News from the web

Enlarge / This 2017 concept art might be the closest we get to new Final Fantasy VII remake footage for a while. We're now approaching three full years since Sony first announced it was remaking the beloved Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation 4. ...   Ars Technica

While Amazon's Alexa successfully infiltrated homes via Echo devices over the past few years, the company reportedly continues to look for new ways that it can make homes smarter. According to a Bloomberg report, Amazon is secretly developing a 'domestic robot' that may be a portable home for its virtual assistant. ...   Ars Technica

Flash drives keep cramming more and more storage capacity into their pint-sized, portable packages, and right now there are a couple of deals to get you a ton of space for very low prices.If your devices support USB Type-C, SanDisk’s Ultra Dual Drive is the deal for you. The one on offer packs a huge 256GB of capacity for $65, its lowest price ever on Amazon. ...   PC World

Apple has launched a battery replacement program for some non-Touch Bar model of the 13-inch MacBook Pro. Here's how to find out if your model is affected and how to get it replaced.   PC World

In this episode of the Full Nerd, Gordon Mah Ung, Brad Chacos, Alaina Yee, and Adam Patrick Murray talk new AMD hardware, and newly named AMD hardware.First up: Impressions from our 2nd-gen Ryzen processor review, which hit the streets Thursday. The small tweaks and upgrades add up to a much more well-rounded chip than first-gen Ryzen. ...   PC World

Enlarge / One of the 2016 MacBook Pros. (credit: Andrew Cunningham) Apple quietly launched a new battery replacement program to help a 'limited number' of MacBook Pro users. According to the program's webpage, some 13-inch MacBook Pros without Touch Bars may experience component failure that causes the built-in battery to swell. ...   Ars Technica

The new (and now rolled-back) Eventbrite Merchant Agreement terms, grabbed this weekend before they were rescinded. Earlier this month, executives at Eventbrite—the popular Internet event-ticketing platform used by thousands of event organizers, including many information security conferences—made a change in the company's 'Merchant Agreement' that many missed until this past week. ...   Ars Technica

Qi wireless charging is magic. You plop your Qi-compatible phone on a charging pad and wait for the device to power up. It's so much simpler than plugging in a power cord, and today you can get that easy charging for less than $10.Amazon's selling the RavPower Standard Qi Wireless Charging Pad for $9 as its Deal of the Day. ...   PC World

It's safe to say that Android tablets will never be a thing. It's safer to say the Lenovo Tab 4 8 Plus and the Home Assistant Pack will never replace anyone's Echo home speaker.It's hard to figure out Lenovo's strategy here. ...   PC World

There is no higher-quality video player available for Windows. It's a bit pricey, but PowerDVD Ultra is also the only software that can play Ultra HD Blu-ray discs on your computer.   PC World

Enlarge / A lookout tower stands over the mountains in Firewatch. Valve has acquired Campo Santo, known for the outdoor exploration game Firewatch, the developer announced late Saturday. The 12-person team will relocate to Valve's Bellevue, Washington headquarters as it continues work on In the Valley of the Gods, a search for treasure in an Egyptian desert. ...   Ars Technica

Trevor Mahlmann Most everyone reading this story will probably know that a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched on Wednesday carrying a NASA spacecraft into orbit—the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite—that will further the space agency's mission of searching for exoplanets. ...   Ars Technica

Tesla Factory in Fremont, California, 2016. (credit: Maurizio Pesce / Flickr) Production had been halted for much of last week in Tesla's car factory in Fremont, California, and its battery factory near Clark, Nevada. In a Tuesday note to employees, CEO Elon Musk said that the pause was necessary to lay the groundwork for higher production levels in the coming weeks. ...   Ars Technica

Enlarge / Apple Watch Series 3, with eSIM technology for connecting to cellular networks. (credit: Apple) AT&T and Verizon are being investigated by the Department of Justice (DOJ) over whether they colluded in order to prevent customers from easily switching carriers. ...   Ars Technica

SEATTLE—As the Marvel Cinematic Universe expands to every movie theater in the world, the MoPOP Museum of Pop Culture (formerly Experience Music Project) swoops in this week with an exhibit that reminds fans where the heck these costumed heroes came from: the comics pages. ...   Ars Technica

(credit: Kym Farnik) According to reports from Bloomberg and E&E News, the Trump Administration has been exploring another way to help coal and nuclear generators: the Defense Production Act of 1950. The Act was passed under President Truman. Motivated by the Korean War, it allows the president broad authority to boost US industries that are considered a priority for national security. ...   Ars Technica

Subaru In a world where seemingly every auto manufacturer is making SUVs (hello, Lamborghini!) and crossovers, it can be hard to stand out from the crowd. Alfa Romeo does it by making an insanely fast and sporty crossover. Range Rover goes for an incredibly sleek look and a separate screen just for climate control. By contrast, Subaru just tries to make quality vehicles. ...   Ars Technica

The Internet hype campaign for Super Troopers 2 sneaked in at the tail end of the crowdfunding gold rush in 2015, and that timing might have made all the difference. Crowdfunding fatigue is alive and well, after all, with the practice significantly dropping off since its mid-'10s heyday. Who knows if the Broken Lizard comedy troupe would have raised over $4. ...   Ars Technica

The first chap I meet in the Summerset Isles is an elf with a Sean Penn face who gripes about how he’s missing out on a wine tasting because some local Wood Elves “offedî the vintner, because of course. ...   PC World

Enlarge / Tom Perez, the head of the DNC, helped orchestrate this new lawsuit. (credit: Gage Skidmore) The Democratic National Committee has sued Russia, WikiLeaks, the Trump campaign, and a number of other individuals and organizations that the political party believes were affiliated with the now-infamous 2016 hack, whose perpetrators managed to spirit away internal research about ...   Ars Technica

Microsoft continued its gradual push toward making the Xbox One more like PCs by announcing it will soon support compatible 120Hz displays for its game console platform.The new additions will be added within the coming weeks, Microsoft said in a blog post on Friday. Microsoft also added a number of UI improvements, including the ability to group games. ...   PC World

Enlarge / RIP Puzzle Fighter, 2017-2018. (credit: Capcom) The games-as-a-service graveyard grew one larger this week, as Capcom's Puzzle Fighter reboot received an official 'sunset' announcement on Friday. ...   Ars Technica

Enlarge (credit: Torkild Retvedt) Attackers are mass-exploiting a recently fixed vulnerability in the Drupal content management system that allows them to take complete control of powerful website servers, researchers from multiple security companies are warning. ...   Ars Technica

Enlarge / Screenshots of the RSA Conference application from the Google Play Store. The app's Web interface leaked attendee data when supplied with a token obtained by registering the app. ...   Ars Technica

Enlarge / Inventory including 'Merry N'Berry' is on display at a medical marijuana dispensary (credit: Getty | Tom Williams) By passively monitoring user-generated data from medical cannabis patients, researchers have glimpsed the types and amounts of marijuana that seem effective for relieving symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression. ...   Ars Technica

Refinement, not revolution, takes center stage in this redesign.   PC World

We are well and truly in the grips of the battle royale era at this point, with rumors this week pegging a PUBG-style mode coming to both Call of Duty and Battlefield in the fall. At this point the question’s not whether we see a new battle royale game at E3, it’s how many we see. ...   PC World

Enlarge / New York, USA - January 14, 2016: A Verizon worker on Worth Street in Lower Manhattan. (credit: Getty Images | 400tmax) More than two-thirds of New York City's 3.1 million households have just one or two broadband providers offering service to their homes, according to a new 'Truth in Broadband' report issued by the city government. ...   Ars Technica

Amazon announced Alexa Blueprints this week, a new skill that lets you create custom responses and commands for your smart speaker. But you need an Echo to try them out. At $50, the Echo Dot is already the cheapest Alexa speaker you can buy, and right now it’s even cheaper: Newegg is selling the Echo Dot for $39.99 and they're even throwing in  promotional $10 gift card. ...   PC World

Enlarge / Is this essentially the same as a kid buying a box of car skins in Rocket League? (credit: Getty) Four publishers will be forced to make changes to their games in the Netherlands after a landmark report from the Netherlands Gaming Authority found their loot boxes violate laws against gambling. ...   Ars Technica

HASound has updated MSLR, their free Mid/Side audio processor plugin to 2.0.1.56. What's new: New DSP engine. VST3 and 64-bit versions. New GUI. The HASound project was born on 2012. But the [Read More]   KVR Audio

Best Service has announced the release of Celtic ERA by Eduardo Tarilonte. With Celtic ERA, Eduardo Tarilonte once again takes you to a fascinating journey through time. This time, he travels [Read More]   KVR Audio

MAGIX Software has announced that the loop-based Digital Audio Workstation ACID Pro is back with its first major update in ten years. MAGIX Software has completely overhauled the software that [Read More]   KVR Audio

discoDSP has updated Vertigo, their additive bitmap and wave re-synthesizer to 3.7. What's new: Added drag and drop to GUI for VPF / WAV / AIFF / OGG / FLAC / JPG / BMP / PNG files. Added import [Read More]   KVR Audio

Initial Audio has updated their synthesizer Sektor to version 1.2.1. Improvements: Added a lock feature to the sequencer. Enabling this locks the current sequencer settings during preset change, [Read More]   KVR Audio

Decade Bridge has released ToneBars and ToneBarsLite proximity tone generators for Android and SpeculumFree, a delay/comb filter effect for Mac OS X and Windows. ToneBars is designed for creating [Read More]   KVR Audio

lmdsp has updated their Superchord sympathetic string resonance plug-in to version 1.1. The update includes: Native Instruments NKS support for seamless integration with Maschine and Komplete [Read More]   KVR Audio

Ivosight has updated Soundop Audio Editor, a Windows application for audio recording, editing, mixing and mastering, to v1.5.0.0. Changes: Added new container effects of Parallel FX Group, Mid-Side [Read More]   KVR Audio

Initial Audio has updated their Synthesizer Sektor to version 1.2.1. Improvements: Added a lock feature to the sequencer. Enabling this locks the current sequencer settings during preset change, [Read More]   KVR Audio

4drX has updated LoopRecorder to v1.4.5. This version addresses a few synchronization issues: A new button restarts the recorder at the next bar. Discrete BPM changes are now fully supported. [Read More]   KVR Audio

It Might Get Loud Productions announces their first keyboard: Koji. Here's what they say: '1990: You had to blow into gaming cartridges, you probably had a mullet, and you first musical touch [Read More]   KVR Audio

Dance MIDI Samples has announced the release of DMS Ascension, a PC and Mac compatible workstation synthesizer plug-in in VST2, VST3 and AU formats. Choose from subtractive, wavetable synthesis [Read More]   KVR Audio

Ample Sound has released the AGTC Neck Extension for AGTC which aims to reproduce the sound of the Fender Telecaster John English Master-built guitar. It is sampled on the Neck pickup. Changes: [Read More]   KVR Audio

Native Instruments has expanded its Native Kontrol Standard (NKS) to include effects – previously, only instruments were supported. All Native Instruments effects are now NKS-ready, while confirmed [Read More]   KVR Audio

Blue Cat Audio has released Blue Cat's Axiom, a comprehensive and open multi effects processor and amp simulation software for guitar and bass, and a new software bundle, the 'Axe Pack'. With [Read More]   KVR Audio

Ueberschall has announced the release of Funky Acoustic Guitar - 'Super-Cool Rhythmic Strumming'. Here's what they say: If you think funk is just about strummed Fender Strats and slapped bass, [Read More]   KVR Audio

Acustica Audio has announced the release of the free N4 Player, superseding the previously available N4 free which is now obsolete and no longer available. N4 Player includes important new features [Read More]   KVR Audio

Plughugger has released Analog Deep House, a soundset for u-he Diva that is inspired by the deep and classic house sound of the late 1990s and early 2000s. From smooth and deep to soulful house, [Read More]   KVR Audio

LoopLords has announced the release of GenetiX, a plugin instrument featuring the sound of the Sega Genesis (the MegaDrive in Europe). The plugin contains 100 multi-sampled instruments plus 13 [Read More]   KVR Audio

BOOM Library has updated Enforcer to v1.1 with new features, new presets and improvements which make Enforcer an even better bass powerhouse. The most requested feature was MIDI-Mode which is [Read More]   KVR Audio

Sonuscore has announced the release of Origins Vol.3: 12-string & Balalaika, the third entry in the Sonuscore Origins Series, a new line of instruments developed by the team at Dynamedion, [Read More]   KVR Audio

Soundethers has released The Astral Body for XFer Serum, the last part of the upcoming 'Serum Field Project' which will be released as a bundle. It is a big collection, divided in 4 categories, [Read More]   KVR Audio

iPhone, iPad / Education / Games, Ear Trainig: What's the Frequency? will help you to become a better audio engineer. It helps you to recognise the frequencies you are hearing. Given short audio samples of pure tones or filtered pink noise you have to respond with the correct frequency of the...   440Software

iPhone, iPad / Portable Studio / MultiTracks: AUM is the flexible audio mixer, recorder, and connection hub for your iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Connect hardware inputs and outputs, Audio Unit extensions, Inter-App Audio apps, Audiobus, soundfile players, built-in signal processing and filters,...   440Software

iPhone, iPad / Instruments / Synthesizers: DronePlayer is a fun, interactive practice assistant for improvising musicians. Playing over extended tonalities is a great way to develop your ears as well as your musical ideas. Long, sustained tones are generally known as drones. Drones have proven...   440Software

iPhone, iPad / Instruments / Fun: Burps and farts are funny If you don't think they are, don't download this app. With this app, you can now fart and burp your favorite tunes without the risk of having to change your pants or throw up. Imagine the laughs you could get from playing twinkle...   440Software

iPhone, iPad / Education / Courses: Make “Killerâ€Â? drum tracks using Superior Drummer 2.0! This comprehensive TUTORIAL, shows you all you need to know to make phat beats with Toontrack's flagship drum software. App Features: • 252 minutes of video training • Super clear...   440Software

iPhone, iPad / Instruments / Synthesizers: Thor for iPad puts the mighty Thor synthesizer at your fingertips. “A truly must-have synth for iPad users of all skill levelsâ€Â? – Keyboard Magazine 'A Synth-Geek’s Dream Synthâ€Â? - Synthtopia “A game changing...   440Software

iPhone, iPad / Instruments / Percussions: This app accurately replicates four musical instruments commonly found in traditional jug bands: washboard, spoons, kazoo and jug. Each instrument is played the same way as its physical counterpart: you scrub the washboard, tap the spoons on your knee,...   440Software

iPhone, iPad / Tools / Controllers: Apogee Maestro is the control application for MFi compliant Apogee audio interfaces. Maestro lets you access and adjust all features and settings from 5 simple tabs. Maestro also significantly improves latency (the delay that occurs during recording) with a...   440Software

iPhone, iPad / Education / Courses: This is the ad-free version of 'Learn how to play Guitar'. Start playing Rock, Blues, Jazz, Latin Music and other contemporary styles on Guitar. While you play the lessons you will intuitively understand how to read music. Guitar lessons are fun with this app....   440Software