Need something to fill in the awkward silence between your vlog’s unscripted stuttering? YouTube’s got your back. In yet another attempt to make your crummy videos just a little better, the streaming outfit has revamped its audio editing suite, giving users access to over 150,000 tracks and a simple sound mixer, to boot. Sure, YouTube’s tracks may not be as catchy as your favorite Flaming Lips single, but at least you won’t have to worry about copywrite infringement. Check out YouTube’s quick demo of the feature after the break.

Continue reading YouTube wants more videos to have background music, adds audio editor

YouTube wants more videos to have background music, adds audio editor originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Apr 2012 03:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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YouTube wants more videos to have background music, adds audio editor

Sure, they may look the same, but Alienware’s decided to give what’s going on inside its glowing gaming laptops a thorough refresh. Starting with graphics support, the 2012 update of the M14x, M17x and M18x will all be able to handle NVIDIA’s 600 series graphics with GDRR5 memory, bolstered by support for the new PCI Express 3.0 — which Alienware reckons will give double the bandwidth seen on version 2.0. Memory has been given a kick with 1600MHz dual channel memory now the base standard on all three customizable machines, starting at 6GB, up from 4GB in the older models. Capacity for the smaller M14x is locked down at 16GB of RAM, while the large M17x and M18x will be able to utilize up to 32GB. Additionally, these freshened-up models will pack Intel Core i7 processors — but it’s the Sandy Bridge kind. While an Ivy Bridge version is logically the next step, it looks like we’ll have to wait for Intel to let its new hardware out to play before we see it in these gaming laptops.

On the storage side, Alienware’s keen to trumpet new support for mSATA technology, with the new storage medium capable of acting as either a boot drive to optimize Windows or as a caching drive for improved gaming performance — we reckon the latter sounds like more fun. In fact, with the options of standard SSD, mSATA and more pedestrian storage drives, there’s up to 23 different HDD options on the M18x alone. Customization-wise, the M14x also gets the new option of a built-in Blu-ray drive. Audio hasn’t been ignored either, with Creative’s new Sound Blaster Recon3Di High-Definition hardware folded into each of the laptops, with the same built-in speakers that got the Klipsch seal of approval last time around. Overall, it looks like there should be plenty to chew over in benchmark comparisons between the 2012 update and the models it replaces. Still, we can’t shake the feeling that Alienware must be at least planning to upgrade its laptops elsewhere — perhaps its worth waiting a little bit longer.

Alienware refreshes M14x, M17x and M18x with new graphics, same old processors originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Apr 2012 04:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Alienware refreshes M14x, M17x and M18x with new graphics, same old processors

benfrog writes “According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook’s Board of Directors was all but out of the picture when Mark Zuckerberg struck the $1 billion deal to purchase Instagram, the yet-profitless photo-sharing service. From the article: ‘It was a remarkably speedy three-day path to a deal for Facebook—a young company taking pains to portray itself as blue-chip ahead of its initial public offering of stock in a few weeks that could value it at up to $100 billion. Companies generally prefer to bring in ranks of lawyers and bankers to scrutinize a deal before proceeding, a process that can eat up days or weeks. Mr. Zuckerberg ditched all that. By the time Facebook’s board was brought in, the deal was all but done. The board, according to one person familiar with the matter, ‘Was told, not consulted.'”

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Zuckerberg Made Instagram Deal Alone

Mama had it right — procrastination is bad — but mama never knew Apple. For Leopard users still clinging tightly to their MobileMe account, it looks like the path to iCloud just got a wee bit cheaper. Qualifying MobileMe holdouts are reportedly receiving email notifications that point them to a special portal; behind a registration form, folks are finding a free copy of OS X 10.6 (on DVD, no less). The goal here is to get customers to make yet another jump to Lion (an extra $29), but the idea of keeping most of that cloud functionality via iCloud is certainly enticing. As MacNN so accurately points out, it’s odd that Apple’s not including the $69 USB drive version of Lion, which contains the ability to boost even Leopard users to OS X 10.7. If you’re one that generally skips out on reading those automated Apple emails, you might want to make an exception for this one.

Apple offering free Snow Leopard update to MobileMe holdouts originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Apr 2012 23:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft’s introduction of the Windows 8 SKUs on Monday left many of the details of the corporate-oriented Enterprise edition unknown. The company has started to fill in the blanks in a new blog post. Windows 8 Enterprise will include a number of features not found in Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, the ARM-oriented Windows RT, or the emerging markets edition. On top of these software features, the Software Assurance license scheme is being changed to offer customers some new capabilities.

The exclusive software features include the ability to create Windows To Go portable USB installations, DirectAccess VPN-less remote access to corporate networks, BrancheCache cached access to remote fileservers, AppLocker software restrictions, enhanced 3D, USB, and touch performance in VDI deployments, and the ability to side-load Metro-style applications.

To make full use of these features, Software Assurance usage rights are changing too. Any employee with a company PC with a Software Assurance license will also have a corresponding Windows To Go license, so that they can boot a secure, corporate-controlled environment on their home PCs. This can be extended further with Companion Device licenses (for extra cost), allowing employees to access corporate environments through either Windows To Go or VDI on up to four personally-owned systems.

There will be a license change relating to the Windows RT operating system used on ARM machines: when used as a companion to a Software Assurance-licensed machine, the ARM device can be used to access a VDI image with no additional license required.

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The Windows 8 Enterprise SKU: Windows To Go and new Software Assurance benefits