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Unity has ditched a controversial fee it was charging game developers. The game engine maker says its focusing on its seat-based subscription fee (i.e. an annual payment for each person using the software at a studio), though there will be a price increase for Pro and Enterprise users. The company announced the runtime fee a year ago. Initially, it was going to make developers pay up every single time someone downloaded one of their games after certain thresholds were met. The backlash was swift and intense, with some industry figures suggesting that it would make Unity unviable for indie developers. Many developers (some of whom were years deep into making a game with Unity) were outraged over the sudden change and some threatened to abandon the engine. Unity apologized a few days later and made some changes to the runtime fee. But the policy was a near-disaster for the company. Unity CEO and president John Riccitiello left through the back door the following month. In November, Unity laid off 265 workers in a move it attributed to its Weta Digital deal, but this occurred amid the company's ill-fated attempts to squeeze more revenue from developers. Two months later, Unity said it would lay off 1,800 people, about a quarter of its total workforce. Current CEO Matt Bromberg, who took on the role in May, is hoping to rebuild trust (or, perhaps, unity) with developers by abandoning a loathed pricing model. The runtime fee is gone, effective immediately. The Unity Personal plan will remain free for developers with under $200,000 in revenue and funding. They'll also have the option to remove the Made with Unity splash screen from their games starting with Unity 6, which will arrive later this year. On the flipside, pricing and annual revenue thresholds for Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise subscribers are changing on January 1. Pro users (those with at least $200,000 of total annual revenue and funding have to go with this plan) will need to pay $2,200 per seat per year. That's an eight percent increase. As for Unity Enterprise, which is required for developers with north of $25 million in annual funding and revenue, a 25 percent price increase will apply. Pricing is customized based various factors, such as the products and services Enterprise customers require. Bromberg says that, going forward, Unity plans to consider possible price increases only on an annual basis. Developers will also be able to continue using an existing version of Unity on existing terms if they're not on board with changes to the Editor software. "We want to deliver value at a fair price in the right way so that you will continue to feel comfortable building your business over the long term with Unity as your partner. And were confident that if were good partners and deliver great software and services, weve barely scratched the surface of what we can do together," Bromberg wrote in a blog post. "Canceling the Runtime Fee for games and instituting these pricing changes will allow us to continue investing to improve game development for everyone while also being better partners."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/unity-dumps-the-runtime-fee-that-caused-a-developer-revolt-181559332.html?src=rss
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Apples recent iPhone event brought some nifty ideas, from the camera button to a reinvention of Google Lens and beyond. The company also announced that it's bringing simple multitrack recording to Voice Memos. This was particularly exciting for me since, well, I use Voice Memos a lot. I have nearly 500 of these little recordings that were made during the lifetime of my iPhone 14 Pro and thousands more in the cloud. You never know when youll need a random tune you hummed while waiting for the subway in 2013. So this feature felt tailor-made for me. I write songs. I play guitar. I do everything that lady in the commercial does, including opening the fridge late at night for no real reason. Apple Then reality hit. This isnt a software update that will hit all iPhone models. Its tied to the ultra-premium iPhone 16 Pro, which starts at a cool $1,000. I dont really want to upgrade right now, so the dream of singing over an acoustic guitar track right on the Voice Memos app is dead on arrival. Why is this particular feature walled behind the iPhone 16 Pro? Its a simple multitrack recording function. From the ad, it looks like the app cant even layer more than two tracks at a time. This cant exactly be taxing that A18 Pro chip, especially when the phone can also handle 4K/120 FPS video recording in Dolby Vision. Pro Tools, a popular digital audio workstation, was first introduced in 1991. This was two years before Intel released the Pentium chip. Computers of that era had no trouble layering tracks. For a bit of reference, last years A17 Pro chip had around 19 billion transistors. An original Pentium chip had around three million. In other words, a modern smartphone chip is around 6,300 times more powerful than a 1993 Pentium-based PC. So let us layer tracks on Voice Memos, Apple! It can't be that complicated. Ive been using dedicated multitrack apps ever since the iPhone 3. Apple throws GarageBand in with every iPhone. Both GarageBand and third-party recording apps have a place, sure, but nothing beats the quickness and ease-of-use of Voice Memos. Itd sure be great to be able to make a quick-and-dirty acoustic demo of a song and send it out to someone without having to navigate a fairly complicated interface. Apple Yeah. I see the elephant in the room. Theres a part of the ad that Ive been avoiding. The woman records the vocal layer over the guitar track without wearing headphones. She just sang into the phone while standing in front of that refrigerator. Now, thats something old-school Pentiums could not do. Theres some microphone placement wizardry going on there, along with machine learning algorithms that reduce unwanted ambient noise. The iPhone 16 Pro has a brand-new microphone array, so I get that older models might not be able handle this particular part of the equation. But who cares? Thats a really neat feature. Its also completely unnecessary. If youre reading this, you are likely already wearing earbuds/headphones or have some within reach. Record the first track without the headphones. Record the secondary layer while wearing headphones. Thats it. Problem solved. You can even do it in front of the refrigerator. Also, both the base-level iPhone 16 and the Pro support Audio Mix, which lets people adjust various sound levels from various sources after capturing video. This is done without the new Studio Mics on the iPhone 16 Pro and seems to reduce ambient noise in a similar way. So it could be possible that there's a software solution here to handle even that elephant in the room. After all, the company credits "powerful machine learning algorithms" for this tech if it can erase environmental wind noise, surely it can handle music playing in the background? So I am once again asking for Apple to let the rest of us play around with multitrack recording on Voice Memos. Theres no reason every older iPhone model couldnt compute its way to a simple guitar/vocal two-track wav file. Pop the feature into a software update. I hear theres one for iOS 18 coming really soon, and another for Apple Intelligence after that.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/i-dont-get-why-apples-multitrack-voice-memos-require-an-iphone-16-pro-175134621.html?src=rss
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This really solid Baseus 30W/10000mAh MagSafe power bank is on sale via Amazon for 40 percent off. That brings the price to $28, from $46. This is a record low for this particular power bank, but be sure to clip the coupon to get the deal. This is one of the best MagSafe batteries out there and easily found a place on our list of the best power banks. It specializes in magnetic wireless charging for iPhones, of course, but also has a built-in USB-C cable. This means you can use the device to charge the vast majority of modern gadgets, though not wirelessly. The USB-C cable is also used to recharge the bank itself at a power outlet. This isnt a Qi2-certified product, but it still managed to charge an iPhone 15 just as quickly as the latest Qi2 Anker bank. It gets a modern iPhone to 55 percent in around 30 minutes. Its also quite small and pocket-friendly, with a strong magnet that allows for one-handed smartphone use as it provides juice. On the downside, this is a fairly bare-bones device. Theres no status display or a kickstand, such as the likes found with rival power banks. However, it nails the basics, especially for $26. Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/one-of-our-favorite-magsafe-power-banks-is-40-percent-off-right-now-165924327.html?src=rss
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