Technology - Kalakshar US

Spotify Wrapped 2024 includes AI-hosted podcasts discussing your listening habits

There’s a chill in the air, lights have been strung through the trees and winter coats are a daily need. All this can only mean one thing: it’s Spotify Wrapped season. Today, Spotify Wrapped begins rolling out to users across the globe with a slew of new features powered by Google’s AI-powered NotebookLM.

To be honest, some of it is, let’s say, interesting. Notably, Spotify is releasing a My Wrapped AI Podcast with two hosts discussing all your listening preferences for the year. These hosts in question are powered by the same technology that NotebookLM uses to make audio overviews. The podcasts should last three to six minutes, are shareable and available for free and premium users in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland and Sweden for a limited time. If you love listening to AI then maybe this is exciting for you but, personally, I’m happy with my usual roundup. Spotify does caveat that it might not “provide a comprehensive overview” and could mispronounce words or use inappropriate language if its in a song title, for example.

Then there’s the AI DJ, which brings you through the music you listened to and provides commentary. Yes, this sounds a bit like the AI podcast, but it should focus more on the actual music and how you used the DJ. It should also touch on aspects like your top artists and most listened to songs. However, this feature and a wrapped version of Spotify’s AI Playlist are only available to premium subscribers.

As always, you can also see how your listening choices measure up against other users. Spoiler that’s not really a spoiler: Taylor Swift and her album The Tortured Poet’s Department took the most streamed spots for artist and album, respectively, both in the US and globally. Women took the top five spots for most streamed albums globally, while Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter held the title of most streamed song for the US and world. Other categories of interest include the top podcasts and most viral songs, plus one interesting addition: audiobooks.

Spotify has leaned heavily into audiobooks this year, rolling out a subscription solely for the medium and new tools like a sleep timer and detailed author pages. So, it’s no surprise that the platform has released its first ever year-end top charts for audiobooks. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas was the top audiobook for premium users in both the US and globally — a near inevitably for anyone paying even a little attention to book trends this year. Also new this year: Authors will join creators, artists, podcasters and advertisers in receiving a Wrapped all about how their readers listened to their books in 2024.

As always, Spotify Wrapped is shaping up to be a bit cringe (as many new AI creations are) and the usual burst of fun. You can explore these features and more on your Spotify Wrapped or, if this has all been irrelevant to you, maybe on the just announced Amazon Music Delivered or through Apple Music Replay.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/spotify-wrapped-2024-includes-ai-hosted-podcasts-discussing-your-listening-habits-130002140.html?src=rss

Ubisoft is giving up on XDefiant

Ubisoft’s first-person shooter XDefiant, which launched less than six months ago with some success, will shut down on June 3, 2025. As part of that, the studio will close three production studios and lay off 277 employees.

New downloads, player registrations, and purchases will no longer be available starting today, However, Season 3 will launch as planned and servers will remain online until June 3. Players who purchased the Ultimate Founders Pack or bought anything in the last 30 days will automatically receive full refunds within eight weeks.

“Despite an encouraging start, the team’s passionate work, and a committed fan base, we’ve not been able to attract and retain enough players in the long run to compete at the level we aim for in the very demanding free-to-play FPS market,” said Ubisoft’s chief studios and portfolio officer Marie-Sophie de Waubert.

Ubisoft confirmed that it will close its Osaka and San Francisco studios while ramping down its Sydney site. That will result in the loss of 277 jobs, or just over half of XDefiant’s team, with the other half transitioning to other parts of the company. “I want to express my deepest gratitude for your work and contributions. Please know that we are committed to supporting you during this transition,” de Waubert told departing employees.

At one time, XDefiant was Ubisoft’s fastest growing game ever, hitting 5 million users sooner than any of its other titles and eventually counting up to 15 million players. However, it couldn’t build on that success and last month, rumors began to circulate that XDefiant would be shut down. “The game is too far away from reaching the results required to enable further significant investment,” de Waubert said yesterday.

Ubisoft has been going through a rough patch of late. The company recently cancelled The Division: Heartland before it launched and delayed Assassin’s Creed Shadows until Valentine’s Day 2025, following a disappointing launch for Star Wars Outlaws. Last year, the company cancelled three unannounced projects and commenced a restructuring program that led to over a thousand layoffs.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ubisoft-is-giving-up-on-xdefiant-130023396.html?src=rss

This new startup wants to be your AI-powered boxing coach

The connected fitness boom of pandemic-era lockdowns is long behind us (hopefully), but Growl, a new startup, is still looking to bolt a workout to the wall of your home. Think of Tonal, except instead of resistance training, it’s a boxing-inspired heavy bag session.

The wall-mounted Growl is, according to the company, powered by AI and Unreal Engine and appears to have overhead projectors, which beam the image of a life-sized coach onto the convex punching surface. 3D motion tracking technology claims to gather information about your form and technique and provide insights.

Besides the projection, the bag has an interactive coaching system to help motivate users. It also supposedly supports side-by-side training, which works great for training partners.

Growl isn’t available yet, but pre-sales are likely to open in April 2025. Pricing is projected to be between $150 and $190 a month, putting it on the steeper end of fitness devices, if it ever ships. And keep in mind you’ll need to install this thing into a wall that can withstand hours of punching.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/this-new-startup-wants-to-be-your-ai-powered-boxing-coach-120022634.html?src=rss

The Morning After: Apple Music Replay is here to highlight your questionable tastes

Apple has wrapped up all your listening stats in a bow with its annual recap of your entire year in music streaming. This time, you can view the full Replay experience in the Apple Music app via the home, new and search tab — yes, no need to go to a microsite for your vital listening statistics. You can save a playlist of your most-played songs in 2024, though that and your stats will be cemented in January — if you’re looking to kick out a particularly embarrassing song that’s wormed its way into your head, you could spam other tracks? You can even access your Replays from previous years (something Spotify doesn’t offer with Wrapped).

More widely, the most-listened-to song on Apple Music overall this year was Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” his most recent Drake-diss track. Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things,” meanwhile, was the most identified song on Shazam. Beautifully hard to identify.

— Mat Smith

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The biggest tech stories you missed

Walmart completes its $2.3 billion purchase of Vizio

China has banned certain metal exports in retaliation for the US chip restrictions

Jaguar unveils polarizing concept EV as part of its rebrand

MSI’s new Claw gaming handhelds have Lunar Lake processors

Intel unveils its budget Battlemage Arc GPUs

The $249 Arc B580 is reportedly faster than NVIDIA’s RTX 4060.

Intel

Who cares if Intel doesn’t have a boss! The company’s second-generation Xe2 Arc GPUs are real, and once again, they could be compelling options for gamers looking for capable video cards under $250. Confirming leaks from the past week, Intel today unveiled the $249 Arc B580 and the slightly less capable $219 B570, both of which target 1,440p gaming. We liked Intel’s last cards, but that hasn’t stopped its overall GPU market share from falling to zero percent. The Arc B580 cards will be available on December 13 for $249, while Arc B570 models will arrive next month, on January 16, for $219.

Continue reading.

Firing Pat Gelsinger doesn’t solve Intel’s problems

Turning around 20 years of bad decisions.

As Intel searches for a new boss, Daniel Cooper explores the state of things at the chip manufacturer, the missteps made by the outgoing CEO — including a disastrous aside about Taiwan — and where Intel goes from here.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-intels-ceo-just-suddenly-retired-121513539.html?src=rss

Former Celsius CEO pleads guilty to two fraud charges

Former cryptocurrency leader Alex Mashinsky has pleaded guilty to two fraud charges. The founder and CEO of Celsius Network was indicted on seven criminal counts in 2023, including charges of fraud, conspiracy and market manipulation. He entered a not guilty plea at the time, but in a hearing today, Mashinsky pled guilty to two of those original counts. The first is commodities fraud and the second is a fraudulent scheme to manipulate the price of his company’s in-house crypto token CEL. Reuters reported that as part of a plea deal, Mashinsky has agreed not to appeal any sentence of 30 years or less.

Mashinsky’s case is one of several fraud cases being pursued against leaders of cryptocurrency operations. The most well-publicized charges are those brought against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who was found guilty on seven counts of fraud in 2023.

National agencies began a push into fraud charges for cryptocurrency schemes in 2022, when several notable companies filed for bankruptcy as token prices plummeted in response to rising interest rates and high inflation. That year, the Federal Trade Commission said that victims of crypto schemes had lost more than $1 billion since 2021.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/former-celsius-ceo-pleads-guilty-to-two-fraud-charges-224046043.html?src=rss

Meta wants to use nuclear power for its data centers

Meta has confirmed its plans to use nuclear power to fuel US data centers. The company announced that it’s accepting proposals from nuclear energy developers to work on the project, with the goal of adding between one and four gigawatts of nuclear energy capacity “starting in the early 2030s.”

The company’s request for proposals states that Meta is seeking partners that have experience with “either Small Modular Reactors (SMR) or larger nuclear reactors.” Axios reports that the company is “geographically agnostic” about the location of potential nuclear sites. The company previously had plans to build a nuclear-powered data center, The Financial Times reported earlier this year, but the plans were scuttled after the discovery of a rare species of bees near the site.

“As new innovations bring impactful technological advancements across sectors and support economic growth, we believe that nuclear energy can help provide firm, baseload power to support the growth needs of the electric grids that power both our data centers (the physical infrastructure on which Meta’s platforms operate) as well as the communities around them,” the company wrote in a statement.

Meta isn’t the only major tech company looking to nuclear power to help power its AI ambitions. Google recently announced a deal to build multiple reactors in the US, with the goal of adding 500 megawatts of nuclear power from SMRs. Microsoft also said this year it wants to revive the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania to fuel its AI development.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/meta-wants-to-use-nuclear-power-for-its-data-centers-225051671.html?src=rss

MSI’s new Claw gaming handhelds have Lunar Lake processors and nondescript ‘AI’ powers

MSI has two new versions of the MSI Claw after the original landed with a thud earlier this year. The company’s $900 MSI Claw 8 AI+ and $800 Claw 7 AI+ have Lunar Lake Intel processing, better battery life and quality-of-life improvements like redesigned sticks, bumpers and triggers.

The previous model launched “a touch late and a bit too pricey,” according to Engadget’s Sam Rutherford in our review. He said its performance was underwhelming compared to cheaper rivals, its software was too clunky, and it was plagued by an overabundance of optimization updates (presumably because MSI scrambled to fix its long list of problems). We haven’t handled the new models, but their switch to Intel’s latest Core Ultra 7 processor should lead to better performance and lower power consumption — two of the biggest marks against the A1M.

The Claw 8 AI+ has an 8-inch (1,920 x 1,200) display, and the Claw 7 AI+ has a 7-inch (1,920 x 1,080) one. Both devices support a 120Hz refresh rate. However, they’re LCD panels; you still won’t find an OLED option here, like in Valve and Lenovo’s alternatives.

It… floats, too?

MSI

The Claw 8 has an 80Wh battery, while the 7-inch model has a 54.5Wh battery. It uses MSI’s Cooler Boost HyperFlow tech, which includes dual fans and heat pipes. The company claims it outperforms “competitors” (without stating which) when running at a power-efficient 17W.

Each handheld has a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports, so you could plug the handheld into a monitor and use it as a makeshift Windows PC. They even have CoPilot+ support built-in.

MSI redesigned the new generation’s joysticks, bumpers, D-pad and triggers for this generation. Although the last model had Hall effect sticks, the new ones also have it in their triggers. Ergonomics were a rare highlight in the previous model, and MSI touts the new handhelds as being “tailored to fit the natural contours of the hand.”

As for the AI in the handheld’s branding, MSI presumably refers to the XeSS upscaling tech in the Intel chip. However, the previous model also used XeSS, so maybe the company just wanted to scream to customers and investors that it uses AI.

The new handhelds arrive on December 25. GameRant notes that their pre-order pages are listed without available stock (yet). Regardless, once you can buy them, the Claw 7 AI+ costs $800, and the Claw 8 AI+ will set you back $900.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/msis-new-claw-gaming-handhelds-have-lunar-lake-processors-and-nondescript-ai-powers-230028563.html?src=rss

Walmart completes its $2.3 billion purchase of Vizio

Vizio is now a member of the Walmart corporate empire. The retail company announced the completion of its $2.3 billion acquisition of the TV manufacturer on Tuesday.

Walmart didn’t just buy a TV brand. It now owns a new advertising platform. Vizio’s SmartCast OS collects huge amounts of data from its 19 million active accounts, and the company makes the majority of its money from the platform. Walmart’s new partnership with Vizio and its other smart TV brand Onn is sure to stir up the lucrative competition for advertising revenue, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Walmart officially announced its plans to buy Vizio in February following early reports about its deal.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/walmart-completes-its-23-billion-purchase-of-vizio-222449239.html?src=rss

NES Tetris is coming to the Nintendo Switch Online library this month

This is not a drill, people: Tetris for the NES will join the Nintendo Switch Online library on December 12. Nintendo of America announced this exciting arrival out of the blue today on X. The NES port of Tetris initially launched all the way back in 1989, so it’s been a very long time coming for this classic title to return to Nintendo hardware.

That’s not to say there haven’t been many other ways to get your tetrimino fix. Tetris is a perennially popular puzzle game, with many official releases and plenty of knockoffs. And plenty of them, like the dazzling Tetris Effect, are extremely good. But the NES version is the one most frequently hailed as the best of the bunch. It’s the iteration primarily used in the fascinating competitive Tetris circuit, and even after more than three decades, a player only just managed to ‘beat’ the game by, well, breaking its little computer brain. For those of us who missed out on the NES era, or those whose NES hardware bit the dust long ago, finally having a modern-day way to play this iconic version of Tetris is very exciting news.

The Switch Online service has gotten a couple notable updates in the past few weeks. A trio of Sega Genesis games joined the online Switch library, and Nintendo also released a music streaming app for members of the subscription plan. While that’s all well and good, the really exciting development will be the hotly anticipated announcement of the Switch 2, expected in March.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nes-tetris-is-coming-to-the-nintendo-switch-online-library-this-month-194523784.html?src=rss

Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 review: An impressive headphone debut

When an established company enters a new product category, there’s a lot of pressure on it to immediately impress the masses, especially when it has a proven track record in its industry. That’s what Cambridge Audio faced this year when it debuted its first wireless headphones, the Melomania P100 ($279). It had already made the Melomania M100 wireless earbuds, but with a reputation largely built on hi-fi amplifiers, digital-to-analog converters (DACs) and speakers, the company was entering uncharted waters.

With the P100, Cambridge Audio managed to leave a lasting first impression right out of the box. Starting with the refined look, it’s evident that the company is serious about taking aim at the best in the category. It partnered aesthetics with long battery life, user-friendly maintenance options and a crisp, clear sound profile for a very compelling package on its first attempt.

What’s good about the Melomania P100?

The P100 certainly looks like a set of flagship headphones. In an age when a lot of companies opt for plastic-heavy builds, even for their high-end models, it’s nice to see a polished design for less than $300. Cambridge Audio combined aluminum accents with vegan leather and soft memory foam ear cups to do most of the heavy lifting here. There’s also cross-hatched fabric on the underside of the headband that offers a textural contrast while maintaining the color scheme.

Cambridge Audio didn’t make any sacrifices on battery life with the P100, promising up to 60 hours of use with active noise cancellation (ANC) turned on. What’s more, the company says you can eke out up to 100 hours of play time with ANC disabled, depending on volume levels and other settings. I had no trouble hitting 60 hours during my battery tests, which I run almost entirely while employing noise cancellation. And to keep the P100 running longer than some headphones would, the company allows users to replace the battery themselves when performance dips (ear pads are also replaceable).

The P100 uses the same Class AB amplification that powers Cambridge Audio’s CX series hi-fi amps. This provides sound performance that’s “audibly better” than what’s found in nearly all wireless headphones, according to the company. Three-layer 40mm drivers complete the audio platform, which is tuned for “precise highs and dynamic lows.”

During my tests, the P100 excelled at reproducing crisp, clean details across every genre I threw at it. Even in the heaviest parts of Sleep Token’s “Vore,” the snare hits remained punchy, cutting through distorted guitar riffs with vocals layered in. Prominence is given to treble and mids though, as bass-heavy tracks like that one don’t quite have the booming punch they typically do. As such, the P100 was at its best for styles that demanded less low-end growl — genres like country, jazz and ‘90s grunge.

What’s not so good about the Melomania P100?

Billy Steele for Engadget

My notes on the overall sound profile of the P100 aren’t great news for those who crave a bombastic blast when listening to music by Kendrick Lamar, Kaytranada and other bass-heavy tunes. Cambridge Audio does offer a selection of presets to alter the tuning, as well as a full EQ for custom profiles. The changes were more subtle for the EQ sliders, so they didn’t deliver the thump I was after. But, unlike a lot of equalizer options from other companies, none of these muddied the sound or made things worse.

Despite the soft touch of the P100’s ear pads, they don’t offer enough buffer from the ridges of the ear cups during longer listening sessions. I used these on a cross-country trip that involved a full day of air travel and wearing headphones for a solid six hours. After about 30 minutes, I could start to feel those edges. And while they never became painful, this kept the P100 from competing with the likes of the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones and Sony’s WH-1000XM5 in terms of overall comfort.

Cambridge Audio did well to cover all the basics on the P100. There’s reliable, easy-to-use physical controls, solid adaptive ANC performance and support for aptX Lossless. Wear detection and multipoint Bluetooth are also in tow, as is wired listening at 24-bit/96kHz quality and a five-minute quick charge tool. What you won’t find are things like speech detection, any mention of spatial audio or some of the automated features the competition offers. Sure, I can excuse the omissions on the P100 given the price, but these are the types of conveniences that are increasingly becoming core specs, so one or two would’ve been nice to have.

Final verdict on the Melomania P100

I’m impressed by what Cambridge Audio has built for its first set of wireless headphones. It’s obvious the company knows how to produce clear, balanced audio, even if the P100 could use a smidge more low-end tone. The combination of design, sound, repairability and battery life make this a compelling option at well under $300. And now that the company has a solid foundation to build on, I expect to be blown away by whatever comes next.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/cambridge-audio-melomania-p100-review-an-impressive-headphone-debut-192412530.html?src=rss