Amazon’s buyout of iRobot and One Medical may take longer than expected. According to Politico and The Wall Street Journal, the Federal Trade Commission is reviewing both acquisitions. Announced within a month of each other, the deals are valued at $1.7 billion and $3.9 billion, respectively, and have the potential to reshape two markets at the same time.
One Medical parent company 1Life Healthcare disclosed the FTC was investigating its proposed merger with Amazon on Friday, reports The Journal. That same day, Politico said the Commission had also begun a review of Amazon’s deal to buy iRobot. According to the outlet, a formal probe is likely given the detailed questions the FTC sent to the two companies. Amazon and iRobot are reportedly preparing for a “potentially lengthy [and] arduous investigation.” One source Politico spoke to told the outlet the review is “wide-ranging” and seeks to determine if the deal would give Amazon an unfair advantage in the connected devices and retail markets.
At the very least, the FTC could easily delay Amazon from finalizing the deals by up to a year. For Amazon, a worst-case scenario would involve lawsuits from the Commission. At the start of the year, NVIDIA abandoned its proposed $40 billion acquisition of ARM after the FTC sued to block the purchase over concerns it would stifle competition across a variety of markets. Whatever comes next, Amazon won’t have an easy road ahead. FTC Chair Lina Khan is a well-known company critic. She rose to prominence in legal circles on the back of an articletitled “Amazon's Antitrust Paradox.”
Following a failed attempt earlier this week, NASA has once again delayed the start of its Artemis 1 Moon mission. The agency was forced to scrub Saturday’s launch after staff at Kennedy Space Center failed to fix a persistent leak in a liquid hydrogen connection point on the agency's next-generation Space Launch System super heavy-lift rocket. NASA detected the leak at 7:23AM ET and tried to troubleshoot the problem in a few different ways, but after three failed attempts ground crew recommended a "no go" for Saturday's launch attempt.
"The Artemis I mission to the Moon has been postponed. Teams attempted to fix an issue related to a leak in the hardware transferring fuel into the rocket, but were unsuccessful," NASA said on Twitter.
Around 120,000 taxpayers who filed a Form 990-T will be hearing from the IRS in the coming weeks, telling them that the agency inadvertently exposed their information on its website. Exempted organizations, including charities and religious groups, with unrelated business income are required to file Form 990-T. As The Wall Street Journalnotes, though, people with individual retirement accounts invested in assets that generate income, such as real estate, are also required to file the form. Filings by exempted organizations are supposed to be public, but those by private individuals aren't.
The agency said the issue stemmed from a human cording error last year when Form 990-T became available for electronic filing. As you can guess, the error led to the bundling of non-public data with public data, which were all made available for download. It wasn't until these past weeks that an employee discovered the issue and triggered an investigation that eventually led to the removal of the data that shouldn't have been public in the first place.
In its letter, the IRS said the leaked data included individual names and business contact information. Affected taxpayers' Social Security numbers, individual income details and other information that could impact their credit weren't made public. The Journal, which was able to download some of the data before it was removed, said it included people's income within their IRAs, as well.
Even though it has already removed the leaked data, the IRS is still reviewing the situation. The Treasury Department's Anna Canfield Roth also said that the agency "has instructed the IRS to conduct a prompt review of its practices to ensure necessary protections are in place to prevent unauthorized data disclosures."
Sci-fi arena shooter Splitgateexploded in popularity after it hit consoles last summer, two years after it debuted on PC. It racked up more than 10 million downloads in the space of a month thanks to its blend of Halo and Portal gameplay. The fact it's free-to-play didn't hurt. However, developer 1047 Games is now winding down feature development, effectively putting the game into maintenance mode. Although Splitgate will move out of beta with its next update, that will be the game's "last major iteration," the studio said.
Splitgate became much more successful than 1047 expected. The studio attempted to turn a "college dorm dream project into a AAA game" that could compete with the biggest titles around. "But this also meant that as we've brought on top-tier talent from across the industry, we've spent a lot of our time trying to rework old content and systems that were originally built by a handful of people," 1047 wrote in a statement. "We are, in a way, bailing water while also trying to keep everyone who bought a ticket to board our ship happy, while also trying to turn our boat into a rocket ship."
The studio is now focused on its next project. It will again be a free-to-play shooter with portals and it's set in the same universe. 1047 will build the upcoming game from scratch in Unreal Engine 5.
Meanwhile, Splitgate, which has now been downloaded more than 18 million times, will stay online for the foreseeable future. As a thank you to players, 1047 will add a free battle pass with an infinite number of levels and new skins and characters when the final season starts on September 15th. 1047 will continue to make fixes and roll out smaller updates for Splitgate, but the game won't get any new features after the next big patch.
“After careful consideration and much deliberation the 1047 team has determined that in order to build the game that fans deserve — and to build it in a way that isn’t trying to retrofit our existing game — we are turning our attention away from iterative, smaller updates and going all-in to focus on a new game in the Splitgate universe which will present revolutionary, not just evolutionary, changes to the gameplay,” 1047 Games CEO and Splitgate creator Ian Proulx said in a statement. “Splitgate will remain online and supported for our dedicated community who have been the backbone of our studio from our earliest playtests on PC. Our community means everything to us and we can’t wait to share what’s next with them.”
Meanwhile, in an FAQ, 1047 acknowledged that players put time, effort and money into acquiring skins and other items. While it suggests that fans won't be able to carry those over to the next game, "we want to reward your efforts and time in Splitgate and we take that seriously. How we will do that is not decided at this time, but know that it is something we are focused on as we discuss the next game." It's also not clear whether the Splitcoin virtual currency will transfer over.
Ableton makes one of the most popular digital workstations (DAWs) around and if you’ve been waiting for a decent discount to pick up the music production suite, now might be the right time. The company has slashed the price of its software, including Ableton Live 11, by 25 percent for Labor Day weekend. The sale runs until September 6th.
Ableton Live 11 Intro has dropped from $99 to $74. It’s a decent way to dip your toes into what Ableton has to offer, since it has all the essentials. You'll get more than 1,500 sounds, 21 audio effects and 11 MIDI effects.
If you’re ready to splurge a little more to unlock nearly all of the DAW’s features and gain access to some extras, you can opt for Live 11 Standard, which is down from $449 to $337. It offers a few hundred sounds more than the Intro bundle, and you'll be able to use unlimited audio and MIDI tracks, in addition to having as many scenes as you desire.
At the higher end is the Live 11 Suite, which is $187 off the regular price at $562. This is billed as the complete integrated studio. It includes access to more than 5,000 sounds, for instance. If you already have a Live package, it's worth noting that you can save 25 percent on upgrades as well. Ableton also offers the option to split the cost of Live over six months at the discounted rate.
Although students and educators can get Live for 40 percent off the regular price, it's not often that we see Ableton run sales on its products. This is likely the best deal you'll find on the DAW unless you're a teacher or in school. After all, Ableton typically sticks to the same 25 percent discount on Black Friday.
Parler, the app that's largely associated with Donald Trump supporters, conservatives and far-right extremists, is once again available for download via the Google Play Store. Billing itself as a "free speech network", Parler was banned and removed from the Android app store in January [2021] after the US Capitol insurrection. A Google spokesperson said at the time that the removal was due to the app's lack of "moderation policies and enforcement that remove egregious content like posts that incite violence."
A Google spokesperson said "As we've long stated, apps are able to appear on Google Play provided they comply with Play’s developer policies. All apps on Google Play that feature user generated content (UGC) are required to implement robust moderation practices that prohibit objectionable content, provide an in-app system for reporting objectionable UGC, take action against that UGC where appropriate, and remove or block abusive users who violate the app's terms of use and/or user policy."
Parler has made substantial modifications to its app to comply with Google's policies. Bloomberg and Axios have reported that the apps' developers have implemented policies to moderate content and remove posts that incite violence, which made it compliant with Google's requirements. Despite its suspension and delisting from the Android app store, people could still download Parler from the company's website and continue to use it.
Parler was reinstated to the iOS app store in May this year, after modifying its AI-based moderation tool to hide content it identifies as "hate." Donald Trump's "Truth Social" has been available on the iOS store since February, though it has yet to launch on Android. Google reportedly has yet to approve that app due to concerns over its violations of standards and inadequate moderation policies.
If you prefer to support independent artists by buying their music instead of streaming it, today might be a good day to pick up some albums because Bandcamp Fridays are back. Since March 2020, around the time the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, Bandcamp has often run a day-long event on which it doesn't charge commission fees.
Bandcamp hasn't run the event every month and there were concerns that Bandcamp Fridays might no longer happen after Epic Games bought the marketplace earlier this year. But, at least for the next few months, Bandcamp Fridays will be a thing again. Bandcamp confirmed it will run the event on October 7th, November 4th and December 2nd, as well as today.
More than 800,000 music lovers have taken part in Bandcamp Fridays so far. As a result of the 21 events to date, the platform says it has paid out over $78 million to artists and labels. After payment processor fees, artists and labels get around 93 percent of a fan's money. Bandcamp says that on every other day, artists and labels get around 82 percent after it takes a cut.
Ten years ago, Teenage Engineering made a splash with the quirky, “boutique” OP-1 synthesizer. The b-word gets quotes because the OP-1 would go on to be a huge hit, enjoying a 10 year run and several re-stocks along the way. The success of the OP-1 and the equally unique products that followed saw big brands lining up to collaborate in the hope that some of that design magic might do wonders for their own products. Today, Teenage Engineering’s unique style can be found in everything from adorable gaming consoles to living rooms and pant pockets across the globe.
Back here in 2022, the company recently unveiled the sequel to the synth that started it all - and it’s called the OP-1 Field ($1,999). The new “Field” line also includes the TX-6 mixer ($1,199) and it looks like the company is repositioning itself with a new design aesthetic and… price range. Teenage Engineering has always charged a premium for its genre-bending, playful design but given that the original OP-1 cost around $800 at launch and that the OP-1 Field is largely based on it, it’s understandable that some loyal fans are feeling a little… priced out this time around.
Perhaps the bigger question is, will the new Field series offer enough magical music dust and Nordic design delight, to not only justify the expense, but to also keep Teenage Engineering’s unique approach to making music relevant to new and existing artists alike?
@Random Mcranderson (YouTube) - I think what TE missed is the overall negative effect on their reputation this has had.
Introducing the TX-6 and OP-1 Field
Before we can try and understand “Field” and what it means for the company, we should probably get a feel for the latest two products that are dividing fans in comments sections and on forums. We’ll start with the TX-6 as that’s an entirely new product for Teenage Engineering.
In the most simple terms, the TX-6 is a tiny battery-powered mixer and audio interface. Despite its diminutive size it has six stereo inputs, a built-in synth, eight effects, “DJ mode”, an instrument tuner and wireless/Bluetooth MIDI control. For something as portable as a deck of cards, that’s quite impressive. The TX-6 could be your main desktop audio interface by day and the beating heart of your hyper-portable (or not) multi-synth studio by night.
James Trew / Engadget
Unsurprisingly it’s particularly well suited for connecting and mixing smaller studio gear. Not only Teenage Engineering’s own products, but Korg’s Volca range or Roland’s many compact synths and drum machines are also a good fit. Ultimately, anything you can wrangle into a 3.5mm line-level output is fair game here. Anything with either an XLR connection or that requires phantom power is going to be a challenge of course. For outputs there are: main, aux and "cue” (for DJ mode).
@Pretty.mess (Gear Space) If I had enough money to buy one of these, I would probably buy something else. But I do love TE and the built in sequencer and synth looks interesting.
As is often the case with Teenage Engineering products, there are some features that one might not normally expect. On the TX-6 that would be the synth engine that includes drums sounds. Without a MIDI controller you can’t play it chromatically, but it’s unusual to see creative tools like this in most mixers and provides a way to poke out ideas right on the device. The inclusion of Bluetooth MIDI really feels in keeping with the portable form factor and a recent firmware update allowed for recording the mixer’s output directly to USB drives, which means you can lay down tracks without even needing a phone to record into. One might argue some internal storage could have been included for the price, but we presume the density of the hardware doesn’t allow for it (we hope).
The OP-1 Field, on the other hand, is very clearly a successor to the decade-old OP-1. The launch was sold as the new synth being “100 times” better with a list of 100 new features or improvements. In practical terms, the main upgrades seem to be much improved on-board storage, new “tape” modes (more on this later), full stereo signal chain, a new synth engine, a new reverb effect, an improved display, longer battery life and 32-bit float recording.
@Tarekith (OP-Forums) not everything needs to be aimed at the lower end of the market. This is a massive update for an already very capable instrument.
With the Field, the OP-1 has been refreshed to bring it up to date after a decade of user feedback. And this includes squashing some long-held limitations of the original. Most notably, the ability to work on multiple projects on the device without the hassle of backing them up to a PC. Yep, the original OP-1 only had the ability to record one song (or more accurately, one "tape") at a time. Another big one, particularly for the synth and drum engines, is the introduction of stereo.
To show this off, there’s a new synth engine called “Dimension.” It joins the other 10 that were on the original (which already covered most bases). Dimension is a subtractive/analog-style synth with a variable waveform (it gradually changes from various pulse styles through sawtooth and then noise).It also has a chorus feature for a fuller stereo sound. It does a pretty good job of replicating more analog style sounds as well as lush pads and even some horns and wind instruments.
With so many different synth engines you’re not short of choice, but the OP-1 is sometimes considered as having quite a colder, digital sound. This is true to a degree, but – as with most things on this synth – there are creative ways to get around that if you know where to look.
James Trew / Engadget
Instead of there being an internal sequencer, Teenage Engineering decided to imitate recording to tape on the OP-1, with just four tracks, including a physical time limitation of six minutes for each track. The analogy is taken seriously with no “undo” or “copy/paste” instead you “lift” tape and you can drop it back elsewhere. There are modern concessions so that it’s not just about making life needlessly hard – instead it's a very different way of making music that urges you to build songs in a way that most software’s infinite options and endless tracks ironically doesn’t.
But it’s precisely this unusual approach, anachronisms like “tape” and imitating physical limitations in a digital environment that arguably makes Teenage Engineering products stand out. Most electronic music production these days likely happens in software on laptops. As computers became powerful enough to mimic outboard gear, often the only hardware you might see producers using was a MIDI controller for playing software instruments with. In the last decade, at least, there’s been a steady re-emergence of hardware at the center of the workflow. But most don’t employ such a restrictive workflow as the OP-1.
@ellisedwardsx (Reddit) Love it. Everything cool about Op-1 to me but minus the things I didn’t like. I love the new additions.
“It favors those that have playing skills” YouTuber and OP-1 expert Cuckoo told Engadget referring to the OP-1’s live tape recording approach. “Like if you want to be incredibly immediate, and you appreciate that, then it's for you,” he added.
Cuckoo, like many fans of Teenage Engineering, sees the lack of things like a MIDI sequencer or the ability to add and remove effects at any stage in the creation process as a good thing. A typical DAW lets you move single notes around or change almost anything at any time which “feels” more useful (and it’s how most modern production tools work). The OP-1, for example, is just a lot more committal. Once that idea is recorded to tape, you’re limited in what can be done with it. But for some, that’s what makes it so exciting. Everything you do nudges you forward in the song-making process or, at the very least, avoids you jamming away several hours as you trawl through VST presets as often happens in something like Ableton Live.
“Teenage Engineering, they're very good at minimizing your options, and in a good way. Like on a computer, everything is possible. But because everything is possible, it's not like one optimized workflow. You need to find that workflow for yourself. And most people probably don't create like, a tight workflow.” Cuckoo said.
While this alternative way of working does have its fans, it can almost feel like learning a new language if you’re used to a more conventional DAW+MIDI situation. This will likely mean, at the beginning at least, you’ll almost certainly spend as much time googling for answers as you do actually creating. Before long though, you’ll start noticing the exciting things you can do that your faithful old DAW may never have put in your mind (even if it’s something it can do).
James Trew / Engadget
Take the built-in FM radio on the OP-1, for example, as Cuckoo illustrates. “Sometimes I've been performing with an OP-1, and been sampling from the FM radio, chopping up a [drum] kit, making a song, making an improvisation in like, maybe seven minutes or so?” Making a song based on sampling the radio in under 10 minutes is not something most gear inspires you to do.
Most don’t have an FM radio to be fair.
You can also use that radio in other, weird creative ways. You could use it to modulate an LFO, for example (so the song on the radio is controlling a filter or other parameter). Or you can create synth sounds using a random FM sample looped and twisted in creative ways. You can also broadcast over FM (albeit incredibly short distances), which works perfectly with Teenage Engineering’s OB-4 speaker, which also has an FM receiver.
@finc (Reddit) But what is a tiny low powered FM transmitter for?
This is really where Teenage Engineering excels: adding playful touches that open creative opportunities you might not find elsewhere. Along with the FM radio, the OP-1 Field has a gyroscope that can also be used as a modulator, which makes it exciting for live performances.
And while MIDI Bluetooth LE is becoming more common, it makes so much sense in the portable form-factor of both the TX-6 and the OP-1 Field. Using the TX-6 wirelessly with the OP-1 Field was easy to setup and felt very natural. In fact they both play nice with iOS natively too, so if you have a suite of mobile apps you enjoy using already, you can carve out quite a capable mobile studio with a good mix of hardware and software alike.
Using the OP-1 Field together with the TX-6 does feel decadent. The 3.5mm inputs on the mixer naturally makes you think twice about what you might plug into it. I could plug a full-size synth into it, or maybe something like the MPC Live II, but this would also be a bit bizarre. A relatively comprehensive mixer it might be, but its size begs you to, well, take it outside we suppose?
“I think ‘Field’ leads my mind to think about field recordings and to be out in the field, work outside of the office… music that is portable. And I think it's very obvious especially if you look at the TX-6 mixer [...] this thing is so incredibly well designed. And it's hard to convince people that get angry when they see the price tag that how incredibly well engineered it is.” Cuckoo said.
@Brokener Than (YouTube) The personal aspect of buying the OP-1 and what you get out of it is really the only justification you need to overpay for an instrument.
But if portability is the key behind the “Field” moniker, Teenage Engineering has to convince people to part with thousands of dollars when there are apps and even mixers that can combine to do something similar for a fraction of the price.
“A lot of people say, well, ‘you can do all of this with Ableton Live and a computer that costs half the price!’ But it's not the point. It's, I think, if the result is all that counts, the end product you can do a lot of stuff with an iPad, and some apps are free even. The result is not everything, it’s also mastering a device. Like, playing this live is a joy.” Cuckoo said.
James Trew / Engadget
Take a look around on YouTube at who is actually using the OP-1 or the TX-6. If you look (and listen) long enough you’ll maybe start to see that there has maybe long been a corner of the music making world that doesn’t feel at home with the pads of an MPC, or the endless expandability of Ableton Live. A group that doesn’t want to get pulled into the world of modular synthesis or circuit bending. People that have a fondness for alternative methods but with an appreciation for well-designed hardware. As long as they have the means.
It’s hard not to get sucked into the OP-1 Field. I personally struggled with the workflow initially, but I find it curious. Something tells me that if I stick with it and break my old MIDI/DAW habits, great rewards await. The TX-6 mixer on the other hand is a harder sell while still somehow incredibly appealing. Especially if you are already flush with portable gear, it makes a lot more sense. Perhaps the important question is: What is next in the Field series. An OP-Z Field? Some high-end Pocket Operators? Something completely different? Whatever it is, it could be the company’s most crucial device yet, or what ultimately alienates the company’s loyal fan base.
The Game of Thrones finale was never going to please everyone, but the consensus is that the final season had a lot of flaws. As such, it's totally understandable if you're reluctant to sign up to HBO Max just to catch the new spin-off show, House of the Dragon. You now won't have to pay anything to get a proper taste of the series and see if it might be for you, as HBO has dropped the first episode on YouTube for free.
The premiere sets the table for a story that's set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones (which is now streaming in 4K HDR on HBO Max). House of the Dragon focuses on House Targaryen, which means there are lots of people with white hair. Oh, and dragons.
While we can't embed the video here to an age restriction setting (this is very much not a family-friendly show), you can head over to YouTube to watch the episode. It's worth noting it appears to be geo-restricted to the US. Meanwhile, if you're looking for a different flavor of high-budget fantasy, the first episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerjust hit Amazon Prime.
Samsung has disclosed another cybersecurity incident. While an intrusion earlier this year led to hackers getting their hands on Galaxy source code, this time around, attackers obtained some customers' personal information.
The company says that Social Security numbers, as well as credit and debit card numbers, were not accessed. However, the event "may have affected information such as name, contact and demographic information, date of birth and product registration information." It hasn't revealed how many people may have been affected. The company is notifying some customers directly via email.
Samsung says someone gained unauthorized access to its systems in late July. It determined in early August that the attacker had obtained customer data, but consumer devices weren't affected. The company said it has taken steps to secure its systems and that it brought in a third-party cybersecurity firm. It's also in communication with law enforcement.
In an FAQ, Samsung said it's not necessary for customers to take immediate action based on what it has learned so far in its investigation. Still, it suggested that people exercise caution if they receive unsolicited emails and to review their accounts for signs of suspicious activity.
"We are committed to protecting the security and privacy of our customers," Samsung said. "We will continue to work diligently to develop and implement immediate and longer-term next steps to further enhance the security across our systems."
