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Spotify users are growing impatient with the music streaming giant over its lack of HomePod support, pushing several customers to the brink of canceling their subscriptions entirely and moving to alternative platforms, such as Apple Music.

More than a year ago, at the 2020 Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple announced that it would be adding third-party music service support to HomePod. A few months later, Apple highlighted some of the apps that would take advantage of the new feature, including Amazon Music, Pandora, and iHeartRadio. A notable exclusion from the list - Spotify.

At the time in June of 2020, and more recently, Spotify said it plans to implement AirPlay 2 support into its iOS app. While AirPlay 2 support would allow users to play their Spotify content through their HomePod, it is not native HomePod support. Native HomePod support would allow users to use Siri to play Spotify content from their HomePod without opening the app and selecting the speaker manually.

Customers are not holding back their frustrations, with one user writing that Spotify is exhibiting "childish behavior," while another said, "this is a total joke - how can they still not be offering it how many people have come here, seen this and then just canceled. Why does Spotify make it so hard to support them."

"This is absolutely pathetic Spotify," another user wrote. Users are poised to turn their frustrations into action, with many saying that they have activated Apple Music's three-month trial and will renew their subscription unless Spotify adopts HomePod support before the trial ends. "Month with no information about the integration...why should I pay for Spotify when other Services are more interested in integrations," another user wrote, with many others saying they've moved to Apple Music (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).

How many comments are needed to bring attention to this? More than 100 pages? Being a software engineer myself, I understand that such integration shouldn't take THAT MUCH time. Come on, it's hard not to conclude that Spotify has intentionally decided not to implement it. They haven't even said a simple "yes, we're on it."

It doesn't seem like Spotify cares about their users considering the number of votes on this.

Spotify has labeled the idea a "Live Idea" but has not provided any updates on where it stands. Spotify spokespeople have also declined to respond to several emails by MacRumors over the last several months regarding HomePod support.

The reasoning behind Spotify's refusal to adopt HomePod support remains unknown. Spotify has in the past called Apple "anti-competitive," accusing the tech giant of making it harder for other services to compete with Apple Music. However, when given a chance to join a level playing field with Apple's service, Spotify seems less interested.

Left Spotify, this was a dealbreaker for me - Nothing happened and they don't care about the consumer - waited for a year, but nothing happened. I got 6 months free subscription with my AirPods, so it was time to leave. It's Time to Play Fair Spotify, you can't complain about not being on the HomePod, and then when they let you in you don't even bother to support it.

While the HomePod remained a rather niche product at the time third-party support was announced, the product has slowly grown more mainstream thanks to the smaller $99 HomePod mini which just recently launched in new colors.

Apple is offering new customers a free three-month trial to Apple Music, which does include native HomePod support. New Apple Music customers who own select AirPods and Beats model headphones can get six months of Apple Music for free. We'll update this article if Spotify provides new information concerning HomePod support.

The rest is here:
Spotify Users Growing Impatient and Canceling Subscriptions Over Lack of Native HomePod Support - Mac Rumors

October 18, 2021

PRESS RELEASE

FinalCutPro and LogicPro updated with powerful new features and unprecedented performance on the all-new MacBookPro with M1Pro and M1Max

FinalCutPro delivers huge advances in 8K video performance; LogicPro features a complete set of tools for creating music in spatial audio

CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIAApple today updated Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro with powerful new features for creative professionals, and optimizations that take full advantage of the power and performance of the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips in the all-new MacBook Pro. Professional video editors using Final Cut Pro on the new MacBook Pro can perform tasks never before possible on a Mac, like the ability to play seven streams of 8K ProRes or color grade 8K HDR video with the new Liquid Retina XDR display a first for any notebook. Final Cut Pro also introduces a new Object Tracker that uses machine learning to automatically detect faces and objects, and match their movement to create beautiful, cinema-quality titles and effects on any Mac. Logic Pro, Apples pro music creation software, now comes with a complete set of tools for authoring spatial audio music allowing anyone to mix and export their songs in Dolby Atmos for Apple Music. And musicians can use up to 3x as many plug-ins for recording on the all-new MacBook Pro with M1 Max. Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro are Universal apps that build upon the breakthrough performance and pro capabilities of macOS Monterey, and both are available today on the Mac App Store.

The worlds most creative people use Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and the Mac to make the memorable movies, TV shows, online videos, songs, and soundtracks that we all enjoy, said Bob Borchers, Apples vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. With the combination of powerful new features in Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro, and the unprecedented performance from the MacBook Pro powered by the all-new M1 Pro and M1 Max, pros will be able to push the limits of their creativity like never before.

Final Cut Pro 10.6

Final Cut Pro comes with innovative new features that allow editors to create beautifully tracked motion graphics and edit Cinematic mode videos recorded on iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro. The app also takes full advantage of the major performance gains enabled by M1 Pro and M1 Max in the all-new MacBook Pro. Video editors can now play seven streams of 8K ProRes at full resolution over 230 million pixels and export ProRes video over 5x faster than before. Todays update also introduces a new Object Tracker that lets video editors quickly and easily create eye-catching animated graphics that follow the movement of faces or objects in a video. Object tracking analysis is up to 5x faster on the new 16-inch MacBook Pro, and takes advantage of the machine learning capabilities of the Neural Engine in Apple silicon to accelerate the detection of faces and objects in video.

Videos recorded in Cinematic mode on the new iPhone 13 lineup can be edited easily with Final Cut Pro and Motion, giving editors the ability to adjust the depth effect of any shot and use keyframes to change it over time. By simply clicking on a face or object in the viewer, editors can add or delete focus points, all without having to reshoot.

Final Cut Pro companion apps Motion and Compressor also received updates today. With Motion on the new MacBook Pro, a complex project renders up to 2x as fast and can play two streams of 8K video at 5x the frame rate. Graphic artists can now combine object tracking with masks, shapes, 3D objects, behaviors, and filters for stunning visual effects. And a new Neon filter adds an eye-catching glow to images, shapes, text, and more.

On the new MacBook Pro, Compressor can transcode HEVC video up to 2x as fast and transcode ProRes video up to 10x faster. Compressor can also transcode Canon Cinema RAW Light video files to other professional formats like ProRes and H.264 for the first time, and Watch Folders make it simple to automatically encode content placed in a selected folder in the file system.

Logic Pro 10.7

Spatial audio represents the next generation of sound with its revolutionary audio experience and true multi-dimensional sound and clarity. Now with a complete set of mixing and rendering tools, Logic Pro allows anyone to author their songs as Dolby Atmos music files compatible with Apple Music. Musicians, producers, and mix engineers can expand their stereo projects to the surround channels supported by Dolby Atmos, using new mixer and panner controls. In addition, 13 plug-ins within Logic Pro including Space Designer, Limiter, Loudness Meter, and Tremolo have also been updated to take advantage of this new creative capability. Once the songs are published to Apple Music, listeners will be able to enjoy the immersive audio experience on their devices with spatial audio support. With the new MacBook Pro, musicians get workstation-class performance for creating massive spatial audio mixes, can quickly load large sample libraries, and can use up to 3x more plug-ins for recording.

Logic Pro now comes with all the new Producer Packs1 introduced in GarageBand this summer. Musicians can use beats, loops, and samples created by todays biggest hitmakers, including Boys Noize, Mark Lettieri, Mark Ronson, Oak Felder, Soulection, Take A Daytrip, Tom Misch, and TRAKGIRL. Logic users now have access to 2,800 new loops, 50 new kits, and 120 new patches they can use in their own songs all royalty-free. The update also features the original multitrack project of the hit song Montero (Call Me by Your Name) by Lil Nas X including a Dolby Atmos spatial audio mix of the track.

Pricing and Availability

About Apple

Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. Apples five software platforms iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and iCloud. Apples more than 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better than we found it.

Press Contacts

Starlayne Meza

Apple

starlayne_meza@apple.com

(408) 974-3391

Alex Bender

Apple

alex_bender@apple.com

(408) 862-6559

Apple Media Helpline

media.help@apple.com

(408) 974-2042

Read the rest here:
Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro updated on the new MacBook Pro with M1 Pro; M1 Max - Apple Newsroom

iOS 15.1 will bring new features to iPhone 13 Pro (left) and iPhone 13 Pro Max.

October 18 update below. This post was first published on Saturday, October 16.

Apples latest keynote took place today, Monday, October 18. And as expected there were MacBook Pro laptops with new Apple Silicon powering them.

But new AirPods were announced as well, which require updated software to support them, especially if they have new features on board. So, does this mean iOS 15.1 is almost here and if so, when and what will it bring?

October 18 update. Well, there was no mention of when iOS 15.1 would arrive, not a single solitary whisper, in the keynotenot surprising as it was fast-paced, jam-packed and ran at around 49 minutes.

But Apple has now revealed when its coming.

In a news report at apple.com/newsroom that accompanied the announcement of the AirPods third-generation, Apple has confided:

AirPods require Apple devices running iOS 15.1, iPadOS 15.1, watchOS 8.1, tvOS 15.1, or macOS Monterey, all available as free software updates next week.

Thats the week commencing Monday, October 25. But, though no exact date is given, theres a further clue as to when iOS 15.1 will land, because Apple says that the third-gen AirPods are available to order from right now and will be available in store from next Tuesday, October 26.

So, there we have it. It is inconceivable that Apple would release a product without the software required to run it being available, so the very latest Apple could release iOS 15.1 is next Tuesday.

Apple does like to release its software updates on a Tuesday, but my guess is that iOS 15.1 will be released in good time for the very first AirPods (3rd-generation) going on sale.

In which case, we can expect the update to be released on Monday, October 25, at 10AM Pacific.

Oh, and one more thing, as they say. An iOS 15.1 feature that every single human being with a Mac and an iPad is looking forward to is Universal Control, which lets you merge your two devices in a supremely cool way, controlling the iPad from the mouse on the adjacent Mac.

Apple has now confirmed that its not coming right now (after all, it needed macOS Monterey and thats here next week, too, for the AirPods as well as anything else). On the Apple website its been confirmed that this update is coming later this fall.

Lets not lose heart, though. After all, the Apple Watch was announced as coming this fall with no date attached and it turned up just a matter of days, just three weeks, after the iPhone 13 which was announced at the same time. So, maybe its just a week or three before Universal Control arrives in another iOS 15 update.

That doesnt mean its going to be the very next update, of course, as if any bugs surface which need urgent squishing, or if there are other features weve forgotten about which need to be added before then, well, we can expect more updates sooner.

Apple is making iOS 15.1 the next big update, and given its arrival in just a matter of days, I dont think iOS 15.0.3 is likely to see the light of day. Then again, anything is possible.

In the meantime, back to the great features we can expect in iOS 15.1 when its released just a short week from now...

Key features of iOS 15.1: SharePlay

SharePlay will finally launch, it seems. Over the past few years, Apple has often promised a key feature before launch only for it to slip back from the first edition of software, or to be re-labelled as being in beta, that is, not quite ready but good enough for us all to try.

The essence of this feature is FaceTime. When youre on a FaceTime call, and youre talking about a song or album you love, you can share it in the call. Open Apple Music and it can sync to everyones devices. Everyone on the call can add songs to a queue with shared play, skip and other controls. This will work for video as well, so you can open and play video content from Apple TV, Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, TikTok, Paramount+ and more. For a watch party it works differently from audio but the result is the same: everyone enjoying the same content simultaneously.

Youll also be able to share your screen with others on FaceTime calls, turning Apples video chat app into a Zoom challenger.

Key features of iOS 15.1: Lossless Audio

Lossless Audio means hi-fi sound on your iPhone or iPad, not to mention HomePod and HomePod mini. Which is the important bit here. Thats because it comes with HomePod 15.1 which will deliver support for Lossless and Dolby Atmos playback on the smart speakers.

If all this seems a bit dj vu, its because this is a feature which was promised in an earlier beta and then removed.

iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max are among the phones about to get ProRes features.

Key features of iOS 15.1: ProRes Video

This will appeal to keen videographers: ProRes Video capture. Apple ProRes is a high-quality video compression format which is widely used professionally. Now, its coming to iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max in the native camera app.

But it takes up a lot of storage, which is likely the reason that its limited to 1080p quality at 30 frames per second on the 128GB storage iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max models. If you have higher storage capacity on your Pro, then 4K ProRes recording at 30fps is possible.

Key features of iOS 15.1: What else?

Heres something that a lot of people have got hot under the collar about: Auto Macro Mode Toggle, If youve tried Macro mode on the iPhone 13 Pro or Pro Max, youll know that the results are astonishingly good but that the execution of the switch to Macro is automatic, rather than controlled by the user. As you bring the iPhone camera in close, it recognizes what youre doing and switches to the ultrawide camera automatically, to create the brilliant Macro effect. But that switch causes a visible shift, a blurring effect as the lens switch happens.

Move too far away and youll be switched out again. Personally, I have never had an issue with this, it works great for me, but Id agree that extra control is better and the new software includes a toggle to turn the auto Macro effect off.

Virtual Vaccination cards will be implemented in the update, which is also very cool. Oh, and the fix for Unlock with Apple Watch, so your Watch could tell the iPhone to unlock when it sees youre wearing a mask was due for this update but has already arrived in iOS 15.0.1.

There could be more changes, such as the implementation of fixing the call issue which some users have found where audio drops followed by the call itself (currently sorted by toggling Airplane mode on and off again).

iOS 15.1 will benefit other iPhones, like the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13.

When will we see iOS 15.1?

My guess is it will land in the next few days, perhaps as soon as Tuesday. Apple does like to release software on a Tuesday. The software may be mentioned at Mondays shindig. Of course, it could be later: even assuming AirPods 3 are announced on Monday, it will take days before they go on sale, probably on Friday, October 22 or (more likely) Friday, October 29.

So, theres still plenty of time for iOS 15.1 to launch. None the less, I think its imminent.

Read the original:
Apple iOS 15.1: Next iPhone Update Will Have 3 Awesome New Features - Forbes

Employees come and go, often taking their knowledge with them. There are also times when just a handful of employees know how to do something and dont have time to provide a mass tutorial. Thats where Scribe comes in. Its software records movement and clicks and converts them into a step-by-step guide in less than a minute with screenshots and text that is editable and shareable. The information can be recorded from a Chrome extension or desktop app and also live in a repository until it is needed.

Today, the company launched with $30 million in venture capital, including a new $22 million round of Series A funding that was led by Tiger Global Management. A group of existing investors also participated in the investment, including Amplify Partners, which led Scribes $8 million seed round at the beginning of 2021, Haystack Ventures, XYZ Venture Capital, AME Cloud Ventures, Morado Ventures and SEV.

Co-founder and CEO Jennifer Smith, formerly of McKinsey & Company and Greylock Partners, formed the San Francisco-based company a couple of years ago with entrepreneur and former Google engineer Aaron Podolny after seeing a knowledge gap in how operational work was done.

Smiths background is in organization and operations work. She talked to more than 1,200 founders about how software was bought and sold, and what they wished existed and learned that not much had changed in this area in a decade.

The process is still being done manually, she told TechCrunch. There is not a standard way to communicate how to do something. With Scribe, it is a standard. You can click the record button, do the task and it auto generates step-by-step instructions.

Scribe has been heads-down since it was founded, but the software is now being used by over 10,000 organizations globally as a way to share with others how to do something. These include use cases by organizations outside of those initially targeted by Smith and Podolny, like governments and schools.

In addition to the investors mentioned earlier, angel investors involved include former Microsoft chairman John Thompson, Adobe chief product officer Scott Belsky, Gainsight CEO Nick Mehta and Opendoor CEO Eric Wu. As part of the investment, Amplify Partners general partner Mike Dauber joins Scribes board of directors.

Scribe is the latest company to attract venture capital for efforts to capture and share digital processes. For example, in August, Tango raised $5.7 million for its Chrome extension that auto-captures workflow best practices so that teams can learn from their top performers.

Ross Fubini, managing director of XYZ, said Scribe was building a company that makes something complex look easy. He credits Smith for helping many marquee startups ramp up their enterprise selling during her time at Greylock and believes that she and her team are creating a product that is doing the same: showing them how to do their job better.

And companies will pay for that, he added. This is just the first part of the journey. When we talk to companies describing problems on creating documentation, we see that bottom-up part. We are here to put in yet more money into the company so that Jennifer and her team can keep doing the work, build the go-to-market and get paid for that value.

Meanwhile, Scribe has both a free version and pro/enterprise plans, and averages nearly 50% reduction in non-productive time spent learning how to do a process.

Smith intends to use the new funding to scale the team to respond to customer demand that is coming from startups all the way to Fortune 500 companies. The companys 20-person employee base is a majority of women and underrepresented minorities, something Smith is proud of as she focuses on building an inclusive, culture- and talent-first organization, she added. She will also invest in R&D and product development that is coming down the pipeline.

We want Scribe to be the new common standard for sharing how to do something, Smith added. We take inspiration from Zoom and Slack, which have both become standard and lexicon. Its really about driving that reach and distribution with colleagues and customers.

Read more:
Scribe launches knowledge-capturing software that gets employees on the same page - TechCrunch

George Cox| PC Periodicals

Many professions, such as video editing, sound mixing, graphic designing, etc., requires multiple devices to work on simultaneously. In addition, many people use multiple devices for entertainment and work side by side. If you are in such a situation, it might be frustrating for you to switch between devices with different mouse and keyboard for every device.

To overcome such difficulties, many users stack their keyboards on top of each other. However, it is not a feasible solution. Instead of that, you can use much better options that I am going to describe in this article.

In this article, I will walk through several ways to control two computers with one keyboard and mouse. These will allow you to use your mouse without borders and keyboards to function on multiple devices. So, let us start looking at the top ways to control two computers with one keyboard and mouse.

Mouse without Borders (http://aka.ms/mm) is a software product that makes you the captain of your computer fleet by allowing you to control up to four computers from a single mouse and keyboard. This means that with Mouse without Borders you can copy text or drag and drop files across computers. It was developed by a Microsoft developer Truong Do, as an experimental project. The Microsoft Garage Mouse without Borders application is available for Windows OS at Microsoft Store for free.

After downloading and installing the application, you can configure it as per your preference. From the dashboard of the Microsoft Garage Mouse without Borders, you can drag and arrange your devices in the same order as they are placed physically from left to right. This would ensure that you can correctly hop your mouse pointer to the adjacent systems screen.

Generally, Microsoft Garage Mouse without Borders application works well, but it might start to stutter when three or four devices are connected. Still, features such as clipboard sharing allow you to copy and paste between connected devices. You can also drag and drop the items from one device to another without any issue.

If you are having trouble using the Microsoft Garage Mouse without Borders for controlling your multiple Windows PCs, you can use next best software alternative, Input Director. Although installing and setting up the Input Director is a bit intensive than the Microsoft Garage Mouse without Borders, especially for beginner users.

Input Director comes with a lot of security features that let you determine which computer systems are allowed to join the network. In addition, you can create customized hotkeys for different devices. Drag and drop from one device to another, copy and paste from one device to another, and many more advanced features are available on Input Director. Unlike Microsoft Garage Mouse without Borders, Input Director is not freely available to use for commercial purposes. However, you can use it free for personal use.

If you are uncomfortable using the software programs to control two computers with one keyboard and mouse, you can use a very good hardware alternative, the KVM Switch. The KVM Switches are not new and used by users for a long time before the software applications came into existence. The KVM Switch would simply let you switch the mouse and keyboard control to another device with an A/B switch.

The KVM switch is basically a box that you connect each of your computers monitor cable, mouse, and keyboard to the various ports. Then just flip the switch to which computer you wish your monitor, mouse, and keyboard to be connected to for input or viewing. This is one of the easier methods of sharing your devices.

There are multiple configurations of connections available, and can control several different computers.

It might be absurd to use the remote desktop to manage devices placed side by side, but it is one of the most straightforward solutions to control two computers with one keyboard and mouse. If all the devices you want to manage are Windows 10 based, you do not require any third-party application to control them remotely. Windows 10 comes with a fantastic in-built Remote Desktop application that helps you efficiently manage the devices.

Multitasking with several devices can be tedious, especially when you are using cross-platform devices. With the options listed in this article, you can easily switch between

the devices and control two (or more) computers with one keyboard and mouse.

Stay protected!

George Cox is the owner of Computer Diagnostics and Repair. He can be reached at 346-4217.

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How to control two computers with a single keyboard and mouse - St. George Daily Spectrum