The final Beatles song was made with a little help from AI

It's Friday, November 03, 2023.

The Beatles have released another song, the first since 1995. “Now and Then” is being advertised as the final Beatles track, given that two of the members have passed and the other two are well over 80 years old. But then again, millionaires do love money.

The song grew from a John Lennon demo track dating back to the 1970s and a 1995 guitar track from George Harrison. The surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, then finished the tune using machine learning technology. The song was meant to come out back in 1995, along with “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love,” two other tracks culled from old Lennon demos. However, the technology just wasn’t there to pull the vocals without degrading audio quality.

With the same software director Peter Jackson used for the Get Back documentary for Apple, the team split Lennon’s vocal from the piano without any audio bleed, allowing the remaining Beatles to turn it into a fleshed-out ballad. The guitar solo is in the Harrison style, but it’s not actually played by him — he does play some of the rhythm guitar in the background.

— Mat Smith

​​You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

​​

The biggest stories you might have missed

The best cameras you can buy so far this year

Uber and Lyft must pay $328 million to New York drivers in massive wage theft settlement

The best white elephant gift ideas

A commercial spaceplane capable of orbital flight is ready for NASA testing

Apple Arcade exclusive Japanese Rural Life Adventure is a surprising story of rebirth

NASA is launching a free streaming service

NASA+ will be available November 8 with live shows and original series.

NASA

Not another one! At least this streaming service is free. NASA has announced a new streaming service called NASA+, which will hit most major platforms next week. It’ll be completely free, with no subscription needed, and you won’t be forced to sit through ads, either. There aren’t too many details out just yet about the content, but NASA says its family-friendly programming “embeds you into our missions” with live coverage and original video series.

Continue reading.

HTC sends VR headsets to the International Space Station

They’re specially calibrated for zero gravity.

HTC is sending its Vive VR headsets to the International Space Station, apparently to give lonely astronauts something to do. The HTC Vive Focus 3 headsets will be part of an ongoing effort to improve the mental health of astronauts during long assignments on the station. The headsets are optimized to stabilize alignment and reduce the chances of motion sickness — which is a bigger problem when it happens in space.

Continue reading.

Netflix’s ad-supported plan will soon allow downloads

And reward binge watching.

Netflix is celebrating one year of its ad-supported plan by giving users on that tier every fourth episode of a consecutive binge ad-free. That’s certainly not a bad way to entice you into staying on, especially if it’s, ugh, Ozark. (Don’t ‘at’ me.) Netflix is also rolling out downloads on its ad-supported tier, claiming to be the first streamer to make the option available for users who have ads included. Netflix’s ad-supported plan is by far the cheapest after the streamer cut its Basic tier in mid-2023. It’s $6.99 monthly, while the Standard plan is now $15.49.

Continue reading.

Scarlett Johannson fights AI clones, in court

Wow.

NDZ/STAR MAX/IPx

It sounds like an action movie, but it’s not. It’s just legal action. Scarlett Johansson’s lawyers have approached an AI app developer for using her likeness in an ad without permission.

An ad spotted on X promoted an AI image editor called Lisa AI used an AI-generated version of Johansson’s voice and image, alongside actual footage of the actor in a Black Widow behind-the-scenes clip. Multiple Lisa AI apps remain on the App Store and Google Play, but the ad no longer appears on X. Yet, when Johansson gets to play a robot voice, that’s OK? Yes. Of course it is.

Continue reading.