Blog

The synth tones of ‘Blade Runner’ now fit on your desk

[ad_1]

The MK2 has all the features of the MK1 — the smaller size doesn’t mean Black Corporation skimped on the specs. In fact, there are new controls for the synth’s sustain mode and timing features. It comes with detachable wooden side panels and can also slot into a rack like the MK1. If you want to hear the MK1 in action, check out the video below.

Deckard’s Dream MK2 will cost $3,749. That’s a lot, even for an analog polysynth, but compared to the cost of an original CS-80 in good condition, one could see it as a steal. For those not ready to drop thousands of dollars on a synth, Arturia’s CS-80 V plug-in ($150) does a fantastic job of recreating the massive tones that are synonymous with Blade Runner.

[ad_2]

Source link

SpaceX lost another Falcon booster to the sea

[ad_1]

The booster was expected to land on a drone ship, called Of Course I Still Love You, approximately eight minutes and 24 seconds after launch. Instead, the booster made a “soft landing” in the ocean next to the ship.

SpaceX has gotten pretty good at landing and reusing its boosters, but this isn’t the first time it’s lost one to the sea. In 2018, a core booster plummeted straight into the ocean. Last April, the company managed to land three Falcon Heavy boosters, but the core booster, which landed on Of Course I Still Love You, fell off the drone ship on its way back to land. Then, in June 2019, two side boosters landed successfully in Cape Canaveral, but the center core booster missed the ship by a few feet.

Still, the booster used this morning broke a SpaceX record for fastest turnaround. Prior to today’s mission, the booster launched just 63 days ago on December 16th. The company’s previous record for booster reuse was a 72-day turnaround of a Block 4 booster used to launch the TESS and CRS-15 missions for NASA in 2018. As SpaceX ramps up its Starlink constellation deployment, it will try to reduce its booster turnaround time even more.



[ad_2]

Source link

Apple Music’s Replay 2020 playlist tracks your favorites week-by-week

[ad_1]

This is partly Apple’s attempt to get ahead of Spotify’s own year-in-review playlist, and it probably won’t be too useful at first when it will only reflect your mood from the past few weeks. Nonetheless, it could be helpful to show how your tastes evolve over the year — not to mention a readily accessible favorites playlist that reflects what you’ve been enjoying recently.

[ad_2]

Source link

Google is ending its Station free public WiFi program

[ad_1]

In an interview with TechCrunch, Google’s Caesar Sengupta said the company is ending the program because it was running into issues scaling it. Each of the partners Google worked with to provide public WiFi had different technical and infrastructure needs, which made developing Station into a sustainable business challenging. Google had tried to monetize the service by showing ads to people as part of the login process. He also said the increased availability of cheap LTE data, particularly in India, made Google feel the program wasn’t as needed as it was before.

The good news is that most Stations will continue to offer free WiFi. For instance, RailTel, Google’s WiFi partner in India, will continue to provide free internet access at all 400 stations where the service is currently available. “We are working with our partners to transition existing sites so they can remain useful resources for the community,” Sengupta told TechCrunch.

Besides Google, several other tech companies have tried to narrow the digital divide in developing countries, with some finding more success than others. For example, Facebook’s Free Basics initiative was banned in India in 2016 over net neutrality concerns. Despite the shutdown, it seems Station had been widely successful. In 2018, Google said Station had 8 million monthly active users in India, with people who were using the service consuming an average of 350MB per session at the time.



[ad_2]

Source link

Amazon’s Fire tablets for kids are back to their lowest-ever pricing

[ad_1]

You’ll find deals on the standard tablets as well, although they aren’t as huge. The Fire 7 is down to $40, while the Fire HD 8 is yours for $60. The Fire HD 10 is the best deal at $110, or $40 off.

All of these tablets are the same underneath. While they’re not speedy and don’t have as rich a selection of apps as most Android tablets, they’re solid tablets for media consumption and some games. The Kids Edition tablets mainly add extras that will help them survive little hands — there’s a “Kid-Proof” case with a stand, a 2-year no-questions-asked warranty and a year’s access to FreeTime Unlimited. They might do the trick if you’re worried about broken electronics and want your kids to have a host of age-appropriate content right out of the box.

[ad_2]

Source link

What we’re listening to: Caspian

[ad_1]

Billy Steele

Billy Steele
Senior News Editor

I like to listen to music while I work. Over the years, I’ve found that instrumental tunes are the least distracting — even if they lean towards rock, hardcore or metal. My typical rotation includes J Dilla’s hip-hop tracks and the synth-heavy electronic stylings of Survive, Com Truise and Steve Hauschildt. I also like to indulge my emo and rock sensibilities with older albums from The Appleseed Cast and harder stuff from Rusian Circles. However, another of my current favorites is Caspian, a post-rock band whose latest album just came out in January.

I’ll admit I’d never heard of Caspian the first time I saw them live. I was more concerned about the reunion of Underoath, and the band just happened to be an opener. It can be awkward for an instrumental band to be on the same bill as a massively popular hardcore group, but I was impressed how Caspian held their own. Indeed, their music is true to post-rock tenets of texture and timbre over any traditional song structure or elements. The band creates layers of sound that envelope you, which takes skill to craft in the studio, and perhaps even more to do on stage.

At first, I leaned more to Capsian’s “harder” tracks. Songs like “Rioseco” are a perfect example of what the band is capable of. In fact, there’s a lot of similar evidence on the 2015 album Dust & Disquiet. That texture and layering starts off restrained, lulling you in over the first act of the song with some mellow guitar riffs. Then it starts to gradually build with drums in the next movement before transitioning to another airy, yet restrained bridge-like section. About halfway through the 7:52 track you can start to feel what’s coming. More distortion in the guitars. Another riff on top of the melody. Then it all fades back before the crescendo: an intense, almost post-hardcore surge. The song comes full circle by the end, bringing you back down before moving on to the next track.

The band’s latest album, On Circles, hooked me on first listen a few weeks ago. At this point, it’s been over four years since Dust & Disquiet, and you can tell the band’s sound has evolved with its latest work. The band’s audio arsenal goes a step further with elements like horns. And opening track “Wildblood” wastes no time getting down to business. There’s a little build up with a mix of synth, brass and spacey distorted guitars, but unlike some of Capsian’s previous work, you hit top speed in under three minutes. There are also some vocals on this album, which creates a mix of old and new. It’s interesting to hear what the band might sound like if more of their work had words.

It’s difficult to put into words what Caspian constructs with layers of guitars, synths, bass, drums and more. It’s not just rock music, it’s a performance, even with their recorded music. The songs have movements like a play, bringing equal parts intensity, despair and hope depending on the track, or even the part. It’s great work music because of those ebbs and flows: for every period of restrained melody, there’s a punch of energy coming when tracks drive ahead. If you’re into post-metal bands like Russian Circles or Isis and need something a little less… metal, Caspian might just be it.

[ad_2]

Source link

‘State of Decay 2’ is getting a major free update

[ad_1]

The tutorial has been expanded, the pacing of legacy runs has been improved, there’s a new weapon class, a new map and new weather effects. Dodge and stealth have been split into separate commands in a bid to improve the game’s control scheme, and dozens of mission and gameplay bugs have been fixed.

The update also packs in all three previous expansions, too, including the side campaign Heartland. And for the first time, State of Decay 2 (and the update) will come out of Windows exclusivity to launch on Steam (don’t worry, co-op players — the game is still cross platform).

The update launches for free on Friday March 12th. And if you already own Daybreak, Heartland or State of Decay 2 Ultimate Edition, you can expect some exclusive in-game freebies when you log in on launch day, too.

[ad_2]

Source link

The Morning After: The Galaxy Z Flip’s glass screen isn’t as tough as we thought

[ad_1]

On Valentine’s Day, someone fell in love with a foldable phone.24 hours with Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip

The Galaxy Fold fiasco proved that being first isn’t always best. Subsequently, Motorola’s Razr appeared just last week, but it’s not great either. (Read our review on that foldable, here.)

The Galaxy Z Flip — a 6.7-inch phone that, like the Razr, folded in half — is Samsung’s second folding smartphone, sturdier than the Galaxy Fold and with a more valid proposition. A flagship phone that’ll fit into your pocket. The phone arrived in stores on Valentine’s Day, and after testing out a sample for 24 hours, Reviews Editor Cherlynn Low already has feelings of a sort. While we work on our full review, here are some early thoughts.

The company calls it a ‘breakthrough.’Elon Musk’s Boring Company is done excavating first Las Vegas tunnel

The Galaxy Fold fiasco proved that being first isn’t always best. Subsequently, Motorola’s Razr appeared just last week, but it’s not great either. (Read our review on that foldable, here.)

The Boring Company has finished excavating the first of the two tunnels planned for Las Vegas Convention Center’s underground loop transportation system. If you’ll recall, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) tapped Elon Musk’s company to develop the LVCC loop, which could cost around $52.5 million. The company retweeted a video posted by the LVCVA of its machinery breaking through a wall in the facility. Boring’s crew spent three months digging the nearly mile-long tunnel 40 feet underground. LVCVA says the project is scheduled to debut in January 2021.

It pulled in more money than ‘Detective Pikachu’ despite its early issues.‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ breaks record for a video game movie debut

The Sonic the Hedgehog movie has come a long, long way from that horrifying initial trailer. Paramount’s adaptation just broke the record for a video game movie’s three-day opening in the US, pulling in $57 million compared to Detective Pikachu‘s $54.3 million. Estimates have Sonic raking in $68 million over four days, which could give it one of the best Presidents Day performances of any movie. It might be enough to coax even more video game adaptations out of the woodwork. Not sure how I feel about that…

Apple Health and Strava can finally talk to each other.Strava now syncs workout data from your Apple Watch

While there is a Strava app for the Apple Watch, there’s not as much of an incentive to get the wearable if your data stays isolated — which it did until now. Strava has added Apple Health syncing to its iOS app, letting it pull in activity data from the past 30 days. You can pick the workouts you want to share, title them and add photos to boast about your achievements.

It’s a two-way connection as well. You can automatically send any Strava activities to Health, so you don’t have to worry if you leave your Apple Watch at home.

But wait, there’s more…

The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you’ll miss if you don’t Subscribe.

Craving even more? Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter.

Have a suggestion on how we can improve The Morning After? Send us a note.



[ad_2]

Source link

Adam Savage turned Spot the robodog into a creepy rickshaw driver

[ad_1]

Like almost everyone who has encounted Spot, his first thought was “can I ride it?” Unfortunately not, given the amount of weight the machine can handle — so for Savage, combining its capabilities with his apparent love for rickshaws was the obvious second choice. Obviously. And getting Spot geared up for the task appears to be relatively straightforward — Savage just mounted a tow hitch to its cargo rails.

The end result is a creepy, Steampunk-esque vision of personal transit — but it’s certainly efficient. Does a Spot-powered rickshaw have a place in real life? That’s not beyond the realms of possibility given the gradual advent of autonomous transport pods and such like — plus, Boston Dynamics has recently made Spot’s SDK available to anyone who wants it.

However, Boston Dynamics has been vague about Spot’s pricing, advising would-be buyers to get in touch for a quote, but that early adopter program leasing will be less than the price of a car. If you’re looking for a convenient way to get around, then, you might just be better off getting… a car.

[ad_2]

Source link

UK to spend $1.6 billion on the world’s fastest weather supercomputer

[ad_1]

The Met said the computer will create a “digital twin” of our atmosphere with data like wind speeds, air temperatures and pressures, and more. It will create forecasts down to an area just 1,000 meters (.62 miles) across compared to 10 km (6.2 miles) currently. Around large airports, accuracy will focus down to just 300m, or about 1,000 feet. Once in service, it will not only generate better forecasts (including rainfall predictions), but help emergency workers deploy mobile flood barriers, balance the energy grid and more.

The Met also noted that it will also help services mitigate the effects of climate change, “and help support the transition to a low carbon economy across the UK,” said Endersby. The supercomputer will also be used by universities for drug design, AI, energy storage and other types of research.

Met Office Cray XC40 Supercomputer

The first stage installation will go into service in 2022 and be six times more capable than the current Cray XC40 (above). Five years later, it’ll get an upgrade that will bump performance by a further three times, making it nearly 20 times more powerful. The cited price includes not just the hardware, but the running cost over ten years. By contrast, the current model was acquired in 2014 and will be retired in 2022. The Met has yet to say which supercomputer it will be acquiring.

The investment is by far the largest in the Met’s history, but the department believes it will make a big difference, adding up to £19 ($23) in benefit for every pound spent. “We’ll be streets ahead of anybody else,” said the Met’s chief executive, Penny Andersby. “Ultimately it’ll make a difference to every individual, every government department, every industry as people see forecasts becoming steadily better.”

[ad_2]

Source link