Beeper vs Apple has been our own little David and Goliath matchup, but it looks like the saga’s coming to a close. The Beeper Mini chat app has issued yet another fix after Apple once again disabled access to the iMessage platform. The company says this will be the last fix released. Beeper wrote in a blog post today that it's done “playing a cat-and-mouse game with the largest company" on the planet. 

“With our latest software release, we believe we’ve created something that Apple can tolerate existing. We do not have any current plans to respond if this solution is knocked offline,” the company wrote.

So what’s the latest workaround? It’s certainly not a simple patch. It involves pairing your current mobile device with a Mac or an old iPhone. Mac users with Beeper Cloud should be able to simply update and reconnect, though not all macOS versions will support the software update. You can also ask a friend with a Mac and Beeper Cloud to share their iMessage registration code, which can be used with the desktop app.

Finally, you can jailbreak an old iPhone (6/6s/7/8/X), install Beeper’s tool to generate an iMessage registration code and update to the latest Beeper Mini app to enter the code and access the service. The company’s also renting and selling jailbroken iPhones for this task. Jailbreaking an iPhone, after all, can be confusing for beginners.

On the upside, the company says these fixes work well and even bring blue phone numbers back to the Beeper Mini experience. However, if you don’t have a Mac or an old iPhone, or access to either, you’re pretty much out of luck. Beeper says it’ll hold onto your chat history if you happen upon an old gadget at some point in the future. 

This has been a month-long battle between the two companies, which started with the launch of the Beeper Mini app. This app offered true iMessage support to Android devices via a software exploit. Just a few days later, the app went on the fritz after Apple blocked the exploit. This led to more complicated fixes on Beeper’s part, with one requiring an official Apple ID and another requiring a Mac computer. Apple found ways around all of them, which actually spurred US lawmakers to call for a DOJ probe.

If Apple blocks this final fix, that’ll be it for Beeper Mini, but the company has made the software open-source for other folks looking to give it a go. Beeper may be giving up on iMessage integration, but it's powering full-steam ahead with its primary chat app. The company promises it’ll work throughout 2024 to turn it into the “best chat app on Earth.”

Windows Mixed Reality is heading to a farm upstate. Microsoft is shutting down the platform, according to an official list of deprecated Windows features. This includes the garden variety Windows Mixed Reality software, along with the Mixed Reality Portal app and the affiliated Steam VR app. The platform isn’t gone yet, but Microsoft says it’ll be “removed in a future release of Windows.”

Microsoft first unveiled Windows Mixed Reality back in 2017 as its attempt to compete with rivals in the VR space, like HTC and Oculus (which is now owned by Meta.) We were fascinated by the tech when it first launched, as it offered the ability for in-person shared mixed reality. The pricey Apple Vision Pro could offer a similar experience when it presumably launches in February.

Microsoft’s platform was ultimately adopted by several VR headsets, like the HP Reverb G2 and others manufactured by companies like Acer, Asus and Samsung. The Windows Mixed Reality Portal app allowed access to games, experiences and plenty of work-related productivity apps. However, it looks like the adoption rate wasn’t up to snuff, as indicated by today’s news.

Despite the imminent end to the platform, it doesn’t look to be impacting Microsoft’s other mixed-reality ecosystem, the HoloLens 2. Microsoft added a Windows 11 upgrade and other improvements for the business-focused headset earlier this year, according to The Verge. It also started shipping them out to the Army for combat tests. Yes. You read that last part right.

However, not everything’s rosy in HoloLens land. Reports indicate that Microsoft has stopped development on the HoloLens 3. A report in 2022 said that the company teamed up with Samsung to make an unannounced mixed-reality device, but Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw said that Microsoft remains "committed to HoloLens and future HoloLens development."

Additionally, Microsoft has made sweeping cuts throughout its VR division, leading to layoffs and the discontinuation of the AltspaceVR app. The company is, however, still developing its proprietary Mesh app that lets co-workers meet in a virtual space without a headset.

Arturia just surprise-dropped a new multi-fx plugin called Refract and, even better, it's free until January 4. Refract is a unison-based effect that stacks voices to create unique soundscapes, which could be a boon for sound designers or just anyone looking to add a bit of textural pizazz to their tracks.

This is a multi-fx plugin, so the unison effect can be leveraged to create a number of different Mode FX algorithms. It can duplicate a signal up to eight times, each getting its own stereo voice. This allows for movement between “unfiltered stems to a wide and powerful sound.” Arturia says each of the integrated effects can be combined to create “a dispersion pathway that fits your wildest imaginations.” We’ll see about that.

The user interface looks colorful and fun, which is usually the case with Arturia plugs, and you can easily adjust the voices, filters, LFO and other metrics. There’s also a boatload of presets that illustrate the plugin's “multi-effect capabilities.” Some of these presets offer a delay effect, while others go with distortion or a unison-based chorus.

Free plugins are something of a tradition during the holiday season, and it’s always nice to see another one drop. However, don’t sleep on this download. It’s only free until January 4, at which point the price increases to $100.

This has already been a fairly substantial holiday for Arturia, as last week saw the launch of its long-awaited V Collection X synth pack. The MiniFreak hardware synthesizer also got a robust system update earlier in the month.

Blue Origin’s 24th mission is officially a success. The New Shepard rocket took off as planned this morning and the booster and crew capsule safely separated mid-flight and landed back on this great blue marble we call Earth.

This was an uncrewed mission, but it carried 33 science payloads into low orbit, more than half of them from NASA. The launch allowed for a few minutes of zero gravity in which researchers conducted remote studies on these payloads. For instance, a payload from Honeybee Robotics studied the strength of planetary soils under differing gravity conditions. The manifest also included 38,000 student postcards from the Club for the Future initiative.

To those following this mission, the original launch was scrapped on Monday due to a ground system issue that was, obviously, handled. There were no issues reported regarding today’s flight, though there was a slight holdup of a few minutes added to the countdown.

This mission was basically a do-over of a flight from last year that ended prematurely due to a malfunction of the New Shepard booster’s hydrogen-based rocket engine. This anomaly led to the suspension of Blue Origin launches until an investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was completed.

The FAA’s investigation ended in September, freeing up Blue Origin for more launches once it handled a suite of corrective actions mandated by the agency. This included a redesign of the booster’s engine and nozzle as well as some procedural changes. The company hasn’t announced any official plans for future crewed flights, but recently installed an elevator at the launch tower. This is to make future launches “more accessible to people with disabilities, and more people in general,” launch commentator Erika Wagner said during today’s livestream.

To that end, Blue Origin has begun ramping up promotions to attract customers for crewed flights. You can also apply to add a payload to a future launch.

Microsoft Copilot just rolled out a new feature that creates songs via text prompt, thanks to a partnership with AI-based music creation platform Suno. Microsoft says it gives users the ability to craft personalized songs, “regardless of musical background.” Suno has long been working with various algorithms to create an AI that can whip up entire songs and it looks like the company has struck gold.

When you access this tool, all you have to do is enter a prompt and let the algorithm do the rest. The end result should be “fun, clever and personalized” songs, complete with lyrics and singing voices. You can also make an instrumental tune, if that’s your bag. AI use has been ramping up in the music-making space, but most of those tools are intended to help musicians. This is primarily for non-musicians looking to make a tune for a birthday email or something.

To that end, Microsoft gives prompt examples like “create a pop song about adventures with your family” and “make a song that captures the spirit of growing up.” It looks like the Suno add-on will have access to any personal data accrued by Copilot during use, so these songs could, in theory, get pretty specific.

The feature begins rolling out today, but it’s a tiered release. In other words, it could be a few weeks before it reaches your update box. In the meantime, you’ll have to make do with the thousand other things that Copilot can do.

TomTom just announced a “fully integrated, AI-powered conversational automotive assistant” which should start popping up in dashboard infotainment platforms in the near-ish future. The company has issued some bold claims for the AI, saying it’ll offer “more sophisticated voice interaction” and allow users to converse naturally to navigate, find stops along a route, control onboard systems, open windows and just about anything else you find yourself doing while driving.

The company, best known for GPS platforms, partnered up with Microsoft to develop this AI assistant. The technology leverages OpenAI’s large language models, in addition to Microsoft products like Azure Cosmos DB and Azure Cognitive Services. Cosmos DB is a multi-model database and Cognitive Services is a set of APIs for use in AI applications, so this should be a capable assistant that draws from the latest advancements. 

TomTom promises that the voice assistant will integrate into a variety of interfaces offered by major automobile manufacturers, stating that the auto company will retain ownership of its branding. So this could start showing up in cars from a wide variety of makers. The company hasn’t announced any definitive partnerships with known vehicle manufacturers, but the technology will be integrated into TomTom’s proprietary Digital Cockpit, an open and modular in-vehicle infotainment platform.

This isn’t the first time a company has tried to stuff an LLM inside of a car. Back in June, Mercedes announced a three-month beta program that incorporated ChatGPT models into select vehicles. This tool also leveraged Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI service. TomTom is showing off the AI at CES in January, so we’ll know more about how it actually works at that point. 

Apple’s recently-released tvOS 17 update allows for native VPN apps and big-name providers are wasting no time. ExpressVPN dropped an app a couple of weeks ago and now the same is true of one of its primary competitors. NordVPN now has an official Apple TV app available for download.

This is the real deal and works with your current NordVPN subscription, if you have one. The setup is simple. Just download the app and sign in. If you’re new to the service, download the app and create an account. Once connected, you’ll have access to the company’s global array of secure servers.

The app encrypts all network traffic and uses the company’s NordLynx protocol to speed up the connection, which should offer an optimized streaming experience with minimal buffering. Of course, this will likely depend on the locations of your actual network connection and virtual network connection.

Back when Apple first announced that native VPNs would be coming to tvOS 17, NordVPN expressed doubts, telling The Verge that the company was “concerned that there may be some limitations.” It looks like it got over those doubts.

So, why would you even want or need a dedicated VPN on your Apple streaming box? There are a couple of reasons, all of which involve traveling with the diminutive device. You can customize settings, like preferred server location, which helps get around geographic restrictions regarding streaming content. Nobody’s gonna stop you from binging Foundation while on vacation. Even without geo-restrictions, bringing your Apple TV into a hotel room will allow you to stream whatever you want instead of relying on, gag, cable.

Before tvOS 17, you couldn’t configure a VPN on these devices. You’d have to install a VPN client on the router, which is notoriously complicated. Kudos to Apple on this one. NordVPN isn’t the only available VPN on the Apple TV App Store. There’s the aforementioned ExpressVPN, PureVPN and several more. You can install VPN apps on Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K devices, running tvOS 17 or later.

Speaking of tvOS 17, the company just dropped an update. The latest and greatest tvOS 17.2 brings a redesigned interface and the ability to answer FaceTime calls directly from the TV.

Teenage Engineer’s OP-1 Field synthesizer/groovebox/thingamajig just got a fairly substantial system update. Software version 1.5.0 brings a fun new effect to the instrument and a long-requested feature.

First up, there’s a new effect called Terminal. This is a bit crusher, finally bringing distortion to the synthesizer. The OP-1 Field and its lower-powered sibling have always been known for a stellar effects lineup, but these instruments have never had a bit crusher or any real way to add color via distortion. As an avid player, I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had to use workarounds to fake overdrive and distortion.

It looks simple enough to operate, with an aesthetic that calls to mind an old PC. You should be able to use this tool for gentle distortion and all-out audio mangling. Like all OP-1 effects, there are four parameters to fiddle with.

The update also brings a much easier way to bounce, or merge, tracks. Teenage Engineering’s calling it “tape merge drop” and the tool includes a shortcut that automatically combines all of the audio from copied tracks into one track, so you can drop it down and continue building out a song. You could always bounce tracks on the OP-1 and Field, but it required some menu diving and a lot more time.

Teenage Engineering has always been good about supporting the OP-1 line. It dropped a vocoder for the Field earlier this year and released multiple system updates for the original OP-1 in the recent past, and that thing came out in 2011. Obama wasn’t even in his second term yet.

The company has had a busy month or so. It set music gear internet ablaze with the surprise launch of the EP-133 sampler and did the exact opposite with whatever this is. The new OP-1 Field update is available now.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for Baldur’s Gate 3 to show up on Game Pass. It’s not happening, according to Larian Studios founder Swen Vincke in an interview with IGN. The game designer said point blank that “it’s not going to be on Game Pass.” Vincke went on to note that this was always the plan and that the title had never been considered for placement in Microsoft’s subscription gaming platform. These statements occurred just one week after the game officially launched on Xbox Series X/S consoles.

At the root of this decision is perceived value. Vincke says that Baldur’s Gate 3 is a “big game” that’s available for a “fair price.” He also touted the title’s lack of microtransactions and its complete story, saying “you get what you pay for.” To that end, a completionist run in Baldur's Gate 3 takes more than 140 hours, according to HowLongToBeat. That breaks down to about 40 cents an hour, which seems like a good value to me.

Larian Studios isn’t Microsoft. This is a small company that needs all the money it can get, with Vincke suggesting that players who pay full-price for Baldur’s Gate 3 will allow the developer to “continue making other games.”

This speaks to a larger issue within the gaming community regarding the “all-you-can-eat” nature of streaming subscription platforms like Game Pass. Obviously, paying $10 each month for access to hundreds of games is a great deal for consumers, but it remains to be seen how it impacts developers. Some smaller developers praise the added exposure that comes with launching on Game Pass, while others like Take Two call it a “lost opportunity” for publishers. Sony head Jim Ryan even called the platform “value destructive,” but he’s speaking about a primary competitor so, grain meet salt.

Microsoft has held steady to the idea that Game Pass actually increases sales of included titles, as players fall in love with certain games and want to own them outright. There’s some evidence to support this. Starfield was available on the subscription service since launch day but still managed to be the best-selling title of September, according to figures published by VentureBeat. However, that old adage about cows and free milk must apply to some gamers.

Most importantly, Baldur’s Gate 3 doesn’t need Game Pass. It’s one of the most popular and critically-acclaimed releases of the year, racking up a boatload of trophies at The Game Awards and selling around 20 million copies on Steam alone. The game’s also available on PS5 and, as mentioned, Xbox Series X/S.

The OnePlus 12 has officially launched in China and now the company’s most powerful phone is coming to the rest of the world. OnePlus has announced global availability for January 23, including the US. All told, the company ways the phone will be available in 50 markets worldwide. If you’ve been intrigued by the company’s latest flagship smartphone, you won’t have long to wait until getting your hands on one.

This phone certainly has mouth-watering specs. You can soup it up with up to 24GB of RAM, which is more than I have in my work laptop and the same amount as my music and video-making desktop. The base model ships with 12GB of RAM, which is still plenty. As a comparison, the iPhone 15 boasts just 6GB of RAM.

These phones also offer up to 1TB of storage and come outfitted with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile chipset. Charging speeds are also great on paper, offering support for 100W wired fast charging and 50W wireless charging. Incidentally, the OnePlus 11 didn’t have wireless charging at all.

There’s a new Sony LYT-808 sensor for the 50-megapixel main camera and a 64-megapixel periscopic telephoto camera. The 6.82-inch 120Hz AMOLED display is a 2K panel manufactured by China’s BOE Technology Group.

The aesthetics resemble its predecessor, but the camera island’s color now matches the body. In addition to glossy white and classic matte black colorways, you can also purchase a OnePlus 12 in green. There’s no pricing yet, but in China this thing costs the equivalent of $610 for the base model and $820 for the high-end version with 24GB of RAM and 1TGB of storage.

The OnePlus 12 is being released as part of the company’s 10th anniversary. This isn’t the only big news to come out of that celebration. OnePlus has also announced it’ll be selling the OnePlus 12R smartphone in other parts of the world beyond China and India, a first for the “R” series. However, OnePlus hasn’t announced any specs or information about the 12R. The OnePlus 11R was a slightly underpowered and budget-friendly version of the flagship phone, so maybe the 12R will follow suit.