With artificial bone marrow, scientists aim to decode blood disease

Bone marrow is like the offensive line of the immune system — it’s an essential part of the team but doesn’t always gets the recognition. By pumping out hundreds of billions of blood cells every day, bone marrow helps us fend off disease and is essential to a healthy human body.

To better understand how marrow fortifies us against disease — and to potentially help develop better therapies for diseases like leukemia — researchers have sought to develop artificial bone marrow that functions like the real thing. The problem is, living blood cells reside and multiply in a special environment, called the hematopoietic niche, which scientists have so far failed to replicate.

But now, researchers from the University of Basel and ETH Zurich have engineered an artificial bone marrow that mimics the natural kinds, offering a key to better understand how blood forms and how blood diseases can be treated.

“This 3D engineered tissue is established and maintained in a bioreactor system,” Ivan Martin, a professor of biomedicine at the University of Basel who worked on the project, told Digital Trends. “It partially recapitulates the structure, composition, and organization of the native bone marrow microenvironment … but also its main function, which is the replication and differentiation in more mature cells.”

Martin and his colleagues used a ceramic bonelike scaffold, which they combined with living cells in a bioreactor, mixing the synthetic and organic components together.

Within that artificial system, cells are able to multiply over the course of several days — not as long as natural bone marrow, but degrees better than previous synthetic models. Rather than immediate medical applications, the researchers hope their technique leads to more sophisticated, tailor-made marrow models, which can assist in drug screening.

“More than a direct medical demand, the fields of hematology and tissue engineering lacked a model close enough to sustain reasonable comparison with the in vivo human bone marrow microenvironment,” Matin said. “Indeed, research has limited possibilities to access information from human specimens and the human hematopoietic niche has remained rather inaccessible to experimental manipulation and optical observation.”

Moving forward, Martin and his team hope to use this system to study blood disorders, particularly the conditions within which these conditions first arise.

A paper detailing their research was published this week in the journal Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences.

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3D-printed mini-submarine can move in water without a motor

A motorless mini-submarine has been created by researchers from ETH Zurich and the California Institute of Technology. The 3D-printed vessel moves using a new propulsion concept designed for swimming robots, enabling it to paddle without engine power.

By responding to temperature changes in water, the robot moves its paddles back and forth, gently — albeit briefly and awkwardly — propelling itself forward.

“Imitating the motion of rowing boats, frogs or water striders, the swimming robot propels itself forward by driving its oars back,” Kristina Shea, an ETH Zurich professor of engineering design who led the project, told Digital Trends.

Rather than relying on an electric motor that connects to a power source, the robot’s oars are activated using a similar mechanism used in snap-on bracelets. This activation is triggered by a “shape memory polymer” strips, which act like muscles.

“A shape memory polymer is a type of plastic that becomes compliant when heated,” Shea explained. “In the heated condition, it can be ‘programmed’ from its permanent shape to a secondary shape. This secondary shape becomes stable when the shape memory polymer is cooled down, yet it does not lose its ‘memory’ of its permanent shape. When it is reheated, it recovers its permanent shape.”

In recovering its permanent shape, force is transferred to an internal mechanism, causing the oars to snap back and drive the robot forward. The shape memory polymer is designed to expand in water, so when the water is heated, they serve as something like muscles for the machine.

The machine is still very primitive, capable of performing just a single paddle stroke and small tasks like dropping a coin. But by demonstrating that this propulsion method is feasible, the researchers hope to develop more complex techniques.

“The main takeaway from our work is that we have developed a new and promising means of propulsion that is fully 3D printed, tune-able, and works without an external power source,” Shea said in a statement.

Among these possible applications, Shea and her team envision similar systems providing low-cost power sources for ocean exploration. In addition to responses to changes in water temperature, these future versions may be sensitive to things like acidity and salinity.

A paper detailing the study was published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Apple Expands Indoor Maps Availability at Airports and Malls

Apple Maps has gained indoor maps for an additional four international airports and one shopping mall around the world.

The recently enabled airports include Charlotte Douglas International in North Carolina, Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International and Québec City Jean Lesage International in Canada, and Taoyuan International in Taiwan.

When searching for those airports, Apple Maps users can tap “look inside” or simply zoom in to view terminals, boarding gates, security checkpoints, airline check-in desks, baggage claim carousels, information kiosks, restrooms, stores, restaurants, parking garages, and even escalators, elevators, and stairs.

An indoor map is also now available at the Trinity Leeds shopping center in England, according to Apple’s iOS feature availability page.

Indoor maps at shopping malls make it easier to find the exact location of stores, restaurants, restrooms, escalators, elevators, and stairs on each floor. The feature enables users to filter stores by categories, such as clothes, shoes, accessories, beauty, food, and drinks, with detailed place cards for each.

When the feature launched with iOS 11, indoor maps were only available in a handful of airports and shopping malls around the world, but Apple has been steadily adding locations over the past year.

The list includes airports and shopping malls in select cities across North America and Europe, including Baltimore, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, London, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, San Jose, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, and Washington, DC. The full list can be viewed here.

Tag: Apple Maps
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LinkedIn will tell you exactly how long your new job’s commute will be

When it comes to finding a new job, it’s not just the work-life balance, the compensation, or the people that ultimately have to take into consideration. It’s the location, too. Now, LinkedIn is not only helping you build your resume and your professional network but is also serving as your mapping service. The company’s latest feature lets you see the location and commute time to certain employers, which may just help you decide whether or not you want to be its next employee.

The feature, aptly named “Your Commute,” has now been made globally available on the mobile version of the site, and provides location data for all businesses where LinkedIn already boasts location information, according to TechCrunch. Soon, the feature will also be available on desktop. As senior product manager Dan Li told TechCrunch, moving forward, Your Commute will be a factor when LinkedIn recommends jobs that you may want to check out.

“When members save their location preferences in Career Interests, we’re able to provide more relevant job recommendations that fit exactly what they’re looking for in their next role,” Li said. “We’re thinking through additional ways members can use location information to improve their job searches in the near future.”

The location services of LinkedIn are being supported by Bing Maps, which comes as no surprise given that both Bing and LinkedIn now live under the overarching Microsoft umbrella. The professional networking service, of course, was acquired by Microsoft in 2016 for $2.6 billion.

“Our members have indicated that the location of a job — and the commute time associated with it — is a big factor in their decision-making process when considering new roles,” Li added. “We know commute times are getting longer across the board according to recent research from Gallup.” While you may not be able to avoid this trend, at least you’ll know what you’re getting yourself into ahead of time with the new feature.

According to LinkedIn’s own survey data, around 85 percent of workers would take a lower salary if it meant a shorter commute. As LinkedIn puts it, “The Your Commute feature is a quick and easy way for members to access insight into their potential commute directly within the job posting on LinkedIn and empower them to make more informed career decisions.”

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Robot-controlled table lets you manipulate liquid rocket fuel with your face

We love ferrofluid, the crazy ink-like rocket fuel that moves around seemingly of its accord, like the Venom suit from Spider-Man in its liquid form. We also love robots, especially when they are put to particularly innovative use. And we love awesome A.I. tech demos of things like face tracking.

You could say, then, that we’re the ideal target audience for an amazing new art installation developed by Zurich-based designers Maria Smigieska and Pierre Cutellic. Called “Proteus,” it’s a wall-mounted robot table that uses real-time face tracking to manipulate a ferrofluid display. Check out the video up top to see it in action.

The work is currently on display at the Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Austria, as part of a “Creative Robotics” exhibition. It is composed of a KUKA KR3 robot mounted to the wall, with a custom magnetic end effector that manipulates the ferrofluid. This ferrofluid is arranged in a 92 dish grid containing alcohol and the liquid rocket fuel. Using FaceOSC face tracking software, the robot magnetic effector can be manipulated to create all kinds of beautiful patterns in response to how viewers move their face.

“The piece is a hybrid analogue and digital, interactive display,” Smigieska told Digital Trends. “Analogue because it works with matter, which in our case is ferrofluid; digital because its pattern is modulated by magnetic fields and robotic interface. Similarly to any display, it is based on a grid, but instead of simple color intensity, each pixel contains a much richer pattern dependant on user interaction — namely real-time face tracking data, as well as the behavior of neighboring ferropixels.”

What is the point of it? According to Smigieska, the ferrofluid’s constant switching in form is a reference to the stories of Greek god Proteus, which gave the project its name. Really, though, it’s just a beautiful art installation that merges the worlds of tech and artistry to create something stunning.

In some ways, it reminds us of this beautiful table creation by artist Bruce Shapiro, which also borrowed its inspiration from Greek mythology and uses a tiny two-motor robot and magnet to create constantly shifting patterns in sand. In both cases, we don’t know exactly why we want one –just that we really, really do!

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Google prepares an always-connected Chromebook to take on Microsoft

Dan Baker/Digital Trends

More Chromebooks could be coming in the future with a built-in LTE modem for always-on connectivity. The latest code in Chrome OS reveals that Google may be looking at adding eSIM, or electronic SIM, support to the operating system. Google may even leverage its Project Fi service to provide cellular data to Chromebooks in the future, 9to5 Google suggested.

A code commit with the Hermes codename was spotted by XDA Developers. “Hermes is the codename for the project of implementing eSIM support for Chrome OS,” the commit read. “Hermes will be responsible for delivering messages between devices with eSIM chips and carrier servers through profile downloads as well as service discovery for new carriers.”

Like a traditional SIM card in a smartphone or tablet, an electronic SIM connects the device to a cellular network. Unlike a traditional SIM, eSIM isn’t a physical card that can be  removed. Instead, eSIM are digital cards that are embedded and built into the hardware. Apple uses an eSIM, for example, on its Apple Watch to save space on the compact wearable as a physical SIM card isn’t needed, and Google is also no stranger to the technology. The standard is currently supported on the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones. With an eSIM, customers can also easily change wireless service providers without having to replace a physical SIM card.

Adding eSIM support to Chrome OS makes sense given that the lines between Chromebooks and Android tablets are now blurring. In the past, tablets with cellular data connectivity were popular given that they can quickly access the internet and apps can update in the background when away from a Wi-Fi network. And with a 360-degree hinge in a convertible form factor, support for Android apps, and the addition of digital inking capabilities with a stylus, many modern Chromebooks, including Google’s Pixelbook, can be used as an alternative to Android tablets.

With always-on connectivity, future Chromebooks with eSIM support would be more competitive against Always-Connected PCs from Microsoft. The Always-Connected PC platform runs Windows 10 on ARM-based processors made by Qualcomm. In addition to low power consumption, Microsoft had touted the always-on LTE connectivity as a benefit for road warriors who need to stay productive while away from an office with Wi-Fi.

Google’s Project Fi service currently switches between T-Mobile, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular networks depending on various factors, like network speed and reception. The benefit of Project Fi on Google’s Pixel phones is that you get free roaming when traveling internationally. It’s unclear if a data-only Chromebook plan will also benefit from roaming at no extra cost.

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The best MacBook Pro you can buy is on sale for $1,000 at Best Buy

Best Buy is taking $300 off the price of Apple’s latest 13-inch MacBook Pro notebooks as part of a limited time promotion. With the discount, Apple’s entry-level MacBook Pro laptop comes in at just under $1,000, down from $1,300, but that model doesn’t come with the Touch Bar. Apple also has a $1,200 configuration, discounted from $1,500, as well as a high-end $1,800 configuration, down from $2,100, as part of this sale.

At the base $1,000 configuration, you’re going to get a seventh-generation Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM with 128GB storage, integrated Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640, and two Thunderbolt 3 ports. The laptop is available in both silver and space gray at that price. The $1,500 model bumps the storage up to a 256GB solid-state drive, but keeps everything else the same. It also doesn’t ship with Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint scanner or the Touch Bar. This configuration is also available in silver and space gray. And finally, Best Buy’s top configuration comes with 512GB of storage, two additional Thunderbolt 3 ports, Touch ID scanner, and the new Touch Bar. The $1,800 configuration also doubles the memory to 16GB and comes with an upgraded Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650, but only the space gray version of this laptop is in stock at Best Buy at the time of writing.

While these are the newest MacBook Pros, there are some caveats you should be aware of before you make a purchase decision. First, unlike older MacBook Pro models, Apple switched to a new butterfly key switch design for its keyboard. This allows Apple to design the laptops with a slim profile, but the downside is that key travel is shallow and could be uncomfortable to type on. Second, the keyboard may be twice as prone to failure as older keyboards, and out of warranty repairs are expensive given the complex assembly of the keyboard.

The latest Best Buy price discounts come at a time when rumors of a MacBook Pro refresh are at a high. Although these laptops use Intel’s seventh-generation processors, the latest competing notebooks running Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system have been shipping with Intel’s newer eighth-generation processor, which comes with better performance and improved battery life. Still, if you don’t need the latest hardware processors, the discount could represent a good value. And when Apple releases its next version of MacOS called Mojave this fall, these MacBook Pros will be capable of running the update. Mojave brings a Dark Mode as well as a number of new features and security fixes to make it harder for websites to spy on your online activities.

If you’re in the market for a new laptop, be sure to also check out some of our favorite MacBook Pro alternatives.

We strive to help our readers find the best deals on quality products and services, and choose what we cover carefully and independently. If you find a better price for a product listed here, or want to suggest one of your own, email us at dealsteam@digitaltrends.com.Digital Trends may earn commission on products purchased through our links, which supports the work we do for our readers.

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Kobo Clara HD review

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Kobo Clara HD

It’s hard to believe it has been eight years since Kobo released its first ebook reader. The original Kobo was an ambitious, but somewhat impractical ebook reader. It nailed the basics, like its six-inch E Ink display with a 170 DPI, as well as a big rubber navigation button. What was missing, however, was Wi-Fi or cellular connectivity — if you wanted to download a book, you’d need to plug the Kobo ebook reader into your laptop.

Ebook reader technology has come a long way, but Amazon has claimed the space as king with its Kindle devices. Rakuten’s Kobo is still in the fight, though, and its latest entry is the Kobo Clara HD, a budget ebook reader meant to directly compete against Amazon’s affordable Kindle Paperwhite. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles you’ll find on more expensive ebook readers like the Kobo Aura One and Kindle Oasis, but there’s a lot packed in for just $130.

Ergonomic design

The Kobo Clara HD looks like the average ebook reader. It has a six-inch, 300 pixels per inch (ppi) E Ink display nestled in a chunky and plastic black slab. The thick bezels around the whole ebook reader may look dated, but it helps with holding the device comfortably when reading.

On the bottom, you’ll find a MicroSD charging port alongside the power button. We’d really like to start seeing USB Type-C charging ports in ebook readers, since that’s what many phones and laptops use and it’d make things simple if only one cable was needed, but even the most expensive ebook readers still use MicroUSB.

Flip the Kobo Clara HD over and you’ll find a textured back that’s gently curved to fit perfectly in the palm of your hand. And at a little under 6 ounces, about the weight of an iPhone 8 Plus, the Clara HD is one of the lightest ebook readers we’ve used. All of that means it’s lightweight and comfortable to use for long periods of time. The 6-inch form factor makes it a perfect companion for commutes.

At a little under 6 ounces, about the weight of an iPhone 8 Plus, it’s the lightest ebook reader we’ve used.

There is one feature missing that would make the Kobo Clara HD the perfect budget ebook reader — water resistance. We’ve only seen water resistance in a handful of expensive ebook readers, so we’re not surprised to see it absent here, but considering Kobo beat Amazon to the punch before, it’d be nice to see the company do it again with one of its most affordable ebook readers.

Great display and zippy performance

Once we started our first book, The Female Persuasion, on the Kobo Clara HD, we were hooked. The 300 DPI E Ink screen produces crisp text and sharp images. Page transitions — which can be painfully slow on older ebook readers — are nearly instantaneous. And since the Clara HD refreshes the screen at the end of each chapter, we didn’t notice any significant ghosting on the display.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The Clara HD does an excellent job of automatically managing brightness throughout the day, but there’s also a brightness slider that lets you to make manual changes to suit your personal preferences. It’s perfectly readable outdoors in direct sunlight. There are also a number of customization features, like the ability to choose from 11 different fonts along with 40 font size options. You can also tweak font weight and sharpness settings. It’s also easy to highlight, annotate, and share passages via Facebook.

The 300 DPI E Ink screen produces crisp text and sharp images.

The ebook reader uses the same ComfortLight Pro technology found in other Kobo ebook readers. It’s essentially a blue-light filter that works automatically by tracking the time and your timezone, and it then reduces the amount of blue-light exposure at night. The screen gets more orange, but it’s certainly more helpful for your health as blue light from screens can hinder your sleep.

The Clara HD’s internals are unremarkable, but we haven’t run into problems after quite some use.  It’s powered by a 1GHz processor along with 512MB of RAM. Books load quickly and page transitions are seamless. What does stand out however, is the Clara HD’s 8GB storage capacity. It’s double what you’ll find on the Kindle Paperwhite or the similarly-priced Kobo Aura, and it should allow you to store around 6,000 books on it.

One glaring omission

If you’ve ever used an ebook reader before, the Clara HD’s software experience will be familiar. When you turn the device on, there’s a homepage that shows the current book you’re reading, as well as a library of all the titles you own. There’s also an e-book store alongside a list of recommended books. The bar at the top provides features a drop-down menu to quickly access the ebook reader’s features as well as a battery life indicator, search bar, sync icon, and brightness control.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

In addition to all the basic features you’d expect on an ebook reader, the Kobo Clara HD also has Pocket integration, and the icon can be found on the bottom of the home screen. Tap it, and here you can access articles and websites sent from Pocket on your laptop or computer’s browser. You’ll find a similar feature on Kindle with Instapaper, but to use it you’ll need to pay $20 a year on the Kindle.

It has 8GB of storage capacity, double what you’ll find on the Kindle Paperwhite or similarly priced Kobo Aura.

The Clara HD also has an Activity mode that lets you track reading time, average minutes per session, and number of books read. It’s a simple yet handy feature that offers a lot of insight into your overall reading habits.

But there is one glaring omission on the Clara HD, and it’s Overdrive integration. It’s a feature first introduced on the Kobo Aura One that allows you to download library books directly to your ebook reader for a short period of time, but it’s nowhere to to be found on the Clara HD. Yes, you can manually add Overdrive titles to the Clara HD, but it’s an involved process requiring you to connect your ebook reader to your computer each time you want to check out a book. We’d have liked it to be a simpler process here.

No magazines or newspapers

In addition to an ebook reader store boasting more than five million titles, the Kobo Clara HD supports more than a dozen different formats including EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT, HTML, RTF, and more. Buying e-books directly from the Kobo Store on the ebook reader is the easiest way to get your next read, but adding titles from third parties requires you to side-load the book into the Kobo Clara HD. It can be a little bit of a pain, and there’s no handy “Send To Kindle” type feature that allows you to email documents directly to the ebook reader.

Kobo Clara HD Compared To

Sony Digital Paper DPT-RP1

Boox Max 2

Kindle Oasis (2017)

Kobo Aura H2O Edition 2

Kobo Aura One

Kindle Oasis

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2015

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2013)

Kobo Aura HD

Kobo Mini

Sony Reader PRS-T2

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

Spring Design Alex

Barnes & Noble Nook

Sony PRS-700

You won’t find newspaper or magazine subscriptions in the Kobo Store. It was available at some point, but it was removed several years ago. Rakuten Kobo said they removed the feature to focus on their key e-book business. You can access newspaper and magazine subscriptions on Kindle devices, so this may not be the device for you if that’s what you want to use an ebook reader for.

Long-lasting battery

Kobo said the average reader will be able to use the Clara HD for weeks between a single charge. We’ve used the device for about a week and our Kobo Clara HD still nearly has a full charge. It’s safe to say that you won’t have to worry about charging this device much.

Price, availability, and warranty information

The Clara HD costs $130 and it’s available now from Kobo’s website.

It comes with a one-year warranty that covers manufacturer defects. If you encounter problems, you can send your ebook reader to Rakuten Kobo for repair or replacement.

Our Take

The Kobo Clara HD has all the features you’d expect, and then some, in an entry-level ebook reader. It’s lightweight, has a spectacular six-inch HD display, offers a lot of storage, and adds automatic lighting adjustments for night-time reading.

Is there a better alternative?

The Kobo Clara HD is your best choice if you’re looking for a budget ebook reader. The Kindle Paperwhite is a similar ebook reader overall — even in price — in case you want to use Amazon as your e-book store.

If you’re open to spending more money, we recommend taking a look at the Kobo Aura One or the 2017 Amazon Kindle Oasis. Check out our guide to the best ebook readers for more.

How long will it last?

If well cared for, the Kobo Clara HD is likely to last four or five years, likely more. Ebook reader technology evolves slowly, so it’s less likely you’ll see substantive changes in the field that would render the Kobo Clara HD obsolete in the near future. In terms of hardware, the battery is the component mostly likely to fail on most devices. But since you only need to charge the ebook reader a few times a month, it should take quite a few years before you begin experience issues with battery degradation. A more likely scenario is that you’ll simply outgrow the Kobo Clara HD over time and want to upgrade to an ebook reader with a larger display or more features.

Should you buy it?

Yes. If you’re looking for an excellent entry-level ebook reader, the Kobo Clara HD is our top pick.

Another Facebook fail: Bug caused it to publicly share 14M private messages

Facebook finds itself in hot waters again. With the now infamous Cambridge Analytica breach still fresh in people’s minds, Facebook has now inadvertently made the private posts of some 14 million users on its network publicly visible.

So rather than being shared with a small group of family and friends, these posts — including photos and videos — were made available for everyone to see. Facebook said the issue has been corrected, and posts that were intended to be shared privately have been recategorized. However, Facebook’s latest misstep comes at a time when the company’s privacy practices have been called into question.

This latest glitch was blamed on a bug that appeared during Facebook’s testing of a new feature. Facebook was trying out a new option for people to share featured items on their feeds. Instead of relying on previous privacy settings established by the users, the glitch made postings public as a default. This bug affected posts between May 18-22, but Facebook didn’t correct the issue and recategorize these posts as private until May 22, CNET reported.

“We recently found a bug that automatically suggested posting publicly when some people were creating their Facebook posts,” Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan said in a statement. “We have fixed this issue and starting today, we are letting everyone affected know and asking them to review any posts they made during that time. To be clear, this bug did not impact anything people had posted before – and they could still choose their audience just as they always have. We’d like to apologize for this mistake.”

If you’re affected by this error, Facebook will notify you by Thursday, June 7, with an alert in your notifications.

This latest incident could result in a deception investigation by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, said Jonathan Mayer, a Princeton University assistant professor of computer science and public affairs.  “That’s because the company had promised that the setting users set in their most recent privacy preferences would be maintained for future posts,” ABC News explained. “In this case, this did not happen for several days.”

In addition to the Cambridge Analytica scandal that exposed the personal data of as many as 87 million users of the social network, Facebook was most recently in hot water when it was reported that the company may have shared the data of its users with device manufacturers, including Chinese companies ZTE, Huawei, and Lenovo.

The best free recording software

Thanks to advances in computer software, it has never been easier to make your own music from home or on the go, rather than in a pricey studio. When it comes to the search for a free and reliable Digital Audio Workstations (DAW) to record music, the internet has a lot to offer, but what is the best free recording software?

Though “freemium” software often lacks the advanced functionality of renowned programs like Pro Tools, it still provides options for recording audio, adding effects, and cutting waveforms, among other basic tasks. Below, we compiled a list of the best free recording software you can download, install, and immediately start using on your computer.

If you want to play around with someone else’s tracks, these are the best music download sources.

The best

GarageBand

Although MacOS isn’t always the only platform for great software, when it comes to free recording applications, it has the best of the bunch. GarageBand is an Apple exclusive program that gives you a full audio creation suite with features for audio recording, virtual instruments, MIDI-editing, and even music lessons built right in.

Part of the appeal of GarageBand is how simple it is to get going with. Its interface is intuitive and easy to learn and if you want to record something you just plug in your instrument or device and get started. There is a wide array of virtual amps and effects you can use, as well as drum tracks that sound like they were performed by real musicians.

The sound and loop library that’s available for editing into your own tracks is growing all the time and you can even bring in your iOS devices for wireless control of your set up. GarageBand is the most fully featured, free application on this list. While you will need to have an Apple device to run it, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better application that doesn’t force you to get out your credit card first.

Download now for:

MacOS iOS

The rest

Avid Pro Tools First

Avid
Avid

Pro Tools First is a limited version of the main Pro Tools and Pro Tools HD applications, but it’s still pretty capable in its own right. Aimed at singers, songwriters, and musicians who are just getting started with audio recording or want to try out the software before buying, the main limitation is that you can only store projects in the cloud and then, only up to 1GB in total size. You’re also limited to 16 simultaneous audio tracks, four inputs, and 16 instruments.

Beyond that though, the features and capabilities are much the same, giving you a good idea of what the tool can do. For example, you still gain access to 500MB of bundled loops from leading producers, the Xpand!2 multitimbral music workstation with 20 effects and plugins, and the same support for third party-interface systems as the premium versions.

One upside of not having quite so many features as the premium editions of Pro Tools, is that Pro Tools First has less strenuous system requirements. It only needs an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, with 2GB of RAM and 15.5GB of install space. If you do choose to upgrade to the standard or HD version further down the line, they’ll set you back $25 and $83 a month respectively.

Download now for:

Windows MacOS

Audacity

First released in 2000, Audacity has gone on to become one of the most popular pieces of free software around, and for good reason. The open-source program gives users a wide range of options for recording and editing audio, all tied together with a simple interface. Everything Audacity has to offer is free of charge. Compared to other notable DAWs such as ProTools and Sound Forge, Audacity’s layout is very minimalist. There are toolbars for navigating a track, editing it, and mixing. When tracks are loaded, they will appear as waveforms, and users can edit specific sections of a track by highlighting the appropriate section of the waveform.

Of course, no piece of free software is without its shortcomings, and despite Audacity’s many virtues, it has some issues. The most notable problem is that Audacity uses “destructive editing,” which means that when users add effects to a track, they are actually altering the waveform; these changes happen to the original file, so you can’t go back and undo them later. This isn’t necessarily a problem if you’re carrying out simple tasks — such as editing pauses out of a podcast — but more complex actions like mixing might be difficult.

Further, Audacity requires numerous plugins to reach optimal functionality; it cannot export projects as MP3s, for example, unless you install an MP3 encoder. Though, you could just convert the files from MP3 yourself, using external apps. Overall, however, Audacity offers one of the most robust packages available among free recording programs.

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Windows MacOS Linux

Ardour

Ardour is an open-source DAW designed for Linux and available for MacOS and Windows. Its developer, Paul Davis, also invented the Jack sound server for Linux and worked previously as one of the original programmers at Amazon.

Ardour features highly versatile multi-track recording features that include the ability to import video for film scoring purposes, to record and edit either non-destructively or destructively, and to prepare any combination of individual tracks for recording. Its use of Jack makes it compatible with a number of outside applications, as well. However, unlike other DAWs, Ardour does not come with any built-in effects or instruments and relies instead on the installation of third-party software.

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Windows MacOS Linux

Zynewave Podium Free

In 2005, programmer Frits Nielson left his position as a user interface designer with TC Electronic to focus his efforts on a recording application he began developing back in the early ‘90s. Nielson started a company called Zynewave and released a program called Podium — a fully functional DAW with a 64-bit sound engine, MIDI capabilities, VST and third-party plugin compatibility, and a number of other advanced functions. It was also priced at a mere $50.

Zynewave now offers a free version of its software called Podium Free. Granted, it comes with some limitations — Zynewave has disabled Podium’s multiprocessing capabilities, which hinders the program’s performance under pressure and its surround-sound playback capabilities. Otherwise, though, Podium Free is identical to Podium, a program that takes some getting used to.

Once users learn how to use it, however, they will find that Podium Free offers an interface that excels in terms of customization, while offering a suite of effects and other features on par with premium DAWs. The program also never times out or displays a nag screen, and Nielson regularly updates the software to fix bugs and known issues.

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Windows

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