5 impressive entertainment technology innovations of 2024

Every year, we learn about new companies from brilliant people with big ideas. They come from every corner of the planet to provide us with cool innovations to write about and nerd out over. However, it’s not often that we give an award to a company that’s been around for 401 years. That’s not a typo. Our category award winner this year, Zildjian, was founded in 1623. It has an extensive archive of its historic cymbals, which played a huge role in the development of its now award-winning electronic drumset. You’ll also find a pair of TV technologies on the list from the big players, LG and Samsung. Despite being a horrible year for big blockbusters, it was a good year for TVs. Did you all see Megalopolis? Yeah, neither did we.

(Editor’s Note: This is a section from Popular Science’s 37th annual Best of What’s New awards. Be sure to read the full list of the 50 greatest innovations of 2024.)

Grand Award Winner

ALCHEM-E by Zildjian: A truly hybrid electric acoustic drumset

Zildjian has been making cymbals since the 1600s, but its first foray into electronic drums made a big wave. The ALCHEM-E drum kits employ real 7-ply maple drum shells. With typical drum heads, they play just like you’d expect a high-end kit to perform. Switch to the mesh heads, however, and the kit becomes a full-fledged electronic kit controlled by a digital controller called the E-VAULT. Digital triggers reside under the mesh drumheads, providing exceptionally quick response and sensitivity. Even more impressive are the cymbals. These aren’t rubber slabs; they’re real Zildjian cymbals with scores of laser-cut holes that drastically reduce their acoustic output. Attaching the cymbal trigger makes it fully digital, allowing players to select a wide array of actual cymbal sounds meticulously sampled from the company’s extensive archive. They even sound different depending on where you hit the cymbal, so the bell produces a pronounced “ping” while the edge lets players crash away like they’re Nirvana-era Dave Grohl. This kit feels like a real drumset because it is a real drumset. 

LG Signature OLED T: A transparent OLED TV

LG largely dominates the OLED TV market, and it has for years. Throughout that reign, we’ve seen many OLED innovations from the company, including a roll-up TV. Then, it showed off an OLED TV in a suitcase at this year’s CES. Most impressive, though, is the company’s transparent TV, the Signature OLED T. While the Signature OLED T doesn’t change shape, it does transform. A layer of contrast film sits behind the OLED panel to provide a black background for when viewers want a typical TV experience. A button press, however, converts that film to full transparency by physically moving out of the way, which leaves only the lit pixels suspended on a clear (at least mostly clear) panel. In person, it looks amazing. You get a clear view of whatever’s behind the TV and a relatively bright on-screen image. Maybe next year, they’ll combine this with the suitcase TV concept to create the coolest and least practical TV ever.

Samsung S95D OLED TV: A glare-resistant surface that changes the game for OLED TVs

OLED TVs provide exceptional color and contrast, but they struggle to hit the overall brightness levels necessary for providing a good picture in a room with lots of ambient light. Even a little errant illumination can wash out a typical OLED. Samsung has applied a proprietary coating to the surface of its typically glossy TVs to create a matte finish. By essentially roughing up the screen with an invisible texture layer, the screen’s surface scatters light rather than reflecting it directly back at your eye in a singular direction (known as specular reflections). Paired with the Quantum-Dot-powered QD-OLED display, this OLED provides a great picture in rooms where other OLEDs would suffer. This is the best TV we’ve tested so far, largely thanks to that extra layer of texture.

Snap Tap by Razer: A faster way to move in PC games

If you’re not a PC gamer, this may not seem like a big deal, so you might have to ask your Valorant-playing kid about Snap Tap’s impact. With a typical keyboard setup, pressing two opposing-direction keys at the same time will cause your on-screen character to stop in their tracks. For instance, if you’re moving left and press the right key without letting up the left key, you’ll simply stop and, as a result, probably lose your game. Snap Tap registers the last input and gives it priority, so if you’re moving left and press the right key, you’ll move to the right whether you have two keys pressed down or not. Is it tedious? Perhaps. But it’s a huge deal for competitive gamers, from living room warriors to world championship competitors. The best part is that it doesn’t require a single specific keyboard to implement. Razer has added it as a feature to several boards already in its lineup.

MW75 Neuro by Master & Dynamic: Brain-tracking headphones that tell you when to take a break

When you’re cruising headphone spec sheets, you probably don’t expect to see electroencephalography on the list. More commonly known as EEG, this tech records brain activity from electrical impulses caused by firing neurons. These high-end headphones were developed as a collaboration between luxury audio company Master & Dynamic and Neurable. Each soft earcup employs dry fabric EEG sensors to monitor brain activity, which the companion smartphone app analyzes using AI. The app uses that data to suggest when wearers’ brains are working at maximum capacity. It recommends the best times to buckle down and work and, more importantly, when to take a break. This isn’t meant as a medical device, but it provides a unique and easily implemented way to improve efficiency. Even if you turn off the EEG, they’re still big headphones that will block out workplace distractions.

 

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