Review

AMT Lab Staff Books: Art, Tech, and Our World

AMT Lab Staff Books: Art, Tech, and Our World

Looking for your next read at the intersection of art, technology, and our world? The AMT Lab team shares what they have on their bookshelves this season. From the rise of AI in marketing to the urgent need for climate action, our team discusses the books we found most impactful. Read more to find insights on accessibility, the power of music, and the future of culture.

Sage Intacct: A Roadmap Review for Financial Management Success

Sage Intacct: A Roadmap Review for Financial Management Success

With a wide range of integration possibilities and reporting flexibility, Sage Intacct might be the right financial management software for your organization. In this review, guest contributor Stewart Urist highlights a few of the key functionalities that have improved his organization's daily workflow and the quality of the financial information available, and flags some pitfalls to keep in  mind along the way.

The Bear's Season 3 Epitomizes Prestige TV

The Bear's Season 3 Epitomizes Prestige TV

Amidst a host of negative reviews, season three of The Bear seems to epitomize the promise of prestige television -- bigger stars, bigger budgets, and higher production quality. Season three is ambitious and challenging, and it doesn’t allow the limitations of the television medium to dictate how the stories it wants to tell should be told.

A Midjourney Review: Utilizing Generative A.I. for Visual Storytelling

A Midjourney Review: Utilizing Generative A.I. for Visual Storytelling

Many have likely browsed the internet long enough to have been fooled by an AI-generated image or two at some point. Text-to-image models like DALL·E , Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion have advanced enough that most people only have about a 50%-60% chance of discerning if an image is AI generated, and the odds aren’t improving - but are these models good enough to forego using human artists altogether? This article provides a comparative review of the various offerings of Midjourney.

Discord Review

Discord Review

Discord is a popular free-to-use browser app and software that gives users the ability to write, make voice or video conversations, and share their screen. The app provides users and their teams with the necessary real-time communication if they want to stay in sync when competing in esports, watching a movie, or video conferencing. This review dives into the pros and cons, and explains some of the basic and premium features of Discord.

BeReal Review: 'Authentic' Social Media?

BeReal Review: 'Authentic' Social Media?

In a time when authenticity is valued more than ever, yet social media is at its most popular, this new social media app is striving to integrate authenticity with social media. Introducing BeReal, a free social media app that was released in 2019 and gained over a 2000% increase in downloads and users in this past year.

Building Your Tech Stack: Otter.ai Review

Building Your Tech Stack: Otter.ai Review

Otter.ai is an AI-based audio transcriber. It offers both real-time transcription and asynchronous and has a high accuracy rating. This tool could save time and resources in your organization.

Binaural Audio for the Live Arts Audience

Binaural Audio for the Live Arts Audience

Emerging from COVID-19 lockdowns, being able to attend performing arts performances in person has felt like a sensory treat. Feeling the energy of the collective audience, the soft whispering and rustling in seats, the sounds of footsteps as performers take the stage, the low hum of stage lights - being present with art as it is performed heightens the senses in a way that its virtual counterpart simply cannot, in spite of numerous advances in the digital landscape over the last two and a half years.

Enter the Neumann KU 100, or “Michel” as Kevin Noe, Artistic Director of Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble (PNME), affectionately calls the humanoid microphone that sits at the center of ensemble’s 2022 season finale show, literally and figuratively. The microphone is a feat in binaural audio, engineered to replicate how sound travels through the human ear. When heard through headphones, it’s as if the listener’s head is placed right where the microphone is placed. For PNME’s performance, this meant that the audience’s ears were placed on stage between a cello and clarinet, surrounded by an ensemble of musicians.