Hasta La Gadget!

The commitment from the Amazon founder’s Earth Fund represents roughly half a percent of his net worth.

It’s “not an agenda,” the Watergate journalist told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

The whispers of a feistier Bronco have been simmering since Ford rebooted the iconic brand, and now CEO Jim Farley has confirmed that there’s a Ford Bronco Raptor in the pipeline. It’s a further expansion of the Raptor branding, having become notorious for its application on Ford’s F-150. That was back in model year 2010, though Ford then used the … Continue reading

Akai’s MPC hardware is normally an expensive investment — you’re looking at $699 for the ‘entry’ One production studio. That ecosystem just became much more affordable if you have a computer, however. The company has introduced an MPC Studio controller built solely to tie in with MPC 2 software on your Mac or PC. Plug it in and you can produce tunes with the signature 16 drum pads (with pressure, velocity and aftertouch control) as well as an assignable touch strip that lets you twist instruments and synths. A color LCD helps keep your focus on the controller when you’re chopping samples or fine-tuning effects.

The software, unsurprisingly, plays a key role. Akai has been pouring much more of its energy into its MPC 2 software, including a large update in July that added AIR plugins and on-device pitch correction. You’ll have access to eight plugin instrument engines as well as sampling, MIDI sequencing, arranging and other parts of the MPC workflow. Think of the MPC Studio as Akai’s answer to Ableton’s Push — it’s hardware that brings out the software’s full potential.

The MPC Studio is available today for $269. You’ll still need MPC 2 (normally $200, currently $100), but it’s still a relative bargain so long as you have a production-ready computer. This could make Akai’s universe considerably more accessible if you’re new to this kind of music making.

Tumblr is opening its paid subscription features to more users. Post+, the subscription offering it introduced in July, is moving into an open beta, the company announced. Until now, only a handful of creators had access to Post+, but with the next phase of the rollout, any US-based blogger can start experimenting with subscription-backed content (Tumblr says it plans to make Post+ available in more countries later this year). For now, Post+ allows bloggers to offer subscriptions at $2, $4, $6 or $10 a month, though creators can continue to offer a mix of free content as well.

With the update, Tumblr is joining an increasingly crowded field of companies hoping to lure users with the promise of subscription revenue. But the company is hoping it can carve out a niche among younger users eager to experiment with the kind of creative — and often deeply weird — content the blogging platform has long been known for.

“This is not reserved for professionals,” Tumblr’s Head of Product, Lance Willet, tells Engadget. “On other places — [when] I think of either Patreon or Substack, you gotta kind of start with your content and then go out and find people. We are flipping that around and saying: you already kind of have a niche, why not just start asking for people to become a supporter.”

What’s less clear is if the Tumblr user base will be willing to start paying for content they used to get for free. Just hours after the company first announced plans for Post+ in July, the company posted a message to its staff blog decrying the “targeted harassment and threats” creators were facing over their participation in the initial Post+ beta. But Willet says the company has also seen a large amount of interest from users who want to try the tools out. Post+, he says, is for anyone with a niche on Tumblr, from Gen Z “meme lords and shitposters,” to artists and podcasters and bloggers. “People can have five followers, or 15 or 500 — it doesn’t matter.”