Hasta La Gadget!

Gail, who played Dr. Joe Scanlon on the soap “Port Charles,” died at age 58.

Intuit is once again facing consequences for misleading advertising that claims it offers “free” services. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is banning TurboTax’s maker from claiming services are free when most customers will end up having to pay. “We find that Intuit’s ads on their face, expressly or by strong implication, conveyed to reasonable consumers the message that they can file their taxes with TurboTax for free,” the FTC concluded. “Respondent’s claims of free filing are false for roughly two-thirds of U.S. taxpayers, who do not meet Intuit’s simple tax return qualifications and are therefore ineligible to file for free with TurboTax.”

The FTC further emphasized that companies can’t describe a product as “free, free, free” when most people will have a “fee, fee, fee” — a warning that’s just waiting to be turned into an intimidating jingle. The regulatory body stated that Intuit must clearly state percent of customers would qualify for free services. Meanwhile, Intuit is appealing the decision, stating, “We believe that when the matter ultimately returns to a neutral body we will prevail.”

Intuit isn’t required to pay a fee for its transgressions this time. However, the FTC’s ban comes nearly two years after Intuit reached a $141 million settlement with all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The company had to refund almost 4.4 million customers “for deceiving millions of low-income Americans into paying for tax services that should have been free,” New York Attorney General Letitia James announced at the time.

Intuit was found to have pulled a bait-and-switch on customers, luring them in with the promise of free tax prep and then charging them when it was time to file. It also hid its IRS Free Filing page from search engine results for a tax season (and dropped out of the Free File Alliance in 2021). Intuit didn’t admit to any wrongdoing and expressed no regret in a statement about the ordeal.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/turbotax-maker-intuit-faces-ftc-ban-on-advertising-free-services-104033493.html?src=rss

There are plenty of Engadget staffers who have been forced to suffer through karaoke nights with me. And they can attest to the fact that I have the singing voice of a chain smoking diner waitress and the vocal range of a mid’80s speech synthesizer. And yet, I just cant help myself. I have zero shame. There’s nothing out there that will magically make me a good singer, but a healthy dose of effects and some pitch correction courtesy of a Boss VE-22 Vocal Performer, which is making its debut at NAMM 2024, might make listening to me croon bearable. 

The VE-22 is the latest in Boss’ long line of vocal effect units and pedals. There’s an XLR input on the back with a preamp and phantom power, in case you want to use it with a condenser mic. Two XLR outputs allow you to run audio out in stereo, dual mono or wet/dry. There’s also an aux input for singing along to backing tracks. There’s a reasonably large color screen for navigating the UI and a trio of pedals that seem like they’d be equally comfortable under you hand as your foot.

Effects range from basic things like EQ and compression to pitch correction and auto harmonization. The VE-22 can do subtle vocal enhancement, and add essential effects like reverb, or do crazy lo-fi and Autotune-like glitches. In total there are 39 effects, 50 factory presets, plus room for 99 user presets. If you need more control you can also connect an expression pedal for on the fly tweaking of parameters. And lastly, there’s a 37 second looper with overdubbing for building up compositions and practicing harmonies. 

There’s no MIDI support, but there is a USB-C port for recording and playing back audio from a computer or smartphone. While there is an AC adapter, it’s unfortunately sold separately. It can also be powered by four AA batteries if you don’t feel like springing for the adapter, just know you’re only going to get between six and nine hours before they’ll need to be replaced. The VE-22 Vocal Performer is available now for $350 and an optional carrying case with room for a mic and cable will cost $70.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/boss-ve-22-vocal-performer-is-the-latest-high-powered-effects-pedal-for-singers-100024692.html?src=rss

At CES 2023, Roland introduced a streaming mixer called Bridge Cast, which can give creators a way to pipe different audio feeds to different destinations and make it easy for them to create mixes, add vocal effects and remove unwanted audio. Now, the company has unveiled a follow-up to the device called Bridge Cast X that adds video support on top of all its predecessor’s audio-focused features. The Bridge Cast X has two HDMI input ports and an HDMI Thru connector that can feed video up to 4K in resolution to an external monitor. 

As for audio, creators can plug in broadcast-quality XLR mic and headphones if they use those accessories. They can also adjust sounds to ensure that they can clearly hear the game’s audio and voice chat more clearly than any background sounds. Meanwhile, they can broadcast a different mix that’s optimized for maximum viewer engagement. The device has dedicated volume knobs for different input sources and audio output, and it has programmable buttons creators can use to mute specific sounds and to do various functions. 

On the software side of things, the BGM Cast service on Roland Cloud will give creators access to thousands of royalty-free music tracks that they can use as sound effects and background audio. They will need to sign up for a Roland Cloud Core membership that costs $3 a month or $30 a year to be able to use all those tracks, but a free account still gives them free access to 36 background music tracks and 16 sound effects. The Roland Bridge Cast X will start shipping in the US in February and will cost buyers $500.

Roland

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/rolands-bridge-cast-x-lets-streamers-control-video-as-well-as-audio-mixes-092529804.html?src=rss

Peacock has a great horror selection—with a healthy dose of sci-fi and cult movies too. Building on io9’s earlier lists of recommendations for the streamer, here are 10 sci-fi movies that span various decades but all deliver a certain freaky unease.

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