Новости за 29.09.2022

Videos on Twitter will now look a lot more like TikTok. The company announced that it’s switching to a full-screen “immersive” video player for watching clips. It’s also borrowing the now-familiar “swipe up” gesture that will allow people to endlessly scroll through more videos on the platform.

It's only natural that a person's tastes and preferences change over time. So after years of thirsting for big, beefy gaming laptops with shiny lights, I've started gravitating towards more understated all-rounders that don't scream "Look at me." And for the last few generations, MSI's Stealth 15M line has been one of the best at balancing good performance with a discreet appearance. But unfortunately, it feels like MSI is coasting with the 2022 model. While there aren't a ton of major flaws, things like the Stealth's display... Читать дальше...

As with many other industries, the tech sector has been feeling the squeeze of the global economic slowdown this year. Meta isn't immune to that. Reports in May suggested that the company would slow down the rate of new hires this year. Now, Bloomberg reports that Meta has put all hiring on hold. 

They Shall Not Grow Old, a 2018 documentary about the lives and aspirations of British and New Zealand soldiers living through World War I from acclaimed Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, had its hundred-plus-year-old silent footage modernized through both colorization and the recording of new audio for previously non-existent dialog. To get an idea of what the folks featured in the archival footage were saying, Jackson hired a team of forensic lip readers to guesstimate their recorded utterances. Читать дальше...

Sackboy: A Big Adventure has joined the rapidly expanding list of PlayStation games that Sony is bringing to PC. The PS5 launch title (which is also available on PS4) will pop up on Steam and the Epic Games Store on October 27th.

Komplete, Native Instruments' flagship music production bundle, has a little bit of everything. That's always been part of its appeal. It's pricey, but you get monstersynths, a top-notch drum sampler, a virtual guitar rig and Kontakt — which is also a sampler, but calling it one seems incredibly reductive. Native Instruments is still one of the biggest names in the music software world, but it's an increasingly crowded and competitive market. And much of it is moving towards a subscriptionmodel (even Native Instruments). Читать дальше...

It's been nearly a year and a half, but you'll soon get to find out what happens next in Mythic Quest. Apple has revealed that season three of its game developer comedy series will debut on TV+ November 11th. There aren't more details about the plot, but the new episodes follow the impact of a studio shakeup. And of course, you can expect up-to-the-minute technology jokes. Let's just say there's a creative reinterpretation of "NFT."

Despite claims to the contrary as recently as July, Google is shutting down its Stadia games streaming service after just three years. The company says players will still have access to their games and be able to play them until January 18, 2023. After that, Stadia will join the long, long list of products that have been killed by Google.

NASA made history this week after an attempt to slam its DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft into an asteroid nearly 7 million miles away proved successful. While NASA shared some close-up images of the impact, it observed the planetary defense test from afar as well, thanks to the help of the James Webb and Hubble space telescopes. On the surface, the images aren't exactly the most striking things we've seen from either telescope, but they could help reveal a lot of valuable information. Читать дальше...

Teenage Engineering is best known these days for its electronic music-making gear, but now it has an option for creating physical copies of those tunes. The Swedish brand has released a PO-80 Record Factory that, as the name implies, lets you cut vinyl records at home in addition to playing them back. The extra-cute orange and white design is part of the draw, but the real appeal is the simplicity — you just need to plug an audio device into the 3.5mm jack and start recording.

It's been a turbulent year for Peloton to say the least. Part of the company's plan to right the ship is to offer its connected fitness gear through third-party retailers. It started selling equipment through Amazon in August and now Peloton has an exclusive deal with a brick-and-mortar retailer. So, you soon may be able to walk into a Dick's Sporting Goods location and pick up a Bike, Tread or Guide after seeing it in person. It seems Dick's won't carry Peloton's new rowing machine for now, though. Читать дальше...

Add more brands to the list of those hopping aboard the "+" service bandwagon. To begin, MGM is relaunching its movie-oriented Epix streaming service and TV channel as MGM+ on January 15th, 2023. It will continue Epix's blend of originals and "curated" movies from various studios. You'll also find it in the familiar places, including through Prime Video (Amazon owns MGM, after all), other digital services and conventional TV providers.

Ahead of its annual MAX event next month, Adobe has unveiled the 2023 version of its non-subscription Elements products. As with yearspast, the highlights are new AI features like animation for Photoshop Elements images and AI-applied art styles for Premiere.

Meta unveiled its Make-a-Scene text-to-image generation AI in July, which like Dall-E and Midjourney, utilizes machine learning algorithms (and massive databases of scraped online artwork) to create fantastical depictions of written prompts. On Thursday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed Make-a-Scene's more animated contemporary, Make-a-Video.

Finally, Sonos has a subwoofer that's more affordable and practical for smaller spaces, the Sub Mini. It only took 10 years to get here. Sonos' original wireless Sub, which debuted in 2012, has always been targeted at its most hardcore users. With a launch price of $699, it was just as expensive as the company's flagship Playbar, and its enormous size made it overkill for apartments. (It's now $50 more after Sonos' recent price hikes.)

Square has publicly launched its Tap to Pay solution for the iPhone after running an early access program these past few months. That means sellers across the US can now use the company's Point of Sale app to receive payments from customers using just their iPhones anywhere they are. Sure, they need to have a newer iPhone — the oldest model that can run the feature is the iPhone 11 — but they don't need to buy additional hardware to access the feature.

The case for heating homes with hydrogen rather than natural gas appears to be dead. In the UK, hydrogen has become an important part of the debate around decarbonizing home heating. 85 percent of all homes use natural gas to heat space and water, with the oil and gas industry pushing hydrogen as something that can leverage the existing gas pipelines. And lawmakers with close ties to the industry have claimed that hydrogen is a “silver bullet” to help the UK reach its climate targets.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Adobe Chief Product Officer Scott Belsky has reassured worried Figma users that the online collaborative design platform's acquisition will not change its pricing model and ease of use. If you'll recall, Adobe announced in mid-September that it's purchasing Figma for roughly $20 billion in cash and shares. Users understandably raised concerns about the merger, seeing as Adobe's programs are quite expensive. 

Amazon has announced that it's spending nearly $1 billion boosting wages for hourly workers in the US amid criticism of its labor practices and a pitched union battle. The increase will take the starting wage for most front-line warehouse and transportation employees to over $19 per hour, while pay in fulfilment and elsewhere will rise to $16 an hour. The company's minimum wage will remain at $15 per hour.

On October 5th, Lululemon will launch a new membership service that requires a Mirror at-home fitness device. Lululemon Studio builds upon the 10,000 on-demand and livestream classes already accessible with a Mirror subscription. Members will get access to old online content from studio partners, can stream the new classes they release per week and can sign up for in-person classes at their brick-and-mortar locations at a discount. At the moment, the program lists eight partner studios, namely AARMY... Читать дальше...

A third-party Instagram app, called “The OG App,” which promised an ad-free feed more like the original Instagram experience, has been pulled from Apple’s App Store just one day after it officially launched. It’s not clear if Apple pulled the app at the request of Meta, but the social network confirmed it had taken “enforcement actions” against the service.

Razer, Qualcomm and Verizon are working together on a 5G gaming handheld. The carrier teased the Razer Edge 5G at Mobile World Congress Las Vegas. Details on the device are sparse, but what we do know is that it will feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon G3x Gen 1. Announced in December, the chipset features an Adreno GPU capable of running Android games at 144 frames per second, with support for 10-bit HDR built-in. Additionally, it offers both 5G and WiFi 6E connectivity courtesy of the company’s FastConnect 6900 system. Читать дальше...

You won't have to wait long to earn bonuses for playing and buying PlayStation games. Sony now says its PlayStation Stars loyalty program debuts in the Americas on October 5th, while Australians and Europeans will have access October 13th. Stars is already active in Asia, including Japan. The program is free, although you will receive some benefits if you're a PlayStation Plus member.