Tech Spite

Meta and a group of researchers from the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) are working on bringing realistic audio to the metaverse. As Kristen Garuman, Research Director at Meta AI, explains , there’s more to augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR, respectively) than just visuals. Audio plays a very important role in making a world feel alive. Garuman says “audio is shaped by the environment that [it’s] in.” There are various factors that influence how sound behaves like the geometry of a room, what’s in said room, and how far someone is from a source. To achieve this, Meta's plan is to use AR glasses to record both audio and video from one location, then using a set of three AI models, transform and clean the recording so it feels like it's happening in front of you when you play it back at home. The AIs will take into account the room that you're in so it can match the environment.  Looking at the projects, it appears Meta is focusing on AR glasses. Meta...

It was one of the most talked about pieces of new tech at this year’s CES , and now home cinema fanatics can get to hear what all the fuss was all about for themselves, with LG’s ground-breaking new Dolby Atmos soundbar system now available to buy. The new S95QR sound system’s big calling card is its unique up-firing centre-channel  speaker, which cleverly uses sound reflections from your ceiling to make dialogue sound like it’s coming from the centre of your display. As well as offering a hefty 810W and 9.1.5 channels of audio, the new soundbar also features a wireless subwoofer and wireless rear speakers, getting rid of the trails of cables that put many folk off from having a surround system. Those rear speakers also have a 4.0.2 setup, sporting six channels of audio instead of the four found on the company's previous flagship, thanks to two additional side-firing drivers, which LG claim makes for better sound dispersal behind the viewer. LG meanwhi...

Microsoft has just released previews of three new updates, which seemingly fix multiple connectivity issues plaguing some Windows versions after the last cumulative update. As reported by BleepingComputer , the company published three cumulative updates for the month, one for Windows 11 (KB5014668), one for Windows Server 2022 (KB5014665), and one for Windows 10, 1809 (KB5014669). Among the usual bug fixes and performance tweaks, these updates also address the issues reported earlier this week regarding Wi-Fi hotspots . Last week, Microsoft explained how an earlier patch broke the feature. Share your thoughts on Cybersecurity and get a free copy of the Hacker's Manual 2022 . Help us find how businesses are preparing for the post-Covid world and the implications of these activities on their cybersecurity plans. Enter your email at the end of this survey to get the bookazine, worth $10.99/£10.99. "When attempting to use the hotspot feature, the host device might ...

It's no secret that the anticipated AirPods Pro 2 Bluetooth earbuds will look almost exactly like the current version, but, according to a new leak, the same might not be said for the charging case. Not only will it get relatively subtle design updates, but some impressive new audio features. According to 52Audio , which appears to be outlining a multitude of details from what might be Apple's own internal, leaked documents, the AirPods Pro 2 will offer all the features of the current model, but add, as expected, more health-related chops, including heart rate and temperature sensors. The report doesn't offer any fresh detail about how these features might work, though it refers to what may be an updated H1 chip to support these and myriad other capabilities. The more interesting rumors revolve around audio enhancement to the case. That's right, according to 52Audio, the AirPods Pro case gets some microphones in the base - on either side of the Lightning (or USB-C)...

A new dongle has been developed to prevent cybercriminals from using HDMI ports as means of compromising target endpoints . The so-called HDMI Firewall blocks all communication going in and out of the HDMI port that is not directly related to audio or video. Each HDMI port requires a new dongle, but one can easily be repurposed to fit different ports. The dongle was designed by one “kingkevin”, who uploaded the project to source code repository CuVoodoo git. Share your thoughts on Cybersecurity and get a free copy of the Hacker's Manual 2022 . Help us find how businesses are preparing for the post-Covid world and the implications of these activities on their cybersecurity plans. Enter your email at the end of this survey to get the bookazine, worth $10.99/£10.99. Switching dongles around Admittedly, actually deploying the dongle would be no simple feat for someone without a fair amount of expertise. To use the dongle, someone would first need to program it to fit ...

Windows 8.1 end of life will soon be upon us, with extended support for the operating system set to end in early 2023. Mainstream support for Windows 8.1 was ended on January 9, 2021, and next month Microsoft will start sending reminders to users that support will end entirely on January 10, 2023. Only a tiny minority of Windows users are still using Windows 8.1, 3.06% according to the latest statistics, dwarfed by the 71.82% using Windows 10 . What does this mean? Computers running Windows 8.1 will still function, but Microsoft will no longer provide technical support on any issue, including security updates and patches for tools like office software . While you could continue to use a PC running Windows 8.1, without continued software and security updates, your PC will be at greater risk from viruses and malware according to Microsoft. Microsoft also says it won’t offer Extended Security Updates for Windows 8.1 , like it did for previous iterations such as Windows 7. Wh...

The failure of tvOS 16 to launch at the recent Apple WWDC 2022 came as a disappointment for fans of the company’s Apple TV 4K streaming box. And while we have been able to glean potential new features from the tvOS 16 beta version currently available to developers, evidence that’s turned up of a new Siri remote is what’s really grabbing our attention. The news comes to us via MacRumors , which cites contributor AaronP613 at online software and device database AppledB as having unearthed references to “SiriRemote4” in the iOS 16 beta. According to the MacRumors article, other references to a Siri remote in the iOS 16 beta top out at SiriRemote3 – the version included with the current Apple TV 4K box released in 2021 – so SiriRemote4 could indicate a new remote to be included with a forthcoming new streaming box. MacRumors goes on to say how a new, lower-cost Apple TV 4K, one designed to compete with less expensive Roku and Amazon Fire TV streamers, is something that Apple analyst...