Posts with «software» label

Epic Games’ app that turns photos into 3D models now available on iOS

Epic Games released RealityScan for iOS today. The free app, previously available in a closed beta, lets anyone scan real-world objects with their phone and turn them into high-fidelity 3D models.

The app is the fruit of Epic’s purchase of Capturing Reality, a company specializing in photogrammetry software. Like the company’s desktop software, RealityScan combines 2D images to make seamless 3D assets for games and other virtual environments. The idea is to enable game developers and other creatives to scan real-world objects at any time and any place for their projects. (If the metaverse ever takes off, you can imagine tools like this becoming essential.)

The scanning process begins with signing into your Epic Games account and taking at least 20 photos of an object from all sides. As you move your phone around, a real-time quality map shows how well you’ve covered it: green denotes well-covered areas, yellow could use more attention and red needs the most additional photos. It visualizes the places from which you’ve snapped each picture as something akin to little Polaroids floating around your item.

Epic Games

The app uploads and automatically aligns the images in the cloud as you take the photos. You can preview the model through the camera view and switch between the quality map and an in-progress, full-color render. When you want to crop it, it pops up 3D handles for you to drag around, ensuring it captures only the item, not the floor beneath it or background objects.

The process works best with simple items captured in even, indirect lighting (reflective or wet surfaces won’t capture well). It also appears to work best with larger objects, as my attempt to capture a small Mr. T action figure resulted in something that looks more like a pointillistic painting than a usable model.

Once you’re happy with the capture, you can export it to Sketchfab (a 3D asset platform Epic bought last year), where you can use it for 3D, virtual reality and augmented reality projects. Optionally, if you’ve captured something unique, you could try to sell your 3D model. Game developers needing a specific item for a virtual environment are the most logical audience here.

RealityScan is available today as a free download for iOS and iPadOS on the App Store. Earlier this year, Epic said an Android version would arrive later in the year, although the company is running short on time to meet that deadline.

Google’s best app of 2022 is an AI art generator, which sounds about right

Google is quickly joining Apple in recognizing the top apps of the year. The company has announced the Google Play Best of 2022 awards, and this year's biggest winners clearly reflect the cultural zeitgeist. The best Android app of the year is Wombo's Dream, an AI art generator — yes, one of the trendiest technologies of the year took top honors. The user's choice winner, meanwhile, is the social media phenomenon BeReal.

Respawn swept the top game awards. Apex Legends Mobile won both Google's nod as well as the user's choice pick. Todoist is Google's favorite app for Wear OS smartwatches, while Pocket's reading tool is the top tablet-friendly app. The best software for good was The Stigma App, a community platform dor discussing mental health.

Notably, Google significantly expanded the categories this year — if partly to promote its own platforms. There's now awards for Chromebook-friendly apps, including best app (the music maker BandLab) and best game (the metaverse-like Roblox). Very Little Nightmares is Google's favorite Play Pass game. The game list has expanded, too. The Android port of Papers, Please won the best story award, while the gacha game Genshin Impact took the distinction of the best ongoing game.

As with Apple, Google's year-end list is as much about driving downloads as anything else. The internet giant's Best of 2022 section on the Play Store is effectively a one-stop shop for Android and Chromebook newcomers looking to expand their app libraries. However, it does give a feel for the cultural pulse of a mobile world where AI, the metaverse and online gaming dominate.

Elon Musk says he and Tim Cook 'resolved the misunderstanding' about Twitter's iOS app

Elon Musk and Tim Cook have apparently made up following a dustup over the status of Twitter’s iOS app. Musk, who earlier this week, claimed that Apple had “threatened to withhold’ Twitter from the App Store,” said he and Cook had a “good conversation” during a meeting at Apple’s headquarters.

“Among other things, we resolved the misunderstanding about Twitter potentially being removed from the App Store,” Musk wrote. “Tim was clear that Apple never considered doing so.” Musk never said what the original source of Apple’s issue with Twitter’s app was. But Twitter's former head of trust and safety has stated that Apple had flagged various issues during the app review process in the past.

Of note, Musk’s latest tweets don't mention if Cook addressed any of Musk’s other recent complaints. In addition to the App Store issue, Musk had also joined the growing ranks of developers to criticize the App Store’s 30 percent “secret tax” on in-app purchases. Musk reportedly delayed the re-launch of Twitter Blue subscriptions in order to avoid the fees, according to the newsletter Platformer.

Musk had also called out Cook for halting much of Apple’s advertising on Twitter, claiming that the iPhone maker had “mostly stopped” ad campaigns on the platform. The company is currently trying to reassure brands amid a broader pullback in advertising from the platform.

Twitter is now pushing recommended tweets to everyone

Twitter is now pushing more tweets from accounts users don’t already follow into their timelines. The company revealed that it’s now surfacing recommendations to all its users, even people who had successfully avoided them in the past.

“We want to ensure everyone on Twitter sees the best content on the platform, so we’re expanding recommendations to all users, including those who may not have seen them in the past,” the company wrote in a tweet.

It’s not clear if this means recommendations will begin to appear in the “latest” timeline, which sorts tweets chronologically and has historically not included recommendations, or if Twitter is simply making recommendations more prominent in other parts of the app. In its tweet, the company pointed to a blog post from September, which states that “recommendations can appear in your Home timeline, certain places within the Explore tab, and elsewhere on Twitter.”

We want to ensure everyone on Twitter sees the best content on the platform, so we’re expanding recommendations to all users, including those who may not have seen them in the past.

You can learn more about them, and how to best control your experience: https://t.co/ekYWf57JSc

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) November 30, 2022

Anecdotally, it seems some users are already reportingnoticeablechanges to their timelines, with the appearance of new topic suggestions and many tweets from seemingly random accounts.

Though the change may feel jarring, it’s not the first time the company has experimented with adding more suggested content. Twitter has been pushing recommendations into various parts of its service for years, though it has sometimes tweaked how often these suggestions appear. In the past, Twitter has also been careful to note that it bars certain types of content from recommendations in order to avoid amplifying potentially harmful or low-quality content, though it’s not entirely clear if that’s still the case. The company no longer has a communications team.

Interestingly, Twitter’s current CEO, Elon Musk, hasn’t always spoken favorably about the platform’s recommendation algorithms. Back in May, he tweeted that using the app’s “latest” timeline was crucial to “fix” Twitter’s feed. “You are being manipulated by the algorithm in ways you don’t realize,” he said at the time. Musk, who has also spoken about his desire to open source Twitter’s algorithms, hasn’t yet weighed in on the new expansion of recommendations, or how the feature works.

YouTube is repeatedly crashing for some iOS users but a fix is on the way

Google is working to fix an issue that is causing the YouTube mobile app to repeatedly crash for some iOS users. “Hi, we’re aware that many of you using the YouTube app on iOS devices may be experiencing crashes,” the company said in a tweet caught by The Verge. “We’re so sorry about this & have begun working on a fix! Updates soon.”

hi, we're aware that many of you using the YouTube app on iOS devices may be experiencing crashes

we're so sorry about this & have begun working on a fix! updates soon🔍

— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) November 30, 2022

As of the writing of this article, YouTube has yet to share more information on the situation. Google did not immediately respond to a comment request from Engadget. We’ll update this article once there’s more information to share. It’s unclear how widespread the problem is among iOS users. On my iPhone, I was able to watch this incredible video of the Artemis 1 launch synced to “Free Bird” without issue during my lunch break. However, Downdetector indicates there have been more than 7,500 reports in the US of the app not working.

The Morning After: Elon Musk says Apple has 'threatened to withhold’ Twitter app

Elon Musk claims that Apple has “threatened to withhold” Twitter from its app store. According to Musk, the company “won’t tell us why” it has issues with the social network’s app. In subsequent tweets, he railed against Apple’s 30 percent “tax” on in-app purchases and claimed the App Store owner has “censored” other developers. He also said Apple “has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter.” Apple hasn’t yet responded to a request for comment. Musk also hasn’t specified if the company is holding updates to the service or threatening to remove the app from its store altogether.

Apple has strict, if often unevenly enforced, rules that govern the content in apps in its store. You might remember Parler, a “free speech” rival to Twitter, which was removed from the App Store for its lax content moderation rules. The app returned after it rolled out an AI-based moderation system. ​​

– Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

WhatsApp's latest feature is sending messages to yourself

Message Yourself lets you send notes, reminders and shopping lists.

As confirmed by TechCrunch, a new feature called Message Yourself is now being rolled out globally to iOS and Android users in the next few weeks. Once you get the update, you'll be able to see yourself at the top of the contacts list when creating new messages. Once you click on that, you'll be able to send yourself notes and reminders. Until now, you could only message yourself by creating a group with just you as a member or by using the apps click to chat feature. Or open your notes app.

Continue reading.

Twitter data leak exposes over 5.4 million accounts

The dump includes private phone numbers and email addresses.

Earlier this year, Twitter confirmed an API vulnerability allowed the theft of 5.4 million users’ private user data, but the company said it had "no evidence" it was exploited. Now, all those accounts are exposed on a hacker forum. An additional 1.4 million Twitter profiles for suspended users were reportedly shared privately, and an even larger data dump with the data of "tens of millions" of other users may have come from the same vulnerability. If you're thinking about using two-factor authentication, now would be a good time.

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Apple Watch Ultra's powerful diving tools arrive with the Oceanic+ app

The smartwatch is now more useful for recreational divers.

Apple

Hush Outdoors and Apple have released Oceanic+, effectively giving Ultra owners a recreation-oriented dive computer. The software tracks fundamentals like depth, no-decompression time (a figure used to set duration limits for given depths) and water temperature. The app works without the touchscreen, and you can set compass headings using the action button. Developers have even cranked up the haptic feedback, so you can feel it through a wetsuit.

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Google sued by FTC and seven states over 'deceptive' Pixel 4 ads

Influencers who never used the phone were paid to endorse it.

Engadget

The Federal Trade Commission and seven states have sued Google and iHeartMedia for running allegedly "deceptive" Pixel 4 ads. Promo ads aired between 2019 and 2020 featured influencers extolling the virtues of phones they reportedly didn't own — Google didn't even supply Pixels before most of the ads were recorded. The FTC wants to bar Google and iHeartMedia from making any future misleading claims about ownership.

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Apple’s 2022 App Store Awards put the focus on ‘cultural impact’

BeReal, the new social media app that exploded in popularity over the past few months, is one of the biggest winners for this year's Apple's App Store Awards. It won iPhone App of the Year for giving people an authentic glimpse into their friend's and family's every day lives, the tech giant said in its announcement. In all, Apple highlighted 16 apps and games for 2022 that delivered "exceptional experiences and [made] a profound cultural impact."

In BeReal's case, the fact that other social media apps had introduced or are testing features similar to what it does is a clear testament to the "impact" it's had on the space. BeReal users can share a selfie of themselves with a photo of their environment during a two-minute window that the app randomly selects for them every day. A reverse engineer found an experimental feature that's basically identical to that within Instagram back in August, while TikTok unveiled its own take on the format in September. 

Another big winner is GoodNotes 5, which was named the iPad App of the Year for taking digital notes "to the next level with best-in-class Apple Pencil support." Users can treat their iPads like any book or notebook with the app, since it allows them to jot down notes on the margin and highlight important text, among other things. 

MacFamilyTree 10 won Mac App of the year for its ability to create virtually stunning family trees and giving users the capability to collaborate with relatives around the world, while ViX, the Spanish-language streaming service by TelevisaUnivision, won Apple TV App of the Year. Yet another winner is fitness tracker Gentler Streak, which took home the Apple Watch App of the Year award.  

For games, Apex Legends Mobile bested all the other titles for the iPhone, while puzzle game Moncage and card battler Inscryption won best games for the iPad and the Mac, respectively. The Wild West stealth game El Hijo won best game for Apple TV for looking exceptional on a big screen. Wylde Flowers, a life sim that combines farming with magic, was named as the best Apple Arcade game. Finally, esports simulator League of Legends Esports Manager won the first China Game of the Year award.

In addition to the main winners, Apple also highlighted five apps for impacting people's lives and influencing culture. Those apps include How We Feel, which encourages users to record their emotional well-being to help them better vocalize it, and Dot's Home, a time-traveling story that puts a spotlight on systemic housing injustices. Locket Widget can help forge connections between people by letting users send live photos to their friend's and family's home screen, while Waterllama makes keeping hydrated fun. There's also Inua - A Story in Ice and Time, which takes users on an adventure rich in Inuit folklore and traditions. 

Elon Musk claims Apple has 'threatened to withhold’ Twitter from the App Store

Elon Musk has taken aim at Apple’s App Store policies amid claims that the company has “threatened to withhold” Twitter from its store. According to Musk, Apple “won’t tell us why” it has an issues with Twitter, but the threats have

In subsequent tweets, Musk railed against Apple’s 30 percent “tax” on in-app purchases, and claimed the App Store owner has “censored” other developers. He also said that Apple “has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter.” (Apple wouldn’t be the first major advertiser to do so in recent weeks.)

Apple has also threatened to withhold Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022

This wouldn’t be the first time Apple has taken issue with Twitter. In an op-ed recently published byThe New York Times, Twitter’s former head of trust and safety, Yoel Roth, said that Apple’s App Store reviewers often flagged content on Twitter during its app review process.

“In my time at Twitter, representatives of the app stores regularly raised concerns about content available on our platform,” Roth wrote, saying that app reviewers had flagged instances of racial slurs and nudity on the service. “Even as they appear to be driven largely by manual checks and anecdotes, these review procedures have the power to derail company plans and trigger all-hands-on-deck crises for weeks or months at a time.”

Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Musk didn’t specify if Apple is holding new updates to the service or threatening to remove the app from its store altogether. However, there are a number of recent issues that could have flagged Twitter for additional scrutiny.

On Sunday, The Guardianreported that Twitter had initially failed to pull “freshly uploaded” video of a 2019 terror attack at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, until government officials alerted the company to its existence. There has also been widespread concern from activists over the rise in hate speech and reinstatement of high-profile accounts who were banned for breaking Twitter’s hate speech policies. Musk also recently stated he planned to give “amnesty” to previously-banned accounts.

Apple has strict, if unevenly enforced, rules that govern the content that can appear in apps in its store. Parler, a “free speech” rival to Twitter, was removed from the App Store for months due to its lax content moderation rules (the app was reinstated after it rolled out an AI-based moderation system). In 2018, Tumblr banned adult content following a brief removal from the App Store.

Stable Diffusion update removes ability to copy artist styles or make NSFW works

Stable Diffusion, the AI that can generate images from text in an astonishingly realistic way, has been updated with a bunch of new features. However, many users aren't happy, complaining that the new software can no longer generate pictures in the styles of specific artists or generate NSFW artworks, The Verge has reported. 

Version 2 does introduce a number of new features. Key among those is a new text encoder called OpenCLIP that "greatly improves the quality of the generated images compared to earlier V1 releases," according to Stability AI, the company behind Stable Diffusion. It also includes a new NSFW filter from LAION designed to remove adult content.

Other features include a depth-to-image diffusion model that allows one to create transformations "that look radically different from the original but still preserve the coherence and depth from an image," according to Stability AI. In other words, if you create a new version of an image, objects will still correctly appear in front of or behind other objects. Finally, a text-guided inpainting model makes it easy to switch out parts of an image, keeping a cat's face while changing out its body, for example.  

Stability AI

However, the update now makes it harder to create certain types of images like photorealistic images of celebrities, nude and pornographic output, and images that match the style of certain artists. Users have said that asking Stable Diffusion Version 2 to generate images in the style of Greg Rutkowski — an artist often copied for AI images — no longer works as it used to. "They have nerfed the model," said one Reddit user.

Stable Diffusion has been particularly popular for generating AI art because it's open source and can be built upon, while rivals like DALL-E are closed models. For example, the YouTube VFX site Corridor Crew showed off an add-on called Dreambooth that allowed them to generate images based on their own personal photos.

Stable Diffusion can copy artists like Rutkowski by training on their work, examining images and looking for patterns. Doing this is probably legal (though in a grey area), as we detailed in our explainer earlier this year. However, Stable Diffusion's license agreement bans people from using the model in a way that breaks any laws.

Despite that, Rutkowski and other artists have objected to the use. "I probably won’t be able to find my work out there because [the internet] will be flooded with AI art," Rutkowski told MIT Technology Review. "That’s concerning." 

Moog's holiday deals include a free new effects plugin

Moog's holiday promos this year include a particularly nice perk: a freebie. The synthesizer pioneer has released a free new MF-109S Saturator add-on (shown above) for all Moogerfooger Effects Plugins users. As the name implies, the plugin gives you more control over the input drive circuit to produce anything from analog saturation through to smooth compression. It also replicates the noise generator circuit of the Minimoog Model D, with control through a switchable filter type.

You'll need to own Moogerfooger Effects Plugins to get the MF-109S, but the pack is on sale for $149 (normally $249) as of this writing. It works with common plugin formats like AudioUnits, ProTools AAX and VST3 on Macs and Windows PCs.

And don't worry if you'd rather buy full-fledged creative software — Moog has deals there, too. The company is once again offering 50 percent off its iOS and Mac software, including the Animoog Z wavetable synthesis app ($15 to unlock), Minimoog Model D ($15) and Model 15 (also $15). This isn't the first time Moog has run a sale on its apps this year, but you might not mind if you're hoping to add classic synth sounds to your musical repertoire.

It may be worth investing in the Moogerfooger effects set even if the bonus isn't a draw. We were impressed with the plugins when we tried them in October. You can produce subtle results if you want, but they're at their best when you venture to the stranger side — even a basic track can stand out with the right tweaks. They're treats for musicians who revere analog synthesis but don't have thousands of dollars to spend on vintage hardware.