Audible has teamed with Dolby Laboratories to introduce spatial sound in its library. Called Dolby Atmos on Audible, it’s debuting on more than 40 titles including The Little Mermaid, The Sandman Act III and the music-oriented podcast, Maejor Frequency…
Apple Music users on iOS are highlighting a fairly serious bug that is causing other people’s playlists and songs to appear in their libraries, according to multiple Redditors. On top of that, some users have complained that their own playlists have outright disappeared or been replaced by others, 9to5Mac has reported.
The issue appears to be limited to the iOS Apple Music app and could be caused by an iCloud issue that’s syncing up the wrong data between users. Some wrote that disabling iCloud syncing and then re-enabling it has cleared up the issue. That button is located in Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > Show All.
Apple has seen similar iCloud syncing issues in the past. Shortly after the iPhone 13 was released, some users lost access to their Music libraries if they transferred their data from another phone. And last year, Windows iCloud users complained about corrupt videos and images from other users appearing in their Photo Libraries. Apple has yet to comment on the latest problem, but Engadget has reached out for more information.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-music-bug-on-ios-is-reportedly-mixing-up-peoples-playlists-073003381.html?src=rss
Digital audio workstations (DAWs) are the key to making music or other productions on a computer, and Ableton’s Live 11 is one of the most popular apps around. If you’ve been waiting for a decent discount to pick up the music production suite, now might be the time. The company has slashed the price of all the versions of Ableton Live 11, including upgrades and packs, by 20 percent. The sale runs for a week until March 28th.
The base Live 11 Intro option is down from $99 to $79, offering what you need to get started, including more than 1,500 sounds, 21 audio effects and 11 MIDI effects. For something more full-featured, consider the Live 11 Standard package, now available for $359 instead of $449. The bundle includes unlimited audio and MIDI tracks, as well as unlimited scenes and more than 1,800 sounds.
At the top end is the Live 11 Suite, which is down from $749 to $599. You’ll get access to more than 5,000 sounds, along with more audio and MIDI effects and extra software instruments. Current Live users can get 20 percent off upgrades too. In addition, Ableton is offering packs with the Push hardware instrument, letting you save up to $299 with the Live 11 Suite.
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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/abletons-live-11-music-production-software-is-20-percent-off-064035601.html?src=rss
To have any hope of making its Horizon Worlds VR social network catch on, Meta has to give potential users a reason to go (and stay) there. Its latest attempt to do that is something called “quests” that lets users complete in-game missions to earn (virtual) swag like clothing, the company announced in an update spotted by The Verge.
The feature (which doesn’t appear related to the Quest headset branding) is in beta testing via a game called Giant Mini Paddle Golf. “Those in the test group will see a new ‘Quests’ icon in their Identity Panel, which will open the new quests board to show 6 quests (e.g. Get a Hole-in-one) and the rewards to be earned (e.g. Sea Captain Costume). With one click, travel to the world to get started,” according to the description. Meta plans to roll it out to more users over time.
While limited to just a single experience for now, it’s easy to imagine Meta offering quests in other corners of Horizon Worlds as a way to give Quest VR headset users more to do. Last month, the company said it planned to release 20 new Horizon experiences built by third-party studios, so perhaps the quests feature will be part of these.
The Horizon Worlds user base was reportedly around 200,000 at the end of 2022, well short of the goal it originally set. Meta recently announced plans to open Horizon Worlds up to children between 13-17 years old, prompting criticism from two US senators concerned over Meta’s track record on protecting younger users.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-quests-give-you-more-to-do-in-its-horizon-worlds-vr-social-network-073029493.html?src=rss
Apple’s 10.9-inch 2022 iPads are improved in almost every way, including the design, performance, battery life, front facing camera and more. One of the biggest knocks is the price, so if you’ve been holding out for a deal, Amazon now has them on sale …
Apple’s Mac Mini M2 is the cheapest way to get the company’s latest processors, and now Amazon is offering the more desirable model at the best price we’ve seen. You can buy the 512MB Mini M2 for $700, or $100 (12 percent) off the regular price. The on…
Nearly two decades before Facebook and others were talking about the metaverse, Second Life was letting millions of users partake in virtual worlds. Now, all this time later, developer Linden Labs has announced that it’s developing a mobile version of the game, Ars Technica has reported. A beta version is expected to launch later this year.
In a YouTube video posted to Second Life‘s community forum, the publisher detailed some details about the mobile app. It’s being built using Unity, mainly so it’ll be easy to build and distribute the game on both iOS and Android phones/tablets. It also shows some footage of characters and environments, and how Linden Labs will try to make it as much like the desktop game as possible.
Facebook has struggled to get the metaverse off the ground, but over 73 million accounts have been created for Second Life to date, and the number of active users hit 900,000 during the pandemic — 17 years after the game launched. Typical virtual events include “live music performances, shopping fairs, fan fiction conventions, book and poetry readings, academic lectures, fashion shows, and art exhibitions,” the company told Vice in 2020.
Linden Labs had been working on a VR version of the game called Sansar, but ended up stopping development and selling off the rights in 2020. The company said it did so to become “cash-positive,” while noting that VR headset adoption didn’t come as fast as it hoped. To that end, a pivot to mobile makes sense, but it remains to be seen if people will still be interested in Second Life after all this time.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-20-year-old-metaverse-game-second-life-is-getting-a-mobile-app-110254437.html?src=rss
Now is a good time to purchase a 2022 Apple M1-equipped iPad Air, as they’ve dropped back down to all-time low prices. The 64GB WiFi model is now on sale for just $500, or $99 (17 percent) off, while the 256GB model is available for $650, also $99 off …
IKEA’s Vappeby lineup continues to grow with a new waterproof Bluetooth speaker designed for the shower and priced at just $15 — undercutting all but the cheapest no-name devices. “The fundamental goal with the new product was to offer quality sound in…
Microsoft launched its ChatGPT-powered version of Bing last month in a limited beta, and it promptly brought a bunch of new viewers and some respect to the beleaguered search engine. Now, it appears that Microsoft has opened up the new Bing to nearly everyone who wants to use it, as Windows Central has noticed. While the signup page still says “join the waiting list,” all you have to do is sign in to get instant access — a trick that worked for myself and a colleague.
Microsoft has yet to confirm the change, but we may learn more at an event it’s holding today called “Reinventing productivity with AI,” as spotted by TechCrunch. The company is supposed to be introducing AI-powered tools for its Microsoft 365 suite and SalesForce rival Dynamic 365, but it may announce Bing changes as well.
Yesterday, Microsoft confirmed that the new Bing has been powered by the GPT-4 engine for the last five weeks, well before OpenAI unveiled it two days ago. OpenAI’s latest language model (LLM) has taken the tech world by storm with its ability to handle both text and images. Some of its feats include passing simulated exams like the Bar and LSAT with a score “around the top 10 percent of test takers,” and outperforming other LLMs in a variety of benchmark tests.
Bing gives users a taste of GPT-4 without the need to pay for it or be a developer. The new search engine got off to be a bit of a shaky start, though, as up to 10 million users signed up to test it. Some were able to “jailbreak” the chatbot, making it spew false information and essentially gaslight users. That forced Microsoft to limit conversations, but it has subsequently removed some of those limits after strengthening the search engine’s “guardrails.”
Microsoft was an early backer of the company behind ChatGPT, Open AI, and strengthened that commitment in 2021 with $2 billion dollar investment. Early this year, it expanded the pact further with a “multibillion dollar” investment that includes new supercomputers to accelerate OpenAI’s research.
Update 3/16/23 2:52pm ET: Reached for comment, a Microsoft spokesperson sent the following statement: “During this preview period, we are running various tests which may accelerate access to the new Bing for some users. We remain in preview and you can sign up at Bing.com.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-begins-making-bing-chat-ai-searches-available-to-everyone-102506412.html?src=rss
