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Adobe has announced its intentions to buy online collaboration tool Figma for $20 billion. 

The half-cash/half-stock deal, which has yet to be finalized, is a bold move from the company behind leading creative apps Photoshop and Premiere Pro - and will be Adobe’s largest acquisition yet. 

But the shock announcement saw the firm’s stock tumble, with investors seemingly punishing the firm for the high price tag.

Adobe vs Figma

It appears the sheer size of the deal led to investors downgrading Adobe’s stock to its lowest level in almost three years, MarketWatch reported.

The Figma deal isn’t the only problem Adobe currently faces. Despite achieving a record $4.43 billion revenue in its 2022 Q3 financial results, investors were disappointed with the company’s muted outlook for the next quarter. 

But the company remains bullish about the acquisition. 

“Adobe’s greatness has been rooted in our ability to create new categories and deliver cutting-edge technologies through organic innovation and inorganic acquisitions. The combination of Adobe and Figma is transformational and will accelerate our vision for collaborative creativity,” said chairman and CEO Shantanu Narayen. 

Founded in 2012, Figma has gone on to become one of the top interface design tools in its field. Practicing what they preached, its developers made it easy to use (and, for now at least, it offers a free plan). Its cloud-powered, browser-based prototyping, built for collaborating online, proved popular with firmly digitally-minded UX professionals and students. 

Indie software developer Nathan Manousos noted that Adobe’s acquisition “shows how hard it is to turn money into software. You'd think for $20B you could build something as good as Figma yourself, but you can't. Software is art.” 

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Adobe XD was the nearest the San Jose giant could get to a Figma alternative. But many found it less accessible, limited - it only runs on Windows and Mac - and less suited team collaboration. That it suffers from Adobe’s familiar complaint, lack of regular QoL updates, didn’t help endear it to users. 

For a company of Adobe’s size, it’s far easier to just add Figma to its own stable of industry-standard video editing software and photo editors. With its collaboration-focused design, the leading design tool will fit neatly in the Creative Cloud ecosphere. 

If you can’t beat them, buy them. 

Whether that’s the right decision - for Adobe, Figma, and their users - is unclear. 

The minds behind Sketch, UXPin, and mockup software rivals may look upon the merger with envy. And, perhaps, hide a smirk at Adobe’s falling stock.

But few will publicly echo Ricardo Cabello, developer of open-source 3D design library Three.js, who reacted to the news with a Tweet that read simply: "Sell out." 

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A new study from Firefox developer Mozilla suggests that YouTube’s video moderation tools are ineffective as the website will continue to recommend videos you aren’t interested in.

The way it’s supposed to work is that users have several tools to teach YouTube’s enigmatic algorithm what they don’t want to watch. You have options like the Dislike button, the Don’t Recommend Channel option, and the ability to remove videos from your account’s history. But according to Mozilla’s study, users still get these “bad recommendations.” At best, YouTube’s tools cut down unwanted videos by almost half. At its worst, YouTube does the opposite: it increases the number of unwanted videos you'll see.

The full 47-page study can be found on Mozilla’s website where it breaks down the researcher's methodology, how the organization obtained the data, its findings, and what it recommends YouTube should do.

Mozilla's findings

The study consisted of over 22,000 volunteers who downloaded Mozilla’s RegretsReporter browser extension which allows users to control recommendations on YouTube and create reports for the researchers. Via RegretsReporter, they analyzed well over 500 million videos. 

According to the findings, YouTube’s tools are all over the place in terms of consistency. 39.3 percent of participants didn’t see any changes to their recommendations. One user, named Participant 112 in the study, used the moderation tools to stop getting medical videos on their account only to be inundated with them a month later. 23 percent said they had a mixed experience. For that group, they stopped seeing unwanted videos for a while before having them reappear soon after. And 27.6 percent of participants did say they stopped getting the bad recommendations after using the moderation tools.

The most effective standalone tool turns out to be the Don’t Recommend Channel, which cut down recommendations by around 43 percent. The Not Interested option and Dislike button fared the worst as they only stopped 11 percent and 12 percent of unwanted videos, respectively.

Researchers also found that people would change their behavior to manage recommendations. In the study, users stated they would change YouTube settings, use a different account, or outright avoid watching certain videos lest they get more of them. Others would use VPNs and privacy extensions to help keep things clean.

At the end of the study, Mozilla researchers give their own recommendations on how YouTube should change its algorithm with most of the emphasis on increasing transparency. They want to see the controls be made easier to understand while also asking YouTube to listen to user feedback more often. Mozilla also calls for the platform to be more transparent on how its algorithm works.

YouTube's response

In response , a YouTube spokesperson made a statement to The Verge criticizing the study. The spokesperson claims the researchers didn't take into account how the “systems actually work” and misunderstood how the tools function. Apparently, the moderation tools don’t stop an entire topic, just that particular video or channel. By the researcher’s own admission, the study is “not a representative sample of YouTube’s user base,” but it does give some insight into user frustration.

That said, the YouTube algorithm and changes surrounding it have drawn considerable ire from users. Many were not happy that YouTube removed the Dislike counter from the website to the point where people have created extensions just to add it back in. Plus, there are claims that YouTube is capitalizing on controversial content to increase engagement. Presuming Mozilla's data is correct, unwanted recommendations may be a byproduct of the platform capitalizing on content people don't want in order to get more views.

If you’re interested in learning more about YouTube, be sure to check out TechRadar’s story on malware being spread through gaming videos. 

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For many film fans, a Dolby Atmos soundbar will provide everything they need to experience the latest movies on TV with a level of audio realism that their set’s built-in speakers could never deliver. But what if you also want to listen to music? The best soundbars excel at movie sound, but some listeners may end up disappointed when it comes time to play music on the same ‘bar.

The reasons for this are many, but it mostly comes down to a soundbar needing to pack the speakers used to convey left, right, and center channel information – and, in some cases, surround and height channels as well – into a slim, compact, all-in-one unit. The better designs make an effort to reproduce stereo music with a high degree of clarity, but the main job for most soundbars is generally to deliver maximum impact with movie soundtracks.

Fortunately for music fans, a new wave of TV-friendly fully powered stereo speakers has been making gains of late. We’ve seen such models emerge from traditional speaker companies like KEF, Dynaudio, and SVS, and can now add Elac to that list.

While the KEF and Dynaudio offerings are pricey models with built-in Wi-Fi for wirelessly streaming lossless audio from Tidal, Apple Music, and other services, Elac’s new Debut ConneX powered speakers ($600 / £600 / AU$900) depend upon aptX Bluetooth for wireless music streaming. But Bluetooth is only part of the Debut ConneX story. Like the other models I’ve mentioned, Elac’s latest speakers feature an HDMI ARC input, which lets you link them to your TV to get much improved movie sound – though without Dolby Atmos height effects.

Coming from a regular speaker company, the Debut ConneX is designed the same as the best stereo speakers. It uses a 0.75-inch soft dome tweeter and 4.5-inch polypropylene woofer, both of which are powered by a built-in 2 x 50-watts amplifier. Rear-firing ports are used to increase low-end output, and they are aided here by an XBass proprietary bass enhancement circuit.

Not surprisingly for a speaker with ConneX in its name, there are plentiful connection options beyond HDMI ARC and aptX Bluetooth. There’s a USB PC port that supports up to 24-bit/96kHz signals along with an optical digital audio jack and a phono preamp input for a direct turntable connection. A subwoofer output is provided to hook up an external sub for extended bass, and rear-panel speaker terminals on the primary Debut ConneX (the one containing the amplifiers and input connections) is used to link it with the satellite unit via included wire.

The Debut ConneX is available now in three finish options: black, walnut, and royal blue.

The Elac Debut ConneX powered speakers feature a range of inputs options: HDMI, optical digital, USB-PC, and phono for a turntable. (Image credit: elac)

Analysis: Powered speakers with HDMI are the new soundbars

Fully loaded Dolby Atmos speaker systems powered by one of the best AV receivers provide a fast ticket to top-shelf home theater sound, but not everyone has the space for that option, or the money to pursue it. With their compact size and generally impressive handling of movie soundtracks, soundbars are a solid and affordable alternative that makes for an easy recommendation.

But as good as soundbars can sound, you really need to use one of the top-performing models to get decent results for stereo music playback. Not surprisingly, that’s an area where traditional hi-fi speakers can work magic, conveying music with clear separation between channels, uncompressed dynamics, and a sense of transparency that tricks you into believing the musicians are right there in the room with you.

For those seeking the above qualities when listening to music but also want to watch movies and TV on the same system, powered speakers with HDMI are another easy recommendation. Yes, they are not a replacement for a full Dolby Atmos home theater setup, nor are they designed to be one. But with prices starting at $600 / £600 / AU$900 for Elac’s Debut ConneX, they are a flexible and sensible option, and one that can give you the best of both music and movie worlds.

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A disturbing iPhone 14 Pro camera bug has been confirmed by Apple and is getting a fix.

As reported by 9to5Mac and shared on YouTube and social media, Apple's iPhone 14 Pro camera system goes into almost uncontrollable shaking when used with a handful of third-party apps.

So uh, we’re having some issues with the 14 Pro Max camera pic.twitter.com/7HH1wLFjdFSeptember 16, 2022

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In another video shared on YouTube, an iPhone 14 Pro owner is running TikTok while the iPhone 14 Pro camera system shakes violently enough to make the video almost blur and for the phone to make a buzzing sound. Similar videos were shared on Twitter by users of the app Snapchat, which is also affected.

We've used the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, which shipped on September 16, extensively and with both apps and found no similar problems. However, the issue is serious and real enough that Apple acknowledged it in a statement to TechRadar. 

"We’re aware of the issue and a fix will be released next week,” said an Apple spokesperson in an email.

There was no further detail on why this is happening or exactly what these users are seeing. Some iPhone 14 Pro customers have surmised that this is related to the optical image stabilization system, but it could just as easily be the system that switched between lenses for, say ultrawide and telephoto.

While it's concerning that Apple's new iPhone 14 line is suffering through an early, yet noticeable bug, Kudos to Apple for quickly acknowledging it and prepping a quick fix.

Considering the importance of the iPhone 14 Pro's new camera system (48MP pixel-binning sensor, new ultrawide camera, new 2X zoom option), a bug like this could make the phone essentially unusable.

There are some concerns that using the phone with these third-party apps while the shake occurs could lead to phone damage, but Apple offered no confirmation on that.

Still, while we wait for that fix, we think it might be best to use apps that don't cause the iPhone 14 Pro camera to shake.

If you're thinking about switching out from the iPhone, here's a list of our best phones of 2022.

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In the run-up to the Nvidia GTC event on September 20, there have been tons of rumors and leaks, especially concerning the Nvidia RTX 4090, which is expected to make its official debut. The latest leak, first revealed by Weibo and reported on by Wccftech, is the Lenovo Legion GeForce RTX 4090 model, which may feature a massive triple-slot design that measures 14-inches. 

The pictures also appear to show the length of the OEM, which is quite impressive in size. The triple-slot is a design choice also seen on the RTX 3080 Ti. Lenovo has put out two other models with similar overall designs, the RTX 3090 Ti and the RX 6900 XT. 

(Image credit: weibo)

There are also previously leaked photos of the card pictured inside the Lenovo Legion Gaming PC, showing how it cools itself. According to Wccftech, the triple-fan cooler in the card pushes air through the heatsink and, since the heatsink and backplate extend past the PCB, the air is pushed through the backplate’s cutout. We can also see in another photo the sheer amount of heat pipes attached to the heatsink and what could be a vapor chamber.

Is the RTX 4090 worth it? 

These leaks are painting a clearer picture of the RTX 4090, and, no matter the model, it looks like this will be one massive energy-guzzling graphics card.

But what's the point of such a powerful (and power-hungry) card? The reality is most PC games aren’t strong enough to push past an RTX 3060, let alone truly take advantage of the power from a 3090 or any of the 4000-series.

One could argue that the upcoming Lovelace cards, which include the 4090, could lower the price of the previous gen, but that would have happened over time anyway since the main cause of the inflated pricing — plummeting crypto values, especially Ethereum, meaning more cards on the market and less being bought out by crypto miners — is a nonissue now.

Considering how much energy the 4090 is expected to use, at least 650W of power and possibly more when overclocked, PC builders will have to build around this card. Not to mention the sheer size, which will also affect the overall build.

And the worst part of this is whether the specs and benchmarks are even worth the power cost which, according to leaks so far, doesn’t seem to be the case. Of course, this is all conjecture based on rumors so take this all with a grain of salt.

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