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This new Zoom feature could save you from an embarrassing blunder
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Zoom has unveiled a series of new features for its video conferencing software, one of which could prevent users from making a serious workplace faux pas.

As explained in a blog post, Zoom administrators can now configure virtual backgrounds to reset to a chosen default after each meeting.

Strangely, the official rationale is that the feature will help avoid situations whereby sensitive data is exposed in a virtual background, which feels like a fringe scenario. More beneficial will be the peace of mind afforded to people who regularly use the virtual background feature for non-work purposes.

New Zoom features

Since the transition to remote working, the number of Zoom customers has expanded dramatically and the software is now used for all manner of purposes, both professional and personal.

Zoom became the go-to platform for quizzes, yoga classes,  virtual parties and more during Covid lockdowns. And while many people are returning to in-person events as societies open up, online collaboration services like Zoom still play a larger role in the private sphere than they ever did before.

With this in mind, it’s easy to imagine a scenario in which someone forgets to remove an inappropriate background before the end of a personal video call, leading to an embarrassing situation on a Monday morning. But with the latest Zoom update, this need no longer be a concern.

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The option to automatically reset virtual backgrounds is just one of a number of changes bundled with the latest Zoom update.

The company has also rolled out a feature that allows meeting hosts to add a video to the virtual waiting room, which will play while participants wait to be allowed into the call, and admins can also now enable and disable the watermark feature in the middle of a meeting.

Lastly, Zoom has doubled down on its feature set for international collaboration. The language used in the Zoom client will now be dictated by the language applied in the user’s browser, and meeting hosts can now enable the language interpretation feature by default when scheduling a meeting.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

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Zoom could be planning even bigger events
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Although Zoom may be best known for its video conferencing software, its platform also supports virtual events and the company's latest acquisition will allow these events to be both larger and more complex.

According to a new blog post, the company believes that the future of events will include a combination of virtual and in-person formats. As a result, its customers will require a holistic solution that allows them to build, host and manage virtual and hybrid events.

Zoom first introduced Zoom Video Webinars back in 2014 to enable organizations to share information and interactive video presentations with up to 50k people. However, back in July of this year, the company unveiled Zoom Events to make it possible for businesses and other organizations to host in-person events that also have a virtual element.

In order to showcase some of the exciting new capabilities in Zoom Events, Zoom used its new Conference event type for Zoomtopia 2021 which saw over 33k virtual guests attend the tech conference from around the world. Now though, the company has acquired several tools as well as some top talent from the startup Liminal to make it easier for organizations to produce professional programs and performances from anywhere in the world.

Bridging the gap

As reported by The Verge, Zoom has announced that it has acquired two add-ons from the startup Liminal that can be used to create professional virtual events.

The first is ZoomOSC that will allow its customers to enhance professional meetings and events using the Open Sound Control (OSC) protocol. This add-on also enables users to integrate Zoom Events with third-party software, hardware controllers and media servers. The second add-on, ZoomISO, makes it possible to export each participants' video feed as a separate output to professional production hardware with the capability to export five feeds in HD.

With the acquisition of these two add-ons, it will be possible to bridge the gap between emerging and traditional event control tools according to Zoom. This will likely be quite useful for broadcast studios, theaters and other organizations that want to create professional streams using the company's video conferencing software.

However, in addition to acquiring Zoom OSC and ZoomISO from Liminal, two of the startup's co-founders (Andy Carluccio and Jonathan Kokotajlo) will also be joining Zoom.

We've also rounded up the best video conferencing software and best online collaboration tools

Via The Verge

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

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Chrome 100 could break your website – but Google is on it
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After launching back in 2008, Chrome will reach version 100 early next year but unfortunately this milestone will cause some websites to no longer work in Google's browser.

Although there are no major changes or revolutionary new features planned for Chrome 100, the search giant has been aware for some time that this major release will likely lead to problems for older websites. While Chrome 100 will release in March of next year, Google already began warning users and site owners about potential issues in a blog post published in November, saying:

“In the first half of 2022, Chrome will reach a three-digit major version number: 100! When browsers first reached version 10 many eons ago, lots of issues were discovered with User-Agent parsing libraries as the major version number went from one digit to two. Now that we are approaching version 100 in both Chrome and Firefox, with Edge not far behind, we want to detect possible issues related to three-digit version number early, so we are ready when it becomes a reality.”

When Chrome's major version number goes from two digits to three, websites developed with the web design kit Duda will no longer display correctly. Thankfully though, Google has a plan to avoid disrupting the web and the company has already begun contacting individual developers to warn them about the upcoming change.

User Agent string

In order for a website to know what browser and what version of it you're currently using, the site will check the User Agent string which is essentially a line of text that your browser attaches to every web connection it makes.

Here is an example of a User Agent string: “Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/96.0.4664.110 Safari/537.36”. At the end, you can see “Chrome/96.0.4664.110” which means we're running Chrome version 96. 

The problem with Duda resides in the fact that its developers chose to only read the first two digits so “Chrome/96” would be 96 while “Chrome/100” would be seen as 10 or version 10 to be more precise. To make matters worse, Duda automatically blocks any version of Chrome below version 40. For this reason, Chrome 100 will seen as Chrome 10 and will be automatically blocked by the web design kit, rendering websites built using it unreadable.

While Google has considered forcing the major version number to the minor version position and staying at 99 so “Chrome/100” would instead be “Chrome/99.100”, this is only a backup plan. Instead, the search giant has begun contacting individual developers to let them know about this issue before Chrome 100 is released. Google has also added a new flag to Chrome (#force-major-version-to-100) which developers can use to see whether or not their sites will be affected.

Although moving to version 100 has the potential to disrupt a lot of older sites, Google and Mozilla are working hard to address the issue before the rollouts of version 100 of both Chrome and Firefox next year .

We've also highlighted the best browser, best website builder and best web hosting 

Via 9To5Google

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

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Why a contact center could be key to your business success
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With the pandemic forcing much of the world away from their offices and back home, the way we stay in contact with businesses has gone through a significant shift.

One perhaps unexpected beneficiary of these changes has been the much-maligned contact center. With shoppers unable to carry out returns or even ask a question as high street stores closed across the world, contact centers took on a whole new level of importance.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has long been a strong supporter of the work done by contact centers, with the company’s Amazon Connect platform helping power such facilities for companies across the globe. 

Going remote

Although it was initially launched before the pandemic, Amazon Connect has really come into its own in the last two years, Pasquale DeMaio, General Manager of Amazon Connect, told us at the recent AWS re:Invent conference in Las Vegas. 

“Amazon Connect was built to allow for agents to be remote,” he said. “Connect was a little ahead of its time, [as] from day one we were designed to be fully cloud multi-tenant and also an enabled remote workforce.”

Following the initial spate of lockdown and shutdown orders across the globe, the company leapt into action to help its customers deal with the unprecedented change.

DeMaio says that 5,000 contact centers were set up using Amazon Connect in just March and April 2020, some in just a few hours.

“That was unheard of, to take a production workload in a single day,” he explained. “Historically you would have to hire very bespoke, professional services to build those types of things. And you would have to give a huge upfront commitments to it.”

“Instead, now you're in control and that brings that time down to weeks or months.” 

Amazon Web Services logo

(Image credit: Future / Mike Moore)

Amazon Connect saw a number of useful upgrades announced at AWS re:Invent 2021, perhaps the most intriguing being Amazon Lex Automated Chatbot Designer, a new capability that reduces bot design from weeks to hours, simplifying design with advanced natural language understanding.

DeMaio highlighted how using this new platform shows the importance of automation, as the tool can condense much of the contact center set-up experience, taking out time-consuming tasks and cutting out the most challenging issue for customers.

“This is giving you a massive jump,” he said, “you're getting up and running really fast and you can continue to innovate on it too because you're not stuck with just what you did. You keep learning and keep going and building these out and that innovation has been really compelling to folks who use Connect.”

Call center

(Image credit: Future)

So it seems that if you truly want your business to meet as many customers as possible, a contact center powered by Amazon Connect could be a vital tool.

DeMaio predicts that the increasing use of AI in the contact center industry is only set to grow, and that his platform can help spur on a revolution in customer relationships.

“The nature of customer service was already changing,” he noted. “The reality is people are just demanding better customer service – and this was certainly true during the pandemic – it changed their expectations about how the customer service would be delivered.”

“I think there is a revolution happening right now, with the AI and in the cloud-based technology that Connect offers,” added DeMaio. “This radically changes the way people can deliver the quality of customer service they had and it certainly made a practical point [to companies] that it might be the right time to make those investments.”

“They recognize that the power of a great outcome is really meaningful to people because sadly they've had other bad experiences in the past. A big part of what we're doing with Amazon Connect is taking these these capabilities, making it super simple to use, streamline the experience, and fitting it into exactly what they're doing.”

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With Notepad being updated for Windows 11, what other apps could benefit?
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More of Microsoft’s apps are slowly being updated to match the aesthetic of Windows 11, but three apps could also benefit from this upgrade.

Notepad is the latest to reap the benefits of Fluent Design, with re-arranged features, an updated look, and a dark mode option for when you decide to change your desktop theme to a darker shade.

Currently in testing in the Insider Build Dev Channel of Windows 11, where you can test features under development, it’s the most significant update of Notepad in years, similar to Paint’s update a few months ago.

However, with Notepad and soon a new Windows Media Player about to be released to everyone in a forthcoming update, we wondered what other applications could benefit from a similar refresh in Windows 11.

Our three picks

Weather

Windows 11 weather widget

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Users of iOS 15 have been treated to a redesigned weather app, which adapts to the state of the weather in your location. If it’s raining, droplets of water will bounce and land on the menus, while a ray of sunshine with lens flare will cover the whole layout on another day.

Seeing something similar in Windows 11 would be great, compared to the simple user interface we currently have. There’s a weather widget, but it feels as though there should be more to take advantage of the Fluent Design language of Windows 11.

Alongside this, notifications would be a great addition for when there’s rain scheduled, so you can prepare for an umbrella when you need to head out for some errands.

Pinball

Pinball3D running in Edge browser, in Windows 11

(Image credit: Microsoft)

While you can download games from the redesigned Microsoft Store, alongside Android apps that are about to arrive for Windows 11, there’s a distinct lack of built-in games available.

Windows XP, released in 2001, arrived with a built-in pinball game that allowed you to ramp up high scores to see how long you could last with three balls.

While we spoke about how the game has been rebuilt as a web app, we’d love to see a sequel or a remake come to Windows 11. Have it feature achievements and unique 2-player modes. Perhaps allow each player to control one flip action, while another controls part of the pinball table.

There’s plenty of potential here, and after twenty years, it’s time for a revival.

Windows Update

Windows 11 update showing as available

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Updating your PC can be frustrating, especially when an update doesn’t work properly. Going to the Settings app in Windows 11 is a slight improvement compared to Windows 10, mainly due to available updates being more visible, but there’s a lot more that can be done.

Easier ways of seeing which updates were installed and which failed would be a great first start, but the process of registering and de-registering for the Windows Insider Programme could go a long way.

This is where you can try out versions of Windows under development that have features not available to the wider public. This is how Notepad and the new Windows Media Player are currently being tested.

If you want to remove your PC from the Insider Programme, you’re required to wipe your PC, which isn’t an ideal solution. Apple does it better by removing your Mac or iOS from the beta program once a new update is officially released, leaving your data completely.

Instead, having the Insider Programme and Windows Update as one separate app, with a simplified user interface could be a big help to those who are anxious about updating their PCs, in fear of updates worsening their devices.

Updates with explainers on what they are and what they feature could help break down that anxiety and give a greater understanding of what an update can provide.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

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Instagram could finally be fixing its biggest annoyance
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After five years, Instagram is looking at bringing back the chronological feed, instead of one that sorts images by your interests in random order.

Instagram head Adam Mosseri was talking to the American Senate committee about child abuse on social media, mainly due to the whistleblower papers that were leaked by Frances Haugen.

Since 2016, users have had to scroll through their feed on Instagram, which shows posts in an order that’s been calculated by an algorithm. This generates a feed based on the content you’ve been looking at, what you’ve been commenting on, and who you’ve been following.

It’s why you will occasionally see a ‘Suggested feed’ of photos and profiles you don’t follow. However, many just want a feed of who they’re following and nothing more.

When will it arrive?

Mosseri’s confirmation of the chronological feed returning will be of big relief to some users. Many are still annoyed by not having control over what they see when they launch Instagram, instead of being brought to a feed that will show photos and videos from a few days ago.

It’s a feature that’s been long-requested, so now that there’s confirmation, many users wanted to find out when it would be arriving. But it looks as though it won’t be anytime soon.

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With no more news about the feature until early next year, we’ll have to make do with the algorithmic feed for now, as we have done for five years.

Analysis: Was there any need for it to go in the first place?

Instagram has been working on several features requested by its users. Recent examples have been the ability to post from a web browser or switching to a dark mode theme, which have been well-received.

However, not being able to control what you see on your feed has been frustrating for years, ever since it changed in 2016. Many users want to scroll through a feed from newest to oldest, and social media rivals like Twitter gives users the option for this, as does Facebook.

It can be argued that a chronological feed is more important for Instagram users, as photos and videos capture a moment in time. With the run-up to Christmas, you want to see the latest content from who you’re following, not a random photo from Halloween in your feed when you open the app.

It’s a welcome change of mind regardless, but there should have been an option for both in the beginning. However, let’s hope it appears sooner rather than later in 2022.

Via The Verge

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Windows 11 running slow? Microsoft’s ongoing SSD problems could be to blame
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Windows 11 continues to suffer from a problem where some NVMe SSDs are running more than 50% slower, and Microsoft still hasn’t fixed it. The issue has been plaguing some Windows 11 users since the operating system was in beta earlier this year, so the fact that several months later the problem persists has led many people to wonder when Microsoft will release a fix.

As MSPoweruser reports, a user ran CrystalDiskMark benchmark tests for the Samsung 980 Pro SSD and found that random write speeds are drastically cut.

So, if your Windows 11 PC appears to be running slowly and you are using an NVMe SSD, this could be the culprit.

Analysis: Where’s the fix?

When this issue was first identified in the Windows 11 beta, Microsoft acknowledged the problem. However, no fix has been released, and it’s not entirely clear what’s causing the problem, though some people suggest it’s the virtualization-based security of Windows 11 that’s to blame.

Whatever the cause, this is one of the more serious Windows 11 problem we’ve seen, and the fact that there has yet to be a fix around three months after it was discovered is concerning. It could mean that a fix is harder to implement. This won’t be welcome news for anyone affected by this problem.

It’s not a good look for Windows 11, either. Microsoft wants more people to upgrade to the new operating system, but ongoing problems like this are just going to put people off. Microsoft will need to come up with a fix, and fast.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

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