynamic MW60: Beautiful but heavy, the MW60 is a luxury headphone model in looks and price. The sound was great but ever-so-slightly flawed: The boost on the lows extended slightly into the lower mids, so the sound had a subtly veiled quality that took some of the vitality out of live music. That's an exceptionally minor quibble, but when you're paying $400 and you don't get any bonus features like active noise cancelling, we insist upon the best sound quality. If you love the aesthetic and have the cash to throw around, the MW60 is somewhat more form than function, but it's still a lovely pair of headphones.
Microsoft Surface Headphones: This set is great if you frequently use Cortana, but as CNET notes, the sound and battery life are meh for the price.
Plantronics BackBeat Fit 500: This is the first Bluetooth pair of on-ear workout headphones we've liked, and it's our workout pick for weightlifters because it fits comfortably but stays put, remains sweat resistant, and is easy to keep clean. The simple-to-use controls allow you to change tracks, adjust volume, take calls, and access your phone's digital assistant without taking the BackBeat Fit 500 off your noggin. These headphones also have a fun, bass-forward sound and an 18-hour battery life. However, their sound quality isn't as good, nor is their padding as plush as the Jabra Move pair's.
Sennheiser HD 4.50BTNC Wireless: Very comfortable. These headphones had the Sennheiser sound, producing an extra peak in the high-highs that was unnatural but not terrible or piercing, paired with clear, very deep bass. We liked these headphones a lot, but other options sounded a little better or had better noise cancellation for the same price. That said, if you want lightweight, comfortable headphones that sound quite good if a bit artificial, this set is a fine alternative to our picks.
Sony H.ear On 2 Mini WH-H800: We adored Sony's MDR-100ABN, which had been an upgrade pick in the past, so we were excited for the Mini, a smaller, more portable version. Sadly, although the looks and fit were similar, the Mini pair had way too much blurry bass and smeared everything else. We wanted to love these headphones, but the sound let us down.
TaoTronics TT-BH060: The tight headband pinched our skulls, the active noise cancellation wasn't extremely effective, and the sound was muffled. TaoTronics has been successful with price-defying performance in the past, but these headphones didn't meet expectations.
The best home printers that are fast, sharp and durable


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Topics:APRU, Earnings, Idea Cellular, Minutes of Use, Mobile, Mobile VAS, Subscriber Churn, Telecom Operators, Value Added Services, VAS-InSight
Earnings: Idea Cellular VAS Revenues Increase in Q1 2008-09; VAS ARPU At Rs. 24.74
Update: We're told that the numbers we've calculated for VAS are for the month, and not for the quarter, since ARPU is a monthly figure. We stand corrected. That effectively bumps up Idea's quarterly VAS revenue by 3x the amount we've mentioned.
Download: Release, Financial Results, Quarterly Performance Report
VAS Revenues
VAS Revenue for Idea Cellular was at 8.9 percent of ARPU (Average Revenue Per User). While this is up on percentage terms, the ARPU itself has declined. So I did a simple calculation from the performance numbers disclosed by Idea Cellular, as per which, revenue from VAS for the company has increased in absolute terms to Rs. 67.28 crores for the quarter ending June 2007, from around Rs. 43.34 crores for the same quarter month last year, and Rs. 56.48 crores last quarter for May 2008.
Minutes of Use and ARPU
The Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for Idea Cellular was Rs. 278, down from Rs. 287 last quarter, and Rs. 320 for the same quarter last year. At the same time, the Average Minutes of Use (MOU) was also up at 428 minutes, up from 411 minutes last quarter, and 381 minutes for the same quarter last year.
Subscriber Addition And Churn
Idea Cellular added 3.19 million subscribers during the quarter ended June 30th 2008, 98.4 percent of which were in Pre-Paid; during the last quarter, they had added 2.95 million subscribers. The company claims that its subscriber market-share in the 11 circles it operates in has gone up marginally, from 9.6 percent, from 9.4 percent from the last quarter.
Overall, Churn appears to be lowest in Q1. The company has a pre-paid churn of 4.1 percent, and a post-paid churn of 2.5 percent. Pre-paid churn has declined from 4.8 percent last quarter, while post-paid churn remains the same. The overall churn for the Idea Cellular was at 4.0 percent, down from 4.6 percent last quarter.
In this article:APRU, Earnings, Idea Cellular, Minutes of Use, Mobile, Mobile VAS, Subscriber Churn, Telecom Operators, Value Added Services, VAS-InSight
HT Media clocks digital revenue of ₹21 crore: Q2FY21
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Trisha JalanDecember 1, 2020
Zoom's revenues outside the Americas grew 629% YoY
Video-conferencing company Zoom Video Communications Inc. did not disclose the total number of customers using its platform, but said that around 433,700 organisations with...
Flipkart, PhonePe MAUs reached all-time high in Q3, Walmart reveals
Flipkart and PhonePe had all-time high monthly active customers during the July-September quarter, Walmart revealed during its earnings call on November 17. Flipkart also...
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Infibeam Avenues' net-profit falls 65% YoY despite rebound in payments
Infibeam Avenues Ltd's payments business grew by 56% over the past year processing ₹22,780 crore worth of transactions in Q2FY21, compared to ₹14,560 crore...
Advait PalepuNovember 13, 2020

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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French writer
French philosopher
French author
Julien Green
Home Literature Novels & Short Stories Novelists A-K
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Helene-Cixous
Jewish Women's Archive - Biography of Hélène Cixous
The European Graduate School - Biography of Helene Cixous
June 5, 1937 (age 85) Oran Algeria
Notable Works:
"The Book of Promethea"
Hélène Cixous, (born June 5, 1937, Oran, Algeria), French feminist critic and theorist, novelist, and playwright.
Cixous's first language was German. She was reared in Algeria, which was then a French colony, a circumstance that, by her own account, gave her the undying desire to fight the violations of the human spirit wrought by power. In France during the 1960s, she taught at the University of Bordeaux and at the Sorbonne. In 1968 she helped establish the innovative University of Paris VIII–Vincennes and assumed the professorship of English literature there. In 1969, the year her first novel, Dedans (Inside), was published, she helped found the literary review Poetique. From 1970 to 1972 she issued her fiction trilogy Le Troisième Corps (1970; The Third Body), Les Commencements (1970; "Beginnings"), and Neutre (1972; "Neuter"). In 1974 she helped found the Centre for Research on Women's Studies, which she also directed.
Britannica Quiz
Literary Favorites: Fact or Fiction?
In her essay collection Prénoms de personne (1974; "Nobody's Name") and in La Jeune née (coauthored by Catherine Clément; 1975; The Newly Born Woman), Cixous wrote about issues of sexual difference and about female experience in writing. In books such as Le Livre de Promethea (1983; The Book of Promethea), she reinterpreted myths and the mythic past and analyzed the representations of women in Western culture. Her other collections of essays include La Venue à l'écriture(coauthored by Madeleine Gagnon and Annie Leclerc; 1977; "Coming to Writing" and Other Essays) and Stigmata: Escaping Texts (1998), a collection in English. She also wrote Manne: aux Mandelstams aux Mandelas (1988; Manna: For the Mandelstams and for the Mandelas) and Jours de l'an (1990; First Days of the Year), on emergent literatures. Portrait de Dora (1976; Portrait of Dora) was the first of several of her plays to be produced. Her later works include the play L'Indiade; ou, l'Inde de leurs rêves (1987; "The Indiade; or, India of Their Dreams") and the novels L'Heure de Clarice Lispector (1989; Reading with Clarice Lispector) and L'Ange au secret (1991).


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Big oil to cut investment again in 2016
By Karolin Schaps, Ron Bousso
LONDON (Reuters) - With crude prices at 11-year lows, the world's biggest oil and gas producers are facing their longest period of investment cuts in decades, but are expected to borrow more to preserve the dividends demanded by investors.
A drop of diesel is seen at the tip of a nozzle after a fuel station customer fills her car's tank in Sint Pieters Leeuw December 5, 2014. REUTERS/Yves Herman
At around $37 a barrel, crude prices are well below the $60 firms such as Total TOTF.PA, Statoil STO.OL and BP BP.L need to balance their books, a level that has already been sharply reduced over the past 18 months.
International oil companies are once again being forced to cut spending, sell assets, shed jobs and delay projects as the oil slump shows no sign of recovery.
U.S. producers Chevron CVX.N and ConocoPhillips COP.N have published plans to slash their 2016 budgets by a quarter. Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L has also announced a further $5 billion in spending cuts if its planned takeover of BG Group BG.L goes ahead.
Global oil and gas investments are expected to fall to their lowest in six years in 2016 to $522 billion, following a 22 percent fall to $595 billion in 2015, according to the Oslo-based consultancy Rystad Energy.
"This will be the first time since the 1986 oil price downturn that we see two consecutive years of a decline in investments," Bjoernar Tonhaugen, vice president of oil and gas markets at Rystad Energy, told Reuters.
The activities that survive will be those that offer the best returns.
But with the sector's debt to equity ratio at a relatively low level of around 20 percent or below, industry sources say companies will take on even more borrowing to cover the shortfall in revenue in order to protect the level of dividend payouts.
Shell has not cut its dividend since 1945, a tradition its present management is not keen to break. The rest of the sector is also averse to reducing payouts to shareholders, which include the world's biggest investment and pension funds,
for fear investors might take flight.
Exxon Mobil XOM.N and Chevron benefit from the lowest debt ratios among the oil majors while Statoil and Repsol REP.MC have the highest debt burden, according to Jefferies analyst Jason Gammel.
FEW LARGE DECISIONS
With only a handful of major projects approved in 2015, including Shell's Appomattox development in the Gulf of Mexico and Statoil's giant $29 billion Johan Sverdrup field in the North Sea, 2016 is also likely to see few large investment decisions.
Projects that could be green-lit include BP's BP.L Mad Dog Phase 2 in the Gulf of Mexico, which the company now expects to cost less than $10 billion, around half the original estimate, and Chevron's expansion of the Tengiz project in Kazakhstan, according to Gammel.
Industry-wide, costs will be cut by reducing the size of projects, renegotiating supply contracts and using less complex technology.
After rapidly expanding in the first half of the decade when oil prices were above $100 a barrel, companies are now expected to focus on the most profitable activities, said Brendan Warn, oil and gas equity analyst at BMO Capital Markets.
"Companies want to reduce their range of activity and pick those with the highest returns on capital," Warn said.
Shell, which plans to complete its $54 billion acquisition of BG in February, intends to focus on the attractive liquefied natural gas (LNG) market and on deep water oil production, especially in Brazil, both areas in which BG is a leader.
With similar priorities in mind, BP is increasingly focused on the Gulf of Mexico and Egypt, where it approved a $12 billion development in 2015.
While tens of thousands of jobs have already been cut in 2015, more redundancies are expected this year as companies narrow their focus, Warn added.
On top of reducing spending by scrapping and delaying projects, oil majors will see costs come down as contractors agree to further price reductions. For example, the annual cost of hiring a drilling ship fell to an average of $332,000 in 2015, compared with $405,000 in 2014, according to Rigzone, which collects industry data.
The drop in investment bodes badly for services and contractor companies, which are seeing their work dry up.
HOLD YOUR NERVE
But with fewer projects approved, fewer fields developed and less maintenance work undertaken, companies are putting their growth at risk.
"You've got to hold your nerve. If you cut too deeply, it is very, very difficult to take advantage of the price rebound when it comes," a senior official at a European oil major told Reuters.
Tumbling oil prices have cut billions of dollars from oil companies' revenue streams, although strong profits from refining have softened the blow for most.
And while their in-house oil and gas production growth comes under pressure, companies might opt to acquire rivals with less resilient balance sheets, as with Shell's proposed acquisition of BG.
"In the second half of 2016, if we see price stabilization, I expect companies will be looking to replace reserves inorganically, by making acquisitions," Warn said.
Additional reporting by Stine Jacobsen in Oslo, Stephen Jewkes in Milan and Dmitry Zhdannikov in London; editing by Giles Elgood


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Sean McVay on Leading a Rams Turnaround and Fixing Jared Goff
Harry How/Getty Images
Rams coach Sean McVay on being a head coach at 31, on changing the culture of a terminally bad team, on his offensive philosophy and fixing Jared Goff, and on not being too proud to steal offensive ideas from coaches around the league
New England wide receiver Julian Edelman on his new book, "Relentless: A Memoir," on how as an undersized athlete throughout his life he continually overcame the odds, on the story that led Tom Brady to believe in Edelman's dedication and ability, and how being a father has changed his life
By Peter King
On this week's podcast, I sat down for conversations with Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay, and Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman. As I wrote in MMQB this week, the 6-2 Rams are one of this season's greatest storylines. The reason why the Rams are such a great story—other than the fact that McVay graduated from Miami (Ohio) just 10 years ago, and that they haven't had a winning season in 14 years—is they are so darn explosive, and so darn likeable. The Rams were last in the league in points per game last season, and now lead the league. McVay talks about being a head coach at 31, on changing the culture of a terminally bad team, on his offensive philosophy and fixing Jared Goff, and on not being too proud to steal offensive ideas from coaches around the league.
My second guest, New England wide receiver Julian Edelman, who is out for the season, but has a new book, "Relentless: A Memoir," He talks about how as an undersized athlete throughout his life he continually overcame the odds. He tells the story that led Tom Brady to believe in his dedication and ability, and how being a father has changed his life.
Thanks for listening, and please leave a review on iTunes if you like the show!
jared goff sean mcvay
sean mcvay
julian edelman acl


In field service, new technologies such as social, mobile, cloud, wearables, IoT and M2M present new opportunities every day. It is critical to understand and incorporate them into your field service operations to be able to compete with the others in the market. New technologies can lead to improvements in your operations, and often present new business opportunities. Field service leaders are also deploying other technologies, such as workforce management software with optimized routing to help increase productivity and cloud based analytics to predict future demand. They are also incorporating wearables and social collaboration that Millennials, with which are flooding the field service market, are comfortable.
But, let's focus on workforce management software.
What exactly is "workforce management" or "field service management"? These concepts help businesses maximize their efficiency and productivity. Workforce management is a classification for all activities that are needed to maintain a productive workforce. This often includes payroll systems, HR administration, employee self-services, and time and attendance. But, it also includes demand forecasting and scheduling, absence and leave management, and labor budgeting among many other aspects of running a business.
Field service management, a term sometimes used synonymously with workforce management, often refers to a hosted or cloud-based software application which provides functions like locating assets, routing and optimizing field technician schedules and integrates with back-office systems such as part inventory, finance, knowledge bases. It is also often integrated with analytics software so that data can be collected from across the enterprise, analyzed and used to continuously improve operations.
Field service or workforce management software is critical to field service operations, enabling them to run more efficiently and productively. It is limited to wrench turners either. It can be used in businesses with repair or installation technicians, nurses that perform at home care, utilities, telecoms, smart cities and even facilities management companies - basically any industry where companies deploy field based employees.
The software helps management route their field employees efficiently, and monitor them to ensure customer commitments are met. Workforce optimization software, integrated to work order management or CRM systems, and enterprise mobility applications can streamline work processes, increase employee productivity, and enhance the customer experience by ensuring that employees get where they need to go when they are supposed to be there, with the right tools to ensure a single trip. It can also facilitate collaboration with office based experts, again, improving first time fix rates. Some field service software also offers remote vehicle diagnostics, driver logs and hours of service tracking, as well as inventory management.
One of the most important aspect of workforce management is scheduling the right staff for a job. The algorithms used by intelligent workforce management software help analyze data, in real time, in order to help identify the best techs, matching skills and geographical knowledge. When paired with robust analytics engines, the solutions can also be used to forecast labor supply and demand, helping improve staffing utilization and manage seasonal demand. An optimized workforce maximizes profits and creates brand loyalty, increasing future sales and improving customer satisfaction rates. Workforce management or field service management are very important tools when it comes to the success of a field service operation, and business leaders are quickly realizing that these robust, intelligent programs can make huge improvements to the business, especially the productivity of field service technicians.


All formulas for radius of a circumscribed circle.
* A pyramid, which base is a regular polygon and which lateral faces are equal triangles, is called regular.
* A pyramid, which base is an equilateral triangle and the lateral faces are equal isosceles triangles, is called a regular triangular pyramid.
* A pyramid, which has a square base and equal isosceles triangles as the lateral faces, is called a regular quadrangular pyramid.
* Regular tetrahedron is a pyramid in which all the faces are equilateral triangles.


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Illonen, J., Bohg, J., Kyrki, V. 3-D Object Reconstruction of Symmetric Objects by Fusing Visual and Tactile Sensing The International Journal of Robotics Research, 33(2):321-341, Sage, October 2013 (article)
Optimal control of reaching includes kinematic constraints
Mistry, M., Theodorou, E., Schaal, S., Kawato, M.
Journal of Neurophysiology, 2013, clmc (article)
We investigate adaptation under a reaching task with an acceleration-based force field perturbation designed to alter the nominal straight hand trajectory in a potentially benign manner:pushing the hand of course in one direction before subsequently restoring towards the target. In this particular task, an explicit strategy to reduce motor effort requires a distinct deviation from the nominal rectilinear hand trajectory. Rather, our results display a clear directional preference during learning, as subjects adapted perturbed curved trajectories towards their initial baselines. We model this behavior using the framework of stochastic optimal control theory and an objective function that trades-of the discordant requirements of 1) target accuracy, 2) motor effort, and 3) desired trajectory. Our work addresses the underlying objective of a reaching movement, and we suggest that robustness, particularly against internal model uncertainly, is as essential to the reaching task as terminal accuracy and energy effciency.
Mistry, M., Theodorou, E., Schaal, S., Kawato, M. Optimal control of reaching includes kinematic constraints Journal of Neurophysiology, 2013, clmc (article)
Dynamical Movement Primitives: Learning Attractor Models for Motor Behaviors
Ijspeert, A., Nakanishi, J., Pastor, P., Hoffmann, H., Schaal, S.
Neural Computation, (25):328-373, 2013, clmc (article)
Nonlinear dynamical systems have been used in many disciplines to model complex behaviors, including biological motor control, robotics, perception, economics, traffic prediction, and neuroscience. While often the unexpected emergent behavior of nonlinear systems is the focus of investigations, it is of equal importance to create goal-directed behavior (e.g., stable locomotion from a system of coupled oscillators under perceptual guidance). Modeling goal-directed behavior with nonlinear systems is, however, rather difficult due to the parameter sensitivity of these systems, their complex phase transitions in response to subtle parameter changes, and the difficulty of analyzing and predicting their long-term behavior; intuition and time-consuming parameter tuning play a major role. This letter presents and reviews dynamical movement primitives, a line of research for modeling attractor behaviors of autonomous nonlinear dynamical systems with the help of statistical learning techniques. The essence of our approach is to start with a simple dynamical system, such as a set of linear differential equations, and transform those into a weakly nonlinear system with prescribed attractor dynamics by meansof a learnable autonomous forcing term. Both point attractors and limit cycle attractors of almost arbitrary complexity can be generated. We explain the design principle of our approach and evaluate its properties in several example applications in motor control and robotics.
Ijspeert, A., Nakanishi, J., Pastor, P., Hoffmann, H., Schaal, S. Dynamical Movement Primitives: Learning Attractor Models for Motor Behaviors Neural Computation, (25):328-373, 2013, clmc (article)
Optimal distribution of contact forces with inverse-dynamics control
The International Journal of Robotics Research, 32(3):280-298, March 2013 (article)
The development of legged robots for complex environments requires controllers that guarantee both high tracking performance and compliance with the environment. More specifically the control of the contact interaction with the environment is of crucial importance to ensure stable, robust and safe motions. In this contribution we develop an inverse-dynamics controller for floating-base robots under contact constraints that can minimize any combination of linear and quadratic costs in the contact constraints and the commands. Our main result is the exact analytical derivation of the controller. Such a result is particularly relevant for legged robots as it allows us to use torque redundancy to directly optimize contact interactions. For example, given a desired locomotion behavior, we can guarantee the minimization of contact forces to reduce slipping on difficult terrains while ensuring high tracking performance of the desired motion. The main advantages of the controller are its simplicity, computational efficiency and robustness to model inaccuracies. We present detailed experimental results on simulated humanoid and quadruped robots as well as a real quadruped robot. The experiments demonstrate that the controller can greatly improve the robustness of locomotion of the robots.1
Righetti, L., Buchli, J., Mistry, M., Kalakrishnan, M., Schaal, S. Optimal distribution of contact forces with inverse-dynamics control The International Journal of Robotics Research, 32(3):280-298, March 2013 (article)
A brachiating robot controller
Nakanishi, J., Fukuda, T., Koditschek, D. E.
IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, 16(2):109-123, 2000, clmc (article)
We report on our empirical studies of a new controller for a two-link brachiating robot. Motivated by the pendulum-like motion of an apeâ??s brachiation, we encode this task as the output of a â??target dynamical system.â? Numerical simulations indicate that the resulting controller solves a number of brachiation problems that we term the â??ladder,â? â??swing-up,â? and â??ropeâ? problems. Preliminary analysis provides some explanation for this success. The proposed controller is implemented on a physical system in our laboratory. The robot achieves behaviors including â??swing locomotionâ? and â??swing upâ? and is capable of continuous locomotion over several rungs of a ladder. We discuss a number of formal questions whose answers will be required to gain a full understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of this approach.
Nakanishi, J., Fukuda, T., Koditschek, D. E. A brachiating robot controller IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, 16(2):109-123, 2000, clmc (article)
Interaction of rhythmic and discrete pattern generators in single joint movements
Sternad, D., Dean, W. J., Schaal, S.
Human Movement Science, 19(4):627-665, 2000, clmc (article)
The study investigates a single-joint movement task that combines a translatory and cyclic component with the objective to investigate the interaction of discrete and rhythmic movement elements. Participants performed an elbow movement in the horizontal plane, oscillating at a prescribed frequency around one target and shifting to a second target upon a trigger signal, without stopping the oscillation. Analyses focused on extracting the mutual influences of the rhythmic and the discrete component of the task. Major findings are: (1) The onset of the discrete movement was confined to a limited phase window in the rhythmic cycle. (2) Its duration was influenced by the period of oscillation. (3) The rhythmic oscillation was "perturbed" by the discrete movement as indicated by phase resetting. On the basis of these results we propose a model for the coordination of discrete and rhythmic actions (K. Matsuoka, Sustained oscillations generated by mutually inhibiting neurons with adaptations, Biological Cybernetics 52 (1985) 367-376; Mechanisms of frequency and pattern control in the neural rhythm generators, Biological Cybernetics 56 (1987) 345-353). For rhythmic movements an oscillatory pattern generator is developed following models of half-center oscillations (D. Bullock, S. Grossberg, The VITE model: a neural command circuit for generating arm and articulated trajectories, in: J.A.S. Kelso, A.J. Mandel, M. F. Shlesinger (Eds.), Dynamic Patterns in Complex Systems. World Scientific. Singapore. 1988. pp. 305-326). For discrete movements a point attractor dynamics is developed close to the VITE model For each joint degree of freedom both pattern generators co-exist but exert mutual inhibition onto each other. The suggested modeling framework provides a unified account for both discrete and rhythmic movements on the basis of neuronal circuitry. Simulation results demonstrated that the effects observed in human performance can be replicated using the two pattern generators with a mutually inhibiting coupling.
Sternad, D., Dean, W. J., Schaal, S. Interaction of rhythmic and discrete pattern generators in single joint movements Human Movement Science, 19(4):627-665, 2000, clmc (article)
Dynamics of a bouncing ball in human performance
Physical Review E, 63(011902):1-8, 2000, clmc (article)
On the basis of a modified bouncing-ball model, we investigated whether human movements utilize principles of dynamic stability in their performance of a similar movement task. Stability analyses of the model provided predictions about conditions indicative of a dynamically stable period-one regime. In a series of experiments, human subjects bounced a ball rhythmically on a racket and displayed these conditions supporting that they attuned to and exploited the dynamic stability properties of the task.
Sternad, D., Duarte, M., Katsumata, H., Schaal, S. Dynamics of a bouncing ball in human performance Physical Review E, 63(011902):1-8, 2000, clmc (article)


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Apache security
About Apache Week
ApacheCon 2000 Europe Conference Report :
Report from ApacheCon Europe 2000
ApacheCon Europe 2000: Day 2
Report from the third Apache conference
First published: 3rd November 2000
This is a special report covering the ApacheCon 2000 conference in Europe held in London.
First published 3rd November 2000.
ApacheCon Europe 2000, the first ApacheCon outside USA was held on Apache Week's home ground from October 23rd to October 25th. As promised, Apache Week was there in London to cover the conference.
Early Monday morning at 8 am, we had a brisk walk from the Hilton London Olympia hotel where we were staying to the Olympia Conference Center about three blocks away. There was no fear of losing our way as shortly after leaving the hotel, we were greeted by a succession of signboards displaying the familiar Apache feather, leading us straight to the conference center.
Our first day did not really get off to a good start as during the registration our records were not found in the database. Luckily the organizers were efficient enough to resolve this problem quickly and we were handed our passes and complimentary ApacheCon bags containing three thick manuals of conference proceedings and other goodies.
As the conference package included light breakfast and lunch for all days registered, we all had empty stomachs that morning. We really should have taken the word "light" literally as to our dismay breakfast consisted of only one plate of biscuits per table, and tea or coffee. The only difference was you could keep your dirty cup after you had drunk your coffee or tea. As this was the case, there were plenty of seats for us to take our pick but like the other attendees, we did not stay long for breakfast.
The conference had three main parallel "unthemed" tracks of classes or talks with one hour, one and a half hours or two hours time slots. There were a total of 42 classes, covering the Apache web server, XML, Java, mod_perl, PHP, and a case study of the real-life implementation of the Apache web server. The classes were spread over three days, including a busy Monday that packed in 21 of the 42 classes. There was also an additional concurrent track of talks by vendors namely, Sun Microsystems, IBM, MyComponents.com, and Oracle, with a sprinkling of BoFs (Bird of a Feather sessions) as well.
As we were approaching the auditorium for the opening session at 9 am, strains of a western tune drifted to our ears and for a split second when we stepped into the room, we thought we were transported back in time to the wild, wild west as the formidable figure of Ken Coar loomed above us on the stage with a cowboy hat on his head. Later he revealed that the piece of music we heard was "Apache", one of the many western-themed hits by the Shadows who reigned unchallenged as Britain's top band between 1960 and 1963.
After the welcoming speech, Ken Coar proceeded to give an update on the schedule where one talk was cancelled and a few were swapped. This was not good news for those who had already decided on the talks that they were going to attend. For the few unlucky ones, this change caused their chosen talks to be back to back so they have to go through the mind-boggling task of making a choice again. The official number of pre-registered attendees was about 900.
XML from Outer Space and Apache 2.0
For my first of the seven classes on the first day, I decided to attend "Toward the Semantic Web: a View of XML from Outer Space" given by Stefano Mazzocci, Cocoon's creator in the Apache Cocoon project. The attendance was so high, that even with extra chairs some delegates were left sitting on the floor. This talk gave a clear explanation of the XML model and the "semantic web", covering many of the technologies that the W3C are developing to shape the future of the World Wide Web. Stefano described the ways in which XML can be used to overcome some of the problems inherent in today's Web, and demonstrated how they can be implemented using Cocoon, Xalan, and other Apache projects.
After 2 hours of XML, an hour of Apache 2.0 by Ryan Bloom was my next stop. The major changes in Apache 2.0 are the implementation of MPM (Multiple-Processing Modules), APR (Apache Portable Run-Time) and I/O filtering. No release date was decided for an Apache 2.0 beta, although Ryan promised it would be as soon as possible.
Lunch was served between 12 pm and 2 pm but talks were still being held during these two hours so it was either lunch or class. At 1 pm, I had no choice but to forgo a class as hunger beckoned and I joined one of the two long queues to collect my meal at the reception and bars area. Seats were limited but as the turnaround time was quick (no one loitered at the lunch tables), everyone managed to find a place at the tables in the end. A bit short on space but at least it worked out well. After a meal that was nothing to shout about, I had just enough time to drop by the Sun's Internet Pavilion to check out my emails before joining the next class at 2 pm.
More talks
It was time for a change so I joined a business-oriented talk instead of another technical one. Peter Moulding gave a few useful tips for convicing higher management to use Apache instead of other proprietary web servers in his "Apache in the Real World - Beating the In-house Bias" talk.
After this was another two hours slot class and it was "Introduction to Apache Server" by Rich Bowen for me. This class was more for users new to Apache so I left halfway to listen to "AxKit - an XML Delivery Toolkit for Apache" presented by Matt Sergeant. AxKit is implemented as a Perl Apache module using mod_perl that provides on-the-fly conversion from XML to a variety of format, such as HTML and WML for WAP phones. It provides similar functionality to Cocoon.
After attending four classes and missing one due to lunch, there were two more talks to go with 3 hours in total, an hour and a half each. Sterling Hughes, co-author of the soon-to-be-published-in-November "The PHP Developer's Cookbook" gave a very technical talk on "Extending PHP4" covering the PHP API and compiling a PHP extension in detail. The talk covered the new scripting engine in PHP 4, Zend. Like a traditional interpreter, the old PHP scripting engine would execute scripts while parsing them. The new Zend engine operates using the more efficient model of pre-compiling the script.
The last class of the first day was a highly entertaining and animated talk by Ralf S. Engelschall, author of mod_ssl, mod_rewrite, and much more. The talk, "Security Solutions with SSL", covered the evolution of mod_ssl, described its features, and gave twelve useful configuration examples. Each of the beautifully presented slides included an amusing quote to lighten up the atmosphere of this heavy subject.
The LongevIT Spa
After a long day of exhausting technical classes, it was time for a relaxing night event named "The LongevIT Spa" at the Rock sponsored by IBM WebSphere. Round trip transportation from the Olympia Center was provided. Most delegates had absolutely no idea where the coaches were taking them. The Rock is a newly opened nightclub. There were free cocktails and beers; head, neck and shoulder massage; and two virtual reality simulators that emitted smells too but we were too conservative to give the latter two a try.
Despite the free flowing drinks, sushi and loud music, we were desperate for a decent meal at 10 pm so we nipped out for dinner and were back by 11 pm for the coach back to our hotel. In doing so, we missed the raffle and the bag of goodies given away by IBM - a pair of slippers, t-shirt, CD-ROM and etc. We were real tired when we reached the hotel and could barely walked to our room. What a day!
The schedule for the second day was not as punishing as the first day. There were only a total of 12 classes held on this day with only four to attend with three keynotes. There was ample time for lunch and for visiting the exhibition that didn't start until 12 pm.
Sun Microsystems Keynote
The first session of the second day was "JCP (Java Community Process) and Apache" presented by George Paolini, Vice President of Technologies and Advocacy. Basically he talked about the role Sun has working with Apache Software Foundation and the roadmap for the Java 2 platform.
Configuring Apache and mod_perl Applications
Juggling between Java Application Servers, mod_snake, and mod_perl, I finally dropped the former two and settled on the latter. In a nutshell, Eric Cholet talked about configuring Apache with Perl using <Perl> sections and @PerlConfig, and configuring mod_perl applications using PerlSetVar and custom configuration directives. The main question is why would anyone write Perl codes inside Apache httpd.conf file? One of the benefits is that in a many virtual hosts environment, Perl codes can be used within the httpd.conf to generate suitable values for directives based on some external variables.
IBM Keynote
Next Dr Kristof Kloeckner, Vice President of Business Integration Development and Director from IBM Hursley Laboratory enlightened us on how IBM relates to open source both as a contributor and a beneficiary.
Soon it was lunchtime. Only an hour of IBM Management Briefing, "Infrastructure for Web Services" in the Vendor Theatre overlapped with the two hours lunchtime so there was time to visit the exhibition. Around eighteen companies including IBM, Sun Microsystems, Covalent Technologies, Thawte, Zend Technologies Ltd, Eliad Technologies took part in the trade show. There were a coffee stand in Sun's booth and two romper rooms with pinball machines and two Sega Racing Arcade machines. We picked up more freebies such as a Tomcat cup and t-shirt, cap, and magazines and even tried our hand at a pinball machine but alas, we were not Brooke Shields.
Soon it was time for three more classes within the next four hours before the long awaited guest keynote by Douglas Adams. I filled the next three hours with Tomcat by attending "Migrating Apache JServ Applications to Tomcat" by Craig McClanahan and "Advanced Tomcat Configuration and Performance Tuning" by Costin Manolache who was a fast speaker and completed his very technical talk in just an hour within his two hours slot. Then it was an hour of "Improving script and handler performance under mod_perl" by Stas Bekman who unfortunately had to wrap up his talk quickly as delegates were waiting to enter the room for the final keynote of the day.
Covalent Technologies Guest Keynote
"Living in a Virtual World" was the keynote everyone was waiting for. The whole auditorium was filled to the brink and the audience were not let down as Douglas Adams soon had them in stitches with his urban myths and unique perspective about computers.
The last event for the second day was the reception serving cocktails and hors d'oeuvers on the Exhibit Floor. "Bop Ad" was definitely the STAR of the day as fans, ASF members and fellow Apache enthusiasts alike queued for his autograph and a free paperback copy of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". With that, I ended the day and retreated to the haven of my hotel room.
On Wednesday, I was late for the first talk of the day, as I had to check out from my hotel. On this final day of the conference, there were only a total of nine talks running in the three concurrent tracks, two keynotes, a book-signing event, a few vendor presentations by MyComponents.com and Oracle, and not forgetting the closing plenary.
Managing your Web Site with Cocoon
When I reached the center at quarter-past nine, all three talks had started. I planned to attend "Running a Successful Web Hosting Business" by Frank DeChellis, one of the two business-oriented talks in this conference. Peering through the glass panel in the door, I couldn't find an available seat in that class so I sneaked unnoticed into the auditorium instead. This turned out to be a good choice, as the talk "Managing your Web Site with Cocoon" was very well presented by Doug Tidwell. Doug, author of an upcoming book on XSLT, demonstrated how the array of tools written by the Apache XML project (including Cocoon, Xerces, Xalan, and FOP) could be used to perform server-side transformations of XML documents. From a single XML document, HTML, PDF and WML could all be served to the client.
Oracle Keynote
Next came the Oracle keynote titled "Convincing Management to Embrace Open Software Development" by Brian Behlendorf, president of the Apache Software Foundation and cofounder of CollabNet. He gave a brief definition of open source, and the various licences used such as the Apache Licence, GNU General Public Licence and Mozilla Public Licence. He described how open source software is designed and built using the collective wisdom of a group of developers, with contributions from a large user community. When I heard the word "collective", images of the Borg flashed through my mind. Brian also offered some tips on how to make lawyers less nervous and ended the talk by sharing a list of free buzzwords: "reduce time to market", "increase margins", "expand public mind share" and "take ownership of your future", with the audience.
Lunch and Exhibition
The exhibition hours were only from 12 pm to 6 pm but outsiders were still registering on-site for exhibition passes. I was slightly taken aback when I was stopped and asked to show my pass (it was hidden under my jacket) at the exhibition entrance but I guess they were just being careful. During the two-hour lunch break from the main talks, presentations by vendors were still in progress. I ate lunch leisurely as most delegates had already taken theirs and no one was waiting for my seat. I had a pleasant conversation with two participants from Germany and the USA during lunch. The latter only heard about ApacheCon after the Orlando event. Instead of waiting for the next ApacheCon in the USA, he persuaded his company to send him to this one. The former was in charge of migrating his Netscape web server to the Apache web server all by himself. Both of them were very satisfied with the quality of this conference and the useful technical details that they managed to absorb from the talks. Oblivious to time, I missed the Wrox Press book-signing event at 1 pm by Peter Wainwright, author of "Professional Apache" but still, I managed to pick up a cute horsey toy known as "CocoJ" from Eliad Technologies booth.
More talks and keynote
At 2 pm, I was off to "mod_perl Version 2.0" given by Doug MacEachern. Because of the architectural changes in Apache 2.0, particularly the introduction of thread support, mod_perl has been rewritten from scratch. The presentation was served by Apache 2.0 and the development version of mod_perl 2.0, and Doug demonstrated use of some of the more advanced features of Apache 2 which are supported in mod_perl 2, including I/O filtering.
Soon James Davidson took over the stage for the "Guru Keynote" session titled "Jakarta Perspective". This was his personal account of the origins and goals of the Jakarta project. In a spontaneous talk, he reminisced about the history and progress of Tomcat and Ant including an insight into the various obstacles that had to be overcome in getting the ASF and Sun together. In his zest to deliver an up-close and personal look at Tomcat, users unfamiliar with the Jakarta project might have complained that he had neglected to give a clear definition of the Jakarta project. Nevertheless I enjoyed the talk as it provided a glimpse into Tomcat's roots.
For the final 2-hour class of the conference, I attended the talk, "The Backhand Project: Load-Balancing and Monitoring Apache Web Clusters" by Theo Schlossnagle. He clarified the differences between "load balancing" and "high availability" since they are often used interchangeably to mean both. Both mod_backhand and mod_log_spread were covered in this talk. Back to back with this class was "WebDAV and Apache" by Greg Stein which other delegates from Apache Week reported was an excellent talk about WebDAV and mod_dav.
Wrap-Up Plenary
The closing session hosted by Ken Coar saw only one third of the attendance of the opening plenary. He announced that there were about 1200 registrants (20 percent more than at Apachecon 2000 Orlando) with around half attending only the exhibition. With a panel of ASF members on stage, it was time for comments about the conference. The overall feedback was positive. Some complaints were that the Monday schedule was too tight and the Internet access was slow and not very reliable. One suggestion was to introduce lightning sessions where speakers would talk for five minutes on a subject. Hands-on sessions in the evenings were also suggested.
While most attendees came from Europe, there were also some from the USA, Canada, South America and even all the way from Japan. Delegates who attended both ApacheCon conferences this year commented that ApacheCon Europe was definitely better than the previous one held in Orlando. If this is the trend then it is good news as we can expect more improvement in the next ApacheCon, which will be held in Santa Clara, California from April 4th to April 6th. The location for the next ApacheCon to be held outside the USA is yet to be determined, but a hint was dropped about Australia.
As in all conferences, there were various technical glitches when presentation laptops froze and batteries ran out, some inexperienced speakers, and not enough seats but these were all minor issues considering the excellent detailed technical knowledge that was imparted by the speakers. An annoying distraction was the occasional ringing of mobile phones during the talks. Perhaps the audience need to be reminded to switch off their cell phones at the start of presentations.
My personal opinion is that it is very important to pick suitable talks to attend based on your own requirements, as all of them seemed very interesting from the abstract provided. As soon as you are aware that the talk is not what you expect it to be, you must just walk out and join another talk. This may seem very rude to the speaker but to make the most of the conference, this is the only way. One suggestion is for the planning committee to indicate the level of technical knowledge required for the talk, so delegates can make a better choice depending on their own expertise. This conference was most suitable for "technical technical" people who wanted to know in depth about a certain subject and to talk to the authors of various modules but it also catered for higher-level managers and new users. With that, I end my report and hope to see you all at ApacheCon 2001 in Silicon Valley next year!
Comments or criticisms? Please email us at editors@apacheweek.com


There's a reason so many people hold negative stereotypes that the NFL is full of criminals and the NBA is full of stupidly-spending rich guys on the verge of going broke: It's because the media isn't interested in showing the other side of athletes. Reports of NFL players getting arrested and NBA players buying lavish trinkets will make the cut on "SportsCenter" seven days a week, while the media conveniently ignores the stories about athletes doing positive work in the community and using their money for good causes.
Demba Ba, French Muslim striker for Chelsea of the English Premier League, did something recently that should be considered newsworthy, but won't make as many headlines as if he'd been pulled over for driving under the influence or dropped five figures at a blackjack table in Macau.
On his way to helping Chelsea to a third-place finish in the Premier League this season, Ba provided the funds to build a mosque in Doondu, Senegal, which is set for its grand opening in a few weeks. Ba's family is Senegalese. The country is about 90 percent Muslim.


Ukrainian women are justly considered to be the most beautiful women all over the world. This fact has been confirmed not only by Slavic men but also by those who live abroad. Therefore, this consistency can be called the fact proving that Slavic females are regarded as the most desirable women not only for short-lasting relations but also for starting a family with. This can be explained by the well-known fact that men usually pay attention to the appearance of their future brides. That is why it is not a rare thing that dating with Ukrainian women is the most alluring dream for foreign men.
How Can a Foreigner Get Acquainted with a Single Ukrainian Girl?
Everybody is aware of the fact that Slavic ladies strive to create a family with a man of a different nationality. In such a context, there appears a fair question: why marriages of these women and foreigners are so rare. The point is that everybody and their brother do not completely understand the psychology of Slavic ladies and consider that paying for dates with ladies still exists and couldn't lead to anything serious. In actual practice, dating with women is of a different nature as it is commonly believed. There is more careful treatment than any valuable effects. A man does not have to pay for a girl's time and attention since it is enough to convince a woman that she is a special and the most attractive girl for any man regardless of his nationality in order to have a corner in her heart. The aforementioned stuff especially deals with real meeting with Ukrainian brides since in the Internet one can specify any information he wants. Therefore, girls do not believe a parade of words on the dating websites if they are not backed with actions.
Before starting to communicate with a Slavic ladies, one should determine the aim he wants to reach. If he wants just to have play footsie, so it would be better to put off such idea for these adventures. But if a man has set his mind to marry a Slavic lady, he has to register at the dating platform. There he can come across more than just one profile of a single Ukrainian girl who is eager to meet a foreign guy and ready even to come to his country in order to make a closer acquaintance with him. A big advantage of such kind of acquaintance is that a man can keep in touch with several girls at the same time and arrange the real meeting with brides when the moment comes. In such a way, he can select the best woman who fulfills his requirements. As a further development of a story if a foreign man has managed to find a pretty Slavic lady online, he should come over to real actions, for example, as meeting in person. But this is another story.


So, after coming across this Book Beginnings on my daily blog reading I have decided to start doing this every Friday. Book Beginnings is hosted by Rose City Reader. She invites you to share the first sentence or so of your current read and share your thoughts about the sentence, initial impressions of the book and anything else it inspires.
I am also going to be taking part on Friday 56 hosted by Fredas Voice. This is where you grab the book you are reading, turn to page 56 (or 56% on your ereader) and post a few sentences.
I'm looking forward to taking part in both on a regular basis.
I am currently reading....a proof copy of White Rabbit, Red Wolf by Tom Pollock.
"Mum finds me in the larder. I crouch in the corner, flinching from the sudden light in the doorway. My mouth is full of blood and shards of porcelain."
Just from the opening sentence I can tell immediately that this book is going to have some element of mental health issues. It also intrigues as to why the MC's mouth is full of porcelain. It doesn't, however give me any clue as to what the plot is going to be about and that's good because I like a little mystery.
"I tail off, breathless. Shut up, Peter. Listen to yourself; you're wired up and paranoid. I stare at her, willing her to deny it so I can let go and trust her. I can't do this by myself. She'll explain, she will. She'll set me right. She'll help me."
I'm only about 100 or so pages into this book and I'll admit from the first few chapters I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. However, the pace seems to have picked up a bit and I am beginning to follow the plot. I am looking forward to seeing how it develops.
Ooh I have this on my TBR! I picked it up at NYA Lit Fest and it sounds intriguing.
That first line makes me cringe a bit though, at the imagery.
Sounds intense but I like that! :-) Happy weekend!
So glad you joined in! That's some opening. I've not heard of this book and now I'm curious.
I think I'm going to add this to my tbr. Thanks for sharing!


text:
Protected Land, Waterfront Now Among Largest Tracts For Northwoods Land Trust
Credit Northwoods Land Trust
Within the last month, the Northwoods Land Trust finalized an agreement to protect one of the biggest tracts of land in its history.
The descendants of Jacqueline Bassett donated a conservation easement on her 335-acre plot in Presque Isle that includes more than 11,000 acres of water frontage.
The easement means the land will be protected from development and lot division forever.
"When she started thinking about what would happen to the property in the future, she really wanted to make sure that it stayed wild," said Kari Kirschbaum, the Northwoods Land Trust Land Protection Coordinator.
During Bassett's life, the property was a working trout farm and cross country ski operation at various times.
"What's really unique about it is it has lakeshore on Moraine Lake, as well as some coldwater springs, and a beautiful coldwater spring pond that feeds a trout stream that runs though the property," Kirschbaum said.
The land hasn't had commercial operations for at least 30 years. It now serves as an important link between to forest bases.
"That area, that's a nice corridor between the Ottawa National Forest and the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest that is important for some of the wide-ranging animals that need large areas," said Kirschbaum.
The Northwoods Land Trust protects more than 13,000 acres of land in seven Northwoods counties, and this piece of land adds to that total.
"This is definitely one of the larger easements that we've ever done, which really is one reason that makes it so special," Kirschbaum said. "It's both large and it has a lot of waterfront, both on a lake and on a trout stream."
Northwoods Land Trust
Monitoring Visits Connect Northwoods Land Trust Staff, Volunteers, Landowners
For part of the year, a gravel road reaches a remote piece of Vilas County land.
But in the winter, a mile-long snowshoe is the only way in.
Snow decorated an evergreen forest as Trisha Moore and Troy Walters reached their destination and greeted Bob Martini, who owns the 31 acres of wilderness northeast of Eagle River.
Forty years ago, he built an eight-sided cabin here by hand.


text:
Q: Advertising as DNS server I have a DHCP and DNS server running from BIND on CentOS 7.  Clients (Windows and Linux) automatically DHCP to the CentOS server and everything works hunky-dory.  However, the only way DNS works is if I set the DNS server manually on Windows and Linux clients.  Is there a way to broadcast as a DNS server? Or should I be setting my DNS server on my router (pfSense)?

A: This can be served through DHCP options and depends on the DHCP server you are using. Assuming that you use isc-dhcpd the required option in the config would be option domain-name-servers 192.168.1.10, 192.168.1.11.
As this option is a standard dhcp option the clients should set the DNS servers as specified.

A: The DNS server should set as a scope option on your DHCP server.
If you're using BIND I believe it can be set in the DHCP server configuration:
option domain-name-servers [CentOS7machineIP];
Then when your windows/linux clients grab an address, they will also get the DNS server settings.
Personally, if I had a PFSense on the same network I would be running DHCP and DNS from that instead.
Cheers
Luke

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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