Android owners who use Beats products are getting some more useful features. The Apple-owned brand is adding "Locate my Beats" and Product Widgets tools to its Android app.
You'll be able to track down misplaced earbuds, view battery life info and control listening modes (including noise cancellation) from your Android phone or tablet. Similar features are baked into iOS — iPhone users can locate compatible devices through Find My, for instance.
These features will be available for all products that work with the Beats app on Android, including Studio Buds. As it happens, Beats just revealed three new colors for the $150 Studio Buds, which it says is the fastest-selling Beats product to date. The Sunset Pink, Ocean Blue and Moon Gray variants are now available on Apple's website.
While Apple's iMovie software has always been a fairly powerful piece of movie-editing software, its main appeal is that it's a free and simple way to start making your own videos. But iMovie for the iPhone and iPad offers surprisingly little in the way of direction when you open it — it's up to the user to figure out how to structure their movie.
Apple is changing that significantly today with iMovie 3.0 for iOS and iPadOS, a free download that's available now. The software features two new creation modes, Magic Movie and Storyboards, to help people build videos for the first time.
Magic Movie automates a lot of the video creation process while still leaving room for plenty of customization, assuming you want to dig into the details. Apple recommends you start by choosing an album with related video clips and photos, but you can also manually select images and videos. From there, Magic Movie will analyze the content and look for things like faces, dialog and action to select the best parts of video clips and build out a movie from there, complete with transitions and music. The end result reminds me a lot of the "memories" that the iOS Photos app automatically builds — those memories also mix video and photo from the same day or event and adds a soundtrack and transitions to it.
Apple
Once Magic Movie puts together a project for you, there's a ton of customization you can do from there. Naturally, you can remove photos or videos that you don't want in the project, as well as quickly trim clips to show only the action you want. Instead of using a traditional horizontal timeline view, clips and images are contained in a vertically-scrolling left-side column (on the iPhone, it shows up below the video preview); you can easily drag and drop them to reorder the flow of your video. And tapping on an item in the left-side column gives you a bigger set of editing controls.
Another big part of iMovie 3.0's customization tools are a feature called Styles. These apply to the entire video and include things like fonts, color palettes and filters, music and transitions. There are a total of 20 to choose from, and while you can just set one and forget it, you also have the option to go in and adjust those individual characteristics if you want greater control over the final product.
Apple
The Storyboards features has a lot in common with Magic Movie, but it's a more manual tool. Storyboards starts by giving you more than 20 different video templates to choose from — options include video themes like "DIY," "day in the life," "how it works," "gaming," "Q&A" and so forth. When you select one of those options, the left side column populates with a rough structure for that video style, including broad categories and then examples of specific shots.
Apple
In a demo, Apple showed off a DIY project, which includes categories like "intro," "overview," "supplies" and so forth. Each of those sections is then populated with suggestions for different types of shots (wide shot, close-up and so forth). While you can obviously just import videos from your library right into these suggestions, you can also shoot directly on your iPhone or iPad and have that clip inserted into the slot.
As with Magic Movie, you can re-order and delete any suggestions from the left-side column, and tapping into it lets you do more involved editing. And the new Styles that are part of Magic Movie can be applied here, as well. The basic idea behind Storyboards is to give aspiring creators a framework to use when trying to put together a video, and while I haven't tried the app yet it does seem like a smart idea. As someone who has done very little video editing in his time, I could definitely see using a Storyboard as inspiration to get started on a video if I had an idea I wanted to pursue.
Once you have your creation finished, you can export it in a variety of video formats, in resolutions up to 4K; HDR content you may have filmed with be retained, as well. You can also export your iMovie project and open it up on a Mac. But before you do so, you should know that Storyboards and Magic Movie features are only available when using iMovie on an iPad or iPhone. Videos created with those tools will be exported in a format compatible with iMovie on the Mac, but you won't be able to edit or change Styles, for example.
If you want to try these new iMovie features, the updated app arrives today and will work on any iPhone running iOS 15.2 or higher, and on any iPad running iPadOS 15.2 or higher.
Remote collaboration on video has been virtually necessary for some producers since the pandemic began, and Adobe thinks it can help. The company has added Frame.io collaboration tools for Creative Cloud subscribers to help Premiere Pro and After Effects users share work and obtain feedback. You can upload up to 100GB to a dedicated space where colleagues can download in-progress edits, provide time-stamped commentary (including drawings) and approve changes.
The addition also includes a "Camera to Cloud" feature that can upload video directly from compatible cameras. You could remotely review raw shots long before the production crew has finished filming, in other words. Frame.io is available starting today, and should be available in the latest versions of Premiere Pro and After Effects as long as they're included in your Creative Cloud plan.
Adobe has some notable upgrades to the apps themselves. For a start, After Effects finally has native support for M1-based Macs — the company is claiming up to twice the rendering speed versus a 10-core iMac Pro, among other performance improvements. You can also expect redesigned import, export and header bar interfaces in Premiere Pro, as well as AI-based editing tools in both apps (auto color correction in Premiere, scene edits in After Effects).
If Apple sticks to its usual calendar, we should get our first look at Apple Watch Series 8 in September. We'll likely see watchOS 9 for the first time at WWDC in June as well. Both events are months away, but the Watch update rumors are ramping up.
Apple is expected to reveal up to three watch models this year, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Along with the Series 8 and a revamped Watch SE, there may be a version with a rugged design. That one would be geared toward extreme athletes.
With watchOS 9, Apple may introduce an upgraded low-power mode. Beyond only letting users see the time in low-power mode, their watch could run some apps and other features.
Health has been a big focus for Apple Watch from the jump, and Series 8 could add a body temperature sensor to the mix. At the outset, it seems the plan is to help users with fertility planning. It may later be used to tell wearers if their body temperature is running high, though you may not see a numerical measurement.
In addition, Apple is expected to build on atrial fibrillation (AFib) monitoring with a new "burden" feature for watchOS0 that detects how often a person is in a state of AFib over a period of time. On top of that, more workout types and running metrics could be available in the Workout app.
As for health features users shouldn't expect to see in Apple Watch Series 8, the long-mooted blood pressure monitor isn't likely to arrive this year. Gurman says Apple has run into some issues with the tech, which is expected to look for signs of hypertension, and it likely won't be ready for another couple years. Another long-rumored feature that probably won't be in Series 8 devices is noninvasive blood sugar monitoring. That's not expected for several more years, according to Gurman.
The report also touches on some iPhone features that may arrive in the medium term. The Health app could have improved sleep detection along with a feature that allows users to scan medication bottles and reminds them when to take pills. The latest smartphone lineup could have satellite connectivity too, which could enable users to text emergency personnel and report incidents via satellite networks. Apple's said to be working on similar features for future generations of Apple Watch.
Twitter has bought a mobile platform called OpenBack as it seeks to improve notifications and keep people coming back to its app. "OpenBack and their talented team joining Twitter will help us improve our ability to deliver the right notifications at the right time, in a way that puts people’s privacy first," Twitter's head of consumer product Jay Sullican wrote.
2/ The best push notifications bring people to the conversations they care about on Twitter. But irrelevant notifications are a distraction. With millions of people visiting Twitter via notifications every day, we want them to be timely, relevant and engaging.
OpenBack is used by mobile apps to process data on-device rather than on a server, Twitter said. The company's approach to push technology is centered around privacy and offers an enhanced user experience, it added. Twitter's hoping the OpenBack team will help it to improve notifications in order to alert folks to the right content at the right time, and get them involved in conversations they care about.
The current OpenBack business will be wound down. Its developers are joining Twitter's Bluebird product team. Twitter declined to share terms of the deal.
The goal, of course, is to increase users' level of engagement with Twitter, which will help it generate more revenue. The company's revenue grew slower than expected in the last quarter of 2021. Its total revenue in 2021 was just over $5 billion. The company is hoping to increase that by 50 percent by the end of 2023.
Getting current users to use Twitter more often by drawing them in with more relevant notifications should help improve the bottom line. If Twitter can enhance notifications the way it wants to, it may also bring back some lapsed users who still have the app installed on their phone.
The rumors were true. Less than a month after Bloomberg reported that Spotify was mulling a name change for its Clubhouse competitor Greenroom, the company has officially done just that. Starting today, the live audio offering will be known as Spotify Live. Additionally, the company is integrating the live audio inside of its main app, confirming another item in that initial report.
To start, only "select original programming" will be available from Spotify Live in the app alongside music and podcasts. You won't have to wait to check it out though as a live episode of Off the Record with DJ Akademiks will stream today. On Friday (April 15th), the company is hosting a live DJ set from Swedish House Mafia as part of the group's album release party and it will only be available as it happens. Several other events are set for April and May, so there will be ample opportunity for you to see how Spotify Live works inside the Spotify app.
Live events will be available on the artist or show page with green labels so you can easily see them. Don't worry if your favorite shows aren't originals, the standalone Spotify Greenhouse — now Spotify Live — app lives on. The company says you'll still need it if you plan to hop in the chat or join a host onstage. It's not surprising that Spotify would give its originals preference for the new integration given the extent of its investments in programming.
Spotify launched its Clubhouse rival Greenroom last June, a few months after acquiring Betty Labs, the maker of a live audio app called Locker Room. Until now, the company kept its live audio aspirations separate from its core music and podcast streaming. However, it makes a lot of sense to combine the three in one place. If nothing else, it makes things convenient for casual listeners who don't usually participate in show chats and won't be a guest. What's more, it's far more likely someone who's curious will give a Spotify Live session a try if they don't have to download a separate app to check it out.
When I reviewed the Orba back in late 2020, I was told there was no plan to open up the internal synth engine to users; That because of the limited resources available it would be difficult to make it user friendly. Artiphon just didn’t seem to think there’d be much interest. Well, I’m happy to report that the company has finally realized the error of its ways and built a (reasonably) friendly UI that allows you to custom design patches for the Orba’s internal synth engine.
The core is a two oscillator engine with triangle, saw and square wave options, with pulse width modulation. There’s also a noise source and a ring modulator that you can mix in as well. There’s an LFO, three envelopes, a multimode resonant filter, a waveguide for physical modeling, as well as reverb and delay effects. It’s not the deepest set of sound design tools you’ll find, but it will still allow you to craft a wide range of sounds.
Artiphon
The engine seems to excel at sparkling plucks, organ drones and digital howls. The one thing unfortunately you can’t do is build drum kits, you’ll still need to rely on prebuilt sound packs for those.
The app itself is free (“for now” in the words of Artiphon) for MacOS and Windows, and is laid out logically from left to right, broken up into modules that should be familiar to anyone who has spent time exploring a synth. The few somewhat unique bits are the waveguide and gesture mapping controls.
The waveguide, which models the harmonic behavior of strings or pipes, depending on the setting, adds an impressive amount of complexity and some rich tones to what is otherwise a fairly simple synth core. You can even blend between the plain dry singal and that from the waveguide for additional depth.
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
The gesture controls is what really makes Orbasynth special, though. It is, rather obviously, built specifically to use with Artiphon’s Orba, so taking advantage of its unique gesture controls should be a given. Here you can map tilts, shakes and outward glides to control everything from LFO speed, to filter cutoff to vibrato.
It would be nice to see a few more options added to Orbasynth to really open it up. The LFO for instance only has a rate control, no depth and you can’t assign it to custom parameters. Similarly some further control over the effects would be nice, as would being able to control the waveguide with gestures.
Still, it’s hard to complain too much when this is something I and plenty of other Orba users have been clamoring for since day one. And, it’s free. Even if you don’t have an Orba you can go download the app from Artiphon’s site and start exploring.
GoPro has unveiled the Hero 10 Black Bones, a lightweight version of the Hero 10 Black designed for FPV and "Cinewhoop" drones that have taken off in popularity. It offers features like HyperSmooth 4.0 and 5.3K video, but is light enough to be mounted on 3-inch class and larger drones.
"Bones is an important step in our strategy to leverage GoPro’s core camera-technology to produce derivative products that address the needs of a specific audience of customers," said GoPro founder and CEO Nicholas Woodman. "Bones delivers Hero 10 Black image quality and performance in a lightweight body that is ideal for aerial cinematography."
GoPro
At 54 grams, the Hero 10 Black Bones weighs 100 grams less than the Hero 10 black, making it the lightest GoPro ever, the company said. Helping keep the weight down is the fact that it doesn't carry its own battery but is instead powered by the drone's own 2S-6S or 5-27V batteries — a typical setup on FPV drones.
The miniscule weight makes it ideal for fast and maneuverable "Cinewhoop" drones designed to take crazy aerial footage. The best recent example of that video genre is the drone flythrough of Tesla's new Gigafactory in Berlin.
Meanwhile, the "well-ventilated, semi-durable enclosure promotes continuous airflow cooling for long captures or flights," says GoPro. It also comes with a lightweight housing that features the Hero 10 Black's replaceable cover lens, which can be swapped for third-party Hero 10 Black and Hero 9 Black ND filters.
GoPro
It has the same GP2 processor as the Hero 10 Black so there's no compromise in quality or features, either. You get the latest HyperSmooth 4.0 video to stabilize shots, or you can do stabilization in post using the ReelSteady tech in GoPro's new Player + ReelSteady app unveiled yesterday. As the company showed, you can now combine HyperSmooth and ReelSteady stabilization to create even smoother footage.
As for video quality, it delivers 5.3K at 60fps, 4K 120 fps and 2.7K at 240 fps in 16:9 mode. In the 4:3 aspect ratio that's best for HyperSmooth footage, you get 5.3K at 30fps, 4K at 60 fps and 2.7K at up to 120fps. That matches the resolutions and framerates available on the regular GoPro 10 Hero Black.
It includes multiple means of control via a pair of physical buttons, the Quik App, GoPro Labs QR Codes, GoPro's The Remote or a drone's transmitter. It comes with a single screw boss for the drone mount, a standard FPV industry connector, and an optional in-box adapter for the GoPro mounting ecosystem.
GoPro
As with other GoPro cameras, the Hero 10 Black Bones is cheaper with GoPro's one-year subscription, which is free the first year. It costs $400 with the subscription and $500 without it, meaning GoPro thinks you're going to like the subscription benefits enough to renew. (Those benefits include no-questions-asked camera replacement, discounts on accessories, unlimited cloud backup and more.) Either option includes a license for the GoPro Player + ReelSteady desktop app, or you can purchase that separately for $100.
Miso Robotics, the company that built a robot burger flipper in use at White Castle and a tortilla chip maker Chipotle is testing, has turned its attention to coffee. Its AI-powered CookRight Coffee system will monitor temperature, volume and time data. It will blend those metrics with predictive analytics to deliver cups of java. Miso suggests the system could help restaurants run more efficiently.
Panera Bread will be the first to test and evaluate CookRight Coffee before determining how to deploy the system. Miso says the product will nullify the need for workers to manually check the coffee urns and will brew fresh coffee at the right time. The system will also support Panera's Unlimited Sip Club plan, a subscription service that allows customers to drink as much coffee and tea as they want at the chain for $9 per month.
“When we announced the CookRight platform in 2021, we knew we could apply it to various stations at a restaurant as the product developed, and we saw an immediate need for it at the coffee station," Miso CEO Mike Bell said in a statement.
The newest foldable on the scene is a China-exclusive, but it has enough to keep us interested even if we may never buy one. The Vivo X Fold, with a 6.53- or 8-inch unfolded screen, packs a Snapdragon Gen 1 processor and two ultrasonic fingerprint readers, built into, well, both screens. Sure, not a huge deal.
I’m more interested in the zirconium alloy floating middle plate, which sounds like an Avengers McGuffin but is actually Vivo’s pitch to ameliorate that center crease on most foldable phones. This plate lifts up gently when you open the hinge, helping, hopefully, to smooth out the wrinkle. We’ll let you know once we see it for real, but for these expensive foldable devices, which often show their age through wrinkles built up over a month or two, it’s a cosmetic problem in need of a solution.
Wii Sports came out more than 15 years ago, and oddly, Nintendo never made a proper sequel, until now, after skipping the Nintendo console that should not be named. Sam Rutherford got to check out Nintendo Switch Sports ahead of its official release on April 29th, and it looks like the formula hasn’t changed too much.
Apple Support told some users to bring their monitors in for repair.
Some owners of the new Apple Studio Display have reported problems updating to the latest firmware. As MacRumors points out, after multiple failed attempts, users were told by Apple support to bring their display to an Apple Store or authorized facility for repair.
Apple is reportedly begun re-signing an older iOS 15.4 firmware version, allowing the Studio Display to resume updates.
It could lead to smaller Sonos speakers in the future.
Sonos has acquired Mayht, a Dutch startup best known for co-creating a Bluetooth speaker powered by light. Mayht specializes in an audio technology called Heartmotion. The company claims to have reinvented “the core of speaker drivers,” so speakers can be up to 10 times more compact than other models without sacrificing sound quality or bass output.
The US Justice Department has issued several measures restricting the sale and distribution of "ghost guns," including a requirement for federally licensed dealers and gunsmiths to serialize any unmarked firearm (such as a 3D-printed gun) before selling it to a customer. Those that print a gun at home would not be able to sell it to a store without some ability to trace its origins.
