Tag: windows

DJs can buy remix-friendly ‘Stems’ music files starting today

Back in March, Native Instruments — the company behind the ubiquitous Traktor DJ software — announced Stems : a music format that lets DJs and remixers to control individual parts of a track. Today Stems launches to the buying public on a number of popular music stores including Beatport and Traxsource have them listed already, Bleep, Juno, whatpeopleplay, and Wasabeat will also be selling them. For years DJs and producers’ only chance of finding a cappella versions of songs was to hope a vocal-only recording existed. The advent of the internet made finding these a little easier, but they were still rare. Expensive software can sometimes help you surgically remove parts or a track, or isolate vocals, but the results aren’t always very clean. Stems makes all that a thing of the past. The new file-format allows DJs to turn the separate parts of a track on and off at will. Importantly, Stems is open, so anyone will be able to export music as a compatible file (Native Instruments will release tools for this later in the year), and big artists and labels are already on board. A Stems file will break a song into four parts; usually drums, vocals, bass and lead, each of which can be manipulated independently with compatible hardware (Native Instruments’ Kontrol S8 , D2 , and F1 for example). Beatport, will even let you audition tracks as separate parts in the browser (as seen below). It’s unlikely most casual listeners need to worry about Stems — it’s definitely more for performers — but, if there’s a killer track, with a really annoying vocal , there might just be a workaround at last. An update for Traktor that adds Stem compatibility is available via NI Service Center today. Filed under: Misc , Home Entertainment Comments Source: Stems , Beatport

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DJs can buy remix-friendly ‘Stems’ music files starting today

Everything You Can Ask Cortana to Do in Windows 10

Cortana is easily one of the coolest new features of Windows 10. You’re probably already familiar with personal assistants like Google Now and Siri, but now you have one built right into your desktop! Here’s how to get information, manage your schedule, and even run a few Google commands. Read more…

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Everything You Can Ask Cortana to Do in Windows 10

Gamers: It’s safe to upgrade to Windows 10

While the IT managers of the world stress about Windows 10’s buggy mail client , default browser , and dodgy domains, for the gamer, Microsoft’s latest and greatest OS is an exciting proposition. Windows 10, if you didn’t know, comes with DirectX 12 , which promises significant performance increases (particularly for AMD graphics card users), thanks to its new low-level API features. The trouble is, right now, there aren’t actually any games out there that use DX12. While Nvidia and AMD have both launched new drivers to bring DX12 support to a range of their current GPUs, there’s not a single DX12 game to play. 3DMark has a neat draw call benchmark that gives us some idea of how much faster DX12 will be, but it’s entirely synthetic. One of the first games to actually use DX12 will be StarDock’s upcoming RTS Ashes of the Singularity , with an early beta build showing a significant uplift in performance. We were hoping to check out a special benchmark build of the game this week, but sadly it’s been pushed back. Read 17 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Gamers: It’s safe to upgrade to Windows 10

Microsoft’s HoloLens headset will reach developers within a year

When Microsoft said that its HoloLens headset would arrive ” in the Windows 10 time frame , ” what did it mean, exactly? Thanks to a BBC interview with Satya Nadella, we now have a better sense of when this augmented reality eyewear will show up. The company chief expects developers and enterprise users to get the first version of HoloLens “within the next year” — you won’t be getting one as a holiday gift, folks. It’s not certain just when a personal version will launch, but Nadella describes the overall technology as a “5-year journey” that will eventually branch out to other fields. While that doesn’t necessarily leave you high and dry until 2020, it does suggest that you’ll have to be patient if you want to play some holographic Minecraft . Filed under: Displays , Wearables , Microsoft Comments Via: Piptell , The Verge Source: BBC

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Microsoft’s HoloLens headset will reach developers within a year

Uber reaches $50 billion value thanks (in part) to Microsoft

Uber is getting richer and richer. It’s now valued at $51 billion after raising another $1 billion in funding, and it got to this stage two years faster than Facebook did. As always, the ride-sharing service has attracted an assortment of investors during its latest funding round — one of them’s none other than tech juggernaut Microsoft, according to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal . While neither company has admitted it yet, Bloomberg says Microsoft has agreed to back Uber to the tune of around $100 million. It’s unclear whether this means they’re pursuing a deeper relationship or if they’re working together on a project or two, at least. If you recall, though, Uber’s snapped up a portion of Bing’s mapping tech back in June, along with a hundred of Redmond’s employees. Microsoft is neither the first nor the only tech corporation/personality that has invested in the ride-hailing service. Chinese internet giant Baidu jumped in weeks after it was announced that Uber was already valued at $40 billion with an investment that could’ve been as big as $600 million. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos put his money in the company way back in 2011, while Google Ventures backed it with $258 million in 2013. That was years before both companies announced their intentions to develop self-driving taxi services, making them future competitors. In all, Uber now has $5 billion to spend on the aggressive expansion it’s planning in India , China and Southeast Asia. [Image credit: Getty Images] Filed under: Transportation , Microsoft Comments Source: The New York Times , Bloomberg , The Wall Street Journal

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Uber reaches $50 billion value thanks (in part) to Microsoft

I’m Playing Xbox On Windows 10, And You Can Too

Yesterday, my wife wanted to play some Kingdom Hearts . I was in the mood for Titanfall . We only have one TV. So I pulled out a Surface 3 tablet, plugged in an Xbox One controller, and started streaming the game from my Xbox to my portable PC. It’s a new Windows 10 feature. Read more…

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I’m Playing Xbox On Windows 10, And You Can Too

OnStar hack remotely starts cars, GM working on a fix

Hacker Samy Kamkar unveiled his latest triumph this morning: OwnStar, a tiny box that acts as a Wi-Fi hotspot and intercepts commands sent from a driver’s OnStar RemoteLink app, allowing an unauthorized user to locate, unlock or start the vehicle. Simply place the box somewhere in an OnStar-connected car and wait for the driver to start up the RemoteLink app within range of the vehicle. The driver’s smartphone should automatically connect to OwnStar’s network and, voila , the hacker now has all of the car owner’s information (email, home address, final four digits on a credit card plus expiration date), and control of the car. GM has already issued one patch this morning aimed at securing the RemoteLink app, but it was unsuccessful, according to Kamkar . Kamkar never intended to wreak havok with OwnStar, he said in an interview with Wired . He wanted to expose a vulnerability in the OnStar app and help GM fix it — and it seems as if that’s precisely what’s happening. GM is working to patch the RemoteLink bug now and Kamkar says he’s in contact with the company as they fix it. Kamkar plans to reveal more technical details about OwnStar at Defcon 2015, which runs from August 6th to the 9th in Las Vegas. OwnStar update: GM told WIRED that OnStar bug was fixed, however it’s not actually resolved yet. I spoke with GM & they’re working on it now – Samy Kamkar (@samykamkar) July 30, 2015 This is the second major car-based hack to surface this month. On July 24th, Fiat Chrysler issued a voluntary recall of 1.4 million US vehicles with certain touchscreen entertainment systems, after Wired reported that it was possible to remotely cut the engine, disable and activate the brakes, and track the location of these cars. Filed under: Gaming , HD Comments Source: Wired , CNET

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OnStar hack remotely starts cars, GM working on a fix

Facebook’s ‘Security Checkup’ is ready to guard your account

Facebook initially rolled out a new account safety feature, dubbed Security Checkup , this May as part of a limited test release . Today, that feature is available for all users. Security Checkup is designed to make finding and enabling Facebook’s multitude of optional security settings much easier. Users will be able to automatically logout of rarely used devices, set alerts for suspicious login activity and reset their password. Even finding the checkup function itself will be a snap as it’s going to be positioned at the top of your feed for the next few weeks. [Image Credit: shutterstock] Filed under: Internet , Facebook Comments Source: Facebook

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Facebook’s ‘Security Checkup’ is ready to guard your account

US wants the world’s fastest supercomputer by 2025

President Obama has signed an executive order demanding that the US build the world’s fastest supercomputer by 2025. The National Strategic Computing Initiative has been implemented to get the country building an Exascale machine and not fall behind rival nations in the technological arms race. This supercomputer will be developed by arms of the federal government and then be harnessed to speed up research into a wide variety of topics. One example is that the hardware will be used to help NASA better understand turbulence for aircraft design, while another is to crunch the numbers for medical researchers. The US may have more of the Top 500 supercomputers than any other nation, but its prestige in this area is slipping to nations like China and Japan. China’s Tianhe-2 has been the world’s fastest machine for two and a half years in a row, and the list’s authors feel that the US approaching is plunging to a “historical low.” With the weight of the federal government behind it, the NSCI is hoping to steal a march on its rivals and break new ground in the high performance computing sphere. With all of the various challenges that the planet is facing — challenges that we’re told Exascale computing will be able to fix — it can’t come soon enough. Filed under: Desktops Comments Via: BBC News Source: White House , (2) (.PDF)

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US wants the world’s fastest supercomputer by 2025

The Best Windows 10 Features You Probably Haven’t Heard About

Windows 10 has arrived. Whether you’re jumping the line or still trying to decide if you should upgrade , chances are you’ve heard about some of the best new features of Windows 10 . Here are some of the really awesome ones you might not have heard about. Read more…

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The Best Windows 10 Features You Probably Haven’t Heard About