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Synthesizer giant Roland just announced a fairly bizarre contraption. The Mood Pan is the company’s digital take on an acoustic handpan. For the uninitiated, a handpan is a version of the steelpan instrument that’s been popular in Trinidad and Tobago since the 1930s. It’s widely considered to be the only truly new acoustic instrument invented in the 20th century.

However, handpans and steelpans take serious skill to play. Roland’s Mood Pan is much easier to play, thanks to clearly visible pads that represent notes. These nine pads can be set to different musical scales, making it impossible to hit a wrong note. The company says that this simpler design requires “no previous musical skills.”

There’s a built-in 2.1 speaker system and a Bluetooth receiver, which lets users stream audio from external sources. The sound engine offers “tranquil tones,” with multiple sound variations and effects.

The Mood Pan allows access to a number of different percussive instruments like the tongue drum, gamelan, crystal bowl and singing bowl, along with unique tunings. It can also emulate stuff like sitars, orchestral strings and synth pads. There’s an affiliated app for changing up sounds and for fine-tuning pad sensitivity.

It’s played with finger taps, just like many of its acoustic cousins. The instrument is small enough to be placed directly on a lap, though also works on a table. Roland claims this is the perfect gadget for “musical exploration, relaxation and meditation.” As for those last two, the Mood Pan can play built-in environmental music and nature sounds. The company says these modes are for “mornings, evenings, relaxing and yoga sessions.”

This being a modern digital instrument, there’s a USB-C MIDI port for triggering sounds on computers or via other gadgets. It’s powered by six AA batteries or via USB-C connection. The instrument is available to order right now, but shipments won’t be going out for a few weeks. The Mood Pan costs $660.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/roland-just-released-a-weird-little-riff-on-an-acoustic-handpan-180051436.html?src=rss 

Anthropic has received a mixed result in a class action lawsuit brought by a group of authors who claimed the company used their copyrighted creations without permission. On the positive side for the artificial intelligence company, senior district judge William Alsup of the US District Court for the Northern District of California determined that Anthropic’s training of its AI tools on copyrighted works was protected as fair use.

Developing large language models for artificial intelligence has created a copyright law boondoggle as creators attempt to protect their works and tech companies skirt rules or find loopholes to gather more training materials. Alsup’s ruling is one of the first that will likely set the foundation for legal precedents around what AI tools can and cannot do.

Using copyright materials can be deemed fair use if the output is determined to be “transformative,” or not a substitute for the original work. “The technology at issue was among the most transformative many of us will see in our lifetimes,” Alsup wrote.

Despite the fair use designation, the ruling does still provide some recourse for the writers; they can choose to take Anthropic to court for piracy. “Anthropic downloaded over seven million pirated copies of books, paid nothing, and kept these pirated copies in its library even after deciding it would not use them to train its AI (at all or ever again),” Alsup wrote. “Authors argue Anthropic should have paid for these pirated library copies. This order agrees.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/judge-rules-anthropics-ai-training-on-copyrighted-materials-is-fair-use-182602056.html?src=rss 

When Philips Hue’s US prices go up next month, you can officially know who to blame. (Hint: It rhymes with “rump.”) Parent company Signify told Hueblog (via The Verge) that its price increases are “a direct result of tariffs.” See how easy that was, Amazon?

Before that confirmation, the company vaguely referred to an upcoming price increase. “Hurry, prices go up on July 1,” marketing copy from earlier this month stated.

Signify’s statement to Hueblog doesn’t mince words about Trump’s trade war being the culprit. “Signify will increase prices on our Philips Hue portfolio in the US, effective July 1, 2025, as a direct result of tariffs,” it wrote. “We remain committed to providing consumers with high-quality products and features that make smart lighting extraordinary. Signify reserves the right to modify prices based on new or additional tariffs becoming effective in the future.”

We don’t yet know the exact price increases. The company says it will reveal them when they take effect on July 1. But there are some hints. The newly upgraded Hue smart button costs $32 compared to the old model’s $25. If you think that’s because it’s a new version, the product stayed at the same €21.99 as its predecessor in Europe. Up to this point, the company’s US pricing had been around a 1:1 conversion.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/philips-hue-says-us-prices-will-go-up-in-july-because-of-tariffs-183434777.html?src=rss 

As we edge closer to Windows 10’s end-of-support on October 14, 2025, Microsoft is throwing its more stubborn users another bone. The company previously announced that, for the first time, consumers would be able to purchase one year of Windows 10 Extended Security Updates (ESUs) for $30. Today, Microsoft revealed that you’ll also be able to use 1,000 reward points to snap up an ESU. That could be helpful if, like me, you’ve been slowly amassing Microsoft Rewards and completely forgot they existed. (You can earn points by searching on Bing, shopping on the Microsoft store and playing Xbox games.)

To recap, the Windows 10 ESU will get users bug fixes, security updates and technical support until October 13, 2026. If you don’t pay for the ESU, you can still keep using Windows 10, you just won’t get any major updates. At the very least, though, Microsoft will continue to deliver MS 365 app security updates, as well as Windows Defender antivirus intelligence updates, until October 2028. I’d also wager you’ll start to see plenty of notifications nagging you to update to Windows 11 after this October.

Microsoft says Windows 10 users will be able to enroll in its ESU through notifications and Windows Settings. The enrollment wizard is currently available to Windows Insider testers, and the company plans to start rolling it out to general users in July, with wide availability in mid-August.

I can understand why Windows 10 users would be reluctant to move. It was a rock solid upgrade after the fiasco of Windows 8, and it’s simply annoying to readjust your entire workflow for a whole new OS. But I also liked Windows 11 when it debuted in 2021, since it offered a more refined Windows experience. Microsoft has also addressed most of my concerns with Windows 11 by now — for example, you can finally see app names on the task bar again, instead of having them hidden for the sake of aesthetics.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/windows-10-users-can-get-extended-security-updates-for-1000-microsoft-rewards-points-170023129.html?src=rss 

Picking up a new MacBook can be pricey, so we always like sharing when a great model is having a steep sale. If you’re in the market for a lightweight yet powerful laptop, then Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Air with the M3 processor might fit the bill, and it’s $450 off right now. In particular, the silver model with 24GB of RAM and 512GB of storage is on sale for $1,249 from its regular price of $1,699.

The M3 MacBook Air was our top budget pick for MacBooks, and we were impressed with its fast performance thanks to the M3 chip, as well as its sturdy and sleek design. We also enjoyed the six-speaker array on the 15-inch model, as well as the 3K Liquid Retina display. Thanks to these features and more, it earned a score of 90 in our hands-on review.

Our only real gripe was that the charging and USB-C ports are all on one side of the MacBook Air, which can make arranging peripherals a touch cluttered. It can also make charging just a little more complicated if you have to drape a charging cable around the laptop to reach the port on the other side.

This sale comes ahead of this year’s Prime Day, which will be Amazon’s longest one yet. Great deals are all over Amazon’s site right now with even more to come during the July 8 to 11 event.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-15-inch-m3-macbook-air-is-450-off-ahead-of-prime-day-154537752.html?src=rss 

Nintendo just revealed that Drag x Drive will be available on August 14, exclusively for the recently-released Switch 2 console. The company made this announcement on its Today! news app.

For the uninitiated, Drag x Drive is a 3 v 3 wheelchair basketball game. The main hook is that it’s controlled via the mouse-like functionality of those new Joy-Con controllers. This will be the first major test of this feature and will let us know if it’ll be a barely-used gimmick or a real opportunity for new gameplay experiences.

The game looks pretty fun, though it will likely be something of a niche title. Think Arms and not Wii Sports. We don’t have a price yet and it remains to be seen if the concept is robust enough to charge $60 or $70. My guess is that it’ll come somewhere in the $30 to $40 range.

This does, however, prove one thing. Nintendo is trying to release a first-party game each month, which is something it did during much of the lifecycle of the original Switch. The new console launched with Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza comes out on July 17.

Speaking of Donkey Kong Bananza, the next big Switch 2 exclusive co-stars Pauline from the original arcade game and looks like an absolute blast. DK gets to eat giant, golden bananas and destroy everything in his sight. It could also very well be a prequel to both the original Donkey Kong and Super Mario Odyssey, given Pauline’s age in Bananza.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendos-mouse-controlled-basketball-game-comes-out-on-august-14-163200335.html?src=rss 

It seems the cuts just keep on coming within Microsoft’s gaming division. A company-wide reorganization is taking place, and that’s slated to include another major round of layoffs within the Xbox team. Those cuts will be confirmed next week, according to Bloomberg. Engadget has contacted Microsoft for comment.

Microsoft confirmed last month that it would lay off about three percent of its total workforce across all teams, levels and regions in an attempt to streamline operations and flatten its management structure. That equates to around 7,000 people losing their jobs. Per Bloomberg‘s report, Xbox managers are anticipating “substantial cuts across the entire group.” 

Microsoft cut 1,900 workers from its gaming division in January 2024, and another 650 last September. It also closed down Arkane Austin and Alpha Dog Games last year, while merging Roundhouse Studios into ZeniMax Online Studios. It shut down Tango Gameworks as well, but Krafton — the publisher of PUBG: Battlegrounds — acquired that studio last August.

For the first three months of this calendar year, Microsoft reported net revenue of $25.8 billion. It also said that its Xbox content and services revenue had increased by eight percent year-over-year.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/xbox-will-reportedly-conduct-another-major-round-of-layoffs-next-week-145846887.html?src=rss 

Prime Day is still two weeks away, but the early deals are already arriving on Amazon. There’s everything from the fun, like 8BitDo’s Micro Bluetooth gamepad, to the practical, like the Levoit Core 400S air purifier. Falling firmly in the latter category is Amazon’s latest offer, a 29 percent discount on the TP-Link Deco AXE5400 WI-Fi mesh router system. You can pick up the three-pack for $250, down from $350. 

The TP-Link Deco AXE5400 is our choice for best mesh Wi-Fi system for most people. It debuted in 2023 and scored an 87 in our review thanks to features like its incredible speed — arguably the most important measure of a good Wi-Fi system. It’s also very reliable. 

The Wi-Fi system is very user-friendly and works well even in a large home. Plus, its basic security and parental control features come at no extra cost. Our only qualms were minimal like the app is a little rough and the power cables are a bit short. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/our-favorite-mesh-wi-fi-system-drops-to-a-record-low-price-ahead-of-prime-day-151326363.html?src=rss