Twitter said Tuesday it is unlikely to open its offices before September, and that many of its employees will be permitted to work from home permanently even after the end of the coronavirus lockdowns.
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Tuesday, May 12, 2020
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As the use of videoconferencing tools surges amidst the global lockdown, Google Meet, which is taking on Zoom head-on, has announced that its free rollout is complete.
Announcing this Sundar Pichai, CEO Google and Alphabet, said "We've re-engineered Google Meet to make secure video meetings free for everyone, with helpful features powered by #GoogleAI like live captions and low-light mode, available now at http://meet.google.com".
The video conferencing tool, originally conceived for the business meeting with G Suite account, is now accessible to anyone at meet.google.com or on iOS or Android.
Earlier this year, Google offered Meet's advanced features free for G Suite users and since then has seen daily usage grow by 30X, adding about 3 million new users a day last month.
"Since making Meet's advanced features free for all G Suite and G Suite for Education users in March, we've seen daily usage grow by 30x, with Meet hosting 3 billion minutes of video meetings daily. Last month, we were adding roughly 3 million new users every day. That's why we're expanding the offering to more people around the world," said Javier Soltero Vice President & GM, G Suite, in a blog.
"Now that the rollout we announced two weeks ago is complete, anyone with an email address can sign up and get started at meet.google.com, for free. And to make meetings even more accessible and helpful, in the coming days you’ll also be able to use Meet directly in Gmail," he added.
Ramping up features
Apart from opening up access to the tool, Google has sought to make the most of the current situation by improving support for Meet, adding new features and making it directly accessible from gmail.
The expanded tiled layout option now lets web users see up to 16 call participants at once, as opposed to just four. To share higher-quality video content with other callers, users can now choose to present a Chrome tab rather than just presenting their window or the entire screen.
Other companies along with Google are seeking to capitalize on the current situation by rolling out new video tools. Late last month, Facebook announced a series of new video products, including Messenger Rooms -- a consumer-focused video conferencing tool.
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Cave fossils show modern humans shared memes with Neanderthals - CNET
New research suggests Homo sapiens and Neanderthals co-existed for longer than previously believed, allowing cultural ideas to be shared.
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Will we get another IRS stimulus check? What we know about the proposed second round - CNET
On Tuesday, House democrats laid out legislation for a second coronavirus relief check that includes another payment to US residents, even as the first checks are still going out.
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IRS stimulus check: Can you get one and how to work out the payment schedule online - CNET
The IRS is actively sending $1,200 stimulus payments through direct deposit and the US mail. See if you meet the requirements and when you can expect to receive your check.
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Facebook on Tuesday reported a sharp increase in the number of posts it removed for promoting violence and hate speech across its apps, which it attributed to technology improvements for automatically identifying text and images.
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Where to buy hand sanitizer right now - CNET
Turn to online retailers instead of your usual grocery store.
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9 great gifts for grads under $50 - CNET
Looking for an affordable tech gift for an upcoming grad? There's some great stuff for less than $50.
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Only a few days ago, Apple launched the brand new MacBook Pro 13. It's undoubtedly an impressive machine, but there exist a number of rival devices that can compete on both performance and price.
Well, at least to a certain extent, as Apple’s hardware is often customized and bespoke in nature. For example, it seems the MacBook Pro's Intel 1068NG7 processor is an Apple exclusive. It's built on a newer 10nm manufacturing process, has the highest base frequency of any Intel laptop CPU and an Iris Plus graphics processor that can push 4K content at 120Hz.
If you're not willing to fork out for the Apple device, however, you might be pleased to meet the MSI Modern 14. MSI is not a household name, but has been around for more than 20 years and is well known for its motherboards and gaming laptops. The Modern 14, though, is a business laptop and is currently available to preorder.
- Here's our list of the best mobile workstations on the market
- Check out our list of the best rugged laptops around
- We've built a list of the best laptops for programmers of 2020
At $1,461.79 (roughly £1200/AU$2250), it is less than half the price of the Apple device (which has a suggested retail price of $2,999) and boasts a comparable configuration.
The CPU is a slower Intel Core i7-10510U, but you do get a dedicated graphics card: the Nvidia Geforce MX330 with 2GB GDDR5. The machine also features a 2TB XPC M.2 NVMe SSD and Windows 10 Pro, to highlight its business credentials.
Now, how do the two compare? The MacBook Pro is heavier, has a higher resolution and a smaller screen (which means a better pixel density). Its memory is also almost 50% faster and it boasts a much larger battery (58Whr vs 50Whr).
The MSI Modern 14 doesn't quite compete with Apple's new device, but it's not worlds away and could be a great choice for anyone after a high-performance business laptop.
- Here's our choice of the best video editing laptops out there
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Best Buy's Apple sale includes an $80 price cut on the best-selling Apple Watch Series 3. A fantastic price for a feature-rich smartwatch, you can get the smartwatch on sale for just $199.
The Apple Watch 3 is packed with health and fitness-focused features while also keeping you connected. The smartwatch tracks activity, workouts, and calories burned and offers 24/7 heart rate monitoring. The swim-proof smartwatch will even notify you when an unusually high or low heart rate is detected and features a breathing app to help with everyday stress. The Series 3 watch provides an 18-hour battery life and includes basic smartwatch features such as the ability to make calls, send messages, and receive notifications.
The all-new Apple Watch 5 will set you back $399, which makes the $199 price tag on the Series 3 extremely attractive. We don't know how long Best Buy will have the Apple Watch at this price, so you should take advantage now before it's too late.
Shop more deals with our roundup of the best Memorial Day sales.
Discover more Apple watch sales with the best cheap Apple Watch prices and deals or just out our roundup of refurbished Apple Watch deals.
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The Huawei Consumer Business Group faced its most difficult challenge last year, when it was disallowed to deal with American companies. The biggest blow came with the departure of Google, leaving Huawei and Honor without access to its Media Services as well as Android. No upcoming phone from the brands could ship with these services onboard.
This unexpected threw Huawei off, forcing it to develop its own alternative in a rather short period of time. For starters, it had to move to the Android Open Source Project instead of full-fledged Android, and then have its own skin on top to make it more usable. Secondly, it had to develop its own application marketplace, as the Google Play Store was no longer an option. The solution to that came as the AppGallery.
All Huawei and Honor phones launched after the global ban shipped with the Huawei Media Services suite onboard. The Honor 9X Pro that launched today, is the first phone in India from the group that does not ship with Google apps. It’s no secret that the company had slowed down its launches in India over the past year. But behind the scenes, constant efforts were being made to improve the AppGallery to make it suitable for the Indian market, for a time when they will want to bring their other devices to the country.
The HMS AppGallery was supposedly built on three pillars: personal data security, lowering the difficulty to find the right app and foster innovation. Ever since it went global in April 2018, it is now the third-largest app marketplace in the world (no prize for guessing the top two). It has now amassed over 400 million monthly active users.
During the announcement, they mentioned how all security measures were equivalent to the Google Play Store. The AppGallery is end-to-end GDPR compliant, and has three regional centres and fifteen data centres around the world. Every listed app is further scrutinized during the registration, backend security, download security and runtime protection, taking care of the user from start to end. These strict security protocols, along with quality control led to 37% of the apps in 2019 to be rejected (260K apps). However, the developers are then also suggested how their offerings can be improved.
Huawei knows the importance of developers in this situation, and is proactively taking steps to make AppGallery more lucrative and conducive for them. As a part of the Shining-Star Program, an investment of $1 billion was committed for participating developers. Those onboarded are further advised on how apps can be better monetized in the ecosystem, thus incentivizing their efforts. Certain genres will be allowed to retain 100% of their revenues for the first year. Devs which can not get their hands on a relevant device are offered cloud-level access so they can virtually test their apps. Users can also join an early-access beta program to give crucial feedback in the early stages of an app.
“Quick Apps” are another big of the AppGallery experience, which allows users to try out an app without installing it on their device. This tap-to-use approach is said to lower the app’s storage size by up to 50x. In fact, Huawei is working with Xiaomi and BBK Electronics (Oppo and Vivo) to create this ecosystem with more developers. It’s safe to say that all of them will be looking to reduce their dependency on Google down the road.
India-specific efforts
Major Indian apps already available on the AppGallery
India being a major smartphone market, the AppGallery team has been working on onboarding most of the major apps and developers onboard. 95% of the top 150 apps are already available on the AppGallery, with more in the pipeline. They’ve gone a step further and also brought on many localised and regional entertainment content partners. Some 2,000 Indian developers have already been partnered with and there’s already a list of over 5,000 developers that are being targetted for this year. For 2020, fortifying the AppGallery is the top priority for Huawei. The top Indian developers are eligible for a bounty worth $20,000.
There are still certain key apps such as WhatsApp and Instagram notably missing. While they did say that efforts are being made in that direction, the AppGallery also offers a Wishlist function where users can suggest which other apps should be brought on board, which are then expedited.
As an interim measure, users searching for an app that is not yet listed will be taken to the developer’s website to get the APK. Services such as Phone Clone can also bring apps via data transfer tools to an HMS device. There is a functioning GMail client too, while YouTube can be accessed via the browser.
What seemed like an uphill task last year now seems like a legit stopgap solution. It’s too early to say if you should resume buying Huawei or Honor phones in India, but at least efforts are being made to make that transition smoother. The Honor 9X Pro is a way for them to test their efforts and gauge user feedback, as they try to plant their foot in India again.
- Huawei ban: the global fallout explained
- Honor 9X Pro with in-house AppGallery launched in India
- Xiaomi, Huawei, and BBK come together to create a Google Play Store alternative
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Slack says it's working to resolve outage - CNET
Collaboration tool goes down, but not everyone seems to mind terribly.
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Georgia governor walks back teen driving test waiver - CNET
Looks like things are gonna be busy at Georgia's DMVs in September.
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Celebrate Top Gun Day by streaming the classic -- here are the cheapest places to find it - CNET
You can rent Top Gun from Amazon, Google Play, iTunes and elsewhere. But head to Fandango Now for the remastered 4K UHD version.
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The Office episodes are being re-created on Slack -- in real time - CNET
That means some episodes will take weeks to play out. And yes, checking in counts as work.
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