MIT biotech researcher Lauren “Ren” Ramlan has run the iconic computer game Doom using gut bacteria. It’s not doing the running of the game, per se, but it is running (barely) on a display inside a cell wall made entirely of E. coli bacteria.
The researcher dosed the bacteria with fluorescent proteins to ensure they lit up like digital pixels, reaching a heady 32x48 resolution. In their paper, Ramlan says “To run Doom, all one needs is a screen and willpower,” mentioning Doom running on the digital display for a pregnancy test.
However, this is not playable. It takes 70 minutes for the bacteria to illuminate one frame of the game and another eight hours to return to its starting state. So, nearly nine hours per frame. Your Switch doesn’t sound so bad now, does it?
— Mat Smith
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It’s earnings season, so we’re trawling through reports and press releases and suffering earnings calls to eke out what it all means. For Microsoft, it was a boost in gaming revenue, having finally adopted Activision Blizzard. The entire company reported revenues of $62 billion (up 18 percent on last year) and profits of $21.9 billion (a 33 percent increase). Microsoft says its overall gaming revenue increased by 49 percent, 44 points of which came from the “net impact” of the Activision deal. Xbox hardware sales were up only three percent.
Samsung still hasn’t recovered from its 2022 decline in profit. In its latest earnings report, it revealed KRW 258.94 trillion ($194 billion) in annual revenue and KRW 6.57 trillion ($4.9 billion) in operating profit for the fiscal year of 2023. That’s markedly less than last year. The company says its memory business — often a money maker — showed signs of recovery but not enough to stop it from incurring KRW 2.18 trillion ($1.63 billion) in operating losses for Q4 2023. Samsung has high hopes for the Galaxy S24 series and believes the devices’ AI capabilities can help its mobile business achieve double-digit growth in 2024. Here’s what we thought of the flagship S24 Ultra.
There are enough of them now to warrant a guide. Yes, handheld gaming PCs are having a moment and, depending on what you want to play, the right handheld could range from a solid $100 emulation machine to a $700 portable PC more powerful than your existing laptop. My one tip: consider battery life.
Universal Music Group (UMG) is threatening to pull all of its music from TikTok today following a breakdown in negotiations over royalties, the company wrote in an open letter. That would mean TikTok creators would lose access to songs from stars including Taylor Swift, Billy Eilish, The Weeknd, Drake and others.
With UMG's deal with TikTok set to expire, the sides have reportedly been in negotiations for the past year. Such deals are worth billions annually to music publishing firms and are typically negotiated every few years. Universal is the world's largest record label, and if does pull it's music from TikTok, it would be the first time this has happened in recent memory.
Universal said TikTok wanted to pay a "fraction" of the rate paid by other social media sites. "As our negotiations continued, TikTok attempted to bully us into accepting a deal worth less than the previous deal, far less than fair market value and not reflective of their exponential growth."
In its own post, TikTok said that it serves as a valuable marketing tool for artists and publishers. "Despite Universal's false narrative and rhetoric, the fact is they have chosen to walk away from the powerful support of a platform with well over a billion users that serves as a free promotional and discovery vehicle for their talent."
TikTok also benefits greatly from access to Universal's catalog and being cut off from access to ultra-popular artists like Taylor Swift would be a blow to creators and users. TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance has more than 3 billion monthly active users and made $29 billion in revenue in a single quarter ending June 2023, according to The Financial Times. Warner Bros. Music, the number three record label behind Sony Music and UMG, recently struck a deal with TikTok.
Universal said it does "not underestimate what this will mean for artists and their fans" but that it will not shirk its responsibilities. "TikTok’s tactics are obvious: use its platform power to hurt vulnerable artists and try to intimidate us into conceding to a bad deal that undervalues music and shortchanges artists and songwriters as well as their fans." The company added that payments from TikTok amount to "only about 1 percent of our total revenue."
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Samsung has failed to recover from the sharp decline in profit it experienced in 2022. In its latest earnings report, the Korean company has reported KRW 258.94 trillion ($194 billion) in annual revenue and KRW 6.57 trillion ($4.9 billion) in operating profit for the fiscal year of 2023. Those are markedly smaller numbers than the previous fiscal year's, especially the latter's — Samsung posted an operating profit of KRW 43.38 trillion ($35 billion) for 2022, which was already $6.9 billion smaller than the year before due to the weak demand for its chips and smartphones. According to The Wall Street Journal, these numbers represent Samsung's weakest earnings in over a decade.
The company says its memory business showed signs of recovery, but not enough to stop it from incurring KRW 2.18 trillion ($1.63 billion) in operating losses for the fourth quarter of 2023. Its visual display and digital appliances division also posted KRW 0.05 trillion ($37.5 million) in operating losses despite TV sales doing well in the fourth quarter due to the holiday season. Samsung's mobile business showed a a decline in sales and profit quarter-on-quarter, as well, due to lower smartphone sales and "the fading of new-product effects" from previous flagship models.
For the first quarter of 2024, Samsung's game plan is to improve its profits "by increasing sales of high value-added products," such as components meant for generative AI products. It expects stronger demand for its chips in the PC and mobile sectors this year, but it admits that its earnings may not significantly recover soon because its customers are still downsizing their inventories. Samsung has high hopes for the Galaxy S24 series, though, and believes the devices' AI capabilities can help its mobile business achieve a a double-digit growth in 2024. The Galaxy S24 phones have already started shipping with prices starting at $800 for the most basic version and at $1,300 for the S24 Ultra.
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In 2018, Tesla awarded Elon Musk a $56 billion pay package that helped propel him to the top of world's richest lists. Now, a judge in Delaware has rendered the deal between the company and the CEO to be invalid and called the compensation an "unfathomable sum" that's unfair to shareholders. As initially seen and reported by Chancery Daily on Threads, the court of Chancery in Delaware has released its decision on the lawsuit filed by Richard Tornetta. The Tesla shareholder accused the automaker of breaching its fiduciary duty by approving a package that unjustly enriches its chief executive.
Judge Kathaleen McCormick wrote in the decision that Musk "enjoyed thick ties" with the directors who were in charge of negotiating his pay package on behalf of Tesla, which means there "was no meaningful negotiation over any of the terms of the plan." The judge also talked about how Musk owned 21.9 percent of the automaker when the package was negotiated. That gave him "every incentive to push Tesla to levels of transformative growth," because he stood to gain $10 billion for every $50 billion in market capitalization increase.
"Swept up by the rhetoric of 'all upside,' or perhaps starry eyed by Musk’s superstar appeal, the board never asked the $55.8 billion question: Was the plan even necessary for Tesla to retain Musk and achieve its goals?" the judge wrote in the court document. As The Washington Post notes, she ruled that Tornetta is entitled to a "rescission" and has ordered Tesla and its shareholders to carry out her decision and undo the deal. Musk's camp, however, can still appeal her ruling.
Musk has sold some of his Tesla stocks to help pay for his acquisition of Twitter, now X, from the time his pay package was approved. At the moment, he owns around 13 percent of Tesla, though he recently said that he wants 25 percent control over the company before he's comfortable growing it to be a leader in AI and robotics.
In response to the court's decision, Musk tweeted: "Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware." He also posted a poll asking followers whether Tesla should change its state of incorporation to Texas, where its physical headquarters are located.
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Persona 3 was always the best one. Persona 3 Reload, the from-the-ground-up remake of the 2006 supernatural, social sim-driven RPG, just eliminates any doubt. A complete visual overhaul, new mechanics, and new music all reinforce what made the original a stellar, poignant, and radical game for its time. However, Reload
Gogoro is best known for its battery swapping tech, but its new scooter may be one of the quickest and highest-tech models available. The flagship Pulse can accelerate from 0 to 32MPH in just 3.05 seconds thanks to the company's "Hypercore" tech that delivers 378nm of torque to the back wheel. At the same time, it's fitted with a 10.25 HD touch display that offers turn-by-turn navigation and more.
The first thing that stands out with the Pulse is the new angular and modern design that differs from past models that were more on the retro side. It also has the benefit of reducing non-essential drag and using airflow to cool the electric motor, according to Gogoro.
The new 9kW Hyper Drive powertrain features a new hybrid water and air dual-cooling system, allowing the H1 motor to hit up to 11,000 RPM. And while it boosts performance, it's also supposed to reduce energy consumption, the company wrote.
Gogoro
It uses an active-matrix lighting system with 13 separate LED units. Each of those actively switch on to adapt to the rider's speed, turns and even weather conditions, presumably to improve visibility in traffic. As you drive it faster, the active-matrix headlights also extend further down the road and the active-corner lighting "provides wider bands of light aimed in the direction of each turn," Gogoro says.
The 10.25-inch panoramic touch display is something you don't see on too many scooters. Along with the turn-by-turn navigation with real-time traffic information, it comes with a new iQ Touch HD system that display battery swap locations, speeds, power levels and more, while letting you select from different ride modes. Gogoro claims it's the first two-wheeled vehicle to be powered by Qualcomm's new Snapdragon QWM2290 digital chassis.
Riders will be able to unlock and start the Pulse using their iPhone by adding the scooter key to their Apple Wallet. You'll also be able to use Apple's Find My feature to locate the scooter if it's stolen or lost.
Gogoro is based in Taiwan, and now operates in nine markets including India, The Philippines, China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Indonesia and Israel. The company has yet to announce a price for the Pulse, but it'll start shipping in Taiwan in late Q2 2024.
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You will soon find a kid-friendly section inside OpenAI's newly opened store for custom GPTs. The company has joined forces with Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization that rates media and technology based on their suitability for children, to minimize the risks of AI use by teenagers. Together, they intend to create AI guidelines and educational materials for young people, their parents and their educators. The two organizations will also curate a collection of family-friendly GPTs in OpenAI's GPT store based on Common Sense's ratings, making it easy to see which ones are suitable for younger users.
"Together, Common Sense and OpenAI will work to make sure that AI has a positive impact on all teens and families," James P. Steyer, founder and CEO of Common Sense Media, said in a statement. "Our guides and curation will be designed to educate families and educators about safe, responsible use of ChatGPT, so that we can collectively avoid any unintended consequences of this emerging technology."
According to Axios, the partnership was announced at Common Sense's kids and family summit in San Francisco, where OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shot down the idea that AI is bad for kids and should be kept out of schools. "Humans are tool users and we better teach people to use the tools that are going to be out in the world," he reportedly said. "To not teach people to use those would be a mistake." The CEO also said that future high school seniors would be able to operate at a higher level of abstraction and could achieve more that their predecessors with the help of artificial intelligence.
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I'm not gonna pretend I've figured you, the Engadget reader, out. Trying to predict what is gonna get your little nerd hearts all a flutter is kind of a crapshoot. But, I'm pretty confident that a Tamagotchi in a guitar pedal is right up your alley. Ground Control Audio showed up to NAMM 2024 with the UwU virtual pet buffer pedal.
Now buffer pedals are about the least exciting piece of gear you can buy for your pedal board. Probably even less so than a tuner. But, if you've got a particularly large board or long cables, a buffer can dramatically improve your tone. Basically all it does is take the signal coming in and give it a little boost so you don't lose precious high end to tone suck. Like I said, not exciting.
What UwU does is no different, except that it has a Tamagotchi-style virtual pet and a handful of mini-games built in. As you play, your new pedalboard buddy dances and gains experience points. As the little cat like creature gains experience it evolves over 30 levels with unique animations. As for what happens once you cross that 30 level threshold, well, the company hasn't decided just yet. But there is still time to decide that since the pedal isn't set to start shipping until March.
If simply having a new little virtual friend on your board isn't enough whimsy for you, the UwU also has three mini-games built in. There's Long Cat (a snake clone), Fishy Blox (vaguely Tetris-like) and Neko Invader. The tiny monochrome OLED and small buttons aren't exactly ideal for playing games (and neither is hunching over a pedalboard I might add), but it feels true to its inspiration in old cellphone games.
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
If you're sitting there wondering, "why?" Well, first off, why not? Secondly, to keep you playing, obviously. Finding the time and drive to play or practice guitar can be tough. Especially if you're teen with a hectic life of extra curriculars or, like me, a busy dad of two with a demanding day job. The UwU gives you a reason to play beyond just knowing you should. Carving out a few minutes every day to play will keep your adorable little UwU happy and healthy. Frankly, if I had one of these when I was younger and stubbornly clinging to my belief that I didn't need to know music theory or technique, maybe I'd be a more proficient guitarist.
Of course none this would matter if the UwU was a crappy buffer. But it's got 18v headroom and doesn't color your tone at all. It's even super tiny, so finding room for it on even the most crowded of pedalboards shouldn't be too difficult.
The UwU virtual pet buffer is available now for preorder directly from Ground Control Audio for $139.
Terrence O'Brien / Engadget
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X’s head of business operations Joe Benarroch said the company plans to open a new office in Austin, Texas for a team that will be dedicated to content moderation, Bloomberg reports. The “Trust and Safety center of excellence,” for which the company is planning to hire 100 full-time employees, will primarily focus on stopping the spread of child sexual exploitation (CSE) materials.
X CEO Linda Yaccarino is set to testify before Congress on Wednesday in a hearing about CSE, and the platform at the end of last week published a blog post about its efforts to curb such materials, saying it’s “determined to make X inhospitable for actors who seek to exploit minors.”
According to Bloomberg, Benarroch said, “X does not have a line of business focused on children, but it’s important that we make these investments to keep stopping offenders from using our platform for any distribution or engagement with CSE content.” The team will also address other content issues, like hate speech and “violent posts,” according to Bloomberg. Elon Musk spent much of his first year at X taking steps to turn the platform into a bastion of “free speech,” and gutted the content moderation teams that had been put in place by Twitter before his takeover.
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X has confirmed it’s preventing users from searching Taylor Swift’s name after pornographic deepfakes of the artist began circulating on the platform this week. Visitors to the site started noticing on Saturday that some searches containing Swift’s name would only return an error message. In a statement to the Wall Street Journal on Saturday night, Joe Benarroch, X’s head of business operations, said, “This is a temporary action and done with an abundance of caution as we prioritize safety on this issue.” This step comes days after the problem first became known.
X’s handling of the issue from the start has drawn criticism that it’s been slow to curb the spread of nonconsensual, sexually explicit images. After the images went viral on Wednesday, Swift’s fans took matters into their own hands to limit their visibility and get them removed, mass-reporting the accounts that shared the images and flooding the hashtags relating to the singer with positive content, NBC News reported earlier this week. Many of the offending accounts were later suspended, but not before they’d been seen in some cases millions of times. The Verge reported on Thursday that one post was viewed more than 45 million times.
In a statement posted on its platform later that day, X said, “Posting Non-Consensual Nudity (NCN) images is strictly prohibited on X and we have a zero-tolerance policy towards such content. Our teams are actively removing all identified images and taking appropriate actions against the accounts responsible for posting them. We're closely monitoring the situation to ensure that any further violations are immediately addressed, and the content is removed. We're committed to maintaining a safe and respectful environment for all users.”
But it was still possible to find the images in days after. 404Media traced the likely origin of the images to a Telegram group known for creating nonconsensual AI-generated images of women using free tools including Microsoft Designer. In an interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt on Friday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the issue highlights what is the company’s responsibility, and “all of the guardrails that we need to place around the technology so that there’s more safe content that’s being produced.” He continued to say that “there’s a lot to be done there, and a lot being done there,” but also noted that the company needs to “move fast.”
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It’s already been eight whole years since Final Fantasy XV, and its ending still gets us all choked up just thinking about it. Read on for all things Palworldand the highly unusual tale of mobile gameLove Live! School Idol Festival 2 Miracle Live.
Sorry to interrupt your Saturday, but The Pokemon Company is aware it's being mocked and Apple isn't giving up on its dreams of making a car — it just might not be as impressive as first imagined. This week's YouTube-coated version of TMA covers both of those, we get sad about a moonlander that didn't really land properly and I try to name our new gaming video show. I tried. I didn't say I succeeded.
Wired headphones are coming back. Not in an LA-centric retro twist, but in a nerdy high-fidelity-they-actually-sound-better... way. James Trew explains how, with built-in DACs new wired headphone models make any phone Apple Music Hi-Res Lossless ready. And thus much better. If you can tell the difference.
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In October 2023, 23andMe admitted that it suffered a data breach that compromised its users' information. The company has been hit with several lawsuits since then, and according to The New York Times, one of them is accusing 23andMe of failing to notify customers that they were specifically targeted for having Chinese and Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. They also weren't told that their test results with genetic information had been compiled in curated lists that were then shared on the dark web, the plaintiffs said. 23andMe recently released a copy of the letters it sent to affected customers, and they didn't contain any reference to the users' heritage.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in San Francisco after the company revealed that the hack had gone unnoticed for months. Apparently, the hackers started accessing customers' accounts using login details already leaked on the web in late April 2023 and continued with their activities until September. It wasn't until October that the company finally found out about the hacks. On October 1, hackers leaked the names, home addresses and birth dates of 1 million users with Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry on black hat hacking forum BreachForums.
After someone responded to the post asking access to "Chinese accounts," the lawsuit said the poster linked to a file containing information on 100,000 Chinese users. The poster also said they had access to 350,000 Chinese profiles and could release more information if there was enough interest. In addition, the same poster allegedly returned to the forum in mid-October to sell data on "wealthy families serving Zionism" after the explosion at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza.
"The current geopolitical and social climate amplifies the risks" to users whose data was exposed, according to the lawsuit, since the leaked information included their names and addresses. The plaintiffs want their case to be heard by a jury and are seeking compensatory, punitive and other damages.
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ElevenLabs, an AI startup that offers voice cloning services with its tools, has banned the user that created an audio deepfake of Joe Biden used in an attempt to disrupt the elections, according to Bloomberg. The audio impersonating the president was used in a robocall that went out to some voters in New Hampshire last week, telling them not to vote in their state's primary. It initially wasn't clear what technology was used to copy Biden's voice, but a thorough analysis by security company Pindrop showed that the perpetrators used ElevanLabs' tools.
The security firm removed the background noise and cleaned the robocall's audio before comparing it to samples from more than 120 voice synthesis technologies used to generate deepfakes. Pindrop CEO Vijay Balasubramaniyan told Wired that it "came back well north of 99 percent that it was ElevenLabs." Bloomberg says the company was notified of Pindrop's findings and is still investigating, but it has already identified and suspended the account that made the fake audio. ElevenLabs told the news organization that it can't comment on the issue itself, but that it's "dedicated to preventing the misuse of audio AI tools and [that it takes] any incidents of misuse extremely seriously."
The deepfaked Biden robocall shows how technologies that can mimic somebody else's likeness and voice could be used to manipulate votes this upcoming presidential election in the US. "This is kind of just the tip of the iceberg in what could be done with respect to voter suppression or attacks on election workers," Kathleen Carley, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, told The Hill. "It was almost a harbinger of what all kinds of things we should be expecting over the next few months."
It only took the internet a few days after ElevenLabs launched the beta version of its platform to start using it to create audio clips that sound like celebrities reading or saying something questionable. The startup allows customers to use its technology to clone voices for "artistic and political speech contributing to public debates." Its safety page does warn users that they "cannot clone a voice for abusive purposes such as fraud, discrimination, hate speech or for any form of online abuse without infringing the law." But clearly, it needs to put more safeguards in place to prevent bad actors from using its tools to influence voters and manipulate elections around the world.
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A large downside to Windows PCs with Arm64 processors like Microsoft's own Surface Pro 9 5G has been a lack of native support for Chrome, the world's most popular browser. Now, Google has finally released a Chrome Canary beta version that fully supports the Arm64 architecture, Windows Central has reported.
The new version should significantly accelerate Chrome performance on Arm64 PCs, negating the need to run Chrome in emulation mode. The download can be installed on PCs running recent versions of Windows 11 for Arm processors, with one user confirming it runs on a seven-year-old Snapdragon 835 SoC.
Chrome has been available for some time on Google's Chromium on Arm64 and even Linux for Arm64, along with iOS and Mac. On top of that, Microsoft's Edge browser (which is based on Chrome) has run natively on Arm64 for years. So why the delay for Windows on Arm64? It may be because there aren't that many Arm64 Windows PCs and those that do exist are relatively expensive, especially compared to Chromebooks.
Google might be reasoning that now is a good time to introduce the feature, since Qualcomm is set to release its Snapdragon X Elite chip, a successor to the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3. Based on TSMC's latest 4-nanometer tech, it's promising performance double that of some 13th-gen Intel Core i7 CPUs with a third the power draw, allowing it to better compete with Apple's latest M-series silicon.
If Windows laptops using the chip can finally deliver performance that's sadly been lacking in models to date, we may finally see them arrive in decent numbers. Snapdragon Elite X models are supposed to launch in mid-2024, so hopefully Google will be ready with a stable version of Chrome. If you have an Arm64 PC, you can download the Canary version here.
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GM's driverless Cruise division is under investigation by both the Department of Justice (DoJ) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), The Washington Post has reported. The probes follow an incident last year in which a jaywalking pedestrian was struck by a Cruise autonomous vehicle and then dragged 20 feet, worsening her injuries.
At the same time, yesterday Cruise released its own third-party findings regarding the accident, which took place on October 2 and involved another vehicle (a Nissan). The company said it "failed to live up to the justifiable expectations of regulators and the communities we serve... [and] also fell woefully short of our own expectations," adding that it's "fully cooperating" with investigators. According to its own findings, that's an understatement to say the least.
According to the report, Cruise withheld crucial information from officials during a briefing the day after the accident. Specifically, the company failed to mention that its autonomous vehicle (AV) had dragged the victim 20 feet at around 7 MPH, causing serious injuries. According to the internal report, that occurred because the vehicle mistakenly detected a side (rather than a frontal) collision and attempted to pull over rather than stopping.
At least 100 Cruise employees, including members of senior leadership, legal and others, were aware of the dragging incident — but failed to disclose it during October 3 meetings with the San Francisco Mayor's Office, NHTSA, DMV and other officials, the report states.
The company said it intended to let a video of the dragging incident speak for itself, then answer questions about it. However, the video didn't play clearly and fully due to internet connection issues, and then Cruise employees failed to verbally affirm the pullover maneuver and dragging of the pedestrian. In case that's not bad enough, the third-party findings state:
Cruise leadership was fixated on correcting the inaccurate media narrative that the Cruise AV, not the Nissan, had caused the Accident. This myopic focus led Cruise to convey the information about the Nissan hit-and-run driver having caused the Accident to the media, regulators and other government officials, but to omit other important information about the Accident. Even after obtaining the Full Video, Cruise did not correct the public narrative but continued instead to share incomplete facts and video about the Accident with the media and the public.
The report says the failings came about due to "poor leadership, mistakes in judgment, lack of coordination, an 'us versus them' mentality with regulators, and a fundamental misapprehension of Cruise’s obligations of accountability and transparency to the government and the public."
Prior to the crash, Cruise was facing other problems with its autonomous vehicles (AVs) failing to recognize children and the frequency with which human operators took control. According to former CEO Vogt, human drivers needed to intervene in trips every four to five miles.
Cruise had its license to operate suspended in California back in October. The company also laid off 24 percent of its workforce late last year, following the resignation of co-founder Daniel Kan and the departure of its CEO Kyle Vogt. On top of the two federal investigations, the company is also facing a lawsuit from the city of San Francisco.
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Catching up on a new podcast should get easier very soon. Apple has announced that it will automatically transcribe podcasts, which should allow more people to enjoy episodes. Apple Podcast will allow creators to upload their own transcript for display or opt for Apple to create one.
There are some caveats to be aware of, though. Apple Podcasts should start creating the transcription when the episode is uploaded. However, it has a "short delay" until it's available, so people eager to play their favorite podcast right away will have to wait for an unspecified amount of time (Apple tells podcasters to give it at least 24 hours after uploading an episode). It's likely that the longer the episode is, the longer the transcription will take to be ready. The transcription will also not update if parts of the recording are changed with dynamically inserted audio, and it won't display music lyrics.
Podcasters must follow Apple's quality requirements for their episodes to get correctly transcribed. According to Apple, podcasts with people talking over each other or music might not have as good a transcription. If someone chooses to upload their own, it must be a VTT or SRT file. A podcaster can also edit a transcription for greater accuracy.
Apple Podcasts' transcriptions should launch in the spring on iOS 17.4 in English, German, Spanish and French. The feature is available in over 170 countries and regions, with older episodes getting transcribed over time.
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AlphaTheta has come out of the gate swinging with its release of the Omnis-Duo all-in-one DJ controller and Wave-Eight speaker today. These two products are the first under the company’s new moniker since changing it from Pioneer DJ, although both brand names are expected to coexist for now. The launch coincides with the NAMM event this week and it’s also the 30th anniversary of the landmark Pioneer CDJ-500.
Both the controller and speaker are brimming with connectivity and battery power, making them an appealing option for mobile DJs. Rekordbox is a necessity right now, either for direct play or file prep and the app comes bundled with the Omnis-Duo controller. Serato DJ Lite support is expected later this summer and the software should already be bundled with the product. The Wave-Eight is more flexible and can work just as well with any audio source that has an RCA output.
Omnis-Duo
The Omnis-Duo ($1,499) is built to be portable, but also packs in some high-end tech. It’s a 10-pound device with fairly reserved and minimal styling that the company says you can fit in a “good-sized” backpack given its 20 x 12 x 3-inch in size. There’s a two-channel mixer flanked by two jog wheels and eight performance pads under each, although those only work for hot cues and have white LED lighting only. On top you’ll find a touchscreen display with an XDJ-style workflow and both light and dark modes. The display is flat and not angled up for easier viewing.
Omnis-Duo all-in-one DJ controller
AlphaTheta
You get essential controls for volume, EQ, playback, pitch and dedicated ones for beat jump and beat loop. There are also ones to select eight types of beat FX and six types of sound color FX from, but expect some touchscreen coordination to select which channel to apply to.
On the front edge you’ll find both 1/4-inch and 3.5mm stereo headphone jacks. The rear panel displays a wide selection of inputs for USB-A, SD cards and USB-C laptop input next to a USB-C charging port that lets you use either a power bank to top up the battery or an AC adapter. When fully charged we’re told you can expect around five hours of runtime and the system has an eco mode if things are looking grim.
As for wireless connections, there’s a novel Bluetooth input option. People can find the Omnis-Duo in their mobile device settings and connect. If they have files on the phone, the DJ should actually be able to select, load and play files in their set with effects and all. It’s not entirely clear yet, but the other option is likely just normal playback through the controller from a connected Bluetooth device. This is for one user at a time since multipoint is not supported. There's also a wireless output option for connecting to the Wave-Eight speaker using its SonicLink Bluetooth transmitter which connects to the RCA outputs.
And for Wi-Fi connectivity, you can take advantage of CloudDirectPlay to access cloud file storage through a wirelessly connected computer or mobile device running Rekordbox. Additionally, you can use Rekordbox Link Export to directly select and play tracks from a connected device running the app.
Wave-Eight
The Wave-Eight speaker isn’t quite part of a bundled release, it’s just a great pairing with the Omnis-Duo, given its portability, battery power and wireless capability. This speaker has an 8-inch driver and what the company calls a “Vortex Bass Accelerator” for its output. The 28-pound build includes an extendable handle and casters for luggage-style rolling, plus a couple of convenient grab handles for local lugging.
Wave-Eight wireless loudspeaker
AlphaTheta
You can mount it on a stand with its pole socket, so it’s a proper PA speaker, and it’s IPX4 rated, so it’s good for the outdoors unless rain really starts coming down. There’s an onboard battery that should give you about eight hours of playtime on a charge and it takes about four hours or more of charging to get back to one hundred percent. Obviously you can use it as a powered-speaker all night long if there’s an outlet nearby.
What makes this speaker interesting is the removable AlphaTheta transmitter with SonicLink technology. Each speaker comes with a transmitter packed into a side panel. They have an RCA input and a USB-C cable. With one speaker, you take the transmitter out and connect it to an RCA output from your audio setup. Then return to the speaker and set it to connect wirelessly via SonicLink. Once connected that way, it should display a green light on the front panel, so you can confirm the status at a distance.
If you have a second speaker, you take that one’s transmitter and pop it into the first speaker via the USB-C port. That will transmit the audio to the second unit where you set that one to connect via SonicLink (and so on). The speakers support left and right for stereo delivery as well via a channel selector button on the back.
To make things more interesting, each speaker has a variety of audio output settings which include Music, Music (Low Cut), Flat, Flat (Low Cut), Vocal and Subwoofer modes. This means each Wave-Eight speaker can be set as a top or sub. You can set one speaker to a low-cut setting and use another one as its subwoofer accompaniment if you like.
The SonicLink is said to provide a latency-free listening experience, so there shouldn’t be any delay and you can beat match by ear from the output. Of course you can also send audio to a single Wave-Eight via a normal Bluetooth signal and expand to more speakers as you would before. This time, however, you're subject to the normal Bluetooth signal's whims in terms of potential audio delays.
There’s an interesting thing about the Wave-Eight in that wired connections (aside from power) were not mentioned anywhere in the press release. You can use the speakers via Bluetooth or with the SonicLink transmitter from any device that has an RCA output, though. We’ve asked for clarification, but at this point we’re led to believe that it just supports wireless connections. We’re also still curious about the Bluetooth range for these devices, but expect that it falls within the normal range of about 30 feet.
AlphaTheta has chosen an interesting combo of high-end features, wireless connectivity and battery-powered portability for its premier offering. While they may not be cheap, there’s quite a lot built into both products to balance out the equation.
The Omnis-Duo all-in-one DJ controller ($1,499) and the Wave-Eight speaker ($899) are both available starting today.
The Pokémon Company knows about Palworld and is very much aware that the game is drawing a lot of comparisons with its intellectual property, based on a statement it has published. While the company didn't explicitly name Palworld, it said it's going to investigate a game "released in January 2024" and will "take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to Pokémon." It also clearly stated that it has "not granted any permission for the use of Pokémon intellectual property or assets in that game."
Palworld, released on January 18, is an open-world game featuring monsters that look like Pokémon, except they can use guns. It also has a darker theme, allowing players to sell their "pals" to slavery, kill them and eat them aside from being able to battle them to the death. It has gotten a lot of attention since it was released, and according to its developer Pocket Pair, it sold 7 million copies on Steam alone in just five days.
As IGN notes, Pocket Pair previously said that its game is more like Ark Survival Evolved and Vanaheim than Pokémon. In an interview with Automaton, the company's CEO Takuro Mizobe said Palworld "cleared legal reviews" and that there had been "no action taken against it by other companies." The Pokémon Company's statement insinuates that that could change if it determines that the developer has infringed on its copyright, though we'll have to wait for the results of its investigation to know for sure.
The full statement reads:
"We have received many inquiries regarding another company’s game released in January 2024. We have not granted any permission for the use of Pokémon intellectual property or assets in that game. We intend to investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon. We will continue to cherish and nurture each and every Pokémon and its world, and work to bring the world together through Pokémon in the future."
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Spotify will go through massive changes when the European Union's Digital Markets Act goes into full effect on March 7. The audio streaming service says EU residents will finally be able to purchase a Premium subscription or upgrade from Individual to a Duo or a Family plan from within the app itself. Spotify hasn't allowed users to pay for a subscription through Apple's in-app payment system since 2016 and has long been a vocal critic of the 30 percent cut the iPhone-maker takes from app developers. Last year, it even stopped accepting Apple payments altogether — it used to let iOS users who've had a subscription since before 2016 to keep paying through Apple's in-app system.
And since Spotify is launching its own in-app payments, users will also be able to easily purchase audiobooks while browsing titles within the application, as well. Yes, customers will be charged the actual amounts for subscriptions and purchases and will no longer have to pay extra to cover Apple's commission. The users who used to pay through Apple's in-app system were charged $3 on top of Spotify's subscription prices, but EU's DMA prohibits the practice.
In addition to being able to implement its own in-app payment system, Spotify will also be able to put prices in the app. At the moment, it shows a note for its products where the price is supposed to be, telling users that they can't be purchased from within the application. When the DMA takes effect, Spotify will display its products' pricing, and it will also be able to start informing iOS users about deals and promotions from within the application.
"It should be this easy for every single Spotify customer everywhere," the company said in its announcement. "But if you live outside certain markets, you will continue to encounter frustrating roadblocks because of Apple’s ridiculous rules. That's why developers everywhere are continuing to ask other governments to pass their own laws like the DMA."
Spotify
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Half Mermaid’s Sam Barlow has revealed his team’s next two projects are in the horror genre with a survival horror being one of them.
Half Mermaid double dips on horror
Half Mermaid’s current game, Immortality finally got a PS5 release yesterday, and Barlow took the chance to give us a glimpse of the horrifying future in store for Half Mermaid with two cryptic projects getting Steam pages yesterday.
Project C is closer to Immortality in that it will take the same cross-media approach, but take it in a new direction. The Steam page description is as follows.
”For now we see through a glass, darkly;
but then face to face: now I know in part;
but then shall I know even as also I am known.
Project C██████ is the new cinematic ███████████ ████ Sam Barlow ███ Half Mermaid. █████ ███████ ███ for the first time ever in a video game █████████ ██████ ██ ████ ██████.”
Project D is a survival horror that Barlow claims is for fans of his Silent Hill game Shattered Memories. The heavily redacted description on Steam is below.
”Project D████ is a █████ █ survival horror ███ Sam Barlow ██ Half Mermaid.
Death Stranding 2‘s official title has reportedly been revealed alongside a supposed window for the next update on the Kojima Productions game.
Death Stranding 2 could reemerge soon
The reliable leaker billbil-kun at Dealabs has stated the game is titled Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. The title ties into a focal point of the first game, and suggests we’ll be heading into uncharted territory in the divide between the living and the dead.
It’s also suggested we’ll be getting the first look at the game since its debut trailer at The Game Awards in 2022 very soon, with a projected window of the next couple of weeks.
It has been reported elsewhere that the next PlayStation State of Play is due soon, so that could well be where Death Stranding 2 gets its official title alongside a first look at the game itself for over a year.
It will be interesting to see how far along Death Stranding 2 is as Hideo Kojima has his hands full with Xbox-exclusive OD and work on the Death Stranding movie with A24. A release date might still be a ways off.
Tesla is reportedly working on compact crossover EV codenamed "Redwood" with production set to start in June 2025, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The company reportedly sent requests for quotes for the new model to suppliers last year, predicting a weekly production volume of 10,000 vehicles.
The rumor lines up with Elon Musk's comments at a May 2023 shareholder meeting that Tesla was working on two new EV models that could sell up to 5 million a year combined. "Both the design of the products and manufacturing techniques are head and shoulders above anything else that is present in the industry," he said at the time.
Tesla has also been promising a $25,000 car for some time, with Musk dropping the idea then reviving it due to high consumer interest rates (the cheapest Model 3 is $38,990). However, Reuters' sources didn't mention the price of the vehicle set to arrive in 2025.
The report arrives at a convenient time for Tesla, as critics have recently been after the company for sitting on its haunches with the relatively stale Model 3 and Y designs. The timing of any new EVs was one of the most voted questions from investors for Tesla's earnings call, set for this afternoon (January 24).
If the new vehicles live up to Musk's description, they could help allay those concerns. At the same time, Tesla is starting to ship its Cybertruck EV to decidedly mixed reviews, with some users decrying quality issues and others lauding the performance and audacity of the vehicle.
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At CES 2023, Roland introduced a streaming mixer called Bridge Cast, which can give creators a way to pipe different audio feeds to different destinations and make it easy for them to create mixes, add vocal effects and remove unwanted audio. Now, the company has unveiled a follow-up to the device called Bridge Cast X that adds video support on top of all its predecessor's audio-focused features. The Bridge Cast X has two HDMI input ports and an HDMI Thru connector that can feed video up to 4K in resolution to an external monitor.
As for audio, creators can plug in broadcast-quality XLR mic and headphones if they use those accessories. They can also adjust sounds to ensure that they can clearly hear the game's audio and voice chat more clearly than any background sounds. Meanwhile, they can broadcast a different mix that's optimized for maximum viewer engagement. The device has dedicated volume knobs for different input sources and audio output, and it has programmable buttons creators can use to mute specific sounds and to do various functions.
On the software side of things, the BGM Cast service on Roland Cloud will give creators access to thousands of royalty-free music tracks that they can use as sound effects and background audio. They will need to sign up for a Roland Cloud Core membership that costs $3 a month or $30 a year to be able to use all those tracks, but a free account still gives them free access to 36 background music tracks and 16 sound effects. The Roland Bridge Cast X will start shipping in the US in February and will cost buyers $500.
Roland
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TikTok is one of the latest companies to be hit by layoffs sweeping across tech industry over the past year. A spokesperson from the short-form video platform told NPR that the company laid off around 60 employees, mostly from its sales and advertising division across its various offices in the US — Los Angeles, New York, Austin — and abroad. They told the media organization that the layoffs were part of a routine reorganization, but NPR said the company decided to let them go to cut costs.
ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, reportedly cut hundreds of jobs at Marvel Snap developer Nuverse last year. According to previous reports, TikTok itself did a round of layoffs in mid-2022 due to global restructuring efforts and then again in early 2023 to let its recruitment staff in Dublin go. This round affects just a tiny fraction of ByteDance's global workforce that's around 150,000 strong, but as NPR notes, it's a "sign of pain in the tech industry."
Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently told employees to expect further downsizing this year, as the company allocates its resources. He said that Google is "removing layers to simplify execution and drive velocity in some areas." Amazon also recently told Engadget that it's letting go of about five percent of staff in its Buy with Prime division. Twitch, a video-streaming platform owned by Amazon, was hit by a bigger round of layoffs affecting over 500 people earlier this year in order to reduce costs and run its business more efficiently.
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NAMM 2024 is right around the corner, but Korg isn't waiting for the festivities to officially begin. It's announced about a dozen new products over the last few days. Among them are updates to two of the company's virtual analog synths, the roughly 10-year-old KingKorg and the 22-year-old MicroKorg.
The KingKorg Neo is built on the same 37-key form factor as the rest of Korg's recent digital synths, like the Opsix, Modwave and Wavestate. But the core here is the company's XMT (eXpanded Modelling Technology) virtual analog sound engine. It's not the most convincing analog emulation in the world, but it does have some character.
It's a multi-timbral synth, with each patch having the ability to layer or split to different sounds, with three oscillators at its disposal. There are 138 different options to choose from on the oscillator front, ranging from basic wave shapes, to PCM samples. And there are 18 different filter emulations to choose from as well, including the classic MS-20. There's also two LFOs, two envelopes, and a whole host of effects from your typical delays and reverbs, to amp simulators and sound mangling decimator.
Perhaps most exciting though, is the 16-band vocoder and included gooseneck mic. But, the KingKorg Neo isn't the only new synth from the storied manufacturer with a vocoder. It's also updating its iconic MicroKorg with the MicroKorg 2.
The original MicroKorg was launched in 2002 and went on to become one of the best selling synths of all time. In fact, in May of 2023 Korg was still pumping out iterations of the original, celebrating its multiple decades of success with a Crystal special edition.
The new version has a very similar form factor, including its small size, gooseneck mic, the ability to be powered by batteries and a large dial for navigating patches that are still sorted by genre. But under the hood is a new sound engine, and there's a 2.8-inch color display on the front which should simplify sound design. There's also a built-in loop recorder which should make it a much more powerful instrument for solo performers.
The KingKorg Neo is expected to start shipping in February for $1,000. We'll have to wait a bit longer for the MicroKorg 2 however, which should be hitting the market in June, though there's no word on pricing. Hopefully it'll fall somewhere in the $500 range like the original. Part of what made the MicroKorg so successful was that it was perfectly accessible to even the lowliest of synth hobbyists.
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Daedalic Entertainment and developer Pixelsplit have announced the Reveil PS5 release date for the narrative-driven first-person thriller.
Reveil release date
Reveil will head to PS5, PS4, and other formats on March 6, 2024.
In Reveil, the player is immersed into a world, designed with attention to detail, where the boundaries between reality and illusion become blurred. The setting is an authentically orchestrated environment inspired by the circus of the 60s, which soon takes on surreal features. Get a glimpse into the psyche and the past of Walter Thompson:
The impressions become darker, more mysterious, and more enigmatic as you advance.
Once caught in the maelstrom of deceptive impressions, memory fragments, and mysterious visions, your only option is to dive deeper—hoping to find answers to your perplexing situation and condition, even if this hope is slowly fading. The only thing that keeps you from giving up is the will to find Martha and Dorie. Do not shut your eyes to the hints left by the two, but keep them wide open and… try not to lose your mind.
The story for Reveil is as follows.
You wake up. You’re disoriented. Your head hurts. Things seem surreal, yet familiar.
Your wife Martha and your daughter Dorie are not there. Why? Looking for answers, you explore your environment and fragments of memories. On your journey you are repeatedly confronted with riddling tasks, driven by the desire to find out what’s going on. What happened last night? Why can’t you think of anything besides your days as a stage builder at the circus?
As things get crazier and more bizarre, the lines between reality, memory, and imagination become more and more blurred, and you realize there is no going back. You have to do whatever it takes to bring this story to an end, no matter at what cost…
OpenAI has suspended the developer behind Dean.Bot, a ChatGPT-powered bot designed to impersonate Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips to help bolster his campaign, according to The Washington Post. The chatbot was created by AI startup Delphi for the super PAC We Deserve Better, which supports Phillips.
Dean.Bot didn’t all-out pretend to be Phillips himself; before engaging with Dean.Bot, website visitors would be shown a disclaimer describing the nature of the chatbot. Still, this type of use goes directly against OpenAI’s policies. A spokesperson for the company confirmed the developer's suspension in a statement to the Post. It comes just weeks after OpenAI published a lengthy blog post about the measures it’s taking to prevent the misuse of its technology ahead of the 2024 elections, specifically citing “chatbots impersonating candidates” as an example of what’s not allowed.
Dean.Bot
OpenAI also said in its blog post that it does not “allow people to build applications for political campaigning and lobbying.” Per an earlier story by The Washington Post, the intent of Dean.Bot was to engage with potential supporters and spread the candidate’s message. Following the Post’s inquiry, Delphi initially removed ChatGPT from the bot and kept it running with other, open-source tools before ultimately taking it town altogether on Friday night once OpenAI stepped in.
If you visit the site now, you’ll still be greeted by the disclaimer — but the chatbot itself is down due to “technical difficulties,” presenting visitors with the message, “Apologies, DeanBot is away campaigning right now!” Engadget has reached out to OpenAI for comment.
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After a short period of worrying silence, NASA said on Saturday night that it was able to regain contact with the Ingenuity helicopter. The autonomous aircraft unexpectedly ceased communications with the Perseverance rover, which relays all transmissions between Ingenuity and Earth, on Thursday during its 72nd flight on Mars. It had already been acting up prior to this, having cut its previous flight short for an unknown reason, and NASA intended to do a systems check during the latest ascent.
Good news today: We've reestablished contact with the #MarsHelicopter after instructing @NASAPersevere to perform long-duration listening sessions for Ingenuity’s signal.
The team is reviewing the new data to better understand the unexpected comms dropout during Flight 72. https://t.co/KvCVwhZ5Rk
The space agency said in an update posted on X that it’s now reviewing the data from Ingenuity to understand what happened. Perseverance picked up its signal after the team instructed it to perform “long-duration listening sessions.” Ingenuity has experienced blackouts before, as recently as last year, and was able to return to flight. But it’s too early to say if that will be the case this time. The mini helicopter is already running well past the original timeline of its mission.
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