Song Learning App Capo 3 for Mac Updated With Touch Bar Support

Popular music app Capo 3 received a major update today, adding Touch Bar support for the 2016 MacBook Pro and other new features that are designed to improve the overall user experience.

For those unfamiliar with Capo 3, it is a music app that can detect the chords in any song, allowing users to isolate specific sounds and vocals to play along with.

On 2016 MacBook Pro models, the Touch Bar can be used to scrub through songs and quickly access playback controls like volume, pause, and more. A waveform scrubber displays the waveform of the song and the locations of regions that have been added by the user.

“The Touch Bar support in Capo 3.5 was fun to build, but it’s even more fun to use,” says Chris Liscio, SuperMegaUltraGroovy founder and chief developer. “It’s great to jump instantly to a point in the song, and if you have regions placed then you can identify them in the waveform overview by color. It’s also helpful to have the audible feedback while scrubbing, so you can hear whether you’re in the right spot.”

Along with Touch Bar support, there’s a new Song Views option, which allows users to choose between a new Practice view and a Tabbing view with the Spectrogram display. New view customization options are available, allowing the tablature display and automatically detected chords to be disabled.

Transcription Playhead, a new playback mode that makes it easier to listen to individual notes has been added, and there’s an improved scrubbing feature, also for better identifying individual notes.

“I spent a week in the summer prototyping a new effect that would allow users to ‘freeze time’ so that they could hold a note still to help identify it by ear. I attached it to Capo’s scrubbing feature–just to see whether it worked–and I couldn’t stop playing with it. Since then, I’ve used it to pick apart some truly difficult solos in the Tabbing view faster than ever before.”

Capo can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for $29.99 through the holidays. A free trial is also available from the Capo website. [Direct Link]

Tag: Capo
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Uber Beacon makes it easier to identify your cab at night

Uber has been saviour to many on nights out. You’ve either missed your last train or fancy the comfort of your own cab. Simply open the app, request an Uber and you’re away, what could be simpler?

• What is Uber and how does it work?

Well sometimes it’s not always that simple, because it’s not always easy to locate your cab when it turns up. Uber is now putting that to bed with the introduction of Beacon. Uber taxis, initially in four cities: Denver, Nashville, Miami and Newcastle, will now have a light inside the windscreen that will shine a colour that you can set from within the app. When the taxi arrives, you can spot your chosen colour and you’ll be in the back of the cab quicker than before.

Another small but useful feature that has also been added is the colour of your cab. The app already tells you what car is on its way, the number plate and a photo of your driver. But now it will also tell you what colour the car is, just in case there’s more than one of the same model turn up at the same time for different people.

The updates have been made just in time for the Christmas party season, so Uber probably knows that people are going to be celebrating more, which could decrease their level of vision at the end of the night.

Uber has also made some small updates to the app, including being able to set favourite places to quickly enter as destinations, schedule trips, ideal for later in the night or early morning and share your journey in real time so your friends can see how far away from the party you are.

The features are rolling out from today on a trail basis, so be sure to look out for the app update.

Re-live the first surgery recorded via Snapchat Spectacles

UK-based teaching surgeon Dr. Shafi Ahmed — the man who previously brought you surgery livestreamed in VR — has repeated a similar feat in a slightly smaller format. After hearing about Snapchat Spectacles, Dr. Ahmed told the BBC that he saw an opportunity to “use cutting-edge technology in relatively low-cost gadgets to teach people everywhere.”

“I’m always looking for ways to develop my teaching, especially using wearable technology,” Dr. Ahmed explained further. “When I saw the Snap spectacles, I asked friends in New York to buy some and send them to me immediately.”

Because Spectacles only record 10 seconds of video at a time, a consultant had to be present to keep hitting record while Dr. Ahmed performed the routine hernia repair. But rather than recording or livestreaming the entire surgery, Dr. Ahmed says he carefully planned out which clips he would record and post in order to demonstrate the procedure to his initial audience of around 200 medical students. While the clips were posted to Snapchat live during the surgery, they’ve been archived on YouTube for future generations to study as an important artifact of 21st century medicine:

Dr. Ahmed is no stranger to new technology in the operating room: in addition to his VR and Snapchat procedures, he previously made headlines by performing surgery while wearing Google Glass. In fact, this wasn’t even the first time he’s operated with tinted lenses. On that point, Dr. Ahmed says the shades actually didn’t restrict him at all and the surgery itself was superficial anyhow, but he still plans to swap in some aftermarket clear lenses before putting them to use on the next procedure.

Via: BBC News

Source: YouTube

21st Century Fox is buying UK’s Sky in $14.6 billion deal

Following talks last week, 21st Century Fox has agreed to buy Sky, the UK’s largest pay-TV network, for £11.7 billion ($14.6 billion). The UK-based pay-TV broadcaster and broadband provider counts nearly 22 million subscribers in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany and Austria. That’ll give Rupert Murdoch a delivery platform for his 20th Century Fox movie studio and Fox TV network, along with cable TV channels like FX, Fox Sports and National Geographic.

The deal “creates a global leader in content creation and distribution, enhances our sports and entertainment scale, and gives us unique and leading direct-to-consumer capabilities and technologies,” 21st Century Fox said in a statement. As part of the deal, Sky headquarters will stay in London and continue a £1 billion ($1.25 billion) expansion of its headquarters.

The Rupert Murdoch-owned media empire already owns 39 percent of Sky and tried to buy the remaining shares back in 2010. However, the company abandoned the attempt after several of the company’s tabloids became embroiled in a the so-called phone hacking scandal.

Rumored talks last week valued Sky as high as £18.5 billion ($23.2 billion). That appears to be spot on, as the price tag is around 61 percent of that sum, exactly equal to the outstanding shares Fox didn’t own. With Brexit significantly weakening the pound, Sky became significantly cheaper for US-based Fox, making it ripe for the acquisition.

Source: 21st Century Fox

US’ new stealth destroyer may finally have affordable ammo

To put it mildly, the US screwed up when it decided to carry on with its Zumwalt-class stealth destroyers when they depended on smart ammo the Navy couldn’t afford. However, it might have a clever workaround. Officials speaking to USNI News say the Navy is looking at Raytheon’s Excalibur, a GPS-guided artillery round, as a substitute for the custom LRLAP (Long Range Land Attack Projectile) shells the Zumwalt’s main guns were designed to use. Excalibur has roughly half the range at about 30 miles, but it costs much less — about a quarter of the $800,000-plus cost per round of LRLAP. It can also hit moving targets where LRLAP couldn’t.

Whether or not the Navy goes ahead with it depends highly on the costs of modifying the Zumwalt-class’ guns to fire the new shells. Both the ammo loading system and the barrel were designed around LRLAP. Excalibur isn’t exactly a drop-in replacement, then, and estimates have a retrofit costing upward of $250 million. Still, that’s far less expensive than loading the three destroyers with their originally intended ammo.

About the only major risk comes from that range limitation. The vessel would have to get considerably closer to the shore to hit targets deep inland, increasing its exposure to anti-ship missiles and other coastal defenses that might otherwise be too far away. Of course, that’s where the stealth comes into play. The ship will ideally go unnoticed until it’s within firing range, and might not be spotted until it’s already headed back out to sea.

Via: Popular Mechanics

Source: USNI News

FCC chairman Tom Wheeler will step down next month

Next month, net neutrality will lose one of its stronger advocates — FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has just announced his plans to step down on January 20th, 2017. Not coincidentally, that’s the same day that President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office. With a new administration taking over, it’s tradition for the FCC’s chairman to step aside and let the incoming president present his own pick for the job.

Unfortunately, Wheeler has proven to be one of the stronger proponents of net neutrality we’ve seen in the government in recent years, so losing his voice will undoubtably be a setback. The FCC’s Open Internet Order, passed in February of 2015, was a key piece of legislation helping to keep the internet free from evils such as paid prioritization and throttling of certain services, two things the massive telecoms are looking to as ways to milk more money out of customers and content companies alike.

But now, with Trump’s administration ready to take over, these rules are under significant threat. As a president with a clear pro-business agenda, Trump doesn’t seem to mind trampling on the notion of a free internet if it’ll make massive companies a few more dollars. With Wheeler stepping aside, we’ll now have to wait to see who Trump appoints to the open position.

Uber Expands Color-Coded ‘Beacons’ to Four More Cities to Help Riders Find Their Drivers

One year after testing color-coded rider pickups in Seattle through a system called “SPOT,” Uber today announced that the initiative is now called “Uber Beacon,” and beginning December 16 it will expand to Miami, Denver, Nashville, and Newcastle in the United Kingdom. Uber Beacon is a piece of hardware that attaches to a driver’s windshield and “uses color-pairing technology” to match up drivers with their riders.

In the Uber app, riders will be able to select from an endless amount of color options when calling for a ride. As their driver gets to the pickup destination, the Uber Beacon in the windshield will match the color the rider picked, making it easy to find a ride at night and at crowded venues. The new hardware has also been designed to match Uber’s rider app logo.

On the rider side of things, users can hold up their smartphone to display their unique color and make it quicker for the driver to find and pick them up.

Uber said the Beacon itself can be installed easily, removed in seconds, and lasts for “several evenings without charge.”

Enter Uber Beacon, designed for simplicity and scalability. Drivers can install it themselves within minutes and then remove it in seconds. And with a powerful battery and Bluetooth connection to our driver app, it can last several evenings without charge, while keeping the dashboard cable-free. And our technology also allows for customized color palettes and animation styles to celebrate events and holidays —imagine Beacon pulsing St. Patrick’s Day green or colorful rainbows all weekend for Pride.

Uber drivers in Miami, Denver, Nashville, and Newcastle will begin receiving Uber Beacons at community events in preparation for New Year’s Eve celebrations within each city. Riders wanting the helpful system to make it to their city have some hope, with the company noting: “Our goal is to make Beacons the new standard for the Uber experience, so in 2017 we’ll be expanding Uber Beacon to more cities across the world.”

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