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10.12.2024 14:20 Croteam and Devolver Digital have announced The Talos Principle: Reawakened, a "radically overhauled" remake of the puzzle/story game The Talos Principle. The update will be rebuilt with Unreal Engine 5, with the developer promising "vastly improved visuals, quality-of-life improvements an all-new chapter that delves deeper into the game's award-winning narrative," according to Devolver. The Talos Principle originally released in 2015 as a combination puzzle and story game with a decidedly philosophical bent. In a Joystiq review at the time, Engadget's Jessica Conditt described as a "wise" game that "peers deeply at people as an idea, including the players, and it tests their humanity and intelligence in a series of beautiful riddles and spatial-awareness tests." The remake keeps that vision, while "breathing new life into every corner of the game," the developer wrote. Unreal Engine 5 adds enhanced lighting, textures and environmental design, making it more detailed and atmospheric. The remake also adds quality-of-life features like a hint system and the ability to rewind during gameplay. It also gains the Road to Gehenna expansion, plus a new chapter called In the Beginning that explores the origins of the Simulation. The other main new feature is a new puzzle editor that lets players and the modding community "build their own unique worlds and challenges." The Talos Principle: Reawakened is set to arrive sometime in 2025 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. It's not to be confused with The Talos Principle 2, an all-new update to the original that launched last year. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-talos-principle-reawakened-is-a-ground-up-remake-built-in-unreal-engine-5-130012395.html?src=rss

10.12.2024 14:20 In its own heady blog post, Google debuted Willow, its latest quantum chip. It was flanked by hyped headlines that suggest something akin to the obelisk in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The breakthrough might not be about the power, however: Google says it has reduced errors — a major issue with building quantum computers — by adding more qubits to the system. In fact, Google makes no claim of quantum supremacy this time — something the company did when it publicly debuted its previous generation quantum computer in 2019. That claim quickly ended in controversy, with one researcher calling the company’s announcement “just plain wrong.” Part of the issue then was that Google’s last quantum chip was not part of a general-purpose quantum computer. Instead, it surpassed classic computers in a single task: random circuit sampling . But, in Google’s own words, RCS has “no known real-world applications.” Google However, the company is sticking with the metric, claiming RCS performance is a widely recognized gauge of quantum computing. That makes true comparisons difficult: Rivals including IBM and Honeywell use a quantum volume metric to tout their breakthroughs. They claim it gives a more holistic understanding of a machine’s capabilities. Google’s spec sheets and blog post don’t mention quantum volume at all. — Mat Smith Get this delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here! The biggest tech stories you missed OpenAI’s Sora video generation AI model arrives globally Grok’s new Aurora image generator is back and rolling out to everyone on X What’s new in iOS 18.2 Bose Smart Soundbar review Earbuds as surround sound speakers. Bose may be best known for its noise-canceling headphones and earbuds, but the company has a solid track record with speakers and soundbars too. With its new Smart Soundbar, however, it integrates its own earbuds to offer lots of directional audio. Sound quality is clear, the soundbar itself is compact and understated, but it all lacks a little in the bass department. Check out our full review. Continue reading. Rode’s Wireless GO III adds more storage and some color options There’s now 40 hours of on-board storage. Rode Rode just announced the latest iteration of its well-regarded Wireless GO microphone system. The third-gen kit has 32-bit float on-board recording and audio can be captured directly to the receiver. The system can store up to 40 hours of footage — substantially more than the seven hours of the GO II. It also packs a new feature called GainAssist that will “dynamically balance audio levels on the fly.” Rode says the system eliminates “the wild fluctuations typically found in a raw recording.” It's $300 and has a dedicated charging case, sold separately for $90. Continue reading. The Raspberry Pi 500 is a $90 computer in a keyboard You can use it anywhere with a free USB port. Engadget The Raspberry Pi 500 shares most of the same internal components as the Raspberry Pi 5, but with a keyboard shell and improved heatsink — all for $90. The Pi 500 has a 2.4GHz quad-core 64-bit Arm Cortex-A76 CPU and 8GB of RAM. There are three USB A ports but no USB-C slots besides the charger, which doesn’t support peripherals, sadly. The kit will sell for $120, and if you need a monitor, the company also launched its Raspberry Pi Monitor for $100. Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-google-reveals-its-powerful-willow-quantum-chip-121002850.html?src=rss

10.12.2024 14:20 When Sony first released the PlayStation 5, the console came with a paltry 1TB of storage. At the time, it wasn’t possible to add more space through the system’s SSD expansion slot. Thankfully, that quickly changed with a software update that arrived less than a year later. Since July 2023, Sony has allowed PS5 users to add up to 8TB of additional storage to their system. It’s a good thing too, with just how big some game installs are this console generation. Even when considering the PS5 Pro and its 2TB of built-in storage, it won’t take long for a dedicated gamer to fill up the included SSD. It will take even less time with the standard model’s 667GB of available storage.The good news is a standard PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD can solve all of your PS5 storage woes. If that mess of acronyms has you recoiling, don’t worry: you’ll see that it’s not all that complicated. And if all you want to know is what the best PS5 SSDs are, they’re right at the top. Read more: These are the best SSDs in 2024 Best PS5 SSDs in 2024 How we test PS5 SSDs I’ve tested most of the SSDs recommended on this list, either for PS5 or computer use. I also bought and used our top pick in my own PS5. How much PS5 storage do I need? The PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro can accept internal drives with between 250GB and 8TB of storage capacity. If you already own a PS5, chances are you have a reasonable idea of how much storage you need ​​for your game library. If you’re buying an SSD with a new PS5 or PS5 Pro, or buying for someone else, it’s more difficult to tell what you might need for a high-performance experience. PS5 games are smaller on average than their PS4 equivalents, typically taking up between 30GB and 100GB, with some notable exceptions. If you’re a fan of the Call of Duty series, installing Black Ops 6 and Warzone 2.0 can eat up to 240GB. In other words, a full Call of Duty install will take up more than one-third of the PS5’s internal storage. If you’re not a CoD fan, though, chances are you’ll be good to store between six to 10 games on a regular PS5 internally before running into problems. You also need to consider your internet speed. If you live in an area with slow broadband, the “you can just download it again” rationale doesn’t really work. At my old home, a 100GB download took me around eight hours, during which time it was difficult to simultaneously watch Twitch or, say, publish articles about upgrading PS5 SSDs. Keeping games around on the off-chance you’ll want to play them at some point makes sense. Aaron Souppouris / Engadget Off the bat, there's basically no point in going for a 250GB PS5 SSD. Economically, 250GB drives aren’t that much cheaper than 500GB ones — and practically, that really isn’t a lot of space for modern games to live on. 500GB drives can be a decent option, but after years of declining prices, I think the sweet spot for most people is to opt for a high-capacity 1TB or 2TB drive, which should run you at most $200. The latter will more than double the PS5 Pro’s storage without breaking the bank. Unless you’re rolling in cash and want to flex, 4TB and 8TB models should mostly be avoided, as you’ll end up paying more per gigabyte than you would with a 1TB or 2TB drive. While the 825GB PS5 only provides 667GB of storage, that’s largely due to storage being reserved for the operating system and caching. If you install a 1TB PS5 SSD, you'll have, within a margin of error, 1TB of storage available for games. Out of the box, the PS5 Pro offers 1.86TB of storage for games, though you can eke out more if you delete the pre-installed Astro’s Playroom . Since neither the PS5 Slim nor PS5 Pro feature updated CPU architecture, all of our recommendations will work with whatever PS5 model you own. Can you play PS5 games on an external SSD? External hard drives tend to cost less than internal SSD counterparts . Unfortunately, there are restrictions on what you can do with them. An external SSD connects to your PS5 via USB, and is only suitable for playing PlayStation 4 games, or storing PS5 titles. That’s useful if you have anything but the best high-speed internet — it’s faster to move a PS5 game out of “cold storage” on an external drive than it is to re-download it — or want to keep your PS4 library on hand. Due to the limitations here, you don’t need the highest-performing model, although you should opt for SSDs over HDDs for improved transfer speeds and load times. Any basic portable drive from a reputable brand will do, with the Crucial X9 Pro and Samsung T7 being options we’ve tried and can recommend. Which SSD cards are compatible with the PS5? The official answer to this question is an “M.2 Socket 3 Gen4 x4 NVME SSD.” But even within that seemingly specific description, there are additional factors to consider. The main requirements Sony has laid out for compatibility come down to speed, cooling and physical dimensions. For speed, Sony says drives should be able to handle sequential reads at 5,500MB/s. Early testing showed that the PS5 would accept drives as slow as 4,800MB/s, and that games that tap into the SSD regularly — such as Ratchet Clank: Rift Apart — would cause no issues. Pretty much the only thing the PS5 will outright reject is one that doesn't match the Gen4 x4 spec. In our opinion, though, using a drive slower than the specification is a risk that, if you don’t already have that drive lying around, is not worth taking. Just because we haven’t found issues yet doesn’t mean there won’t be games that could be problematic in the future. The price difference between these marginally slower Gen4 drives and the ones that meet Sony’s spec isn’t huge, and you might as well cover all your bases. Slightly more complicated than speed is cooling and size. Most new SSDs are going to be just fine; the PS5 can fit 22mm-wide SSDs of virtually any length . The vast majority of drives you find will be 22mm wide and 80mm long, so no problem there. It should be noted that the system can fit a 25mm-wide drive, but that width must include the cooling solution. Speaking of, Sony says SSDs require “effective heat dissipation with a cooling structure, such as a heatsink.” The maximum height supported by Sony’s slot is 11.25mm, of which only 2.45mm can be “below” the drive. This previously meant some of the most popular heatsinked Gen4 SSDs, including Corsair’s MP600 Pro LP, would not fit within the PS5’s storage expansion slot. Since Engadget first published this guide in 2021, most NVMe makers, including Samsung, have come out with PlayStation-specific models that meet those requirements. That said, if you want to save some money, bare drives are often cheaper and it’s trivial to find a cooling solution that will work for the PS5. The only component in an NVMe SSD that really requires cooling is the controller, which without a heatsink will happily sear a steak. Most SSDs have chips on only one side, but even on double-sided SSDs, the controller is likely to be on top, as manufacturers know it needs to be positioned there to better dissipate heat. So, head to your PC component seller of choice and pick up basically anything that meets the recommended dimensions. A good search term is “laptop NVME heatsink,” as these will be designed to fit in the confines of gaming laptops, which are even more restrictive than a PS5. They’re also typically cheaper than the ones labeled as “PS5 heatsinks.” One recommendation is this $6 copper heatsink, which attaches to the PS5 SSD with sticky thermal interface material. It works just fine, and in performing stress tests on a PC, we couldn’t find anything metal that didn’t keep temperatures under control. When you’re searching, just make sure the solution you go for measures no more than 25mm wide or 8mm tall and has a simple method of installation that’s not going to cause any headaches. One last thing: When shopping for a PS5 NVMe, there’s no reason to buy a Gen5 model over a more affordable Gen4 model. As things stand, Sony’s console can’t take advantage of the new standard, and though Gen5 drives are backward compatible, they’re more expensive than their Gen4 counterparts. Just buy the fastest and highest-capacity Gen4 model you can afford. How to install an SSD into your PS5 If you need guidance on how to install your new NVMe into your PS5 or PS5 Pro, we have a separate guide detailing all the steps here. Installation is pretty straightforward, but our how-to can help you if you're stuck. Just make note: Before attempting to add more storage via a PS5 SSD, ensure that you have Sony’s latest software installed.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/best-ps5-ssd-expansion-upgrade-150052315.html?src=rss

10.12.2024 04:40 California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan have proposed a new bill, AB 56, that would require social media companies to put a warning label on their platforms to disclose their mental health risks. Citing social media platforms’ “harnessing of addictive features and harmful content for the sake of profits,” Attorney General Bonta says that consumers should have access to information about platforms that could impact their mental health. The current bill lacks detail on how much information these warning labels should have or how they should appear, but mentions the Cyberbullying Protection Act and the Online Violence Prevention Act as possible precedent for such a requirement. Those bills required social media platforms to disclose their cyberbullying reporting features in the terms of service, and clearly state whether they have a way of reporting violent posts for users and nonusers on the platform, respectively. Bonta and Bauer-Kahan’s new bill follows an open letter signed by 42 attorneys general that called for Congress to require a surgeon general’s warning label on social media. The US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy proposed the idea himself in an essay for The New York Times Opinion section in June. A surgeon general’s warning label requires congressional action to actually be put in place, but could prove effective in changing behavior in the same way it has for tobacco products, according to Murthy. You can trace a lot of the recent commotion around children and social media to an advisory on Social Media and Youth Mental Health that the US Surgeon General published in 2023. The advisory claimed that social media could “have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents” and that “children and adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of mental health problems.” A warning label is unlikely to completely fix things and social media isn’t the sole cause of all children’s problems, but labels are another level that can be pulled to change things. A wider reaching Texas bill that required social media companies block teens from seeing “harmful content” was struck down a few months ago in 2024, but requiring social media warning labels, especially given California’s legal history, seems much more feasible. Mental health impacts are just one of the risks children face online, though. According to the Federal Trade Commission, there’s still mass surveillance to deal with, too.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/a-new-california-bill-would-add-warning-labels-to-social-media-platforms-233653838.html?src=rss

10.12.2024 04:40 Rode just announced the latest iteration of its well-regarded Wireless GO microphone system. The third-gen kit brings plenty of new features to the table, especially when compared to 2021’s Wireless GO II. The microphone allows for 32-bit float on-board recording and audio can be captured directly to the receiver. The system allows up to 40 hours of footage, stored internally, and includes a new technology called GainAssist. This is a compression algorithm, of sorts, that will “dynamically balance audio levels on-the-fly.” Rode says the system eliminates “the wild fluctuations typically found in a raw recording.” The company even says that there should be little-to-no editing required in post when using this system. If the algorithm makes a mistake, the microphone includes a secondary storage channel that records a dry copy of the audio. Rode Most users will use these microphones connected to a camera of some kind, so on-board storage won’t be needed. Rode says that the new Wireless GO system can operate up to 260 meters from the receiver, so long as it's in the line of sight. The company also says that it is compatible with all Rode Series IV devices, including the RodeCaster Pro II and Rodecaster Video. This is in addition to offering “universal compatibility with cameras, smartphones and computers.” There are locking lavalier connectors and an integrated LCD screen for keeping an eye on battery and audio signal levels. Finally, this system is available in a whole bunch of limited-edition colors, including red, orange, pink and purple, among others. The Wireless GO II was only available in black and white. Rode This updated Wireless GO microphone kit comes with one receiver, two transceivers, a charging hub, a few windshields and plenty of cables. It's available for $300. There’s also a dedicated charging case, which is sold separately for $90. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/rodes-latest-wireless-go-microphone-system-boasts-40-hours-of-on-board-storage-230014651.html?src=rss

10.12.2024 04:40 Google debuted Willow, its latest quantum chip, on Wednesday, and if you’ve spent any time online since, you’ve undoubtedly run into some breathless reporting about it. Willow “crushes classical computers on a cosmic timescale,” proclaims one headline; Google “unveils ‘mind-boggling’ quantum computer chip,” reads another. It’s all anchored by a claim that Willow can complete a computation that would theoretically take a classical computer significantly more time than the 14 billion years the universe has existed. But, as you can probably guess, what the chip represents is not so simple. First, with Willow, Google makes no claim of quantum supremacy, something the company did when it publicly debuted its previous generation quantum computer, Sycamore, back in 2019. You may recall that, at the time, Google publicized how it took Sycamore just 200 seconds to perform a calculation that would have theoretically taken the world’s then-fastest supercomputer 10,000 years to complete. That feat, the company said, demonstrated that it had created a quantum computer that could solve problems the best classical computers could not even attempt. In other words, Google had achieved quantum supremacy. However, that claim quickly ended in controversy, with one researcher calling the company’s announcement “indefensible” and “just plain wrong,” and Google has since avoided talking about quantum supremacy. Instead, it just says it has achieved “beyond classical computation.” Part of the issue was that Sycamore was not a general-purpose quantum computer; instead, it was designed to surpass classical computers in a single task known as random circuit sampling or RCS. The thing about RCS is that, in Google’s own words, it has “no known real-world applications.” Yet, here again, the company is touting RCS performance. Google says Willow can complete its latest RCS benchmark in under five minutes. By contrast, the company estimates it would take Frontier, currently the world’s second most powerful supercomputer, 10 septillion years to complete the same task. That number, Google says, “lends credence to the notion that quantum computation occurs in many parallel universes, in line with the idea that we live in a multiverse.” Google More practically, Google tries to make the case that RCS performance should be the metric by which all quantum computers are judged. According to Hartmut Neven, the founder of Google Quantum AI, “it’s an entry point. If you can’t win on random circuit sampling, you can’t win on any other algorithm either.” He adds RCS is “now widely used as a standard in the field.“ However, other companies, including IBM and Honeywell, instead use a metric called quantum volume to tout their breakthroughs. They claim it points to a more holistic understanding of a machine’s capabilities by factoring in how its qubits interact with one another. Unfortunately, you won’t find any mention of quantum volume in the spec sheet Google shared for Willow, making comparisons difficult. To that point, the far more impressive claim Google is making today is that Willow is “below the threshold.” To date, the problem that has plagued every attempt to build a useful quantum computer is that the quantum bits they’re based on are difficult to control. They only hold their quantum state for fractions of a second, and the more qubits are added to a system, the more likely it is to produce errors. However, with Willow, Google says it has found a way to reduce errors as it adds more qubits to the system. According to the company, Willow is the first time this has been done. “As the first system below threshold, this is the most convincing prototype for a scalable logical qubit built to date. It’s a strong sign that useful, very large quantum computers can indeed be built,” says Neven. “Willow brings us closer to running practical, commercially-relevant algorithms that can’t be replicated on conventional computers.” That’s the real breakthrough here, and one that points to a future where quantum computers could solve problems that have tangible effects on people's lives. That future, however, isn't here just yet, and even Google admits it has more work to do before it gets there. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/googles-willow-quantum-chip-breakthrough-is-hidden-behind-a-questionable-benchmark-224707174.html?src=rss

09.12.2024 23:40 More Apple Intelligence features are coming in December. Apple Apple Intelligence was the big news at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference back in June. Apple made good on a modest first wave of features in October. But iOS 18.2 — along with sibling OS upgrades for Mac and iPad — will bring a meatier set of Apple Intelligence features to Apple's suite of devices, including Genmoji, Image Playground and ChatGPT integration. To check out Apple's new AI, you must have an eligible device and run the current iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1 or MacOS 15.1. You'll also need to join the waitlist in the Settings app, but Apple Support says it usually only takes a few hours to gain access. Once approved, you'll receive a notification saying it's ready to activate on your device. Here's what Apple Intelligence features you'll soon have access to this month and beyond. For now, you can test out Writing Tools, check out the new additions to the Photos app, see summarized notifications and more. Which Apple Intelligence features are coming soon? More Apple intelligence features are expected to become available in December with the release of iOS 18.2, but you can try them now if you're running the developer beta. Here's what Apple has said is coming. Genmoji: You'll be able to create custom emojis called Genmoji by using photos of friends and family or by typing a description of what you want. Image Playground: This tool will let you quickly create fun images, like turning yourself into a cartoon character, and let you come up with a new image based on the description you give. ChatGPT integration: Perhaps the most well-known AI tool will be built-in to Writing Tools and Siri to help out with requests. For instance, if you ask Siri about a certain document, ChatGPT can help. But Apple is, as usual, prioritizing privacy considerations: You'll always be asked before your information is shared and you'll control when it's used. Priority Notifications: When you receive multiple notifications each day, they'll be prioritized by what’s most important. For instance, if you have a dinner reservation that evening or an important meeting to attend, those notifications will be shown at the top of your notifications so you don't forget. Visual intelligence : Using the new Camera Control button on the iPhone 16 lineup, you'll be able to learn about and interact with objects and places right in front of you. For instance, you can use it to translate a sign from one language to another or find out more about a restaurant you've never been to by opening the Camera app, then pressing and holding the Camera Control button. In 2025, we'll see a more robust Siri integration. For starters, it's getting onscreen awareness to "take action with things on your screen." So if a friend texts you their new email address or when their birthday is, you can ask Siri to add it to their contact card. Priority notifications are coming soon to iPhones compatible with Apple Intelligence. Apple What is Apple Intelligence? Apple Intelligence is essentially Apple's very own generative AI system built-in to eligible devices to help with tasks like writing, communicating and expressing yourself. Apple says that while it draws on your personal context, it doesn't allow anyone else – Apple employees included – to access your personal data. Note that Apple will integrate ChatGPT into its system to help with Siri and Writing Tools , but you must give permission to use it on a case-by-case basis. Which Apple Intelligence features are available now? Apple Intelligence provides access to a variety of new features you can use on your iPhone, iPad or Mac if they're one of the eligible devices. New Photos app additions: While a new Photos app is available for everyone who upgraded to iOS 18, iPhones compatible with Apple Intelligence also get a new Clean Up tool that lets you remove background objects from your pictures with just a tap. For instance, you can remove strangers from your family photo at the beach or that piece of laundry you forgot to put away. And if you have thousands of photos and videos saved, you can now find what you're looking for by describing it — show all photos featuring a blue house with a red door, for example. Writing Tools: You can use this in most apps to help proofread your text, as well as craft different versions of what you've written until you find the right words. For example, if you need to write a cover letter or send an email to your boss, you can use Writing Tools to help you communicate what you need to say. This tool will also summarize an entire lecture for you, or any text you select. More features will be added in future updates. Summarized notifications: If you receive dozens of notifications each day, you'll now see a summary of the messages to make it easier to read through them. Siri improvements: Apple has given Siri an AI makeover to make conversations with the smart assistant more natural, but more. And for your convenience, you'll be able to switch back and forth between giving commands by voice or by typing to Siri. The bot also comes with "richer language-understanding capabilities," which is helpful if you tend to jump from thought to thought while talking. Siri improvements: Apple is pledging to make Siri more dynamic and useful with a series of upgrades coming in 2025. In the meantime, you can now switch back and forth between giving commands by voice or by typing. The assistant is also now said to offer "richer language-understanding capabilities," which is helpful if you tend to jump from thought to thought while talking. And it now features a new interface, which shows a glowing edge on your screen when activated. Which devices are compatible with Apple Intelligence? Compatibility with Apple Intelligence is largely limited to very recent iPhones, as well as Macs and iPads with Apple's M-series Apple Silicon chips. Here's the full list of devices that will work with Apple Intelligence. iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Plus iPhone 16 Pro iPhone 16 Pro Max iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max iPad Pro: M1 and later iPad Air: M1 and later iPad Mini: A17 Pro MacBook Air: M1 and later MacBook Pro: M1 and later iMac: M1 and later Mac mini: M1 and later Mac Studio: M1 Max and later Mac Pro: M2 Ultra What regions and languages support Apple Intelligence? To use Apple Intelligence on an eligible device, make sure Siri's language is set to US English – this should work for most regions around the world. In December, English language support for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK will be available. For European Union Apple device users, Apple Intelligence should now be available on their eligible macOS devices. They'll gain access on their iPhones and iPads in April. In 2025, Apple expects to have support for additional languages like Chinese, English , French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese and more.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/apple-intelligence-whats-new-in-ios-182-223004890.html?src=rss

09.12.2024 23:40 Musicians Tegan Sara, Open Mike Eagle, Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill and more have signed a letter organized by Fight for the Future demanding music labels drop their lawsuit against the Internet Archive, the online library and nonprofit best known for the Wayback Machine. “We, the undersigned musicians, wholeheartedly oppose major record labels’ unjust lawsuit targeting the Internet Archive,” the Musicians for Fairness and Preservation Open Letter reads. “We don’t believe that the Internet Archive should be destroyed in our name.” Instead, the letter offers three alternative ways the lives of musicians could be materially improved: By partnering with organizations like the Internet Archive to preserve original recordings and music culture, allowing musicians to keep 100 percent of merchandise sales and ending vertical investments in streaming services like Spotify. The advent of streaming services already made being a working musician highly unprofitable, but as the letter notes, things like the COVID-19 pandemic and Live Nation’s monopoly on ticket sales have made it nearly impossible to perform without some kind of extra expense. The original lawsuit put forth by labels like Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group was specifically targeted at the Internet Archive’s Great 78 Project, which aims to preserve music recorded on 78 RPM records. The project has over 400,000 recordings available to stream, including music from well-known artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Frank Sinatra. If the labels win their lawsuit, the Internet Archive could be on the hook for up to $621 million dollars in damages to account for the music streamed through the Archive since 2006, Rolling Stone writes. Music isn’t the only front where the Internet Archive is fighting. The organization recently lost its appeal in an ongoing lawsuit with publishers over digital book lending. The Internet Archive claims its digital book library can lend out eBooks under the fair use doctrine, but multiple judges have now disagreed.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/musicians-demand-music-labels-drop-their-internet-archive-lawsuit-214139644.html?src=rss

09.12.2024 23:40 NVIDIA, graphics chip maker and recent backbone of the AI industry, is under investigation by Chinese regulators over potential antitrust violations, The New York Times reports. The concerns center on the acquisition of Mellanox Technologies, a computer networking company NVIDIA bought in 2020. As part of the conditions of that acquisition, Chinese regulators required NVIDIA to “provide information about new products to rivals within 90 days of making them available to NVIDIA,” Bloomberg writes. China’s State Administration for Market Regulation is kicking off its investigation because it believes that those terms were violated. This wouldn’t be the first time NVIDIA has been investigated for monopolistic behavior – The US Department of Justice reportedly launched its own antitrust investigation into NVIDIA in September 2024 – but it has a different flavor in the context of the escalating trade war between the US and China. On December 1, the US Department of Commerce announced export restrictions and sanctions on 140 Chinese companies producing chipmaking tools, and on “China-bound shipments of high bandwidth memory chips,” Reuters writes. The goal was fairly clear: the US wanted to limit China’s ability to develop advanced AI by preventing it from creating the kind of chips used to train and run it. This fight goes both ways, of course. It seems safe to say that the Chinese ban on all shipments of gallium, germanium, and antimony to the US was a response. Threatening NVIDIA makes sense on a few fronts. The company’s H100 GPUs were used to train the vast majority of generative AI models used today, something that doesn’t seem likely to change with the Blackwell chips Nvidia announced earlier this year. That’s made it one of the most valuable companies in the world as AI speculation has run rampant, and a big target for governmental oversight. Plus, Bloomberg writes that NVIDIA gets some 15 percent of its revenue from China. However the investigation resolves, NVIDIA feels like a logical next step to escalate the US and China’s conflict even further.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/chinese-regulators-are-investigating-nvidia-for-potential-antitrust-violations-200136726.html?src=rss

09.12.2024 23:40 TikTok is beginning its last-ditch legal challenge to avoid a ban in the United States. The company filed an emergency injunction in federal court Monday, asking for a delay in the law that would ban the app from taking effect so it could have time to mount a Supreme Court challenge. The new court filing comes just three days after the company lost its initial court challenge to the law, currently set to take effect January 19, 2025, that requires app stores and internet providers to block TikTok if ByteDance doesn’t sell the app. In their ruling, a panel of three appeals court judges wrote that the US government had “persuasive national security justifications that apply specifically to the platform that TikTok operates.” TikTok has argued the law is unconstitutional and that it would unjustly hurt creators and businesses that rely on its service. “Estimates show that small businesses on TikTok would lose more than $1 billion in revenue and creators would suffer almost $300 million in lost earnings in just one month unless the TikTok Ban is halted,” TikTok said in a statement Monday. In its latest filing, TikTok notes that President-elect Donald Trump has promised to “save” the app and that temporarily halting the law would allow “the incoming Administration to evaluate this matter.” Right now, the law is slated to take effect the day before Trump’s inauguration. The company requested a decision by December 16. Even if the injunction isn’t granted, it’s still not quite the end of the line for the company’s legal challenges. If the Supreme Court ends up taking on the case, TikTok would have another opportunity to try to get the law overturned.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/tiktok-asks-court-to-delay-the-law-that-would-ban-its-app-next-month-192427139.html?src=rss

09.12.2024 23:40 Following an early preview at the start of the year, Sora, OpenAI's long-awaited video generation model, is ready for public use. If you're a ChatGPT Plus or Pro subscriber in the US or "most other countries" where the chatbot is available, you can begin experimenting with the tool starting later today, OpenAI announced on Monday. A more powerful model powers the product than the one OpenAI showed off in February. Sora Turbo is significantly faster, according to the company, though OpenAI cautions the new model still has limitations. "It often generates unrealistic physics and struggles with complex actions over long durations," says the company. When users first visit the dedicated landing page OpenAI has set up for Sora, they'll be greeted with a feed of videos the model has created for other people. By clicking on a video, you'll be able to see the exact prompt someone gave Sora to generate the footage you see. From here, you can also decide to re-cut a video, blend it into a clip you're working on, or remix it. In this initial release, OpenAI is limiting Sora to generating videos that are up to 1080p and 20 seconds long. ChatGPT Plus subscribers can use Sora to create up to 50 videos at 480p per month. Alternatively, Plus users can generate fewer videos at 720p. OpenAI says the Pro plan affords 10 times as much usage, at higher resolutions and longer durations. "We’re working on tailored pricing for different types of users, which we plan to make available early next year," the company adds. For safety purposes, each video features a visible watermark by default and contains C2PA metadata to assist with identification. OpenAI says it will block users from using Sora to create child sexual abuse materials and sexual deepfakes. More broadly, the company plans to limit uploads of people until it has time to refine its safeguards against deepfakes. Even if you don't have a ChatGPT subscription, you can still visit the Sora website to see what other people are using the tool to create. During today's livestream, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said it may take some time before Sora arrives in Europe and the UK. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openais-sora-video-generation-ai-model-arrives-globally-later-today-182613208.html?src=rss

09.12.2024 18:52 When it comes to robot vacuum cleaners, there's one brand that probably springs to mind before any other. But there are plenty of great options out there beyond Roomba, and one of our favorite models is on sale for nearly half off. The Anker Eufy BoostIQ RoboVac 11S Max has dropped to $129, which is a discount of 48 percent or $120. This is our pick for the best ultra budget robot vacuum. Since it has such a deep discount right now, that makes it even more of a budget-friendly recommendation. We appreciate the slim profile that makes it easy for the RoboVac 11S to clean under low furniture. We found the vacuum to have a long battery life and good suction power, especially for its size. The main drawback is the lack of Wi-Fi connectivity. That means you won't be able to bark a request for a spot clean at your voice assistant. Instead, you'll need to use a remote to control the vacuum, but it still has many of the features you'd expect from an app-operated model, such as scheduled cleanings. You can also start a cleaning by pressing a button on the top of the unit. The RoboVac 11S starts cleaning in auto mode with the aim of optimizing the process as it saunters around your home. However, you can select spot cleans and edge cleaning using the remote. One other welcome feature, especially for a robot vacuum in this price range, is the inclusion of effective object detection. So if you're on the hunt for a wallet-friendly robot vacuum for yourself or a loved one, the RoboVac 11S is definitely worth considering — especially at this price. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/one-of-our-favorite-robot-vacuums-is-on-sale-for-only-129-154516914.html?src=rss

09.12.2024 18:52 No discussion of a new midrange soundbar would be complete without a mention of its biggest competition, so even though this is a review of a Bose product, let’s address that from the start. Sonos has consistently been our top pick for best midrange soundbar for years. The company’s Beam has been a great option for smaller rooms or limited space since it debuted in 2018. The 2021 revamp added Dolby Atmos to the mix, but the price, the lack of upfiring drivers and the subdued bass remained key considerations that may deter shoppers. Three years after the 2nd-gen Beam, Bose is looking to take on Sonos and the Beam with the compact, Atmos-friendly Smart Soundbar . Bose may be best known for its noise-canceling headphones and earbuds, but the company has a solid track record with speakers and soundbars too. These devices typically exhibit the same fondness for clear, warm sound, which means that finer details are never a problem. Bose also likes to throw in handy features to expand a speaker’s utility, with things like dialog boost, room tuning and more. For the Smart Soundbar though, the company allows you to use a set of its wireless earbuds as rear surround speakers, taking a slightly different approach than Sonos on bringing headphones to the living room. What’s good about the Bose Smart Soundbar? Bose succeeded in building a compact soundbar with a simple design that won’t be much of a distraction on your mantle or TV stand. Five drivers provide ample clarity, so even finer details and sound effects come through clearly, and the speaker arrangement offers pleasant directional audio from the soundbar alone. This is partially due to the fact that Bose employs two upfiring drivers in the center of the speaker. For the times you don’t have access to Dolby Atmos content, Bose’s TrueSpace tech will upmix the sound for a spatial experience. The company provides an AI-powered Dialog Mode that re-balances voices against all of the other sounds so that spoken words can be heard clearly at all times. It does so without sacrificing the immersive aspects of the soundstage, so it’s not just a volume boost on the talking. I found Bose’s take on dialog to be among the best I’ve tested, right up there with Sonos, so I left it active during almost all of my testing, which isn’t the case for most soundbars I’ve reviewed. The main appeal of the Smart Soundbar will be how Bose chose to integrate a set of its earbuds with the speaker. A feature called Personal Surround Sound puts rear channels inside the Ultra Open Earbuds, leaving the main audio coming from the soundbar. Since these earbuds have an open-ear design, you can clearly hear everything, leaving your brain to mash them together in your head. I think Bose wanted to offer something akin to Sonos’ TV Audio Swap without directly copying it, and Personal Surround Sound allows users to add rear speakers with an investment that doesn’t just sit on a shelf when it's not in use. Billy Steele for Engadget Personal Surround works well, and the best part about it is it’s adjustable. There are options for volume, center channel and “height surround” levels so you can increase or decrease the amplification of each sound source. These three parameters give you the ability to pipe in more than just the would-be rear channels into the earbuds. You can get some dialog via the center channel control, as well as increase the overall volume if the stock effect is too subdued. What’s more, you can disable Personal Surround altogether and the Ultra Open Earbuds will play the full audio that’s coming through the Smart Soundbar. Also, lowering the volume on the speaker completely turns the Bose earbuds into something closer to Sonos’ TV Audio Swap, which is great for movies and shows when others are sleeping or don’t want to be disturbed. This mode is what Bose calls SimpleSync, and it’s compatible with the company’s recent Bluetooth speakers as well as the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones, QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds and QuietComfort 45 headphones. Another handy feature is the ability to adjust the center and height channels on the Smart Soundbar itself. Bose also gives you the option to raise or lower the bass and treble, as well as a Wall EQ toggle that adjusts the tone if you’ve mounted the speaker under your TV. This is all nice to have, but I used the center channel adjustment the most as cranking it up increased the effect of directional audio coming from the soundbar. There’s a good amount out of the box, but this tweak takes it up a notch, providing some pleasant sound reflections off of nearby walls. It’s great for movies and shows with lots of zooming vehicles and noise, like race clips in Drive to Survive or battle scenes in Rogue One. What’s not so good about this soundbar? Billy Steele for Engadget Like most soundbars, the Smart Soundbar doesn’t produce enough low-end thump on its own to provide a fully immersive audio experience. Despite the crisp detail and good directional movement, the speaker would benefit from Bose’s wireless subwoofer for a 5.1 setup. The company also offers two options for rear speakers starting at $399, which would allow everyone in the room to enjoy the added surround channels. Is the Smart Soundbar good enough on its own for smaller spaces? Probably for TV and movies, but if you’re tapping it to pull double duty as a music speaker, you’ll want to add a sub. Bose’s Personal Surround Sound feature is a nice perk, but only one person can use it at a time, so it’s really for solo watching at this point. Unless, of course, you want to be a jerk and give yourself the expanded sound and leave your partner, family or friends with the stock experience. Functionally, the Smart Soundbar responded to my commands and all of its modes worked well. One thing that did annoy me was its reluctance to automatically find the correct input when I turned the TV on after listening to music over AirPlay. Every other soundbar I’ve tested will begin playing TV audio when the screen flickers on, although some may take a few seconds longer than others to kick in. With this soundbar, I sometimes had to select the audio source in the app for things to work properly. I’m not one to harp on soundbar remotes, but I’m compelled to do so here. The accessory Bose includes with the Smart Soundbar feels very cheap. It’s similar to what might come with a fan or lamp, although this one has a more robust plastic frame so it’s slightly sturdier. I understand the desire to include a remote control with a $500 soundbar, but it either needed a little more polish or Bose could’ve just left all of the controls to the app. Final verdict on the Bose Smart Soundbar Billy Steele for Engadget The Smart Soundbar is the same price as the Sonos Beam, which remains great for smaller spaces, and is just a more compact option in general. There are a lot of similarities between the Beam and Smart Soundbar, and a few small but notable differences. Sonos’ advantage lies in its TV Audio Swap tool and larger ecosystem, though that edge is hampered by the ongoing app rebuild. Sonos also provides dynamic head tracking for even more immersion, which Bose’s soundbar lacks. Bose offers multiroom audio with the Smart Soundbar and you can use the Ultra Open Earbuds for personal listening of TV sound on top of the surround feature. It’s clear that Bose is taking aim at Sonos with the Smart Soundbar, so the question then becomes which company’s audio tuning do you prefer. Since they both offer things like Atmos audio, room calibration, dialog enhancement and headphone use, the choice comes down to personal sonic sensibilities. I think Bose does enough with its earbud integration to make this a tough decision, so long as you're willing to spend the $300 to get the additional device.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/bose-smart-soundbar-review-using-earbuds-as-surround-sound-speakers-153028639.html?src=rss

09.12.2024 18:52 With Christmas approaching, the Google Pixel Tablet is currently 30 percent off — at least the 128GB version. It’s currently $279, the lowest price it’s ever been since its release. The Google Pixel Tablet has an 11-inch screen with a resolution of 2560x1600 pixels, making it suitable for streaming content. The tablet is compatible with the Charging Speaker Dock . If you need a little more convincing, we named it one of our best Android tablets for 2024. If 128GB of onboard memory isn’t enough for you, the Google Pixel Tablet also comes in a 256GB version, which is 28 percent off at $359. Every other specification is identical to the standard 128GB model, but having double the memory means you can download more pictures, apps and YouTube videos for offline watching. As with Google’s Pixel smartphones, the Pixel Tablet works with Gemini, the tech giant’s AI chatbot. For those who use tablets as their primary work device, the Google Pixel Tablet supports Split Screen. This feature lets you open two apps side-by-side and use them simultaneously. It’s great for multitasking. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/google-pixel-tablets-are-up-to-30-percent-off-152043181.html?src=rss

09.12.2024 18:52 The holiday season is upon us and, while that means lots of merriment and fun, it also brings the inevitable stress of picking gifts for all your loved ones. We have list after list of some of the best gifts to get your mom, runners, book lovers, gamers and others, but sometimes the greatest presents come from following the sales. That brings us to Amazon's current deal on the Elgato Stream Deck Neo. The device is down to an all-time low price of $80, from $100 — a 20 percent discount. The Stream Deck Neo is Elgato's smaller take on one of our favorite game streaming items for 2024: the Stream Deck +. They both have eight customizable keys to make commands easy while streaming. The small but mightly Stream Deck Neo is also built for gaming and making your daily to-do list easier to accomplish with easy shortcuts. The Elgato Stream Deck Neo has a small display with the time, date and day of the week, making it have a bit of an alarm clock feel. It can integrate with apps like Zoom, PowerPoint, Spotify and more. Plus, you can connect it to your Mac or PC with a USB-C plug. Overall, this is a great gift for anyone in your life interested in streaming or just wanting to access their every day tasks with ease. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/elgatos-stream-deck-neo-is-cheaper-than-ever-144531655.html?src=rss