Apple today announced some minor updates to Logic Pro for both the Mac and the iPad, including the ability to search for plug-ins and sources and the addition of more analog-simulating sounds.

In Logic Pro for Mac 11.1 and Logic Pro for iPad 2.1, you can now reorder channel strips and plug-ins in the mixer and plug-in windows to make it easier to organize the layout of an audio mix.

As for the new sounds, Apple added a library of analog synthesizer samples called Modular Melodies, akin to the Modular Rhythms pack already found in Logic.

A more exciting sonic addition is the new Quantec Room Simulator (QRS) plug-in, which emulates the vintage digital reverb hardware of the same name, found in professional recording studios all over...

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More than a decade after the launch of Final Cut Pro X, Apple’s video editing software is taking a step forward. The app is now being updated to Final Cut Pro 11, after dropping the number in its name for the past few years. The update includes new AI masking tools, the ability to generate captions directly in your timeline, spatial video editing features, and a set of workflow improvements. The new version is free for existing users and a $299 one-time purchase for new users. Final Cut Pro for iPad and Final Cut Camera are also getting some updates today, too.

I’ve spent the last week testing out these new features, and many of them are great improvements. I’ve been particularly impressed by the speed and accuracy of one new feature...

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OpenAI is preparing to release an autonomous AI agent that can control computers and perform tasks independently, code-named “Operator.” The company plans to debut it as a research preview and developer tool in January, according to Bloomberg.

This move intensifies the competition among tech giants developing AI agents: Anthropic recently introduced its “computer use” capability, while Google is reportedly preparing its own version for a December release. The timing of Operator’s eventual consumer release remains under wraps, but its development signals a pivotal shift toward AI systems that can actively engage with computer interfaces rather than just process text and images.

All the leading AI companies have promised autonomous AI...

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Sonos is still trying to climb out from the hole it dug itself earlier this year by recklessly shipping an overhauled mobile app well before the software was actually ready. Today, just a couple weeks after the release of its latest hardware products — the Arc Ultra and Sub 4 — Sonos reported its fiscal Q4 2024 earnings. And the damage done by the app debacle is clear.

Revenue was down 8 percent year over year, which Sonos attributed to “softer demand due to challenging market conditions and challenges resulting from our recent app rollout.” During the quarter, the company sank $4 million into unspecified “app recovery investments.” (Sonos previously estimated it could spend up to $30 million to resolve all of the trouble that has...

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Google is beefing up its malware detection with new protections designed to suss out ever-sneakier bad actors.

Android’s Google Play Protect service is getting an update called live threat detection which seeks out potentially harmful apps on your phone by analyzing app behavior and alerts you in realtime if something looks fishy. The update was first announced at Google I/O earlier this year and is available now to Pixel 6 and newer phones. It should come to additional non-Pixel Android phones from Lenovo, OnePlus, Nothing, and Oppo, among others “in the coming months.”

Live threat detection targets particularly hard-to-spot malware apps that hide their intentions well. Rather than just scanning apps for malicious code when you...

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The Wall Street Journal is experimenting with AI-generated article summaries that appear at the top of its news stories. The summaries appear as a “Key Points” box with bullets summarizing the piece. The Verge spotted the test on a story about Trump’s plans for the Department of Education, and the Journal confirmed it’s trialing the feature to see how readers respond.

The “Key Points” box has a message explaining that an “artificial intelligence tool created this summary” and that the summary was checked by an editor. The box also points to a page about how the WSJ and Dow Jones Newswires use AI tools.

“We are always...

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If you want to preserve the existing version of Lil Jon’s “Get Low” in your brain, maybe don’t listen to this cover T-Pain made with Mark Zuckerberg — excuse me, Z-Pain. Their version transforms the “Get Low” I got down to at all my school dances into a song with a much slower tempo complete with an acoustic guitar.

Trust me, I may be scarred for life after hearing Zuckerberg’s autotuned voice serenade me with “‘Til the sweat drop down my balls.” If you get halfway through the song, you’ll also hear a cameo from T-Pain.

Apparently, Zuckerberg made the song for his wife, Priscilla. “‘Get Low’ was playing when I first met Priscilla at a college party, so every year we listen to it on our dating anniversary,” Zuckerberg wrote on Instagram....

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PC game platform GOG has launched a new preservation program dedicated to keeping beloved older games playable, “now and in the future.”

“If a game is part of the Preservation Program, it means that we commit our own resources to maintaining its compatibility with modern and future systems,” the announcement blog reads.

The program is launching with 100 games including Diablo, System Shock 2, and Resident Evil 1-3, with GOG planning to add emore titles in the coming months. Games featured in the program will come with a number of perks. GOG says that when you buy a game from the program, you can:

• “expect it to work on current and future popular PC configurations”
• “be sure that this version is the best and most complete available...

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General Motors is teaming up with Reliant Energy to offer free nighttime charging to some Chevy electric vehicle owners in Texas.

Chevy owners who enroll in Reliant’s EV charging plan will receive free nighttime charging through monthly bill credits that offset charges incurred between 11PM. and 6AM, the companies said. Customers must also designate an EV to receive the charging credit through GM Energy’s Smart Charging Portal. (GM Energy is the automaker’s home energy subsidiary, and Reliant is a subsidiary of NRG Energy.)

The new plan is the latest promotion to discount charging costs for EV owners, as automakers pile on perks in the hopes of winning over skeptical consumers. Ford recently announced a similar deal in Texas, partnering...

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Spotify is going all in on video.

The company will soon begin paying creators based on how much engagement their videos receive from paid subscribers. Automated ad breaks in videos will also be turned off for paid Spotify subscribers to encourage more consumption. Both of these changes go into effect starting January 2nd, 2025 in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada.

Paying video creators directly based on engagement puts Spotify on more of a collision course with YouTube, which is also leaning into podcasts and already pays its creators billions a year in shared ad revenue. “We can provide an experience for your audience that is superior to any other platform,” CEO Daniel Ek said onstage Wednesday at a Spotify creator event in Los Angles.

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Blizzard just released Warcraft Remastered Battle Chest, which collects remasters of realtime strategy classics Warcraft I and II, as well as a 2.0 update for Warcraft III: Reforged. The company announced the collection, which is $39.99 on Battle.net, during today’s Warcraft 30th Anniversary Direct livestream.

The first two games have been updated much the same way that Starcraft was in 2017, replacing the original game sprites and maps with more detailed, high-res artwork. Both games also have “updated quality of life features for modern day gaming,” according to the Battle.net store page for the collection. While the third game is supported on Macs, the first two are PC-only.

Warcraft III: Reforged 2.0 looks like the company’s attempt...

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Meta could bring ads to Threads as soon as next year, according to a report from The Information. As part of its plan, Threads will reportedly allow a small number of advertisers to make and publish ads in January.

That tracks with what my colleague Alex Heath reported about the rollout of ads in July. Instagram head Adam Mosseri has also confirmed that Meta is “definitely” planning to bring ads to Threads. “I get why people have concerns, but at the end of the day we’re a business and Threads needs to make enough money to pay for the people and servers that it takes to run the service and provide it to people for free,” Mosseri said at the time.

In its most recent earnings report, Meta said it earned $39.8 billion in advertising revenue...

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The YouTube app on Meta Quest is getting a nice upgrade: instead of only being a way to watch videos by yourself, the app will now let you co-watch videos with up to seven other people.

To turn on the feature, which is launching in beta, make sure you have the latest version of the YouTube app and look for the “Co-watch” icon at the top of the screen (it looks like three people grouped together). Select that, and then in the window that pops up, select “Invite people” and then you can invite people from your followers list to watch things with you. (The people you invite will also have to follow you back.)

There are a few limitations. You can only co-watch 2D content, for example. And if you want to watch paid content like a movie, every...

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The US has a new roadmap for massively ramping up how much electricity it gets from nuclear reactors.

The Biden administration released the document on Tuesday, but with President-elect Donald Trump heading back into the White House, there’s no telling whether the plan will ever become a reality. That said, the nuclear industry has gained a fair amount of bipartisan support — not to mention buy-in from big tech.

For now, nuclear energy makes up nearly 20 percent of the US’s electricity mix. That’s roughly the same amount of electricity the US gets from renewables like wind and solar. The rest — 60 percent of electricity in the US — comes from fossil fuels. Another way to think of it is that nuclear reactors generate nearly half of the...

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Meta must face the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit that accuses the company of dominating the social media industry through its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, a DC District Court Judge ruled on Wednesday.

The FTC filed a lawsuit against Meta in 2020, alleging the company bought up rivals — Instagram and WhatsApp — in an attempt to stifle competition. Judge James Boasberg initially dismissed the FTC’s lawsuit in 2021, but the agency filed an amended complaint, which he ultimately let proceed.

Meta once again asked the court to dismiss the FTC’s case in April. Boasberg has now ruled largely in favor of the FTC, though he dismissed a claim that Meta acted anticompetitively by preventing developers from accessing its...

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Otherlab has announced a new electric scooter called the Lightfoot that can extend its range not by fast charging or quick battery swaps, but by soaking up the sun. The scooter is shrouded in two large solar panels that Otherlab says can extend its range by an extra three miles for every hour it’s left in the sun.

The company, which describes itself as an “independent research & design lab” bringing “new solutions in renewable energy,” is planning to make the Lightfoot available for preorder starting today. It will sell for $4,995 and delivery is expected as early as January, 2025.

The Lightfoot is powered by a pair of 750W brushless DC motors paired with a 48-volt, 1.1kWh battery that provides a range of up to 37 miles on a full charge...

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Amazon has launched a store where every product costs $20 or less in a bid to take on popular low-cost shopping apps like Temu and Shein. The new “Amazon Haul” service is available in the US via Amazon’s app or mobile website, and offers a wide range of similar fashion, home, lifestyle, and electronics products that you’d expect to find on the rival Chinese platforms.

“Finding great products at very low prices is important to customers, and we continue to explore ways that we can work with our selling partners so they can offer products at ultra-low prices,” Amazon’s vice president of worldwide selling partner services, Dharmesh Mehta, said in Amazon’s announcement.

The Haul storefront has a visually similar layout to Temu and Shein,...

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The members of ZeniMax Workers United-CWA, one of the largest video game unions in the United States, have gone on strike. The action involves workers in ZeniMax offices in Texas and Maryland, who do quality assurance work for games including Fallout and Elder Scrolls. Workers are striking over claims that ZeniMax leadership has failed to address employee issues regarding remote work and outsourcing.

“Today, we are on strike,” ZeniMax Workers United posted on X. “We are not afraid to do what’s necessary to make sure that Microsoft meets us at the bargaining table over key issues like remote work options and outsourcing.”

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The password manager NordPass has once again released its annual list of the world’s most popular passwords — and the lack of creativity is just a little disheartening. For the second year in a row, “123456” has been crowned the most common password.

The same numbers topped the chart five out of the six times NordPass has compiled its lists, only to be usurped by the famed “password” in 2022. But once you get past all the QWERTYs, ABCs, and 123s, we get a little insight into what humanity thinks about when creating the line of text that protects their most personal information.

There are those who choose “iloveyou” and those who opt for “fuckyou.” Others have distinct interests, like “pokemon,”...

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