Samsung Electronics, the leader in home entertainment, announced its new portfolio of audio products, including a groundbreaking new Soundbar featuring Dolby Atmos® technology, and enhancements to its Wireless Audio 360 audio series.

The new Samsung audio product roster is designed to deliver spectacular sound for a truly next-generation experience. CES 2016 attendees can hear Samsung’s new audio lineup for themselves, and see many more innovative home entertainment products at the Samsung Booth, #11906 in Central Hall.

“Our 2016 lineup of audio products offers the most immersive sound ever experienced in the home,” said John JY Kim, Vice President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung’s new Soundbar with Dolby Atmos® technology, delivers the ultimate in cinematic home entertainment, especially when paired with Samsung’s new SUHD TVs.”

Samsung & Dolby Atmos®: 3D Moving Audio, with Breathtaking Realism

Samsung’s new HW-K950 Soundbar is the company’s first to feature Dolby Atmos® technology, and the industry’s first soundbar package to include two Dolby Atmos®-enabled wireless rear speakers. The complete HW-K950 package delivers incredible 5.1.4-channel sound. At just 2.1” high, the HW-K950’s slim and sleek design uses three forward-facing and two upwards-facing speakers to produce a rich, full sound that is big enough to fill the room, yet detailed enough to deliver realistic, cinematic sounds, from an arrow shooting across the room to a hummingbird flying overhead. The Soundbar also connects wirelessly to the subwoofer and rear speaker units, for a practical and seamless solution in any living room. This also means that ceiling-fitted speakers are not required for moving, 3D audio.

“Dolby Atmos® has received overwhelming support from major studios and continues to expand into other form factors, including the new Samsung HW-K950 Soundbar, which allows more consumers to bring an unrivaled sound experience into their homes,“ said Doug Darrow, Senior Vice President, Dolby Laboratories. “Consumers can experience sound that comes alive from all directions, including overhead, to fill their home theaters with astonishing clarity, power, detail and depth.”

Colorful Additions to Samsung’s Award Winning Wireless Audio 360 Series

Building on its Wireless Audio 360 series, Samsung showcased a variety of new colors and patterns for the audios, designed to complement the décor of any room and bring audio content throughout the home. With proprietary Ring Radiator technology, the audio can be placed anywhere and still fill the room with vibrant, yet balanced sound.

Samsung also makes it easier than ever for customers to control their music simply and easily with the speakers’ touch-enabled, intuitive tap and swipe interface. Consumers have even greater control with new apps for the Gear S2 and Gear S smartwatches, and an improved Samsung Multiroom App for smartphones and tablets. The Wireless Audio 360 Series also offers new smart home functionality, including audible notifications and home cinema settings.

The R5 model of the Wireless Audio 360 series has also been recognized as an honoree in the CES 2016 Innovation Awards. Samsung will continue to build on its market leadership position and develop more state-of-the-art home audio products at the company’s Audio Innovation Lab in Valencia, California.

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For more information about CES 2016, please visit our exclusive page #SAMSUNGxCES2016

Coming from a family with a long tradition in the arts, Jean-Christophe Naour learned from an early age the importance of precision in design. “We all can come up with the same ideas, but details determine how we craft our ideas,” he said. “Details make design.”

But he also loves chaos, and believes in the importance of leaving your comfort zone. “The brain is really abstract, and inspiration comes from the unexpected. You have to break out of your comfort zone. You need to be prepared to fail.”

Naour has won awards and critical praise over the years for his experimental approach to uniting those competing influences, using computer algorithms to create apps and artworks that produce striking images and patterns. And for the past four years, Naour has applied his unique mix of design ideas at Samsung Electronics in the Visual Display Business, as part of the team that shapes the advanced design and user interface of screens and related devices. “I’m really excited about creating new interactive experiences that connect products to their users through inventive blends of technology and storytelling,” he said.

“You have to break out of your comfort zone. You need to be prepared to fail.”

Pushing Boundaries for Inspiration

For Naour, his fascination with design started early, growing up in Brittany, France. His father’s side of the family has worked in woodworking and furniture for generations, while his mother’s side of the family was involved in fashion. He grew up creating, too, first with Lego and building blocks, then with computers. “I was in love with graphics and the general aesthetics of the whole thing—the colors, the pixels, the fonts,” he said.

He went to Nantes University to study mathematics and computer science, but he thought it was not a good fit for him and after a couple of years transferred into an industrial design program, getting his Master’s Degree at the L’École de Design Nantes Atlantique.

But when the time came to spend a semester abroad (a requirement of his design program), Naour was less interested in the usual choices, like the United States or Great Britain. “I wanted to take a risk, and push my boundaries for inspiration,” he said. So instead he came to Hongik University in Seoul. “I knew nothing about Korea at the time, but it sounded exciting.”

He took advantage of his time in Korea to explore the country all he could, visiting 20 cities over the course of the semester. So after he finished graduate school, he really wanted to return to Korea, and eagerly took a position at a design firm in Seoul. After several years there, Samsung made him an offer, and he began a new career.

Going Abstract to Understand the User Experience

Naour started with Smart TV, working on the interactive gesture interface, and he has had a hand in many projects since then, with a task force system that rotates designers regularly.

As part of Visual Display design team, he usually works on devices from the early phases, building a road map for how users will experience every aspect. Typically, they are presented with a product early on and then brainstorm for how the interface might work. “At first, nothing is very specific,” he said. “But gradually you build a wireframe and interface concepts, then a skin, and then you sync your ideas with the product developers.”

Usually a product will have dozens of “modules,” or subareas within the UX, that all have to be coordinated and approved, making development very complicated. But one of Naour’s favorite projects was actually one of the most straightforward—all the lineup of Wireless Audio 360, which only had two modules, the speaker and the app. The speakers were developed with U.S. office. But once the hardware was ready, Naour and the Seoul design team had to come up with the guide for how people would use the speaker. They knew the speaker would have a cylindrical shape and an LED interface, but the other details on how the product would function was up to Naour and the Seoul design team.

They responded with a series of workshops over three weeks, looking to define the core interactions and user’s journey, all through a series of swipes and taps. “Our response was to reduce the details.

We wanted something more artistic, where the actions would flow,” Naour said. “something more abstract.”

They responded with a series of workshops over three weeks, looking to define the core interactions and user’s journey, all through a series of swipes and taps. “Our response was to reduce the details. We wanted something more artistic, where the actions would flow,” Naour said. “something more abstract.”

The final result was an elegant interface, where users could control everything about the wireless speaker with just a few simple swipes right on the flat top of the speaker.

Failure Is Crucial for Innovation

Over his career as a designer, Naour has developed many big ideas about how to approach design and creativity. “I don’t like to say ‘I don’t know’,” he said. “I prefer to try doing something myself and learn from my mistakes until I can make it happen.”

It’s an unorthodox approach that Samsung encourages. “In France, we have a low tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity, so we are reluctant to take risks,” he said. “But failure is crucial in innovation. The faster you find weakness, the faster you can improve what needs fixing.”

Another significant part of his success as a designer is maintaining work-life balance. Getting out of the office to listen to music or play with his 2-year-old daughter is important to keeping his thinking fresh and creative. “Go outside. You need to break your perspective.”

“I don’t like to say ‘I don’t know.’ I prefer trying things myself until I can make it happen.”

Naour says watching his daughter play is also a great way to learn about UX technology. “I’m amazed at how young children love new technology. Even at 1 year old, they can already unlock the phone,” he said. “I think technology is like a language. It’s like they’re learning to live in an augmented reality.”

The Art of the Algorithm

As a self-professed “workaholic,” Naour notes that even when he is not at work, he is always working on design ideas. One of his favorite approaches is using algorithms. “Design is, by definition, iterative,” he said. “With algorithms, you can start off with some basic shapes, give them rules, then the computer can come up tens of thousands of variations, all based on the same concept—always different and unpredictable.”

Over the years, Naour has won much recognition for his own creative algorithms, artworks and apps, appearing in such places as Wired, Gizmodo, The Creator’s Project and IdN Magazine. But Naour says he is most proud of the FWA (Favorite Website Award) he won in 2011 for his app Poly—a program that turn users photos and drawings into geometric arrays of color, reducing images down to their essential polygons.

“FWA is like a symbol in the interactive design industry” he said. “When I was still a student, it was for me the most inspiring place on the web, at the early stages of creative Flash websites. It represented the quality I wanted to produce.”

Designing an Interactive Future

As technology grows ever more refined, fast and complex, increasingly it is the role of the UX designer to define how consumers interact with products, get the most from them and ultimately feel about them. “New technologies are radically expanding the design space,” he said. “Just a few years back, almost any kind of interaction was all about the screen, keyboard and mouse. Now, the degrees of freedom are increasing, and so too are the design choices.”

It has only been a few years since multi-touch has been on the market, and technology interfaces are continuing to grow more sophisticated very quickly. Naour says he loves seeing where all these developments are leading. “Every major milestone in the evolution of UX design has involved an interaction between technology and human beings.” he said. “While we use all our senses in everyday life, we are still limited to one or two at most in our digital life. The next interfaces should take full advantage of our complex bodies, to make communications even more natural.”

“New technologies are radically expanding the design space… Now, the degrees of freedom are increasing, and so too are the design choices.”

And that constant sense of challenge and exploration is what makes designing UX interfaces at Samsung so worthwhile. “It has been an exciting adventure,” Naour said, “and I get to work with some really great people”

Sometimes, the best date night is one where you and your special someone stay at home enjoying the simpler things in life. Not only is dating-in convenient, affordable and low-pressure, at-home dates can be easy to execute, too. With a little help from Samsung, and a touch of creativity, you can effortlessly show off your romantic side and impress your special someone. Read on to find out how.

Plan & Prepare

Because the date is in the comfort of your own home, you might be tempted to play it by ear, or put off planning to the last minute. But by procrastinating, you may come across as unprepared, a trait no one admires. Treat your date at home in the same way you would a special concert or sporting event, as your relationship is far more important than any front row ticket.

A day before the big date, take care of the essentials. Pick up groceries, hire a babysitter if necessary, brainstorm a few date activities and be sure to thoroughly clean up. If you (and your home) are really smart, let the appliances — like Samsung’s POWERbot — do the cleaning for you while you take care of the more important stuff, like selecting a good wine for the evening. It’s okay if you’re not a clean freak, but your date will feel more comfortable in a nice, tidy space.

Set the Mood

Now that the planning is out of the way, it’s time to set the mood. The right atmosphere can help transform your home from an everyday living space into a romantic love den, while showing your partner that you care enough to put time and effort into something for him or her.

By playing a romantic, but not overly cheesy, soundtrack throughout the house (use the Wireless Audio-360 to create a wireless surround sound system), and lighting a few candles, an intimate mood can be set to relax and impress one’s date. Go easy on the clichés — rose petals are so outdated — and be sure to customize the mood to the preferences and personality of your date.

Finally, the way you look is the visual cue for how the night will advance. Show your date that you’re dressed to impress, or keep things casual in jeans and a t-shirt. When you look your best and feel comfortable, you’ll be confident and conversation will flow naturally.

Heat Things Up

Cooking your date’s favorite meal will definitely earn you some bonus points, but an even better alternative is cooking together, a shared experience that will make the two of you feel more connected, and creates an opportunity to learn more about each other.

Pizza or cookies (or both, if using the Chef Collection Flex Dual Oven) are great foods that couples can easily prepare together. Whatever you decide to cook, just remember to relax and don’t fret over perfecting the dish; this activity is meant to be fun.

And of course, don’t forget the drinks! Freshly squeezed juice and seasonal cocktails are perfect complements to any meal, and can quickly be chilled (should one forget to do so beforehand) in the Chef Collection refrigerator, thanks to its Fridge in Freezer storage and customizable temperature settings.

The Main Event

After dinner, be sure to keep the date going with a bit of entertainment. The Samsung Smart TV with Tizen is a great device to do so. The TV offers an endless array of content, and with the Video on Demand service, an entire library of romantic comedies is just a click away.

Alternatively, couples can make a small wager and battle it out in a video game tournament using PlayStation Now. A bit of friendly competition encourages flirtatious teasing, and even if you both aren’t very good, you can laugh at your mutual shortcomings.

Be creative with your at-home date, but more importantly, be yourself. Chances are, you (and your special someone) may never want to set foot outside again!

What does the music mean to you? How did you listen to music 10 years ago, and now?

Based on the new paradigm of the music experience, Samsung tried to create a whole new audio device. For this, Samsung established the Audio Lab in California, United States, combining Samsung’s technical savvy with the expertise of Hollywood’s premiere recording studios and the recording industry. Samsung Wireless Audio-360 is the first creation of which the members of the Audio Lab worked together.

“A long time ago, stereo listening was a very solitary event. Today, music has gotten social,” said Allan Devantier, Director at the Audio Lab.

When Allan and his team created the new type of audio device, they kept in mind that enjoying music has increasingly become a social experience, one to be shared among friends. Oddly enough, the quest for a high-end sound system that is designed for social settings began in the quietest place there is: an anechoic chamber. These are special rooms designed to dampen any ambient sound or reverberations. And they allowed Samsung engineers to discover how to reproduce the best possible sound from every angle.

“We have optimized the propagation of sound. There is no privileged direction because the music is sent evenly in all directions,” said Pascal Brunet, Principal Engineer at the Audio Lab.

As a result, the Wireless Audio-360 produces spacious, omnidirectional sound that is optimized for every environment and even maintains its balance while moving. And because it broadcasts sound in every direction, the Wireless Audio-360 generates fuller, more realistic sound that allows listeners to enjoy it anywhere, no matter if they’re across the room or directly in front of the unit.

For a closer look into how the skilled sound engineers at Audio Lab developed the Wireless Audio 360 check out the video below.