Products Archives - Page 5 of 68 - Technology, review, product, AI and more...

05 Oct

Roland is finally honoring its legacy instead of just cashing in on it

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The Roland TR-1000 rhythm generator. If the only thing Roland ever released was the TR-808, the company would still deserve a place in the music gear hall of fame. The 808 is arguably the most important instrument since the creation of the electric guitar. It's been a cornerstone of hip-hop, electronic, and pop music for 45 years now, used by everyone from Rihanna and Whitney Houston, to Outkast, Talking Heads and RP Boo. Roland was undeniably one of the most innovative companies in music technology during the 1980s and '90s, releasing iconic analog synths and pioneering drum machines. But for…

05 Oct

I’ve tested the latest Switch 2 controllers, and this one is the best

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Editor’s note: Amazon’s fall Prime Day event kicks off on October 7th; however, if you want to shop ahead of the two-day sale, we’ve rounded up the best early Prime Day deals you can already get. If you choose to get an extra controller for your Nintendo Switch 2, you can spend a lot — and get a lot in return. Buying Nintendo’s own $89.99 Switch 2 Pro Controller, for instance, will net you the console’s only wireless controller with a 3.5mm headphone jack, not to mention great rumble and a slick design. It’s not perfect, but it’s the total…

05 Oct

The developers behind a hit sausage-dueling game hope Steam launch will take it furter

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Life is a series of battles, and I just lost my last one against four gyoza on a skewer. It was an unexpected blow, because honestly, who could have expected me - a springy, respectably proportioned hot dog - to lose against a seemingly inflexible spear of small, unassuming dumplings? This is my struggle in Sausage Legend: Arena, a mobile game with a very simple premise: duel with other players' sausages and win. On the surface, it looks like a garden-variety mobile game riddled with bugs (it is). But the difference between Sausage Legend and a fleeting idea you had…

04 Oct

This week’s best deal is a ‘kids’ Kindle Paperwhite that’s better than the adult version

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Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days may bring some great Kindle deals, but if you can’t wait, you don’t have to. Right now, the Kindle Kids (Amazon, Best Buy, and Target) and Kindle Colorsoft Kids (Amazon, Best Buy, and Target) are down to their lowest prices ever, but my favorite deal is on the Kindle Paperwhite Kids, which sits nicely between the two. Normally $179.99, right now it’s on sale for $134.99 ($45 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. Although marketed as a kid-friendly e-reader, the Paperwhite Kids is actually a great value for adults, too. The 7-inch slate is…

04 Oct

Daniel Ek stepping down changes nothing for Spotify

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Spotify has found itself the target of artists' ire for many reasons over the years: poor audio quality, terrible payouts, giving Joe Rogan millions of dollars… the list goes on. But recently it's been CEO and founder Daniel Ek's extracurricular activities that have been cause for consternation. Over the past few months his funding of German defense company Helsing through his investment firm Prima Materia has been the final straw for many acts, including Hotline TNT, Massive Attack, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Deerhoof, and more. Then, on Tuesday, Ek announced that he would be stepping down as CEO. Neither Ek…

04 Oct

Ecovacs’ Deebot X8 and X9 Pro Omni robovacs have hit a new low price

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The robovac comes with a dock that can refill itself using its built-in water tank. Robot vacuums that mop well rarely come cheap, but thankfully, some of our favorite models are receiving a significant discount ahead of Amazon’s next Prime Day event next week. Right now, the Ecovacs Deebot X8 Pro Omni and the newer Deebot X9 Pro Omni are on sale at Amazon for Prime members for $799.99 ($300 off) and $899.99 ($400 off), respectively, which is the lowest price we’ve seen on either model. The Deebot X8 Pro Omni is an excellent robot vacuum and mop hybrid, with an extendable…

04 Oct

Instagram wants me to make content — I just want to post a photo

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Why just post a photo when you can encourage all your friends and followers to engage with it? Have you tried simply uploading a photo to Instagram lately? It's a minefield. Is that a Story, a Post, or a Reel? Do you want to add music? A caption? A prompt, which is… different than a caption, somehow? How about a poll? A fundraiser? More text, but this time on top of the image? Share it to Facebook? On and on and on. I have a simple request to anyone at Meta who is listening: please, just give us our photo…

04 Oct

Tilly Norwood is a gen AI psyop

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Last week at the Zurich Film Festival, Eline Van der Velden - founder and CEO of AI production house Particle6 and its subsidiary talent studio Xicoia - said that a number of talent agents had expressed interest in working with Tilly Norwood, an AI-generated "actress" created by the companies. Van der Velden has not gone into detail about which agencies might be contemplating whether they should bring Norwood (and by extension, Xicoia) on as clients. But simply saying that agents have come knocking was enough to get the entertainment industry trades buzzing and posting stories about how Norwood came to…

04 Oct

Oregon’s National Guard lawsuit hinges on Trump’s Truth Social posts

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After getting off the phone with Oregon Governor Tina Kotek on Saturday, the president mused over something that had baffled him about the call. Kotek had been "very nice," said Trump in an interview the next day. But she was trying hard to convince him not to send in the National Guard, and that just didn't make any sense to him. "But I said, 'Well wait a minute, am I watching things on television that are different from what's happening?'" Hours later, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memorandum federalizing 200 members of Oregon's National Guard to deploy to Portland,…

03 Oct

Discord customer service data breach leaks user info and scanned photo IDs

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One of Discord’s third-party customer service providers was compromised by an “unauthorized party,” the company says. The unauthorized party gained access to “information from a limited number of users who had contacted Discord through our Customer Support and/or Trust & Safety teams” and aimed to “extort a financial ransom from Discord.” The unauthorized party “did not gain access to Discord directly.” Data potentially accessed by the hack includes things like names, usernames, emails, and the last four digits of credit card numbers. The unauthorized party also accessed a “small number” of images of government IDs from “users who had appealed…